MSE Parent Club

purplepatch

Deleted_User wrote: »

Did anyone do dream/top up feeds before they went to bed at 10, 11 12pm whatever time you go?

We didn't with Jack as my hairdresser told me she made that mistake with her first one and he expected milk all the time and she found it better to let the other two sleep till they woke, even if it was only a few hours after you went to bed. Because she had 3 boys and we were novices, we followed her lead.

However plenty of people i know have done dream feeds/top up successfully and now I'm wondering if this may be an option for us too, then potentially only one antisocial feed to do at night.

Sorry about all the questions at the moment, you can tell I am due to drop can't you? I thought I'd be less worried at I "know" what I am doing second time around, but its just a different ball game that's all. At least we'll have nappies and dressing sussed out this time! I can still remember Jack's first nappy change taking both us ages to do!

I did dream feeds for Izzy and tbh I think they were part of our problem. She got to think, right, I stir around 11pm I get a bottle, I'll try it again at 2am! And 4am etc etc. Nightmare.

As I say, we've stopped them all apart from 7pm one and it's the first and only time we've had any consistent sleeping in 15 months!!

This evening I've heard her crying up there at least a couple of times, but I wait downstairs for at least ten minutes to see if she settles and she does 95% of the time. I try to avoid going to her at all as I find that just by going in the room her already deafening yells increase ten fold when I leave again! Touch wood it does seem to work even though it is really difficult and all my emotions are saying go to her, cuddle her etc. But got to be cruel to be kind. The kids are getting a much happier mum in the daytime because I'm not permanently knackered and irritable!!

purplepatch

izoomzoom wrote: »

Regarding the nappy rash - I am making a GP appointment tomorrow. I have tried long enough on my own.

How is everyone else enjoying the half term break. We are quite enjoying it and the weather is fab, so happy days. If it stays around for a few more days I might brave a solo trip with me and 3 children to London :eek: .

Let us know how you get on with the nappy rash gp appointment, I'd be interested to hear as Izzy's is dreadful again this week, weepy and angry, poor bub. She's got molars coming through which I know is what does it for her.

We're in West Kent and not half term until next week. Bloody typical as weather lovely at the mo, bet it will be crap again next week! Don't know what I'll do with Olivia as she is likely to have school withdrawal symptoms as she has a big crush on her classmate Jack. Honestly, not even 5 and totally besotted. Is this normal?! I went to all girls schools so no experience of this at all. DH and I are a bit concerned!

Curious_George_2

im telling you, the absolute BEST thing for nasty nappy rash is zinc and cod liver oil cream (sold everywhere but can be had by prescription if you dont pay for them, other wise its much cheaper to buy a big pot from boots)
Daniel had the most awful rash, bleeding, bright red, very sore and within days of slapping this cream on it was practically all gone...
after weeks of us trying everything and him suffering, i now swear by the stuff
you have nothing to lose by trying it!

Mazcabs

I've been wondering about dream feeds and whether they would help us.

DS goes does eventually at about 9pm , then wakes between 2 and 3.30 for a bottle, goes back to sleep and then wakes up again after 2 hours. Last night it was up at 2.30, back to sleep at 4, awake at 5, then 6 and eventually had to bring him into bed with us.
I keep thinking that putting him in his own room in a cot may help. Going to have to do this in the next couple of days I think, although mixed feelings as DS is only 14 weeks but too big for crib and cot wont fit into our room.

purplepatch

Curious_George wrote: »

im telling you, the absolute BEST thing for nasty nappy rash is zinc and cod liver oil cream (sold everywhere but can be had by prescription if you dont pay for them, other wise its much cheaper to buy a big pot from boots)
Daniel had the most awful rash, bleeding, bright red, very sore and within days of slapping this cream on it was practically all gone...
after weeks of us trying everything and him suffering, i now swear by the stuff
you have nothing to lose by trying it!

Do you mean cod liver oil or castor oil? Im sure I've tried zinc/castor oil cream without much success, but it was a long time ago and probably a bit half hearted. I will get some more and give it another go, but this time will try it more as a prevention at every change rather than a cure for when it's already bad.

Her bum's looking a lot better this morning after being slathered in Bepanthen overnight.

Js_Other_Half

Mazcabs wrote: »

I've been wondering about dream feeds and whether they would help us.

DS goes does eventually at about 9pm , then wakes between 2 and 3.30 for a bottle, goes back to sleep and then wakes up again after 2 hours. Last night it was up at 2.30, back to sleep at 4, awake at 5, then 6 and eventually had to bring him into bed with us.
I keep thinking that putting him in his own room in a cot may help. Going to have to do this in the next couple of days I think, although mixed feelings as DS is only 14 weeks but too big for crib and cot wont fit into our room.

Putting him into his own room is something for you to decide. According to the foundation of the study of infant deaths, 63% of babies who die of cot death are under 3 months old. http://www.fsid.org.uk/editpics/356-1.pdf

Bed sharing is another hot topic, but I'm sure you've already researched that.

As for the dream feed, could you move his feeds so the last one finishes earlier than now, so he goes to bed before 9? That way he could manage another feed around midnight, and you might get some decent sleep.

I found that DS only slept through the night (from 11 - 7) at 20 weeks, but some friends babies were sleeping through much earlier, and some much later.

Mazcabs

Couldnt really make feed much earlier. Usually feed him about 5.30 and then he has bath about 7 - 7.30 and then feed him after that, but it can take up to an hour after that to get him to go to sleep ie between 8 and 9pm.

As for being in his own room... cant do much else if he's to big for crib and cot wont fit in our room at all. (Recycling my sisters cot and sheets so no money spent except on a new mattress..hooray!) :j

Lu_T

Where to start with answers?!

Dream-feeding - we dream fed Imogen for quite some time. Tended to be around 11pm and she would then sleep until 3-4am, then 7am. As for recommending it, I'm not sure. Girls in my mum's group never dream-fed and got baby sleeping through around 8-12 weeks (Imogen was more like 16), but I'm certain she would have been up more in the night if we didn't top her up. One night when she was about 6 months I just didn't take her bottle up and that was the end of that.

Mazcabs, it might be worth trying to juggle your feeds a bit so you can do a 4pm, then feed after bath at 7-7.30pm, then just put baby in his cot/crib. When you say it takes an hour to "get him to sleep" does that mean you are doing things to try to get him to sleep, or he just doesn't fall asleep until then? We were really mean with Imogen when it came to sleeping. At 6 weeks she started her bath, boob, bed routine and we never looked back. We would put her down in her moses basket straight after her feed after spending a little time patting and shhussing her. We never rocked her and made a point of putting her in bed awake. We would continue the shhusshhing for a few minutes gradually backing out of the room and then leave her to it. More often than not she was asleep in 10 minutes with very little protesting. We had Imogen in her own room at 14 weeks. She'd outgrown her moses basket and was waking herself up by bashing her arms on the sides! So big cot it was, and she has slept really well ever since. V personal decision though...

With baby 2 (when we're in that position) I intend to start bathtime later, more like 9pm, and bring it gradually forward as the trend for babies I know seems to be that those in this routine slept through sooner. Imogen's always gone to sleep on her own, but took quite a while to sleep through.

Bay - Imogen wakes between 6 and 7am. Recently I've tried going in at the first sign of a cry, tucking her back in again, saying it isn't time to get up yet and then leaving. Most of the time she has gone back to sleep after some protesting - but not always. I have been making a big fuss when we do get her up of opening the curtains, saying 'morning sunshine' and making sure the curtains are open in our room too, even if she's coming in bed with us for some milk. I think this is helping a little, but Jack may just decide that's when he wants to be up. They don't need 12 hours all at once any more unfortunately. Could you cut down on any daytime nap to help? I think they say to drop the morning one first.

Hope that's it for Qs!

BTW - Imogen said Mummy for the first time on Sunday night :j :j , I nearly cried!

Curious_George_2

purplepatch wrote: »

Do you mean cod liver oil or castor oil? Im sure I've tried zinc/castor oil cream without much success, but it was a long time ago and probably a bit half hearted. I will get some more and give it another go, but this time will try it more as a prevention at every change rather than a cure for when it's already bad.

Her bum's looking a lot better this morning after being slathered in Bepanthen overnight.

I do mean zinc and cod liver oil cream, we got it from the docs in tubes called Morhulin, its thick as anything and did an amazing job clearing up the worst most persistant nappy rash ive ever seen,
just to confuse us all we now have a big tub of zinc and castor oil cream and use it at every change, its not nearly as thick but the rash hasnt returned

in other news im really annoyed with our hospital!
we had to take Danny in last week for blood tests and for them to take poo and wee samples to find out once and for all whats going on with his stomach problems, got a phone call yesterday to say we need to go back on friday for a repeat blood test,
the stupid woman that did it took 4 tubes of blood (LOADS when your only 3 months old!) and it took her forever, she was so ham fisted that by the time she was finished her hands and his hand was covered in his blood, not to mention the drips on the bed,
they didnt say why he needs it done again but i wouldnt be surprised if the useless bint contaminated his samples,
i will be requesting a different doctor to do it if she comes anywhere near us this week!

purplepatch

Curious_George wrote: »

I do mean zinc and cod liver oil cream, we got it from the docs in tubes called Morhulin, its thick as anything and did an amazing job clearing up the worst most persistant nappy rash ive ever seen,
just to confuse us all we now have a big tub of zinc and castor oil cream and use it at every change, its not nearly as thick but the rash hasnt returned

in other news im really annoyed with our hospital!
we had to take Danny in last week for blood tests and for them to take poo and wee samples to find out once and for all whats going on with his stomach problems, got a phone call yesterday to say we need to go back on friday for a repeat blood test,
the stupid woman that did it took 4 tubes of blood (LOADS when your only 3 months old!) and it took her forever, she was so ham fisted that by the time she was finished her hands and his hand was covered in his blood, not to mention the drips on the bed,
they didnt say why he needs it done again but i wouldnt be surprised if the useless bint contaminated his samples,
i will be requesting a different doctor to do it if she comes anywhere near us this week!

Poor Danny, what a nightmare having to go back. Don't blame you not wanting her anywhere near him.

Right, well have never even heard of zinc and cod liver oil cream, never mind tried it, so will be making a special trip to the chemists to get some later. Her bum has deteriorated as the day has gone on, looking really sore again. Fingers crossed it does the job for us too.