Some news...

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Belated congratulations Katster. I wish you and your family good health and happiness.

[bunique]

Been at my parents' house since Thursday and my back is ruined from their bloody pansy soft mattresses. I am so envious of your lack of bump Katster, 3 months to go and I feel like a beached whale whenever I try to get comfortable!

[Katster]

She tested us slightly last night and certainly succeeded with pulling on her dad's heart strings but I asked him to stick by me and not take her in the living room for cuddles at 1am as she was requesting. I really believe if you can be strong and not give in from the very beginning - your baby will soon learn it is a game you are not willing to play. He went with it and eventually she took a feed that knocked her out but we had started off putting her down at 11.30pm and by this time it was almost 2am. I want a baby (a child, a person) that knows the difference between daytime activities and nighttime activities and whilst it was tempting to just give in and play with her (she was very alert) I know we did the right thing and I am glad dad went with it against his wishes. They are both fast asleep now still bless em. We had had a very busy day yesterday and Willow had met her two cousins who are 2 and 5 so there was a lot of noise and activity which i guess is what's done it. Anyway, trying to get my head back down for a bit now, whilst I can...

[bunique]

They're babies, not adversaries

[bunique]

We did always stay in the bedroom though, once we'd turned in for the night we never got her back out of her/our room. She was a fucking terrible sleeper though!

[Katster]

I know Bunique but unfortunately they grow up and it's very important for people to get a good nights sleep. If she had needed anything I would have got up with/for her and sorted it but I am not there (and neither is daddy) for 1am entertainment. We will both have a days work (him sooner than me) soon and we all need a good nights sleep. Mostly it was the not coming out of bedroom and into light and daddy's funny voice I didn't want her succeeding with. Unless she's ill she goes to bed at night time, thems the only really rules we have

[bunique]

We fell into same pattern, even if it meant me going to bed at 7 as well to deal with it. No wonder I'm on such a high level on Candy Crush!

[bunique]

Babies become four year olds and then it all out war....

Yes, we have had some humdingers of late (she'll be 4 in December)

[Katster]

She seems to feed around 8/9pm. I'm thinking that will be bedtime. Otherwise it would have to be 6pm and that's way too early for us but if we keep her up after the 8/9pm feed its midnight ish when she feeds again and that's way too late.

[Katster]

For now, this is. I'm guessing she will change as she grows? And growing she is doing very well. She put on 0.5oz in her first five days, we are at midwife tomorrow and I know she's grown again

[bunique]

Yep, will change often, with a big regression around 4 months, 9 months and 18 months. The Wonder Weeks is quite helpful for identifying developmental leaps which tend to send sleep and routines into a spin.

[bunique]

Nope, definitely no one size! Now at almost 4 we know starting bedtime routine early usually leads to a smoother night. But we can be flexible when away at weekends etc and she gets back into the rhythm pretty quickly.

[Katster]

She's been very alert this morning and figuring out life, it's brill

[Katster]

People in the know, is an hour and half from start to finish about the 'norm' for a breast fed baby settling down to bed? It's almost like she realises what we are doing and suddenly has a feeding frenzy in preparation which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing? Anyway, we managed our new routine for now. She's been up since 6am and only really had two proper naps and a couple of nod offs all day and she's now fast asleep in bed after what feels like a million feeds and a lot of patience. I'm not looking forward to being up at 6am again tomorrow but that's what time I will have to be up when I am back at work so we may as well both get used to it now

[bunique]

Cluster feeding is very normal yes, and beneficial as it can mean they sleep a bit longer having tanked up before bed. Kellymom.com will answer pretty much any question you might possible have on breastfeeding, with lots of research references too

[bunique]

Also - if you look at both your posts next to each other, the two will very much be related! As she becomes more alert as she makes a developmental leap, it will mean she finds it much harder to settle at night as her brain as in overload. Then she'll get the hang of whatever she's learned and settle a bit until the next leap!

[bunique]

The one thing ours did us a favour with was not doing early wake ups! Although if she woke up "too" early I tended to feed her back to sleep, but I know others prefer to get up and start the day.

At this age, her maximum wake time will be 45-60 minutes, so you can start to watch for sleep signs (averting gaze, thousand yard stare, etc) at those times and try to get her down to bed after a little routine (usually a shorter version of whatever you do at bedtime). Might only work one time out of 5 but you'll feel like the bloody Baby Whisperer on the times that it does!

[bunique]

You are a lucky lady

She woke up every 2 hours at least through the night til she was 18 months, so swings and roundabouts! GroClock is our friend these days

[bunique]

Definitely the old adage "sleep breeds sleep" rings true as they get older though it took me a long time to realise just how much. Early night = better nights sleep = less chance of early waking, at least some of the time.

Aaah, all the things I've told myself I won't do with our second, and all the habits I've said I will break, and I bet I do it exactly the same as the first time

[bunique]

We get "MAAAAAAMMMMMMMMY, THE SUN IS OOOOOOP" hollered from down the landing.

Clocks go back this weekend though :/

[Katster]

Make that 2 hours, some bellend set a firework off...

[Katster]

I'm just acting (thinking) like I am back at work. There's no point lounging in bed until midday (and believe me she would let us) when that's not something real life gives us the opportunity to do.

Noise during the day doesn't bother her when she's sleeping but we have been being intentionally noisy during the day compared to very quiet at bedtime - again I feel the sooner babies recognise the difference the more prepared they are.

We ain't stressing about it all anyway, she's still really really good I just wondered if other people's babies seemed to feed a lot more when being put to bed? If she already recognises its longer between feeds at night then hopefully we are onto a winner.

She's already outgrown her first three outfits

[midnight]

We got Ed209's bundle coming before Bunique's. Wishing you both well Ed

.

Ah yes, of course, I've got my efestivals-pregancy-calendar all mixed up, sorry, I've had a few eventful days. All the best to the Eds.

Regarding sleep, I have no useful advice to offer, as I had the worst sleeper ever (hourly waking at it's peak).

But you'll find something that works for you.

[Katster]

Yeah I'm not so worried about time as long as bedtime and wake up are there or there abouts and she learns the difference between night and day. I'm not fussed about more sleep, I didn't have a baby with a view to enjoying lie-ins lol.

[Katster]

Do you know what to explain myself a bit better I would say its more that I am giving MYSELF a routine. I need to get used to earlier mornings, so may as well start straight away!! Plus it's pretty much working with her too - she went down last night at 8pm and stayed in the bedroom apart from for nappy changes until 5am. That's not so bad