Sleep routines - update

He's been in the new routine just over a week and it's going really well. At first he woke up 2 or 3 times in one night, it threw his sleeping through right out. Gradually, by letting cry after the initial check to see he's OK or giving him a dummy, he's down to waking up between 5-6am the last few days which I can almost count as sleeping through again.
Tob was fantastic, he's got a really good way of getting Leon off to sleep which has been invaluable getting to this point - Say if Leon woke at 3am, I'd check him, then let him fall back to sleep, this could involve lots of crying, if he didn't settle down by 10 mins, Tob would give him his dummy and then hold his hands until he fell asleep. He showed me how he did it and I've tried it but I think because he wants me to feed him, he doesn't settle as well as he does for Tob. I'm not so worried about letting him cry, so long as I know he's OK I will use the 'controlled crying' method which involves letting him cry and checking every 5 minutes, the longest we've had to go has been 15 minutes. Tob doesn't have the patience with the crying and will get up and settle him. So by combining the two we've brought his first wake up later and later and the last couple of days it's been after 5am.
I'd like him to sleep through until 7am but he's 3 months now and it's possible that he needs the food as even with the 11pm top up, he's starving when I feed him at 5am. I express 150ml for the 11pm feed, which is the max I can fit into a 125ml bottle so I'd have to go up a bottle size! Thinking about it, it might get him to sleep through though. Tob says, he downs the bottle and wants more so there's a good chance he might. Hmmm, bigger bottle.
Tob's just fed him, and given him the extra 3oz I expressed earlier today on top of the 5 oz he'd normally have and we will see what happens. This will mean expressing more milk everyday, oh well...Moooo!

Say cheese! (well corned beef and swede). Toby cooked an ostrich jalfrezi and I made my first bread and butter pudding, something I've been meaning to do for ages as it's stupid to buy them from waitrose as it's so easy to make. They both went down a treat.
It was lovely to see them and for them to finally meet Leon.

We all came back in the afternoon to ourss and once Leon woke up again after his nap, Terri and Stevie got to make a fuss of Leon.

I don't half look like my sister Janet here.

The birthday cake

Sue did manage to convince Edward to blow out the candle (apologies for not having a better picture here).

Edward's birthday

We took Terri, Sean and Stevie to Eddy's birthday party, Leon did very well at pass the parcel for a 3 month old baby!

Stevie came to town

Terri and Sean brought Toby's God Son, Stevie to meet Leon today.

Off with the nappy

About 30 seconds after this was taken (I was running a bath for Leon and me) Leon peed all over Toby. Yes Toby is wearing my pajamas, you will need to take that up with him.

Happy Nappy

This morning, we all took it easy.

More pictures from Matthew's christening

Sarah sent me some more pictures, of which these I liked.

Toys

I've been putting Leon in front of his whoosits everyday for ages in his bouncer and he mostly just crys after the initial 'what's that' but today he occupied himself for ages pulling and staring at this whoosits. It was great, him sitting next to me doing his thing. Some babies are content for ages doing their own thing. Leon rarely manages more than about 15 minutes before getting shouty so I'm glad he's taking an interest in them.

Our Post Natal group

I asked if we could put all the babies on the mat together so we could compare in a few weeks time. They range from 9 - 16 weeks. Leon is 12 weeks so about in the middle. In this picture he is fast asleep, arms right out at the 3 o'clock position. I was impressed, if surprised at him dropping off as he doesn't normally doze off when there's so much going on.

The Three Bibs

I took some pictures today at the post natal group. Top left is Charlotte who is 11 weeks, top right is Harry who I think is 11 weeks left of Leon is Davis (also wearing a real nappy) who is 16 weeks, Leon in the middle (12 weeks today), then George on the right who is 15 weeks.

Cold nights

So far so good, getting Leon to sleep at 7pm. He's going straight back down after the 10pm feed too. He's waking at 4pm every night though. I think this is down to the cold nights possibly as his room is 17 degrees by 4am. I've put the sleeves on his sleeping bag (it came with detachable sleeves) and the fan heater on thermostat set very low so if it dips under 19 degrees it comes on a bit. It sounds like white noise so it should calm him rather than wake him.

I was on the radio today! I did rather badly on the lunchtime darts quiz on Nemone's show on 6music. Oh well, nothing ventured. They were really friendly and the chats I had before it went live with Nemone and her producer made it a worth while diversion from the usual day.

Sleep and eat routines - comments welcome!

I've read umpteen books on routines, sleep, feeds etc and there is so much conflicting stuff out there. I've tried to wade my way through and do what I think is best for Leon; short and long term. So far I've been demand feeding - he goes fairly long periods between feeds so it has worked well, he is flexible and enables me to go out and about. I use my common sense to work out if I'm likely to expect him to be getting hungry. I make sure he gets between 6-8 feeds a day, this is more like 6 now as he gets older and I've read that at 3 months it will be more like 5.
Sleep has been good too. He sleeps up to 6 hours in the day, usually split up into a bit in the morning and a bit in the afternoon, depending on where I am and what I'm doing and he was going to bed by 9pm and sleeping through until 7am. Having read all the bumph, it seems what will get him sleeping 7 to 7 by 4 months will be putting him down by 7pm, waking him at 10 for a feed, then he sleeps through until 7am. At 4 months, drop the 10pm feed and he should do 7-7.
I got him sleeping from 10pm to 7am so it should be straight forward. Thing is, the last week, he's been waking at 4-6am every other night as I've been bringing his bedtime forward to 8-9 from 9-10pm.
My dilemma is: do I wake him at 10pm if I put him down at 7pm? I've not been keen on waking him for feeds and I could just have him wake in the early hours, which would then stop when he was ready to sleep though at around 4months. One theory is that I could end up with him getting used to the night feeds. However by waking him at 10pm, he gets the food top up and we get to drop the feed when we think he's able to go through and he's not got the night feed habit.
He woke at 4am this morning hungry, having had the 10pm wake up feed, I'm hoping that within a week he will settle in to the routine and stop waking at 4am. He hasn't stopped waking at 7am ish so that's still his waking time. As it is, if he does wake in the night, I let him cry for a minute or 3 before going to him (usually because I need a wee first anyway!). Then I feed him in the dark and avoid changing him so he doesn't wake up too much and the interaction can't become something for him to look forward to.
It will start getting light earlier in the coming weeks; we will get to see if black out curtains will be needed. I prefer not to, as I disagree with Gina Ford on the kids need darkness to sleep thing. At the moment, providing it's not too distracting and noisy (kids screaming etc as appose to supermarket noises/white noise), he sleeps anywhere.
I started the new routine yesterday, Leon went down today fine as he's had a tiring day, lots to take in, and what sleep he did get at Sarah's was short and distracted by chatting and kids. He fed for about an hour on and off and was out like a light. Last night he took about 20 minutes once he was in his cot, as he'd had a long late sleep in the afternoon. Tob does the new 10pm feed, a bottle expressed from the night before, I used one from the freezer last night and tonight, last night's is there. Once we drop the 10pm feed, I can express and freeze that feed for babysitting opportunities.
Right now, I'm enjoying having the whole evening to myself rather than entertaining Leon early evening.

I like this pic. Shrah's looking very good at the moment, it reminded me it's high time I start getting back into shape.

Mum with pram, I guess this is how Sarah and James know alot of the village. The church being an important part of village life. Sarah wanted her kids christened, which involves church going for a good while. Tob's dad mentioned doing something similar to ensure Leon a place at Kings School. I'm pretty sure that would mean going to St Marys the parish church next to the Cathedral. From what I've heard it's quite evangelical.

I am very tempted by a naming ceremony, that way we get to have a do of sorts to welcome Leon and get to officially appoint is 'god parents' funny really a god parent is more an extended relative nowadays than the person responsible for a christian upbringing.

The Dads

Looking very cute in his pram. He's got an infectious chuckle :)

Matthew's christening

Today my official position of god parent began. This meant getting up very early to be at the Church by 9.30am - Leon woke for a feed at 4am despite getting day 1 of the 10pm feed routine (more on that later) so I wasn't too happy about the early start. We made it to Sarah's before 9am and walked with them up to the church on the other side of the village. They took little Matthew in his Christening gown and blanket in his old fashioned pram, him one end Elizabeth the other side. I'm kicking myself for not catching it on camera.

Karate King

He looks alot more than 11 weeks here. I really love the smile.

I can blog from my phone!

More ways to take cute picks

Comfortable sleeping position?

 

He's definately growing, and not just the ears. 

Long baby

Toby's new camera phone is excellent. I had a good play with it while these two were asleep this morning. Leon woke at about 6.30am, I thought it would be good, as it was a weekend to feed him in bed for a change. Thing is, I fell asleep, well dozed, while he fed. He fed for about 2 hours!!!! it would have been on and off but usually he feeds then falls asleep, I was concious that he just kept on feeding. He did posset a couple of good possets while I burped him as you can imagine. We then had breakfast in bed, then he fell asleep on Tob. Hard life...Look at that wing nut! 

Spark out and cute in towels

Last night he was spark out after his night feed - he didn't even stir when I put him in the cot. This was taken in the living room, I must have been standing right under the light - I like the effect:



Tonight was 180 degrees away from last night... see Christine's post! Still, earlier, after his bath, he looked cute so I brought him down for Michelle and Christine to see. Michelle took a nice pic:

Chuckles the alarm clock

Michelle is here for a couple of days, she's off to Canterbury on Friday for a recky of the university so if she gets the marks in her Bachelors in Middleburg, she will be doing a double masters at Canterbury in Human Rights and Criminal Justice next year. It will be nice to have her in England. I dare say it still wont be cheap for her to visit us in Ely though. In fact the flight from Holland will probably be cheaper than the train knowing this country.
I dragged Michelle with me to my first Post Natal Class. She sat in the corner and read, I did feel guilty for dragging her along. All the mothers shared their birth stories and talked about their babies and breast feeding trials and tribulations. It's amazing the variety in experience, size, development in a dozen babies born between 7 and 15 weeks ago. Some early, some late, some more or less on time.
It's really nice to have some company too, I have more incentive to get out of the house than when I'm on my own, especially with the crap weather we've been having.
Having fed for over an hour and been mostly asleep, I've just given him to Tob to get to sleep and now he's having the biggest hissy fit (Leon, that is). He sounds like a muppet being tortured.
Ahh quiet, Tob has definitely not lost his talent for settling Leon, right from the first night we brought him home. When I shared my birth story with the other mums, I had to say how much support Toby was to me during the Labour, I really think it wouldn't have been as quick without him to help me get the pushing bit so the energy was pushing Leon out rather than me screaming it out of my mouth, especially listening to the other women's experiences. I moan at Tob for forgetting to put out the recycling but when it comes down to it, he's there when it really matters.
I spent Monday and Tuesday doing a massive sort out of baby clothes prompted by a bundle of clothes coming from Sarah the Goth from Matthew. Over Christmas Leon well and truly grew out of all the newborn stuff and is in 0-3m and even some 3-6months - mostly bad sizing but some none the less. The living room had huge mountains of clothes, and it involved sorting out every thing so it could go on freecycle in a way that some poor sod didn't end up with as much as I did. When I'd finished I had two massive Boxes with carrier bags of assorted things from 10xplain white new born vests to Assorted newborn boys clothes. I split them into lots of bags and labled them so they could go on freecycle listed and people could say exactly what they wanted - there was so much, there's only so many scratch mits, tiny hats, knitwear etc a person can handle. Most of it's been picked up now mostly to two young couples, picked up by the grandmums. I still have masses of clothes and a massive Laundry bag of bigger stuff to come, plus I dare say I'll still get bits and pieces handed down from Matthew. I will ensure I keep my God Son well sorted for presents and cuddles :) I've got a really nice selection of new born clothes I'm keeping for when we have a go for a sibling for Leon - mostly unisex stuff in yellow, white, cream and green, but I've kept all the stuff that was most popular for Leon incase we have another boy.
Why chuckles the alarm clock? Chuckles is going to bed about 10pm and sleeping until 6.45am almost to the minute for the last few days. I think that's more or less sleeping through. He goes back to sleep after feeding for about 30mins and then we sleep until about 8-9am so I'm pretty much better off for sleep than I was when I was working full time (providing I go to bed by 11pm). I dare say, when he starts getting colds etc things will be different.

Another smile

Tonight I was cooking with Leon watching and while the sausages cooked I knelt down and played with him. I was laughing and making silly noises and he was very happy - he started to laugh and this time he actually made a small haha noise! Of course he was curious when I took the camera out, but he forgot about it when I chuckled and squeeked again and I managed to get a shot. It really makes me feel good and I laugh with pleasure when I see his photo :)

The shape of things to come

Ahhh, I came out of the kitchen to see this. A freshly bathed and in sleep gear Leon with his dad in front of the 'puter. 

ever wondered what would happen without a wrap?

Well Toby learnt the hard way. During our visit to the grandparents this afternoon, Tob changed Leon, replacing the disposable he had on with a reusable...without a wrap (plastic waterproof cover). We are still waiting for some nappies and don't have quite enough to last until the first lot are dry so we had to use disposables today. Toby misstook the one in the changing bag for an opportunity, forgetting the wrap wasn't there and happily put it on Leon. When we left, I picked him up still in his all in one coat and thought he felt a bit damp. When we got home, I took him out of his coat to feed him, I thought he feels very damp. Food was upmost on his mind so I fed him, then during a conversation with Tob he said he'd used the last nappy in the changing bag and it clicked, by which time I too had a big wet patch on my trousers and a very wet hand that had been supporting his bum. I of course, gave him to Tob to sort out and not only had he peed for britain during the afternoon but poo'd for europe too. and without the wrap it was on everything! Lesson learnt. 

Round to M&D first time after Xmas

It's been a while since M&D have seen Leon, so we went round today for Lunch. Christine had expressed this morning, so Nanna had the chance to feed him. He liked it :)



Grumps said this was a typical feeding photo - eyes peeking over a bottle :)

A smile!

Leon has started smiling :)

He'd given us a few grins in the last week, but this morning he was really laughing and I caught him on camera. Christine and I were singing to him and he just loved it :)

Back to work

I had a short week this week. Thursday and Friday. Still it was long enough! On Thursday I got some sympathy - people asking if I was ok now/how long was I ill for etc. On Friday I got the mick taken out of me, you know, "ooh, long week, perhaps you should take a month off to recover" :)
It was hard to get back into the swing of it, but after I'd made a (long) list of everything I had to do and started making calls and looking at code, I started making progress. Glad it was only two days though.

Goodbye Holland

It was hard work packing. We had soo much stuff - we'd made the mistake of going to Ikea, so we had a blue bag full of stuff, and we'd got a banana box full of Dutch food too. I had to pile the car high to fit it all in :)



The drive to the port was uneventful (although we did have to go back home after 5 minutes on the road because we'd forgotten to print out our booking number, sure they would have looked it up for us... wouldn't they?). The ship's huge when you're queueing on the dock and it comes in and bashes against the supports!
Anyway, all was uneventful until the queue started moving to board. I flicked the starter motor , but I must have released it too soon, 'cos the motor didn't start. And it didn't start on the next try or the next! Eeek! We tried pushing it, but I didn't realise that it should have been in gear - duh... In the end the port guys brought a portable battery, which kick started us and we got on board. No trouble since, so actually I don't think it was the battery - I think it was when I flicked the key that first time I jammed the starter motor. I'm glad we didn't have to push it up the ramp into the boat!



Goodbye Holland!