kam1

Hi. This is the first christmas that my sons are at a nursery instead of a childminder and I am just wondering if people buy christmas presents for the keyworkers that look after their children? Obviously with a childminder it is easy as you only have one present to get but at the nursery they seem to have a number of different carers looking after them throughout the day and it would seeem unfair to just buy something for their designated keyworker when in fact all the staff seem to help out but that would mean buying about 8 presents!

I also have a 4 month old boy and his sleeping patterns are very similar - fortunately 2/3 times a night rather than 6 times! He used to wake a lot more when we were cosleeping but since moving him out to his own cot in his own room a few weeks ago he has improved (I know some people would not think 2/3 wakings a night is an improvement but he is exclusively breastfed as he refuses to take a bottle so I feel we have come a long way compared to a month ago). He does not go down until 9/9.30 pm and if we are lucky will sometimes sleep until 2.30/3.00 am but most nights he will wake up around midnight for a feed, again at 3/4am and and again around 6/7am. He does go back to sleep straight after a feed but I would love to cut it down to 2 feeds rather than 3, I really think he doesn't need the midnight feed and like your boy doesn't always feed for very long, he is just used to being fed back to sleep. I know I probably need to let him cry a bit before running to feed him every time he wakes up, worked with my 20 month old when he was a similar age but he was taking full bottles by then so I knew he wasn't hungry, with this one I never know if he is genuinely hungry. He also is not hungry when he wakes up so he does not need all those nighttime feeds. We don't really have a routine during the day, I still feed him as and when, usually when toddler is not demanding my attention. My little one also has a constantly blocked nose and teething has started as well, had his first dose of calpol at the weekend and that knocked him out for 6 hours! So no real advice but just to let you know we are in a similar situation, I think we probably need to be a bit tougher before we see a real improvement, just need to be in the right frame of mind to do that. However I thought it would be really difficult to get him out of our bed and in the end he didn't complain too much so I know trying to cut out the midnight feed is the next step.

I find detinox good as well but it doesn't get rid of it completely. Last year when my other son had it my sister got rid of it one weekend when she was around by putting olive oil on his scalp and scraping it off with a very fine tooth comb, looked awful for a while but it worked!

I got some in one of the florists in lordship lane last year, bonnies flowers I think.

I feel your pain too, my 3 month old exclusively breastfed baby has got worse at night over the past month waking up several times. He was very good the first couple of months and only waking up once or twice but now he is more alert things have gone downhill. When my other son was around 4 months we had to resort to controlled crying (with great success) but he was mostly bottle-fed by then so we knew he wasn't hungry and had the confidence to let him cry out a bit. This one as I mentioned on another thread refuses to take a bottle so I dont know if he is genuinely hungry or not, I suspect a lot of it is for comfort but I am not ready to go down the controlled crying route yet, we are also co-sleeping which doesn't help. I am a lot more relaxed this time round and not so worried about establishing a routine as I guess I know it will happen at some stage however the sleep deprevation is finally getting to me and I need more energy to deal with toddler and baby during the day.

thanks nunheadmum, I suspect he will not take to the playtex drop-ins either so might not bother even trying these. The only time he remotely lets a bottle near his mouth is when he is distracted by putting him in front of the tv or walking around with him but he still never sucks on it. I will try bringing a bottle of formula with me the next time we are out, it breaks my heart to see expressed milk being wasted - although my 19 month old has polished off a couple of bottles so not entirely wasted!

thanks tiddles, can I ask did she take to it straight away or did it take some persuasion?

My almost 4 month old exclusively breastfed baby is totally refusing to take a bottle since I tried a few weeks ago. I have tried almost all types of teats/bottles except for the playtex drop-in bottles which have been recommended on previous threads on this subject. Does anyone know where I can buy these bottles locally? I can't see them in any of the chemists I have been to. Also if anyone has a baby that started off flatly refusing all bottles but gave in eventually I would love to hear if there is light at the end of the tunnel - I love breastfeeding my baby but he is a big boy and for the past month has been waking up every couple of hours at night for a feed and I'm hoping if I can get a bottle of forumla or ebm into him before bedtime it might keep him going for a bit longer and give me a bit of a break. I had planned to breastfeed up to 6 months before going back to work but now don't know how I am going to be able to leave him with anyone if he won't take a bottle. Thanks.