Ruth_Baldock

Ooh, me and Tiny Man are up for this! He's wearing a t-shirt for the very first time, would be nice to get him and it out of the house! I have a bugaboo bee (well, who doesn't really?) and a 16 week old who is a little porker. I look sort of bewildered and tired a lot of the time but most notably today I have my rose print cardi on (minus babby sick thus far, but it's early yet!) so if you see me wandering around looking lost, do give us a shout... Hope to see some of you later!

Making friends with other Mummies reminds me of being about 3 and in Kindergarten 'Do you wanna be my fweeeeeeeeeeeeeend?' Nice to see I'm not the only one out there! Well done on your stalking skills, guffling ;) It's all very 'missed connections'.

Can't really fault picasa, think its somehow linked in with gmail if you want it to be? Alternatively there is flikr and photobucket...

I am so excited about meeting all of you :) DH said it was like I was going on a first date...my last 'first date' was bloody years ago and I wouldn't know what to do if I *was* in that situation again. Anyway, promise not to waggle my eyebrows at anyone and say 'Get yer coat, you've pulled!' or any other witty and charming comments like that.

Hello again everyone. Well! Baby Baldock is so strongwilled that CC does NOT work in the slightest. We've moved his cot out of his room and at the foot of the bed and today all his naps were in said cot and last night he slept for 2 hours straight in the thing, before coming into our bed (fell asleep after the 2am feed...whoops). We're hoping to build on this until 2 hours turns into 3, then 4 and so on. I don't mind getting up to feed him once in the night if he quickly settles back into his own cot. After a few months, we'll move him into his own room I think. It was very nice to have those 2 hours without him the bed, got to cuddle DH (normal working hours have resumed- 9-5pm GET IN!) last night for the first time in MONTHS. Aw. I followed Pecanpie and Snowboarder's advice, putting him down for naps/sleep when he was still awake and not asleep and he did settle himself quite happily, after a good feed, which is most excellent. His naps are only lasting around 30 minutes, as opposed to 1.5-3 hours, but maybe it's a case of little and often? Thanks again everyone for your advice, comments and experiences; lets hope CC doesn't become necessary :/ The only night we did it was horrifying for both of us and I am still a bit of a nervous wreck over it, tbh. We're weaning in 2 1/2 weeks too, and i have heard this can sometimes help with getting more sleep. My Mother told me I was expecting too much, hoping he'd go from waking so frequently to sleeping 7pm-7am in a week or so, and I think she's probably right...

Thanks everyone for your advice and comments. I must sound very harsh to a lot of you, but I am literally at my wits end with this because, as I have mentioned in another post, DH works all. the. time, (leaving at 7am and not getting back 'till 11.30pm some nights). I'm caring for my son entirely on my own for the most part and the lack of sleep is making this impossible at the moment and DH doesn't really help much when he's being demanding in the middle of the night. (Me and DH not bessie mates over this issue at the moment...) I used to be able to comfort feed him straight back to sleep, but recently he's been wide awake after a feed and will NOT go back to sleep. So, as you can imagine, I have had ENOUGH and somethings got to give. Last night he was back in our bed again and woke himself up by thrashing around against my back. if he had been in his cot at the end of our bed, this wouldn't have happened! ANYHOO, must go and entertain child now. He's currently chatting to himself under his playgym. If he wasn't so lovely, I'd have lost my mind a long time ago... He has a very good and predictable naptime routine, thankgod, except the timings of the naps have been a bit off over the past fortnight...odd. When he's really tired, even a 3-4 hour nap won't sort him out and he wakes up grumpy, and doesn't stop being grumpy even after a feed. however, i tried CC last night and it failed in a huge way. Tiny Man cried hysterically and took a good hour to calm down; he seemed to keep remembering what had happened and would become inconsolable again. Sigh.

I've got Gina Ford's book (got it when Tiny Man was 2 weeks old and I was BESIDE myself) but it just didn't 'feel' right. I have heard good things about baby whisperer though and have just bought it on amazon. He HAS slept through about three times, so I know he can go from 12-7 without a feed, and the Health Visitor gave us the go ahead- his last feed of the night is breast and then 90mls of aptamil which, if undisturbed, gets him through (i.e. if DH works through the night and it's just me and bubs in the bed, thus more room). He's definitely waking up because he's squished etc. Oh god, can hear him crying. I haven't been to synagogue in years but feel the need to say a little prayer...

Snowboarder, was hoping you'd reply! I want to try out CC and 'doing it on our own' before getting a proper professional in (also, am a bit skint...). Saying that, a friend from Uni is making a documentary about parent's with babies aged 10months+ who are having sleep problems, and the participating parents get weeks of free guidance/advice from a professional! If only Tiny Man was 6 months older...

Okay folks, tell me about your experiences of using controlled crying. After observing Tiny Man's behavior over the past five nights I can conclude that he is waking up: -To comfort nurse; he's not actually hungry (his 'low' weight totally sorted now that we're mix feeding- he put on well over a lb in one week- from 12lb 5oz to 13lb 10oz!!!!) -To kick and thrash around (we're still co-sleeping and all get in each other's way) The worm has turned! DH said he was thinking of buying a king sized bed to fit us all and I thought 'You know it's getting ridiculous when you have to buy a bigger bed because of your baby'. Tiny Man is also really grumpy in the day because of the broken sleep, too. Sometimes, he'll be exhausted and will be grizzling, and then will sleep in the day for 4 hours at a time, which was normal when he was a newborn but he's not anymore! I am determined to make this work. I WILL get a good night's sleep in the next month, even if it nearly kills me getting there.

Bit far out, but Kiddicare in Peterborough is like the Ikea for baby stuff. We got our pram there, you can try them out and the staff really know their stuff! They seem to have some kind of perpetual sale, too.

I was planning a homebirth with Baby Baldock, through Peckham Way midwives, and my care kept being transferred to Newington Green midwives because of lack of cover in the area- I imagine if Oakwood MW couldn't keep you on their books, so to speak, they'd arrange for your care to be transferred. The days before Baby Baldock was born, though, NO ONE had homebirth cover, and he ended up being a proper crash c-section at Kings anyway, but there wasn't any cover...anywhere (he was born 'round Xmas though...)

Woof, at the moment I get called 'aaaaaahahahhhhh raaaaaaaa' as those are the only noises he can make. However, he does also go 'ahur hur hur' in a laughing manner whenever he sees me, because thats what he does when he gets a feed. Evidentally, I am a dairy cow in his eyes and nothing else. I even know a woman whose kid calls her 'Milkies' for the same reason I just eluded to....

Molly, would that be the classic that goes: Wind the bobbin up, wind the bobbin up, pull...pull...clap clap clap. Wind it back again, wind it back again etc? Used to sing that to my littlest brother when he was a baby (he's almost 14 now!) aw.

snowboarder; no idea. apart from pooper (obvious) the others have all caught on somehow. personally, my mum has never called me by my actual name, and called me ruby ru from the moment i was born, despite being registered as 'ruth'. mad.

After today's bath saga (oh god, pooh in the bath. IN THE BATH! IN HIS HAIR! Yea gods...) I realised I very rarely call Baby Baldock by his actual name (Sebastian). He goes by the following alias': -Seb Bub -Sebby One Sock -Bubs -Pooper -Littlest man. What pet/nick names do your little (or not so little!) one's go by?

I could swap him for a new washing machine, or...cat, or something. No?

Ant: Very true. However, the 'sharing' part of me always considers freecyle, too...

Oh, I tell Seb quite often 'That's IT! You're going on EBAY RIGHT NOW!' and the tone of voice normally makes him stop crying for a bit. Sometimes, to mix things up, I mention putting him on gumtree too. I know how to have a laff, and don't say I don't...

The mag! I am well confused about the whole supper club thing (duurrrr, post pregnancy brain melt...) what is it exactly? DH has been instructed to be home at 6pm ON THE DOT, he can bloody well take over from then on. Really looking forward to it, haven't been out on my own since I was 35 weeks pregnant! (Mid november!!!!) Can make it for 7pm onwards so 8 is puuuurfect. Ryedalema, sick on shoulder is all the rage. I am currently sporting a (black) cardi with the same thing. Mmmm, lovely. Also coming to a couture showroom near you; baby wee on jeans from where Little Baldock likes to make 'fountains' when I change him.

Awwww, you guys *blush* Everyone is so lovely. Yes, it's incredibly hard but I'm sort of used to it, and Sebastian is going through a hilarious stage (laughing at shoelaces and his own farts, lovely) at the moment and is great company. He is always up for lots of cuddles and because we co-sleep, I take him upstairs with me at about 8pm and he snoozes/plays with his feet and snuggles with me in bed whilst we watch TV. We do have the odd screaming evening, when I am tempted to put him on Ebay, but overall he's a good baby and makes things easy for me. We go out all the time, keep ourselves busy. This time next week, DH will be finished with his nasty workload and will be under my feet, asking for cups of tea (ha bloody ha, matey) and playing with Seb/giving him his bath and all will be well. Now, if we can just get him to sleep through (but that's another story!) But thanks to everyone for being lovely as usual, it's nice to read such supportive comments when Seb is napping :)

We have two: Our 'big' pram is a jane slalom pro, very good and sturdy but stupidly heavy and we live on the second floor (no lift!!!) and I had a c-section and it still hurts to push it about. However, it did come with a carseat that lies flat, so it's like a travel system. Our second pram, the one I use, is the bugaboo bee and I LOVE IT, can't fault it at all. It weighs about 7kg and doesn't hurt me when I push it around, and Bubs seems to like it too (he slept in it all the way from our place in SE5 to Guildford via a 'big train' from waterloo last friday, so must be comfy! I think the chameleon is worth the money because of the different 'modes' (newborn carry cot etc) but have heard they're very very bulky and difficult to steer sometimes.

I know, Keef, I knooooooooooooooooow :( It's not faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair. Basically, DH is a post-production supervisor on films, and tings. He owns his own business (Do NOT get me started on this!) and everyone in the company works the hours they have to to get the job done. When we first met, he wasn't nearly as busy and goes through months of having nothing to do, then BAM, all of a sudden they have a fortnight to complete a whole film. It sucks. And when Bubs was 'made' (around this time last year!) he had three months 'off' so...er...lots of spare time??? I never know when he's going to be mega busy and at the moment, he is mega busy and it's awful :( Either way, I can't do the whole pregnant and having a newborn thing again whilst being almost alone. I can't do it, and I won't do it. Sad times.

Initially, I always said I wanted three. My son is 15 weeks old now and I think he may be the last one we have :( Not because it's hard, it is but it's easier to deal with now, but because DH *promised* he would cut back on his insane working hours once the bubs came along, but I find myself being alone with the baby for 18 hours a day, seven days a week (Not even joking here, wish I was!!!!). I don't think I could cope with two or three kids under these 'conditions'.

I second Latitude- they have a bedtime story hour! We are going to try and go with Bubs Baldock this year.

I was going to walk down to the one in Peckham on Thursday and hope I don't start crying and sobbing 'Heeeeellllppp meeeeeeeeee'. It's so ironic because I used to have a problem with over-supply and Baby Baldock was on the 75th percentile for so long. Now? Not so much. Poor bubs! And...er...not to sound selfish but we apparently should be waking him every 2-4 hours for a feed and JUST before he got ill, he'd finally started to only wake up once in the night. I know it's the best thing for his health and all, but really do feel like the Parenting Gods are having a good old chuckle at my expense.