hellosailor

I often find myself trying to burp soft toys. Or swaying like a nutter, trying to rock a cheese sandwich to sleep. Oh, and I frequently call my baby by my cat's name. Don't even have the cat anymore.

Our 5 month old baby has never been that into the bjorn bouncer, though I have found it useful for stuff like giving calpol and being able to gently lean her back! In terms of getting time to do other stuff while she sits in something, we have found a swing chair like the Fisher Price Aqua Take-along swing which we bought via the forum has bought a lot more hands free time than the bjorn, but I know other babies who love bouncing in the bjorn so as Yak says it does depend on the particular baby I guess. I would definitely get a second hand one via forum, ebay or gumtree rather than shelling out for a new one, as everyone says, they wash very well.

Following the 'should we bother getting a nappy disposal system' thread , thought it worth mentioning that If you use a nappy disposal system then a cheap way to buy the refill cassettes is through a company called Wrapooh who make much cheaper refills to fit the poplular systems like Tommee tippee sangenic and angelcare system, you buy them on amazon and it saves a lot of money! Having said that, our baby is 5 months and as we have not yet entered the territory of 'solids poos' we haven't found the disposal system we bought essential yet - a bin with a lid would work just as well for us at the mo - but we gather that sealing away the smell becomes more of an issue when they start to eat solids, so maybe the sangenic we bought will come into its own then! http://www.wrapooh.com/

Francine at Dulwich Therapy Rooms is great and does a lot of pregnancy reflexology

If you do decide to give it a go, Lizzie Lomax at Health Matters on LL is lovely

I think it also depends on how good the midwife is and, also literally,(sorry!) how long here fingers are! I had one at 40+1 and the midwife said I was 1cm and 50% effaced - no effect but some cramping and spotting. Had an attempted one at Kings at 40+4 where the consultant had, by her own admission, extremely short fingers, and she couldn't reach my cervix so wasn't able to do it. And then my regular midwife came round later on the same day, gave me a sweep and said that conditions were exactly the same, 1cm and 50% effaced so as nothing had moved on in 3 or 4 days then chances were that it could be a few more days to go....but went into labour half an hour later, so am fairly sure her sweep was responsible! Found them umcomfortable but not too bad. I know it varies a lot, but it you're finding it very uncomfortable they can stop immediately.

my gro-egg is reading 32 degs, hard to know whether it's best for the baby to stay in the house or go out. We have a fan pointing at cot but not sure how much effect it has in combatting 32 degs..::o

Thanks Ole, I had her checked out for ear infection a couple of weeks ago as she has just had a cold and was (and continues to) claw at her ears and cry, plus doesn't want to feed, seemingly because it hurts her to lie down in that position, or perhaps the action of suckling itself hurts, but as the doc said there didn't seem to be an ear infection I can only presume this is due to teething as all the above symptoms can mean either! Plus also has diarrhea which could be down to either! Wish she could talk and tell me!

Yes, yes, just as you say! We are having to cradle her to sleep and try to pop her down without waking her, but last night she wouldn't even go along with that and woke and screamed when we tried to pop her down even if we'd been holding her for ages and thought it was a sure thing! Relieved to hear it changed for you after a couple of weeks, but not so much to hear it got worse after a couple of better weeks! the wonder weeks stuff about big developmental leaps and the disruptions they cause says that if stuff goes haywire for a while - maybe even weeks - as you gear up to wonder week 19, then you may only have a couple of calmer weeks when things return to normal before things get disrupted gearing up for wonder week 26, the next big leap / growth spurt. Interesting with what you say about the timings with your daughter.. So do you mean that you had had several weeks of not feeding her at night at all when she was sleeping through, and are now feeding her several times a night? I haven't been attempting to feed her at night, partly because I sort of ruled out hunger as she has not fed at night for a lot of weeks, but maybe that isn't how it works? also because with the exception of last night, she was waking and crying frequently but going back to sleep pretty much as soon as we picked her up, I thought it was more likely to be sleep regression / teething than hunger, but who knows..?

sylviamaria, I could have written this post, exactly the sam has happened with our 18 week old daughter, also started 4 or 5 nights ago. She was going down fairly easily and sleeping about 7:30 - 7:00, and now screams for ages and doesn't want to go down, wakes crying at some point before her 10:30 dream feed which has never happened before, then wakes crying at 11ish and 2ish. then up early, as you say, at 5ish. The first couple of nights this happened, it was at least easy to pacify her at these wakenings and she went to sleep again very quickly, until the next wake up at least...but the last couple of nights when she wakes she is wide awake, battling going back down etc. This has come like a bolt from the blue and we are also shattered. The only thing different from your description is she is also acting different in the day, much more cranky and tearful, clingy, doesn't want to be put down, doesn't want to feed. Naps all over the place, now only ever falls into the lightest of sleeps and resists having them like crazy, plus they have got much much shorter. We assumed teething was the culprit but now I'm not so sure, as presume that would be accompanied by lots of crying when she woke, who knows...also very confused edited to say - also wondering if it's the dreaded '4 month sleep regression' but would have thought that would explain a baby waking up at different and more frequent times but not all the other stuff? Maybe it is developmental changes which are supposed to be huge at 4 months? whatever it is, it's the stuff of nightmares when you had a calm baby who slept well and had begun to relax into it!

Another thumbs up for Daniel Bevan at health matters, he's lovely

when is that window fuschia? Our baby is 18 weeks now and we stopped trying with the bottle about 3 weeks ago when she was poorly and haven't had the mental energy to start trying again. Is it worth persisting even now? Or should I just chalk it up as a no go-er with the baby and take the view that the next thing will be a sippy cup anyway?

other than the nuk latex ones I mentioned (not sure if you've seen my post above yours or if we cross posted) other friends have coaxed resistant babies with the mam bottles and also with the playtex drop-in system bottles. Playtex drop-in bottles you can get both latex and silicone teats with. Mam ones you can definitely get in the co-op pharmacy on LL and playtex I have seen in the chemist in Dulwich village and also I think other chemists on LL, maybe the vale pharmcay by EDT roundabout.

So frustrating for you F! last week my baby was 99% asleep having spent several cranky hours refusing to nap and I was just tip-toeing out of the room when Jehovah's Witnesses rang the doorbell and woke her up...:(

If the teat he's now rejecting is silicone you might want to try the nuk latex teats which are a different shape and softer, you can get them in Lloyds pharmacy on Northcross road (prob other local chemists too but there for definite) Sometimes babies will take these ones if they reject others, I've heard the same from lots of people and it's our own experience too. Ours sometimes take a small dream feed from this teat but wouldn't consider any other - and in truth is still more likely to refuse altogether, but if any success has been had with bottle feeding, it's been with a nuk teat. Hope he starts taking it again, I know how restrictive it is when it isn't an option as that's the situation we're in here!

Little h, poor you, hang in there, it is probably the peak right now at 6 weeks and will start to ease gradually soon. Gussy makes a great point about winding technique in the other thread that you resurrected.. 'Burp halfway through a feed as well as after. Become a master of your little ones anatomy! The stomach is located on the right hand side with bubs facing you. Its further down than you think. Experiment with tapping, rubbing, over shoulder, facing down on knee and patting' I know you've probably tried every different technique but we really found that rubbing quite hard with the heel of your palm, low down on the side of the back, (left hand of the back if looking at the back) quite near the bum almost, produced a bigger burp faster than patting higher up.) A few seconds of that could achieve what 10 minutes of relentless patting in the centre of the back would often fail to...

Yes, I've never noticed an increase in feeding which is what I am always on the look out for! in fact, I couldn't say I've ever actually identified a growth spurt as it happens, other than maybe looking back retrospectively when my baby has grown out of babygros etc, and thinking 'well, she was crankier last week' or whatever. JennyH, my daughter is also 17 weeks and a lot of the stuff in Fushcia's link is spot on for her too - sucking thumb way more, even unlatching to suck it furiously, loss of appetite, crankier, sleep disrupted, naps all over the place, whimpering for no reason in a way I haven't heard before...hope it passes soon!

Supergolden88 have you found snufflebabe (vicks ointment for babies) helps at all with blocked nose? I also noticed the other day in chemist that you can get a plug-in room vapour thingy to relive congestion for babies?

Not sure how reliably the referrals to Claire Kedves /joanne are working at the mo - I was referred by my GP for breastfeeding help and to check out possible tongue tie a couple of months ago, plus backed up the official referral by leaving an answerphone message for them myself at the same time (as suggested by GP) and heard nothing back from either route. Since heard from a friend that Claire is on sabbatical, though from memory I think it was June she was supposed to be returning so maybe things will be running more smoothly. I've been told by several people including the HVs at Townley Rd clinic that there is a great midwife called Anna at the Rosendale Rd breastfeeding drop-in clinic who is apparently fab at helping people over breast feeding probs and also, worth mentioning, an expert at spotting tongue tie for babies that may be relevant to. Just googled and found these contact details..seems like maybe a good option if Claire Kedves not possible at the mo Breastfeeding drop in- Rosendale Children?s Centre ( Rosendale school), Rosendale Rd, SE21, Weds 10-12pm, Tel Anna on 07791404502 x

supergolden88 he is so sweet! You could forgive that face a lot of night wakings! (doesn't make it easier at the time I know, mini sailor is teething already and is only 4 months so god knows how long before a toothy peg actually pops out...:()

thanks everyone, will take at look at these! And thanks for offer jollybaby, if we decide to go for that one may pop round and check it works in parent facing mode!

Hi Ruth, Spare batteries for tens machine - you don't want it running out!! Eye mask / ear plugs for ward - they claimed there was no way of turning of the lights on my headboard, but after pressing hundreds of buttons I managed to get them off! the infamous bendy straws for labour!

...thought I's start a new thread so as not to hijack snowboarder's one. (I also tried to get the bee raincover on yesterday, gave up, put mini sailor in sling and held an umbrella) Like JennyH I'm looking into what to get for a sunshade - I was thinking of getting the shade a babe style one rather than a sun hood style one, but as I currently use a muslin to block out stimulation and get her to go to sleep as much as for a sun shade, is that still going to be poss if I have a proper shade a babe? i.e, they may be sun protected but surely they can still see out of the shade a babe so very much wakey wakey rather than sleep inducing muslin?! Would you peg a muslin over the shade a babe? Or better to go for a hood style sunshade and peg a muslin off that as you would the normal hood of your buggy? Sorry to be so tedious, so early in the day!

Kalamiphile I have to do the dream feed at 10:30 as my baby won't take a bottle from her dad, but have recently stopped staying up for it, and now go to bed at 9, sleep for an hour and a half and set alarm for 10:30, do 20 mins feed then back to sleep by 11ish. I find this easier than if I didn't do it and had to wake in the early hours to do a feed instead. (mind you sometimes have to wake in the early hours to re-settle her anyway, even though she doesn't need feeding!!)

Thanks Buggie, we're going to keep going with the shush patting and I was already looking into a white noise machine - we have a slumber bear already which has setting for heartbeat, waves, rainfall etc, but the thing is the loop is only 5 minutes and then it cuts out, and then you have to punch slumber bear in the head to get him going again with the movement sensor. And given that the sudden cutting out of the white noise startles your baby awake every 5 minutes, I can vouch for the fact that you really do want to punch slumber bear at that point. ;-)