And I tell you what, not eating wheat makes a hell of a difference. Still feeling quite aargh "at times" but nothing like the agonies of Monday night. That and the Gaviscon!
And we apparently have won £9 on the lottery. Which makes up for the last 6 months of investment, I'd say.
Nothing happening with sprog of note. Oh, I got some of what Polly had verbally described as "Venal cream" (!). turns out to be V-Nal cream and it's got horse chestnut in amongst other stuff and it's supposed to be good for your legs, but you are supposed to rub it in 3 times a day, which is a bit much. It smells very strange too. Still, we'll see what it's like after a few days.
Read a thing in the Grauniad this morning about babies sleeping through the night. A (male) doctor was quoted as saying that he didn't see what all the fuss was about and that babies should be allowed to wake up in the night for as long as they wanted. Perhaps he would like to be subjected to long-term sleep deprivation?
Our curtains are to light - thin, I mean. Tthis must be one of the reasons I keep waking at 5-ish. Although last night got to sleep around 11.40 and managed to sleep through till 6.40 before tossing and turning for another 2 hours. Just about managing to be able to sleep on my side now. Takes me far longer to drop off but it's not as bad as it was. Anyway, I think we might have to get a different pair of curtains. I can't go through the whole summer knackered!
The best advice I was ever given for dealing with night times was from an old GP friend of mine and his wife - who had two wonderful teenage kids. They said whatever you do, not make it a wonderful fun pleasant experience for the baby. When he/she wakes up for a feed do not turn on the lights, do not make a big fuss of him/her, just feed, change nappy, put baby back in bed. Just do it quickly and quietly and make it clear that this is not time to get up and enjoy him/herself. Baby will then not begin to think "hurrah, got mum out of bed, let's play" and you'll find that the whole sleeping through thing comes pretty quickly. I think it took us about 6 weeks.
The other thing I observed is that routine is key. Friends who put their babies to bed whenever, didn't follow a routine, had alot more problems. We stuck to bath, feed, bed at a particular time (unless circumstances forbade it) and that helped alot. After the bath, don't get them up again to play.... bath means their bodies relax and they quickly associate it with feeling clean and snuggly and getting into PJ's and going to bed immediately. If you get them up again for a while they don't associate it so well with the need to go to bed, they will forget and it'll be just like any previous feed during the day and it'll be harder to settle them.
When they're newborn they don't, obviously, have a routine and you will be knackered, there's no avoiding that. And it will seem like it will never end!! But something I found worked very well was not to put him to bed at 7pm - have him sleep for 3 or 4 hours then wake up for feeds right at the point when I was ready to crash out myself, and then again at 2am. They only sleep short bursts to start with so put them to bed when you go yourself, then you are guaranteed 3 or 4 hours before the next feed, then a few more hours until morning. As they begin to sleep longer, bring bedtime forward. Memory recollects that babies tend to have the 6-10pm grouches anyway. I remember G taking him downstairs to his office off my hands to let me chill while he screamed bloody murder for no reason whatsoever. Other than that newborns scream for only 4 reasons: Hungry, Need Nappy changing, Wind, or Tired -- remember these things and you'll have few problems!
Posted by: katie at July 2, 2003 04:52 PM