Popular Post Davkaus Posted July 27, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 27, 2022 Caitlin is 7 months now but because of the degree of prematurity she's essentially 4 months, plus has some of her other health setbacks. Feeds every 4 hours, coupled with meds she has to take an hour beforehand, and quite bad reflux taking an hour to settle her means we get perhaps 2 hours in between finishing the last feed and getting ready for the next one. The best night's sleep I've had since she came home was when I went to Download, sleeping under a flightpath with pissheads tripping over my tent On the bright side the projectile vomiting is settling down a bit so we can work on tummy time a bit more and she's showing enough interest in wriggling along on her play mat trying to crawl that she's getting absolutely livid at not being able to do it. Getting there! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 15 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: This definitely helps. We do the whole curtains get closed, lights dimmed, read a story etc etc so he has plenty of cues that it's now bed time. We've been quite unlucky with sleep up until now so hoping the sleep training improves things. My only bit of advice would be... don't think it's now resolved It may well be, but young kids go through so many developmental changes and leaps and all the rest of it. Our first was a brilliant sleeper - after pretty much the same sleeping method you used - from 6 months onwards. Still is now she's 4 and a half. Pre-6 months, she wouldn't settle that well at all but you basically couldn't tell what was bothering her. We think she was probably suffering with colic but... yeah, who knows. We did the same method on our youngest, though, and it just didn't work in the same way. She slept through for a little while, but then broke out of it. She's now 2 and still wakes up most nights (maybe 2 in every 3) although only once and settles quickly afterwards. But that's absolutely fine compared to when she was around 1 and woke up anywhere from 5 to 15 times a night...! That lasted for about 2 months and I've never been as tired Makes you realise how important getting a "block" of sleep is compared to lots of little 20 minutes bursts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted July 27, 2022 22 minutes ago, Davkaus said: Caitlin is 7 months now but because of the degree of prematurity she's essentially 4 months, plus has some of her other health setbacks. Feeds every 4 hours, coupled with meds she has to take an hour beforehand, and quite bad reflux taking an hour to settle her means we get perhaps 2 hours in between finishing the last feed and getting ready for the next one. The best night's sleep I've had since she came home was when I went to Download, sleeping under a flightpath with pissheads tripping over my tent On the bright side the projectile vomiting is settling down a bit so we can work on tummy time a bit more and she's showing enough interest in wriggling along on her play mat trying to crawl that she's getting absolutely livid at not being able to do it. Getting there! Omeprazol solved Jack's reflux. You have to push for it a bit as they'll try a load of other stuff first like milk thickener and baby gaviscon and all that. But the only thing that worked was omeprazol. And it worked immediately 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 47 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Omeprazol solved Jack's reflux. You have to push for it a bit as they'll try a load of other stuff first like milk thickener and baby gaviscon and all that. But the only thing that worked was omeprazol. And it worked immediately We've been through the exact same journey up to the Omeprazole, slowly increasing the dose because it's helped, but come nowhere near to solving it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted July 27, 2022 Just now, Davkaus said: We've been through the exact same journey up to the Omeprazole, slowly increasing the dose because it's helped, but come nowhere near to solving it Ah fair enough, glad to hear you're on the journey though, it's horrible at the start when they're writhing around in pain. Hopefully the omeprazole sorts it eventually 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeVilla82 Posted July 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted July 27, 2022 1 hour ago, Davkaus said: We've been through the exact same journey up to the Omeprazole, slowly increasing the dose because it's helped, but come nowhere near to solving it We were exactly the same with our second. Had to push the GP to get Omeprazole, and it definitely helped but didn't solve them problem entirely. It was awful - projectile vomiting after every single feed, refusing to feed, tongue tie... Unfortunately, it only completely went at about 9/10 months when she was eating proper textured foods. I know that doesn't help when you're in the middle of it, but keep going - it will get better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 1 hour ago, GeorgeVilla82 said: It was awful - projectile vomiting after every single feed, refusing to feed, tongue tie... Yup, absolutely the biggest mental struggle we have right now - it's particularly frustrating because we've got so much pressure on to try to get some weight on her before winter viruses start flying around (she's in the bottom 0.05% for her age due to her bowel complications). It's awful at the best of times knowing she's in so much pain, and also spending an hour+ getting a feed in her, knowing a big chunk of it is coming back up, but the added stress of knowing a mild tummy bug is going to get her back in hospital for a few months isn't helping. The one saving grace is she's still got an NG tube so if she refuses the feed, we can still get it in her. I keep getting stopped when I take her out for walks with people thinking she's a brand spanking new baby. Nope, 7 months, mind your own business 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 An aside from my "woe is me", how did people get along with educational/development toys? I'm weighing up https://www.kiwico.com/panda and https://lovevery.co.uk/, be good to know if anyone has used them or anything similar and found it worthwhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 2 hours ago, Davkaus said: An aside from my "woe is me", how did people get along with educational/development toys? I'm weighing up https://www.kiwico.com/panda and https://lovevery.co.uk/, be good to know if anyone has used them or anything similar and found it worthwhile. I can't say that any type of toy really makes much of a difference. And as a father of 5 (five) I hereby proclaim myself the club captain of this thread! Our youngest (14 months) has got one of those activity tables with the wooden beads on wires etc, and he's hardly touched it to be honest. His favourite thing is pushing the buttons on my Garmin sports watch, but also getting books and sitting there and turning the pages himself. Our 9 year old has always enjoyed drawing and artisitic things right from being a baby, whereas the 16 and 7 year olds are much more into writing things down. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 Best thing I ever bought my lad was a whiteboard. He would just write and draw on it all day long. He still has one on his wall now he’s almost 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted July 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted July 27, 2022 9 hours ago, Stevo985 said: Started sleep training my 7 month old this week. Using the Ferber method, where basically you leave them on their own in their cot for a minute, then go back in and comfort them if they're crying. Then 3 minutes. Then 5 minutes. Then 10 minutes. And then repeat until they fall asleep. Monday was hard. An hour of him going mental and screaming before he eventually fell asleep, but he did it while I was comforting him which isn't really how it's meant to work. Then last night I was dreading it, but he only went and fell asleep during the 3 minute interval and then didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning. He's only slept through the night once before about 4 months ago. Couldn't believe it. Praying it isn't a one off! We're about to start doing this with our 7month old too. He has an ear infection in both ears right now so we haven't had the heart to start it yet. But will be interested to see how you get on with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_ian_taylor Posted July 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted July 27, 2022 3 hours ago, Davkaus said: An aside from my "woe is me", how did people get along with educational/development toys? I'm weighing up https://www.kiwico.com/panda and https://lovevery.co.uk/, be good to know if anyone has used them or anything similar and found it worthwhile. Don't know about those. Have heard Captain Calamaris is hood. Then there's also those blocks which have a load of different things on them, letters, numbers, pictures etc and some rattle etc - can't remember what they're called. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 Development toys? Disney+ fella My daughter is 2 and has a real mixture of stuff, loads of books, some puzzles, various toys where you put different shapes in different holes (anyone with a KW in the kids thread should be ashamed of themselves...) hard to say what works, with books I don't read the story I pinpoint various items in the pictures and just make my own stuff up, as a result she can say a lot of words, I developed it myself from me pointing at say an apple and saying "apple" to then saying "wheres the apple" and getting her to point at it and now on to me again pointing at it but saying "what's that?" that's really worked well and she can say far more in English than in German because my wife doesnt do it I've recently bought crayola colour magic and I love them nevermind her, they're brilliant Unfortunately nothing can compete with phones and tablets, not because I'm always on it and so she wants to copy me (which is unfortunately true) but when you look at what phones do it terms of the lights, noises, the interaction with the touch screen they are incredible things for kids so she has a couple of kids imitation things which she's not overly fussed by, she'll always try and grab a phone and watch videos on it, I get what risso means And I was only half joking about Disney... Me and my wife swore we wouldn't do it, we'd keep her away from the TV and not let her watch it but in reality if we want to stop her in her tracks, if my wife is alone with the 2 kids for example and trying to cook or we're doing something that we can't give her our full attention then we've found absolutely nothing that is as effective as the TV, if I want her to sit still on the sofa for 10 minutes without saying a word or without moving then an episode of baymax works better than anything I've come across, it's a horrible truth All that said you can do some of the baby cognitive tests yourself, as part of being premature my daughter got assessed at set periods and they did specific things which I'll try and remember, during the last one they tested her speech, they asked if she could say 40 words they'd chosen of which she could say around 20 - but these tests are **** stupid, for example they asked if she could say "cold" but not of she could say "hot" which to me is ass about tit - there was definitley one where they put a raisin in a jar that she couldn't fit her hand in to test of she turned the jar upside down to get it out, another was seeing if she could walk on tip toes, at 18 months they tested if she could undo a screw cap on a bottle (like I said **** stupid...) but if you can find out the tests then you just bend how you play with her to suit or find basic toys that will help her do it, one of them at around 1 is understanding when you've hidden something, like if you take a rattle off them and put it under the cushion do they understand thet can get it from under there, you can do that yourself with stuff you already have 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted July 27, 2022 1 hour ago, PieFacE said: We're about to start doing this with our 7month old too. He has an ear infection in both ears right now so we haven't had the heart to start it yet. But will be interested to see how you get on with this. Tonight I put him in his cot, he cried for about 30 seconds while I soothes him until He calmed down. I walked out and turned the monitor on and in that time he’d fallen asleep. He’s been asleep since. Im not taking anything for granted yet… but it’s going well! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 2 hours ago, Risso said: I can't say that any type of toy really makes much of a difference. And as a father of 5 (five) I hereby proclaim myself the club captain of this thread! Our youngest (14 months) has got one of those activity tables with the wooden beads on wires etc, and he's hardly touched it to be honest. His favourite thing is pushing the buttons on my Garmin sports watch, but also getting books and sitting there and turning the pages himself. Our 9 year old has always enjoyed drawing and artisitic things right from being a baby, whereas the 16 and 7 year olds are much more into writing things down. It's one of those things where I think "well I can learn from other people what they did and didn't find productive", but then I'll feel like a dickhead if I don't at least try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 On 27/07/2022 at 12:02, Stevo985 said: Yeah Jack's mom's friend is like that. Had her baby a week after Jack arrived and is constantly showing off. The funny thing is she's behind Jack in pretty much everything, but if Jack does something she ignores it, and then when her baby does it she doesn't shut up about it . Luckily me and Jack's mom don't really give a shit about comparing to other kids so we just find it funny. My daughter is 20 months old now, and we've find it kind of difficult to not feel like we're 'showing off' when with friends and family with her. She was walking at 9 months, sleeping for at least 6 hours straight from 3 months, and now she is 9 nights out of 10 asleep from 19:30 until 7:00...and even when she wakes up she just sits and plays in her cot! Friends with kids who have struggled, particularly with sleep, we often feel like we're treading on egg shells when the conversation goes that way, it's generally just a 'yeah she sleeps well, yeah' response! At the moment she is firmly settling in to the 'terrible twos' phase, lots of throwing herself on the floor over the slightest inconvenience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 At some stage it is best to just let them cry at nigt time. It's really hard, especially with your first child, but after a while they'll sleep through, and you'll be much happier, and so will they. Our one year old sleeps from about 8pm till 8am most nights now. (He says, guaranteeing a 4am screamathon). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 Don't be thinking tablets are bad for children, as did a friend of mine used to tell me. My lad has had a tablet since he was 3 and has learnt so much from it, he is now 7. Believe it or not, even things like Ryans world, which you would think is not really educational, a child can learn so much from. Countries, when they go on holiday, he told me where Paris was and what the Eiffel tower is, educational toys he plays with etc, while always listening to words, sentences and what they mean. You obviously have to keep an eye on what they are watching, , but to be fair we have never had to tell our lad not to watch something, as he has learnt what's for him, he even watches on normal YouTube now, not kids. Keeps them entertained too, gives you a bit of space, an would much rather him be on You Tube, than disappearing playing normal computer games, like, COD or Fifa. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancvillan Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 1 hour ago, foreveryoung said: Don't be thinking tablets are bad for children, as did a friend of mine used to tell me. My lad has had a tablet since he was 3 and has learnt so much from it, he is now 7. Believe it or not, even things like Ryans world, which you would think is not really educational, a child can learn so much from. Countries, when they go on holiday, he told me where Paris was and what the Eiffel tower is, educational toys he plays with etc, while always listening to words, sentences and what they mean. You obviously have to keep an eye on what they are watching, , but to be fair we have never had to tell our lad not to watch something, as he has learnt what's for him, he even watches on normal YouTube now, not kids. Keeps them entertained too, gives you a bit of space, an would much rather him be on You Tube, than disappearing playing normal computer games, like, COD or Fifa. Am currently taking a poo in peace whilst my 18 month old sleeps and my four year old plays a learning game on the iPad (daycare shut this week for holidays). It's bliss. Toys are a crap shoot - everything my oldest liked, my youngest has no interest. Tried everything from charity shop stuff to $500 Pickler Triangle. The key for us has been storage. Have 8-12 things for each kid in reach and tidy (so they know where it is) and rotate those things out, swapping one or two every week or so with stuff from the storage bins (that they can't see or access). We soon learnt what was "for keeps", and the fun of getting the train set (or whatever) out for the first time in months is something they love. Also unrelated but we have cameras in every room they have normal access to, so that means you can keep an eye on them while you flip the laundry or whatever. Just cheap Amazon IP cams, but they have made our life way easier. Your milage may vary since all kids are different. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 1, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 27/07/2022 at 22:31, Stevo985 said: Tonight I put him in his cot, he cried for about 30 seconds while I soothes him until He calmed down. I walked out and turned the monitor on and in that time he’d fallen asleep. He’s been asleep since. Im not taking anything for granted yet… but it’s going well! Update: he went backwards. Putting him to sleep isn't bad, in fact it's quite easy. He cries for a bit but he's usually so tire he just falls asleep. If he wakes up in the night though it's a different story. So hard to get him back to sleep using this method. He hasn't yet got over that leap of being comfortable in his cot on his own. He'll eventually fall asleep but it's just because he's so tired. The point of the method is to eventually make them comfortable with you not being there. Still persisting. We've had 2 more nights this week where he's slept all the way through until 6am at least. Which is unheard of for him. And the last two days when I've woken up he's been awake and chilling in his cot without crying which is a great sign Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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