Category Archives: Sleep

Sleep patterns in babies

Second babies and the benefit of hindsight

25 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Family, Motherhood, Sleep

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I write this with a baby strapped to me, sleeping in her baby wrap. This is something I would never have done with my first baby, now aged four. In fact, it’s just one thing in a long list of “don’ts” that I think would have made life with my first born a heck of a lot easier.

New baby

I remember as a new mum first time around constantly being told that it gets easier. “When she gets to 12 weeks old you’ll have a routine,” “She’ll sleep through the night by the time she’s six months”, “The wind issues will stop once she’s a bit bigger”. Looking back, I spent a lot of those early days looking for magic answers to situations deemed as problems – by me and others.

As a second timer I have the benefit of hindsight. If my baby is struggling to nap then that’s OK – I just put her in the sling. In fact, napping hasn’t been a “problem” because I’ve not put a ban on the baby sleeping anywhere other than her moses basket. First time around I was so concerned about setting up bad habits that I agonised over letting my baby fall asleep on me, or in the pram, or anywhere else for that matter.  Continue reading »

Blogger Bump Club Week 19 #BlogBumpClub

18 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by in Pregnancy, Sleep

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Blogger Bump Club

You know what they say about not properly missing something until it’s gone? In the case of pregnancy that’s been true with wine, pate and my favourite cheese. But the one thing I’m realising that I miss more than anything else at the moment is a good night’s sleep.

I can handle the regular nightly toilet trips and the inability to get comfortable with a huge nine month bump. But my reserves of stamina are well and truly depleted when it comes to dealing with my snoring husband or wakeful child.

Last night we had one of the worst nights we’ve ever had with Frog. Apart from one particularly bad night when she was about six weeks old and had terrible wind, and another when she was teething at around eight months, I don’t think there’s been a worse night. Even when she was a baby and waking regularly for milk she would still snooze in between feeds. Last night was different though.  Continue reading »

The child who won’t sleep

11 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Sleep

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Sleep

Sleep is a funny thing. You don’t appreciate its value until it’s gone. It was a shock, for example, to experience that all-encompassing tiredness that came with having a newborn. Not knowing when you’d be able to get more than a couple of hours sleep at a stretch was mentally and physically draining. It was, hand on heart, the one thing I found hardest about those early baby days.

And then came the emotive side of sleep. The side that you’re totally unprepared for pre-motherhood, where random strangers ask if you have a “good baby” and you come to understand that babies who don’t sleep through the night do not come under the “good baby” category. I was always reluctant to label my baby as “bad”, so I would get defensive about her sleep or, sometimes, just tell an out-and-out lie. “Yeah, she’s slept through the night since she was 6 weeks old. Total dream baby. The best. My baby wins at being a baby.” Continue reading »

Brother Max Bunny Nightlight – keeping the goblins away

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Sleep

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Review

My toddler is a bit of a pain when it comes to bedtime. There is the odd occasion when she pops into bed without a peep, but battles at bedtime are also a regular occurence in this house. One of the main reasons she gives for “NOT sleeping now Mummy!” is a fear of the dark. So, step up the Brother Max Bunny Nightlight.

Frog already has a nightlight in her room. Plus, she sleeps with the door ajar so the light from the landing peeps in. But, on evenings when she really doesn’t fancy giving in to her tiredness, these sources of light are no help. Something changed last week though. And I’m putting it down to this little beauty:

Brother Max Bunny Nightlight Continue reading »

The accidental co-sleeper

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Sleep

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When I was pregnant, I remember being thrust a variety of information leaflets, all of which I read studiously before putting to one side. Some leaflets told me about breastfeeding, others told me about sleeping and yet more told me about weaning.

They all claimed to be the “right” and “only” method that any sane parent should follow.

Of course, when my baby arrived in the world I realised that no leaflet had the answer to every question – and it was very likely the leaflet in the GP surgery wouldn’t match the leaflet at the baby massage class or the leaflet at the breastfeeding support group or the leaflet at the baby sensory session.

They all disagreed, because they were all written by people with a different background and approach to the role of being a parent. Continue reading »

From cot to bed. And almost back again.

07 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Sleep

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This is the sight that greeted my husband as he went to wake our almost-2 year old daughter this morning. It’s a blurred picture, completely out of focus. This is because he was shaking with fear as he took it.

I blame the wee.

The stench of it, apparently, was rather strong. There were patches in at least three corners of the room.

Last night was the first night Frog slept in her cot, without the prison bars on, you see. Despite sleeping in a proper bed on our trip to Devon, the novelty of being in her own big girl’s bed was clearly too much to handle. Continue reading »

Escaping the prison

19 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Sleep

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With her second birthday just 6 weeks around the corner, it’s fair to say my beautiful Frog is no longer a baby.

Despite her inability to confidently walk unaided (although we’re getting there, step by step) my girl is feisty, chatty, independent and extremely bossy. She certainly isn’t the tiny, helpless little bundle we brought home from the hospital.

Which means – we think – that she’s ready for a bed.

The whole “moving from cot to bed” is yet another milestone that parents can become obsessed by. On the scale of riveting conversations, the discussion about my daughter’s bed readiness ranks pretty low (about a 1 or 2 I guess) and isn’t something I’d expect anyone other than myself to give two hoots about. Continue reading »