Coffee Catchup - Brooklyn - 15th September

OHbaby! Coffee Catchup - Brooklyn - 15th Septemeber. Feel free to ask questions and Dorothy will reply when she can.

Don’t forget to use the code BABY14 to get $10 off your Countdown online shop when you spend over $100, and be in the draw to win a fantastic Countdown hamper worth $100”



Edited by skiltz - 03 October 2014 at 8:27am

Hi Dorothy
Thank you so much for imparting your knowledge to us on Monday. I got so many good tips and tricks out of it.It has helped me transition my DD 9mths out of breast feeding to sleep. We had been struggling with this for months with no success unless we rocked her which In Turn made her wake up when put back in the cot. We have done the feed to drowsy then take to her room and patt or rub her back till she settles and then hold for a period of time before putting in cot. This is working great considering it has only been 2 days. We have also put her in a sleeping bag now which is also going pretty well.
Now I understand it is still early days in the transition but when she wake in the night and I get up to resettle, she is alternating arching her back, throwing herself from one shoulder to the next and pushing me away for a good 10-15 mins before starting to settle down. Is there anything I could be doing to stop that or get her settling quicker. She's been doing this for the past few months.
TIA for any advise on this.
Lee

Edited by Guest_66092 - 17 September 2014 at 12:13pm

Hi Dorothy
Thanks for sharing your knowledge on Monday. I have few questions which I hope you don’t mind answering:

1. Our baby is 6 months next week and sleeps really well during the day (1 x 45 min and 2 x 1 ½ hours) so have never had to use a resettling technique during the day (and at night have simply fed him). However, he has always really struggled to stay awake for more than an hour once he’s up from his night sleep. This morning he managed 1 ½ hours before he fell asleep while I fed him. Unfortunately him wanting to go to sleep normally coincides with me needing to drop my older son off at Kindy and there’s no way I can keep our baby awake in the buggy/front pack etc i.e. he will go to sleep anywhere and he will not transfer into the cot when I get home so typically wakes after 45 mins if I leave him in the buggy. If I do manage to put him down in the cot he will sleep for 1 ½ hours. Do you have any tips for stretching this awake time out and/or tips for successfully transferring babies into their cot when asleep? And at your talk you mentioned putting your thumb under their chin, was this to keep them awake whilst feeding? If so, can you explain how to do this as I tried this morning without success.
2. On your General Guidelines table for Sleep, Play & Feeding routines you say for a 4-6 mth old baby their sleep pattern should be 8 – 10 hours at night. However, if you put them to bed at 7pm that means they’d be up 5am. Is this correct? Or do you mean they should be able to go 8-10 hours at night without a feed and then if they wake you feed them and put them back down? If our baby wakes before 6.30am I feed him and put him back down and he goes straight back to sleep and can sleep for another 3 hours or until I wake him. Should I be doing this? Could this be causing the issue above or could it be the time I put him down for the night i.e. was 9.30pm but last week I made this earlier so it’s now 8.30pm. If I put him down any earlier at night he’ll wake after 45 minutes and treat it as a day sleep.
3. Have you got any tips for not hurting your back while leaning over the cot to try to resettle your baby at night for up to 45 minutes? Do you literally keep going for 45 minutes or do you do it in bursts of 2 x 20 minutes or some other time frame? As soon as I try to resettle i.e. roll him on to his side and do the cupping thing he starts screaming, arching his back & reaching for me. Is this normal behaviour at the beginning of teaching them i.e. do I persevere through this as it breaks me so I have simply got him up and fed him after a couple of minutes!!
4. Should I be changing my diet to include the Natal Vitamins to improve the quality of my milk since quantity appears fine (he’s been exclusively breastfed until I started him on solids yesterday and he’s 9 kilos at 5 ½ mths).

Many thanks
Rachael     

Edited by Jetsetter - 19 September 2014 at 8:10am

Hi when you are going in at night you may be going in too early. When she wakes what noise is she making - is it off and on or constant. If it is off and on I would try and step back and see if she resettles - if she doesn't then interfere and help her back to sleep.

If this is too big a step then go into her room when she wakes and just watch her until you feel she needs your support to go back to sleep and then intervene.   

In my experience it takes approx 20 minutes for a baby to fall asleep so when they wake and need to go back to sleep it cant take that amount of time plus more. As you are getting her to resettle just change your technique slightly and see if that helps
Dorothy

HI this is where teaching him to self settle and resettle helps. So when he wakes from his daytime naps and they are less than 1 ½ hours it is worth taking the time to resettle.   Resettling is tough but it does pay dividends . The other option is to let him have a band aid nap in the mornings. I tend to do this at the end of the day, however you can do it in the mornings as well. A band aid nap is less than 30 minutes and it gives them just enough rest so that they are ready for their next wake up cycle.   At night it just avoids them being overtired to do their evening routine.


This is for when babies are being fed to sleep and you want to break the habit. I Have just posted this for another lady..

The guideline is that.   It is about encouraging and supporting mums to see what you are working towards.   Most of the babies that I work with at this age do 12 hours a night – ie. they go to bed at 7.00pm and get up at 7.00am. OR 11 hours 7pm to 6.00am.   Some babies are still doing a night feed at this age as well, however .   

The time you start the day does depend on you. IF he is waking at 6.00am I would probably start my day – but personally I would beencouraging a 6.30am to 7.00am wake up as well.

I tend to base my clock hours on a 12 hour day and 12 hours for night.

I also work ½ an hour either side of the times I am working towards as with babies you need flexibility

With resettling in the cot overnight - you can do this in arms as well, however if you are not resetting during his daytime naps then it will be harder to teach him how to stay asleep.   WHen resettling you stay with them until they have gone into a deep sleep so yes, it is back breaking but it does work, however it also depends on whether you are happy to feed him.   If you cannot resettle your baby then there are options - one you feed, two you do safe co sleeping or three you leave them until they go back to sleep. The last option is one I would not recommend at all.

Yes, breastfeeding mothers, do need additional vitamins and omega 3's as what goes into body goes into your milk - it just ensures that if you are running low that you are giving your body what it needs.   


Edited by DorothyW - 27 September 2014 at 8:13pm