All Night Long

Francis slept through the night for the first time! He had his last feed yesterday at 11pm and didn't wake for his next feed until 5:45am. When I woke up to feed him I was a bit confused and wasn't quite sure what was going on. I thought maybe I'd been so zonked for his 3am feed that I'd forgotten it (it wouldn't be the first time).

Francis obviously felt that waking once in the night wasn't quite enough stress for me, so he decided to have a bit of a puke-fest all over the duvet. He then took ages to settle - he wasn't crying, but he obviously felt that there were far better things to do than sleep at 6 in the morning. I left him to it and he eventually drifted off at around 6:45am.

I'm hoping that this wasn't a one-off and I can start to get a decent stretch of sleep at night. I've been sleeping in 2 1/2 hour stints since he came home, so after last night I feel like I've slept for a month!

Lisa xxx

A Hospital Check-Up

Today Francis had an appointment at Liverpool Women's Hospital to check his progress. I'm pleased to report that he's doing really well (not that I needed a doctor to tell me that). Graeme had taken the afternoon off work so that I didn't have to trek there on my own using public transport. We arrived early and thankfully didn't have to wait too long to be seen. Francis was weighed and measured by the nurses before we saw the doctor - he was smiling at them the whole time. The smiles disappeared when we saw the doctor though - Francis screamed throughout the consultation!

Francis tipped the scales at 9lb 13.5oz - a 1lb 1.5oz gain in less than 2 weeks. The doctor was really pleased with his weight gain and overall development. We discussed a couple of concerns (nothing major - just his reflux and the fact that he only wants to look to the right when he's on his back!) but the doctor felt there was no need for us to worry. We're to carry on giving Francis Gaviscon when necessary and if his neck "problem" becomes more noticable, the doctor may refer Francis for physio, though hopefully it won't come to that.

After the appointment we headed to the "feeding room" (and I use this term very loosely) to feed Francis. The feeding room was nothing more than a glorified utility room with a couple of seats and a changing mat in it. I was appalled that a hospital that claims to promote "breast is best" would have such poor feeding facilities and I'm actually considering writing to the hospital to complain. Both Mamas and Papas and John Lewis's feeding facilities put this one to shame. We were even interrupted twice by staff coming in to use the sink! I think next time I'll feed Francis in the foyer!

Afterwards, instead of heading straight home, we drove to Allerton to go for a coffee. Costa was packed with mums and babies so it was a bit noisy! In fact, I think Francis was the only baby who was asleep! Spending time in Allerton always makes me want to move house - I'm getting a bit fed up of our tiny 2-up-2-down. It's funny to think that Allerton is the area we really wanted to live in, but we just couldn't afford it and ended up in the much less desirable Anfield instead. Still, the property market round here is booming so we should make a tidy profit on this house and be able to move somewhere much bigger in a nicer area.

By the time we got home it was after 5pm and as you can see the busy afternoon was just too much for Francis.

Lisa xxx

Moses Basket Case

After several weeks of successful co-sleeping, it all went a bit pear-shaped. Francis became increasingly unhappy with the arrangement and ended up more unsettled than he had ever been in his moses basket. He was fussing at feeds, refusing to feed, screaming for ages and his reflux seemed worse than ever. Feeds were lasting forever and I was finding it increasingly difficult to settle him. Nights turned into an absolute nightmare which left me completely exhausted and I suspect Francis found it a bit knackering too. Something had to be done. So, four nights ago we started putting him to bed in his moses basket.

I suppose I should mention at this point that we started giving him a dummy a couple of weeks ago. I really didn't want to, but Francis was having trouble getting himself to sleep and had started sucking his thumb for comfort. It pains me to say it, but the dummy has helped immensely. Francis will let me put him down for naps during the day now, which gives me a bit of a breather. We only give him the dummy to help him settle and he usually spits it out once he's asleep, so I don't think we need to worry about him having a dummy addiction. And, so far, I've not noticed any effect on his breastfeeding. The infant feeding team at the hospital had warned me against giving him a dummy and I have read cases of babies developing nipple confusion which completely ruined their ability to breastfeed. Luckily, nipple confusion seems to have passed Francis by.

Thanks to the dummy, we have been able to settle Francis in his basket at bedtime. It wasn't easy at first - I spent much of the first night with my arm dangling over the side of the bed holding the dummy in his mouth - but I've noticed an improvement already. On Saturday night he refused to have the dummy and got off to sleep on his own, so hopefully the dummy is only a temporary measure. He's also been settling much quicker after feeds. He's still a three-hourly feeder, but feeds are much shorter now so not as draining on me in the middle of the night.

I'm hoping that this is the start of things getting a bit easier for me. I've definitely been getting a little extra sleep these past few nights and haven't been as tired during the day, though I do still use the mornings to catch up on the sleep I've missed. Once Francis goes longer between feeds I might actually start to feel like a human being in the morning!

Lisa xxx