Category Archives: Parenting

3am is the loneliest time – Insomnia

3am is the loneliest time.

Too late to pretend you could be still up watching TV, too soon for even the earliest risers to be getting ready for work. The late night cabs dropping people home from their nights out have stopped and the distant din from milk floats or post vans is yet to break the silence.

At 3am it feels like you are the only one awake.

When my older son was about 3 months old and starting to occasionally sleep through the night I was hit in the face with a brick. The brick would strike in the middle of the night shocking me awake and into a blind panic.

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How to get your baby to sleep through the night?

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I was in the healthy child drop in clinic the other day and as i was waiting to get baby S weighed i was ear-wigging on the conversation another mum was having with the Health Visitor about her 6 month old daughter. It went something like this: –

Flustered Mum “So i leave the room and she just starts crying, so i wait 15 minutes before going back in but she won’t stop crying – should i wait even longer?”

HV “No you can’t leave a baby that young to cry for 15 minutes”

Flustered Mum “But the last Health Visitor i saw told me to leave her for 15 minutes? What do you think i should do then?”

HV “Well to me it sounds like she could be overtired – Have you tried bringing her bedtime forwards?”

Increasingly flustered Mum “No – i was told to try putting her to bed later as perhaps she isn’t tired enough”

HV “Well maybe it’s a hunger thing, maybe you need to up her solids in the day”

Very Irate and flustered Mum “She’s eating loads – everyone keeps telling me different stuff! How am i meant to know who is right?”

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To cut or not to cut? Long hair on boys

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So my eldest son F is getting referred to as a ‘she’ quite a bit lately; um well most of the time actually.

At the park yesterday and the results were as follows – Being called a she 3-0 Being called a he.

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On Foreseeing Death And Danger Everywhere

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We’re waiting on the platform and your hand slips from mine as the train rolls into the station

We’re playing chicken by the edge of the sea and a huge wave appears and sweeps you away from me

We’re waiting for traffic lights to change and the buggy suddenly rolls from my grip out into the road

We’re having a picnic and a frigging huge pterodactyl swoops down from the sky and snatches you back to her hungry babies

Ok maybe not the last one but does anyone else constantly play out these types of scenario’s in their head? I’ll be like happily going about my day when suddenly horrific events start unfolding in my mind and my grip will tighten and I’ll pull you a little closer. Sometimes they are down right ridiculous and I’ll have to have a quiet word with myself.

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Gender Disappointment – Can you be happy with two of the same sex?

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This is some thing that is close to my heart. As much as i try and take an objective view when i hear about people talk about being disappointed when they find out the sex of their baby at a scan, i can’t help but feel the anger start to bubble a little bit.

I can’t imagine going to scan and being told you are carrying a healthy boy or girl and feeling disappointment. Its heartbreaking to think that when some parents see their perfect baby, for one of the first times, the overriding emotion is sadness.

It seems to be that for some reason a lot of women are desperate to have a girl. In the majority of cases i read or hear about it’s often that the women in question is pregnant with a boy. I have two boys myself and here are some of the questions/comments i have had…

‘Oh i bet your hoping for a little girl this time round’ – nope

‘Would you have another so you could try for a girl next time?’ – nope i would only ever have a child because i wanted ‘a child’.

‘two boys – oh’ ?!?!?!?

It’s as if people expect me to be disappointed with my boys. That somehow my family is substandard as i don’t have the perfect set up of one of each.

how could i be disappointed?!

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Is it bad to not enjoy playing with your kids?

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I write this after a day being asked (told) for the umpteenth time ‘Mummy play cars with me!’

Sometimes the answer is no because i can’t. I’m putting the washing on, making the tea, feeding Seth or reading Heat magazine (ok that last ones not actually true, i wish it were!)

Sometimes the answer is no because i actually hate playing cars. Playing cars involves pushing said cars around the room going ‘brrrrrm brrrrrm’ and occasionally crashing into things. Playing cars is very fun to my just turned 3 year old – playing cars is mind numbingly dull to me.

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On Breastfeeding

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My second son turns 6 months old on Monday and he is breastfed. It feels weird to say that as i never imagined I would get to this point after a very different experience last time around.

When my first son F was born I had a terrible time trying to get feeding sorted. I was very keen to breastfeed but it was incredibly painful from the start, I had cracked and bleeding nipples that just wouldn’t heal. Unable to feed him directly we started on a exhausting cycle of pumping, bottle feeding and topping up with formula. When I had healed enough I tried to feed him myself but we just ended up back in the same boat. After two bouts of infectious mastitis and a miserable start to what should have been a very happy time I threw in the towel. I felt guilty but the sight of him happily drinking formula from a bottle meant i could finally relax. My boobs let out a sign of relief.

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Sibling rivalry – baby vs. big bro

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actually touching here

When I considered the challenges of having two children I thought about the sleepless nights, the extra laundry, the noise, the squabbles. Of course I thought about the jealousy too but I totally underestimated just how much this would affect our family.

Whilst I was pregnant with S I read F books on having a new baby. We talked about it a lot but its hard to say how things actually translate in the mind of a 2.5 year old who, thus far, has had the world revolve around him.

So when the actual day came for the two of them to meet Seth did the courteous thing of buying his big bro a shiny new fire engine. F eyed him suspiciously but was bloody happy with his new toy – everything was good.

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The smuggest user signature ever?

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I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a while, for myself to keep a record of the early years of my boys life’s and (hopefully) for others to read and take comfort from my amateur mum mishaps. I admit like most of us i muddle though and make mistakes but it’s not made easy by the smug mum that every NCT or toddler group clique seems to have.

I came across the below signature the other day on a popular forum and to be honest it made me want to do a little bit of sick in my mouth.

xxxx xxxx 2010 – 7llb 5oz & xxxx xxxx 2012 – 7llb 1oz. Hypnobirthed, EBF, Cloth bummed, BLW and a bundles of smiles.

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