4month baby boy in our room but husband starts work at 4am!

[loustar]

Hi all, I'm new to gns, borrowed the book from a friend but like it so much I'm buying my own copy and the other book you guys mention here !

Russell is our second child, amber is our first, she is now almost 5 and has her own room. The plan is to move them in together when he is sleeping well. In the meantime, Russell is in his cot in our room, and as my husband starts work at 4am, and daughter gets up for preschool at 7.30 i am wondering how I can build a routine for him. I don't have a spare room, but I do have a sofa bed in the lounge us parents can use.

i had lots of sleepless nights with amber, but despite me feeling terrible due to the lack of sleep I had, I managed to breast feed her til she was two. She was a terrible sleeper and still gets up out of bed some nights. pity shes too old to start this on her! I used the reassurance technique to get her to finally sleep through, at 1months,it worked but couldn't be used until much later on. She is also the pickiest eater I know. I put this down to her not sleeping properly, and I puree weaned her. I plan to use baby led weaning this time, I didnt discover this until after I'd weaned my daughter. I would like to try to breast feed my son the same length as I did my daughter, unless he self weans earlier,but I am worried about gns stopping me from feeding him at night. I have done some breast feeding peer support training and we are told that u produce more prolactin at night and therefore night feeds are vital. I suppose I could express in the evening, but I was wondering if anyone had completed the cure and still gone on to feed til baby's toddlerhood?

I still have lots more reading to do but am thinking about starting the cure the weekend after the first week of the summer holiday. i will be doibg the cure pretty much alone, as my husband has such weird workibg hours that he has naps through the day himself. He will be almost 5months then. That is if I can wait that long - watching him first after reading more of the book I realised most of his problems are down to lack of sleep, poor thing! I am not very good at routines myself but I'm desparate to do the best I can for my kids. final question, I promise! how soon do you think i can move Russell from our room to amber's after starting the training? we can't sleep on the couch forever, but at the same time I don't want to move him too soon and then undo all our good work...

thank-you, lovely people for being here for newbies like me!
Louisa, Southampton UK

PS, if theres any weird words in here I've missed, blame it on my phone! my computer is broken so I'm having to post from my android phibe, and it seems to sub some words for some really odd things!

[loustar]

Gr, already spotted two - amber was sleeping through at 16 months, not 1, I wish! and I clearly have an android phone, not a phibe! sorry!

[loustar]

Is anyone still active on this forum? was really hoping to connect with people who have done this...

[TorsMamma]

Hi Loustar and welcome!

I’m sorry you’ve had to wait for so long for an answer, we have vacation time here in Sweden and not many active people. Also we have a 3 day rule where no one should be without an answer for more than 3 days. So I guess I just about made it huh?

If and when you decide to do the “cure” I recommend you read the book carefully. Like studying for the drivers licence. You really need to know what to do and WHY you do it.

It would be great if Russell can have the bedroom all to himself until the cure is done and he sleeps through the night. Then move him in to his sister will be great. So If you and your husband can sleep in the sofabed for 2-3 weeks it would most certainly be beneficial for you.

Please note that Russell will be needing lots of food during the day, not only formula and breastmilk, but real food and oatmeal or porridge. You don’t want to stand there in the middle of the night wondering if he is hungry.

Do you have a schedule set up?
Is the bedroom pitch-black?
Do you have a day and a night jingle?

I’m looking forward to follow you on your way, even if I won’t be able to answer every day.

[loustar]

Hi, and thanks for answering my post. I had no idea there was a holiday in Sweden, it certainly explains things being quiet here!!

I am used to forums that are a bit more fast paced, but I will be patient! here in the uk we are advised not to start feeding baby real food until 6months if they are not ready, but I do know people who have started early. Russell is big for his age and starting to sit up so I don't think he would have too much of a problem, however I did want to do baby led weaning with him but you can't do that until they can sit up and get food to their own mouth. I think I need to have a longer think about which is more important for us, the blw or sleep issue. Our daughter ia the pickiest eater ever and it causes us a lot of stress- she was puree fed and I think part of her problem was getting puree fed too early. She didn't take to eating properly until nearly a year and since turning two it's been a battle to try and get her to eat enough and various foods and i want to do all I can to avoid food becoming an issue with Russell. I'm also aware that gns can improve the appetite however, but I need to figure out what's best for Russell. I've read almost all of the book now, so I have a better idea what it involves, and my main goals for Russell would be to help him to enjoy sleep and to eat well without the problems just sister has had.

I also feel the need to point out an issue. .. I was looking for a video to show me how to do the buffing and came accross one... the Swedish comments I couldnt read, however the English comments were saying that buffing was tantamount to child abuse and I'm just not in aagreement with them. The comments were directed in particular at Anna. if you do a YouTube search for Anna's name, it's fairly high on the list. I found it really useful to watch, however perhaps Anna or someone could do an official video for YouTube for people like me who want guidance, but might be put off by untrue comments?

Thanks again for your help

[TorsMamma]

Hi,

Yes, if you don't want to start with solids or oatmeal I would not recommend you doing GNS. You really need to know that your child will sleep for 12 hours with out getting houngry.
They don’t recommend solids here in Sweden until 6 months because of WHO but now they are realizing that more and more children are actually getting houngry so that they need the food. AND if you start with the introduction while breastfeeding you can mix food with breast milk and they will eat easier. A too soon start or to late start has nothing to do with picky, being a picky eater has to do with their personality. My son was surely a hungry one so he got oatmeal-porridge at 4 months and 2 times a day as a start. This was much appreciated.

Here are the links to the videos on our site. I know that Youtube has some terrible clips but it doesn’t work to get them banned somehow.

http://www.annawahlgren.com/index.php/v ... lmer-start

I'm sorry they are all in swedish.

[loustar]

Thanks so much! I will take a look at the videos at some point... I really dont think Russell is actually that far off being ready for food to be honest... I am battling through the 4 month growth spurt and teething at the moment and sleep is like gold dust... I am going to take him to the health visitor next week and will see what she says - but he is progressing every day with sitting, and has been taking his hand to his mouth when hes grabbed things so hopefully he will be ready soon and we will be able to start the GNS cure before my daughter starts school! In the meantime I really need to get my own copy of the book but I am an avid recycler so was hoping to get hold of a second hand copy... however there dont seem to be many about! I will jump back on this forum when he's eating enough to do the cure! Many thanks for your help!
xxx

[TorsMamma]

Welcome back soon