Sick baby, job interview and new things

I have been utterly rubbish at blogging for the past two weeks as things have felt so hectic at home. I had a job interview that I thought went really well, but I didn't get the job... despite having got myself a fancy new dress for the occasion! I've been applying like crazy for jobs because we want to get The Grumpy Egyptian his visa and get him over here soon. Things seem a little sparse on the ground, but fingers crossed something will pop up soon. Despite the disappointment of not getting the job, it did mark the first time that I had left the Mini Grumpy Egyptian with someone else... ever. She is nine months old now and I don't think I have left her with anyone for more than five minutes or the time it takes to run into the doctor's surgery and run back out again. I left her with my Dad and thankfully she seemed ok. Made me feel better about doing so in the future, but I must admit that I am not looking forward to actually going back to work and having to leave her for such a long amount of time. Will deal with it when I have to deal with it I guess.

Secondly, the Mini Grumpy Egyptian hosted a lovely playdate for her mini friends last Tuesday morning, but by mid-afternoon she was not looking well. Dinner revisited us while a couple of dodgy nappies - the kind you pray you will never see again - had me reaching for the clothes pegs. Having not improved by Thursday we visited the GP who told us it was a bug and sent us away. By Friday night she was even worse and on Saturday we rang the out of hours GP. Given that she was not herself, not keeping hardly anything down and rather grouchy they decided to send us across the corridor to the children's ward. Having visited there before for a test that wasn't offered in Oman, I must say that they are lovely. They worked out that she was a bit dehydrated, but luckily just needed some rehydration medication delivered slowly (10ml every 10 minutes over 2 hours much to the mini one's irritation as she wanted to nap!). We were there for a couple of hours and 24 hours later, the Mini Grumpy Egyptian is much better thank god.

Finally I have lots of review posts that I need to write up including some lovely aromatherapy products from a local company, halal chocolate and Sudocrem so look forward to those.

How has everyone else been? Fellow bloggers, how do you cope when real life just gets too much and blogging seems to be a bit of a struggle? Is it ok to have a little mini break?

The Egyptian Mummy

Self-soothing: Five days in

So five days into trying to get the Mini Grumpy Egyptian to sleep better and while I am nervous to say much in case it turns out to be a fluke.... things seem to be working. On the first night she sobbed for around five minutes before I went in to settle her, then once she had calmed down I left the room and a couple of minutes the crying began again. It was horrible. I truly felt evil, but when you haven't slept for over eight months and know things will only get harder when you return to work, something needs to give. I sat there and cried outside her room while listening to her cry then after eight minutes (oh yes, I stared at the clock) she stopped and fell asleep. That was at around 8.30pm. She woke up at 5.30am. Now, 5.30am to many is a rather unsocial hour, but WOW... for a girl that has woken every couple of hours (at best) since birth that is pretty amazing.

The next night she seemed to settle quicker, but did cry for the first five minutes. I went into her room, stroked her tummy and she began to doze off. I sneaked out the room at around 8pm.... Ten hours later, she woke up! The next day I decided to try and pop her in her cot for a morning nap. I turned on the white noise I have on my laptop, lay her in her cot, shut the curtains and walked away. One minute later I realised that I had left my phone in the room, tiptoed in and she was fast asleep! Had I not been too afraid to wake her, I could have screamed in amazement. This girl has never, I repeat, never napped unless being held, in a moving car or in her pushchair.

That night I noticed that when I put her into the cot, she would reach towards me and try to hold my t shirt (that sound is my heart breaking). Once I had a little cry because in my mind she was sad that I was leaving and would grow up hating me, I tried giving her the flannel part of a cuddle toy to hold. She grabbed it, snuggled up and fell asleep. This was at around 7:45pm. She woke at 6:45am. I, of course, spent most the night waking up to check she was ok because I was so unnerved by having a baby that slept.

This pattern continued for the next couple of days. However, tonight when I put her in her cot she was a little difficult to settle, but I think she is teething so am putting this down as the reason. It is now 10.40pm and all is well for now.

I still think this was a very difficult thing to decide to do and can see why it isn't going to work for everyone as you have to be very tough. My biggest fears were that the Mini Grumpy Egyptian would suffer in some way or even hold it against me. However I've noticed that sleeping better at night has made her much more content during the day as she will play for longer and be happy looking around while out in the pushchair rather than wanting to be picked up all the time. She still cuddles up to me when it is story time, smiles and reaches for me when I go to her cot in the morning, and laughs at my amazing animal noises so unless she is holding onto her discontent for an expensive psychiatrist when she's older, I think things are ok.

There is a big difference between the way I chose to do this and the ever controversial crying it out method. I could not have just let her cry. I set myself a maximum time of allowing a bit of grumbling and tantrum type tears, but knew if she started to become distressed that I would go in there immediately and comfort her. I find those snuggly morning breastfeeds even better now and given that I too have had a good nights sleep, feel I am able to be a better mum to her. Will her sleeping well continue? Oh who knows, but I am glad we decided to try it and I intend to continue the routine for the forseeable future.

Have any of you tried using white noise to help your little one's sleep? Does your little one follow any sort of napping schedule? My next task is to tackle daytime naps. Blackout blinds?

The (not-so-tired) Egyptian Mummy x

Self-soothing: A difficult decision

Last night when the Mini Grumpy Egyptian had woke me up for the fourth time in so many hours, I made the difficult decision that it was time to tackle her sleep issues. Google was no help as for every page giving an argument for a certain method, there were at least two more saying that following that way would mean the Mini Grumpy Egyptian would turn into an angry adult that hates her parents, trusts no one and turns to booze to ease the pain! Ok, so maybe not the last one, but it was pretty negative.

A chat with my health visitor today gave me a couple of different techniques to try out - we are already big fans of Ewan the Dream Sheep, but unfortunately he has calmed her rather than made her sleep in the long run. We have had a routine in place since her birth as when we were in Oman and I was home alone most evenings, it helped keep me sane following a set pattern. The routine consists of quiet playtime, a story and cuddle, relaxing music (Bach or Mozart normally) playing in the background, bath, sleeping bag, breastfeed - here lies the issue - and then in her cot once she's asleep.

In the past 3 months or so she has got miles better in that she will actually be put down 8 out of 10 times without screaming the house down, but breastfeeding to sleep has meant that I'm forced to get up every time she wakes in the night as she relies on the boob to nod off. We've managed to reduce night feeds, but she often needs picking up or being cuddled to sleep. Given that I will need to start working in the very near future, I would be unable to function on such little sleep.

Tonight, as I write this, I'm sat outside my bedroom trying to man up a bit! Hearing your child cries breaks a parent's heart and I am really against crying it out. Instead the plan we devised meant I would follow the usual routine including the breastfeed and then just as she was starting to doze off, I would pop her in her cot, give her a kiss, turn the white noise maker on and leave the room.

At first she grumbled and then began to cry that kind of "I'm a bit annoyed, but can cope" cry she does when she's unimpressed. After 5 minutes, I went in, settled her by shushing and then left again. The grumbling started a couple of minutes later before the "I hate you" cry began. That lasted exactly eight minutes of the ten I was supposed to leave it before she grumbled and went quiet. I just popped my head in and she's fast asleep.

Do I feel evil for allowing her to cry? Yes. I feel like my chances of winning mum of the year have just been washed away, but she is asleep. I need to remind myself that I'm doing this to help her and it isn't like her first day with a childminder/nursery won't provoke such a horrid reaction either. No one likes doing something new and no normal parent likes hearing their child cry, but I really hope this helps her sleep. If she's well rested and so am I then I think we can have more fun together... Or at least that's the plan.

How did you tackle getting your little ones to sleep? Any advice or tips that worked for you?

The Egyptian Mummy x