How are all you new mummies doing?

[Pumpkin9]

It's the sleep that worries me! I'm not good with it now but at least I can rest in the days. No idea how I'm going to manage at work

You sound like me - I'm so grateful I have flexi time!

I'm literally like a bear with a sore head when I'm sleep deprived!!

Thomas isn't going to sleep again tonight, we're now on an hour and 20 minutes and he's still kicking off, for no reason he just doesn't want to go to bed!!

 

[Maud]

I wouldn't ever want to give up my job if I could avoid it. Like you said might not be easy to come by one when you want/need one again

This worries me too, as I worked really hard to get my job and am probably going to be walking away from it forever. Realistically though, this was always going to be the case for me as we want a second child and cannot afford childcare for two. Makes me wish we'd started a family first, but that wasn't possible with our student debts to repay. Nothing's ever easy!

 

[Pumpkin9]

Anyone got a baby tranquilizer! I swear he's just now overtired

 

[iWitch]

Is there anything that triggers it pumpkin? How many naps does he have a day? Perhaps try getting him to nap once more? Austins generally bad if he doesn't nap at least twice properly.

Maud - you're partially right! Because it always seems to be easier for those who never had a job in the first place because their money just increases! Plus they still get 15hrs free childcare when their child hits 3...why not remove that from them (after all they're SAHP) & give it earlier to those who actually do work & need support with childcare payments?

 

[Maud]

I think the 15 hours are to give children the opportunity to go to preschool and get used to that before starting proper school. I imagine it'd be quite a shock starting full time school if you've never been away from mum. It'd be good if working mums got that help from a younger age though (although I heard the system already doesn't work as the govt doesn't pay the nurseries their full fee)

 

[iWitch]

I think the 15 hours are to give children the opportunity to go to preschool and get used to that before starting proper school. I imagine it'd be quite a shock starting full time school if you've never been away from mum. It'd be good if working mums got that help from a younger age though (although I heard the system already doesn't work as the govt doesn't pay the nurseries their full fee)

It is in principle but there's other ways around it like settling sessions etc. I just think too much is given to those who can't be arsed to work & not enough to those who want to work or do work. (And I appreciate there are people out there who want to work but for various reasons can't I guess it's too difficult for the government to distinguish the two

 

[iWitch]

We've got a forecast of snow tonight...I've already voiced my hatred of snow so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow! We have a dusting already

The only thing I enjoy about the snow is watching UK snow map (sad I know ). I dunno why it amuses me but Twitter users tweet #uksnow their postcode & a rating out of 10 & it shows up on the map here http://uksnowmap.com it's all very clever

 

[StaceyRainbow]

I'm in the process of looking for and applying for jobs I'm thinking of working in a school purely because of all the holidays!

 

[Pumpkin9]

Is there anything that triggers it pumpkin? How many naps does he have a day? Perhaps try getting him to nap once more? Austins generally bad if he doesn't nap at least twice properly.

Maud - you're partially right! Because it always seems to be easier for those who never had a job in the first place because their money just increases! Plus they still get 15hrs free childcare when their child hits 3...why not remove that from them (after all they're SAHP) & give it earlier to those who actually do work & need support with childcare payments?

Unfortunately I have no idea what causes it! He's having one big nap a day at the moment just after lunch. He used to have two but then recently stopped having the second one (or napped so late that bedtime was a problem) sonics changed his nap time from 10.30am to 1pm. He usually sleeps till 3/3.30.

Today he slept till 4pm after going down at 1.30 as he woke later in the morning. Thinking I always need to wake him at 3.30 latest as clearly 4 and beyond is a problem

 

[Jojo84]

Does everyone's LO have such long naps? Luke only does an hour

 

[Ella1979]

It is in principle but there's other ways around it like settling sessions etc. I just think too much is given to those who can't be arsed to work & not enough to those who want to work or do work. (And I appreciate there are people out there who want to work but for various reasons can't I guess it's too difficult for the government to distinguish the two

If I sent my 2 to nursery but didn't work, we'd get around £300 a year from the government, but because I do work, we don't get anything (I don't work "enough" according to the government (15 hrs)). My sister has just handed in her notice so she won't be going back after mat leave. She worked bloody hard for that job, but they wouldn't offer anything less than 4 days and even if she'd got 3 days, her job would still come with the workload of 5 days because there'd be no job share. Sounded like hell. I must admit I thought I had a reasonable salary until I had 2 kids (almost £29k if I worked full time).

 

[mrs_b_x]

Ryan usually sleeps for an hour twice a day, but occasionally he will have 2hrs for one of those.

Pumpkin my friend whose little boy is an awful sleep has an app on her phone to mark when her lo sleeps and for how long, she uses it to help look for patterns to see how his napping affects night time etc xx

 

[Pumpkin9]

Normally he's fine once he goes down. He just refuses to switch off! Literally cannot calm him down and you can see he's tired as he's rubbing his eyes. No idea what it's about. We've gone from a baby who can be out in his cot and will go to sleep on his own to this little monster that just screams at you!!

 

[mrs_b_x]

He's never gone to bed early tho has he? Ur a star to cope with it, I like my evenings to myself now lol x

 

[Toria111]

After Maddie was born, I was working for hardly anything.but I loved my job, and didn't want to give up my own money and adult conversation. Was a hard decision, but looking back now was definitely the right one. If I went back now though, I'd be so out of touch. Not to mention my old assistant is now assistant Vice President(American company, so just a title equivalent to 2nd in charge of their dept)! I always wondered why all the older ladies came back to work and did processing type work. One of my friends who had taken a career break to raise her kids was Head of a company when she left, and when she came back she was head of her dept but just writing wordings. I couldn't do that, such a kick in the gut after working so hard to get where I did.

 

[Toria111]

It is in principle but there's other ways around it like settling sessions etc. I just think too much is given to those who can't be arsed to work & not enough to those who want to work or do work. (And I appreciate there are people out there who want to work but for various reasons can't I guess it's too difficult for the government to distinguish the two

If I sent my 2 to nursery but didn't work, we'd get around £300 a year from the government, but because I do work, we don't get anything (I don't work "enough" according to the government (15 hrs)). My sister has just handed in her notice so she won't be going back after mat leave. She worked bloody hard for that job, but they wouldn't offer anything less than 4 days and even if she'd got 3 days, her job would still come with the workload of 5 days because there'd be no job share. Sounded like hell. I must admit I thought I had a reasonable salary until I had 2 kids (almost £29k if I worked full time).

That's exactly what happened to me. Went back full time after first baby, asked for 3 days after 2nd baby. They said 4 days or don't come back. Ended up taking the 4 days and the pay drop, but spent my whole Friday answering calls and at my computer at home. Also still had to travel which meant some weekends away. I think companies know they can force people out by doing this.

 

[Pumpkin9]

Absolutely Toria. I think companies decide it's too much hassle so twist the knife how they can.

Mrs b, yeah Thomas has always gone to bed at 8 or 9, mainly because at least we'll see him in the evenings with work. Now he's been going to bed at 8 more regularly though when he does play up I've been really missing the adult time. Wanted to research something in the Internet last night which went totally out the window

 

[Jojo84]

I'm lucky really that our job is a 24hr care device and shift patterns have some flexibility - that said, I'm contracted to 25hrs a week and I work 5 days a week.

 

[Pumpkin9]

So thought I'd put him down for a morning nap as daddy woke us up at 6.30am. Put him in his cot awake with his dog, not a peep. Little monkey

 

[iWitch]

It is in principle but there's other ways around it like settling sessions etc. I just think too much is given to those who can't be arsed to work & not enough to those who want to work or do work. (And I appreciate there are people out there who want to work but for various reasons can't I guess it's too difficult for the government to distinguish the two

If I sent my 2 to nursery but didn't work, we'd get around £300 a year from the government, but because I do work, we don't get anything (I don't work "enough" according to the government (15 hrs)). My sister has just handed in her notice so she won't be going back after mat leave. She worked bloody hard for that job, but they wouldn't offer anything less than 4 days and even if she'd got 3 days, her job would still come with the workload of 5 days because there'd be no job share. Sounded like hell. I must admit I thought I had a reasonable salary until I had 2 kids (almost £29k if I worked full time).

It's beyond unfair isn't it?!