OcUK Dadsnet thread

Ev0 said:
Ours is 7 weeks now, he tends to sleep from around 11-12ish in the evening to about 4 in the morning in one chunk now, but then it goes downhill ;)

Once he's had a change and a feed it's taking a while to get him back to sleep and is ofen requiring one of us to stay up with him until he nods off again which could be 6 or 7.

Then he's usually good again for a few more hours.

It's only been the last week or so it's been like this so it's going in the right direction!

What is tricky at this age is having any sort of routine, we're finding it very very hard here as rest of the time he's pretty unpredicable in what he needs and when.

Finance wise, I was planning on getting a junior ISA opened up and start to dump some money in there, as said over 18/20 years that's some compounding that'll go on.
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Routines are overrated! The amount of times our 'routiney' friends have had to leave events early or change the time due to it not matching little Timmy's nap time is more than it should be. I can only speak for our daughter but her bedtime can vary from 7pm - 10pm in a week (she's 3). Sometimes I may want to spend more than 2 hours with her in the evening when she gets homes from nursery or we might have a slumber party in the living room where we stay up and watch a movie. As long as you and them get enough sleep and manage to do what you want to do in the day, I wouldn't even worry about routine.
 
Very true, that's part of the worry in that we really don't worry about routine especially at the moment this young.

But there's a feeling that we should care!
 
DanTheMan said:
Routines are overrated! The amount of times our 'routiney' friends have had to leave events early or change the time due to it not matching little Timmy's nap time is more than it should be. I can only speak for our daughter but her bedtime can vary from 7pm - 10pm in a week (she's 3). Sometimes I may want to spend more than 2 hours with her in the evening when she gets homes from nursery or we might have a slumber party in the living room where we stay up and watch a movie. As long as you and them get enough sleep and manage to do what you want to do in the day, I wouldn't even worry about routine.
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Funny how different things work for different people. For us, routine, i feel, has been the absolute key to our boy going to bed and sleeping through every night. That and never ever allowing him to sleep in our bed, or anything of that nature. The message really, just do whatever works for you as adults. They'll be fine either way so dont get hung up on what others do.
 
Ev0 said:
Very true, that's part of the worry in that we really don't worry about routine especially at the moment this young.

But there's a feeling that we should care!
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Parenting makes you feel that you should care about every decision that you make! It's the joy of parenting.
 
Jez said:
Funny how different things work for different people. For us, routine, i feel, has been the absolute key to our boy going to bed and sleeping through every night. That and never ever allowing him to sleep in our bed, or anything of that nature. The message really, just do whatever works for you as adults. They'll be fine either way so dont get hung up on what others do.
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Absolutely. If a routine works for you then there's no reason not to do it. It's when the routine ends up affecting you for no appreciable benefit to the child that it just seems pointless.
 
I go back my initial comment. Kids are different.

Routine up to a point works for us but not at the expense of having fun and special occasions. The 2 year old knows she's going to bed at 7 and will get a story, if she's not quite ready for sleep she will just lie there talking to herself for a wee while and drift off. However that bedtime would never prevent us staying later visiting people or having a barbecue or whatever, its just a starting point for day to day stuff.

Kids are also quite adaptable. She's had lockdown to contain with and suddenly having a baby brother on the scene, we expected it to be really tough but she pretty much shrugged her shoulders and got on with it. Thats not to say that its the safe for everyone of course and we have been lucky but its important to know that its not definitely going to be a struggle!
 
ci_newman said:
Oh man, you've got some hard lessons to learn when you finally have kids :p You don't know the meaning of the word energy when you've gone 18months straight without a single full nights sleep because they are waking up and needing feeding / nappies / soothing 3-4 times per night. Kids are just relentless.

Life under kids is like living in a permanent hangover, at least for the first 12 months. That's also assuming you have a child with a typical childhood. I cannot imagine how exhausting life must be for people like robj20 with all the health problems his son has had to overcome.
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Yep. Good way of putting it. Constant hangover. That's exactly how I feel.

I've packed in the drinking when Mum entered the final part of the 2nd trimester just in case she gone into early unexpected labor and I didn't want to turn up at the birthing unit, 3 drinks deep. Since the little potato was born, I've not touched the good stuff once. Just the thought of finally going to bed after a few delightful bevvies and then being waken by a baby screaming the roof off, then having to get up in an impaired state (and that's just the tiredness) - nah, not worth it.
 
Ev0 said:
Very true, that's part of the worry in that we really don't worry about routine especially at the moment this young.

But there's a feeling that we should care!
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You'll probably find the "routine" will change regularly, particularly since yours is so young. So effectively they don't have a routine, just you forever changing your routine to facilitate the baby.

Skeptic said:
7w scan. Big heartbeat. First baby. All the feels. :)
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All the feels. Great isn't it, congrats.
 
Ev0 said:
Very true, that's part of the worry in that we really don't worry about routine especially at the moment this young.

But there's a feeling that we should care!
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Just wait - he'll lull you into a false sense of security by settling into his own routine and then completly change it overnight !
 
One tip I have picked up for any new dads/parents, don’t underestimate how much you’ll need to remember and be asked about how many times they poop, wee, feed etc in the beginning.

Keeping track of all that along with all the other new stresses and things you need to do can be tricky, so I’d highly recommend getting an app or the like to help track it.

We went for one called baby feed timer, wife set it up with an account and I just use that same account on my phone so either of us can put stuff in.

Found it unbelievably useful!
 
Yeh wifey used a similar app for ours, I didn't log in on my phone though i just used to shout "we have a poooooop" and she'd know to add it hahaha
 
We went camping with our daughter when she had just turned 2 and it was absolutely fine. She slept in the same sleeping pod as us just in case she woke up and wondered where the hell she was but she ended up sleeping right through.

We also stayed in a yurt when she was one and again, it was really easy. If anything, it's easier as they are in nappies so you don't need to worry about them needing the toilet all the time.

It was definitely a lot easier than taking prams and copious amounts of kids stuff through security at an airport and then keeping them entertained for a flight.
 
How do you guys go for bikerides? My son is 4 in September (but 22kg), my daughter is 6 and can happily go at decent pace, but I could do with a way where all 4 of us (Mrs and kids) could go riding. The chairs seem OK but top out at his weight (the little fatty:p), has anyone used those things that look like a unicycle bolted to the back?
 
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