Sandy Gillman
Bio
I’m a mum to a toddler, just trying to get through the day. I like to write about the ups and downs of parenting. I’m not afraid to tell it like it is. I hope you’ll find something here to laugh, relate to, and maybe even learn from.
Stories (113)
Filter by community
Night-Time Feeds
Typically, my son only wakes up once per night now, usually around 4 or 5 am. He has a feed, and then goes back to sleep for a couple more hours. Sometimes I’ll hear a single cry out from the baby monitor. I’ll lie there with my eyes closed hoping there aren’t any more sounds and we can all go back to sleep for a bit longer. This morning, he wakes at 2:45, which is a little off for him. I lie in bed watching him on the monitor, willing him to go back to sleep, but also knowing that if he does, it will only be for another 45 minutes or so, and then he will wake up again. When I start to realise he’s not going back to sleep, I climb out of bed already dreading the early start we’ll have when he wakes to start his day in a few hours’ time.
By Sandy Gillman10 months ago in Families
Pumpkin-Pear Bake for Natural Constipation Relief
Ok, can we please talk about poo for a second? Why don’t doctors seem bothered by the fact that our son has been struggling with constipation for about 6 months now? He takes a stool softener two or three times a day, and if he stops for even one day, he becomes blocked up again.
By Sandy Gillman11 months ago in Feast
Realising When to Walk Away
So, I am sitting here writing this when I should be finishing an exam to see if I qualify for a job. My son is starting daycare next week. It’s only two days a week, but as we have been through everything together for the last 15 months, this is a huge thing for me! I had these great plans to take him out and do some fun things this week- a wildlife park and some activities at the library that he really enjoys. Instead, he woke up on Saturday morning with a cold and has been sick all week. It’s now Thursday and he seems to be worse than ever, and I’m sitting here wondering if this is all my fault? Did I make him worse by taking him to swimming lessons on Monday and to the Mother’s Walking Group I’d been wanting to try on Tuesday? He seemed like he was doing much better on Sunday night, but after two big days, he appears to be going downhill again. We’ve been up since 4:45 am this morning, so I’ve had plenty of time to think about where I went wrong.
By Sandy Gillman11 months ago in Families
Continued: We Survived the Four-Month Sleep Regression: Our Experience with a Sleep Consultant and Ferber
We had just survived our first night of sleep training and thought we had conquered it all! But the days, however, were a whole different story. On Saturday, things went a little better. He cried for an hour that morning before his first nap, but he slept for one hour and 20 minutes — which was unheard of for him. For his afternoon nap, he cried for 40 minutes, then slept for 30 minutes. He woke up, cried for another 15 minutes, but then went back to sleep for another 50 minutes. For us, this felt like a success, as it meant he was learning to self-soothe and resettle. That night, he fell asleep in just 10 minutes, and we thought we had solved all our issues — surely, things would get better going forward.
By Sandy Gillman11 months ago in Families
We Survived the Four-Month Sleep Regression: Our Experience with a Sleep Consultant and Ferber
Don’t you just hate that well-meaning person who says ‘Sleep when the baby sleeps’? They’ve obviously never had a baby that only sleeps for 30 minutes at a time during the day. As someone who still struggles to nap (maybe I need a sleep consultant?), 30 minutes isn’t enough time to settle, fall asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed. Not to mention, when you only have 30 minutes to yourself, do you really want to spend it sleeping?
By Sandy Gillman11 months ago in Families
