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Ta da

DS2 is playing "row row row the boat" with DS1 and laughing, hence the title

(It consists on DS1 sitting on his belly and holding his hands while he sings)

We are going for no.2 once the cotraceptive inj has worn off: 5th Oct. I took 2.5 yrs for Harry to arrive so need to get going :-) Never thought I'd have another one; ever! but I guess things change..

5th oct is DS1s birthday good luck with it! Bet it happens really quickly this time, just cause youre prepared for it not to

Marking spot.

Who is SS requesting to join us on FB?

Marking place .

dream it took me a year to get ds1 and I was only 21 when I got pregnant so we started trying with the aim to be due in September this year ready for when ds1 started school....

Marking spot

Also marking my place

So sorry Hug to hear your very sad news, also to for your loss beyond

beyond, like hug we found that bathing once a week without soaps/washes etc resolved dd's eczema. Hydrocortisone would clear it but as soon as we stopped the cream it came back.

Anyone thinking of ttc & thinking it may take as long as last time be prepared for it not to take as long. Everyone I know who conceived 2nd time around did so very quickly

Sorry meant laughing re eczema not beyond doh

Well done Beyond!

And woo Dream, fingers crossed for you! How exciting! I think I'm always going to love babies and be a little sad that I won't have anymore of my own, so it's lovely to see and read about more newborns! Meanwhile DD's baby days are whipping by. 6 months next week: how did that happen?!

Place marking. DD is five months on Saturday. Where's the time going?!

Yikes. Can't imagine another yet. I think we'll wait for DD to reach 3 ish. I want to get back to work for a bit too.

Well first post-preg period appeared today so if I wanted to I guess we could TTC .

Marking place...and harking back to the last thread, Henrietta, I had a fairly stress free pregnancy but I really cannot imagine doing it all over again as soon as 12 months from now...but I'm nearly 36 now so will at least need to be thinking about it.

Every day I am thankful we didn't delay on TTC with DD once we made the decision - whatever happens with no. 2, we have our lovely lovely girl.

Bookmarking

Absolutely not ttc here.

I do not want any more. I would like DH to have the snip but he says no. I don't really like hormonal contraception but I'd sooner that than conceive again! I'm done. I did have a fleeting moment the other day when feeding DS and realising that I'd never BF another baby, or meet my newborn again but even that's not enough to make me want another.

Sorry to hear about your Nan Beyond - DH and I both lost a nan last year so they never met DS - DH's nan died the day I got the BFP.

Firstly, hug i am so sorry to hear about your grandmother, how sad for you all.

I've enjoyed catching up with everyone's news; i'm particularly envious of holidays in sardinia and wine tasting

We all have icky colds, which is a pain as we're going away at the w/e and the last thing i needed was no sleep and grumpy children to hinder the mammoth cleaning and packing that needs to be done.

Have started weaning F at 24 weeks. He's not sitting independently quite as well as i'd like, but sits well in his high chair and is showing all the other signs. So far he's had broccoli, squash, cucumber, banana and avocado. He's also had some lamb and gravy that DS1 poked in there at his first meal, to my horror. He looked surprised but luckily managed to swallow it. I have since sat DS1 down and patiently explained that it's Baby-led weaning, not Brother-led weaning

No more babies for me. I'm 39 and happy with 2, have had two caesarians and had high BP/IUGR with DS and high BP with DD. Still a bit sad even though I know it's what I want.

That's exciting news dreams goodluck!
We are gonna wait for a couple of yrs. I want a little gap, thinking out of nappies, close to school age!!!!!
Although I do get broody now and again, time is gonna by so quick!
brother in laws partner is due Feb, so gonna have a lovely newborn to cuddle then keep me occupied for a bit! hehe

Took dd swimming today, she really enjoyed it more this time, splashing and smiling! Hopefully she will sleep well tonight?????
Trying to get a couple of extra feeds in too, thanks fliss I always seem to forget breast milk has loads of calories. Its quite hard she such a quick feeder, so offering at meal time too, in a breaker. Along with normal times!

Uni, today DS2 was fed a lump of fish finger by DS1. Which he chewed (well, gummed) up and swallowed!! Seems he likes fish finger...

Evening, all. Well the winetasting was great fun, and I did enough spitting that I was even able to feed him this evening (my boobs were most grateful!) He had some expressed milk left too, so I am now relaxing in the bath while DH does final feed & bed (a bit later than usual but, hey!) I think it's the first time I've not put him to bed, although I can hear him chuntering away. Lovely little boy.

Ladies I want to post the below in aibu but would rather your views:

I have friends who are ttc without much luck and 18 months down the line have been tested and it looks like they will need iui. I have (I feel) been very supportive during this time, been a shoulder to cry on etc. The woman has been told she is also being tested to see if she can carry a baby as she has caught and mc previously. I said (after much thought and discussions) that if that was the case I would be a surrogate for her. They are some of my closest friends, think maid of honour at each others weddings etc.

We have rush booked A's christening in light of my nan's diagnosis (as would anyone) and the man is unable to get the day of work. They were going to be godparents and a whole issue was made of this. I said I was disappointed but couldn't be helped and to stop an argument I ended up apologising that I couldn't change the date due to my nan over text (she didn't know yet as I haven't seen her since I found out and I didn't really want to do it over text).

Went there tonight to chat and she wasn't sure if she was going to come or be godmother as the man wouldn't be there and she thought I was inviting her ex who is also a friend of ours. The ex isn't invited as although he's a friend he's not that close anymore. She is now coming but was hinting at us changing to a Sunday even though they can't guarantee a private christening which a) I want and b) wouldn't put my nan through just after her starting chemotherapy.

I then said I was worried about her as she won't come out for coffee with our group of friends and always makes bad excuses and she said its not that she doesn't want to see us, she doesn't want us to bring our children because she doesn't have one and won't come if we do bring them.

I can sympathise with her position but I asked her how she would feel when they have a child if I said I didn't want her to bring that child when we socialise. The man then had a go at me saying I haven't had a mc and been trying for 18 months to have a child. I said it took a year to get ds1 (and I did have a mc before him it's just not well known) and he replied but at least you have two now and when we have one there won't be an issue with you bringing your children then.

I did ask if they meant to be rude to which she said no. We then left it and started talking about other things.

I don't want to make her feel bad and I can't possibly understand what they're going through but aibu to be upset and quite offended by what went on tonight? Either way I will let it go but I need to know if I should apologise to her for what I said back.

YANBU. I sympathise with your friend, but really she can't pretend that no-one else had children until she has one. If she chooses not to attend the christening then that'd be a real shame, but you have to put your family first now.

Don't post in AIBU though, you don't need that!

Oh Hug that's the last thing you need... FWIW I completely agree with Fliss. It's a really difficult situation but you've got to put your family first.

Don't feel guilty about it.

Ha I know that's why I posted it here. Their situation is horrible but it's not my fault, if I could make it better I would but I can't and them not seeing their friends children won't make it better either.

Yep, what fliss said, she cant avoid children forever. Especially her Godson?!

hugs I feel bad for your friend, but U really shouldn't stop taking your kids out! My friends would never ask of me.
I think family come first, and if they don't want to be round you and your family that's there luck!

I had a few problem with L's christening, I was going to ask all work friends, but numbers would be over 10+ and i didn't want over 50 people. With family member up to 45 I decided not to ask them! Of course they seen on fb and though I was gonna invite them, So I explain to one or two, then decided to just have my two closest work friends, ones that actually been to visit me on MAT leave! I went into work and one colleague seem a little pissed off with me, and since been in and got blanked by some of them! How petty :|

I agree with fliss etc. It's not your fault, let her make her decision on the christening & socialising with the kids. You shouldn't have to pretend that you are all childless because she currently is.

When I conceived dd my good friend was going through ivf at the same time. I felt awful with each cycle that failed. She never once was anything but lovely to me & dd even though I know she was hurting. She did finally succeed by the way & they had a gorgeous dd who has just started school.

It's awful for your friend, hopefully she's just having a raw moment & will come round. Support her but remain firm, kids are an extension of us, it's hurtful if they are excluded.

Thanks hugs and buns for the ezcema advice. Will definitely cut the number of baths down.

Loving the new thread!!

Thank you all, I just didn't know if I was being unreasonable as I don't know what she's going through. Water under the bridge, I don't do grudges they take up too much headspace and energy.

A has been really upset today, discovered he has cut his second tooth, both bottom ones are through now they just need to make their way up to be proper teeth. At least I know when he's ready for food I won't really need to purée ha!

We haven't had anymore rolling, think he's under the impression he's font it a couple of times and we should be grateful for that and it's too much effort to do it again when mummy is in the room .

Marking my place again . Lost the thread...

hug don't think you are being unreasonable at all, it's such a juggling act with family & friends and you can only do so much to accommodate people. I had a similar experience with my baby shower (many threads back!) with a friend who may not be able to have children for medical reasons and I know she tries to keep a bit of distance from friends with babies. It's sad as I want her to be a part of DD's life, but I know I can't expect her to be totally subsumed by babies.

Second the recommendation for Diprobase by the way...it has saved my skin many a time!

hugs hope your about to sort things out with your friend, one way or another!

We fed dd strawberries tonight and she was pulling such funny faces. Didn't know if she liked them or not? Then after we gave a beaker of water, she then suddenly went hyper and started shouting at us. Seem to do it more because we were laughing, not sure if it was them or the water? She has had water before! so it probally was the strawberries- how strange!!!!!

Still doing lots of finger food- lunch time mainly. Loves feeder herself! Gave her some of our toasted fruit bread with raison's in when we were out, that went down well. She loves bread, cheese and cucumber. I do finger sticks for lunch. The cheese does scare me a bit because sometime she bites of a little more then she should and chokes it back. But has a good gag reflex and seems to manage. My baby diner class, say to be relaxed about babies they will bring it up!!!!

We sat A in his high chair for the first time today while we had dinner and gave him a bit of potato (well, put it on the tray). He stared at it, dh put it by his mouth, he sucked it, pulled a face then knocked it on the floor.

I would be very careful about finger foods and babies with no proper teeth ! DS choked on a baby breadstick and later on a rice cake and I had to save his life. He was turning blue and not getting air . Luckily I remembered what do and got it out by turning him head down and pounded his back . It shot out . What a scary experience , I cried after out of shock . That experience put DS off finger foods until much older. Don't take it for granted it'll just come out, please make sure u know what to do with choking babies ...

Of course we need to be watchful when babies are eating but this applies to any food, finger foods or lumpy purees. Chewing occurs most effectively with molars but hard gums do a pretty good job too. Babies are not more likely to choke on finger foods than lumpy mush. Certain foods such as grapes & cherry toms need extra care but the likelihood of choking is still quite small I believe.
Not to minimise your obviously scary experience nordic but at the same time not to scare any new mummies too much. Remaining relaxed but vigilant is surely the best approach & of course it is wise to get clued up on all aspects of baby 1st aid where possible.

Our Surestart centres do really good, and free, baby 1st aid courses, well worth looking into to put your mind at rest...

That's awfull nordic I bet you were pretty scared for your son!

I do really watch dd when she is feeding but want to give her normal food too, I wouldn't give her rice cakes or hard bread just yet, due to it being hard.
hopefully Id react quickly too if choking. But it can happen at any age, my friend choke at school on a sweet!

But i might look into a baby first aid course, see if they have them on our area?

More to be aware of it Buns is what i meant . I thought I was careful but even then it happened when we were right there. Infact there's countless near misses what ever you do with little ones until they reach a more sensible age of say 5 . Now DS 7 1/2 is pretty capable of looking after himself compared to foolish toddler ...well been through it all once and here we go again .

There're so many worries I have raising DS that I have to try & keep in perspective! Weaning will just be one more to add to the list...

DS almost permanently attached since yesterday morning. I think, rather than a growth spurt, he may be fighting an infection & so using me for that/comfort. Is that feasible?

I say this as DH & I have had stinking head colds/cough/general grossness for the last week, (I think our beloved menfolk usually erroneously refer to this as 'flu'!) but DS, as yet, seems to have got away with it. Sofa, DVDs and blanket day today, I think!

Same here. We're sick but DD hasn't yet ever been so wondering if she'll get it this time. She does nowadays sleep on her front in a little cute ball wit her bottom up in the air like they do so at least that'll help her breathing if she does. Also been on a tooth watch and nothing so far . The only sign is her acting like a little puppy and chewing anything she can get her hands on inc a kitchen chair leg ;) when she rolled of the playmat ...
Waiting to start the actual weening after she's 6 m ( 5 m tomorrow) and we come back from a holiday but we've tried a few things on and off inc baby rice , apple , pear , banana and mango. Did veg first with DS last time but this time it seems to have been fruit . I'll go for avocado and potato next I think . She's not having more than a few licks so not too untested but neither was DS at 5 1/2m and we got through it . Well she is interested but doesn't want much ...
Not at all stressing about it this time like not about anything else either concerning DD . We' ve had such massive problems getting this far and do have big worries in life ATM so it puts it all in perspective and I don't even have extra energy to think about things too much other to be so happy I have two healthy happy kids!
Btw the schools started well here . DS is happy and thriving at his new school which is great since he'll continue there until 13 and then most probably at the senior one in the same place until 18. Am getting to swing of things with the routine too but but have been extra tired of the running around since I don't drive e. I need some help I think so we're figuring out our options ...

... Ooh and we tried water from a cup yesterday . I guess she didn't hate it since she kept on sucking it ... Must have been weird though compared to her milk !

its me asking to join the facebook group. i was on the may baby mayhem thread but i read this one more because its more active. i dont post a lot on tho coz my phones annoying but im on facebook quite a bit and it'd be nice to join if you'll have me?

My wee one Heidi was born on the 22nd of May.

Hello immissbrie You and DD are very welcome to join us - I'll get you added later!

Terrible night here again. DS spent most of the night screaming so I was awake. I finally dozed off properly to be awoken by a loud thud...and DS in a wriggly heap on the floor He's fine, will keep a close eye on him today but he's now the cheeriest he's been since yesterday afternoon and us currently wrestling my boob. Not feeding, but wrestling with both hands. Think he scared me more than himself. DH has suggested the cot be used as DS's sleep is crap and he's had this tumble, but I am not looking forward to it. He's nearly 6 months so it may be that we put him straight into his own room so we don't unsettle him by first getting him in the cot in here, and then changing things and moving the cot out. I knew I'd feel at the thought of moving him in there, I was gutted when we moved DD - you'd have thought that she'd left home! Can hear DD playing with her trains in her room now though and I'm going to just spoil her game if I go in!

I sorted through the clothes that we kept from ds1 and got rid of the not so good ones and vacuum packed them in size bundles ready for A to grow into them. Unfortunately we didn't keep much 6-9 so will have to start buying in readiness for A's next growth spurt.

Anyone got any suggestions as to where to get them as don't want to spend too much money really as he's growing so quickly.

Hugs Mothercare currently have a bit of a random sale on. I bought DD 9 long sleeved Autumn tops for £14.50.

Also, I make use of our local sale or swap groups on Facebook - I bought a 6-9 month dress bundle for £15. It had 9 dresses in it, including a Jasper Conran one that was still on sale in Debenhams a few weeks ago, and was worth £30 alone.

And I bought ahead at the last Next sale. They've got one online currently that started on Friday night, may have some boy baby bargains there?

fliss We move house next weekend and will be moving DD into her own room at the same time.
There simply won't be room on our room for the cotbed, and it seems silly to get her used to our new room only to move her somewhere new again in a few weeks time.

She's definitely ready, as sometimes it's us disturbing her (coming up to bed etc) but I know I will really worry. I don't want her to go!

Hugs, i kept everything from DS1, but most of it is the wrong season! Just put a coat on DS2 though that I hadnt even taken the tags off (why someone bought him a 6-9m duffle coat I dont know, he was 6m old in the april!)
I also bought ahead in the next sale though (i may have accidentally spent a couple of hundred pounds as i also needed thinner clothes...)

Fliss im sure hes okay though, babies are quite bouncy arent they... I spotted that DS2 has his first bruise yesterday, no doubt from big bro wrestling with him...

Will have a look in the sales, thanks everyone.

hug I found George as asda pretty good for babies clothes, I don't spend alot they grow out of them to quickly. Oh also brought 3 sleep suit for £10 in m%s, I just brought a load of 6-9m and a Couple of 9-12 it seems way to big! Oh well

Sorry to hear about your ds, fliss but these thing happen our dd frightened us when she fell in the bath a while back, and a friends little boy as a nasty black eye from The tabble poor thing!

I've seem to be b feeding alot less! I counted only 5x times yesterday! Should I be worried? Do u think she is getting enough milk?
I tend to do feeds at the night at 2am and 5am then maybe 11am or 1pm then one at 4-5ish then a bedtime one at 730-8pm.
I've stared giving her breakfast lunch and tea now too? so its probally that, just want to make sure she is getting the right amount!
What's everyone else doing who breast feeds???

3 sleep suits from m&s in mean! X

I mean lol- sorry about bad grammer, half asleep! X

hug Primark and ASDA. Good quality and cheap! Will go and read thread now

vicky DD will take what she needs - feeds will reduce over time but as the babies get bigger they feed more efficiently and take more in one go so instead of lots of little feeds they can take fewer big feeds. That's the theory anyway.

DS gets fed when he shouts (frequently) but he's a bit of a snacker - he's become really bloody nosy at the moment so I'm spending lots of time with my boob out for no apparent reason as he's off watching something else He's being offered food at every meal just to keep him occupied really, he is happy to examine a piece of toast or beany spoon for a few minutes!

He is fine following his adventure this morning DD fell off twice before she was 1 and she slipped down 5 stairs yesterday but DH caught her. Ho hum, they'll be falling out of trees and off bikes before we know it!

I know what you mean about being nosy! If someone walks in the room or moves around, or if I pick up a drink that's DS off my boob and having a good old gander at everything. Little monkey

hug Do they have any NCT nearly new sales near you? I've heard they are great value for second hand baby clothes. I buy most of Marianne's secondhand on ebay - search through the Gap, Zara, PO.P and Petit Bateau stuff. I bought M a barely used winter Petit Bateau velour sleepsuit for 99p the other day and they go for £25 new.

Fliss Sounds like DS got over his tumble with no ill effects. It's horrible when it happens though, you dread the worst. My DS fell off the bed at around the same age and I was sure he'd hit his head on the corner of the fireplace as well but after a bit of screaming he was fine.

My inlaws went home today - DH knows I don't really like his dad doing odd jobs but DH is so useless at DIY and his father enjoys it. We got a catflap put on the wrong way round with screws facing into our kitchen and a hall stand fixed to the wall with bolts sticking through the other side - so sticking out of the playroom wall. CHEERS DH'S DAD, CHEERS. He also sat in the garden and smoked while everyone else took turns washing up in the evenings.

No teeth or solid food here yet. She seems ok on just my milk - in fact has gone up from the 9th to the 25th centile.

I felt weepy and emotional and have a few spots on my chin today - feels like my period is coming back. I'd be surprised though as it took about 15 months after DS. Maybe it is just my body thinking about getting back into cycles or maybe I will start again sooner this time round. Hope not. I hate periods.

DD has been being a bit high maintenance today and yesterday - shouting whenever put down and doing her hang-onto-nipple-with-jaws-and-flail-head-around thing. And possetting about every 20 mins. She is still lovely though. And she sleeps pretty well at night. I think we had 2 feeds last night but I dozed while she was feeding and she went off again quickly afterwards.

Oh and the garden behind ours had a gazebo. There was a bit of a rainstorm this afternoon. The gazebo is now upside down in front of my back door.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, I'm going to have to go out and look <sigh> I love baby shopping but not on a budget.

I got my first period back 15 weeks after ds2 was born. And now I have them every 9-13 days . Along with bone crushing tiredness with pmt. Sucks. GP has said I should wait till ds2 is taking more solids and see if my hormones sort themselves out. Till then I'm basically one week on one week off.

Ds2 merrily chewed on some toast this morning and then a green bean this evening. It's a slow process though. Tried giving him some baby porridge made with expressed bm and after one taste he turned his nose up. At least he tried it though.

Hi all,
Woo a new thread, I got a bit lost with the last one towards the end. Need to keep up on this one.
I wrote a long old post this afternoon only to have my Internet cut out an the whole thing vanish!

Iv had some great little bargains from Sainsbury's. Noahs only just going into 3-6, so iv had lots of wear out of his newborn & 0-3 stuff, but a lot of his 3-6 clothes are summer bits which will be wasted, so I'm going to have to find some autumn winter clothes now. Iv got a decent amount in next, gap, & M&S vouchers (presents from birth) so am going to try buy all his 3-6 & 6-9 stuff in the sales using them . If I'm spending my money it will be H&M, primark & supermarkets .

Everyone's doing really well with the weaning. N's had a few tastes but not starting properly till he's 6 months - which I can't believe is only 3 weeks away!! Time is going way to fast!
Worried about my breast milk though. I don't seem to be filling up as much this week. Can it just dry up even if Noahs still feeding? Didn't plan to swap to formula when weaning starts.

Need to start thinking about getting Noah into his crib, we are co sleeping most nights. He wakes up so much more when he's not next to me so it's just been easier to have him in my bed so I get a bit more sleep, he still wakes up 2/3 times a night and I can't function with much more than that. Don't plan to put him in his own room till he starts sleeping through, but as much as I love cuddling up I don't want a 10 year old in my bed lol. Any tips on making this change?

digitalgirl every 9-13 days?? I hope it settles down to a slightly less frequent pattern soon...or is that what your periods were like before being pregnant?

DD is 5 months old today and mostly wearing 3-6 month clothes plus some 0-3 outfits which she still fits...don't have any 6 months plus clothes at all yet.

I am worrying about not having enough warm layers for going outside...I have two cardigans knitted by my mum and a couple of other zip-up tops, but that's pretty much it in terms of top layers. I guess a winter coat would be a good place to start!

marshmallow quite the opposite - they were every 5-6 weeks. Didn't conceive ds2 till day 31 of my cycle. So god knows what's going on now.

Ds2 is in 9-12 month clothes, he has a fat bottom but can squeeze into a 6-9 top .

Doing the school run in the rain is not fun. Need a proper winter rain coat for me, and a second pair of wellies for ds1 I think. Any ideas on where to get a nice raincoat?

Hi im pretty lucky dd still fits in some 3-6, but slowly growing out. And she still fits a couple of her 0-3 cardigans and coats which i seem to have a lot of!

My boobs are filling up all the time now, she only wants just 3 feeds a day and they haven't adapted yet, and then just 2 at night. last night she woke at 12 and 3am then she when it 7ish, pretty early for her! Normally 8-830. She didn't want a feed just porridge at 830. Dh woke me up at 530am when he goes to work because he was having problems with the floods here!
Couldn't get back to sleep, so im slightly knackered.

Not going to my breast feeding group today.
L is tired, had a bit of a cold and teething pain what a lovely combo!

hayley My boobs never seem to be full - I don't worry about it.

Has anyone else reached the stage of fucking awful sleep? DS seems to have given up sleeping at night and prefers to just howl until 2am and then doze on and off until I get him up.

I am fed up to the back teeth atm. I am knackered and my patience with both of them is wearing thin, and quite frankly DS, DD and I are absolutely bloody miserable.

DS is not as independent as DD was and just sobs if he's not being held when he's awake, which I am finding difficult, and I already have him in the sling when I do the school run which takes up to 3 hours each day in total. He won't sit in his entertainer toy yet and the door bouncers are no good in our house because of the way the doors open into the rooms.

DS won't settle for DH either, which means that DH is getting his hair off with me because DS just wails when DH has him, so the only way he is quiet is if I am holding him - constantly.

I am utterly fed up today. I just need one night's sleep, and then it will all seem manageable again! <gin>

fliss yep, shite sleep here too. Ds2 waking every 1-2 hours and DH still co-sleeping with DS1 so am on my own just feeding back to sleep. We had a mini breakthrough last night where ds2 just wouldn't stop crying with me at bedtime so I gave him to dh and he settled him for the very first time in all his 5.5 months. Ds2 then slept 8pm till 2:45am. Bloody miracle. Probably never to be repeated.
I'm lucky though that if he falls asleep in the sling I can put him in his cot for 30 mins before he wakes up.

fliss I love a good nights sleep if U know where to get one? Sorry U feeling down.
dd is not a good sleeper at night, but a good napper in the day. Having a 2hr+ one now.
she does play in a nest/ ring for a while, but always happier when someone is holding her.
5-6m they are supposed to have a clingy stage! Not good.

Dh is good with her, but doesn't get up at all in the night, and she won't take a bottle so there isn't much point!

DS has become a crap napper too DD was never clingy - even at this age - so this is new to me. She'd happily lie on her mat for hours and just roll about. She didn't sleep through until 14m though, and was also a crappy napper!

Bah. Feeding DS, DD is up to no good behind the other sofa where I can't see her...this could be fun. Back out to start the school run again in 30 minutes

Fliss We had an awful night last night. She wouldn't go down to sleep - DH took her and her moses basket downstairs for a bit to give me some sleep - bought her back to me about 1.30am then she was up and down about 3 or 4 times til 5 so pretty much hourly then DS woke with a wet bed just before 6. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it was a one-off or at least that it's connected to wonder week 26 and will be over soon.

She is not keen on the jumperoo (it was baby crack for DS - he would do jumperoo legs even when not in it) but likes the baby gym for a bit and prefers the door bouncer to the jumperoo.

I was hoping to have a bit of a rest this afternoon whilst DS was at nursery but the cleaner arrived just as I was taking him (midday) - she was supposed to come at 9 so she was here the whole time he was at nursery and I couldn't wash my hair/go for a lie down as planned. It was pissing down and I hate being mean so I just felt I couldn't send her away. Really gutted though, becuase he only does three short afternoons at nursery and that time alone is so precious. Also I'd got out of the house when I thought she'd be arriving/cleaning so I got utterly soaked in the park in the morning for no reason. I guess DS enjoyed being out in his wellies and jumping in puddles...

DD sat up in a high chair on her own for the first time in the park cafe this morning. They have a load of antilops - she was still a bit small for it but I made the strap tight and padded behind her with her bear suit. She was very pleased with herself. I was too scared to keep her on my lap while I had a coffee becuase she grabs at everything.

She is still in 3-6m stuff and some 3m cardigans/jackets. She is long and fairly slim so some of the 3-6 playsuits are a bit tight round the crotch.

She's started crying so have to go.

Oh I feel for all you ladies having rubbish sleep, I'm so grateful both my boys are great sleepers.

I'm trying buggy fit tomorrow because I can go for free as a taster with my friend who is booked on a course of classes. I won't sign up but will be a fun morning.

I had to resubmit my change of hours on a form which I did this evening. I'm not holding my breath though because my manager is very jaded about not working "normal" hours because of someone else who basically ruined it for everyone else by bring a world class slacker when she was working non normal hours. I really hope I get them though, will save me so much money.

Well everyones asleep in the beyond bed household. Except me, I am wide a-bloody-wake?!

DS2 is in his 6-9m clothes btw, at 5m. It seriously wont be long until hes the same size as his brother! He has a jumperoo type thing which he loves, and also jumps about like a loon! when he isnt in it.

Hes just starting to spread his BFs out a bit now, so most of the time I have boobs like rocks hope they sort that out soon as its rather uncomfy!

Digital, I have three coats coming from littlewoods to try, two duffley type ones (with hoods - very important ) for under £50, and a regatta one thats quite a bit more, but definitely waterproof. Got a bit wet walking home the other day myself...

Hayley, DS1 coslept til he was about 16m, then went straight into a bed, although he is in my bed right now, but hes poorly which I have no probs with DS2 doing too. So I would say dont woory, you wont be cosleeping til hes 10. Except that my cousin did! My uncle was relegated to another room literally until he started high school! Cousin is 18 now and still hates sleeping on his own, and scared of the dark

Oh and my periods returned 6w pp. Both times.
On mini pill now though, so none at all!

5 hours sleep in a row! He must have seen my messages yesterday Woke up at 5am, fed and went off again until 7. A.MA.ZING!

Of course I know he'll be up all night tonight.

DS is just going into 6-9 month clothes. He's got long arms and legs like DH and DD and a skinny waist like DD too, so anything big enough in the length is generally loose in the middle (who'd have thought that when he was born, I was half expecting him to be in 2-3 stuff by now)

My periods are just weird. I'm on Cerazette so I'm having v light bleeds that are lasting 8 days. Not like me at all, I'm usually 5 days and regular as clockwork.

DD is still in some 3-6 months but won't be for much longer I don't think!!

No periods at all here. Long may that continue, I'm absolutely horrid in the 48 hours before. Even I don't want to be around me because I'm so snappy.

I've had periods since a month after my loss stopped. But then I'm not bf so it's to be expected.

Got some 6-9 bits today from tesco finally. Ds2 is still in 3-6 but some bits are getting too small, he is quite long in the body so poppers strain at his groin and some trousers are a bit short. They are all growing too quickly, I look at the photos taken from when he was first born, it seems a lifetime ago he was that small.

Not sure about my periods, I took cerazette pill so after and I don't tend to get them with that. I've had a couple of times where I forgot it this month, oh well no hicups!!! Hehe

Back in the land of dead today, dd was up between 430m-6am, nearly the whole time. I woke up at 4 thinking maybe this is the night were she will sleep throught, oh well! feeds before at 11pm, so not to bad, just crying at 430 probally her cold, ended up co sleeping till 8am.
Took her up earlier for a nap in my my bed, managed to catch up some zzzzz, I don't hope U cope thoose who have other kids and school runs ect! X

fliss - yay for 5 hours!!! He must have been reading your posts, clever little man!
Had a crap night last night. N has his first cold and was up every hour spluttering and screaming. He'd recently been getting much better at night but this may put a spanner in the works. Poor thing.
We are still trying to sort out our insurance claim from the burgulary in July. Life without a computer is bloody annoying.
N's eczema is starting to look better since I've stopped bathing him so often. Thanks for the advice.
I had the implant put in a couple of months ago and I'm still BF so no proper periods here. Yay!
I hope you're all well. Summer is certainly over isn't it?!!

No periods here other than a random bleed 7 days after I started back on cerazette. Pill + bf so not that surprising.

Out of interest, are there any other contraceptive methods that stop flow? I hate it but, like newmummy I've become somewhat forgetful about taking them and we are NOT ready for a sibling!

I had a dirty nappy change at 2.30am, then DD woke for a feed about 6.45...then slept till 10!! This meant a very welcome extra sleep for me, as I was feeling rather wiped out - had very minor surgery at the GP yesterday (a cyst removed from my head boak) so spent the afternoon under a blanket on the sofa feeling sorry for myself (DH worked from home to keep an eye on DD and me).

Sleep must have done the power of good as I feel much better today and so glad the cyst is gone - it was harmless & painless but very itchy and irritating. Just got to wait for stitches to dissolve now...

Lots of sleepy mummys on here. It's funny I'm sure the women from my RL post natal group & people I meet at groups are lying about their babies sleeping patterns lol. Iv been feeling crap this week about Noah not sleeping through. Everyone I come across seems to have a perfect sleeping routine, their babies are in their own beds & rooms etc. Not that I'm happy that some of you are struggling as well, but its nice to feel normal & no it's not me doing something wrong. I'm really bad at comparing myself & Noah to others, I know all babies are different but I cant help it.

I'm just watching one born getting all emotional and remembering labour - it's making me broody - not the remembering labour bit obviously!!

Got royally ripped off today. Went into madam jojo and picked up a sensory ball for Noah. Looked at the price and thought it said £7, so I thought that's not horrendous I'll get it. Got to the till and it was actually £17, I was too embarrassed to say I don't want it for that price so bought the stupid thing! Going to take it back tomorrow with some kind of excuse; not paying £17 for a little ball! There rant over.

Period wise - I had one about 5 weeks ago but nothing since should I be peeing on a stick!!! I have PCOS so only usually get 1/2 a year so interested to see if that changes.

Anyho off to bed now (for an hour or 2 anyway) got baby swimming in the morning I love it, def my favourite thing to do with Noah.

Night all xxx

Hi ladies! Been following but too busy to post...feeding & sleeping has completely changed here to being all over the show day & night. Solids still at the testing stage; every day or two I offer purée at tea time and she's getting buts of toast/bread. Sometimes she's keen sometimes totally disinterested.! Acc to my App she's now feeding 2.5 hourly whereas it was 4hrly before & the 1 or 2 (or 3 last night :-/) feeds continue. Dead on my feet. No periods here & stopping Cerazette as my mood is in my boots. Tried it 6weeks PN & only lasted 5 days: turned into a weeping mess. This time I'm a grumpy snappy weeping mess & getting worse. Not good.

Digi; I bet your Iron levels are low at that rate. Thats AWFUL! Did your Gp suggest checking them? I'm sure you feel rotten...you poor thing.

Work have been stressing me out. Doing my 10 KIT days & I've been in & out to sort. Got called into a meeting today to be advised they want us all to take 10% pay cut or there'll have to be redundancies. Which for me means working will be literally allowing us to pay for childcare with bugger all left. Am seriously considering becoming a Childminder. Having spent the last 6mths with my girls I don't want to reintroduce all the stress & hassle of my job & a new Nursery into their wee lives. It's certainly not worth the neater amount we'd pocket. So there's some v serious thinking being done in the Jelly household! Fliss; how did you find the change from your previous job to Childminding? I'm sure it's a long tough day....I know it's certainly not an easy option. But the potential benefits for my kids would hopefully outweigh the personal hassle/stress I'd have. (I think!!!).

Bear: thanks to your recommendation I've purchased 2 gorgeous dresses on E-Bay for DD!! Joules & Petit Bateau bargains! I'm so pleased-thank you! So far I've bought next to nothing as I've had hand me downs galore & pressies. DD is now into 6-9mths & I do need to buy vests & babygros, which I'll hopefully get in Asda after payday this week. It was lovely to actually choose s'thing for her to wear!

Better go to sleep. I'm going to regret this later I'm sure. Anyone else bloody freezing when they're up at night ATM?? Was soooo cold last night & the rain was battering the windows....it makes being up at night do much harder methinks. Really didn't mind it in the Spring...

It's certainly not worth the MEASLY amount we'd pocket I meant..this bloody iPhone!

Henrietta; meant to say, the Mirena coil reduces flow rate to practically nothing in some women. For others it causes daily spotting though, which can be as much a pain as a heavy period once a month. What one of the GPs I work with does is to prescribe a pill with a similar hormonal make-up as the Mirena. If you take it for a couple of cycles & it agrees with you, chances are the Mirena will too. TBH Cerazette isn't that different to the Mirena hormone-wise. The procedure to have it inserted varies in difficulty for women but is easier if you've had a baby in general. There's an implant you can have inserted in your arm too. It's popped in under local & releases hormones over a period of 2years....then there's the 12weekly Depo Provera injection. So there are lots of options!!! Your surgery should have leaflets on them all & should provide a counselling session to help you decide on the best one for you based on your medical history & personal preferences.

Jelly I managed the change no problem. Registration is different now in that you have to do a course before you register rather than after, but if your council want you to do CYPOP5 then it's a breeze - that's the one I did just before and after DS was born.

I was lucky in that I had a mindee lined up - my friend asked me to look after her DD so I registered to look after her. If you have under 5s then there's a fair bit of paperwork - observations and planning, learning journals, risk assessments, policies etc, but for me, it was worth it to stay home (even with the Ofsted inspections!)

I've never made more than the bare minimum I need to pay my bills though, it's not a job you'll get rich doing, certainly not at first anyway.

I found the decision a no-brainer, I love working from home, being my own boss, the interaction with other children and being there for my own but it's not a lot of money and sometimes my two will have to come second as I'm being paid to look after the others.

Thx Fliss..am waiting on the Early Years Team to get back to me. It may be slightly different in NI. No plans for getting rich here (though wouldn't say no if someone tells me an easy way!), but work is a lot of responsibility & stress for what'll be *ugger all, especially if they succeed in changing our terms & conditions. (We're now embroiled in ugly Union/work negotiations which is horrible). And for that I'd be paying s'one else to look after my own DDs which now just feels wrong.

How was last night? Any more 5hr stretches for you? Em woke at 00.30 & 06.00! Great; except that my 4yo DD was wandering around at 4, woke her 6yo Sis & they had a full scale natter going on at 5!! Grrrrrrr....
I figure if I can earn enough to cover my bills, it'll be worth it. Actually feel very positive & energetic about it! They do say that change is as good as a rest!

Sorry to hear about your work dilemma Jelly. Good luck with everything, you'll be a fab childminder.

hayley - birth programmes always make me sob now. I had to go back to the hospital the other day to pick something up for dp and i wasn't prepared for the huge emotions I felt going back there. Not feeling broody yet though. I wonder who our first BFP will be?!

Poor N is really struggling with his cold. Had a temperature in the night and kept waking up howling. He is being very clingy today.

I've been thinking about where I was this time last year, DP was unemployed, I was getting over the shock of an unplanned pregnancy and I'd just found out I was at risk of being made redundant. Oh how things change, I can't imagine not being a mum now. I just wish is found you lot earlier!

Yy to another 5 hour stretch - DS has been much happier today and yesterday too. No tooth though!

jelly yes my iron levels are v low - but just within range. I sometimes take the iron tabs the gp prescribed but they have an unpleasant side-effect so I don't take them as prescribed.

Re work dilemma, could you hold out for redundancy of the childminding option is looking achievable? I wish I could do this as i live in an area of London where it's very well paid - we paid our cm £72 a day when she had ds1. But I think I wouldn't be very good with other people's children, I can just about manage my own.

We've had three nights in a row where I've managed to get a 4 hour chunk of sleep. Not sure if this means things are improving. I have yet another blister on my nipple so feeding on the right side is excruciating at the moment. Must remember to take paracetemol. Just don't understand why I'm still getting this every few weeks and ds2 is coming up to 6 months in a couple of weeks.

digi Ive had lots of nipple problems along the way, mine seem ok at the mo. but I would keep an eye on that blister! mine turned in a blocked duct!

hayley yes where I live and around me everyone else has perfect sleeping babies, its only when I look on here and realise it not just me! dd only wakes twice now, so she has got better. I'm trying to get dh to give her bottle tonight, but not holding my breath!

fliss and jelly must be a lovely job being a child minder? my mum did it for many years. I loved our house being full of kids, But i must say its not for me! I'm looking to do 2 days at boots, if me boss less me? i just have to wait to next yr to find out!

Trying to pack for our 3 night say in Devon, there is so much stuff U need for a baby.....
buggy, bibs, food , travel cot, bedding, clothes, towels and the list goes on.
We leave Friday and staying in a caravan. Hoping to do some swimming with L coz they have an indoor pool.

If my boss will let me? I mean! Lol x

digital have you tried the liquid iron - Floradix, Spatone or Ferroglobin - the side effects aren't quite as painful severe as the iron tablets, with tablets a lot of the iron is wasted anyway (I think this is what causes constipation)

I was taking spatone, I wasn't sure if it was having any effect that's why I thought I should take the pills. Maybe I'll go back to the spatone. It's not quite constipation but I do feel incredibly sore back there, even water stings. But when I don't take the tablets it's fine. Go figure.

vicky that's what I'm worried about. I popped it yesterday as it was massive, and today its still there and hurts even more .

Ds2 gave me fright this evening. Heard weird snorting noises on the monitor so came upstairs thinking he would wake up annoyed with a snotty nose. Found him lying in a huge pool of vomit, had rolled his head and face in it and all in his hair and ears. Dh was out so a huge struggle to clean him up by myself - try holding a 20+lb baby over a sink with one hand and a flannel in the other! (where's the bloody top n tail bowl when you need it?). Went all over the carpet too, so a huge clean up operation. Ds2 slept through it other than me trying to dunk his head in the sink. Popped him in the cot and he pukes again...am now too worried to sleep in case it happens again. He'd gobbled up some avocado at dinner, don't think his stomach was ready for it. Clearly not ready for solids yet. Will have to give him a few days off.

Ugh - worst night yet. Both DCs have colds. Poor DD couldn't feed and breathe at the same time and was making noises like an old man snoring. She wouldn't sleep at all. DH had her from 11-1am and then I did 1-6 then he took both of them downstairs (DS woke at 6) and let me sleep until 8.30.

Hmm, so I had my first bad HV experience today...
So what do you all think (not brave enough to run this by aibu, especially as im quite sure that i am bvu...)...
Should health visitors have to be parents?

Wish id quoted bloody guidelines at her
Pleased with myself for standing my ground though

What happened beyond?

Hi ! Haven't written for a while so an update ;
DD hasn't gotten the cold too badly so far unlike I feared and is sleeping on her stomache so has been fine at night despite the slightly snotty nose. She's a real whinge bag ATM though , absolutely driving me crazy . Not happy anywhere for long so resorted in to putting a bit of teething gel in case it is her gums . No sign of teeth still but chews on things manically ...She's asleep now finally though after the usual bedtime noises... Has done 4 full nights recently which is amaizing ! It's DH job to give her a 11/12 pm feed so hasn't effected me so much but it's a new development definitely and am very gratefull for her not being up at 2-3 am any more like before. Am aware that this could all still change many times... With DS it was years of interrupted sleep on and off untill he had all his teeth . Yesterday she hadn't even had her 5 bottles in the day so expected her to wake up but apparently no .
Clotheswise she is still at 5 m and at 50% in weight at last weighing wearing a lot of 0-3m clothes other than the vests and the babygros that got too short . She's got a lot of dresses and trousers , tops , cardigans etc that are still fine . Have got some 3-6 m too and a coat in 6-9 m she can wear with the sleeves rolled up. Have to get lots more warm gear . Mittens , hats, tights , leggins etc layers since its suddenly getting colder . Have gotten her snowsuit ages ago before she was even born . Putting her into the buggy seat soon so she can have the lovely footmuff that's been laundered after DS and is all ready and waiting . She'll look like such a big girl in it I bet !

What happened Beyond??? I've been 3 times with R now and it's been fine but with DS half the time came out angry . For a few years when he was older I had a pretty reasonable one though. A lot of my friends haven't gone at all with their subsequent children after bad experiences as first time mothers . They were always made to feel bad . Draw of the luck I guess who u get ... For the surrogacy process I've been going regularly once a month to make an appearance .

Aww bless her nordic there is part of me that wishes A was still small enough to be in 0-3 clothes, feels like he's growing too fast because he's my last baby and he looks so grown up already as he's big and has two teeth!

Going away for the weekend tomorrow without my boys. I'm really looking forward to it on one hand and dreading it on the other, think I will cry when I leave them.

I was invited to a "baby development course" cause im in a flying start area, so although the letter was a bit patronising to start with, I went. Hey, I got free coffee and biscuits
The "lesson" was fine, nothing i didnt know, but no problems. Run by a lovely lady in roughly her late fifties
But she had a HV assisting her rubbed me up the wrong way rather quickly. I was eating a biscuit and DS snatched it off me and proceeded to eat it. He was sat up on my lap. Before I could take it off him, she said that he wasnt allowed that yet, so I replied nicely, oh its okay, hes already weaning, though obviously not on biscuits! She said, how old is he then, and i replied 5 months, but hes sitting and were blw. And she said well u still shouldnt be giving him anything, hes still too young. This was in front of the whole group.
I wonder if she didnt like me because i wasnt the typical teenage single mum and had some clue what i was talking about? (god that sounds so stuck up though!) we are all talking about how to know when your baby is ill. She mentions "the top of the head being sunken". Then watching a dvd i point out that the baby in the dvds fontanelle is depressed and she didnt react too well, said that it could be for any reason. Umm it was relevant because we were talking about it like 10 seconds ago, i thought the other mums might like to see what it looked like!!
Now the second thing i argued about... "Sick babies, ie when they have a cold or d&v, need extra water" collegue says she is not up to date on the current advice, is this also true for bf babies. Hv says yes. I say, no it isnt. she says bf babies do need extra water when theyre ill. I say, they don't, milk is all they need until they wean. She gives up, and says it is up to individual mums.

I was a bit of a bitc h, wasnt i...?

Anoth thing that buggd me, but this was probably just me being irritable by this point. Ds2 was lying on his stomach on the floor and she said "not long til he'll be rolling over". Surely average baby development is part of her training??
I could understand her asking if he can, cause of course its possible he cant yet, but assuming he cant just made me think she was well, stupid

Sorry for crap typing, one handed on ipad

That's awful Beyond Doesn't sound like she has a clue?
I weaned dd at 5 months, and i always stick by 'mother know there child best' You are the right one to know! Also why do they have on a lot of baby food from 4 months?????
I know they say 6 months for weaning, but surely its up to the mother?????

I was also told bf babies only need milk, till wean. I struggled to get dd to drink water but i do offer it to her, but don't tend to worry if she taking milk from me.

Digi Was it a hard white spot on your nipple? if so that does sounds like a blocked duct. My sister use to get them and explained to me, when i had one. If you have popped it, that's good. Hopefully its not blocked!
Has your boob been sore and swolen?

I've had a sick baby here today, she was sick twice after her solids at lunch. Really strange as she has only been a couple of times since newborn. I think its down to her cold, lots of snot coming out. Also lots of hands in mouth and dribbles today! I defantly think teeth are coming soon! poor thing.
last night feeds at 11, 12 and 4am so not a good night for us, just i thought things were improving !

Oh well see how we get on going away for the weekend? I'm quite excited, our first little family trip away.

Beyond I don't think I've heard anyone with a good word to say about HVs! The best I can say is they are well-meaning but fairly ineffectual. In your case sounds like they were neither. Definitely worth sticking to your guns, you know your baby best.

The only person whose advice I'd take and would trust is the midwife at the breastfeeding cafe I go to - she's been seeing DD regularly since she was 6 days old and knows her, which the HVs don't.

She has been giving us information sheets about weaning & seems surprised the HVs are not giving us this info - am sure if you asked HVs they would give advice, but they don't seem to volunteer information.

I don't think they should have to be parents but they should ensure they are up to date with current guidelines and advice, and recognise there's a world of difference between weaning at perhaps 5 weeks and 5 months, and that every baby is different. You hear of shocking advice given on these boards so often by HVs - if they're not giving the right advice, or being sensible within the guidelines (weaning is 4-6 months anyway really) then they should say fuck all.

My HV told me to breastfeed less and give DS more chocolate puddings at his 8 month check. (This is true).

Wow, Bear. That's just ridiculous.

Oh I forgot to say, its completely unrelated to the thread, but I feel I should share. He is quite sure that my joint pain is psoriatic arthritis, and he had a look at my scalp which is much much worse than it has been for ages (it cleared up completely in pregnancy), and said he woulnt be surprised if I lost my hair.
Have to have blood tests to confirm how to treat my joints, which may confirm that its that, but may not (half of cases have a particular gene, I do believe), and see a dermatologist (which will of course take months)
But what am I supposed to do in the meantime? First thing in the morning I really struggle with the kids luckily cause of DHs shift pattern at the moment, he's only not there two mornings at a time. But from Novemeber, hes back on 5 day weeks (still shifts)
And apart from that, I could be disabled and bald my poor kids, my poor DH, and poor me

"He" being my GP!

Oh Beyond

Is there any assistance you'd be able to get - either financial, Homestart or something, when DH isn't around? DS1 could do nursery/CM as well (they're extending free provision for two year olds, you might become eligible) which means you'd only have DS2 to deal with during the day.

The hair - it's not a given that you'll lose it, and I hope you don't - I know it's still really really shitty if you do Would you consider a wig (in a funky colour perhaps?) or would that irritate your scalp? I know nothing of psoriatic arthritis

Feeling a bit more calm and less negative now they're both asleep, lol

I'm going to speak to my HV next week and see if they can do anything, I know they offered me counselling when they found out I had depression, so wonder what else they have in place...
DS1s nursery place starts in January, as he wasnt 2 in time for the september intake.
One thing I do need to do is get one of those things for opening jars, very nearly took one over to my neighbours the other day cause I couldnt do it!!

Wish i'd done the red with a wig, its a bugger to get out

Oh beyond that sucks. I'm not far from you so if you want a hand or a bit of company in the week let me know. Certified jar opener me I may have made that last bit up

Thanks hug, i'm sure I'll live, but I will let you know if I need you x

(Btw, if its citalopram, I have some (10mg tablets) left over here from where I changed tablets)

They don't agree with me but thanks anyway. I'm on sertraline. The half doses haven't been bad tbh so will be able to hold out until wed I think x

On a lighter note, we bought a book today for DS called 'Whose House?'

It calls itself 'a little book with giant flaps'!

Just me?

Ive been on half doses too the last two days, thought i had a whole pack left but nope! Doctors in the morning tho

henrietta that made me giggle

Haha Henrietta we have 'Whose bottom?', also with giant flaps

Ooh ooh ooh - I need 'Whose Bottom'!

(So glad it's not just me )

Ahh, now I remember seeing a whose baby one! With giant flaps of course!
Is it for now or have you started xmas shopping?

It's clear what I am doing tomorrow, shopping for giant flap books <wonders if it will go down well in water stones if I demand they show me their giant flaps>

I need a giant flaps book in my life!

We all do, Holly, we all do.

Oh, and Beyond, it's for now, but I'll be scouring Amazon to get the bottom one for Christmas!

It was in a Garden Centre for a couple of quid, and we had a voucher for a pound off. Seemed silly not to...

Awwww, I wrote a big long post and then it got lost!

Gist of it was that we've now moved. DD2 is in her own room, and sleeping, well, like a baby.

DP leaves for a stag do on Weds night, and doesn't return until Sunday. Yet he can't quite understand why I want as much sorted and unpacked as possible before he goes. .

A just sucked bolegnaise sauce off some spaghetti and loved it. Gave him some of my sauce to suck off my (clean) finger and he was loving it. Not sure it will agree with him as there were two cloves of garlic and a whole onion in the sauce but hey ho

DD has been in her own room now for about month since she was 4 m and rolled over onto her face in the Moses basket . She adjusted right away and it's worked well for us . We can hear her since she is just on the other side of the landing and she doesn't seem to mind being on her own either . We go to her room quite a lot since it has the ensuite bathroom of our floor we use so can keep an eye on her. She has only been waking up once around 11 for a feed and then gone until the morning and now for the last week has been sleeping through on all but one night . I feel like she is really changing and growing up ... We moved her today into her bugaboo chameleon seat . She's facing me and it's in the middle setting slightly tipped back in a similar angle than the carseat . She's got more space in it and the lovely cozy warm footmuff . I think she was first wondering about her new seat but then got used to and slept well in it etc was happy in general . She 's been trying out her water cup again . I think she mainly chews on it and plays with it but is definitely also sucking and doesn't seem to dislike water. In general she's getting more and more active and is on all fours now rocking back and forward . It's only a matter of time until shell properly crawl , ATM mainly rolling from place to place and going sideways and backwards , sometimes inching a bit forward . She's getting more and more wriggly in a lap . Having a coffee out will soon be a challenge . I'll have to start putting her in a high hair when out I guess and soonish can give her finger foods . Still working on the sitting straight independently . Getting there but a bit wobbly . She's whiny if try to leave her with toys in the cot or put her on the playmat for long to get things done , I'm thinking I will need that jumparoo type of thing . If I get it I hope she'll like it !!!

DD has been her room from about 4.5 months too, its only across the landing about 2ft away, but it does mean lots of up a down for me. I can't believe she is 6 months this week! Is it just me or does April seem 5 mins ago?

She is still trying to crawl -seems to move round in circles well and sometimes backwards, but can't get them back legs under. Doesn't do much rolling now, just wants to be on her feet. She had always had strong legs and loves bouncing. Also she can stand only for a couple of secs holding to something!

Weaning is going well, having 3 solid meals a mix of finger food homemade and jars, giving her healthy snacks too. Seems to eat like a horse! Lol
she has cut the bf right back now only doing 4-5 in 24hrs. Odd occasion 6 feeds, if up twice at night.

Night time are slightly better too, she can sleep 7-8.5 now so tend to be up only once or twice for b feeds. Last night bed at 8pm then up at 1230pm then throught till 730am. Still no joy with a bottle, but taking a Tommee tippee tip it up cup with a soft spout- Recommend by another bf mother.

Taking only water i meant too say! X

Just parcelled up some 0-3 month clothes to return to my SIL. Can't believe I have a 5 month old!

DD is still in the Moses basket in my room (she is a shortie like me...) but she is very near outgrowing it now. She'll be in the big cot at 6 months, that's the plan anyway.

She loves standing up holding onto my hands but doesn't really enjoy tummy time so I don't think she'll be crawling any time soon. We shall see!

marshmallow DD hated tummy time, hardly had any, crawled at 6m

Nothing much happening here except for two teeth!

DS not huge on tummy time either - but will have to get used to it as he keeps rolling himself over!!

Nothing much happened here except a new routine he's got himself into: feed 7-8pm, asleep by 8, top up when we go to bed (11ish) & then sleeps through till 7.45am (our alarm). We love it! Long may it continue!!

Also I have been very brave and now go to 3 weekly events: singing & stories in the library, bumps & babies, and walk & talk. DS is very sociable & loves it, & it's way better than me sitting at home, carless, whilst DH works. Even if I'm not naturally a social butterfly. He doesn't have siblings (and may never) & I don't have a big network of friends in this town, so it's important I go when I can.

Hope you're all well!

Working our way to proper weaning here so tried a bit of food today again and now she's gotten the hang of it ! She was loving the apple/ pear/ baby rice and none of it came back out . Seems to have figured out what to do with it and is just swallowing it . New thing we tried today was the plum baby peach from age fraiche . Caused a few head shakes . It's not very sweet but she wanted more so had a few spoonfulls. I gave her the nuby water cup as well . She mainly chews the spout but must be drinking some as well since she's sucking it too . DS was having dinner so I thought it was a good time to do it !

We're weaning now. DS just gets flung whatever we're having and he's quite good at getting it in to his mouth. He's certainly better than DD with a spoon.

He's not sitting independently for more than a couple of seconds, but he does a very graceful, slow fall forwards and rolls from place to place usually screaming as I've dared to leave his side

Hello,
I'm still around!! Just wanted to check in - I actually have A LOT of reading to do . I had to stop using the internet for a while as Google became my worst enemy.

We are back in London now ... Germany was fab! Well, I thought I was at a dark place before we left and once we arrived it went pitch black. I cried and cried and cried. But after 3 weeks or so, it stopped. It was as I had no more tears and I felt so stupid and it was like "click" in my head. I have not looked (much) back since.

As it's past my bedtime already, I say "good night" for today but will be back tomorrow ;).

Welcome back, Thaleia. It's great to hear you sound so positive.

giant flaps!

fliss two teeth already! God I wish some teeth would emerge from ds2's permanently drooling mouth...

Glad to hear you're feeling more yourself thaleia

We're weaning too. After last week's avocado disaster I'm making sure I've breastfeed him within the hour before offering him solids. But he's much more keen to try things this week and is giving it a good 5-10 minutes before getting upset (less time if he's unimpressed with the taste). He's pretty much getting a version of what we're eating but I'm
keeping an eye on the salt content and not offering any meat this week.

Nights are slowly improving. Tonight's the first time he's skipped the 11pm feed so we'll see if that continues. He did have a nice long afternoon nap so maybe that helped.

Went to a wedding at the weekend and stayed in a family room at a hotel for two nights. Not as hideous as it could have been, ds1 woke us all up at 6:30 first morning and ds2 woke us at 7:50 the next morning. So it is doable, and made me think that perhaps moving ds2 into ds1's room won't be massively traumatic. Am waiting for the night wakings to consistently get better before putting myself through that.

Thaleia Good to see you Glad you're feeling so much better. Long may it last

digital He's still very dribbly, and the last two nights he's been incredibly fidgety and has kept me awake with his 'singing' and general faffing so I am thinking it may be time to put him in The Cot. However, I am dreading having to actually get up in the night when he really does want feeding rather than roll over, stick him on, and then go back to sleep. Then again, he might be awake in the night because he's in the bed with us, and because I wake him up from his sleep at about 11pm to carry him up to bed as he's been napping in the pram in the front room still.

Fliss I'm quite looking forward to moving DS into his own room. This is partly because the decorating will be finished on about the 16th Oct: 1 day before he is 6 months old! We're then away for the weekend and will move him in when we get back. I'm really looking forward to actually having a proper nursery! (And also looking forward to our bedroom having wallpaper and paint and stuff!)

Tried expressing this morning, and it was a real struggle. It usually takes me 10-15 minutes to get 5+ fl oz. But this morning I was on the bloody thing for over half an hour and barely got 4 fl oz before drying up. Is this my body telling me I ought to be thinking about weaning, or just one of those things?

Hi ladies, good to hear you are all doing so well.

As many of you will have seen from Facebook, A has quite bad plagiocephaly and its been suggested I take him for a consultation to get him fitted for a very expensive helmet.

Dh wants to take him to the doctor first as he's read it can be a symptom of other things that are wrong. I don't think it is with A, it's all due to the torticullis he had (physio has sorted that).

On the plus side he's quite strong. Rolls back to front very easily now and has rolled front to back once today (while I was out of the room!). He's still not loving food, enjoyed sucking on the corner of my rich tea biscuit earlier (wouldn't usually let him he was just staring at me!). He also has two teeth and is still dribbling so wouldn't surprise me if we have more soon.

He has tried to commando crawl (at physio too which they were very pleased with), thinking in the next month or so I will have to get baby gates. We didn't need them for ds1 because he was so late with his gross motor milestones by the time he wanted to try stairs he was old enough to understand he had to wait for us to help.

Commando crawling?!

Now I'm sure it's not what I'm thinking of...but I don't actually know what it is!

Haha it's where they do a funny sort of army crawl - you know where they're flat on the ground sort of wriggling along?

Henrietta think it's when they crawl very close to the ground like commandos do under netting like a horrid assault course I once did. Nothing to do with going commando!

Hug must be tough deciding what to do regarding the helmet. I know a few people who think their babies have slightly flattened heads but none who have gone for the helmet yet. Good luck!

at book with big flaps and commando crawling, never heard of it either!

That amazing that some of the babies have teeth !
I can't think of what dd will be like with hers, but I have a feeling they maybe close? Always looking for things to munch on, caught her chewing on the table end! Me and dh laught and made a joke about not feeding her enough because it was after her tea.

I wouldnt worry about the expressing Henrietta sometimes have more or less on other days, I think it also depends on when you last fed baby?
dd took 2oz of b milk from cup today with dh, not much but a start! maybe she will be getting better at taking it again?

hugs my friends little one had a helmet, which really helped him!

Hello! I am new to mumsnet and having a look around and found this thread! I have a little boy who was born April 29th, so thought i would say howdy

Welcome Copps - how are things going with your little one?

hug - So sorry to hear about A's head. He sounds like such a strong, happy and healthy baby though. Good on him for showing off to the dr with his crawling skills!

Still no weaning started here. I tried him in the high chair the other day and he screamed! He also HATES the bumbo and arches his back trying to get out. I don't think he's quite ready so I'll leave it until he can sit up for longer unaided.

I'm starting to feel really sad about going back to work. I've still got until Feb but the weeks are going by so quickly these days. There is no way we can afford for me not to go back to work though so I'll be going back full time. I do enjoy my job but I enjoy my baby much more! Anyone else in the same boat?

Thanks yeh he is doing well. pretty big now (8kg at 22 weeks) and getting very clingy and grumpy with what i think must be teething. Just bought a sleepywrap baby sling thing to carry him around as he is killing my back! Has anyone else used one??

Hi copps

I've bought some baby finger food things for A to try. I am yet to find a food he enjoys other than rich tea biscuits and he can't have them again until he's older.

Wrt the helmet, until Tuesday we are still not sure what's happening but if his measurements show he could do with one he'll have it (his forehead and ears are not at all symmetrical and its quite obvious).

He can roll both ways now, dh went into the living room as he was crying and found him rolling around the place looking very confused . He still won't bloody do it in front of us though haha.

omg i am loving my boba wrap! just got it today and already E seems so much happier! it was horrible that he was just too heavy for me to hold for long, and this seems to work! slept on me and everything!

hugs sorry to hear about your lo's head issues. i know what you mean about secret rolling tho! E kept rolling magically in the night and screaming when he got stuck lol

laughing i feel the same about work. just dont even wana think about going back! if only we could stay home forever

hugandroll You don't need specific baby finger foods - they're usually overpriced things that you can get elsewhere in store or make yourself for a fraction of the price

DS seems rather taken with ginger nuts and tonight, being Friday, is chilli night and he seems to rather enjoy that too (but I make his and DD's portions without the actual chilli powder as DH and I like it quite hot). I picked up an 18 pack of Little Stars yoghurts from the 99p shop the other day, and he's painted himself eaten several of those, sobbing whenever he's finished the pot.

at the rolling around the place in secret.

Copps Welcome I have a wrap sling, just a cheap 5m length of fabric from ebay, but it's been amazing as I use the bus a lot and it's saved no end of faffing having to fold up the buggy!

I can't wait to get home and get properly started on food. We've given E lots of tastes here & there but she's ready for more.
One week left in the UK! Saying goodbye to my mum tonight as she's off on hols. It seems harder to say goodbye this time; probably because of E. Hopefully we'll be back over in about 6 months time plus people are coming to see us for holidays.

Hi Copps and welcome ;)

hug I saw your posts on FB about A. Sorry if I missed some info but when do you find out more about the helmet?

Sorry for not name checking everyone - hard to remember everyone when I'm using my phone!

vintage we find out on Tuesday how severe it is so we can go from there.

fliss I know you don't have to but I did on impulse as he's so uninterested I'd try anything but gonna get sweet potato tomorrow and if he doesn't like that he's one strange baby.

Fed DD again at the same time as DS and I had dinner . She's definitely ready and eager. Little mouth open for more all the time. Today we tried apple and pear with raspberry and the same peach fromache fraiche . I suppose i'll start the weaning daily now since she's into it. First i'll do dinner , then lunch and dinner and then we'll add breakfast which will be the most hectic time of the day with the school run...
Hug I hope everything works out !

A had some apple and parsnip today, he kinda liked it. He at least didn't hate it so happy days.

Put a few pieces of steamed veg on DS's high chair tray today while we had dinner. He had a great tine playing with them but showed no interest in eating them. Does that mean it's still too early? (he'll be 6m on 17th)

...he's perfectly happy to be spoonfed purée, btw...

Not at all - playing with it is all part of it. Putting it in the mouth is still just playing at this stage. DH won't put broccoli near his mouth, maybe your DS just isn't keen either

The broccoli was the one he was most interested in! I think it was easier to handle than the carrot & potato ;)

It was great fun watching him investigate though. Love him to bits!!!

Fliss have you tried hiding broccoli in some of DH's favourite foods? Curry or chilli perhaps?

Ds2 will not be spoonfed . Was hoping to stuff his face with purée while he got to grips with finger food. But he insists on grabbing the spoon and wiping most of whatever's on it over his face. No little open mouth chick here. Just grabby mcgrabgrab. He's quite good a biting bits off the finger food I give him, and spitting them out again.

Henrietta Yes! he spots it though, it always breaks down into instantly recognisable little green 'balls'

Fliss, my DH is the same, but he eats what hes bloody given
Including broccoli, I dont want the kids noticing daddy gets to not eat his veg

Beyond that's exactly why I've started eating onion, mushroom & pepper: I want to set a good food example! (still can't cope with leek, though...& me part welsh too!)

Fliss having changed LO's explosive nappy twice in the last few hours, I now know exactly what you mean about the little broccoli balls. I guess he ate more of it than we realised!!! Mega green poo alert.

Of course he could be teething...

Lyra didn't like broccoli when I spoon fed it to her, but seemed to enjoy as a finger food. I normally do cucumber, cheese, bread, and steamed carrot/broccoli. I got slightly worried when she swollowed down a whole carrot Barton, it was a little thin. She cough a few times, I panicked, pat her on the back and the carrot when down!

She seems to enjoy spoon feeding and loves finger food, plus trying stuff on our plate. Nan bread seems to be her favourite!

Night have got worst again, 3 bad ones! Last night up at 12pm 3am and 5am then throught till 8am. Didn't feed her at 230-3am got to dh to go in calm her and seemed to work. Just as I thought things were improving!
she seem to sleep better when we were away in a caravan, in the travel cot? Strange!

One week to spain, wonder how we will get on?

Carrot batton- my bloody phone

Eli's second day on baby rice today and he loved it! not so sure yesterday, and when i tried it i realised why! it tasted weirdly sour... went and googled some stuff about Lipase in the milk and made today's batch with freshly expressed milk and his reaction was much much better. Had to throw out a ton of frozen milk tho! this really explains why he wont take the bottle...
he ate so much today it replaced a milk feed!

A has been enjoying some food. Parsnip and apple, sweet potato both lumpy purée, green bean whole and Heinz biscotti whole. I wasn't going to do purée but he seems to like it but I make sure it's lumpy and he knows after gagging yesterday he has to chew.

We've given DD bits of cucumber to suck on for teething - none getting swallowed so doesn't really count as weaning, I think, but she loves sucking on it.

Won't have any issues with vegetables in this house as I like all vegetables....just not so good on the fruit, I hate banana and mushy stewed fruit, so fruit purée is my idea of food hell.

Someone did tell me it's not a good idea to give small babies banana as it can make them constipated - I'm clinging on to that and hoping its a good excuse not to give her banana yet (of course she'll have to have some eventually...).

marshmallow not heard that about about banana's, I've given it to dd loads, she loves it! it does kind of make her poo funny, green with bits in! Don't U just love these solid nappies???? Hehe

copps that's a shame U had to throw b milk away, I tent to just keep any expressed milk in fridge for a few days. But then again dd doesn't really take it from a bottle away! But It is handy for mixe with food!
Anyone tried the baby musli yet? Just wondered how they go on? i tend to do porridge in the morning, did try wheatabix and she didn't like it!

Afternoon all - hope you're well. I'm off to the plastic surgery unit this afternoon as partially amputated my finger on the pram this morning, and the tip has been sliced through, and the bone is broken.

Lovely.

Thankfully, DH has been able to cancel work, as I'd struggle to change nappies, and we are visiting my parent from tomorrow for the rest of the week, anyway.

Also my friend, who is a GP, was with me when I did it, so was able to wrap me up and took me straight to A&E.

Watch out for Phil and Ted's sport is all I can say

Just saw your post on FB!!! You poor thing; hope you heal quickly. Never knew prams were so dangerous.

Blimey henrietta you poor thing. Hope the healing is quick. I have a p& t classic & have had a near miss with my fingers.

Ds is 6 months this week so I will begin blw slowly & see what he thinks. He can't quite sit up but is getting stronger everyday.
He's just cut his first tooth on sat & has mastered rolling over & over. Sleeping same as ever, still in bed with me.

Yikes Henrietta !!! you poor thing.

We're on our way to Center Parcs in Longleat. So excited to get away with DD and DH. We had DD's Christening yesterday, it went amazingly well, she was a dream and we had a gorgeous day. All a bit crazy though so will be glad of some peace and quiet

eekkk Henrietta saw on fb and couldn't quite believe, hope all goes ok! Can U complain to the buggy company and get some comp?

me and dd have been having a nice 1 & half hour nap on the couch! Makes up for being up in the nights!
Holly that's lovely U had a christening, looking forward to seeing the photos!

So sorry about your finger Henrietta!!! I hope it heals well !
We tried cooked roughly mashed ( just with a fork ) carrot yesterday . Dd liked it but it was a different for her not being totally smooth . Seemed to deal with it though. I hope I won't run into as much trouble with lumps as with DS so we'll have a few lumps here and there from the beginning . I thought I was going to start the proper weaning now but we're hopefully booking a last minute half term holiday in the sun in two weeks so I'll rather do it once back (R is 5 1/2 m now) . Until then we'll have a taste of something new once in a while . Btw DS had weetabix from about 1y so maybe Lyra will like it later on ... . DS still eats it . Don't want him having sugary cereals often. DD is getting better at sitting without support by herself on the floor . She's moving around a lot pushing onto all fours ingreasingly and almost pushing herself up to sitting position ( noticed that today ! ). Will have to lower the cot again if she can do that ! Also going forwards more often but mainly backwards and sideways ...

henrietta so sorry to hear about your finger. Put in a personal injury claim, you can do them yourself and if you need a hand with the claim form give me a shout .

Not much to report other than I'm fed up of people at the moment, just having a day where I don't have much tolerance and am very argumentative <strolls in the direction of aibu>

YY to banana having a constipating effect - DD suffers/suffered from toddler diahorrea, and a banana a day has really helped. DS has a chunk of banana in the morning. If you break one in half and squidge it slightly, it'll separate into 3 pieces which are the perfect size for chubby hands to hold.

henrietta Saw your FB post, it made me go rather queasy. Hope that they can get it nicely fixed for you!

DS is shockingly mobile for a baby who can't crawl, he rolls and then wriggles and reaches his way round to things, sadly for him he ends up going in the wrong direction quite a lot. He's started giving lovely wet kisses too, where he grabs my face with his dribbly paws hands and then places his open mouth on mine He's eating with us at every meal now - I say eating, I mean picking up the food, sucking it and then throwing it away and trying something else or wailing until we give him something else. I love this stage, this is the reward for getting through the endurance test that is the first six months

Henrietta You poor thing. SUE THE BASTARDS. Seriously. Sue them.

M is really, really enjoying food. I've only been giving her proper food for a couple of days but she is already eating loads - I start her off with whatever we're eating laid out on her tray and she makes a pretty good go of feeding herself but eventually gets angry at the food/herself so I top up with spooned mush afterwards.

This evening she ate about three mini breadsticks and some stir fried tofu and carrot and egg noodle and then the best part of an ella's carrot, apple and parsnip pouch.

We went to the free pub on Sat. It was a great meal. M managed to gag herself with a bit of bread and puke everywhere though.

Henrietta I also felt a bit faint when I read your FB status - how awful! I managed to gash my finger quite badly last week trying to fix a broken razor and that was bad enough....but the thought of a broken finger bone...:0
Do hope the buggy people offer compensation...or is it a case for product recall...was it something that could happen again easily?

Hug I've been feeling a bit ranty today too, the grey dismal weather and a series of domestic mishaps have left me feeling quite fed up. Have a horrible feeling this might be PMTish and my periods are about to start again (nooooo )
So far I've restricted my lashing out to Twitter and another forum I'm on. Keeping away from AIBU!

Fliss good to know that mushed up banana can help cure diarrhoea...but as mushed banana is basically my worst food nightmare (the thought of it makes me retch) it will have to be DH who does the banana feeding duty in our house, I think.

Ooh Henrietta that's awful. Can't see it on my Facebook All for s'one reason though. Hope the Plastics guys got you sorted: take care if it. It'll be a pain to keep dry, but make sure you do. Def contact P& T.I used to have one of those buggies....

Yay for Little Stars Fliss! Emily LOVES yoghurt too. She also loves Lotus caramelised biccies. Something her sisters would never have been given at this tender age. Standards are slipping eh? It's impossible to eat without giving some of it to her though: she cries if I'm eating and don't share!

Bear; I'm also surprised at the sheer amounts E can put away!!! Whole Plum pouches, a full adult sized Activia natural yoghurt with Raspberry purée afterwards... She slept really well for 3 nights too, but last night & one before she wakened twice for a feed again.

We had E Christened on Sunday. Her Godparents live in NZ & had been here on holiday for the last 3 weeks. Was lovely but hectic hectic. Have had lots of work-related issues to deal with over the last few weeks too...all v unpleasant & stressful. I barely slept for worrying last night.... I'm back one day a week 9-6 on Monday 15th. No idea how it'll go as BF more erratic ATM. Will just have to wait & see!

No teeth here but think they're v close as I can see & feel them! That'll make for interesting BF!

Thank you all! Am waiting in clinic but could be a while. DS had been amazing throughout : smiling & goodnatured. He's even learnt to roll over in his cot Not sure how I feel about that! It'll also be a good opportunity for him to spend more time with others.

My mum had travelled up to help with childcare & DH has been amazing too. We feel pretty lucky.

And I applaud single parents. What an amazing job they do.

As for suing...it's slightly complex (see my post in 'legal matters') but we shall see.

Btw I may be sounding calm but am actually about to puke with nerves. Ah, silly me!! I feel a bit foolish.

Henrietta we're all metaphorically hand holding for you....as opposed to actually holding the poor hand. Hope it all goes well.

My DF had an operation on his hand last week too and is doing fine...no driving for 3 weeks but think he's quite pleased about that secretly. Enjoy being looked after, glad you have family there to help.

Hello everyone, just been having a read through can't believe its been 6 months since antenatal thread!

You have all been very busy, S is really the neglected fourth child! There is no sitting, rolling, crawling or weaning here yet, he does sleep through though. I am trying to get him to take formula so DH and I can have a much needed break but so far no good.

Hello stranger! Nice to hear from you notso. My ds is poor neglected no.3. Has only just started rolling right over on sat & will only just start blw this week. To be fair though pfb didn't roll ever & didn't move off the spot until 13 months & walked at 20 months. They just do it when they are ready no matter what our input is really. Well that's my opinion & experience anyway.

henrietta glad your surgery went well. Hope it's not to sore & heals well. I was interested to read your thread in legal. I noted that I too have one of the recalled pushchairs (mine is a classic). I have filled in the online request form for the hinge cover. My pushchair was sold to me by my good friend so hopefully they'll still send me the thing.

Ugh - I thought I had more washing than I could cope with but it's stepped up a gear since she started on food - we're all getting covered. And the kitchen floor. I hate this bit.

Henrietta glad ypur op went well and they saved your finger! Hugs to you! X

DD is nearly crawling, she moves round in a circle and backwards pretty quick now! Still kind of does the catapiller, But now tries to lift the back legs under. Also from sitting goes down into a crawl position. And is standing for much longer holding on! She just wants to be on legs all the time, even straighten them when U put her down to sit.

Food wise, tried cauliflower and baby muesli not together lol. Seem the like the muesli but only eate a small amount of the cauliflower. Oh she did have a taste of my vegetarian spag bol but it was too lumpy for her!
Anyone else baby close their mouth when they don't like something????
she has starting to do it a little bit!

I've set up a Facebook page for Aaron's plagiocephaly, please let me know if you want to be added to the group as its closed.

Omg I sound so precious and entitled in that post .

Nah hugs I think we know you well enough to know that you aren't.

Thanks buns I just read it back and was a bit at myself.

Ah thanks, guys - and it's made me feel a bit better that because of this maybe you will save your fingers, Bun!

Anaesthetic has now worn off & I'm in fucking agony. Limited painkillers because if bf - mum says my supply will dry up anyway in this much pain so I should just take the strong stuff and give him expressed milk & formula if it runs out. Really don't want to! Feeding going ok at the mo.

Poor you henrietta how horrid to be in such pain. Pretty sure there is no foundation for your milk drying up because of the pain though. Though obviously if you used pre expressed & formula lots instead of time at the breast then it could.
Sometimes drs will prescribe stronger painkillers for a short period of time if the benefit outweighs the risks. Certainly if you want to keep bf but are in lots of pain it might be worth speaking to the dr.

Yes thank you for possibly saving my fingers too x

That's such about your painkillers, hope U not in too much pain? henrietta

I have awake baby here, and a tired mummy, I only had 5hrs sleep last night!
she was up 12om and 3am and stayed awake till 430-5am, full of the beans. I tried singing, holding her, and then bfeeding. I wasn't going to because only 3hrs since last feed. And she didn't really take much but finally when off when dh got up for work. I took her in bed with me at 5am and she was slept till 715am.
Is she sleeping too long in the day?
Or another growth spurt?
I don't think it was teething pain last night.

Such a shame sorry- Henrietta still half asleep x

newmummyvicky that sounds like perfectly normal baby nighttime behaviour!

Morning all, haven't been on for a whole as I've had a lot going on, but have been keeping up with stuff via FB. Hen hope your finger and the pain sort themselves out, it sounds horrendous. What kind of pushchair do you have?!

I wanted to ask: which one of you lovelies was it who was worried about one leg being longer than the other? (Baby's leg, that is!) my useless HV scared the crap out of my the other day when measuring DD by saying that she thought her legs were different lengths. No sorry, that's not just the kind of thing you drop into conversation! We have a physio appt on Monday (unrelated), but wondered if whoever it was on here had any words of wisdom on possible outcomes/ treatments...?

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with a neglected child Buns
It's hard for S to get a look in when DS2 (22 months) is so full on, thankfully he is placid enough to just sit and watch his little big brother tearing around the place!
He did give me shock this morning when he pulled himself right up to sitting in his swing making it flop forwards, I think the swing will be on Ebay soon, he's prob miles too heavy for it anyway.

Hope all well Henrietta

notso dd did the same thing in her nest the other day, sitting right forward in it and trying to crawl over edge. I think ill put it away soon!

latristesse I think alot of people have one leg longer than the other, and different size feet is very normal too. I wouldn't worry! X

fliss did think is was normal behaviour, but just needed resurance! Thanks! dd only woke up once last night, our nights are never the same!

Do U think drinking tea and coffee can have an effect on your breast milk?
maybe why she is awake in the night sometimes!
Sometimes i just half one cup of tea other days tea and coffee 3-4 cups!
Does anyone reduce the amount they drink?

I've not reduced how much tea I drink; if anything it's increased since DS was born - I have at least two or three cups a day now. Before I got pregnant I might have had one in the morning. Never really thought about it.

I suppose it would be possible in theory that small amounts of caffeine would pass into your BM, after all some babies have reactions if the mother eats dairy produce, I suppose caffeine would pass through in the same way.

Give it a go, see if cutting right back improves DD's sleep, you'd have to try it for a good few days though!

newmummyvicky I have to wedge S into his nest with a V pillow or he slides down and gets cross.
I don't reduce tea at all when BF, infact am doing the 5:2 diet so on my 500 calorie days I drink gallons of it to stave off the hunger.
S has regularly been sleeping from 8-9ish util 5:30-6ish since four months. DS2 however didn't sleep through until 15mnths

Just marking place as you've all dropped off my active list. Things are manic here so will try and get back on tomorrow for a proper catch up.

Marking place as I lost you all.

If you're worried that coffee is keeping her awake, have a nice g&t at bedtime

Henrietta - re pain meds, doctors are always over cautious of what they can prescribe while BF, kellymom have a good list that i checked mine on

Thanks for the tip, Beyond! I managed to get through the first few days on the milder codeine & am now alternating ibuprofen & paracetamol. The pain is much more manageable now. The occasional glass of red helps too, and I reckon is much more acceptable than codeine!

Back home today to go for check up & re-dressing at the Hand Clinic tomorrow. Then mum is bringing me & DS back down to stay with them for the week, as DH will be working & I still can't change nappies etc!

DS is thriving through all this. We have been on family expeditions to buy lots of lovely 6-9 month clothes, and he's getting really into food too - dinner times are a blast, shoving bits of veg around the table and investigating things. Finger food is strictly at home, though. I'm happy to batch make purée for trips out but my mum loves to splash out & has tried him on almost every Ella's kitchen pouch on the Market! She's not quite got the idea that he has what we have, though, and likes to prepare bits of bread & smooth peanut butter or similar for his meals. I applaud her enthusiasm! I haven't got the energy to do anything different.

Btw, is he old enough for meat? Not great chunks, clearly, but mince or similar?

Henrietta, when I weaned DS from about 51/2 m he had veg and fruit and porridges for about a month and then maybe around 7 m I started giving more adventurous meals that inc meat or chicken once a day and the other one would be a vegetarian dish . Don't remember exactly when I gave him fish . I followed advice in books like Annabel Karmel ones since I was clueless . I was careful with foods that can potentially cause allergies since they run in the family .

Dd is also getting into her food . Haven't started regular meals yet but have a taste here and there. Luckily she seems to also like veg eventhough this time I gave fruit first . She eagerly had this carrot / pea/ cauliflower hip org pouch which was vile to me ( I always taste food) then she devoured some baby from age fraiche . She loves those !

DS2 ate a piece of chicken breast a few days ago, I thought he'd just suck it, but I couldn't find it anywhere when he'd finished!
I tried to feed him a jar when we were out for lunch. He was less than impressed, so I ended up sharing mine

Nordic, I have a load of spinach and basil pouches left over, I've been mixing them into pesto pasta for DS1 to use them up

Henrietta anything bar honey now really, so meat is good to go

Easy to handle chunks (strips of chicken or beef for example), mince (DS likes chilli con carne on a loaded spoon), you name it. Ham and chorizo quesadillas seemed popular the other day.

Sadly though, DD is no longer so adventurous and will refuse to eat almost anything other than toast with peanut butter without some debate first

Last time around the HV told me to start weaning around 5 1/2 m so by the time DS would be 6 + m I could add the meat etc before his iron stores were gone . Had several problems with DS eating until he was around 3 1/2 y starting with having to make him laught to get a spoonful of veg in then not happy with lumps , choking on fingerfood so off them for a while, then hating any kind of veg /fruit bits in his food( peas, sweetcorn,pieces of blueberries in a yougurt or similar he'd always leave them ) . Had to really puree fruit and hide the veg to get them in . Didn't like to eat a whole piece of any other fruit than banana , liked dried fruit though when older. Then simply not eating at all at some of the mealtimes. Couple of years of struggle and he went from 50% to between 9-25% around 2 y but i didn't give up and from about 3 1/2y after not eating his tea at nursery for a whole year ( had to do one at home later) he one day ate when i was there and had some first myself and from then on has become an adventurous eater and gotten back to the 50% in weight and height he was on. DD seems More interested .I'll give her a mix of spoonfed food (and will introduce the lumps early this time so hopefully not such a problem) and finger foods like cooked veg,toast ,fruit ,pasta etc she can learn to feed herself...she makes such funny mmmmmm yam yam sounds and is all exited when we feed her that maybe this won't be such a struggle this time !

I like the frozen baby foods better than the pouches for an older baby . They taste like a homemade meal . They are much more expensive and harder to buy ( i've ordered online) but I'll use them when too tired to cook . I tried them all when weaned DS and also the jars and thought no wonder he doesn't want to eat it since he wasn't very nice... The fruit ones aRe good and now to start with I'll use the veg ones too . Last time I made almost everything from scratch but now am just too busy and oh so tired to do that . The goal is to get R to eat our food ASAP just have to cook without salt .

The jars weren't very nice tasting not DS ...

This week A will be trying carrot with potato, apple with pear and apple with plum as rough purée alongside anything else I decide to give him.

We've been given baby muesli to try but it has ground hazelnuts in it. Says 10 months plus but take it that's because they don't think babies can handle lumps before then but do I need to wait until 6 months or more because of the nuts?

I'd not give things that say more than 7 m+ .

Ok will keep it in the cupboard for a while, thanks

Hug, DS1 was always ahead in jars cause he was BLW so could eat the lumps, he (roughly) had 7m at 6m and 10m at 7m
Nuts are okay if no allergies. DS2 had marzipan this morning

I'd give him the muesli.

The issue with whole nuts is the choking risk. Ground nuts (allergies excepted) should be OK. Those of us not using specific baby ranges don't have age limits on the food boxes. Personally I think they're a con, and a way if making money out of parents

Fliss that's one of the reasons we wanted to try DS on peanut butter quite early. We are all allergy free & wanted to rule it out in him as early as possible. He wasn't bothered about trying it but I think he got enough on his hands/face to have highlighted a problem!

It means less worry about nut traces in other food he may try.

Like I said we have allergies in the family on both sides so have and will be more careful while weaning to see if we get reactions from the most common allergy causing foods. Ofcourse each should do as they wish with their own kids and use common sense. I like to have the option of organic baby / toddler products but will get DD to eat family meals with us as soon as possible . I like that the baby / toddler ranges have good selection of no nonsense sugar free snacks etc my 7 y is still happy to eat instead of a choc biscuits and crisps laden with fat and salt ( which he has also) . I'll be doing a mix of spoonfed and blw type of food . What ever works

... DS exema got so bad around 1y that we did take him to an allergy specialist to rule out food allergies . He didn't have any but has later on developed hay fever like both us . Different allergies are often linked .

Indeed DH ( department of health ) advises using caution in giving nuts during weaning if your child has eczema ,or any other type of allergy . Dd has a pretty good skin but I'll keep on eye on things I suppose .

...or a family history of allergies

Sounds sensible, Nordic. We have no allergies on either side - other than tomatoes, bizarrely, and no hay fever/eczema either so introducing foods to rule allergies out makes it easier for us.

It's DS's grandad who was allergic to tomatoes but I ate them through pregnancy. Still, it's something to be aware if when we try him out with them.

I do need to be careful then because asthma and eczema are prevalent in our family, poor ds1 has both! He still hasn't had peanuts but I doubt he's allergic as I'm sure he's come across them.

DD is loving her food she's had all kinda of Ella's kitchen pouches while I'm testing her for allergies etc. She's had carrot, sweet pot, sweetcorn, prunes, apples, pears and loads more in purée form. This week I'll make own and will freeze them. Our kitchen is being done up this week so she's being fed in her Bumbo in the living room! Once the kitchen is done she'll be in her high chair in the kitchen and then she'll eat what we eat or lump it

Whereas we have no allergies or eczema so I don't worry much. If we did have a history I'm sure I'd be more careful. Lets be honest, however we wean these lovely babies, it's another thing that won't matter in a year or two...by then we'll all have something else to be worrying about - crawling, walking, talking, potty training

Anyone else started thinking about Christmas?

Started DD on meat yesterday - made spicy lamb patties from the BLW cookbook. - she grolfed them down along with fine beans and pitta fingers. The rest of us had them in pitta bread with lemon and greek yog. Will post recipe if anyone wants?

As I said on fb, sleep utterly abysmal. Only good thing is that at least she's cheerful despite minimal day/night sleep.

At the mo she is calmly feeding whilst trying to pull all my hair out.

Who watched Felix thingy jump out the spaceship? I felt like throwing up.

bear I forgot it was on missed it. What channel was it so I can try and find it on catch up tv?

fliss you're totally right about the weaning etc. I also haven't just thought about Christmas I've made lists and started shopping. You will notice shops reduce prices around now then whack them up November/December.

First KIT day tomorrow. I feel sick. :-(
DD with daddy & I'll hopefully be able to feed her at lunchtime as he'll bring her to me. She's so erratic ATM with her feeds that it's difficult to predict what to expect at all. I'm hoping to be able to express when necessary at work though if it's anything like it was before I left, that might be optimistic..(though I know legally I'm supposed to be allowed breaks when I need them). I'll report back Tom pm, plse keep your fingers crossed I don't end up a teary quivering mess!!!!

Henrietta; hope that finger is healing nicely & the pain is easing.

Bear; would love that recipe plse! Am fed up cooing the same old stuff week in week out...sounds yum! Emily's v keen to eat exactly what I'm eating; she's grabbing at whatever it is & cries if not offered/allowed any! She is getting purée, but lots of finger food too. At M&S cafe yesterday she had bits of her older sisters' pizza...really sympathise with your awful sleep. Emily's turned around 6wks ago from all night sleeps to 4 hourly night feeds. Couldn't cope with any more frequent than that, I'm not sure how you're doing it. I'm hoping in a month when Em's solid intake increases/some teeth are through that it'll all improve. Maybe now Marianne has cut a tooth, more will follow & sleep will come.

Fliss: YY to C'mas. Have started shopping for older DDs. Love love love C'mas & so happy to be off work this year! It'll be done on a shoestring mind....even moreso than usual. But am actually strangely enjoying the challenge! There's a thread on here which is great for bargain hunters! Start my Childcare Course on Wednesday!!

Notso; what's the 5:2 diet? Have finally gotten back into (my biggest!!) PP jeans, but have the familiar old post preg rolls of muffin top back fat that I hate....

Fliss yy to Christmas, and DD is our first. I'm from a huge family and Christmas is a big deal so everyone is already going completely gaga at the thought of an 8 month old baby being around too! I have to admit that I've bought her a stocking and bauble from Mamas and Papas because they both said 'Babies First Christmas 2012'. They were ridiculously overpriced but I practically skipped to the till. And, erm, I'm taking her to Harrods to meet Santa . She of course won't have a bloody clue what's going on but I'll prob be a big weeping mess

My Mum always puts our tree up on the first weekend on December and watch The Box of Delights while we do, so that tradition will carry on in our household this year.

Yikes. I'm massively over excited, aren't I? Bloody love Christmas!!

Jelly great news about course, good luck!

Bear yy. When he started spinning DH had to leave room. When Felix landed and got up v calmly and started to walk about I couldn't believe it. V brave stupid man

Hi ladies, question is actually relating to ds1 sorry. He feels really warm to me and he's woken twice in the night, took his temperature and it was 36.5 then 36.8 - all fine. I took mine for a laugh at 4.30am and it's 35.4. Just worried my thermometer is naffed and he's got a feaver (or what's up with my temperature?)

I've been up half the night with DS1 too, his temp was up yesterday and the day before, but is back down now, yet now he seems ill-er?!
Were they all oral temps (cause underarm can be up to a degree different anyway)? And have you tried again this morning?

Oh yeah, proper thermometer or feverscan? If its a feverscan, yep it sounds like its dying, in which case he could have a temp. They only last something like a year, and they're not entirely accurate during that time!

It's an in ear or forehead digital thermometer. He seems fine this morning and has been bouncing on my bed. I on the other hand am exhausted.

Is your ds1 any better this morning?

Yep he's fine now. Watching peppa and very impressed that todays little boxers are bright pink
For the small amounts of time he was asleep last night, he was thrashing his arms around and shouting at Noah in his sleep! I think I've had less sleep than DH, and hes just come in from work

jelly - <hugs> I hope the KIT day goes ok today.

hug - glad to hear DS1 is feeling better.

N's ezcema appears to have turned into hives since we started moisturising/redbush tea baths and applying breast milk. He is still scratching like mad though. Im convinced it is a reaction to washing powder so Ive changed from persil to eco balls which were recommended. We have a follow up appoinment at the Dr's on thursday to discuss possible algergy testing. On top of this he has a tummy virus! I'm still EBF and im kind of glad because id be convinced he was horribly illergic to everything I was feeding to him!

Oh god laughing I hope he's better soon and you get to the bottom of his skin issues <unmumsnetty hugs>

Ok - here's the recipe, it's really good because you can form them into little finger shapes before you fry them and they are nice and soft but hold their shape. You don't need to add all the spices - I don't have a pestle and mortar so I wrapped up the cardomom pods and cloves in paper and bashed them with a hammer!

They really don't take long to make.

Spicy Lamb Patties

These delicious patties melt in the mouth - perfect for babies who are just starting out. If you don't have time to prepare the cardamom pods and cloves you can add 2 tsp ready ground cardamom and 1 tsp ready ground cloves instead.

Serves 2 adults and 1 baby [I found that there was more than that]

12-15 cardamom pods
8 cloves
500g lean minced lamb
4-5 cm fresh ginger peeled and grated
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp mild chili powder (optional) [I just put a pinch in as ds doesn't like hot food]
30 - 50 g fresh breadcrumbs (1 slice of bread)
1 egg beaten
2 tblsp thick greek style natural yoghurt
oil for frying

Use a knife to split open the cardamom pods and put the seeds in a pestle and mortar with the cloves - grind to a powder.

Put powder in a large bowl and add all ingredients except egg, yog and oil. mix well then add egg and yog and mix thoroughly.

Shape mixture into small patties (wet or floured hands help it to stop sticking). Make sure they are all the same thickness. If you have time cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to firm them up [I didn't].

Heat a frying pan and add a little oil if needed - fry the patties for 5 - 10 mins on each side until cooked through and browned.

Yummy!!

Ooh! Thanks bear!

So, down at my DM & DF's for next 3 nights before DH joins us. Considering co-sleeping with DS in case he wakes in night & I can't lift him out of cot. Any tips? (it's all new to me!)

...think the idea makes my parents nervous... They never did anything remotely like it but can see the practicalities.

Greetings From Spain,

LaughingGnomette have U looked into your diet? I know someone who was bfeeding cut diary out of diet which helped their babies ezcema! Or any improvement with the washing powder? Poor thing!

jelly
How did U get on with your work? I have a day booked in Jan, For training all day.

Dd bf has cut really down, today we did 12hr+ from 430am to 5pm tonight between feeds. Not too worried because doing 3 solid meals a day now. Just struggling with other fluid, offer water in tippy cup at meal times and only take small sips! MIL thinks she might not be having enough? It wasn't a problem when doing more day bfeeds.
What do U think?

Food eating is back to normal doing well, had fun at the supermarket picking out baby food and porridge all in spainish! Hehe, even tried some formula in her breakfast! But penty of fresh fruit and veg, had a banana and melon today.

I'd not worry about the liquid intake too much, remember L will be getting fluid through her food as well as little sips of water and BM.

You can use cows milk in food instead of formula if you want (considerably cheaper!)

henrietta Here's a link on good bed sharing practices.

safebedsharing.org/safetyguidelines.html

newmummy re bf, Kellysmom indicates that at 12 months solids should still be only 25% of a babies diet. Probably depends on how often your baby feeds over the rest of the day/night. Just bear in mind that fruit & veg may fill a baby's tummy but not have enough protein/fat etc. Maybe try bf first before meals. Does your baby feed overnight? NHS says babies should still have at least 500-600ml of bf/f a day at least up to 12 months. Impossible to measure obviously when bf I know.

Anyway, those ate my thoughts on it

Ds2 has his 2nd tooth through subsequently is only sleeping for about 20-30 mins at a time. I have a blocked milk duct from all this on off feeding. Ouch, hoping to clear it before the dreaded mastitis kicks in again.

I am loving how excited ds2 gets when he sees I am going to pick him up. All arms & legs waggling & beamy smiles. I especially love babies from 6 months --when they start doing stuff that is interesting--

newmummyvicky I've just re-read your post -12 hours without a feed does seem like a long time. I don't think my brain processed the sentence fully before! Are you still offering feeds in the day?

bear those sound delicious!

Don't think ds2 is taking much in at the moment. Still won't be spoon fed, none of this waiting with an open mouth business. Will grab the spoon off me and wipe most of the food off and then gum on it. The most success I've had has been with yoghurt and very occasionally some weetabix. Loves sucking on bits of fruit and veg but hasn't got the hang of chewing so unless the food can be sucked (cucumber and courgettes are popular) most of it gets spat out. Fruit seems to irritate his skin but he does like it if it's perfectly ripe. Too ripe and it's too soft for him he ends up spitting out the big chunks that end up in his mouth.

I was so willing to spoon feed this time - but ds2 is just like ds1 and not really that interested in solids. So looks like we're stuck with the 2-3 hourly nightfeeds for a while . DS1 seemed to click at about 8-10 months, finally chewing and actually eating the food on purpose as opposed to accidentally swallowing. Ah well, I guess this is where I start losing the last few pounds of pregnancy weight through breastfeeding. Ds2 is in 9-12m clothes, some 12-18month trousers so I must be providing the calories.

Think we have more teeth on the way. A is really upset has been crying for half hr chewing his thumb. He wants to go to sleep but can't get there and can't give anymore calpol yet .

Do you have any ibuprofen? You can give that

Thanks fliss I do have some and I've given it to him, just waiting for it to kick in.

Thx for your good wishes in my KIT day ladies. It went well apart from a teary hormonal outburst at DH at lunchtime. He drove into the carpark without me seeing him despite being glued to the window (& trying to get logged into an online course I was trying to complete at the same time). He angrily texted me 20 (!??!!) minutes later & fumed at me for keeping them waiting!!!!! Of course, me with tingly boobs aching to feed, feeling emotional already just crumpled & cried & shouted. Totally unlike either of us TBH. We both aplologised (after a few minutes stony silence) & that was that! the work itself was fine, just had brain ache from so much thinking that night & was aslp by 21.30. Emily has been in AWFUL form since, though. She's cut her first tooth, but last night was up every hour screaming. No thumb/dummy or feed wanted...just me walking her about & the hallowed White Noise App could calm her down. Not sure if that's the rest of the tooth coming through or the one beside it pushing up. She's dosed with the cold, her wee face is all sores & blotches & she's barely eating/feeding & is having trouble pooing. Tonight's supposed to be my first Childminding Pre Reg Course but I'm loathe to leave her....

Newmummy hope Spain's nice & warm. I always BF before food....do you do that? Maybe she'd drink more that way. Laughing; hope Nico's skin calms down. Washing powder & Fabric Conditioner & Swimming Pools are the biggest trigger for DD's eczema.
Henrietta; co-sleeping is lovely. There's nothing like waking up beside your LO & getting a big gummy smile!

Ps Bear, will be making your lovely recipe at the weekend! They sound really tasty.

Morning all! We are in mega cold territory today. Loads of green snot everywhere (tmi?). DS seems remarkably unfazed and is carrying on regardless, eating lots and enjoying plenty of boob time too. Feed a cold, eh!

I'm off out for a haircut & manicure as I haven't been pampered in AGES (and can't shower ATM so hair is a state). Also can't cut my own nails. Rather meanly they're not giving me 10% off the manicure!! I thought I deserved it but such is life

You're all right, btw, co- sleeping is lovely. Thanks for the link. Last night of it tonight, though, as DH us coming down tomorrow. Yay! We miss him!!

henrietta - yay for pampering! I haven't had my hair cut since the day I found out I was pregnant! I really need to get onto that...

jelly - good to hear the KIT went well on the whole. I hope Emily feels better soon, poor thing.

Poor N's legs are now infected the doctor took a swab and he is on horrible antibiotics for a week, then we're off to the allergies clinic to get to try and get answers.
newmummy - yep, I'm now off the dairy. Doctor wanted to systematically try a few things, so we haven't cut that out until now so that we don't try too many things at once and not realise whats worked - if that makes sense! Its going to be tough - I absolutely LOVE cheese but I'll do anything to stop his suffering.

On a positive note, we've finally received our insurance payout for the burglary in July! Hooray!

Hi girls, lovely weather in Spain its 25'c plus, just having a spot of rain tonight.

gnomette must suck giving up diary, I love it too, but hopefully your ds will improve!
jelly sounds hard the kit day, but glad it went ok!

Yes breast feeding has cut right down, was doing 6/5 per day, now only on 4 feeds in 24hrs. Still doing wake up ones at night normally 2, one at 12pm say and 3/4am. But no morning feeds and then one at 2pm or 3pm then bedtime one at 8pm. I'm still offering boob regular throughout the day. But she wont take any or latch, and doesn't want it.
It was just a one off, with the 12 gap.

I normally do it after a solid feed or 1hr/2hrs before!
R U guys all doing it right before solids? I Wasn't really sure when to do it? She Was a very regular feeder before, so doing it on damand now really.
Weather is hotter here than UK, so we were really trying with cup of water even tried diluid juice. And still only having small sips.

Laughing; poor Nico. Bad eczema is a horrible thing. I really feel for you giving up dairy...it & stodgy carbs are the mainstay of my (awful) diet!!! Not sure I'd cope without my 5 milky coffees a day! Good luck!

NewMummy; hmm. Trying to think about what I do. Emily woke at 07.40. Breastfed right away. Then schoolrun, so porridge at 09.30, which she gobbled this morning! Then 5 more minutes of breadtfeeding. She'll nap for 30ish mins then waken & feed again around 11.30/12 then solids at 13.00. Nap during schoolrun & feed again probably twice till solids 18.00ish with gee big sisters. So what you're doing is probably not very different to what I'm doing. Ive noticed that Enily's feeds are shorter, but in 24hours her BF time is still 1hr 20mins. But; she's been wakening twice at night instead of sleeping through like she used to. So that's how she's keeping up her milk intake. I guess some babies just prefer solids...I know a couple of bottlefed 7mth olds who are only drinking one in morning & one at night despite being offered more. If you're offering & Lyra is refusing to BF then maybe you should assume she's happy enough. BF babies apparently don't overeat & maybe Lyra prefers her calories from solids? She's always struck me as ahead of her age physically in what she's doing & maybe needs more protein/iron than most?? Certainly sounds as though she's a happy healthy baby anyway!

Henrietta; how's the finger coming along? And DS's cold? Emily's much better thx (to all of you who asked-can't remember now!!). My Nuk snotterbuster is fab; she hates it & I hate inflicting it on her, but it really clears her nose. Despite that we had a nappy of pure snot this morning!! And she's now filling her nappies with disgusting solids poo again which I'm happy to see for once!! She's eating & drinking normally again so all systems good...

I think I'm going to have my first period soon...I'm so hormonal & teary. Full on PMT for the past couple of weeks & what I thought were
grumbly period pains. Nothing has appeared yet, though & I hope it stays away!! Anyone else not had theirs yet?

Lost you all again, things are manic here.

DD trying to crawl. That's about it for my news.

WILL catch up properly later....promise

And she can now get out of Bumbo, my last 'safe place'.

Hi all
Henrietta how's your finger doing?

We have two teeth cut through (bottom front) and I think the tops ones are on the way as well.

Weaning is going really well. Iv been giving Noah a variety of pureed fruits and veg and so far there's nothing he hasn't liked. I was having some milk buttons the other day and he was in my lap. He was looking at it - like he does everything I eat, then literally took it off me and put it in his mouth lol. I didn't let him eat it - mainly because I dont share chocolate .

Havnt managed to get Noah sleeping in his crib yet. He wakes up every 2 hours when he's co sleeping and even more in the crib. I keep trying to put him back but there's only so exhausted I can be, so in the end I give in & bring him back to my bed. Don't even want him in his own room the crib is so close to my bed we practically share the covers but I'd like to have my bed back - especially the nights DP comes home.

Crawling wise - we are not close yet. Noah gets on his front and moves his arms and legs and looks like he wants to move but can't, then gets frustrated and crys, or rolls over.
He's sitting up for a lot longer now though, about 20-30 seconds roughly.

Think that's it for now. He's asleep now so I'm going to make dinner - exciting Friday night

DD has a cold and a croaky voice! It's hilariously cute.

she's mastered rolling from back to front and spins on her tummy I walk out of the room and she's watching the tv in the other direction when I walk back in!

hen hope the finger is getting better

I'm back to work on Monday. Can't believe how quickly it's come around tbh. All a bit scary, but needs must... I think we're going to be fine but I won't know until we do it.

Hope you a have lovely weekends

Good luck for Monday holly

Good morning all. I can't believe how quickly work is coming round again - good luck Holly. I have to arrange a meeting with the head to discuss my return in February. I'm slightly in denial.

Finger is on the mend. I'm still not able to change nappies, but can pick him up one handed and keep my bad hand under his bum. So hug times are back! (although they're quite brief).

Seeing my grandparents today & discovered my grandad has also lost the bone in the top of his left middle finger from an accident with a gate on the moors when he was 11! So now we're finger buddies. Aah...

In other news, feeding continues apace. Today's breakfast was scrambled eggs, beans & peanut butter sandwiches.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Hen We had scrambled egg for breakfast too. DD wasn't overly impressed.

Hi everyone,

I'm loving this age so much! Giving her food is great fun (salmon, sweet potato chips & asparagus last night); she can roll around all over the place; can sit; she's sleeping better (rolls on to her tummy in the night); she loves banging things together and making noise; smiles & giggles abound; loves an audience.

We had a fun UK trip & the plane journey was great too; think it went quicker with a baby & she only cried when we were landing. I'm contemplating doing the journey without DH next year tho she'll be mobile by then so will be a different experience.

I've been wittering so long I can't remember everyone's updates to reply to...

hen glad your finger is improving
holly hope work is ok. Are you going back f/t or p/t?
jelly I'm awaiting my 2nd period - also very hormonal so don't think it's far away.
vicky sounds like you're having a lovely holiday.
jam uh oh at the bumbo escaping! Hope E doesn't figure that out anytime soon as I rely on her sitting still in the bathroom while I shower!!

Back to work full time... DD will be at nursery three days and with my parents 2 days. Eek. And I've been asked to go to Paris Thursday for one night... I think the proof is going to be in the pudding and we're just gonna have to do it and see how we go.

In other news, I've booked to see Santa at Bluewater on 31 Dec. With DD if course ;). Hurrah. Also bought her a gorgeous wooden Noah's Ark set from Boots for one of her gifts. massively over excited!

You'll be fine Holly once you get into it

DS sitting better, rolling around as transport, laughing at everything (including when he's smacking me!) and eating everything in sight.

I've made a decision which I am very excited about - I'm going to apply to train as a teacher My subject (History) has become a priority subject and I'd promised myself that when that happened I'd go for it. I've booked my literacy and numeracy tests and applications open in November. I'll have to apply to do it as a paid, unqualified teacher, and train on the job as a full time Uni course only attracts a £4k bursary (with £9k tuition fees); this way I get paid, do the job, don't pay fees and there's a job at the end of it. I can't say anything on FB as obviously I need to keep CMing until August at least (and that's if I'm lucky and get a place!) and I can't afford to lose clients before then.

I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve it's all I ever really wanted to do but never did for one reason or another, but the time is right now

Oh wow fliss that sounds fab, best of luck to you and please keep us posted.

A has stopped doing anything remotely milestone related. Doesn't roll anymore, can't really sit yet, doesnt feed himself, still won't laugh for me and won't weight bear on his legs. Should I be concerned?

Hiya after 2 really successful weeks weaning yesterday I couldn't get Noah to eat anything. I tried him 3 separate meals (at different times), and he wouldn't touch any of them. Iv trie again this morning and having the same problem - he just won't open his mouth .
Any ideas why he's suddenly decided not to eat solids and what I can do?

Thanks xx

hayley and hug sounds normal to me.

Eating solids and rolling was fun - at first. Now it's old hat, so the fun has gone. They'll start again soon enough.

Not sure about the not laughing at you hug. Does he laugh at anyone else? Do you have a joke book?

hayley will he feed himself if you leave food in front of him? Otherwise it could be teething - as well as the novelty having worn off!

Nope. I tried letting him get on with it - he just put his hands in the bowl and splashed! Tried finger food but that didn't work either.

Shall I leave it for a day or so then maybe it will be fun again or keep trying and wasting food?

Bought some baby cereal today so will try that in the morning as it's the closest thing to milk, maybe that will get his mouth opening again as his blended puree certainly isn't working.

Flis that's great news. Need to get more info about this from you. I really want to do teaching as well, but a full time uni course is an expense I can't afford. Never heard of the way your doing it - how does it work? Is it for primary & secondary?
I was thinking about teaching assisting until uni Is a possibility but would much prefer to do this.

Having a nightmare work wise - don't think I updated you guys but ignore if youv heard already.
Basically the company I worked for shut down at the end of August. Apparently the owner owed £40,000 to well everyone by the sounds of it. Anyway he closed the business without giving anyone notice just cleared the place over the august bank holiday and that was that!
He didn't pay anyone's august wages, or my maternity .
I'm working on a case with the maternity Desputes people to try and get maternity allowance but havnt actually had any pay since end of July!!!
Need to find a job to go back to. I'm going to take the max maternity time now - may as well but need to find a new career.
Have always wanted to do teaching so think nows the time it's just the dam fees, and I can't get a student loan as I had one at 18 so apparently can't have another one

Flis can you do the unqualified thing part time as well?

fliss he finds ds1, dh, dmil and dfil hysterical. I've heard him laugh just never got him to do it. Maybe I need to take notes when I'm next watching "live at the Apollo".

Went to my nieces 1st birthday party today. Got to be said I love my sil but her mum and brother get right on my wick. Just generally self obsessed and think that they shit roses. I don't have much time for people like that and I had to smile and be polite most of the time but wanted to say I really don't care the cupcakes took 4hrs to make and decorate, I do know, I've done it before!! <pathetic rant over something that shouldn't bother me>.

hug my ds2 is not sitting yet, has mostly stopped rolling & won't bear weight on his legs. I'm sure they are fine, they are totally within the realms of normality as far as development go. Try not to worry, as with weight gain so too physical development, they aren't all on the 99th percentile line. It means nothing, when they get to 2 years they'll all roughly speaking be doing the same stuff no matter if they sat up at 4 months or eight.

fliss that's very exciting news re your decision about teaching. I have a friend who did a similar thing. Hope it all goes to plan, I will need to retrain I think in the future just wish I really knew what I wanted to do...

hayley try not to worry re food he'll still be getting what he needs from milk. If he just plays with the food you give him that's fine. He will explore it with his hands, get a taste in his mouth etc. he doesn't need to be on three meals a day yet. Until they are one it's just for fun & all that

My ds is currently teething & is frequently a bit miserable & bit bitey too. Ouch. I have to really pay attention when he's feeding as when he starts to muck about I have to be really to unlatch him as his new teeth are blinkin' sharp

Congrats Fliss!! Sounds like you've found your calling: lovely to be able to work in a job which is a Vocation. Good luck & hope it works out!

Holly, hope this week goes well for you & DD. I'm in work Tom too, but it's still only one day per week.

Hug; Emily literally lies & cries ATM if she's put down. No rolling, reaching, moving forward for the past couple of weeks. No more trying to sit either. She wants carried ALL the time & if I leave the room even for a few seconds she howls. She's feeding really poorly; easily distracted & constantly bobbing on & off. She isn't happy sitting in anything & is hard to hold as she's reaching for everything.

I'm A bit fed up TBH. The night feeds aren't helping. 3 last night....so I
feel as though we're going backwards, not forwards.

She is loving her solids though & I'm loving all the suggestions on
here! Quesadillas-big hit with all 3 DDS & DH! Thanks Fliss! Emily really enjoying peanut butter on toast (Henrietta-inspired: why did I not think of that?! We all love it here?!) & scrambled egg, which is great cos Granny's hens lay fab eggs.

All the best, Fliss! I originally trained as a history teacher before ending up in Special Needs, which I love. The training will be quite intensive but I have every faith in you!

I need to focus on my latch too, Buns. I have a small White blister on my right nipple and just fed DS on left, which caused a few internal stabbings. I wonder if it's because when I was at my parents' I wore a vest top with support rather than a bra, so I could get dressed independently. Hmm. Perhaps not the best support for my
Double Ds!

Hi everyone, been offline for a few days break in the countryside which was lovely in terms of time together as a family & for DH to have a break from work...but very unsettling for DD.

She woke a lot during the night, far more than at home, got a bit of diarrhoea and decided she hated bottles, so feeding has dropped right off. (trying to top up by offering as much breast milk as possible but she's definitely drinking less than she usually does).

We suspected the problem might be the water in the cottage where we were staying - it was very soft and had 'bits' floating in it after being boiled, so perhaps DD didn't like the taste. We switched to cartons to avoid using boiled water and that improved things slightly.

Was planning to start weaning this week so I hope a bit of variety in her diet will get her interested in eating again...will have to go to the HV/GP if she is still spitting out bottles by the end of the week.

Hiya,
Noahs still not touching solids. He had a few spoons of baby cereal yesterday morning, then later I added a bit of banana to it & he wouldn't open his mouth.
This morning I tried just the cereal & he wasn't interested. He cries but with his mouth firmly shut everytime his spoon comes close .

Staying at my mums this week - she's off in Spain so I'm looking after my baby brother (17 next week lol) and the cat. Noah is obsessed with the cat he watches his every move and crys when he leaves the room. The cats old and has no interested in playing he just wants to sleep and eat lol.

Good news for the last 5 days Noahs cut out his 3am night feed 
He's now waking at 1am and then going to 5.30am, I feel so much more awake - it almost feels like I'm getting a full night . Also usually at 5.30am he tosses and turns and moans so I'm half awake from then. Now at 5.30 he goes back to sleep till 7.30 then starts his thrashing about till he wakes properly at 8.15 I feel like a new women hope it lasts!

Lucky you hayley! Mine did one night of 8pm, 1am, 5am, wake at 7am, then decided he'd go back to waking loads the last two nights again. I got my hopes up, that'll teach me, lol
They are now sharing a bedroom, at least at the beginning of the night. Generally I give DS2 a big feed and he falls asleep while DS1 drops off to sleep. Then I put Ds2 in the cot and leave him there til his first night feed. At which point he comes in my bed for the rest of the night. DS1 will sometimes come running into my room in the middle of the night shouting "maaaaaammmmyyyyyyyyyyyy!", though he has done a few nights of sleeping the whole night in his bed! DS1 has been a big boy this week, he's cracked this potty training malarky - i've only got one baby now, and he's getting big too!! (Gonna get him weighed this week out of curiosity)

Morning all. DD can do a fantastic shuffle-crawl, but only backwards. Spend all day retrieving her from under things and in corners. Reckon we've got about a week left before we won't be able to store anything at floor level anymore. She's so determined.

Baby-free wedding this weekend! DP is best man and we're on the top table - which is making me wish I'd been dieting for a lot longer than a week.

Ps, congrats on the decision fliss! I'm thinking at the mo that I might start retraining to do medicine in the long run. Worried whether I could do the hours needed as a junior doctor with two young kids though, which is making me think I might aim for something lab based instead... Though I have considered science teacher too!

I got distracted when I was supposed to be starting uni (and didnt go) and feel I never got started in my "proper" career, just had random jobs to pay the bills.

Holly - how has going back to work been so far? Good I hope!

Good luck to all of you ladies looking to re-train/change careers. Hayley, I'm really sorry to hear about your old job. I hope you get the money you're owed soon.

jelly - I hope you had a better night last night.

N managed to get himself up onto all fours for the first time today - eek! He completely wore himself out doing it though and had to take a nap afterwards! Hehe!

I'm having real battles trying to get him to take his antibiotics
He is on Flucloxacillin and it is absolutely disgusting, poor boy. I've tried spoon feeding and syringe feeding but most of it ends up spat out. The worst part is that he has to have it on an empty stomach so I can't even mix it with milk and bottle feed him with it. On the plus side though, his skin is starting to show signs of improving, it looks a lot better. It is still very itchy for him though.

I'm expecting a delivery of N's cotbed mattress today or tomorrow, meaning he'll be going into his own room soon. I'm looking forward to not having to creep around the bedroom anymore but feeling more sad that my little boy is growing up so quickly!

beyond I know what you mean, I didn't go to uni and feel I am not at my potential. Still not sure what I want to do though, something that stimulates my mind, I'm only 27 so still have some plenty of time left.

rant warning

I fucking hate cancer. My nan is really ill. She hasn't started chemo because she's too ill. She sleeps most of the day, can hardly walk, can't come to A's christening and couldn't make the fruit layer of his cake (got my grandad to do it). If she can't bake she's really bad.

With chemo they give her 2-3 years, as it stands with her unable to have it we are all worried she won't make Christmas. She's even too ill for us to visit .

oh hug, your poor nan ((hugs))

Oh hug, I'm so sorry xx

Oh hug that's horrible news. I really hope she gets well enough to start treatment soon. I honestly don't no why we can't sort cancer out. With the technology etc we have you'd think they would have a pill for it by now it's such a bastard disease feel for you, can't be an easy time xxx

Thanks Gnome

Introduced Noah to rusks today and he went mad for it - actually ate a whole one, little pig lol. I'm very much into natural food etc and I go to my nans today, tell her iv started weaning but it's not working this week etc, so she says she has the perfect thing for him! 2 minutes later she's giving him a chocolate biscuit which he's quite happily eating. I tell my nan he can't have that - her response (said in a really super cockney accent) "he can, I gave your mum n Paul (my uncle) biscuits from 3 months and it never did them any arm, you don't want him to starve" lol bless her.
I didnt let him eat it but on the way home bought some rusks as an alternative. It's the first non pureed food he's eaten so was surprised how much he ate - especially as he hasn't opened his mouth for solids for 4days!

Off to bed now- well for an hour anyway.

hayley I did a part time degree with the OU over 5 years first which was cheaper than being a full time as i worked too. Then to gain QTS it's either a full time PGCE (unpaid) or work as an unqualified teacher (paid or unpaid) on a School Direct placement which is replacing GTP from next September. That's a full time route too but however you do it it's only a year.

We can only afford for me to do it on a salaried course, otherwise I'll need an £8000 loan + £4000 bursary just to make ends meet, and that's with DD in a free nursery spot. Being a teaching assistant will give you experience of a school environment, but it's not a step on the ladder to teaching really IMO, although DH was one before he did his PGCE. It can be a good way of seeing if you actually want to work in a school though! Good luck

hug

hayley just to warn you, rusks can be full of sugar! They're very sweet which is why they're usually a hit so the chocolate biscuit might turn out to be the healthier option (or at least, not as bad as you thought in comparison!)

Work is going well... DD seems to love nursery and she adores my mum an dad.. So far so good..

huh so sorry to hear about your nan

Gah. hugs

Thanks all. I'm in the process of getting photos of the boys and writing her a nice letter as she's not well enough for visitors but loves people writing proper letters with pen and paper.

On a happier note, ds1 had harvest assembly today and his class were singing harvest moon all dressed up, he was a mouse and it was lovely. A blew raspberries and chatted to himself throughout which amused some of the older children .

So sorry, hugs. Stupid bastard cancer.

Oh hug. Sending photos and nice things will be appreciated by her, I'm sure, so hope that comforts you that you're doing what you can.

My grandmother is getting to the stage that she doesn't like driving long distances or coming into London by herself on the train, so she has only met M once when we took her down to visit. I have been sending photos but must call more often. (everyone else in the family gets photos emailed to them, or updates via FB, my gran is the only person I send actual photos to!)

Oh hugs I'd come on here to rant as I'm feeling sorry for myself but reading about your Gran has put it into perspective. So sorry she is poorly. She will love your letter though.

Well my small rant is that I have theaadworms yuk. Probably tmi but I'm so pissed off. Apparently 75% of kids under 10 have them so no doubt one of my little lovelies shared them with me. I did see dd itch her bottom yesterday & it made me think hmm actually mine has been but itchy at night. Bleurgh. I got no sleep last night as a mixture of wakeful baby, worrying & itchy bum! Annoyingly most of the stuff I've read says if you are breastfeeding that you shouldn't take the tabs to kill them. I'm waiting for a call back from the gp. We all need to be treated as often people have no symptoms. Am going through stripping beds,hoovering,wet dusting. We'll all need the bathe each morning for two weeks minimum before the school run. I need to wash all the toys etc. I'm bloody exhausted anyway without all this extra to do. Anyone else had experience of them. I shall cry if the dr says not to take the med & to just do scrupulous hygiene for 6 weeks(that's their life cycle length). I want them gone. It's bad enough the thought that the eggs last for 2/3weeks.
Slap me, tell me to stop being sorry for myself but arghhhhh I don't need this

has anyone had trouble with biting while bfeeding? my little monster has just started a major teething episode and today has bitten me three times i have said no and put him down, but any other ideas are welcome!

buns ds1 had them when I was pregnant so I couldn't take the medication. Dh and ds1 did and we had to do the massive clean (I was a good 6 months pregnant bleaching the house and toys and it HURT. I did just throw all the plastic toys in the bath and filled it with hot water and bleach and left them in there for a bit. It was hard work keeping on top of all the cleaning, washing in the morning x3, everyone wear pants/nappies to bed to prevent scratch and spread and wash your hands all the time. It can be done but I really feel for you.

She's been taken into hospital. They think she has fluid on the lungs and are doing a ct scan tomorrow

Thinking of you hug

Hug- sorry to hear about your nan- bloody cancer
fliss- nice to hear about the career change, I would love to train as beauty teacher one day!
Mashmallow- sounds like the water you had has a lot of limescale in it, we have loads here in Somerset.
Hayley- we had a few problems with weaning at the start, she was shuting mouth with some food that she loved before.

Got a little bit naughty with food when on holiday lyra had prawn crackers, icecream, and cheeto crisps, oh and lime/lemon slices which she loved! Oh well now back on to the healthy eating plan! :-)
she did have lots of healthy stuff too!

Sleeping was rubbish over there wakes most night 2-3 sometimes 4 times, so back in a routine now. hopefully she will go back 11/12pm then 4/5 feeds. Bf has picking up again, so worrying for no reason back to normal times.
She was so good on the flight, thankgod for breast feeding landing and take off, feed her and stopped ears hurting and made her go to sleep.

She has picked up a new skills of walking while holding on to your hands, loves it so much. She is Standing longer too on own, while holding on to furniture. And getting on all 4 legs when on floor and swinging back and forward. Still moving backwards and round in a circle. I think crawling maybe soon? :-)

Pitta pizzas for lunch! Yum! :-)

Read on a random site that if a little one sticks their Tongue out whilst feeding it means they're not ready for solids. Sounds a bit like bollocks to me. Anyone know?

Pushing all food out with their tongue would suggest they arent ready, its the innate protection against choking. Poking tongue out suggests he/she has found their tongue

(Ds2 loves his tongue, and he loves to lick stuff. Anything.)

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought! He does love his tongue. It's very cute!

A always has his tongue out but is finally loving solids.

L pushes food out and doesn't open her mouth that wide, I think pushing tongue out is common for bf babies. X

DS doesn't stick his tongue out and is BF. I think the tongue thrust reflex is usually gone by 6m anyway though, so tongue poking and/or raspberry and bubble blowing efforts are more likely to be done on purpose.

DD has her tounge out nearly all day sometimes! It's hilarious to watch her. Pretty sure it's her teeth...

Hiya,
feeling a bit down tonight. Not really sure why so thought I'd come on here and have a cry. Noah's sleeping is not getting better. We had a few decent nights of 2 feeds but it's gone back to every 2 hours feeding and waking in between crying. I can't get him out my bed and tonight I havnt been able to put him down without him crying. The only time he's settled is if he's on me.
He's not normally a crying baby so don't no what's going on. Iv just given him some calpol encase his teeth are playing up to knock him out so hopefully that will work.
It's weird with DP gone most of the time, It can get quite lonely but at the same time I'm desperate for some time on my own - if that makes any sense.

Doesn't help that I can hear my whole town partying tonight. I'm SO bored. Feel like I'm living the same day over & over again.

Hayley, Didn't want your post going unanswered . For some reason I'm still up even though everyone else is asleep .I guess I'm desperate for some time to myself. I've been doing this staying up half the night most of the half term now... been feeling down in general for weeks now . I have a tendency for it anyway and having a little baby and no family to help ever ( DH is here though but not much help due to long hours). DD is doing really well but still feel exhausted and bored of the same housework , childcare etc normal stuff. My illness really doesn't help. Or the fact that my motherinlaw is in the middle of her cancer treatment and not doing very well. Am trying to cheer up by planning things for kids (well DS 7Y) for halloween and christmas etc. Hoping to go away if we get our court date soon for DD.
I can't really help with What might be going on with your ds but have had bad nights too and the next one's always been better. DD doesn't have any teeth yet but they must be on their way ...
Hope you'll feel better yourself soon and not so lonely !

Hi Hayley & Nordic, I'm here. Got some catching up to do.

Sorry you're feeling down. I can sympathise on the groundhog day feeling. Some days, when E is really grizzly, I get pretty down too. It's certainly not easy this motherhood lark.

Do you go to groups during the day? E is always happier with people to entertain her rather than boring old mummy. She even loves grocery shopping - last week we had three women and their trolleys blocking the ailse cooing at her! And a slightly strange woman who did an interpretative dance!!

Keep posting & talking, we're all here.

hayley you are not wrong motherhood can be a lonely affair even with people & babies about. The intensity of the 24 hr thing can be hard to bear & the constant trying to put down thing is frustrating & exhausting. My strategies are frankly not to bother trying to get ds out my bed yet. He's not ready & I need to get some rest. I'm less disturbed by feeding him laying down in my bed in the night so I'm sticking with it until he's bigger. In the evening if I can get him settled on the bed for an hour or two on his own I will but if I've tried to leave him a few times & he keeps waiting I just bring him downstairs with me & watch some telly, he sleeps on me. Also once a week if I can I go to a mum's singing group & just take ds with me. He enjoys a bit of attention/feeds/sleeps on me while we are there. For me it breaks the monotony & feels like I am doing something for me. Could you invite a friend over some evenings or go to theirs? For me key to not feeling trapped is to go with it rather than fight it. I try not to get caught up with & feel jealous of people with babies who sleep for hours alone. In lots of countries babies are not kept separate from adults/family 12 hrs+ a day. I am not saying there is anything wrong with babies having their own cot & room but some babies really fight against it until they are bigger. For me struggling to achieve that makes me depressed so I won't. Obviously they won't always be little & want to be with us ALL the time. It is tough at times though.

I pissed of as not only have we had threadworms to contend with this week now a sickness bug. So far just dd is affected but it seems inevitable that we'll all end up getting it pissed off that it has coincided with half term. We'd made lots of plans & were going to have dd& ds1's friends over on weds for Halloween play/tea. Grrrrrr. The washing is endless

Hiya,
Thanks for your messages.
Feeling much better today. DS is currently sleeping on me on the sofa. Iv always been a work a holic & get so bored being at home. I go to 4 baby classes a week lol Rhyme time, baby swimming, baby massage & sensory. I'm usually fine but have had a rough few days sleep wise & think last night my sleepiness came out in tears. Plus I ate 3 donuts today & then realised I'm due for a period lol.

Posted to early.....

I def find when I try not to do anything for myself & focus 100% on Noah I'm happier. It's the occasional time I try to have me time and can't it gets frustrating.
I love Noah to pieces & wouldn't change him for the world & want lots more babies. Last night was an emotional one - todays been better.

Glad today has been better Hayley. There's nothing wrong with wanting to take some time for yourself but it's hard when you're doing it on your own a lot of the time. It will get easier (repeating this mantra a lot when I can't put E down for a second most days lately!).

PS I couldn't work out last night how my post appeared before Nordic's even though I was replying to her and then I remembered the clocks changed. Our's don't change until next week I think so there's only 7 hours between us at the moment.

Hayley; so sorry to hear you're feeling blue, but totally see why you're feeling a bit low. TBH IME this is around the time I always get a bit claustrophobic with babies. You're really tired by now, and have had 6 months of no time to do ANYTHING for yourself. Plus, you've been on your own so much it's been extra hard for you. Having someone else around really helps, even if they're not actually doing anything much...It does get better. In no time another 6 months will have gone by & Noah will be eating more, sleeping better & you'll be less tired. Be good to yourself in the meantime & don't put pressure on yourself to do anything if you don't want to. Hope you're feeling a bit better by now!

Thanks both
Iv just had a momentous achievement tonight lol ..... for the first time have got Noah to sleep without the boob .
I kept him awake from 1.30 (he usually has an hour at 3pm) and he was shattered. He's in my arms in a really deep sleep at the mo so I'm going to attempt to pop him in the crib and see how it goes.
I need to start getting him used to not falling asleep BF so other people can put him to sleep.

Marking place, I lost you

Yay for Noah!

Well done Noah! sorry you've been down Hayley and Nordic
and sorry about your sickness Buns!

If it makes you feel any better DD is a shit sleeper at the mo too, I feel I'm the only one here, till i speak to you guys.
Most nights she is up every 3-4hrs so she goes to bed at 8pm then wake ups at 11/12pm then 3/4am then up at 7/730am. Most of my friends babies are sleeping through and my mum said we all did by this age. I know that's not as bad as every 2hrs but it still sucks, and i feel tired most days. She is a pretty good napper so i tend to sleep/rest sometimes then. The other night i tried to get her back to sleep without b feeding her and she went crazy over 1hr of crying!!!!
so i fed her as i couldn't take it anymore. She must still need these night feeds so gonna stick with it till she drops one!
She eat so well in the day, has three solids meals now and is still waking up. Hopefully when she is walking or crawling it may knacker her out, so just waiting for that really, fingers crossed it wont be long!

iv been very excited tonight, it's crazy how the smallest advances can make you so happy lol. Didnt get Noah in the crib, decided I'd work with one thing at a time and this weeks focus is to settle without boob and try and get him to settle himself.
I put him into my bed after my last post about 7.15 I think, he didnt make a sound till 9.55 - which is an achievement in it's self lol. His last feed was at 5.30pm and that was a bit of baby porridge and banana so I BF him then stopped as he started to mess about rather than eat, layed down with him and put him back to sleep so he didnt fall asleep on the boob

Between 10-11pm he woke 4 times crying. I usually run up the stairs immediately to settle him but following a friends advice left him crying for one whole minute (although the advice was to start at 6mins) then went up and settled him without boob. The 2nd time I did the same but left it 2 minutes which almost killed me. The 3rd time after 2 mins he stopped crying I waited & went up after the 3mins and he was just laying there silent but awake. The 4th time he stopped crying after 2mins & when I went up at 4mins he had settled himself & gone back to sleep .

He's never done this before I'm so excited. It probably sounds silly but it's a big milestone for us. I'm hoping we can continue to do this with less wake ups. Not having him on me from 6.30-now has already made a huge difference to how Iv been feeling the last week. Felt like iv had some me time & space & I actually missed him lol although not enough to bring him down to the living room

Vicky I felt the same - like I was the only one until I came on here. I got out the habit of posting for a while and was just catching up on FB, but it really helps letting it all out, and having a bunch of non judgemental people to rant rave cry & celebrate with who actually understand - even at 3am lol. Your right to try sleep or at least rest when you can in the day -sometimes easier said then done. I'm funny with power naps, unless I can get longer than an hour & a half I feel worse and more groggy when I wake up than I did before, & most of Ns day naps last 45 mins-an hour max.
Hope you have a good night tonight.
My first goal is to get Noah missing out his 1am feed and going from 11-3/4am. Then to 8.15 which is his start the day time, which isn't bad

Anyway off to bed now - who knows tonight could just be the night I don't wake up till 8am

Xx

Oh wow hayley sounds like you & Noah have had a good evening so far - hoping the rest of your night is as good .

Well I guess it wasn't meant to be, last night wasn't the night I got my sleep, he woke up for feeds at 2.20, 4.30, and 6.30

Oh Hayley I don't know what to suggest. Maybe just persevere, you were so positive last night.

My new Mountain Buggy is here! Am very happy. As much as I loved my Silvercross Sleepover, its just too heavy for the hills we live in now.

Like my first pram, this was an eBay bargain. There is now £1500 worth of pram in this house - and I paid just £200. Smug mummy emoticon. I'm hoping to sell the silvercross for just a little less than I bought it, at some point soon, to put the money towards Xmas.

However I now have no excuses for trekking to burn calories!

Hayley, after 2 nights of sleeping til 4am, DS2 was in with me by 11 last night, and woke up for about 6 feeds!! I think hope it just takes them a while to get the hang of it

Don't hold out for walking/crawling to be the answer to your sleeping woes - DD crawled at 6m, walked just before 10m and was still bloody awful at sleeping until we did CIO after a bloody horrendous period of almost no sleep at 14m.

Just as weaning doesn't help, moving makes no difference. In fact, it can make it worse at first as they're desperate to show off their new skills, and they can stand up in the cot!

It's just something they eventually get - some sleep through from day 1, others not until they're 3 or older. We will all get there. You just have to take it on a night-by-night basis.

Oops I fell off the thread...sorry to those struggling with sleep. I had a 4am wake up yesterday but as I only have nights like that once or twice a week I know I'm one of the lucky ones.

This is my 'gloomy' time of year, when the clocks change I always feel a bit down...trying to get out of the house as much as I can and did my first Pilates class on Monday which I can still feel the effect of today!

Weaning is not going brilliantly so far...I tried DD on carrot and sweet potato and both seem to result in a lot of crying & frustration and sometimes vomit. She still loves sucking on cucumber, though, so that's something. Might have to try something sweeter next time...pear or banana?

Has anyone had a blocked duct or mastitis when BF?
Noahs always been funny about my left boob, he goes through phases where he refuses to eat from it.
For the last few days he's refusing it again. However I'm wondering if something's wrong with it. It's super lumpy and engorged but only around the nipple area and a bit at the edge near my arm, not the whole boob. It's tender if pressed - I carried N in my left arm and his body was against me & it really hurt. I looked up mastitis and i don't have a red area and don't feel unwell, but worried I could be getting it. It's like a different boob.
Anyone had anything similar, or know what it could be?

marshmallow I started weaning with apple, DS loved it. He prefers cold foods so anything that goes in the blender has to go in the fridge for 20 mins first - no clue why but worked for me, & a few other people iv spoken to so might be worth a try. Melon also works really well. Veg is harder to introduce because it's not sweet but you can mix it up, carrot and apple is a fav here. Then if that goes down try carrot alone, or with a bit of milk, breast or formula can't remember how your feeding, just to take the edge off. Xxx

Oh another trick - DD might not like the spoon. Try fruits or veg in a blender/juicer and add water or milk or natural yoghurt to thin it out, she may drink a smoothy from the bottle or cup instead

Sleeping has now gone out of the window! For the past 3 nites or so Harry has been awake: 10.51pm, 11.57pm, 1230am, 4am, 4.30am and up at 4.40am. Only 2 of those were for a feed, other times its a cuddle, then back to sleep. Can't do the controlled crying as yet as he will carry on for an hour or more. His 2 bottom teeth have come through, he's not in pain, no temp. Just a phase? Any ideas?

Hayley I had a blocked duct twice when I was bf. It was super painful. I put a hot flannel on it repeatedly. Practically sat in the bathroom for an hour and every time the flannel cooled I repeated. I also massaged it in the shower and combed it. Got some amazing advice from the ladies on this thread. HTH

Hayley - that does sound like a blocked duct. I've had a couple. Funnily enough also on my left side, DS seems to prefer the right boob also! Holly has given great advice, I'd also add, try to get DS to suckle from that side as much as possible and this will help shift the blockage. If he won't, try expressing whilst massaging with the hot flannel or hot water bottle.

hayley does sound like a blocked duct
Could try
- warm compress, fill a disposable nappy with warm water & slap it on. It will stay warmer for longer than a flannel
-Feed from it first & foremost, try different feeding positions. Express a bit off first if ds can't/won't latch on
- comb with a wide toothed comb & a bit of soap in a hot shower. Comb towards the nipple
- lay in a hot bath facing down, boobs dangling in
- ibuprofen reduces the swelling & pain
- keep an eye on your temp if I starts to go high you might need antibiotics if the self help stuff doesn't work.

Here's a good link, same Management for blocked duct as mastitis except abs.
www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/BFN_Mastitis.pdf
Hope it helps, I have suffered blocked ducts & mastitis this time round & it can be bloody painful.

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm going to express a bit now and try and get Noah on it. Couldn't lay on my left side last night as it was really sore.
Will get a warm nappy on it as well. Hopefully it will sort itself out quickly

Sympathies on the blocked duct hayley, I've had them too. Hope you get it sorted soon!

My nan died today. I told Ds1 who said "ok" and started watching tv and I haven't cried. We are not normal. My poor mum.

Hugs for Hug.

There is no "normal" reaction to anything like this. Please don't worry about that. Xxx

I'm so sorry, Hug. Big hugs to you.

So sorry hug. Thinking of you.

hug

You are perfectly normal - it's as normal to not cry and to go about your daily business as it is to break down and stop functioning completely. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. It can take time for it to sink in fully - hours, days, weeks, months...you just don't know.

So sorry hugs. As the others have said, there really is no normal reaction. It hits us all v differently x

I'm sorry to hear your news hugs x

Thank you all. I'm still so numb. I don't think it's sunk in yet.

Sorry about your news Hug ! I lost my last grandparent last spring so know how you feel ... it took a quite a long time to sink in since I'm in a different country . DS didn't really react much either . I guess he didn't see her much and is quite young still. If something happens to his grandparents though he would really suffer so I hope my motherinlaw will get through her cancer !

So sorry hug, it must have been a dreadful shock even when you know it is going to happen.

My grandad's birthday is next week, I always take a moment to remember him especially as its also Remembrance Day & he was in the war. He would have been 100 next year.

So sorry hug

That's just terrible hugs, I feel for you. And Nordic sending a big mum net hug! X x

DD's been great I'm loving this age, into everything, laughing and giggling at us and trying to wave and clap also hearing a sound a bit like dada, i think its more like gaga! Its making dh very happy lol. She is standing alot more holding on and move across from her stand up lion to the couch. She walks holding on to your hands and with some reins that we have- probally seen video?
Still waking up twice at night, i think its something we are gonna live with. Oh and eating most in sight.
I feel bad, i have a terrible cold and dh is back at work! Oh well joys of being a mum, just got get on with it!

Hug, am so so sorry to hear that your Nan passed away. Grieving is a process & there's no knowing how it'll affect you till you go through it. There is no right or wrong & it's v personal, so don't worry about being 'normal'. Hope the next few days & weeks aren't too hard.

Hayley hope that duct improves! It hasn't happened me so I've no further advice am afraid.

Dream: Emily is exactly the same ATM. I'm putting it down to a combination of teething & separation anxiety. She has just cut her second tooth too..but has had a bout of illness also, with high temps & a reaction to penicillin for a possible war infection. Day & night she
wants to be carried around & SCREAMS when I put her down. Even
to change her nappy. Am slowly going insane...not helped by the fact that my MIL has been ill & in & out of hospital & DH & I are her only local family. FIL had a stroke 8 years ago & is dependent on us for cooking cleaning supervising etc. MIL has Alzheimer's which has rapidly deteriorated recently, so this past 4 months has been a nightmare dealing with it all. DH us currently staying with his dad at night & the girls & I visit & help out in the day. Add a screaming clingy baby who's up crying at night also & it all feels 10 times worse. Today I just want to run away & I feel physically sick with trying not to cry.

Sorry Hug; compared to what you're going through it's minor I'm sure.

Ear infection, not war infection!

jelly no it's not. That sounds like such hard work, you are doing so well keeping it all together. Do you have any friends who would be willing to help with the children so you can perhaps go to fil on your own so inbetween his needs you can sit down with a cup of tea in peace?

Wanted to say thanks hayley for the feeding advice - melon was a success, we tried it mixed with banana and a fair bit got dribbled out, but at least no crying and 'Mummy how could you DO this to me?' faces that I got with carrot & sweet potato.

Anyway I like melon so it's not going to fi to waste if she changes her mind, no leftovers in this case!

Oh jelly you poor thing, what a lot to deal with! Hope Emily gets over her ear infection soon & you all get more rest. Do you carry her in a sling/carrier during the day to free your hands up?

Hug; thank you for your kind words. I don't have a'one really able to help ATM. I have asked for my MIL's Community Psychogeriatric Nurse to look into some daytime Respite care. even for 1 or 2 days a week & that'd help. Most of the time I just get on with it: lots of people have troubles like mine & far more...with a sick teething LO & 2 older girls off it's just getting on top of me a bit. Hope you're doing ok...

You know what Vintage: had lent it to my sister, who's just had her first baby & she gave it back to me today. So, tomorrow I've got a solution to the one-handed housework! My MIL was discharged tonight & the Moby will help when i'm there Tom. I always popped Em on the floor in front of MIL & FIL & she was happy to kick & chat while I did chores in the kitchen. Recently she's just cried though & last week MIL tried to pick her up :-// MIL is 6st with arthritis & now thinks Em is a boy, her confusion's gotten so bad. So she absolutely cannot manage holding her...thk God DD1 was there, saw & slid behind Em & called me. So I'm glad to have the Moby back!

On a brighter note, Emily ate a good tea (poached plaice, sweet potato & cheese sauce) & is in better form. So hopefully on the mend. Thx for all your kind thoughts!! I feel better even just writing about it all!

Sorry yours feeling down jelly and well done Emily really good for eating fish! dd separation anxiety as been slightly better the last few days. Not crying when i leave, and ive left her a few times now. I can't believe she is 7months on Sunday, I say this every month that the time is flying.

marshmallow dd loves all fruit, so sometimes i mix pear and apple with sweat potato and it goes down well. Also i make it nice and running with cows milk. She loves that!

Still no joy with the bottle, anyone else having any luck - thoose who bf?
We haven't tried for a while, But going out for a meal sat night, leaving her with my mum. I'll feed her before we leave and leave a ex bottle to see how she gets on. She normally wakes up between 11-12, and not sure when we will be back?
wish her luck!!!!!

Morning ladies.

Our lovely nights have been disturbed, three times in a row, by poo-splosions at 4am. On the dot. No idea what I can do about that!

Nasty surprise yesterday...got my period. 6 months without one is quite good going, though, I guess! Just an extra faff having to remember stuff for me as well as nappies for DD when we're out and about.

Hope you all have good weekends. We're off to visit PILs for a night, which means we'll return home with bags of leftovers & snacks, enough for several days meals...

Just marking my place, havent posted for a while

I know not many bottle feed but for a while A has been more than slight milk dribbling when feeding. A good oz I would say of every Feed is pouring out of the corner of his mouth no matter what position, speed of sucking or time of day. Does anyone have any idea of why this could be? Online suggests tongue tie which would correspond with his poor suck reflex and birth and inability to breastfeed (was expressing until I started anti ds) but surely we'd have known by now.

Hug DD has been exactly the same recently. Soggy is not the word!!

I think it has a lot to do with weaning - her mouth and tongue can do so much now, and sucking is boring!

Also, I found that she was guzzling because of thirst - leading to more spillage. So I make sure shes had water in the hour ruing up to a feed to avoid this.

All of this is just my opinion though!

Oh I didn't think of that, ill try more fluids between bottles to see if it helps. Thanks

Normally tougue tie is picked up at birth, I had dd snipped at the hosipital she was 3wks old. You can see I the skin under the tougue joins more than normal, and they have problems with feeding with breast/bottle! U would of probably seen it before hugs it doesn't sound like that.
many weaning or teething? Extra dribbly! X x

Oh I mean to say no joy with bottle, my mum had a wake up at 1030pm and we weren't back till 11.20. But not a crying baby luckily! She Just waited till I was home with boob!

newmummy - when N started refusing the bottle at 3 months, the only thing that worked for us was playtex natural latch nipples which he took straight away, much to our amazement/delight. We use these nipples (and the bottles that go with them) occasionally and he is happy to use them. A friend of mine who was having the same problem with her daughter (at 4ish months old) tried them too and they also worked for her. I'm not suggesting that they are guarunteed to work for you but if you are desperate, they may be worth a try.

www.amazon.co.uk/Playtex-Naturalatch-Latex-Nipple-Fast/dp/B00005BTC5/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1352118228&sr=8-3

Still no joy with a bottle here.

hug have you tried going up a teat size? I'm sure DD got 'leaky' when she needed to go up to a bigger holed teat.

Applications for School Direct jobs opened today - two schools near me have History jobs available so I've almost finished the forms already!

That's exciting fliss! When does training/work start if you get in?

Ooh good luck fliss.

He has a Veri flow teat so we were wondering if he was taking too much into his mouth. Will look to maybe get some normal ones to see if that helps.

DS2 will still not take milk from a bottle either, though he did chew some hot chocolate out of DS1s and was rather impressed with it

All the best with the application.

Tough few days here... DS seems to be suffering major separation anxiety - If I leave the room he cries.

It's had a knock on effect on sleeping too, as if he's not asleep when he goes in his cot, or if he stirs in the first 20 Mins after he goes down, there are tears aplenty

Other than that, he's amazing!

Any tips?

HenriettaChicken ; yes!!, Harry went through the seperation anxiety for just over a week, awake every hour, back to sleeping on me. The last 2 days I have put a shirt I wore in the night and during the day in his cot, it works a treat. We are now back to 3am feed, which is great.

I was going to start controlled crying, but haven't needed to thankfully. The up every hour thing was starting to drive me batty, it was also making Harry ratty during the day. For the moment, we are back to normal.

I am DEFINITELY trying that! Thanks, dream!

It's so exhausting, isn't it?

Something I read about separation anxiety was to wait a minute before going back to them (eg during the day when they're playing) so they learn that you'll always come back. I didn't do that but I did do lots of peekaboo which apparently helps too!

It is exhausting, Harry was pushing me to my limit, I hated it. But so far so good.

We officially have a crawler. 6months and 16days.

Have spent the day moving stuff out of the way.

Oh wow Jam!

Just rolling rolling rolling here. She wants to crawl just can't quite figure it out.

Wehey Jam!

Going through a bit of a growth spurt/sleep regression here. The only difference between this one and the 4 month one is that he really struggles to get back to sleep this time. Exhausting. We'll be moving him into his own room after it settles down and I'm feeling slightly nervous about it. Eek! I hope he likes his big cot!

Wow jam that's fab

Congrats on your little explorer Jam ! R is going everywhere ,trying to touch everything she shouldn't . It's hard work from now on. I've got a travel cot downstairs for now and she plays in her cot upstairs when I need to keep her contained . She's also standing quite a while holding on to things if I put her upright . Its only matter of time until she does pull up herself. DS did at about 7 m. She also slowly walks around if I hold her hands.
Have had some disturbed sleep here too, I reckon its a growth spurt. Have started her on the follow on formula milk and she's meant to have less of it than what she used to have of the other formula but I don't think she's eating enough yet to go back to sleeping through. Weaning's going well.She's been having meat, chicken and fish for a while now and is getting used to more of a rougher texture of food and new flavours. Really liked runner beans when i gave her tiny bits of very soft ones yesterday.

Crawling and hand walker here too, 7 months now!

Thanks for advice on the bottle LaughingGnomette I really have tried many different bottle and cups. My mum said when she babysat she wouldn't even go near a bottle/cup of milk and turned her head and pulled away. She just waited me to get home!
So I can see her taking any now, she know what she wants. Lol
Going to carry till she self weans or stop when I return to work next year. But by April she will probally be on alot less feeds?
Only one wake up last night, but tonight already one at 1030pm, so was probally a one off!

Separation anxiety only lasted for a week, and i agree lots of poping in and out and peek a boo helped with dd! X

DD has a cold that won't go away

She's coughing like an old woman who smokes 60 a day. but keeps swallowing the phlegm back down. She wakes herself (and us) up about three times a night and yesterday was off her food. Any tips? I'm using baby Olbus oil to help keep her nose clear (which is helping) but it's this nloody phlegm and cough I don't know what to do with...

Holly, poor Frankie & you! To loosen the phlegm a bit, you could try steaming? I used to put the shower onto scalding & let it run & sit in the bathroom with a coughing snotty baby. Kettle on continuous boil in a small room too, does the same thing. I also got a Nuby snot inhaler; it's a wee plastic thing which Boots sell & you literally suck the thick green snot out of their nostrils one at a time. It did really help when Emily had a heavy cold recently. Elevating the head of the cot sometimes helps the cough. If she develops a high temperature you should take her to your GP in case it's a chest infection (though I'm
sure you know that anyway). Hope she's better soon.

Thanks jelly. The steaming is a good idea! Didn't think of that. Just been to dr's to get chest listened too and it's clear, dr said that she gives a cold 3/4 weeks and then will think about antibiotics but as DD is fine in her herself she's quite happy to see of she can ride it out on her own. She doesn't seem at all bothered by the cold, which is good

Matress is elevated and that's helped a lot too.

Thanks jelly. The steaming is a good idea! Didn't think of that. Just been to dr's to get chest listened too and it's clear, dr said that she gives a cold 3/4 weeks and then will think about antibiotics but as DD is fine in her herself she's quite happy to see of she can ride it out on her own. She doesn't seem at all bothered by the cold, which is good

Matress is elevated and that's helped a lot too.

Hurrah to the crawling babies! I find it fasinating that they're all doing different things at the same age.

Mmm. Apologies for the duplicate posting

Hi all hope you're good. A is loving food at the mo. thinking of putting him on follow on milk, anyone using/used it? What are your opinions?

Holly, glad DD's chest is clear..hope her cough settles.

Hey Hug; how are you? I think Em drinks the follow-on Cow & Gate when DH has her while I'm at work on a Monday. She only averages 4-5oz the whole day, but he does bring her to me at lunch-time for a feed. I'm gone 08.30-18.30.. She didn't seem to notice the difference TBH...She's actually still using a newborn teat, I realised the other day but seems happy enough!

I am so impressed by the movers and shakers! Emily's sitting well now-bending to pick things up and able to balance well. But unless I'm lying on the floor with her she just cries, so def no attempts to crawl She still hates me leaving the room or setting her down and her sleep pattern has been pretty bad. Last night I only had to go in once to feed her though so maybe things are looking up! (our day did start at 05.30 though)..

Laughing; I've found that DD can't seem to settle herself/get back to sleep like she always has up until now. Even with the dummy, which is a permanent fixture since her ear infection and new tooth. :-/

We've noticed lots of new sounds including "Ba" over the past couple of days. When we ask "Where's Ben?' (the dog), Emily looks to his bed! She adores him and gets very excited when he approaches her...

Follow on milk isn't necessary, however the manufacturers are allowed to put it on offer unlike first milk so you can get it for less. With DD we changed to it solely on £ grounds.

Got my 3 applications in for ITT so now I sit and wait...

Vintage only just saw your question; it'll be September if I'm accepted, the start of the new school year so no time at all way off yet

hi ladies. Lovely to hear you and your little are doing well. Naomi is doing well and thriving, but I'm feeling a bit down at the moment.She's sleeping well, and eating well, thriving really, but I'm having a hard time. I'm not sure why, I'm just a bit worn down by it all. I miss when it as just my ds and I, my dp seems to have no comprehension of the fact that what I do all day is actually work, is draining, and is as valid as going out to work all day. I love her, but I'm feeling the slog now, and am sick to death of cleaning and steaming food and never having any time. Do I need to give myself a kick up the arse ??

Hug We've been on follow-on for a while. Before she was 6m. Mainly because I had a load of "£5 off when you spend £20" vouchers for Boots, and with follow on milk, I could use them.

We had a weeks trial and she was fine, so I went and bought loads before the vouchers ran out. Worked out a £6 a box I think so a big bargain, totally worth it.

The cost and points factor is one of the main reasons I want to change tbh, I'll give him a go then, I can always change back if I need to .

I am currently all systems go. I have the fundraiser afternoon tea tomorrow so I'm baking like I've never baked before, I'm on radio Cardiff later to advertise the fundraiser and give information about the charity and I have my nan's funeral on Monday. I'm glad I'm busy this weekend mind as its keeping my mind off things.

Right, I'm off to put on makeup for my radio appearance yes I know they can't see me

Liking the new name hugs! I must change mine, as im not a new mummy anymore lol

Well done fliss, fingers crossed for you!

I plan to go straight on to cow milk at a year old, I do already put it in food and musli/porridge.
why do you have to wait till a year for a cows milk as a drink? Probally coz of vit and min? Do surly the odd drink is ok? Dd really liked it.

What's everyone plans when they return to work? Childminding/ nursery? I know so have gone back already. I'm planning on just two days.
if breastfeeding, anyone having problems with leaving the baby? X

I have a KIT day on Tuesday. Bit nervous TBH.

Only going back (in Jan) on three days though so DD is being looked after by GPs.

Goodluck for Tuesday jambalaya! X

I have a bum shuffler!

(6 months, 17days)

Oh wow beyond that's great.

newmummy I'm back to work in Jan doing 32 hours over 4 days. A will go to nursery 3 days per week and my mil 1 day. Ds1 will go to breakfast club and after school club and we will be poor for the next 4 years!

A is not doing much of anything. He's happy to roll around on the floor, spin himself 180 degrees, be fed by me and that's about it. I feel like I've neglected him the past couple of days with all the prep I've had to do for tomorrow and I was on local radio today to promote tomorrow and talk about the charity etc so poor A hasn't had any attention. Sunday I will be making it up to him with plenty of cuddles and playtime.

Love that beyond. A bum shuffler

jam good lick for Tuesday. Fliss hurrah fir application forms, how exciting

I have DD's cold. Urgh I wonder if I've got a tooth coming through

Lordy. Good luck, obs. Good lick indeed!

Fliss: good luck with the teaching!! I did History A-Level (many moons ago...) & loved it.

Another mover; great news Beyond!

Hug: you are Superwoman!!!! How on earth have you managed all that with a small child & a baby! Where do you get tour energy from? Well done, hope it's all going well,

We have 'Dada' & 'Baba' here! (Proud Mummy Emoticon please!). It started two days ago & I didn't believe Daddy...but all the way round Asda yesterday she 'Dada'd' constantly!

Holly: hope you're all getting better.

Off to do final prep for DD1 & DD2's joint birthday party...25 hyper children......wine is top of the shopping list for later ;-)

jelly wine would be on mine too. I'm exhausted now! We made £245 which is amazing but I have a ton of cake left .

Wow - hug - that's amazing!! (double whammy too, eh!)

Fantastic Hug!! Well done....does cake go with wine ;-)

A wee query ladies...naps/routine/milk/solids... What do your LO do now? DD is pretty haphazard re naps. I'm a bit worried that our busy schedule of school/helping out at MIL/shopping (though just extras as DH brill at helping with this) & DD1 & 2 dancing/gymnastics etc is causing this! I'm still BF on demand & still doing 1 night feed & starting day 06.00-06.30. Bedtime is 21.00, so it's a looong day when I'm still feeding at night. Daytime naps today were 30-40 mins 3 times. She wakens screaming every time! I do sometimes wait a bit to see if she'll go back over but usually she doesn't. I keep waiting & hoping for a REGULAR long nap that I can plan to do things during AND a sleep longer than 4 hours (PLEASE!!!??). I'm not fussed on the idea of forcing a routine on Em, but if I'm actually hindering her develop one then I'd try to sort that.
Did any of you 'encourage' a routine?

Hi Jelly, we also have an older child with a school run to do ,activities etc to take him to so DD has to be flexible. There's a sort of a routine to the day though which goes like this : gets up 6/7 am ,breakfast(porridge , milk), school run, milk around 9/10 am , nap , lunch around 12/1 pm + milk , nap, school run, dinner around 5pm, milk , bed normally 6/6.30 pm . Wakes up for a milk normally once a night around 11/12 then sleeps until morning 6/7. Has slept through too but is now having a growth spurt I'm sure and she's not eating too much at mealtimes yet so we have a while to go until she stops waking up... DS slept through consistently from about 9m.I've never followed a minute schedule with either child but have created a some sort of routine from an early age. Because I had to formula feed both they were having a good amount at a time at regular intervals and always seemed happy with that . The length of her 2 naps is not set in stone though. It depends on if we're home when she'll normally sleep longer, or out and about when she can wake up easier. Since my older one is at school in the aft i try to have a little nap myself if i have time or at least a bit of a break...DD also often wakes up screaming so thats normal.

DD is getting into a sitting position by her self and crawling everywhere !

Oh wow nordic. A finally put weight through his legs. I still have to hold him up by his middle not his hands but its an improvement. He's still not sitting (other than for a few seconds) or crawling though

jelly our routine does very coz of bf on damand, and she is dropping alot of feeds now!

DD wakes at 7/730am no bf if bf early hrs! just porridge/musli at 8/830am. Then morning nap at 930/10ish its normally between 45m-2 hrs. Then lunch at 12ish solids then a nap around 1pm again for 45m-2.5hrs then a bf when she wakes! Sometime a small half hour nap at 4-5ish if tired! Then tea solids at 6ish, bath at 7-730 then bf then bed at 8pm. Wake up's at night normally are 1am and 4am. But can change! Sometimes just once. I Try not to bf on last one and push till morning the bf at 6/7am.

This is only if I'm at home in the day, if out naps at different times. But try to do solids at the same time!

She's been kind of half sitting by herself , lounging really while leaning on to one arm for a while now and I thought one day she'll push herself upright . Today while playing one minute she was on all fours and when I next looked she was sitting. Didn't see her do it. It's funny how they just learn things at their own pace . Even though its not my first child it still surprises me and is exiting. She's real trouble now . Into everything naughty, so curious . Not that interested in her own toys but investigating everything in our house. I'm forever moving her/things and telling her no. She looks at me when I say no and stops but often after a while goes for it again, she just can't resist.

She sounds like loads of fun Nordic

No crawling here yet. Fine by me as we're really no where near baby proofed! E is happy rolling around though. She'll tip herself forward while sitting and almost get onto all fours but then flops down on to her front.

Jelly our rough routine is (depending on what time she gets up):
7am up and BF
7.30ish breakfast (porridge, toast, fruit or yoghurt)
8.30 a pre-nap walk (weather permitting but of course we have a fair chance of it being ok, if cold)
9.00 nap (around 1-1.5 hours)
11.00 BF
12:00 lunch
13:30 nap (usually around 1.5 hours)
15:00 BF
17:30 dinner
18:30 bath (not every night), story, BF and bed
19:00 asleep (hopefully!)

And then sometimes one wakeup at around 3am. Sometimes none. Sometimes more BF during the day too if she needs it (she usually has a few mins BF before naps but I've only put the "full" feeds above). The schedule is completely flexible and she'll nap in the car/pushchair if we're out but for less time.

I guess I did encourage this pattern to a certain extent but only from about 6 months and that was after figuring out when she was naturally napping. It means I can plan my days based on what time she wakes up and I know things around lunch time are usually okay. Except when she decides to do a 3 hour nap and that messes it all up .

Well I cursed it by writing that post. Been up & down with Em for last two hours (now 2.45am). Something going on with poor love: pain? developmental? cold?

Routine, eh?? We are rubbish at this and need to sort it out slightly - but our lives run by more of a weekly schedule than daily. We get up at different times each day (never early!) sometimes it's 7.45; sometimes it's 9.30.

This bit us in the arse yesterday as Bill decided he was really tired at 6pm, having slept for about 3 mins all day! I fed him, we put him to bed...and he didn't settle. Tried shushing, patting, singing, feeding, hugging, nappy changing - everything!! He eventually fell asleep, on me, post feeding, at about 10.25pm.

Nothing wrong with him other than he didn't want to sleep !

Fortunately he then slept straight through till 8.30am but I've said to DH that maybe, at the least, we should try to get up at a consistent time in the morning and have a proper breakfast time to be completed by 9 at the latest.I have a feeling our shocking morning routine may be part of the reason DS struggles to nap so much. We are not 6.30am risers (although from February we will be up at 6.15 every day)

Quite embarrassed writing this. I hope I'm not the only slovenly mother on MN.

hen not at all! Do whatever works for you. Our wake up time can vary from 6.30 to 8.30 and the day adjusts from there.

We might have a routine but I've been up every hour with Em since 1am (now 5.30). Poor love is not happy.

Oh poor little Em...and poor mama!

Poor you and poor Em

Our day has always started 7.30 latest just because if we don't I ant squeeze all of DD's bottles in before she gets crabby at 7.30pm!

I'm struggling at the moment with solids and milk and how much of what and when. It's so bloody confusing. Bah.

Holly, I read that once they are on 3 meals a day they should have about 500-600 ml a day but DD is still having an extra 150ml on top of that because she keeps on waking once a night since she isn't eating enough solids yet. She normally has a breakfast of porridge and then a bottle in the morning around 6/7 am, a bottle around 9/10am , lunch 12/13 and then a bottle and dinner 16.30/17 and then a bottle at bedtime 18/18.30. I have cut down from having a couple of ounces more of milk at a time to move on to more solid food and she seems to be eating increasing amounts .

Thanks hen and holly - she's been clingy but has at least managed to nap today so hopefully we won't get a repeat of last night. Just been to the park and had lunch with a friend who has an 8 month old. I'm hoping that wore her out so she'll have a good sleep now!

Aw poor wee Emily Vintage: and you. Is she possibly cutting another tooth? We're still having disturbed nights; generally 1 feed (down at 21.00ish/up at 2/3ish & 6ish for the day), but lots of crying in her sleep & a bit of dummy replacing. I do worry that I'm creating potential problems by racing in to her quite quickly, but it's partly instinct when I'm half asleep & partly cos I don't want the older two girls disturbed.

Thanks for sharing your 'routines'; it's really interesting to see what all the babies are at! Henrietta; 'slovenly', not at all!! Baby has to fit into your lives, so whatever works to make you happy as a family! Hope the finger's ok?

Well done baby Nordic!! Emily loves sitting up & hasn't been keen on tummy time for ages now. So no crawling/pushing up to sit here.

Oops! Just conked out & dropped the phone on my nose. Time for sleep! Gave Em a 'dreamfeed' at 23.45 cos I was at work today & missed 2 feeds. So, as an experiment & to relieve my poor boobs, I fed Em in her sleep. Wondering if I might get 5 hours???!!! Fingers crossed!

A up and ready for my first KIT day.

I dont want to go.

You can do it jam. I found the thought of it worse than actually doing it. Good luck!

Fingers crossed all goes well jam,

I'm so glad im off this Christmas, I've never not worked, being in retail. We normally work up to Xmas eve we just 1/2 days off! Can wait to spend some family time/ Christmas shopping and time with dd!

Dd is doing so much crawling everywhere, getting pretty quick now, she cries sometimes when I leave the room. Now she waits by the stair gate, its pretty cute!
She is cruising round the furniture and today pulled herself up from sitting to standing! Can't believe what she is doing! She also crawls for a bit then sit up. And she took a few step with a baby walker/ holder thing.

I love having her do these things early but I feel she is growing up to quickly!

A is babbling like a goodun. He can say dada clearly and hiya. He waves, is finally putting weight through his legs (but not fully) and rolls all around the room. It's like things have all of a sudden clicked.

Poorly baby here yet again. The washer hasn't stopped in days.

Poor baby

Worst night ever

Oh no! Is dd wanting to feed all the time or is she poorly vintage?

I think it's teeth but who knows! She won't settle so I end up feeding her to sleep but I don't think she's hungry as she's waking 10-20 minutes after nursing and screaming. Took her into bed in the end and she slept fine. She'd been sleeping so well so it does seem that something's bothering her.

Aww bless her I hope she's better soon.

Aw sorry some are having a hard tine, and get well soon to all the poorly babies! X

Not a good night either, really trying to get dd to drop the early morning feed. Don't mind the 12/1am one but the 4/5am is a killer still! Sometimes she goes longer but im trying to not feed her and get her to sleep other ways, last night her crying was real bad. poor thing, I feed her to calm her down. Should of maybe done it at the start, it turned into half an hour of crying!
I'm also one to jump in quickly, feed straight away, anything for a easy night! really trying not to now. I just wished she would go to one wake up all the time or none! Lol wishing.....
winge over!

On the plus side she took 2oz of ex breast milk from a cup with tea today, normally pushes all bottles away before even getting them close. But she is doing well with water now and I put it the same cup. Still will not take milk when due and feed. But only with solids? Strange!
Not that I wanna stop bf I just wish she would take milk other ways, so I can leave her if needed!

Tomorrow I'm out from 630pm, so dh is doing bath and bed without me doing a feed. will see how he gets on.

hug - aww, the waving and "hiya" sounds so cute!

To all those with sick babies, I wish them a speedy recovery.

How was the KIT day Jam? When are you planning to return to work?

We've just had our offer accepted on a new house! We are first time buyers so pretty exciting but it looks likely that we'll be moving in (all going well) at about the same time as I go back to work, N starts nursery and DP has surgery on his leg! We must be crazy as the place needs A LOT of work doing to it.

Very interesting seeing all of your routines. We don't have anything set in stone apart from bed times but a typical day currently goes something like this:

7:00am - N wakes. Feed, change
8:00 - 10:30 - morning nap - this tends to last just over 2 hours, his record on Sunday was 5 hours!!!!
10:30 - feed
11:00 - baby class of some type or another
12:00 - nap (30 mins)
1:00pm - BF then play with some finger foods
2:30 - nap (45 mins typically)
3ish - bf then get the buggy/sling out and go out for a few hours. N normally has a short nap in the pram.
6:00 - bf then some more finger foods or purée.
7:30 - change into sleep suit, story, feed
8:00 - bed (one or two wake ups in the night).

He seems to sleep and feed a hell of a lot!

It was rubbish. Pretty much reinforced all the negative feelings I had before I started my mat leave. I'll go back in January, but I'm not sure for how long!

jam that sucks. I go back in jan too but not doing kit days this time.

laughing A sleeps a lot too, our typical day:

7am wake up
8am bottle
8.30 school run
9.30 nap until at least 10.30, usually later
12 lunch and bottle
12.30 nap for over an hour, sometimes 3!
3 school run
4 tea
4.30 possible nap
6.30 bath/changed etc
7 bottle
8 bed.

A won't drink water or juice and his nappies aren't as wet as he's bottle fed. He's having the same number of bottles as pre weaning but I think he needs more liquid as his poo can be a little hard too.

Ps laughing congrats on the house!!

Another shit night. Have posted in Sleep to see if anyone has any bright ideas .

Okay 8 nappies since 11:00 this is not fun anymore. I can't wait for daddy to get home and take over as tired doesn't even begin to cut it.

yummy have you spoken to the dr? Is he being sick or is it just diorrhea? If its sick too it's prob a bug, if not it could be an allergy or intolerance. As he's been bf rather than ff it could be cows milk protein or alternatively gluten, both cause diorrhea. Worth checking, how long has he had it? Banana, apples and rice help bad tummies usually or just bf for a while and give food a rest.

SantasHugandRollintheSnow we went to the GP first thing and he thought it was a tummy bug, as they are going around. (no poo Sherlock). I was worried H might have become dehydrated because he won't eat/drink anything without a fight. Thankfully he is okay hydration wise.

Although H seems to be worse this afternoon than he was more poos than any little boy should be able to make. I have managed to get him to drink water with Dyrolyte (sp) at the moment. He started being sick on Sunday and by yesterday was getting both. Trying not to give him anything solid until his tummy settles. Hopefully he is coming to the end of it. If he is still like this on Friday then we will go back and see what else they suggest.

Love the Christmas screen name.

yummy , I really hope your little one gets better soon !

Oh these poorly babies.

DD has a chest infection. Luckily, shes decided she likes the taste of the antibiotics and will happily take it off the spoon. Shes exhausted though as all her naps are broken by coughing, poor thing.

We've all been ill here too.
And now DS2 has got a top tooth just breaking the gum

He is in my bed all night tonight for lovely cuddles DH is in work and my mum has got DS1

Oh these poor little poppets. Hopefully they will be better soon. Hugs and kisses to them all. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We've had an awful night. Max of ten mins sleep before coughing wakes her. Shes exhausted. Poor DP had to leave for work at 5am and is a walking zombie.

I hope everyone gets better soon !
We had our meeting with our lawyer and barrister today and soon have our first court appointment for DD case she was like an angel all day but threw up at dinner time so don't know if she gagged on something or is sick like the others...

3 teeth cutting. Ouch

Oooh poor ds fliss.

Good luck nordic, how many times will you need to go?

A projectile vomited his last bottle of the day, luckily I was out. I'm an emetophobe and I'm totally panicking he has a bug, don't know how ill cope if he does.

Hope your little is managing with teeth ok fliss?

still no teeth here!

Dd grapped my friends little girls dummy, straight out from Her mouth- little monkey!
She is ill and has a bronchitis viruses, so if she is gonna get ill now she might now!

No teeth here...
Unbelievably DD managed make the fuse go by throwing up straight onto an extension cord ( and my iPad ,luckily it had a cover on ...). I'll have to say that's a first ;0. The lights went off the washing washing machine etc. Now she's asleep poor thing . I'll leave solids for now after dinner came out last night . Will give formula in smaller doses more often and water to see if it helps. She seems happy enough in general so can't be too sick , maybe a tad warm .

I hope all the poorly babies are starting to feel better. H is still really unwell so we are back at the Dr's at 17:00. Nordicmom that is unheard of well done to DD.

All you poor mummies getting no sleep & poor sick babies, I feel your pain, and hope it eases soon.

Jam; I second the work issue. It's depressing. Morale is really low where I work and I'm glad I'm just there once a week. Unfortunately January will come around all too soon.

Laughing; thanks for the routine sharing. It's really interesting to see what others do!! Congrats on the house & good luck with it all.

Lights and other things back on . Extension cord disconnected , cleaned and drying . Dd asleep so I'll have a nap too . Now am dreading the next feed . Might do it in the kitchen with not carpet ...

Lots of poorly babies .

DD is hopefully over the worst. She's got a clea chest and isn't coughing as much. She wasn't sick at all yesterday either so hopefully we're coming out the other side.

x

All you poor mummies getting no sleep & poor sick babies, I feel your pain, and hope it eases soon.

Jam; I second the work issue. It's depressing. Morale is really low where I work and I'm glad I'm just there once a week. Unfortunately January will come around all too soon.

Laughing; thanks for the routine sharing. It's really interesting to see what others do!! Congrats on the house & good luck with it all

I really wish Emily would nap during the day. Having disturbed nights is making me tired, ok, but I CAN"T GET ANYTHING DONE. AT. ALL. Our day starts at 6ish , and between 06.00 & 20.30 Em naps for 20-30 mins 3 times. That's it. Surely that's not normal....

Not going very well here ...Just when I thought we were finally managing to keep something down after bedtime milk DD suddenly woke from her 30 min sleep on my lap on the couch and did the mother of all vomits all over me, herself the couch and then continued to projectile some more ( who knows where it all came from had hardly any today that she didn't vomit) against to loo door when i was trying to put her on a changing mat to clean her/myself up. Besides the morning Fuse blowing vomit and this one there were three nice liquid nappies that leaked everywhere. Poor thing felt a bit hot too so I gave calpol but some of it must have come out. She's asleep now but am fearing the next feed again.

Jelly , I know the feeling about not getting anything done with a baby around but DD is ok playing in the travel cot downstairs or her one in the bedroom for at least a while so I can leave the room to do things. If your dd would have three 30 min naps totalling 1 1/2h that isn't that bad during the day . Sometimes if I'm out R only has a short nap like that in the buggy and then maybe 1h in her bed in the aft before getting my son from school. There have been days she has only managed one nap because of some disturbance but that's an exception, she's normally pretty regular with her midmorning and aft lunch naps. They're just not necessary long ones and she certainly isn't sleeping 3 anymore (I miss those days !) . She's up around 6.30/7 and bed 6/6.30. Sometimes if we stay home the whole day until school pickup we both can have several hours in the morning but that's rare.

A fed himself today with some gentle persuasion and plenty of praise.

How are all the poorly people and babies doing? I'm petrified of our household getting noro, its actually keeping me up at night.

DDs chest infection is definitely getting better - we've had two full nights sleep (from her anyway - I kept getting up to check on her, so I'm exhausted ) but our usual nap routine has gone out of the window. I'm hoping, from tomorrow we can get back to normal.

Rest of us still feeling normal ( well I was a bit nauseaus but my existing illness causes that sometime so was wondering which one it was...), it's just DD feeling poorly. She has slept well though. Vomited after breakfast again but has now kept 3 oz in three times in a row so far. Slept an 1 1/2 h or so and is now whining in her bed . Probably hungry but we don't dare to give her more quite yet and offered water. I hope she manages to just fall a sleep and then she can have another small amount later... Hoping we won't all get ill...

Poor poorly babies hope they feel better soon

jelly my boy is similar, has a few short naps in the day. Poor chap is constantly being dragged pillar to post for school runs/preschool etc etc. my three year old has an uncanny way of needing his bum wiped when the baby has fallen asleep on me. Also when my daughter & son are here their raucous fun wakes him hey ho

Another poorly baby here

I say poorly; I'm pretty sure it's teething. No teeth as yet, but what we have is: Waking from sleep, heartbreak, doesn't want the breast, no real temperature though.

DH is with him at the minute. DS keeps almost falling asleep & then waking himself up again. Poor boy.

2 teeth through, hurray! 3rd seems to have stopped in it's tracks.

Had three hours to myself this pm, DH had our 2 for the first time on his own as I manned up and left DS with a bottle. I had a great time, wandered through the local charity shops and sat in Wetherspoons on my own with a tea and a cake and nobody wanted to share it or stand on or eat my newspaper. It was bloody bliss.

DS generally has 2 20 minute naps a day - unless he's held and then we might get an hour out of him (whoever was asking) and is up from 6.50 - 6.30 so not far off what you have, and no, I get nothing done either. My house is a bit like Steptoe's yard ATM, I am racking my brains as to how I got DD to nap for an hour without being held.

Aw Nordic; horrible. Tummy bugs are just horrible. Hope you're ok & no -one else gets sick.
Jam & Holly; glad your DD on the mend too.

Hug: great for Aaron-well done! What did he have?

He had toast with tesco version of Philli. He threw most of it on the floor but at least he tried

Spoke too soon. Up ALL night. Lovely DP took over at 7am and I went back to sleep, so i had three hours at least.

Very glad we have nothing to do today.

Hoping DD's getting better , nothing's come back since yesterday morning and we've upped the amount of milk to 5 oz but she didn't want to finish the last bottle. Might try a bit of bland porridge tomorrow. Need to get her back on to solids, her poohs been pure liquid . This morning it had leaked all over her nightgown, cot sheets and was dripping down the side of the cot between the bars to the carpet . Took me a while to determine which one it was ...

...i was a bit sleepy

So much for my lie down said DH ... It was all hands on deck ;)

Hello again everybody
Spent the last hour reading and: how much has happend!!!

We are back from Germany, Raphael is doing great: he's sitting, enjoying his solids, sleeps ok-ish (only wakes up 2,3 times which is a great for us!), no teeth and still hates to sit in his pram but loves to be carried.

I'm all right, too. Still have my very dark moments and am looking for a counsellor now around Clapham Junction if someone knows someone .... I have a few recomm. but there are far away and it's just not practical.

During our time @ my mums, I only went on the web twice, which is good. The internet is still a bit of a dangerzone for me, especially if I feel really low. But now I'm back and I try to be sensible :-))

Just wanted to check in again to say: we are back.

Hi!! Welcome back. I can't help with a counsellor sorry as I'm in Cardiff but I hope you find one soon

Welcome back Thaleia It's lovely to hear you sounding so positive x

Hope all the poorly babies are on the mend.

DS is finally well again after 6 days. He is still a little clingy Welcome back Theleia It is great to hear that things are getting better that end.

Colds here too...DH coughing so hard he sounds in dreadful pain every time he coughs, but is not really 'ill' now, just a nagging cough that won't go away.

DD's nose is a constant stream of snot, she cries and sleeps most of the day & was up at 3, 5 & 6am today. She was getting on so well with eating, too, but we didn't attempt to offer her dinner tonight, just tried to get as much liquid into her as we could & had an early night.

Thaleia good to hear you back & doing well, I've been thinking of you as I saw details of a PND support group being set up in Wandsworth via the NCT on Twitter - it's called Cedar House Support. They are currently based in Surrey but launching in SW London in Jan, from what I can see online. Pity it's not available sooner, but at least you know it's something to investigate for next year.

Get well soon to all the other sniffly babies out there - and the mums and dads! Touch wood I'm the one in our family still cold-free, more or less.

Aw hope the poorly babies are now on the mend? X o x
touch wood we have been ok too!

Dd sleep has got worst again, gone from 1-2 wakes now to 3 per night. Last night bed at 8pm, up at 1145, 330am, 500am. Then I took her in with me, I often do once dh gets up for work. She wet herself came throught the nappy on to our bed, so I did a nice change of the bed at 530 this morning! then after that she did a poo, so finally went of at 630 till 815am. Thank god I didn't get to get up earlier!

I love to bf but the presure is all on me to do the night feeds! Dd will now drink a small above of ex b milk or cows milk in a breaker, but only at meal times.
I come to the conclusion she hates formula, won't touch the stuff!

Now DS is ill too so we're staying home for a few days. Poor thing went to a party yesterday at the movies and a pizza place since he had been fine but was covered in sick when DH went to pick up. DD seems a bit warm still and had another leaky runny nappy disaster in the morning but she hasn't thrown up yesterday or today so I'll try a bit of porridge. DS has just had a bit of a brioche,bagel and a granola bar today but since he hasn't been sick at all after the party I might give him something else for dinner. Will stay home tomorrow and then go to school on wed I guess. I Feel constant lingering nausea and have pain everywhere like I always do if i'm sick but thats it. DH didn't feel too good last night but went to work this morning feeling better .Hoping this is a short lived one...
Vicky i hope your dd lets you sleep more again soon.
Thaleia welcome back.
I hope everyone else's sickly babies soon get better!

We had a 5hr stretch last night feeds at 8pm, 12pm then 515am- yeah!
just thought I'd share!!!

Feeling abit less sleepy today, I think dd has def been having a growth spurt. Looked on the bf sites and there is one 6/7 months due to development. She is certainly doing alot of stuff, seems to be learning new things every day!

Ooh, Vicky - yay for 5 hours! And I'm going to have to read up on the developmental growth spurt as DS's patterns are definitely changing. Firstly he's really upped his solids but, far from dropping a feed to balance it, he's upped the lengths of his feeds too! My nipples are TIRED.

But, for the last two mornings, we've had to wake him (at 8.30am and 8.10am) as he's slept all the way through!

I'm loving that while it lasts, but don't expect it to last! (Especially as tomorrow evening we are driving 200 miles to my parents - leaving, we think, at about 7pm. That'll sort out his routine!! Eek...)

How are all the poorly babies?

I had a nice long stretch last night too, bed at 8pm, woke for feed at 3am!

Both DSs tried to decide they were up for the day then at 5am (when DH got up for work) but I wasnt having any of it!! stayed in bed and eventually they dropped off again, and woke up at 8am - much better

Both kids are feeling better so DS will go back to school. I gave them normal food today at lunch but DD wasn't too keen on the spaghetti bolognese . She ate her fruit and fromage frais though.
Going to court on next monday is a bit daunting . Getting our statements and last bits and pieces together for the court. Don't know what to look forward to so am nervous. We'll have to go twice and hopefully it's all over by her 1st birthday end of april.

nordic sorry, I wasn't on many of the antenatal threads and was wondering why you have so many court cases for your dd. please tell me to bugger off if I'm too nosy bad point of me

A has to have a star band. Paid £500 deposit today, he will have it in 2 weeks max when we have to pay another £500 and so on and so forth until its paid off by 4th jan.

The displacement has affected everything including his jaw line so really its essential he has it not cosmetic god damn you Nhs

Hooray for children getting better.

hug does that mean you've raised the £2000 you needed, or are you still fundraising for A?

I went into my (and DH's) old workplace yesterday for the day, to observe some History lessons. It was brilliant. Very odd, as it felt like I'd never been away and it's been 3 years since I physically worked there and 2 since I handed in my notice, and I was up in DH's old department so I kept expecting him to pop his head around the door. Day went really quickly, DS and DD were with my sister, DS took a bottle but mainly filled his face with fishfingers - I'd forgotten how sore and lumpy boobs get after 8 hours without expressing or feeding though! The day definitely confirmed that teaching is what I want to do though. I'm going to DH's new school in a fortnight for two whole days

The only thing I felt bad about was that I didn't really miss the DC. I was VERY pleased to see them when I got back, but I wasn't pining for them and they certainly didn't seem to miss me. I can't wait to go back into the world of work - I've enjoyed being a CM and SAHM but I think after 3 years of nappies, Peppa Pig and the house looking like a nursery and supposedly Ofsted ready at all times, I'm ready for a change (and adult conversation!)

fliss I'm so glad you had a good day and its confirmed what you felt was the right career path for you. I think it's normal to not pine for your children when you're in work if you're enjoying what you do.

To answer your question we have basically run out of time for fundraising as such. My mum is helping me organise a sponsored something which won't cost much to organise (ideas please!!). Ooh, what about a helmet wearing for the day!

The credit card is taking a bashing and family are helping out, it just has to be paid so blinking quickly but just over £1k is from our fundraising.

A is really unsettled tonight, keeps waking crying, any ideas? Could it be separation anxiety.

Hug, DD was born through gestational surrogacy in the US . She is ours biologically and legally in the US but in Britain we're still in the middle of the legal process. I'm happy you're soon getting the band, I've heard they are very effective and see them where I live occasionally .
Fliss , good luck to returning to work!

It's a shame the uk don't take the same stance as the us with this.

Now have two very poorly DDs, and feel like absolute crap myself. This is because I did that KIT day. School children and their horrible germs.

Oh jam that's rubbish, hope you all feel better soon.

Slightly better sleep last night as DH (still coughing/snoring) slept downstairs & DD seems a fair bit better today. Just feeling shattered all round though!

I would feel even more fed up if I just stayed in, though, so have been and met other mums today. Feeling a bit guilty that I'm mixing DD's germs with everyone but I am trying to keep her away from the other babies where I can (preferably snoozing in her buggy, what she's currently doing...)

fliss - so pleased to hear about your workplace day! It sounds like you are going to be very happy doing what you love.

Hugs to everyone with poorly babies. We've had some ROUGH nights recently with teething, fevers and eczema hell. N's main problem is not being able to get back to sleep after a feed. On Friday night he was thrashing around in his cot from 12:30-4am crying, scratching his legs and chest. It was absolutely heartbreaking and no amount of moisturising helped. Today though the antibiotics finally seem to be kicking in and he is a much happier boy and his legs look so much better.

I'm coming to the point where I think I'm ready to stop breast feeding. I'll be going back to work full time in a couple of months and I want to make sure he is happy and doing well on bottles before I return. I'm proud I've breastfed for this long though, there were a few times when I thought I wouldn't make it this far!

Dd got up to stand by her self and walk along the couch !!!!!! Omg

She's 7 m in two days . Can't believe she's Doing this now but I guess DS did at 7 1/2 so was expecting it since dd also crawled early like him . I'm in trouble now , nothing's safe on low tables anymore and she'll be in constant danger of falling over and hitting her head ...

Wow, some of you have super forward babies. I don't envy you having to have eyes everywhere though, you need to watch them enough when the only mode of transport is rolling around

hugs E only rolls too but it's surprising how much trouble she can get in! <eyes dog bowl>

And wow Nordic! There'll be no stopping her soon .

Hugs I wouldn't be surprised if DS crawls before he sits up. He wants to reach stuff; not stay still!

Yes Hug and Nancy , she's been trouble ever since she learned to move in any way. Now that she's crawling everywhere she's like a little naughty puppy getting into everything and eating anything in sight.She is so curious . I swear DS wasn't quite this bad but it's been a long time since he was this age. I have to put her in the travel cot/playpen in the kitchen or the highchair or her cot with toys if I want to get anything done when she's awake. I think she is learning the word no though since I'm repeating it all the time and removing her from where ever she's trying to do something . Also working on Blowing raspberries which she isn't doing yet . No teeth though . The bottom gum looks different so there might be something coming through soon .

Henrietta DD did crawl before she could get into sitting up by herself . She could sit if I put her to sit but was crawling everywhere until a while ago learned to push herself up to sitting upright completely and now plays a lot sitting and then crawls somewhere else. Pulling up was just a matter of time. Very glad we had DS old travel cot saved at the Inlaws so when she crawled we could use it right away . it definitely saved my sanity with DS . Both seem very happy to play there . Probably helped I put them there young so they're used to it... Now DD is doing this Downward dog yoga position babies often seem to use to stand up in the middle of the floor without holding on to something . She's trying to do something clearly... I'm hoping she'll cruise until nearly 1Y like DS who started at 7 1/2m but didn't dare to let go of furniture etc for a long time thank god. She seems like more of a daredevil and more determinant so I won't be surprised if she'll venture out somewhere earlier. I have friends with kids who walked at 9/10m old . I'd rather not but i don't think I can do much to stop her....

nordic your Rose sounds very strong like Lyra and into everything!

DD has been walking round the furniture for a over a week now, just holding on with one hand. Crawling well and still loves walking with your hands and does remind me of a naughty puppy too! Nothing is save in our house. I've moved coasters, table clothes and everything in reach. I take her into the kitchen and rooms round the house with me now- to keep an eye. she is walking lovely with her hold on baby walking too!
Her new tricks are pulling herself up the washing machine and walking around the kitchen cuboards. Today she is rolling in her cot and standing up by the bars- getting dh to lower the the lowest level tomorrow!
we are taking bets on if she walk this side of the year of after? I have a feeling it maybe very early at 8/9 months!

hugs great news about the money, hopfully the helmet will really help!
fliss great news about work, how exciting! And well done frank for doing a bottle!

I'm waiting for her to stand up in the cot which is already at the second lowest level so will get DH to put it all the way down . The problem will be that I can't reach to the bottom if she's lying down. I used to have a little step stool with DS but not anymore so will need a new one.If Lyra's just holding on with one hand I can see her letting go early! I've asked for a walker from R's grandparents for Christmas . I think she'd love it! We have a lot of baby proofing to do . Cupboard locks , corner cushions and stair gates etc . Have moved everything I can and am forever scanning for small toys etc on the floor before putting her down. She looks so little when she stands up it's funny... kind of unreal this little person is doing all this stuff!

Just back from Docs, DD1 has tonsillitis, and she thinks DD2 might have asthma, as her chest infection is clearing but she's still coughing and having trouble breathing.

And I was so distracted by that, I left without seeing her myself. Idiot.

jam ds1 has asthma, its hard to diagnose young and they wouldn't confirm and give us repeat prescription pumps until This year. When she gets pumps etc and she is on a system that works for her problems will be few and far between. We've gone from him having at least 3 chest infections a year to only one right at the beginning of the year.

Poor babies jam and hug, we have lots of asthma in dh family, so not sure if dd will get it? Dh got it at age 7. I know lots of babies grow out of it! So fingers crossed! X

My friends little one a bronchitis virus, could it be that? Might be going around? X

Nordic I find looking at dd very strange when she stands up too, people keep saying only 7months! Blimey
Still not quite ready for walking yet, hopefully it will be a little while longer. Have more safety stuff to do too! X

My poor little man is being referred to the emergency pediatric clinic at the hospital tomorrow morning. His skin has taken a real turn for the worse despite the antibiotics and all of the other treatments. His shins are raw and oozing, his back is completely red and his chest is oozing and he is in agony with itching. I'm so heartbroken, sorry this post is so self centered, I've just got home from the Dr's and home alone with N, feeling a bit shell shocked.

Oh gosh, poor thing.

Oh god, I really feel for both of you. I hope they get to the bottom of it <hugs> x

I'm so sorry about your very poorly babies /children Jambalaya and Gnomette!!! I hope they'll soon get better !
Miraculously R hasn't had DS skin problems at all.
She was standing in her cot today after the morning nap as expected.
Also the first tooth is finally coming through !

Jam & Gnomette I hope things get better soon & that you can find the right treatments!

Another exhausting day here as DD slept from 6-9.30am but has barely wanted to eat all day - vomited up her first bottle, finished 2nd, barely touched 3rd and had about half her 4th (small bottle at bedtime).

She refused food and I've been offering the boob as often as I can. I hope she's had enough breast milk to help compensate but overall she's had a fraction of what she normally drinks in a day.

We've propped up her mattress so she has her head raised a bit and hung a hanky with some Olbas oil from her mobile (HV advice!). If that fixes the night-time coughing hopefully she'll sleep better, wake as normal in the morning properly hungry, and we can get back to a normal feeding routine. Here's hoping!

Oh laughing you poor thing and poor DS. Not self centred at all, I'd be bloody shell shocked too. Hope the clinic helps an DS feels better

gnomette Poor little chap. What was the outcome of today's visit?

I am with you on feeling as though the BF is coming to an end. I've been giving DS a bottle a day this week (since Monday's success) and he seems pretty happy, it's more of a faff to get set up than BF is (clearly) but I am off to do my numeracy test tomorrow morning and it means I can run off and leave the DC with DH and not worry, DS can have a bottle on the bus instead of waiting for us to get home when I'm doing a school run and <whispers> it means we will have to shift DS out of our bed and into his cot as co-sleeping and FF is supposed to be a no-no, and it'll mean DH can start doing night wakings. I want to wear dresses without easy access, and underwired bras. Blessed relief. I managed 7 weeks with DD, so 7.5 months with DS is something I'm bloody overjoyed with.

What has DS had in his bottle, fliss? Expressed milk or formula/follow on milk?

Pondering doing similar myself...

Formula. I don't get much if I express, and if I'm sitting expressing then I may as well BF!

Hello all. I'm writing this without a snotty baby, or croaky 8 year old - they're both at GPs for the night, to give me and DP a break. I feel lonely.

Just had a sneaky peak at the April 2013 stats thread - and there's loads of them! Weirdly, they're nearly all at the beginning of the month too - 47 posters, up to and including April 10th! Very odd.

Hmm, I probably have far better things I could be doing with this free time!!

Hi all. Hope babies and other family members get well soon.

A is starting to clap now. He's still very vocal and a happy little boy. Next week is our last sans helmet, when he gets it ill put a photo on our Facebook page.

Thanks for all of your kind words, sorry its taken so long to update on here! N's appointment at the hospital went well. The consultant has put him on stronger steroids, antibiotics and ointment and they are making a REAL difference. I haven't seen his skin this good in months and its made such a difference to his personality. Very happy.

fliss - such a good point about being able to wear normal dresses again, I hadn't even thought of that! Is DS taking the bottle ok now or are you using a sippy cup? I hope the numeracy test went well.
As for us, I started N on formula two days ago, planning to give two bottles a day and breast for the rest, slowly upping the bottles over time. Yesterday I was going to post about how well it had started and then last night he started refusing the bottle!! I think it's nipple confusion. He would eventually drink from the bottle but put up a bit of a protest. I've decided to stick to only bottles now, expressing a couple of feeds for him per day (faff!). My boobs are full and sore despite the expressing but hopefully this should ease over time(!). So that's my boob feeding days over! Sooner than I thought.

marshmallow - poor DD how is she doing now?

hug - aww, bless A. You have to post a picture of him clapping too! How adorable and clever!!

I hope all of the other poorly babies start to feel better soon xx

That's such great news, laughing. How wonderful - and what a relief for you.

I am currently typing this in the bath due to my genius new idea. Last week, DH and DS went out for a few hours just the 2 of them (to the supermarket). I managed to chill, have a bath & watch F1. When they got back I felt like a new woman!

So yesterday I said to DH, as I am going back to work FT in February, why don't we make these father-son trips out a weekly occurrence? That way they get used to time together, and DS and I get used to time apart. DH loved the idea!

Right now I'm loving it too...

I do miss my boy though, which is slightly daft as he only left 20 mins ago. February is going to be difficult...

Ah laughing that's good to hear. As an eczema sufferer myself I know how horrid it can be.

DD much better and showing an interest in food at last. DH on the other hand was up at 6.30am being sick, had to cancel plans for the day. He's been in bed all day and drunk some water but that's it. Really hoping its a quick bug not the full on winter vomiting virus....

henrietta - father-son time is a fab idea, especially sending them to the supermarket! Genius! I think we'll have to start doing the same as I'll also be going back to work around then and DS is getting clingier and clingier - not ideal.

marsh - great news about DD but sorry to hear about DH :-(

My boobs are now really engorged and sore. Pumping is just not cutting the mustard. I'm off to get some cabbage leaves when DS wakes from his nap, hopefully this'll help. On the the plus side, going cold turkey has helped with the nipple confusion. He is taking the bottle really happily now.

He got on all fours yesterday and tried to crawl but fell flat on his face bless him! Still got to perfect his technique a bit!!

Gnomette, when I had to stop breastfeeding with DS and did it cold turkey I was told to basically strap my breasts down very tightly , I did it with a bra then a muslin tied over my chest and then another bra. Besides this I expressed/massaged in the shower and thats it. It took a week and I was done. It was uncomfortable but probably the quickest way.
We had our court hearing today. I was a bit nervous about it . It only took about 10 min and was very straightforward . One home visit and one more hearing in the end of January and then it's all over , yeah!
Bonus today was that since my in-laws were watching R we got to go for our first meal without the kids since R was born. I think our last one was probably for our wedding anniversary last January ...