April 2011 - cake-offing, gin-guzzling, wine-sipping, dreams of sleeping

[fraktious]

Thread 3!!!

[LisMcA]

xposts Frak, i got 1001 on the last one! Love the title!

Cycle the snot thing? What are they called? and what kind do you use? B is quite conjested again today, so I'll have to go out and get one. But I've booked my Asda delivery for an 8 hour slot, thinking I didn't have to go out! Fingers crossed its sooner rather than later!

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Today is ds's last pre school session until September. Everyone seemed to bring in gifts of flowers and chocolates for the staff, I gave wine! God knows they must need it after looking after all of those little darlings?!

Dream feed - I've done this for all of mine. Pick them up out of the cot at 10.30pm, stick them on boob. When they have finished, wind if necessary and put back in cot. Sometimes they wake up, sometimes they don't. Tis as simple as that really. It doesn't work for everyone, and I think you have to try it for about a week before you decide whether it's working for you or not.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Oh, and I also meant to say that I winced at beetle's comment about reading the Harry Potter books as a child

I still like to think of myself as young at 35 , but that made me feel old! Dh has a young guy working for him at the moment who was born in the 90's!

[LisMcA]

Age is mearly a number ILTMIMI! This is my new mantra as I live the last few weeks of my 20s :(. At heart I will always be 19, twas the year 2000 and my life began! [nostalgia emoticon] :)

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

Yes Beetle's comment made me feel old too - I read the first book after I had graduated!! Am 34 and think of myself as young!

I think T is regressing a bit with sleep. Last couple of nights I have only had 5 hours from him rather than the usual 7-8. Hmmmmmmm.

[MrsWajs]

Oooh another new thread, god, not been on for a few days and I've missed pages once again!!

Glad I'm not the only one having a bad time with LO's sleeping. R had been good for 3 nights, going down at 10ish and sleeping right through til 6 or 7 again but then on Tuesday night she went down at 10 and then woke at 3 and then again at 6 and then again for the day at 8!! She didn't even do that when she was newborn!! So she stayed at grandmas last night so I could catch up on some sleep. The waking doesn't really bother me, it's the fact that I can't get back to sleep once she's been up!! All I can hear is DP snoring and R sucking her fingers, snuffling or coughing (or all three!) However she slept not too badly at my mums last night so I hope she's ok tonight.

Love the new thread title despite the fact that I don't drink gin and I can no longer scoff cakes!! Joined fat club again on Tuesday (aka weight watchers) and was pretty pleased to discover that I'm only 5lbs heavier than I was before I fell pregnant! Unfortunately still don't fit in to my pre-preg clothes, well not all of them anyway:( Really can't be arsed with all the point counting again (and it's even more difficult than it used to be) but needs must!!

Lis Your HV sounds like an idiot. Why would she say things like that?? Clueless!! I've been concerned that R isn't eating enough but HV just keeps telling me that as long as R is thriving, happy and gaining weight then I've not to worry about it. Even if she is only taking the amount a 4-8 week old would be (according to the formula tin anyway!!) She gets weighed again next wednesday so will see whats happening, I am expecting her to level into the middle of 25th & 50th percentile, which is where she's mostly floated since she was born. She was 11lb4 at last weigh in at about 10 weeks old.

I also visited a nursey yesterday and was pretty happy with it. £22 for 1 afternoon a week, not sure if this is good bad or the average? So hoping to get her booked in for after Christmas as I return to work at the end of January.

Taking R and DSS swimming on Saturday and hoping to find out about a water babies class as I think R would love it, glad to hear lots of good reports about them :)

[MrsWajs]

Oh and for some reason I thought most of you were a little bit older than I am discovering, can't believe you read the HP books when you were 11 Beetle!!

[chillikat]

Great new thread title, though I'm another non-gin drinker, well not apart from the time I'd already had a couple of pints of cider, half a bottle of red wine and gin and tonic was the only other thing on offer. Slept on friends sofa and got sent home from work the following day as my boss thought I had a 24 hour bug . Funnily enough I was OK after 24 hours. Blimey, all that was a long time ago. I don't think I'd even met DH then!

Had problems getting M to sleep last night - DH went to the pub quiz leaving me feeding in the dark in the bedroom. He came back 3 hours later (having won) to find me in tears and feeding again. I'd tried to settle her in the crib a number of times and failed and ended up leaving her crying while i quickly got ready for bed :( eventually he managed to get her settled, then she woke and was hard to settle again at 3 and up for the day at 7. Hardly surprising she fell asleep part way through tuneful tots this morning. Now napping in the bouncy chair and I'm hoping for a baby in a happier mood when she wakes up.

Lis is it a nasal aspirator you're after? I understand some mums actually use their mouth to suck out snot [grim]. We haven't had much luck with the aspirator thing and I've ended up using a bit of rolled up tissue when needed.

[DairyBeetle]

Oh no, I didn't intend to make people feel old! I'm sorry! (Though I hadn't realised I was that much younger than most of you!)

Been to the postnatal physio again today and have been referred to Hydrotherapy which sounds interesting. I've also been told that my pelvic floor strength and my coccyx need to be assessed and that it is assessed internally...not looking forward to that appointment & gulp.

S is still grizzly and clingy due to his teething. It's really affecting his sleep, just dozing during the day (even less than he usually does) and last night he was really up and down. He's also sucking and chewing everything, including me - I have a mini hicky on my collar bone thanks to him!

[LisMcA]

Lol and the mini hickey dairyBeetle! B i sucking everything too here. Collars are a fav at the mo! Also his thumb. Should be worried baout thumb sucking? He won;t take a dummy and its the thing that settles him sometimes. I'm thinking its one of those "pick your battles" things.

Chili sounds like what I was after, but a self sucking one, if there is such a thing! I love my son more than life itself, but I draw the line at sooking his bogies into my mouth. Gadz :o He seems to be less snottery now, so hopefully it is no longer needed. Got some saline drops too for future use.

[kittycatcat]

Love the new name. Could go a g&t right now.

[ecuse]

Hooray my ASDA shop has just arrived with the GIN I had to order because of this thread!

Also am feeling proud because I plucked up the courage to ask if any of the other Mumsnet at my water babies class wanted to swap emails and meet up to take the babies swimming over summer holiday and everyone did so, yay! I might finally have some mum friends (in real life)

(12 weeks)
(Not really relevant to this post but, anyway)

[ecuse]

any other mums not Mumsnet. Bloody autocorrect.

[JoEW]

Lis I sympathise on weight worrying. I have been getting C weighed every three weeks and I obsess over how much he eats in a day, with bottle feeding I know exactly and I have a spreadsheet where I log it all. I think it's possible to get overly concerned about these things (note to self). C is on the 9th centile, when corrected age; I mainly worry that he won't get a girlfriend!

Also, I gave C a dummy as I thought it would be easier to take it away - can't take away fingers. He now grabs it, chucks it to one side and sets about working his thumb into his mouth. I don't think that's a battle I can win!

I am really old, 37, so you can all feel better.

I met up with a friend who is 38 weeks today. It's her first and she's really worried about how tough the first few months will be. I have constantly reassured her that Mat Hols is all about sitting in child-friendly pubs or Cafe Rouge, drinking wine at lunchtime or eating cake. We arrived, all went well, C was super cute and 'read' his Naughty Noses book. Then fed and fell asleep on me. I put him in the buggy and he lost it. Cue three hours of on and off screaming, going for walks, leaving baby-friendly pub, walking more, and then me deciding that she might well be a bit tired of listening to screaming and headed home. C was divine on the train home and then ate well and went to bed. I am STILL wondering whether babies are smarter than they look....

[JoEW]

PS - MrsW £22 for a half day seems pretty good to me. Ours is £65 for a full day but that's a reduced cost, as full time. Mind you SW London will be as spenny as you can get.

[Sassy20]

Wow I feel lucky as our nursery is £38 for a day and that's part time! Good old Leeds!

[chillikat]

Are we playing nursery costs top trumps? Hull - £31.50 per day. Though that one is probably all booked up already. Another one I've found has split the day into 6 sessions, all individually priced as well as offering full day and full week costs.

[MrsWajs]

JoEW and Lis I was hoping R might take a dummy too instead of her thumb but no, she just pushes the dummy out and rams her whole hand, sometimes both, in her mouth instead!

Bloody hell, a full days nursery in your area is almost double what it is here JoEW Am glad I'm only putting R in for one afternoon a week and genuinely feel for those who have no option but to put their kids in full time, it costs a bloody fortune!

Beetle I'm only 3 years older than you lol, just thought for some reason you were older I'm crap at guess the age!!

Speaking of snot-sucking, my mum informed me that when I was born, she had to resist the urge to lick all the crap off me!!!! BOKE!

R has just gone down and self-settled perfectly [smug face] wonder if I'll pay for that at 3am though...............?!

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

T is a thumb sucker. I am pleased actually, because he can settle himself when he's overtired, just jams his thumb in his mouth and he's asleep within moments often. And I don't have to get out of bed to stick his thumb back in his mouth at 2am because he can do it for himself!!
DS1 had a dummy - and still has it, and he'll be 3 on Saturday. I have no idea how we will get it off him.

[Sassy20]

Ali a friend of mine told me a good way to get the dummy off lo. The dummy fairy! Dummy goes under the pillow and in the morning it's gone taken by the dummy fairy who gives it to another baby who needs it and there's a little present waiting in exchange.

[JenAT]

Another brilliant thread title from Frak

Re dummies. We were really mean and cut the teats off dd's dummies when she was 2 and told her they had got broken! She only had a dummy to go to sleep by then. She looked fornlornly at them and insisted on holding them to go to sleep for a few days then decided she didn't want her broken dummies anymore. We are cruel parents.

Nursery here is £38/day. And when I go back to work in nov will have both children there so £76/day for both children . dd gets some funding so only pay half for her. Will still be forking out upwards of £170/week as they will be going for 3 days each week. I can see how for some people it is not financially viable for one of the parents to actually work. If we didn't get funding for dd we would be paying about £900/month just for childcare!!!

[LisMcA]

Childcare, nursery here full time I've been quoted £830 a month and I really didn;t like it, even before the costs were mentioned. Do I win a prize??

I emailed around chilminders in my area, 2 have no spaces, one said to get in touch nearer the time I plan to go back to work (probably after new year) and one just got back to me all apologetic, because she'd been on holiday, but she had a baby space and would call me tomorrow. She's going to say call nearer the time too I'm sure. I just want to go and see some of them, ask my questions other MNers suggested from my "how do I choose a childminder" thread. I know if I find a CM i like then come January she's full I'll be devestated, but it would make me feel better if I sort of could plan for going back to work. Will I com across as a neurotic mother for looking now??

Re Thumbs, a friend of mine saw B sucking and warned me about it. She is about to pay for private dentistry for her 5 yo DD to get braces as she's reshaped her palete by thumb sucking. Now my DBro and DSis both were thumbsuckers, DBro needed braces (as did I, not a Thumbsucker) DSis has the best teeth in the family. I think there was a point to me telling you all this, but I'm so tired I can't remember what it was!

[BuckminsterFullerene]

Morning.

(it's 5am, not quite the wondersleep we had yesterday, but not bad. I'm still going to have to pump Righty in a mo).

Childcare: we've got a wonderful childminder just down the road. I needed to be able to walk there. DH will drop him off at 9 and I'll collect at 5. She's not the cheapest in town at £4/hr, but she's close, amazing, and had a space. I started looking for childcare well before xmas.

F'll only be there 3 days p/w, with DH 2 days and me at weekends.

And,thumbsucking: both DH and I sucked our thumbs till about age 12 & had NHS corrective dentistry. F won't take a dummy, but gets too frustrated to fund his thumb when he's really tired. He often ends up holding his ear and turning his head towards it, open mouthed! Much like a dog chasing its tail!

I've got a sling question: we've got a ring sling: v easy but not comfy fir long periods of time. We're going to an agricultural show next month. Not pushchair friendly, but our sling's not going to cut it.

I'm thinking of getting a mei tai. Any thoughts/suggestions/experiences?

[Sassy20]

Morning Buckminster good to see someone else is up at this time! L appears to have woken up with a cold and is all snuffly.

Only sling advice I can offer is about the closer sling. We have one and it seems comfy enough as long as you position it right so it's not pulling your back.

I has a dummy for ages and needed braces. I just think it's one of those things that you either need or not and having dummy or thumb won't make a lot of difference (I hope!).

[Sassy20]

Why does autocorrect continually change had to has or is it just my typing?!!!