Graduated Elderberries. Thread 9

[Cavort]

The over 30's expecting or just had their first baby.

Oh and thanks for the tip Cavort, we don't have any carpets so just don't tend to think of sitting on the floor, I generally have her on my knee on the sofa if we are playing so will have to plonk myself on the floor and see if that helps.

Today my son is 11lb 4oz of whinge & whine. He is hard work

Purple I think I have one of those rubber ring things sitting in the cupboard doing nothing at the mo if you wanted to borrow it for a couple of months?

V had a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and down for the night by 7. Still asleep. What will you bet that he wakes up thinking 3AM is morning?

Well they do say that sleep begets more sleep so he may well go straight through Hazle. Fingers crossed for you.

I am forever trying to figure out the magic daytime napping schedule which leads to a better night but it's still elusive so far.

Purple I also have wooden floors downstairs so I use some rubber tiles i got from a friend. I have also spent hours sitting on it with L between my legs iykwim and she seems to have mastered sitting up before even rolling!
Over here we're definitely going through a whingy phase even though sleep is not that bad. But awake time is a two hour long whine followed by lots of sleep fighting and constant feeding. Joy!
Hope your little one is better mother. And cav/hazle hope sleeping is better!!!

It would appear on further investigation that she CAN sit, she just chooses not to and the throwing herself sideways is not a lack of balance so much as a bid for freedom. I'm not sure if her constant desire to be off is a sign of an adventurous spirit or that she doesn't like us very much

They all also can sleep. Just choose not to.

Hazle so so true!!

M slept 7-7 with just a feed from 1.30-2

Pleeeease let it not be a one off!!

E slept 19.20 - 8.20 but was up at 22.00 and then 02.30-05.30.

I am very jealous Janey. Well done Miles!

Great news janey!
Over here we have a new development. L has managed to roll over onto her back but was then unable to roll back. It's now 530 over here and I was woken up by the sounds of her struggling and farting to turn back. It was actually hilarious!!!! If only it was a bit late!

Miles refuses to sleep on his back at night now. Last night when I put him down at 7pm I went in twice (and woke him up ) to put him on his back, but he just immediately rolls onto his side or his front. This gives me the fear re SIDS guidelines, but am I right in thinking they're for the first six months? No idea how I'm meant to keep him on his back otherwise?! He can flip himself back when he wants to. Have to say I can't blame him - I always sleep on my side or front!

Oh cavort, how crap. When is DH back?

From what I've read if they turn themselves you don't need to turn them back. I'm sure cav the fountain of knowledge will enlighten us!
I worry cause she can only do it one way and not the other and so gets stuck. She has been sleeping in the most awkward and funny positions over the last 2-3 nights!
I've bought a gro clock. A friend from work told me it's the best thing she ever bought for her kids. Does anyone use one?
Also bought a funky little gadget for weaning. Can't do link on phone but it's an advent steamer and blender. It's meant to be 99 quid but it's on amazon for 52. You steam and blend baby food in the same container. Another friend has told me it's a life saver. So I've decided to give this to myself as a bday present

Night was not too bad here, a few wakings and up and squealing at 6. DH took him downstairs and he slept happily a bit more in his playpen.
He also likes to sleep on his side, but as the SIDS risk goes down significantly after 6 months, I haven't been too worried.

Lol my DSIL gave me one of those, is it like this ? If so it's amazing. Seems an extravagance when I can, in theory, steam and blend stuff myself with no additional equipment, but it makes it so much easier. I have made Miles sooo much food and it's so easy to knock batches of food up. The freezer is full of little pots of goodness! I just get one or two out in the morning and take them out with me for the day, is so easy as most places have a microwave you can use. I know it seems a lot of money but I would thoroughly recommend it, am sure you'll think it's fab too.

Yep exactly that one janey. My friend does exactly what you do so I got myself loads of pots so as I can get started when I'm back!

Lol I don't think I am a font of all knowledge, I am just an obsessive Googler! And to be quite honest if it meant I got more sleep, she could sleep in whichever position she wanted, but so far she has only ever slept on her back. Maybe when she starts experimenting more she might sleep better. I have friends who use Gro Clocks with good success but I think E is too young to understand one at the moment so I will probably get one when she's a bit older.

Janey DH is back on Saturday night. He knows E is not sleeping well while he's away, but I have been playing down exactly how bad I am feeling through lack of sleep so as not to spoil his holiday, but I intend to enlighten him on it when I pick him up from the airport shortly before telling him that there is plenty of expressed milk in the fridge to enable him to deal with Saturday night's hell wakings.

L keeps flipping over and falling asleep face down too, although not at night yet, I wasn't sure whether to worry about it or not though I find if I leave her as she is I stare at her almost constantly to make sure she's still breathing but if I turn her she wakes up then rolls over again so I'm trying to relax about it.

A word of warning, when your child does start sleeping through the night, even if has been consistently for a whole week, do not even allude to it on here, it breaks the magic spell. Me and 3.30am got reacquainted last night, though I am not complaining as I know I'm VERY lucky at the moment. Hope you all get some sleep soon too and that you remember that way back when all your babies were sleeping mine was getting me up every two hours for an hour so it's not unfair it's just my turn

Purple I, for one, am over the moon that L is sleeping through the night for you - it gives me hope that once E is on 3 'proper' meals a day her sleeping might improve.

Feeling very inadequate, as my poor baby is fed commercial (organic, but still) baby food and not home made purees. But half the times we try, he does not agree to eat anything, so I'd rather throw the jars away than food that I have lovingly prepared myself. Less of a waste of my resources this way, as I have more money than time.

Hazle don't be silly! You're our very own superwoman. To be frank if I hadn't been given that gadget I think I would have used organic pouches loads by now.

Cavort poor you. Long week for you on your own....

I am doing a mixture of making stuff myself and pouches of purees. I can obviously see the benefits of home-cooked, but if I want to give her some apple why would I spend ages cooking and then pureeing it when I can buy a pouch which contains nothing but organic pureed apple? She is getting increasingly better at the finger foods so I don't anticipate her being on purees for that long before she just eats whatever we are eating.

How is everyone introducing meats? So far I have tried cod and chicken in the smallest chunks and she has eaten a bit but gagged on both of them. Should I just be waiting longer before introducing chunks?

I've given Miles turkey (!) chicken, cod and salmon, all puréed with veg, and sometimes milk or cheese too. Yesterday I poached some chicken with sweetcorn and blended that but left it lumpier than usual which caused a bit of gagging, but he still ate lots. Think I will stick with purées for a whole though as he did struggle a bit... I want to introduce eggs (trying to introduce everything to avoid allergies hopefully). Scrambled the yolk (to narrow it down if he did have an allergy) but he hated the texture. Any ideas what I should do?! Thinking of hard boiling then adding it to a purée of some kind?! Sounds gross though and generally won't feed him stuff I wouldn't eat myself...

Oh and one thing... One of the paed consultants in my family, who works in a&e said that if he could give me two pieces of practical advice about raising M it would be

1. Be v careful of blind strings . Make sure there is nothing dangling down (so wrap then round and round the tie back thing) that he could inadvertently hang himself with

and

1. Always cut grapes in half, right through until they're 5. As they are (whole) they're apparently exactly the right/wrong shape to get stuck in a windpipe

Not very cheery and don't mean to scaremonger at all. But he's the most laid back parent ever, especially considering his job, and he said that he's seen tragedies too many times from both the above so thought I'd share....