The babies are here! September 2020

[LatteLover12]

Hi all 👋🏻

Here's a new thread so we can keep chatting through the sleepless nights and the many outfits they've already grown out of... 😄

Mmmm@Sara7455 maybe it is worth freezing the purées as would be shame to waste! Did you hear up direct from frozen? In saucepan rather than microwave?
Iv seen the heat sensitive spoons that turn white if food too hot, they are only£3 ish so maybe worth investing in the long handle ones. How long did you do just veg? When did you start fruit and combination flavours? Xx

@ShiningStarz - I use the defrost setting in the microwave, although I hear that more organised people get them out to defrost at room temperature. I have the munchkin spoons that go white if it’s too hot but I also use that to confirm they’ve been properly reheated too before they cool down for him.

I did single veg tastes for the two weeks and then started combining the veg. I tried egg when we were having scrambled egg for brunch anyway and then when that was fine I let him try a bit of toast with it the next time we had it, I’ve also melted cheese into his veg combos. We’re a month in now and I’ve just start fruit other than banana but partly because he has a massive sweet tooth (took carrot and banana really easily when first offered but avoids greens) so I wanted to try persisting with the bitter veg. I started adding breakfast last week so he gets fruit or porridge etc for breakfast and loves it while lunch is still a pain. I wanted his veg to get to a more lumpy texture before I tried rice and tried again with pasta as he just spat that out previously but I’ll probably start adding those sorts of things soon. My friend (and Joe Wicks in his book) found that her kids weren’t that bothered about veg but when they started offering combos and actual “meals” then they got a bit more involved. I think you just get led by baby in someways, if they’re loving it then keep going but if they aren’t so much then you step back and try again after a week or so.

Sorry for the essay!!

@Sara7455 sounds like you are doing a fab job with weaning 🥰 do you just use normal porridge? Like what we would eat but more puréed? I don't really want to give the crappy baby rice that tastes like cardboard 😂

Aww wee wren is right to not like the greens haha!!! Im sure eventually like you say when it's mixed in a meal he might prefer. Cauliflower cheese could be one to try? Or pasta bake with brocolli, maybe pasta could be puréed? Xx

@ShiningStarz yes just normal porridge oats. If you cook them low and slow on the hob they go quite creamy so fine to just feed as is (with flavours added obviously).
We did try cauliflower cheese and he was alright with it, we mixed pasta in which i mushed up small and he had some but mainly spit the lumps out. He successfully ate a little bit of toast the other day so I’m going to try again with the pasta this weekend. He’s got much better with lumps in things so hopefully he won’t spit it out this time!

@LatteLover12 100% feel the same like mat leave is just whizzing by and we're missing the wide world out there.

Hello!

Sorry been MIA. Homeschooling, running a business, four month sleep regression. It's been a wild few weeks!

Re childcare we used tax free childcare you save 20% which is amazing! I've not sorted anything for ours yet as think DH and I will just work around him for now.

Eeeekkk weaning! I think I've got 5 weeks to go so starting to think about it all. I just did purées and a bit of baby lead weaning last time so will do that. My friend bought me the young gums book so need to look at that!

How's everyone doing? We are struggling having had a good sleeper to now waking every two hours to feed again! I'm still expressing but he's having two small bottles of formula a day. It's a diary free one and he hates it! My plan is to stop expressing when he's eating so I don't feel like he's just got the awful formula.

It's been so hard having a baby during this time. What I miss most is my friends and family, they've missed him being little and I've missed having help.

For those homeschooling... I'm really struggling are you? There is talk of them being closed till Easter 😩

Hey all. Hope everyone is coping ok with lockdown!
I did an Nct weaning course on Friday and found it very helpful. Gonna do a mixture of baby led and purées as I have a feeling the finger food will end up mashed in his hands or lobbed at me lol.
Managed to pick up a tommee tippee blender / steamer on fb market place for £20 as I don’t own either so that will help.
Also got a bundle of 6/9 month clothing for £25. 150 items all great quality and 20 pairs of socks! Full mix of everything too so he’s ready whatever the weather haha. There was also a white 5 piece christening suit brand new with tags in there which is lovely but I’m really not sure at what point we can actually safely go ahead with one!

@Lorna198 sounds like you've found some great bargains.

Are you planning on christening your little one? I'm undecided as I'm not religious at all but my partners mum is a vicar and as she is in Scotland hasn't been able to meet Alfie yet so I feel it would be nice to let her christen him but not sure if it's the right thing to do 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Roxy8203 we are not religious but i know that some vicars will only marry people that are christened (I know I shouldn’t think about that but we had the a similar problem as neither of us was christened at the church we wanted) plus it will be nice for both sets of parents to be able to be there as they are quite old school.
Would be pretty special for you mother in law christening her own grandchild ❤️

@Lorna198 that is pretty much the only reason I'd do it as it really doesn't mean anything to me. Maybe there is another blessing that would be less religious we could look at.

@Roxy8203 @Lorna198 we’re aiming for April sort of time to have W christened, hoping things will have calmed down a little and we can have a few family members for a little gathering after (even if it’s just in the garden). I’m not particularly Christian but my husband’s family are Catholic - so we wouldn’t have been able to get married at his church if I hadn’t been christened. I’m happy with him being christened but feel pretty strongly that it should be his choice whether or not he has a confirmation when he’s older.

Also, Lorna those bargains sound amazing!

@Sara7455 sounds good, with her being in Scotland we have to see how their restrictions are as well 🙄 I don't think we will make plans for now, plenty of time I guess. But it's nice that you'll have something lovely to look forward to

@Roxy8203 definitely loads of time! It will be so lovely if MIL can do it as well . So hard to make plans at the moment though as I guess no one knows how long this round of restrictions will go on for!

@Sara7455 @Roxy8203 I would love to have DD christened but as I would ideally like her to be christened in the UK and we are abroad I've resigned myself to the fact it won't be for a while! I'm hoping to maybe get to the UK for Christmas this year so my family can meet DD so will see if they can squeeze us in then maybe.

Has anyone hit the 4 month regression yet? Is it at 4 months or can it be later?

@kersh33 my SIL says her LO hit the regression at 5months. One of my husband’s clients says her 3 never had it. We’ve got everything crossed we’ll be in that lucky camp!

@kersh33 I'm pretty sure the 4-month regression hit us at 11 weeks (baby girl now almost 16w), it's awful. Waking every 30m-1.5hr every night 😱
She has started sometimes being able to settle herself easily off to sleep and 1 night out of every 5 she'll join 2 sleep cycles and give us all a blissful 3hrs of connected sleep but mostly it's seeing in every hour. DH is useless as a chocolate teapot too. Last night it was 'oh fs sake just f off' from him and 'I can't' any time I asked him to resettle her. We had some very heated words, does he think I can? Does he think I have an instruction manual stashed away somewhere? Is sleep not as important for all the whole family? Apparently I keep 'changing all the rules' too. What rules there are no rules she's a baby!! He doesn't seem to get that she is a baby lesrning new skills and developing so rapidly all the time and her world has totally flipped in the short 16w she's been here. It would be so much easier as a single mum I wonder sometimes.

@Sara7455 I was gifted the 'What Mummy Makes' book it's awesome!! It's got recipe ideas and loads of advice and info, including foods to avoid like honey and rice drinks, and how to introduce allergens. The recipes are meals for the whole family, so not just mashed or pureed veg. I've just opened it on a random page and it's 'baby-friendly lamb kebabs with cucumber pickle' 😋 there's chapters on breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and puds, freezer stash and even fussy eaters!

It has made me very excited and given me a little confidence to starting our weaning journey in a few months when baby is ready!

@Margo34 that does sound good! He’s getting much better at textures now - loves a bit of toast - so I’m hoping we can move toward more normal meals and not just mash now. Will keep trying. BLW still not quite there. He has a go but often ends up holding his toast and munching on his fist 🙈

Hey everyone, hope you are all doing ok!
My parents haven't met DH's parents and the thought of forcing a meet at a christening stresses me out too much. Wev been together 4 years but not married!
I bought the tomee tippee heat sensing spoons today, they have long handles and tip turns yellow if food too hot. I must buy a book for ideas! She's definitely starting to look at our plates when eating !!
Little one still wakes twice overnight but settles back to sleep after feed. We are very lucky, she's a smiler!

Meant to say Iv signed up to a nct baby first aid course. Really wanted to do it before weaning S it covers choking x

@Margo34 sorry to hear your DH isn't being very helpful. You're right though - sometimes it feels like they expect us to have some kind of secret insight. We're working things out as we go same as them!!

Glad it’s not just my other half that things I know every answer and can magically fix things. That usually gets heated for us too!

I’m getting the heat spoons tomorrow. There on the baby event at Lidl!

@Lorna198 that's where I got them from! I think I'm going to let her play with them at meal times soon.

Anyone ordered their High chair ?? What did you go for? Stokee worth it?!

Little ones cotbed arrives when she's just over 6 months! Gutted delivery isn't earlier but I'm hoping transitioning her then will be ok

@Margo34 I hope your ok, your man needs to grow a pair!!! Are you BF! I find little one cries when she's hungry, tired, over tired or had enough of toys. Sometimes she's not be hungry and I'll wait 10 mins and she'll be starving. Is it reflux? We are on aptamil comfort (good for reflux).

@ShiningStarz I'm looking at high chairs now. I'm kind of torn between the slightly all singing all dancing Chicco Polly Progres5 and I've heard really good things about the IKEA Antilop chair which is about as basic as you can get (but a tenth of the price!). It's hard to know what's genuinely important/useful and what is just marketing!

I have no idea what high chair to get but I'm excited about having him sit at the table with us, I'm hate eating on the sofa which we have been doing cos it's easier for me to feed and eat!
I'm getting at least 1 3 hour stretch of sleep most nights now (then after that can be hourly/2 hourly) so I'm hoping the 4 month regression doesn't make it worse. Still in our bed though!
@shiningstarz haha our parents haven't met either and we've been together over 6 years. We've always managed to avoid it it freaks me out, I have massive social anxiety and I imagine it would be so awkward 😂 we used to say when we have a kid it'll be inevitable that they meet, but covid has sorted that one out for now!