The November 2023-ish baby club!

[Spareincoming]

A new thread, under a new topic!
Welcome all and please tag anyone I’ve not, because I just copied and pasted from the old thread…

@spareincoming @Pinkplantcase @leeanneD11 @LilmissCa @FlyingHighFlyingLow
@Psqueak87
@spanglesj
@BabyBabyBaby123
@Houseonthehills
@GreenAventurine
@reememberly
@Cegbee
@DollyGx
@38andtrying
@JD90
@travellingislife
@mldn
@sb86
@TMI2000

@Travellingislife
I’m another saying reach out!
I think I’ve talked on here before about my post natal anxiety struggles and how I initially dismissed it and declined help… turned out it’s entirely possible to have pretty severe PNA and not realise because you just keep on doing what’s needed despite feeling entirely different to the image you’re presenting.

I have had CBT and another talking therapy and found it very useful over the years. I’ve had some wobbles this time round too but have found the extended health care network to be very helpful.

Eira has gone from having pretty consistent 1.75-2.5 hour wake windows (naps have always been inconsistent, anything from 30min to 2 hours) but wake windows have been consistent for the last 2-3 weeks. As of yesterday she just seems so so fussy; wake windows are down to 60 mins max. She starts wailing and rubbing her face if she’s not back in bed by an hour, but then only naps short periods too. I don’t think it’s the regression as she’s 5 months on Sunday?

My PPA has me thinking all sorts: husband keeps telling me I’m going to be like Gypsy rose Blanchards mother…she was tugging her ears today so I was convinced it was an ear infection. But there aren’t any other signs, and I also read ear tugging is common at this age?!

it’s a bit exhausting, she’s gone from a relatively chill baby to who doesn’t sleep great at night. To a very whiney baby who never really seems happy, and sleeps even worse at night. We’ve only had 2-3 days of this so far, so maybe it’ll pass. I can’t see any teeth coming.

getting a dr appointment is so difficult these days. Last time I called there was a month wait. My dr is also bloody useless, every milestone checkup so far (1,2 and 3 months) have been 20 generic questions, a weigh in and measured height, doesn’t look at the baby otherwise.

just wondering if anyone else has noticed this?

@Psqueak87 it’ll pass!

Sleep regression in full force here! Or I hope it’s that and not a forever thing 🤣
4 1/2 months old now. Has 2 hour wake windows & around 45 minute naps on average. (About 3 or 4 a day)
but night time sleep is not a thing, she is ebf and goes down about 7/8pm then wakes again about 4 times at least to feed. And makes other noises/wants a dummy or cuddle half the night too. Very tired mummy, I also weigh less now than I did before pregnancy but no idea how as I’m eating a lot of crap 🤭 I know it will go back on when she’s older.

@Mrsrobinsonx I have your sleep twin! You've described it perfectly.
I've taken to co sleeping, getting babe in the cot takes so long. I manage it a few times (it takes up to an hour with several attempts) and then later on give in so I get sleep. I'm trying to get more time in cot but until I catch up on sleep it'll be a struggle.

@Psqueak87 ears rubbing can be a sign of tiredness. Sounds like a growth spurt maybe?

Doctors appointments are dull for us both. Weigh in and short chat about baby with HV.
My work didn't invite me for an OH check last time I was on maternity leave because my manager assumed I'd be getting more checks than any of them. He was surprised when I told him how little there is! Do you have any sort of health visitor set up or is it all doctors over there?

Sleep is a struggle here too. I am full cold too so am hoping the night time waking and whining passes soon. Just researching weaning supplies now as Asda have their baby event. Has anyone used tommee tippee spoons? Reviews seem good. Can't find decent looking weaning pots yet though. LO is still too young to wean but I am considering first tastes or baby rice soon. He is following my dinner like a puppy and can happily sit in his chair.

@Psqueak87 I see ear tugging when little one is over tired and getting frustrated.

Our weaning journey has been brill so far. We've been giving as much allergen packed food as possible and so far all good. She has some soya or dairy yoghurt mixed with a nut butter or tahini, so all really easy to eat. We sometimes add mashed egg or banana and she's even tried mushy lentils a few times. She's only having a few teaspoons a time but I'm hopeful this could prevent allergies. We shall see.

Sleep isn't terrible at all and we've got to the stage of putting her down in our bed at 7.30pm and then using the baby monitor so we can watch a show downstairs, or get some cleaning done. She usually wakes every 45 minutes but she basically just wants to have a quick cuddle and then she's back asleep. We then get a few longer stretches of sleep from about 11pm. So probably a feed at 2am and 5am and then up for the day about 7-8am.

I've re discovered my love of sleeping bags. I have lots from DS but hadn't been using them. They're so handy; no more kicking off blankets.

By the way, is it just me or are baby clothes getting smaller?! DD is about 60th centile but she's filling out 6-9 months clothes and she's only just 5 months!

Day time naps are all over the place here. No real schedule, she can be awake for hours in the day and then have quick 10/15 min naps (at best) and that’s always a contact nap, there’s no putting her down to nap in the day, so getting things done can sometimes be difficult, but I feel I can’t complain though because she’s an absolute dream at night and falls asleep so easily during her 6:30pm bottle, straight down asleep in her cot and stays asleep till 6/7am the next morning. So for the difficult days, we get really good nights. We started weaning last week at 5 months as per paediatric advice, she’s taking to it well but I’m making sure she’s not having more than a teaspoon or two as don’t want to disrupt her milk intake. 6 months we will really push forward but for now we are enjoying letting her taste different flavours.

@Nov2023 we’ve got the munchkin long heat changing spoons for weaning that have always been good for us, I use the nuby pots with lids from the steaming sets or bulk by sauce pots with lids to do a big load of freezer pots.

@Spareincoming I just came home from shopping with the munchkin spoons.. Got some bowls and tommee tippee pots. I don't know why I need all this stuff so soon but I do!

Lovely to hear the early weaning is going well! I'm excited to start. 3ish weeks to go (I'll probably cave in 2 weeks!).

I picked up a tommee tippee weaning set in Aldi for a fiver. The spoons seem ok, it has a silicone bib but we won't use the bowls much.
I have munchkin spoons from DC1, I've been letting baby have a play while sat in the highchair.

I'm taking a relaxed baby led weaning approach again. Purées are a faff to me! I will give some pouches for ease.

My weaning go-to's are an IKEA chair, baby cups and suction bowls.

Use a little bowl of water to clean baby's hands. They'll enjoy playing and it's much easier then using a flannel on sticky little fingers!

@WriMum22 That night time sleep is out of this world! I never got that with baby one, who didn't sleep through until about 2 years old.

Does that mean you don't even have to settle them, change their nappy or anything? The dream!

@Thack I did BLW with DS and it was great although the gagging was a lot! To be fair, he was a very vomity/refluxy baby anyway so that's probably why. I love the idea of the water bowl, will be giving that a go.

@Alloveragain3 We get her bathed and ready for bed about 6pm and she has her bottle at 6:30pm and falls asleep, so I keep her in my arms (on my bed) for about 15 mins until I’m sure she’s fast asleep and then I move her to her cot and she’s out all night till 6/7am! This is why I don’t complain about the day because we know how extremely lucky we are. We have a five year old who only stopped getting up in the night about 6 months ago, he literally didn’t sleep through for 4 and a half years, it was absolutely brutal, and I’ve actually forgotten what a full nights sleep feels like so much so that even though she’s fast asleep I’m still awake every few hours because it’s programmed in to me 🙈😂.. I remember we had to often go for drives at 7pm in the evening, sometimes for over an hour just to get him to sleep and then we would get back home and have to very slowly transfer him from car seat to his cot, my heart would be in my mouth every time he stirred and then after all of that, he’d be awake an hour later, he just hated sleep so much 🙈

Oh my gosh, I can imagine!

I've been settling my little monkey since 7pm. She finally fell asleep at 8.30pm but called for me 5 mins ago! It may be a long night...

Mine was from going to sleep easily, every 90 min, on the dot. Even mostly putting him down awake in his crib for night time and morning nap. He still wakes like 6 times in the night but feed and back down. Well ... he hit 17 weeks yesterday. He is fighting naps like a demon. Got up at 7am, still awake 10:30am despite a car ride and in sling. He screams before he goes to sleep. Will not settle being put down awake. In fact he will not settle in my arms. He sobbed 20 min before going to sleep tonight. Last night he wouldn't go back down after night feeds either. Total nap time of maybe 2/3 hours today. Pray for my sanity 😅

He is also getting quite funny. He's obsessed with me eating. First he just stared and laughed. Then he started lunging for my food. Now I can't eat holding him as he'll literally try put his hands in my mouth to go after the food 😅

@Thack yep I’m hoping a growth spurt, gotta try to stop just assuming the worst! It’s exhausting! We only get a HV visit the day after we return from hospital, and the following week. After that it’s dr appointments. I took her to physio this week to see whether it was stiff muscles making one side of her head flatter, which they confirmed. Although they said the flatness was minimal so to ignore my doctors advice to get a $2000 head shaping helmet!

I bought the num num gootensils spoons from Amazon. Tik tok made me do it, lol. But I gave them to her to chew about a month ago so now she’s well into the habit of putting them in her mouth, and they’re textured so she enjoys it.

although she’s only 5 months on Sunday we’ve been giving her small tastes of food. She’s been staring at me eating, she can sit really well unassisted, so I thought why not. So far she’s tried avocado spears, porridge with blueberries, a strip of steak, pancake with lemon, Greek yoghurt. She really loves the Greek yoghurt. I’ve been making a few purées over the last few weeks too, I just make a separate pot of whatever we’re eating minus the salt. Yesterday hubby had Irish stew, so I made another small one minus the Guinness and salt and blended it up. I plan on doing a mix of puree and BLW. I think I’ll start at about 5.5 weeks.

I really need to get organised with weaning stuff, have nothing so far and would like to get LO used to a highchair beforehand!
Has anyone’s LO not laughed yet? We’ve had like the tiniest chuckle on a couple of occasions but could barely call it a laugh. I keep trying to make her laugh, maybe I’m just not that funny 😂 she is so smiley, I just hoped we would have had a laughing by now! She’ll be 5 months in just under 2 weeks

A week and a half until he’s 5 months and we’re knee deep in a sleep regression🥲 when do these end?
When he was a baby from about 7/8 weeks until a couple weeks ago we were so lucky because we could just put him down and he would go off to sleep himself no bother and we could put him down at 8 and he would sleep right through until 4:30-5 and then have a bottle and go until 7/8 whereas here I am now rocking him at 1am, getting a feed ready becuase he won’t let me put him down without screaming.

anyone else at the 'moaning' stage. She's not crying not unhappy just constantly moaning, it's driving me insane haha!. Hopefully it's just a phase and will pass sooner than later

@DollyGx no proper laughs here either. If my BF pretends to sneeze she will do a deep old woman style chuckle, but nothing proper, she is 5 months today! Lots of huge gummy smiles, but no giggles.

@2023novbaby yep, constant moaning. Worst noise yet, lol. I way prefer the raspberries and the high pitched squeals.

@Psqueak87 ha love the old woman chuckle! Ok that’s reassuring thanks :)

Has anyone babies had the sickness & diarrhoea illness yet? My baby is so unsettled and as soon as he has a bottle his pooing right away and it's happens again like 5 mins later continuously throughout the day , his very unhappy , and also wheezy on the chest , is there anything apart from Calpol he can have? His also very snotty and just wants to sleep he is dribbling loads too xx

@LeeanneD11 that might be a question for out of hours or 111.
The lullaby trust has a baby check app (in Google play as "The lullaby trust baby check". It gives a check list of signs for you to fill in and advises what sort of response. Naturally, trust your instincts over this, but it's useful to look at the big picture of baby's health.

Hope he's well for you soon, it's so hard seeing them ill and feeling helpless.

Ill download and have a look at it thank you , but I am just about to call 111 xx