Further freakingly fantabulous adventures of the 40+ Mummies

[10000Fireflies]

For gorgeous, frolicking and fabulous 40-somethings to share the joys of becoming a Mummy, just a little bit later than most!! . Park your zimmer-frame next to your baby buggy, put your feet up, and come and join us in the snug.

Water main has been repaired, yeah, we have water and heating again ! I took shelter in a pub where I had breakfast and fed solid to Anastasia, first time out with solid food ! And then at the library, there was a long queue of pushchairs so went to check, baby bounce time with a guitar player, Anastasia enjoyed it. Went back home around 12.30 for her nap and by 2pm water was back, thanks God !
Sheepskin rug arrived too, Anastasia is on her tummy, left cheek on the rug, watching TV ! I am on it too. Chose a Merino sheep as they are bigger beast, I can keep my bottom warm too ! Don't know if CSI New Yrk is an appropriate program forher though... :)

One week into proper weaning and glad to see that Anastasia does get something in, her poo has drastically changed overnight ! So amazing. We have tried seriously so far carrot, brocolis, potatoes, pear, melon, cucumber, courgette today. She seems to enjoy citrus fruits too, I know they are not recommended but she seems ok. If only I could eat the same amount, I would not have my belly anymore...

Bbd. So exciting she is on solids. Bought bm his bowl spoons and stuff Thursday. Dp selected them. He has not shown any signs yet and still only wakes once in the evening for a feed so will wait till he wakes more. He is not a greedy baby. What signals did Anastasia give you bet you knowto be fair as an experienced mummy.

Need to know all your weaning tips please

LRM, went to a weaning workshop this week so it is very fresh in my mind. Look for 3 signs: sit upright and hold head steadily, hand eye coordination, swallow puree food or finger food, these signs show that baby is ready. Weaning is not recommended before 17 weeks. Start with vegetable, one at a time, midmorning, a few teaspoons at thebeginning and keep all the feeds. Baby will cut back milk intake by himself. Stop feeding solid when baby shows signs ofboredom, 15 min max for Anastasia. Anastasia was not very happy with puree so I gave her some soft finger foods, she was much happier and after a few days, I offered puree again. She now takes both. I steam veggies and will do so withmeat and fish too. If she can handle mushy food without gagging too much, I won't bother pureeing everything when she is around 7.5 months.
Goat, FF, what do you think ? Have I missedanything ? Midget VQ Scarecrow BadMiss, I can't recall if it was different when we weaned our first DC...

Remember no honey for first year and no salt at all. I started with baby rice and then added a new food every three days so if there was a reaction I could identify what it is. WHO advice remains milk only for first six months but both girls started a couple of weeks earlier.

I am so looking forward to solids with J as feeding him is wearing me out. It was never this hard with the girls.

Aren't we all getting old... Weaning already! I think the new food every three days is important, we spotted a peach intolerance that way. The thing about giving them a spoon to play with while you feed? Wouldn't bother... BG instantly figured that it wasn't the spoon with food on and lent for the other one anyway! (Yes, cue wearing half his dinner )

We were old to start with

vq bloody great vintage though!

Hi everyone - gosh can't believe you are all on the weaning stage already and here I am still trying to get BF going...

We had a weigh-in a couple of days ago, and Baby E has put on 120g!! We've now been discharged by the MW and will be weighed next week by HV. I also survived DM's visit - she was really helpful, apart from when the MW was here she stood in the middle of the room and just kind of stared while I answered difficult questions about feeding, my emotional state etc... Also quite a few comments about the size of my post-baby belly - I was actually quite pleased with how much it had gone down, until she kept on saying 'never mind, I'm sure you will lose the weight eventually'. Even DP was unimpressed with her comments and he normally has the sensitivity of a stone.

We're currently on a 4 hour routine, with BF to start with, then 90ml of formula. Still got not idea whatsoever what contribution the BF is making, and feel really frustrated that no one seems to care! Doing the mixed feeding around the clock is a pain in the ass, and I still feel a bit pissed off that we had such a bad start. Going to try and get some advice next week and see if there's any way of getting supply up.

Meanwhile, I have found my feeding notes from when I was a baby:

Formula fed
cereal from 3 weeks
custard and chicken broth at 8 weeks
off night feeds at 4 weeks

well all I can say is that they seemed to do things rather differently in the 70s and I am probably alive in spite of the above rather than because of it...

LRM - belated happy birthday! Well done on the weight loss. I am really trying to keep mine going although v hard to regulate food when appetite is up and down and v small windows of opportunity to eat!

BBD - glad you got your water/heating issues sorted out, and great you now have your lovely sheepskin to enjoy. Merino is a v special type of wool - I've got some base layer clothes made of it, and Baby E has a merino swaddle, which she likes trying to escape from...

Midget - ooh lemon meringue pie is my fave... and glad to hear you were treated well on Valentine's day

Goat - at the dinner wearing

VQ - thanks for ordering the hot men. Sorry you have had such a rough few months, and well done for standing up to the HCPs!

eagle I am at that list of your weaning as a baby! My Swiss friend said that her first drink was tea in the bottle - it was what they gave all babies directly after birth! She is occasionally surprised still to be with us...

Hooray for bbd having water and heating again. And at CSI for tv watching, we do too! Also spent the morning watching Great British Menu and Saturday Kitchen. BG was riveted ( can you see my cunning plan here for his future?) he really is never bothered with cartoons, they seem to bore him!

I was given evaporated milk with whiskey in to help me sleep and also had cereal in my bottle. Apparently they gave orange juice from a few weeks as well. I was fed 4 hourly. None of this on demand shit. Mum fed me for about three months and then 'her milk dried up'. DH was FF as it was much better than bm apparently.

LRM (I think), when my sister weaned her 6.5yo recommended weaning was 4mo, then 6mi when I weaned DD (now 2y4m) but when I was weaning her (I tried at 4.5mo and not interested, in end was couple of weeks off 6mo, and I was latest of any my NCT group) all talk was health experts were considering bringing it back to 4mo again. Personally I think there is no harm in starting after 4mo if LO is ready. Conversely read on a thread once of mum worried her LO not thriving - was EBF at 10mo, which I found, er, surprising.
Anyway, other vote is I didn't persevere with veg purées as DD so not interested, and discovered she like humous so went straight into more tasty food. It ha taken two yes and in still battling with veg, but she does seem v healthy. So I guess no system perfect, but I will persevere more with DC2 and veg purées.
Good luck to you and your little man

Purees (think acute accent fried MN technology!)

I was apparently fed on evaporated milk as well. My Mother advised not to breast feed as 'not good for baby'... My mother said she also gave me orange juice and Ribena (!), as well as tea... I'm surprised any of us are still alive.

When I had DD bf for about 6 months... (I also had to go back to work), but began starting with purees and cereals from about 4 months too...on advice from French GP... but carried on bf/ff alongside til she weaned properly.

Eagle, you and baby are doing really well. Bravo on the additional weight, baby Eagle. Re pg weight Eagle, it does take a couple of months to get rid of them. Don't worry, don't pay attention, sleep deprivation and BF don't help, these kg will go. I kept 3 kg from first pg and 6.5 months after second baby, I am back to pre pg weight and still EBF, I hope I will eventually lose all of them and be back to pre 1st pg weight.... Re milk supply, you are doing the right thing. Put baby on the breast as often as you can, drink water, eat well, nap with baby, you will get there.
Re weaning, I think I will move on to lumpier food very soon. Anastasia stole a brocolis floret from my plate tonight and ate the whole crown ! I offered her brocolis puree too, she was happy with both.

I got told that WHO guidelines have gone to six months because then early wearers start at four months, which is ok, whereas when they were saying four months, people were starting at two months which is really far too early.

We are lucky so far on the eating front in that BG seems to have decided that this is his reason for existing. He has not refused anything yet, figured the spoon out well, and gets excited at mealtimes. Unfortunately he is finding lumps really difficult because of his delayed swallow reflex, but I am trying to up the consistency really gradually. Have just started adding protein in the guise of yoghurt and will try fish and chicken soon. Probably being a bit precious, but I know so many prems who had such digestive problems over weaning that I am being über-cautious! So far so good. See, this combined with his love of cooking programmes is boding really well, I feel!

OMG, how are we alive !? Whiskey ? VQ, you must be kidding ! With my alcohol genetic intolerance, I would have passed out... BadMiss, help me on this one : d autres temps, d autres moeurs.
Had another trip to John Lewis today, exchanging duplicate XMas gifts, this time. Is that very bad ? I don't see the point of having 2 Lego fire stations.... And Petit Bateau. Friends offered 4 yo cardigan to DS but it looks like that DS now wears 5yo clothes, oh well he s just 9 months early. Very glad I did not stock up during the sales season this year. I usually do but this year I was too busy with Anastasia.
Good night Ladies

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

Do NOT forget to put baby in night nappy. Cue large leak at 10pm which of course woke him up as we had to change everything including sheet. He had been blissfully asleep, took two hours to settle again. And then again at 1, 1:30, and now this is the 2am feed.

Did I mention? AARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!

Oh dear goat when you say night nappy, are you a fluff mum?

DS, yes MY DS has slept five hours ten minutes straight. He is definately mine, I have checked he has not been substituted. I now cannot sleep as this is too good to be true. Half hour to feed and settle. No screaming, no vomit, no fight for wind. Please God let this be the start of sleep!

bbd yes, whiskey, but only on nights when I just would not sleep, like if I was ill or something.

I think we should ask our older relatives what happened to them when they were babies. Makes you wonder why we worry so much about our little scraps really. I am sure cavemen did not have blenders.

No, vq I just have a BG who wees for Britain and if I don't put him on an ultra large ultra bulky ultra absorbent nappy at night fills it within a few hours... As demonstrated last night!

We're having similar problems here goat - baby E just done her first up-to-the-neck poonami and have to confess to hiding under the duvet with cake and coffee while DP deals with it...

eagle I like your style!!

I have the advantage - 'letting' DP go out for hours with his bike club this morning - he has to agree to anything I want!

So we are miles from home, baby E is saturated and we have no spare clothes! We also forgot feeding time so am crouched in back of parked car, grasping sodden baby while trying to get her to feed.

I guess you only make these mistakes the once