Not a newborn, not yet a toddler...

[GimmeDaBoobehz]

Just a place here to talk about our little ones.

6-18 months ish, but no specifics here.

I have an 8 month old daughter and she is doing great. She's nearly cutting her second tooth so naturally a bit grizzly at the moment but otherwise she is doing incredibly well.

How is everyone else's LOs?

If you want to exchange advice/thoughts/tips/concerns then feel free to post it here. :)

I hope some of my fellow April '13ers decide to come on this thread.

Hi,

Same age & toothage

Im struggling with weaning, I don't know what to cook for her? Im scared of her choking.

And its a great age - lots of smiles & fun.

I completely agree Lama.

H has porridge or weetabix for breakfast.

Not quite onto lunch yet, although we are going to try that venture soon.

For dinner she tends to have mashed up chicken and vegetables.

I find vegetables that have been steamed are good as they are soft enough to eat, but hard enough they don't just fall apart.

H also likes bananas and melon, which we put into thin stripes and she holds them and chews at them. It's a slow process but she does do very well with them.

I mentioned to the HV about the worry of choking but they said that luckily their gag reflex is a lot closer to the entrance of the mouth, so when they gag the food item tends to go out of the mouth, instead of ours where it will fall back into our mouths. But as long as you are supervising, it should be OK.

A gentle but firm push between the shoulderblades with 2 fingers should dislodge anything that is blocking the mouth at the time.

But if you are worried about choking their is What to do if a baby is choking and also should help you.

That post sounds like I know what I'm talking about - I'm actually a first time parent. :)

Just about to turn 6 months, no teeth quite yet

gimme you sounds very knowledgable to me !

This is a lovely idea, my baby is 10 months old and after a tricky few months of breastfeeding, a severe anaphylactic reaction to formula, a diagnosis of cows milk allergy a very cross unhappy baby in pain and frustration, and an exhausted mummy we turned a corner and passed 6 months, we got her allergies understood ( sort of ) and we are sort of controlling it, she learnt to sit, then bum shuffle, play, smile, eat, chat and as of last week crawl, she is an absolute joy, she is my world and my heart feels like it will burst with love for her.

My little fella is 8 months tomorrow. He's the happiest, smileyest baby I've ever come across. He's also a complete lump who scoffs everything edible he can get his hands on. Yesterday he was chomping down at a Swedish julbord (Christmas buffet), smoked salmon, pickled herring, meatballs, the lot. He also managed to get himself wedged under a coffee table seeing as he can only crawl backwards so can't see where he's going :o

Could I ask about milk, DD is BF but Im starting to use formula for her cereal. Do I have to use a sterised bottle to mix it up in?

Or can I use a jug?

Oooh lovely. DD is 9 1/2 mo. She thinks she's a toddler, even if she's not yet. She has 8 teeth (we think) which have appeared relatively painlessly.

TBG she's been brilliant throughout her existence, very few traumas, slept through at 9 weeks, crawling 6months and in the past week she's started to stand up unsupported for a prolonged (and very drunken-looking) period. She has a very high opinion of herself, and is forever laughing and clapping her own achievements!

She learned how to crawl up the stairs a few weeks ago and this is her most favourite thing at the moment. When she's not clapping herself for being great.Such a show-off. I'm going to have to watch her.

Lama, if your DD is 6mo or more you can use full-fat cows milk.

Lama like what stow said you can use full fat cows milk if you like. If you'd prefer to use formula then I would have it in a sterilised container or bottle but it could be a container, not necessarily a bottle as you aren't giving it to your baby through the bottle.

I just wash it with very hot water though, as it gets rid of most of the germs and now DD is 8 months old she's a lot more hardy. Her bottles are still sterilised, though.

I've got an 8 month old son. He's got two little teeth at the bottom and just yesterday he finally managed to pull himself forward quite a bit so nearly crawling! I think he'll be crawling properly by the new year.
He usually sleeps really well, goes to bed well and sleeps through but at the moment he's not keen on going to bed and ends up back downstairs for a bit. I'm hoping it's just because he's going through a fussy period.

Ive just given DD this Hipp Nighttime milk, as she has only slept through the night twice since April.

Im lucky if she has 2 hours in the day as well.
I do envy some of you!

I bought one of these mesh baby feeders, today - so I will try a bit of banana in it.

DS is 9.5 months old and for what it's worth my top tips are these: when trying to photograph them, play peep-oh with the camera; when changing the nappy of a baby on the move, fasten his vest over one shoulder with the poppers to keep it out of the way.

13 month old DS here No walking yet but bags of energy so trying to find other ways to keep him entertained.

We jumped straight in with BLW and I guess, lucky in some ways it was summer when he was six months, so could start him on really soft salad food like tomatoes and cucumber. We gave him steamed vegetables too but he was soon having curries and fish and stuff.

Nappy changing became really super stressful when he started crawling, and I was pretty stressed for a while. I don't really know why, now. He just wouldn't stay still and I wasn't expecting that!

He's never slept through and after a year, I've lowered my expectations

I'll join you , dd is 13 months, has been walking for about 6 weeks - does that mean she's technically a toddler? sobs at the idea that she's no longer my baby
Nappy changes are a nightmare - rolling, crawling, standing. arghh!!!

ZebraZeebra how does BLW work? We give DS finger food but unless it's either the crust off the pizza or the end of a garlic bread stick (in which case it gets sucked for a bit and microscopic bits get swallowed) or Organix sticks (greedily devoured) everything goes once in the mouth and then onto the floor; or just straight onto the floor.

How on earth do you give your DS curry? Do you pour it onto the high chair tray? Does he eat it with his hands or with a spoon? DS just bashes away at anything like that and then rubs it in his eyes and hair. If I give him a spoon he takes hold of the food end, bashes it a bit and then rubs his hands in his eyes and hair. If we BLW I don't think he'd actually eat anything but Organix Sticks.

I started off with BLW but have just adapted it to suit us now. I don't mush anything but I do spoon feed him. He has a spoon as well though and full access to the bowl/plate so that he can grab things and try put things in his mouth. It seems to be working for us but I think I've been quite lucky to have a baby that will happily eat anything you give him.

I have dd2 who is 9 months here. Weaning is going well we do either spoon feeding things like rice, mash breakfast, yoghurt and then the rest is finger food/ blw we are not die hard blw-ers but its working great, dd eats everything we eat near enough.

Tooth number three is due for erruption any day well I hope after a sleepless week last week. Dd has also finally got sitting unaided which is fab. Not looking forward to crawling though.

See my dsis said I should give him full access to the bowl and just let him dig in - she did this demonstration in her kitchen which granted DS loved but food was everywhere. I came away thinking it was all very well as a one off on a Saturday morning but I can't be dealing with that kind of mess every single night after work. Obviously we'll have to let him feed himself eventually though!

My dd will be 9 months on Christmas Day. She has her two bottom teeth through and I'm hoping another one or two will be coming soon due to the redness of her cheeks and her wanting to chomp on everything!

She can sit unaided for quite a while, then gets bored and throws herself backwards so that's fun!

She's also just learnt how to roll from her back to her front (after only being able to go front to back for weeks) so she is now doing proper rolls and I'm sure will end up off the bed at some point. She's already rolled away from the changing mat (on the floor) when I wasn't paying attention grabbing a nappy so I think it's going to be hard to contain her when she's finally on the move.

We're getting lots of babbling and I think daddy's going to be her first word at this rate.

I love hearing about others and seeing how different they all are!

It is very messy Amanda, DS had some porridge the other day and once he was done with me feeding him he dived in and sat squelching it in his hands. For breakfast I keep him in his pj's so that a lot of the mess can be collected in them and shoved straight in the wash. I'm not at work though so I have plenty of time to be dealing with his mess. I can't imagine I'd want to do it if I was back at work.

Hey everyone my dd is 7 months and a great eater but haven't ventured beyond puréed yet! She has 6 teeth so I imagine she is quite capable of chewing good but I'm a bit scared.

I was wondering what the easiest things to start with would be . I'm sure there are loads of posts about this but I just wondered what you all thought were the best foods to start with !

Those Organix sticks I mentioned upthread have been a big hit with DS; he particularly likes the big fat carrot ones. They completely dissolve in their mouths so much less daunting for them as first foods. Obviously they are a snack rather than a whole food but they are good for practicing eating.

Chocoholic I think I'm going to leave it till he's a bit more coordinated! It's a mad house already!

It IS very messy. But you know, I don't really mind. I have a travel changing mat that I just stick underneath the high chair, and "eating" clothes as he pulls a bib off. He actually went through a phase a few weeks ago of only accepting things off a fork....so I bought him his own cutlery set. But as is the way, he's back to eating with his hands!

He just picks out the big chunks of meat and veg in the curry and eats it. Sometimes he accepts a spoon and WAS feeding himself but now it's back to taking the food off the spoon or fork.

I guess...if you're doing BLW, you have to accept a certain level of mess. Most of it is about exploration, less about food.

So does he ingest a good amount of food or is his diet still mostly milk? I thought I was doing well getting two square meals a day into DS - food for fun until they are one and all that - but then I got a telling off from the HV when I admitted he didn't eat much for breakfast after his morning milk feed.