FEB 2010 Teeth, nosh and smelly bums - it's all go, six months on!!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Where did the last half a year go??!

at your sleep-crawling baby mamaloco
dd2 is trying very hard to crawl, too, but hasn't worked out how yet. She will get on all fours, rock back and forth, even move her arms and knees but does not lean forward enough to get the momentum to actually move, So eventually she will flop back on her tummy and look very cross about it! She did try to get on her feet with her bum in the air but that did not get her forward either . It's hilarious to watch.

Wow, mamaloco, crawling already!! And in her sleep!! No wonder the paed is so impressed...

GF I'm kind of hoping DD will skip the crawling phase and go straight to walking - much easier to deal with!!

CC, DD is still small for her age, but as far as I'm aware, she's comfortably moving up her curve. We haven't had her weighed for a couple of months, but figure she's somewhere in the region of 6.4kg (she was 2.3kg at birth) - what's that, about 14.5lb, more or less?? so she should have pretty much trebled her birth weight by 8mo. Thing is, I can see she's healthy and definitely not skinny, so I figure her petite size is nothing to worry about. I'm sure your DD is absolutely fine and there are such wide variations in the way LOs grow and move up and down the percentiles, I doubt there's anything to worry about, provided she's happy and healthy (which she certainly seems to be from what you say!)

bethylou, it's probably extra muscle tone

Thanks for the congrats on the sleep. We're still not out of the woods, though. Although bedtime was easypeasy last night, she then woke at 22.00 and had an intermittent crying/whimpering session that lasted about an hour. I tried a bit of Ssh/pat and gave her a cuddle, but it made her worse. She wanted to be fed back to sleep, but I knew I had to try and resist that (unless she got absolutely beside herself).

Eventually, she managed to settle down and go back to sleep and after that she resettled herself very quickly after subsequent awakenings. I fed her at 04.30 and she finally woke for the day at 06.40, which was acceptable. So, ultimately it worked out fine and she's been full of smiles today, so DD obviously forgives me for being mean mummy and withholding my boobs last night. I'm really hoping we don't have a repeat session tonight, though. I found it as traumatic as she did.

Roll on tonight...

BG yes it is, isn't it (apart from when it's in the cot and you're trying to get them to sleep, which apparently is also prime time for learning to talk )

GF you must have been very proud.

beth your crying tired description is very apt

I might have said this before, but I'm following BG's advice saying happy things when your tired: I love how she smiles when I kiss her, and kicks her feet when I walk in the room

Can I join the crying tired group please?

We had a hard night with a mix of waking up and crying (as usual) and some screaming/tantrums sessions as I was leaving him alone. I'm actually not that tired but the tiredness is making me very sensitive to what DH says. He wants to let him cry and see how it goes as my 'technique' is obviously not working and DS uses me as a human soother (as he holds my hand to settle himself back to sleep).

CC regarding the nappy rash, have you try washing your BG in a hot wash (60C) to try to help? Or doing an extra rinse? I always wash my BG at 60C but never do an extra rinse and DS rarely has a rash, but it may just be the luck of the draw.

My LO appears to read this thread... Found her at 6.30 this morning desperately trying to crawl, in her cot, in a sleeping bag. She was very cross!!
I remember feeling slightly overwhelmed with the constant and relentless demands of dd1 when she was little. Feeding, changing, feeding changing.... This time round I am enjoying every minute because this phase is so very brief. I love to cuddle and tickle dd2 to hear her squeal in delight and enjoy changing, bathing and dressing her. dd1 is so independent at just 3 that she will only let me wash and blow dry her hair and cut her finger and toe nails... Everthing else she does all by herself (although I insist on brushing her teeth in the evening despite her protest - she is allowed to do it by herself in the morning) . Now that she is in nursery (three days 9 to 3)it feels like I have lost my baby! I swear on Monday she came back half a head taller and about a year more mature after her first full day .
So my advice is try to enjoy enjoy enjoy, take lots of pictures and use a camcorder as often as possible and keep a little diary of things they did and said (absolutely priceless to look back on even with dd1 now)...

Good morning everyone, what a horrible morning, I've had to turn the lights on and it is tipping it down outside! NOT a day for putting nappies on the line. But I am going to venture out down to the town and back, as part of Operation Lose Tummy In Three Weeks (doomed to failure unless I can stop eating cakes, which I can't. Oh well).

I am trying very hard not to, but I can't help feeling that my LO is developmentally way behind yours plural . She seems bright and alert, but doesn't move much! She only rolls occasionally, she can sit up unassisted but only for a second at a time, and is nowhere near crawling. Or walking, whose was that?! I know that they all develop at their own rates, I just wonder now if I'm not stimulating her in the right ways. I do leave her to play on her own a lot while I get things done. Very furrowed brow.

Well done on the sleep progress IC, you are really getting there!

I had a wierd sleep experience last night, or more accurately I didn't experience it - I must have woken, picked DD out of her cot and, presumably, fed her. Last thing I remember is putting her back in her cot after a midnight feed; I woke at 5am and there she was in bed beside me. Sleep walking and feeding. I don't know whether to be impressed at myself or scared. And that 5 hours' sleep must be why I feel half-human this morning!

GF I sympathise with your difference of opinion with your DH. I have exactly the same thing. Two evenings ago DD was unsettled all evening, and DP kept trying to make me let her 'cry it out', I'm sorry I just think it is barbaric, she was working herself up into such a state and she won't calm down by herself when she gets like that!I read somewhere that babies either cry themselves calm, or cry themselves into a state, and my DD is definitely the latter. Maybe your DS is too. Good luck with whatever you try (and with your DH, it is horrid having to argue with them too).

CC how is the nappy rash? When DD had it a while back I gave her as much nappy off time as I could, and it cleared up in a few days.

BG I love your last post. It brought tears to my eyes and I have resolved to get the camcorder out of the cupboard, we haven't even taken any footage of DD yet. Instead of crying about it I'll remember that she's at her cutest yet, and take some today!

fizi your LO is doing absolutely fine (and so are you!!)The normal range of development at this age is huge. My dd1 did not crawl until she was nearly 11 months old and walked at 15 months and she is now a hopping bouncing 3 year old. My younger brother pulled himself up to stand at 6 months and walked at 10 months... Both is perfectly normal.

fizzy your LO is normal the "normal" range for walking is between 6 months and 18 months , plenty of room there to fit in.
My DB decided to walk after 18 months (was a late crawler as well) after the doc booked the "there might be somethings wrong appointment" I walked early, he is the morst intelligent of us. So nothing to do with anything.

CC My DGM told me that olive oil is best for nappy rash. But I found it difficult to use for washing. The secret is don't use any water (or any wipes), cotton wool and aveeno cream for me worked better than olive oil. This time I found bepanthen worked better than sudocream too. If not shifted like that after a few days, it might be thruth, so go see a GP.

So... In order to contradict myself with this morning post, I left DS cries for 20mn ish in a tantrum state as there was no other way to calm him down. He was fine in my arms and starting to cry as soon as the contact was broken. I've tried pupd but it failed. He then fell asleep.

So DH may be right... but I'll still want to do pupd.

DS is now chatting while on the door bouncer. He's speaking but his own language.

Re: nappy rash, I second mamaloco. Bepanthol is the only one that works with DD. Also, you could try bathing her bum with chamomile tea. Nappy rash comes and goes a bit randomly sometimes - it's often linked with teething. We had a sudden outburst after several weeks of nothing a couple of months ago. Then after 4 or 5 days, it disappeared again.

fizi don't worry - you don't have to be a skinny Minnie to look gorgeous at your wedding! Mummies NEED cakes. And ditto the others - I'm sure your LO is developing just fine, don't beat yourself up!

GF - it's tough, isn't it? I've had to leave DD to "cry herself calm" a few times lately in my efforts to break the feed-to-sleep cycle and it's awful. But it has worked. I hasten to add, I would have cuddled her and given up if it had sounded like she was going to go into meltdown. Thankfully, I haven't had to do it too many times [touch wood emoticon]

A shock 2-hour nap yesterday, without feeding to sleep - parked in the pram in a pavement cafe beside a busy Madrid roundabout!

The night was pretty good - no fuss bedtime then DD didn't wake until 02.00 for a feed, a 6.5hour sleep stretch and THE LONGEST SHE'S EVER DONE IN ONE GO! Not so great was the fact she woke again at 05.15 and wouldn't resettle. I gave up, got up with her and we had a snoozy feeding session on the sofa until 07.20. I didn't want to put her in the bed beside me feeding as it's precisely that association with overnight sleep I'm trying to break. This was a compromise as she was still tired (and so was I!)

I'm now back to putting DD in her pram for naps as she seems more willing to go to sleep without a dummy and having been unlatched than if I use her usual nighttime bed. I'm hoping enough of that will eventually help her lose the feed-to-nap association too. [hoping against hope emoticon]

BG, I too had tears in my eyes. You are so right.

Dammit, how am I suppose to work if your all making me cry

hehe CC

second BG - am squeezing every ounce of enjoyment out of DS early months this time - last time i spent most waking hours (usually around 20 in every 24!) wishing it would all go away!

fizi DD didn't roll til gone 9 months, crawled just before she turned 1 and walked at about 16 months? DS (now 27 weeks) rolled at about 20 and has been trying to crawl for about a week now.

urm, off to bed now! night all! zzz

I walked at 8.5 months, (one of) my brother walked at 16 months (but I refused to talk for years, been making up for it ever since)

Development can stop and start as well. dd1 started talking very early at about 7 months and her vocabulary was astonishing until she started nursery. We then had a winter of constant coughs and colds and she developed glue ear (unknown to me because she never compained about ear ache) and then talked gibberish for a year or so until I got a bit concerned... I blamed it on her being bilingual. By the time the referral for a hearing test came through she was already recovering from glue ear and has now almost caught up with her peers. In fact, sometimes I wish she would shut up for five minutes, especially when I am trying to make a phone call
dd2 says very little and prefers to watch the world go by
All different, all gorgeous -

That's true BG, apparently I could talk, but I stopped (though mine was due to emotional stuff, not a physical thing).

LO just crawled across the bed and I almost cried (again). I'm aware though it might be a fluke and tomorrow we'll go back to frustrated monster and the sleep won't have improved. For those who don't know she only sleep during the day yesterday for 30mins, today she improved to 90 mins, fingers crossed it's related.

The emotions never end do they with motherhood. How's everyone getting on their DH's?

CC Don't talk about DH!!! .
I had horrendous PMS, and his behaviour is not helping.
1 week of sickness and ophtalmic migraines, plus one week of period on a 3 weeks cycle may be I have to see someone about that.
DH seems to do everything to make my life more difficult, and I am not happy with him. Lost his keys AND the spares, disappeared for a night (came back at 11h30 next day) wasn't answerring his phone, keeps waking me up, forget the bins (I can't carry baby and bins, can't leave baby alone at home either), forget to take DD1 to the toilet before bed hence 2 nights of bed wetting after 2 years of none.
Last night he decided to put the cot in DD1's room, baby awake and chatting at 2 till 3.30 am, and awake by 5 for the day, in the process moved our bed so at night I damaged my leg and DD1, her lady bits poor baby!
DH should better walked on eggshell!
I need more sleep than that, I am angry and shouty with DD1 who won't listen and DD2 keeps moving and restling, I am fed up! [awful mum emoticon]
DD2 is also cruising now (although still wobbly). Believe me they DON'T need to walk/crawl/move early (it is a nightmare). She starts crying when I leave the room and wants constant picking up (or she follows me around complaining loudly), has found the electric plugs and loves sucking electric cables ( the ones with babies who don't move yet). She is making a very quick break everytime the door is open to the outside (exit or balcony). She also misses her sister a lot and cries at lunch time and when DD1 leaves in the mornings. She is never excited to see me, and will bite me .
May be I should go back to work an actually enjoy them a little more.

Rant over, I feel better, sorry to bore you

Think one positive I love the way DD1 can make DD2 laugh .

IC congratulations on the sleep. It makes my own problems seem pityful [blsuh].

Hi everyone,

We've been in France since Friday but DS is sleeping in this morning (probably because we didn't get home/go to bed until very late last night) so I've had a chance to read back and catch up.

mamaloco I am with your DH too! He'd better do something to make up for all the bad behaviour.

France was lovely and we were very lucky with the weather. Any semblance of routine went totally out of the window and sleep got worse if that's possible. It seemed like he'd only sleep if he was attached to my boob and if I disengaged myself he'd stay asleep for just as long as it took me to fall asleep and then cry. It was fucking torture. DH and I had quite a few rows because I was so frayed.

I think it is going to have to be sleep training. I really, really don't want to do controlled crying. We'll see. Cotbed will arrive soon so we're going to do it as soon as that happens.

Also the two bottom teeth have bitten my nipples quite a few times making me scream and then him cry. Not fun, especially when added to sleep deprivation.

We went to Rouen a couple of times and a little place on the coast where they had a church with windows by Braque and a stately home designed by Luytens with lovely gardens - one day I had the shits (sorry tmi) and stayed home and we watched the entire first series of the Sopranos while we were there.

mamaloco don't get me started on my dh either
I've also started three week cycles and migraines, plus such heavy periods I think twice about leaving the house for a day or two (sorry tmi). I've got an appt to have a coil fitted which apparently can stop or at least reduce periods...
[hopeful emoticon]

Oh and yes, another vote for Bepanthen - it is the best thing for nappy rash in my experience.

mamaloco, I've only got the one DC and a DH who is also a manslave/part-time masseur/enthusiastic babysitter/chef etc. [horrifically smug emoticon] so I think you need the sympathy far more than I! Especially with all those damn hormones playing havoc with your moods at the same time...
PS you don't bore us! Rant away whenever you feel the need. Your DH needs a spanking, by the sounds of it.

bc, sorry to hear sleep is so crappy, but glad you managed to enjoy some of your holiday - not to mention The Sopranos the first series is classic, best of the lot.
Sounds like you've got the same problem with your DS as I had with my DD and in the end, I'm afraid, we went cold turkey. We're not out of the woods yet - she still has some protesting sessions when she wants help resettling from my boob (which I won't give overnight, unless I reckon she could do with a genuine feed), but a week later, things have improved dramatically. Being able to settle herself to sleep is IMO the one essential element to encourage her to sleep through sooner rather than later - or at least much better.

Now we're working on the naps, with me putting her in the pram to sleep, sans dummy and having unlatched her so she wakes slightly before going to sleep properly. It's early days, but we're already having some success [fingers crossed] and I'm hoping if I can get her self-settling in the pram for naps, I can then start her doing the same in her cot... and with any luck, the naps will get a bit more substantial.

CC good luck with the naps - it could well be that once she's mastered her new skill, she'll settle down again [where is that fingers crossed emoticon, when you need it?]

Yes, BEPANTHEN - here in Spain they call it Bepanthol, hence why I call it that - same stuff, though.

BG I had a Mirena coil and said a fond farewell (good riddance) to my periods for the entire time it was in. Magic! They don't agree with everyone, though - some people are very sensitive to the progesterone they contain.

A so-so night - two protesting sessions, after which DD self-settled (5 mins or so in one case, half an hour or so in the other), feed at 02.00, then again at 06.00 then up at 07.00. Bedtime again was no problem. She even gets quite excited about it, rolling around and grinning at me when I put her down.

Good morning everyone! Big hugs to you mamaloco. Your DH would make anyone by the sounds of it. One thing I personally can't tolerate is DP going radio-silent (not answering mobile when you don't know where he is). My exP did it all the time and I think it's a kind of emotional torture.

Your DH lost his DF recently didn't he? Could there be any other reasons for his behaviour? Have you let him know how it has affected you?

And if I had a three week cycle with sickness and migraines I would certainly see someone about it.

You're doing a brilliant job, it's the hardest job in the worlk (I think!) and made so much harder by lack of sleep and lack of support.

CC congrats on the 90 minute nap. I'm . DD will resolutely only sleep for 45 mins in the day.

bc was it just the three of you on holiday? We have abandoned the idea of a honeymoon as I didn't think I'd enjoy it enough, it would be too much like hard work . Did you eat out in the evenings or stay in? Eating out while on holiday is my greatest pleasure, I just can't see the point in going away if I'm going to cook in every night.

I'm in a much better mood with my DP than I've been for ages now that he's no longer studying every evening (oh please let him have passed), and not in training for any blasted bike rides. Last night we made a start on the mammoth wedding To Do list and we'll keep plugging away until it's all done, or it's the wedding, whichever arrives first...

IC Good to hear that things are going better for you - I intend to do as you have once the cotbed arrives - making an effort towards self settling and less night feeding. He's actually normally pretty good at having a morning nap of around an hour (sometimes less, sometimes 2 hours!) and of course he sleeps continually in the carseat or the pram when out and about.

fizi Yes, just the 3 of us. Our friends and their 2 DCs were supposed to be there Fri-Sun and then we stay on til Weds but he had a work meeting he had to go to so they all returned to the UK on Thurs so we missed them entirely. It would have been nice to have more people (especially more experienced parents) around but hey. We stayed in in the evenings because we were shattered. Managed 2 nice lunches in Rouen though and I had half a carafe of wine at one of them when DS was behaving perfectly - just sitting in his buggy and beaming at everyone and eating bread. They had a nice big kitchen and we had mainly cold stuff in the evenings - loads of cheese, pate and nice bread and a bit of salad.

What I would suggest for a honeymoon would be a short break - three or four days and stay in a city rather than a beach type place and stay in a hotel that does nice room service so you can have a good dinner in the evening. You'd save money by going away for a shorter period of time so spend it on staying somewhere pretty swanky.

mamaloco your DH will drive me nuts and I'll be so Srant as much as you want to let the steam out (alternatively throw the saucepan to his face )

For nappy rash I use E45 nappy cream, it works well on DS's bum.

I'm lucky with my periods, I'm on the pill so 21 days on it then 1 week off and periods normally arrive by the 4th day. I don't suffer for PMS but my hormones are still playing havoc.

fizi good luck with the wedding organisation.

Naps: DS has 2 or 3 naps a day which last in average 20mn. Today he slept from 9.30am till 10 and then 30mn at 12.50pm.

Last night wasn't too bad, he woke up at 9.30pm, 1.40am and then 5am when he was ready to start his day, so we took him in our bed and he fell back to sleep.Our main problem is the resettling by himself issue without a dummy. Will see how it goes

bc just seen your post on one of the active threads. RESPECT!!!!

We had our home visit this morning with dd's new teachers. Both very lovely, but it was like preparing for a visit by the queen! Nearly went horribly wrong when I woke up at 8 am and everyone else was still asleep. Ds didn't wake until 9am. If only he could do that every day.

I seem to be managing to extend ds's naps by resettling after the mandatory 45 minute waking. If I get to him fast enough it can take literally seconds to re settle him.

mamaloco sympathies over your dh. Disappearing like that is not on, particularly now he is a father. My dp used to be a real moody t**t and would sort of disappear into himself for days on end when he was cross/angry. He did it once after dd was born and I just said he couldn't do it any more as we both needed him. To be fair to him he stopped, and having children seems to have made him a different, and much better, person. Lucky really, because it could have gone the other way.

fizi well done for organising a wedding. I agree with bc a city break would be ideal. Maybe a city by the sea so it feels more like a holiday? Barcelona is pretty fab. Or Lisbon where the beach isn't far?

We also had a good night, feeds at 11, 2 and 4. Minor waking at 5:30 but then slept until 8

Alas fizi the 90mins sleep was not in one go, just the total amount. Hope your not too stressed out about the wedding plans.

I think we have a tub of E45 somewhere, so I'll dig it out. Wed. are a late night at work for me, so didn't really tackle it yesterday.

Mama- would you like us to come round and speak to your DH. If not, just caryy on ranting. Mine is not doing anything bad, but I feel like he's completely ignoring me as a person (no hugs, compliments). Feel like I bend over backwards to try and make sure he gets 8 hrs sleep everynight, always say thank you for any housework he manages but it's not reciprocated. But I'm just feeling sorry for myself.

I have to admit, I've been quite lucky with periods. I get a bit sleepy and crampy, but before I needed to take medication and atm I don't need to. Think I am very hormonal though, with that and BF I'm sure my body is not quite sure what's going on.