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

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Where did the last half a year go??!

abs CC I don't think they can have too much solids if you don't give them something everytime they cry (bad habit anyway). I think by 9 months they should have 3 or 4 meals a day (still between 100 and 200g/ meal depending on their hunger). My freinds' skinny active babies usually eat much more than the bigger ones (definitely much more than my huge active baby).
The whole orange is probably too much, better to give little of different foods.
(Please, take the white translucid skin away, I choked on it when I was 10, still terrified for my DDs, no snacks on citrus here , sorry for that! I am scared of oranges )

I the 7 am wakeups!

CC I might get offended! She is 75 cm and about 10 kg (which is back in the charts for the weight )

We have started with the doors and drawers opening, the banging, splashing in the bath... Still eating paper, she ate the first page of my favorite book (collection edition).

Does anyone else has a water baby? Here they are obcessed with astrology so it is normal for feb babies (aquarius) to like water just checking!

She's only offered 1/2 a orange as dessert, after she's tucked away a good few tablespoons of her main meal . Interesting about the skinny babies eating more, anecdotal evidence (the most scientific kind) seems to confirm

We slice the orange and give it to her with peel attached, so that she just sucks out what she wants.

Sorry no idea what element she is

Hope all the poorly people/babies get better soon.

By water baby I mean mine could spend the day splashing in the bath, she can't get enough, I can do a shampoo without any complaint just by carelessly pouring water onto her head... she laughes when I run the bath, gets all excited, cries when I get her out...
I real surprise after DD1 who still whinges if a drop goes in her eyes.

DD's also Aquarius (although born in Jan), but isn't hugely enthusiastic about water. It's taken several weeks for her to tolerate having her hair shampooed and she gets in a right tizz if too much water gets on her face. We've taken her in swimming a few times and she's okay with it if we get her in gradually. I hope she'll get into it more as she gets older!

I agree about the big girl poos Very smelly, but so easy to just plop into the toilet (if you're a washable nappy type...)

Nice pic, mamaloco! What kind of sling it that?
Sorry to hear about your DD's fever - I expect that and the teeth are responsible for the sleep being rubbish at the moment. The next neurological spurt is around week 37 (36-40) and that sleep regression is apparently a real killer because so many babies have developed a more manageable sleeping pattern by then - and it goes to pot again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't hit DD too badly after finally getting to 5-hour stretches of overnight sleep...

Haven't tried DD with citrus chunks yet, but they're coming into season here, so I think we'll give it a go.

Glad to hear your LOs are so keen on solids, Abs and CC! My DD is a bit hit-or-miss in that regard. Some meals she really goes for it, others she's really not interested. In general it's going fine, though.

Good for you and DH for getting the sex dates underway, AbsB - excellent plan! If I can get DD napping in her cot during the morning (DH works evenings), we'll be doing the same thing then, methinks...

On which subject, DD just had her first nap in her cot this morning. It was only 25 mins, but given that the pram naps (when not in motion) are getting less successful all the time, I figured I needed to change tactic. So I did a bedtime routine (put on sleeping bag, fed in the normal place, sang the usual lullaby, pulled the blackout blind down, took DD off the breast before putting her in her cot...) and she at least let me put her down and fell asleep without more than a momentary token protest. I'm thankful for a nap duration of more than ten minutes at the moment...! And last time I tried to put her in her cot for a nap she screamed, so this was better. We'll see if it works again [fingers crossed emoticon]

Hi everyone!
We have major movement here and as DS's favourite thing is eating the laptop cord it is stowed away most of the time. Plus, it's busy keeping up with playgroup/baby swimming/ rhyme time and the like, September passed in a blink... I have to go back to work this month (gulp)

Sorry to hear about the lurgies and lack of sleep. Similar story here, lots of Snot and not enough Zzzzzzz.

Great to catch up, I'm in Scotland but look forward to hearing about your meet up :)

Sunny x

Good to hear from Sunny and Abs - I was worrying about you both.

Abs I'm lucky if I fit in a daily poo, let alone a daily rendez vous with DH, apart from doing the chores in the kitchen with him!!

I've been having a quick lurk in the last few evenings but without time to write and now I can't remember what I needed to write to you all - sorry once again.

Today DH has gone camping in Wales and I'm home alone with the two boys. So far, so good, but I'm counting no chickens at all! I know several of you have your DCs on your own very regularly for extended periods of time, but I really struggle with it, particularly when they are not on good form.

This week we have seen the dietician who has suggested we go lactose free for DS1. I've bought up half of Sainsbury's range of 'free from' stuff to see what he will eat. His blood test has come back saying he still needs more iron, but he looks lots better after the sea air last week. Long may it last.

Mamaloco I think we officially have the biggest February babies - DS2 is 7.5 months today and two weeks ago weighed 11Kg and is 75cm! He just looks huge - like a one year old! He's started crawling properly this week and sitting from a crawl on his own. He's very proud of himself and just grins at us!

Apologies again for the lack of comments to others, but congrats on the improved sleep. Will hope to get back over the weekend, if the boys allow!

Another big baby here... dd2 was only 6 lbs 6 born but is just over 9 kg now and about 72 cm, so not far off yours mamaloco. Don't think this is so unusual either and it is well within the scale. Dd1 has been right at the top of the scale for both weight and height from about 9 months. People do think she is more like 5 not 3 and I am very conscious of making sure we do not expect too much of her when she is really still a baby (She's about 107 cm and 18 kg... Not much fun for dh to carry on his shoulders when she got tired walking on our holiday... which also left me carrying the baby). Mind you, I am quite tall myself so probably has something to do with it.

dd2 is so close to crawling it is unreal but she just doesn't get it I am in no rush to see her mobile but feel for her when she gets frustrated. She also has not realised she can sit up by herself, but when I sit her down she is more than happy to play and then roll over to practice non-crawling a bit more...

We've gone back to the Midlands tonight, halfway home, even though our holiday flat is until tomorrow morning. Just realised it would be an awful lot easier to drive down with two sleeping children...

Major worries about ddd2 today because she has suddenly decided that she will not drink from a bottle at all!! I think it has to do with her front top teeth you are through and the gum looks a bit sore but she's eating fine. It's driven me to distraction today because I worry about her not having enough fluid. She will not drink from her sippy cup either but I managed to get her to drink from a wine glass (all other suitable glasses were in the dishwasher, before you wonder) and then from the lid of her bottle... with much spillage. No idea how to deal with this. Any suggestions?? I am still shocked how different my girls are. Nothing at all would ever keep dd1 away from food or drink, ever!

Erm, another comment... Aquarius is an air sign! Daft but true.

BG Have you heard of Doidy cups? They've got a slanted rim so it's easier to tilt it into their mouths without spilling anything much. They sell them on Amazon.

I know you're worried, BG, but I couldn't help but at your DD drinking out of a wine-glass! Start 'em early...

Ah yes, of course, you're quite right about Aquarius being an air sign, I'd forgotten that. Makes more sense that my DD isn't so grabbed by water, but likes baby flying (!) Pisces is water though, isn't it? So later Feb babies would come into that.

Hi sunny - good to hear from you! And indeed Abs - I responded to you upthread, but forgot to be more welcoming, sorry about that!

So much for big girl poos (and better sleep) - the MN jinx strikes again! DD has a tummy bug which meant increasingly liquid nappies, yesterday and two overnight changes and restless sleep. DD also had a bit of a temperature, which didn't help the sleep, poor wee thing. She seems okay today, apart from tired after the bad night, so hopefully it'll pass quickly. These things usually only last 24-48 hours, I think. Meanwhile, back on an all-fluid diet for a day...

Thanks for the welcome back Bethylou and IC...

You definitely have a lot more work than I do having two Beth... and my DP has just left for five weeks so my evening rendez vous are over and I'll be doing things like accounts, and cleaning... Oh joy!

I'm a Pisces like my DD who was born at the beginning of March. she loves her bath time and swimming, although it hasn't always been like that! She has also developed a new game which involves head banging, and now every time I cuddle her she smacks me in the nose or mouth, I don't think this has anything to do with her star sign, she seems to be quite cheeky!

Oh IC poor you with the diarrhea. What a pain, just as things were settling down.

BG Can you add boiled water/milk to her food to make it more liquid? Are you doing BLW or pureed food?

Thanks for the advice Mamaloco.. I feel like she eats a lot! She is also in a very good mood most of the time so the food must be agreeing with her!

I am listening to a fireworks CD trying to get my dogs used to them before November 5th. I have it on medium volume and am turning it up everyday so that they will be desensitised (hopefully) ...It's better than watching TV! It's a bit weird feeding DD with whizz, bang, weeeeee, pop in the background! She doesn't seem to mind, hope I'm not turning her into a pyromaniac!

BG, I had a Doidy cup for DD1 and it worked very well. If your DD2 isn't drinking, it probably is due to the teeth, but she probably is getting enough fluid from the little she is drinking and her food. But it's difficult to not worry, isn't it?

Chicken pox is definitely on the way out here, but DH is off to the Far East tomorrow for a week so I will be flying solo. I also find it stressful and difficult and admire those of you who do it regularly and for long periods.

Back to sunny Guernsey (not). We had a good week away, it was nice not to be on the rock. The ferry back to Guernsey was really rough (3 meters high swell) but DS was fine as I got him to sleep during the worse part.

watercress sorry to hear about the pox, hope you'll all get better soon.

IC glad the new sleeping arrangement is going well.

bethy lol at your DS2 scaring your DS1

BC you're lucky, the only wild life I get in my garden (except the birds) are cats

Welcome back Sunny and AbsB

Sex, what is it? We only had one intimate moment since DS was born (probably back in April). We're either too tired or don't go to bed at the same times. But I like AbsB idea.

mamaloco DS really enjoy his bath and could spend hours in it. He has now discovered that he can roll on his belly while in it and is very proud of it! [wink} A bit scary for me, I have to say.

Sleep is up and down here too. DS can woke up once for less than 5mn or we'll be up for 2 hours like last night. Plus the teething doesn't help. Tooth 3 is trying to make an apparition but I don't know where it's going to be.

CC I don't think they can have too much food (or can they?) DS normally have when at home, 30g of readybrek with milk, for lunch 130g of veg and proteins in a mashed form, and 130g of pureed/mashed veg for dinner and a fruit compote. Plus some pieces of bread or chips (that was during the week in England) to keep him quiet while we eat.

BG sometimes DS do not want his milk from his bottle neither, so I use either his free flow cup or a cup with a valve the bekker (sp) is soft, it's an Avent one bought at Boots.

DS would happily drink my lager from my pint glass, so nothing will suprised me!

DS is 8 months - 2 days and is on 9 and 12 months clothes (most tops in 12 and trousers in 9 months).

I think I covered most of it!

do people weigh their food?

CC yes I do in order to know how much I feed him as he is a big eater, I'll get worried I don't give him enough.

[doh! emoticon] so aquarius is not a water baby! Mine is though! She has no problem puting her head under water flipping, crawling... DD1 is a real goat [capricorn] though!

bethylou we probably hold the records! It is very obvious here that DD2 is off the charts as most toddlers, walking and talking, are smaller than DD2! she looks like a really under develop child! (boy even!)
Why do you have to dress girls in pink?
But then I look 17 from 12 till 25 so both DDs probably take after me.
Hope the diet will help your DS1.

IC it is an Ergo baby carrier. Fantastic! Avoids all the faff with the wraps and DD2 is not so swaddle (she didn't like that at all). And my back is surviving the school runs.

GF at your DS having a pint. DD2 seems to be in awe in front of any can of beer (DH is sampling the local brews)

Not much happening in the bedroom here! Appart from a lot of snoring, which I can hear from accross the appartment at the moment, I will have to quick butts if I want to have some sleep tonight .

have a nice week end.

Or even kick butts

We are a family of air heads, sorry, air signs here which makes for an interesting time... 2x aquarius, 1 gemini and 1 libra.

Hmmmm, ironic really that we have just spent a week with healthy outdoor pursuits and have all come back feeling shattered and full of cold.... I knew my theory was right that keeping fit is very bad for you .

A bit hit and miss with dd2 today as far as her bottles are concerned. I managed to talk her into trying her milk in the morning and she then had most of it before remembering she didn't like the bottle... Then she made a token protest with her afternoon bottle but drank it in the end, but at bedtime she totally completely refused and did not budge. I tried some teething gel on her gums first to see if that would make it easier, and then gave her some of her milk out of the lid of the bottle again (no more wine glasses in case she gets ideas ).
I used to have a doidy cup but recycled it because dd1 had no idea how to drink from it. Now wish I had kept it.

BG I was told by the HV that a matchbox sized piece of cheese was worth 2oz of milk, as is a yoghurt. My DS1 once went 48 hours without drinking anything because he gave up breast feeding but wouldn't take a bottle either. It was very unnerving but he was fine. I think food has more liquid in than we realise. Glad you had a nice holiday (and GF) - we came back ill too, though all better this week and DS1 looks much healthier.

Good luck Watercress. Such bad timing that your DH has had to go away while the rest of you are recovering.

ABs can't imagine being without DH for 5 weeks - hats off to you. (And no wonder you have to have a daily rendez vous beforehand!!)
Sorry to hear about the runny poo IC. I have changed 11 dirty nappies form DS2 since yesterday morning. They are small and perfectly formed, but my hands are very dry and I'm fast running out of nappies!

The weekend is going pretty well so far, although DS1 was supposed to stay with my mum tonight. Unfortunately, he decided at 8pm that he didn't want to stay and is back with me! Let's hope it's not a bad omen for tonight. Meanwhile, DH rang this morning to say he'd had a cold and uncomfortable night in the tent. I was not remotely sympathetic, but suggested he get a B and B and have a bloody good time while I am looking after both DSs (after 5 hours of interrupted sleep and the first nappy change before 6a.m!!) Tomorrow I have the in laws to help in the afternoon. This could be useful, or maybe not!! Off to jump into bed while the going is good.

Morning all,

Here is a pix of DS and I.

Good night for us, as he went to bed at 6.15pm and woke up at 6am with a 5mn awakening at 12am. But despite a good night sleep, DS is grumpy today; I'll blame the teething as the symptoms are very red bum, snotty nose and chewing anything he can put in his mouth.

Have a good sunday

I love that pic, GF! Great expressions on both your faces.

Thanks for the good wishes - DD seems to have got over her tummy bug and slept much better last night, although I had to do a nappy change after a pee leak, which was annoying. DD's taken to sleeping on her side and the nappies have no containment there (as observed by CC I think). When we had this problem before I simply put DD on her back and encouraged her to sleep that way and the leaks stopped. But now she's big enough to change position, so that won't work. I'm thinking of attempting to reinforce the sides of the nappies somehow or maybe switch to disposables for overnight. But would they have the same problem? I'm not sure. Any thoughts??

Anyhow, more wake-ups than usual last night because DD was probably needing to replace calories/fluids, but she went back to sleep after each one pretty quickly and woke up for the day at 07.40.

Just had a fight with her to get her to take a nap in the cot. She really wasn't having any. DH is now out with her in the pram.

I don't measure out DD's food at all - just keep offering her stuff until she's had enough and refuses it. I try and give her protein in some form in all three meals, with yoghurt usually being the evening one as it's easy to digest. Likewise, try and make sure she has some fruit/veg and carbs, plus something containing iron in each meal. How much of it she actually ingests? Who knows! But (tummy bugs aside) she seems healthy enough and certainly isn't skinny.

Too much food? Nah, I reckon if it's good healthy stuff (and they're not making themselves sick!), then don't worry about it!

Nice sling, mamaloco, yes! I've heard good things about Ergos. We now have a Connecta (as well as the two wraps) and use whichever one takes our fancy as DD doesn't seem to mind which she's in. I got the Connecta so I can do easy-ish back carries when DD is a bit bigger, but she's still okay riding on our chests at the mo.

I don't measure food either - I'm a bit random and tend to just think "does that look enough?". DD2 eats far more than DD1 did at this age, so I don't worry about it. Well, not much.

IC I use Pampers Baby Dry at night - they really do keep them dry all night (and DD2 does 12-13 hours). Both my DD2 are slim and I've never had a leak with them. I know you use reuseables, but if it's just one nappy per night, maybe that would be OK?

The girls are definitely over the pox now, and seem more or less back to normal (although a bit spotty still). My mum has also offered to come down for a couple of days while my DH is away, which is great - means I can leave DD2 with her when I run down the hill with DD1 to nursery!

Ooh, and DD2 has started saying "mamamama" when she sees me. It's the cutest thing ever.

IC DS also sleep on his side (or back or front) and I use bumgenius (I think CC does too?). At night I use the normal booster + the newborn insert (much thinner) + a bamboo booster.
The rare times I have had a leak at night is more due to human mistake. I suffer more leaks during the day as DS moves a lot so I think I'm going to add a newborn insert in his daytime nappies.
If I need to use disposable, I use Huggies.

Anybody home?

You can see that DH is working today and that I've finally managed to get DS to nap as I've done a big batch of Chicken, butternut squash and rice dish to be frozen for DS ( recipe here).

Will I get worried looks if I say that I've started my Xmas shopping!?