November 09 - Autumnal times are drawing near, soon our babes will be one year!

[MsInterpret]

Hello ladies, hope no one minds me taking the liberty of creating a new thread and approves of the name choice. We've been moving a bit slower than antenatal so though we'd most certainly have some year-olds by the time we finished this one!

Thanks it's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks the best way to cure anything with their baby is to put a boob it! I've now not bf since 11pm on Wed and feel surprisingly ok about it. I have tried not to think about it too much though. Hen has not woken in the night 4 or 5 nights so I've not had to work how to deal with him yet!

We're supposed to be going to some friends tomorrow night for belated Christmas meal (cancelled because my Dh and another Dh were both ill before Xmas) I been really excited about my night away the boys are booked at my mums for the night and got everything ready to make chocolate cheesecake for dessert, but guess what? Hen has his 3 rd burst ear drum in 3 month, ds2 has a puffy eye and says he feels poorly and now my stepdad has phoned to say my mum has gone to bed early feeling ill. So, I guess that's my night out gone! I guess that's life with children.

I hope all the poorly babies are soon on the mend and that the pregnant ladies are finding time to put their feet up.
Have a good weekend all.

tigger hope your little ones are feeling better?

I seems to have been on a feeding frenzy again - last night was 5oz at midnight then 7oz at 5am. Tonight before bed he's downed another 9... what is going on? Maybe I'm not feeding him enough food in the day? Or should I be giving milk in the day as well as food?

What do you ladies do? And how big are the portions you give your little ones?

On another note, H and I are now permanently separated. We went to relate on Thursday and he said he was much happier on his own and so that was it. It's the right decision I'm sure but am still feeling pretty pants tbh. It's all very amicable (although we haven't talked finances yet..) and I think both of us would like to end up friends if that's feasible, obviously after some time has passed.
Part of me is upset at the lack of fight he put up, or effort he put in whist we were on the trial. He said he's happier than he's been in a long while and feels good about himself now. Just makes me feel like I was the one bringing him down - hopefully it's just me focussing on the negative and I'll snap out of it soon.

Scarlotti, I really feel for you, I think that even though you know it's the right thing for both of you it still hurts when someone says they are happier without you . Time is the only thing to mend a dinted heart, now is time to start thinking about yourself and your children and what is right for and what you want. Obviously it won't be easy. Do you have family nearby to support you? On a huge plus side you say things are friendly and of course you have your wonderful children and an exciting future ahead. It is so easy to just see the negatives.

On a different note, I have gone back to giving H bottles of milk in the day, he has almost 1 weetabix for breakfast and a cup of milk.
9.30 ish 5 oz of milk
Lunch 2 oat crackers or 1 slice of bread sandwich etc plus 1/2 banana and yoghurt and water
3 pm 5 oz milk and little snack ( ie breadstick)
Dinner small bowl of whatever we have and pud of jelly/ pot of fruit/ custard etc.
Bed 6oz milk

Just an idea of amounts Hen eats, he is now on cows milk too. Hope this helps.

Scarlotti That must be difficult to hear but he's only voicing what his actions have been telling you for a long time. It might be better that there's no uncertainty on his part, a definite clean break. The lack of fight sounds typical of him from what you've told us. Lack of effort in most things, no? Keep your chin up, you've done so well to keep it together through this. Spoil yourself a bit, arrange another night out with your daughter or a night with your friends and remember to look after yourself.

On the milk front, Ethan only has an 8/9oz twice daily which he sometimes finishes but not often. His appetite during the day is very changeable. Usually half a slice of toast, 1 weetabix & his bottle at breakfast time. Elevenses: a banana or something similar. Lunchtime: a sandwich and more fruit or a yoghurt. Sometimes another snack in the afternoon before dinner which is usually a small portion of our dinner. I was going to ask whether your little ones are still drinking milk from bottles? He drinks water or diluting juice from his cups during the day - when should we stop giving milk in bottles?

You're both right. It isn't a surprise - I think the tough bit is hearing it out loud, which means that I have to face the facts that I knew deep down anyway. Whilst it wasn't said, then you can pretend or make excuses for things. Time will mend things and I need to just keep positive.
I don't have any family near by, but do have some good friends so think it's about time I started to call in some favours!

Food wise, I think I might try and up his meals then. He is on cows milk too, and it's in bottles. He will have 3 meals a day, plus two snacks, plus then the copious milk at night! DWB it sounds very similar to what Ethan has, and he has his water out of a cup but still the milk from bottles. I suspect I'll stop that when I brave breaking this nightime drinking routine.

Hey all scarlotti sorry to hear it is final, but lets face it, your ex-h is a prick isn't he? of course he feels good about himself, he can do as he pleases without you nagging him to help/feeling guilty for watching you do it all. Of course you feel like you were bringing him down, he did nothing, you got upset i should think, a lot, and therefore you are the bad guy. But remember you are not.

How are our babies sleeping? I have started to feed Roo again at night. 11 nights and continued wakenings for up to 1.5 hours at a time, 2x per night some nights. So, one night, i was just to tired/feeling unwell so i fed him, at 2am. He had slept through his 11pm feed, or rather DH put him back to sleep in 5 mins with little fuss, so i fed him at 2am and he slept til 6am! 10 hours and one big 10 min feed. Poor little mite, i have been starving him . So done this for several nights and although not perfect, much much better. I should know him, that he is a hungry boy, and cannot go too long without milk, whatever the books say, he is clearly not able to go through the night. He has even done a 7pm-3am-7am stint, with one wake-up and DH cuddle at 9pm!!! But his general pattern is 7:30pm-2am (with a wake and cuddle in between), 2:15-5:15am 5:30-6:30am, or 6am and up for good. But all this without any crying, other than to tell us he is awake. Straight back down for sleep.

It has only been a few days and knowing my luck it will creep back again, but for now, I have been able to sleep for 5 hours once!

Pav Are you still breastfeeding?

Pav its wonderful to finally get some sleep isn't it? This may well be a turning point and you never know sometime soon he may skip the 2 am feed too! I had to take a huge step back with H by reintroducing bottles of milk in the day time. I have also stopped bf now which seems to have stopped the cycle of waking for feeds (comfort?). H has now slept through 7 pm until 7 am for a week, still early days I know but fingers crossed it will continue.
On the bottle to cup front both my other 2 were off bottles in the day by 8 months and at night by a year, H however is nowhere near this, I really think you just have to go with what you think is right for your little one and ignore any friends who say you should doing something else!

Hoping this is indeed a turning point for you and Roo, pav

scarlotti thinking of you. It is really hard to hear that explicitly but you would say the same to him wouldn't you? You are better off by yourself as you're not having to look after HIM all the time on top of kids. Hope you can have some fun 'me' time soon when he has the little ones. And being amicable is positive for the future I hope xx

Food here sounds pretty similar to you all:

Wake-up around half six/seven - 6oz milk
Breakfast 8am @nursery - weetabix
elevenses - 5oz milk if at nursery or oatcake/raisins snack here
Lunch: bowl of our food/leftovers
mid-aft: snack as before
tea: bowl of our food
bed: 6oz milk

Rosa will eat pretty big portions of food at mealtimes and is a sucker for toast ANYtime. In fact, she rarely turns down food and often has seconds at nursery even after they've given her a big bottle of milk!

omg. we have hungry babies eh?!

5-6am ish bf
7am - 1 weetabix 5oz milk. half slice of toast with philly on, or something, plus butter. Eats all including crust.

snack - two x yoghurts at some point in the morning, early, breadsticks, cup of milk x 2/3oz (if lucky) is normal, but what he has varies.
12 ish lunch (but can be as late as 1:30pm if he naps - whatever we are having/DH is having, plus some bread/roll/pitta, pudding of some kind (cake/yoghurt/fruit/whatever is around)
2pm bf followed by snack of banana/breadsticks/biscuit/yoghurt/cheese/raisins or something.
3:30pm another snack with DD on her way home. few crisps/sandwich
5pm ish - whatever we have, his favourite is spaghetti, dhal or risotto. If 'dry' food like sausage and mash, he will have a jar too. Pudding of some kind.
6:30pm. Weetabix/ready brek with 5-6oz milk/frozen fruit mixed in if ready brek. Immediately followed by bf, within half hour.
bf in the night once (hopefully from now on but lets not get excited!)

And another one who is obsessed with toast, but also anything bread related, or pizza related. He also bandits our food, in fact he prefers to do this. He eats more if he thinks he is stealing from our plates! He tends to be crawling around/cruising with a bit of food constantly stuck in his mits, is constantly eating, so eats more than above, with biscuits, bite of our food, bit of cat food... He is happiest when eating.

Sleep - yes DWB still bf'ing although wonder if I need to give up completely in order to get him sleeping through? I don't know . Last night was not so good. 7:30pm-2am-5am-7am. Could do without the 5am one! But we are getting there.

Wow Pav that is an enormous amount of food! I was just wondering re the breastfeeding if it was possible that there wasn't much milk left but he's obviously getting lots of milk and food during the day so ignore me!

We're all sick in my house. Vomiting and Ethan has a rash on his body, which we just noticed this evening. He was v sick last Thursday, out of sorts with no appetite on fri, v out of sorts, pale & seemed upset on sat, sun a bit better but not eating much, today had a decent breakfast and lunch, didn't want to eat his dinner and was sick after about two spoonfuls. He's neither up nor down though, so I'm not sure when enough is enough and a trip to the doc is warranted. Will see how he is in the m

Oops, stupid iPhone!

... Will see how he is in the morning. Did the glass test on his rash and it's nothing to worry about. Doesn't look like chicken pox.

DWB he is an absolute food monster. He stole an old bit of pizza that DD had dropped on our bedroom floor when she had a treat in front of tv/snuggle time and we had not realised. He picked it up without us knowing, AFTER his dinner/pudding weetabix and scoffed it (it was only a day old but still ew!)

BUT, i do think you might have something in not producing as much milk. Yesterday he fussed a bit more and did not seem to be feeding as fully as he normally does, did not do such deep gulps and it felt like he was suckling more than sucking. I also have a sore nipple on one side where he bit me the other day (ouch) and that is definitely not working to full speed.

He did ask for a bottle the other day though...3 days ago. He went into his drawer in the kitchen (full of kids plastic plates, etc) and took out a bottle, chucked it on the floor and pointed to it. DH gave him milk and he grabbed it and drunk 2 oz from it. So we have been offering, or offering a training bottle thing. but 1) he is not consistent with using it, only takes 1-2oz at a time then presses it onto furniture to watch the milk pour out and 2) i don't really want to start bottles at this age although anything to get a good nights sleep right now

DWB has he had the MMR vaccine? I only ask as I was advised it can cause a rash similar to measles, and also a slight fever, it is a mild non-serious reaction to the vaccine and nothing to worry about if this happens between 7-10 days after the vaccine. It is not hugely common but can happen.

I hate rashes. I always get very worried. Both the kids get them when poorly with a virus. I hope he gets well soon, poor thing

He's due the MMR vaccine on Thursday so his 12mth jags were at least four weeks ago. He's ok, his usual self, but it's the lack of appetite which concerns me. I'll give it another day of two then phone the doctor.

DWB, how is Ethan? Did you have to go to the GP? I hope it wasn't necessary and that he is already feeling better.

Two nights ago Paula slept through from 7.45 to 4.15! And then after a feed and being carried by DH (which took quite a while altogether), she slept again until 7.30
Can you imagine? I thought I was dreaming. But then last night we were back to waking every two hours at least. So even worse than the last couple of weeks. But we think she had digestive problems. She had a huge dinner whereas she only had fruit purree with babyrice (!) in it the evening before she slept so well. I always found she slept better when she refused her dinner so we'll try "beginner's food" for a couple of nights to see if there is a change eventhough it seems to be a step backwards on the weaning front.

Hi Ursi - how are you keeping?

Ethan seems fine, thanks - the rash was fainter this morning on his body but looked worse round his neck. He's with the in laws today while DH and I are working so I'll see how he is later. If the rash is still there I think we'll book a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I'd hate to miss anything that I should be getting checked, plus I suppose being pregnant myself I should be being extra careful. If symptoms had lasted one day or two days I wouldn't be bothered but he was sick for the first time on Thursday and has had a reduced appetite ever since so I think enough time has passed to have him checked over now.

I had to take a day off sick yesterday from work, the second vomitting bug in two months! I was really proud of having no sick days in my first pregnancy, I suppose I now have to cope with a reduced immune system and a toddler bringing lots of bugs home! Hopefully we'll stay well for the next 18 weeks...!

PS Ursi I hope you enjoyed your extra sleep on those nights and at least now you know she can do it!

Thanks for the lovely comments Pav, and everyone else that has offered support, it does make a difference.

Ioan slept last night from 10:45 - 6!!! Needless to say I didn't, as I woke at most murmurings wondering if he was about to wake! I am hopeful now that this signals the beginning of the end of night wakings - or I may just be deluded... but it surely must stop soon. He has been eating more during the last few days, and has also stood properly for the first time, so maybe this new regime will be positive for us all....

DWB sorry to hear you're not well, hope you're feeling better and that Ethan is on the mend.
Ursi hope Paula repeats her night sleeping soon.

Off to bed now - have a school assembly tomorrow morning (year 9) as the local comp are helping me do some fundraising. Did year 10 on Monday and was so nervous it wasn't funny!!

Coming out of lurking to say that I'm so sorry, scarlotti, and I hope things improve for you now that decision's been made.

Amazing to see the pregnancies - you brave people! I'm a little sorry to see the last of Arthur's babyhood rapidly departing, but not sorry enough to leap back into those waters.

tamlin welcome back!! Hope you are well x

scarlotti omg is your baby my baby ? He slept exactly the same! But he ate a bit less than normal! think he is teething as he slept from 7:30pm-9:45pm then fussed and cried for 1 hour, back arch, bum stuck in air and moaning, wimpering. Did not want milk, not that i offered it. But he was not wanting that, he wanted to sleep. Would not take calpol. DH and went straight to bed and slept better than in a long time. Still felt crap today! but marginally less so that Corner though, still not sure I am around it yet, i am still stuck with the driving instructor learning and learning the 'reversing round the fucking corner' as I used to refer to it (sorry ladies for the Bad Word, but I did !)

DWB how is Ethan today? Roo has come up with a rash too. Or rather, 6 very specific spots, I thought they might be chicken spots, but not. And not viral as not pin pricky. I wonder if it is the whole MMR thingy...hmm]

Pav Not sure, well enough to have his usual Wednesday with my mum but this morning she thought he was a little subdued and not himself so we'll postpone his mmr which is due tmrw. DH was feeling nauseous again this morning so it might just be a sickness bug that lingers in some way for a week or so. Rash disappeared in around 24hrs. Almost home so I'll know soon how his appetite etc has been today.

Tamlin good to 'see you'! How's DS doing? He was one of the eldest on the thread, wasn't he?

Scarlotti Have been thinking of you. x

Tamlin Good to see you back!

I have 2 poorly DS' with high temps and chesty cough. Have spent the entire day giving ibuprofen and paracetamol and checking temps. Both of them have had temps between 38c & 40c. C has been clinging to me all day and DS1 in and out of sleep. C had his mmr and pneumonia jabs on Monday. That hasn't helped the way he feels I'm sure. He is also teething. We're on tooth 4! The poor boy has more on the way as can see them either side of the top two front, there hasn't been any let up since xmas.

Well done Ioan and Roo for giving their mummies some sleep .

DWB Hope Ethan gets better soon. C had a rash last year. It was a reaction to the virus he had.

It's so hard this time of year with all the illness. I haven't been able to work this week and feel bad I'm letting down the parent of the kids I care for. But I can't do a lot about it

Tamlin lovely to see you again, and thanks. How is Arthur getting on? And your DS1? Am the same as you with the diminishing babyhood ... and feel the same about those waters How is life in the US?

Pav glad to hear you had a good night too, funny how we don't relax to enjoy it though! Long may it continue. Hope the spots don't prove to be any more than an MMR reaction.

DWB Hope Ethan had a better day today.

Fruit sorry to hear your boys are so poorly, hope they are on the mend soon as it's not fun at all. Difficult for you too as you've had to take time off work, rest assured your parent would much rather the hassle of that than their child catching it though.

Ioan did another 10:30 - 6 at H's last night so that's two in a row.... am not even going to say it!

Have been doing fundraising for my trek this week at a local high school. They are having a 'wear red' day for me on Friday so I've been going in each day to speak at each year group's assembly - am rubbish at public speaking so have been so nervous!! At least I only have 2 more to go, and it's years 7 and 8 so an easier audience!

fruit, sorry to hear about your poor boys. I hope they will be better soon.

I guess I shouldn't complain then about Paula having another cold. We are on day 1 of it only but I wonder if the two last, rather bad nights are related with it.
Oh, I'm so not looking forward to my husbands skiing trip starting on friday. I'm also a bit worried that nausea will get heavier as I'm seven weeks today. And I know if I expect it, it will happen, it's just hard to think that everything will be fine. Eventhough I feel much better than last time. I guess Paula doesn't give me much time to think about it anyway :)