April 2011; springtime arrivals - blackbird, song thrush, mistle thrush, nipple thrush, nappy thrush...

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Here we are, our new thread and this time we all have our babies !

I thought we were getting thrush again, but then realised I had let ds's latch get sloppy. He was constantly clicking and tutting at the breast but I was too distracted to notice.

Ds and I made butterfly cakes together this morning, ds got to choose the colour of the buttercream icing ..... It is a very lurid shade of pink and they are covered in sugar strands. You can never have enough sugar!

petal we have some of those on the way! Are they as good as they look?

Darn for no choc roses Lis but ganache and shavings sounds super. Can you post some my way?!

They're brilliant frak, F loves them!

We made it to baby massage this week! Woo! After a very screamy weekend I really had given up hope of getting there at all but we were on time and I even managed to get out of the house within half an hour inc getting dressed, nappy change and dirty nappies in the washer. Seeing as S zonked in the sling I decided to do a bit of retail therapy

We don't follow a sleep routine as such, but S is very good through the night usually going down about 8.30 (usually self settling) till 4.30/5ish when I bring him into bed for a feed and sleep until 7ish. I do give him his last feed laying on our bed with the curtains closed to reinforce 'this is bed time' and so i can read my book in peace--

Through the day is another matter, he fights sleep during the day and works himself up to screaming regularly. I work through everything until I find something that will make him drop off, today boob worked, yesterday cuddles, Saturday I had to just lay him down and he self settled...wish he'd make his mind up!

Lis your cake sounds amazing, you've inspired me to get baking, just need to decide what now!

Sorry mis counted earlier it was 18ozs over 2 sessions! I'm not a dairy cow!!

Cake done! And I'm just enjoying a scone with a !

Well I let PIL take M out around the park on Saturday morning while DH and I went out for breakfast (after I'd stopped sobbing when they left the house). It was all ok and they brought her back bang on time but I'm glad DH was there to look after me and I hope PIL don't think it'll be a regular event.
[did I already post about this?]

The cotbed is now built and once we've got some bedding I might try M in it for naps occasionally.

Has anyones DC worked out laughing? M keeps trying but seems to just give herself hiccups :o

P laughs chilli, the first time was when her dad was making really stupid faces at her and saying in a high voice "do a big smile for daddy" I tried the same trick but she doesn't do it for me. She also laughed when the HV tickled her under the chin at her 13wk check so I can get her to laugh for me too by doing the same. There was a thread recently asking about your parenting aims/style and one lady said she was happy as long as all her children did a proper big belly laugh everyday. Excellent advice which I aim to ensure I do with my two as if you're having a tough day nothing cheers you up more

lis B obviously agreed with you that AM was a PITA hence the good behaivour whilst you were busy baking.

DS is currently eating his tea after an afternoon making sandcastles in the garden and P is still asleep in her bouncy chair out there. Time for a

T giggles constantly, it is hilarious! He is incredibly ticklish, he cracks up when I'm taking his clothes on and off He also starts to giggle as he approaches the boob....

Liv - that is one of my markers of a successful day too :)

Ali S has developed the habit of giggling while he's on the boob wish I knew what was so amusing! But then I love seeing him laugh and smile, even at 4am when he wakes us up because he's got his legs stuck between the cot bars, little loon was laughing his head off at that one!

Hellooooo, my laptop has been on the blink for ages but I'm back!!! :)

All ok here, M is being a star, only up once a night, normally around 4.30/5, though DS2 is often up from 5ish so it's an early start to the day.

Managed shopping with both DS1 & M today, had to get a skirt for a funeral this week (with M, hmm) as no black allowed, included a feed + nappy change in TK Maxx

Welcome back JKS! Thanks for all the feedback on the Sensational Baby Sleep Plan. I think that's what I had in mind, too - use it as a guide rather than law. I don't mind her waking up once in the night, but I see the sense of trying to get her to take her whole daily allowance of calories during the day to maximise the chance of her sleeping well. And the daytime naps thing (much, much less good routine on that score). Natzer I agree that it seems much more likely to succeed earlier with bottle-fed babies. The little devil on my right shoulder is telling me to give up flogging a dead horse with breasfteeding and go with formula, routine and more sleep!

I just ventured out on my first night out with the girls with Joanna in tow. Nothing raucous, we just went for a curry but had to trek into Euston to meet them. Still I was pretty proud. She was an angel, biffling around happily in her pram whilst we ate. AND we had to go straight from swimming. I have to say, we're loving the Water Babies classes. 7 weeks into term, and she did three solo underwater swims today. I say swims - she really just floats a bit, but she's on her own under the water. It's both terrifying and very proud-making . My friend whose toddler did it as a baby says that they're swimming through hoops under water by the end of the second term. I can't imagine that but am excited by the possibility!

Hi all, have been lurking lots but never seem to find the time to type.....am having such a lovely time in general with S who is just so alert and giggly and gorgeous.

But advice please - he's very gregarious and will be held and play with anyone, and loves playing with his Daddy, but if he gets upset, only Mummy will do. Although this is sort of lovely, it's becoming a bit distressing - for example, I went out last night and left S with DP and a bottle of expressed milk. I came back to find that S had cried for 2 hours out of the 4 and had refused the bottle. I sat down and tried and after a couple of minutes S was glugging away and grinning at me. And it makes me sad to admit it but I felt really cross with him on DP's behalf. And a bit despairing about getting me-time back again - not to mention nursery in September.... Any ideas on how to break this? I thought they weren't supposed to be clingy like that until much later on?

Daisy we're having the same issue. I think it's because DH holds and wraps M differently, so he's not feeling as secure because he's just not used to the way he's being cuddled IYSWIM. Then he gete upset because he's not secure and it all goes pearshaped.

The answer in my eyes would be for DH to spend more time with him, just cuddling and carrying, but he works a lot and he's reluctant to do that because he prefers to put M down and play/interact with him. There's a whole side issue about him not reading the signals and therefore getting and overtired, overstimulated little boy who doesn't know how to wind down therefore cries and that gets interpreted as needing to be fed which just ends up in bottle refusal and more upset...

Daisy we have the same here, S still won't take a bottle or cup and can be very 'mummy's boy' when he wants. I did have a bit of a meltdown the other day telling DH that I need to be get out on my own and not spend the whole time stressing that S isn't eating.

Like Frak says DH and I have different ways of holding/cuddling S and DH isn't always confident with some things, though he's taken over bath time for the most part which is helping with his confidence and helping S relax with him.

I just had an email about sorting out returning to work P/T (or my applying to do so they can refuse), has resulted in a bit of wibble

daisy ds1 would never take a bottle, ever, after he was about 6 weeks old.

Once he was 6 months we introduced water in a beaker which he was fine with and I got a bit of time to myself back.

Morning!

Frak & Daisy, we're having the same daddy issues here.

DH is on day off today, so it's operation cuddle!

Morning all. I typed a long post last night, then bloody well managed to delete it by mistake
Lis your expressing skills are pretty legendary, 18oz is amazing I've not even expressed at all this time round, which does make me pretty tied to the baby. Not spent any longer than a few hours away from him yet, and certainly not been out in the evening, so beginning to think that I probably should have tried expressing and giving G a bottle sooner.

All of you who have good sleeping babies I am v . 3-4 hour stretches at night is our maximum here before G wakes wanting feeding. Consequently I am still knackered. I remember dd slept for at least 5-6 hours by 12 weeks, but heigh ho, every baby is different and he is starting to nap a bit more during the day.

Dd is trying my patience big time at the moment, very disobedient and defiant. I can't really leave her in the same room as G or she will try and pick him up. She was in time-out yesterday and I told her she needed to be as quiet as a mouse. She replied "mice are not quiet because they squeak", she certainly does have an answer for everything.

Dairy I am trying to put off thinking about returning to work.

T kind of bottle did you use Daisy? H is a but funny about the Medela one but will used the Tommee Tippee closer to nature ones. We also found that once I'd given him milk from a bottle a few times he was happier to take it from DP.

The wedging H slightly on his side has meant we've returned to six-hour stretches, fingers crossed it'll last...

JenAt - ds mostly only does 3-4 hours at night, so you're not alone! Luckily he goes down early in the evening so at least I get some me time. I'm hoping his sleep improves when he goes into his room because I have started to hit the wall - just in time for the school holidays and the end of pre school (oh crap)

Ds has also turned into a shouty, 'no', 'why?', 'in a minute' monster. He is mostly lovely but he has certainly become more volatile with his behaviour. Before he was so easy to predict, but now he kicks off at the most unexpected things. This too shall pass ..........

Wrt to your babies and dh, I would agree with what Frakk said. Men do find it hard to interact with small babies, but that's no excuse. Whenever dp is at home, give them the baby once it has had a feed. This is the time they are at their most content, so pass them over and get your dp spending time with them. The lo's enjoy just being walked around and talked to. Walking around the garden and talking about the plants and animals is a good one because you can just waffle away and you don't need a two way conversation to keep the talking going!

I'd also say if you plan to go out and leave baby with your dp, maybe dp doing a feed becomes a regular thing, rather than just doing it when you go out.

Or,do nothing! Once your lo isn't so dependant on you for feeds, your dp can get even more involved. I must admit, as much as I am a champion for breastfeeding, I bloody love it when they start eating. For me it's a relief that I am no longer the sole source of nourishment and breastfeeding becomes much more of a joy as it's an excuse for a lovely long milky cuddle, because from around 6 months they seem to start moving and not wanting to be held quite so much. There is more to the world than mum and a boob!

Blimey, some of our babies are well over half way towards weaning already! Where have the weeks/months gone?

I got 7pm to 6am last night - holy cow! Unfortunately I think it was because C has a bit of a tummy upset and wasn't feeling too well. He's gone down for a nap now though, with a few negotiations!

I also have the thing where C will need me for comfort if he's really upset. I think it's just the person who holds them most. DH tends to hold him more upright and sometimes he wants to sleep in someone's arms and it's not as soothing. I agree it's about getting them to spend as much time together as they can and I try to help DH read signals without sounding like I'm telling him what to do all the time. Also, I try not to take over the instant C is being difficult as I think it helps their bonding. It can be hard listening to C crying and not stepping in but I tend to think that sometimes I've had major crying sessions to deal with and I've got through it.

I'm lucky as C has always been bottle fed and DH got involved early as it was one of the few things we could do with C when he was in hospital, so we took it in turns. Now C will feed just as happily with DH as with me, which is fab. Again, I think it's a case of the more they get used to it the easier it will be.

Just back from the cake off! T'wasn't that exciting! I was imagining a High Noon style stand off, cakes in hand, babies going feral. But no! AM was far to busy kissing someones arse, she barely looked my way. I don't even think she realised I hadn't brought the requested lemon drizzle. Anyway, I bought a slice of her chocolate cake, and if I'm honest, it was nice, but it did taste like one of those Betty Crocker mixes not that I have ever used one. When I left there was one slice of my cake left and 2 or 3 of hers so I'm claiming victory!!

I feel quite about all your lovely comments on my expressing, I think those who are still EBF have far more patience and willpower than I do. And I'm only expressing, B doesn't feed at all from me, so the volumes I'm getting are the same as what you guys are feed directly. But thank you all, I think I would have given up weeks ago if it wasn't for the support I've had on here.

Mmm yes, weaning... I've been thinking about that as we approach the 3 month mark ILTMI

Not that I wish to be a pushy, overanxious, keen to wean parent but when's everyone else thinking of starting? We want to BLW so probably quite late but I swear DS is tracking food with his eyes already in anticipation. My MIL has already told me I should be thinking about baby rice and purees and offered to buy me one of those overpriced pointless baby blenders. She sounded most put out when I explained we were just going to give M a bit of what we were eating. Either she has issues with our diet or she's hurt I'm not taking the time to whip up bizarre delicious combinations for her PFGS.

Thanks, guys, for all your comments - it's certainly nice to know it's so normal!! I think the thing that upsets me most is that DP is SUCH a hands on daddy, I'm really lucky, he has always wanted to spend lots of time with S and be a 50/50 parent, he handles and cuddles him with confidence, and they have a very close relationship of their own, so it seems really unfair that all that love and effort counts for nothing at certain times! The bottle is not the issue really, S will drink quite happily from it, and had done from Daddy and Grandma in the past, but yes, I think making it a more regular thing will help on those evenings when I'm out and pave the way for nursery.

We're also in the 4 hours sleep if you're lucky camp, seems like there are enough of us that it isn't worth panicking about yet....

Love the imagined cake stand off Lis, I've just iced my lemon drizzle cake acshually...[smug face]

Sounds like your cake definitely won.

I'll be weaning at 26 weeks, or as close as dammit, give or take a couple of weeks. I'll also be blw again. I started pureeing with ds1 but quickly realised it was a faff and when I read about blw it just made so much sense to me, From the markers it tells you about when a baby is ready to wean, to the way it seems so natural and intuitive.

I likes to watch us eat, but then he likes to watch us do anything. he'll grab at anything that is within his grasp. He seems to have go go gadget arms.