CRESH - Crap ham, stinky Brie, gin and lol'ing at birth plan believers

[AlpinePony]

Heeyah.

I have yet to try BF in the Kari-Me, I can only do the basic wrap.

Spent the afternoon at the Children's Hospital, getting the EEG. Remember the thing I googled? Yes, it's that. Prognosis uncertain, could go many ways.

Crap medee I'm so sorry. Just Heading off to bed but saw your post and didn't want to not reply iyswim. Will it be a waiting game to see how it develops or more tests? I hope some of the 'many ways' are that EA could have few or manageable symptoms? If so try to hang on to that.

honey I wish I were off somewhere special , but it's just the boys are going back to Scotland and I figured rather than go with them and endure "forced niceness to distant relatives" I'd have a week with just me and "in utero" before all hell breaks loose. Will groom the horse, go swimming, get a pedicure type stuff.

medee I don't really know what to say but I hope you're looking after yourself. :(

meds don?t really know what to say but much love. Just remember you have a gorgeous daughter who you adore and no diagnosis can change that.

Well mooncup stationed. lights I did have trouble positioning it, but that is probably due to having not used it for 2 years so forgotten how. moo that?s the joy of the mooncup, you don?t really need to do anything in public loos (well I don?t anyway, I guess is depends how heavy flow you have) as I only find I need to change it at home, it lasts through a work day no worries.

Oh Meds i am so sorry. Thinking of you and your little family. xxx

Oh Meds, so so sorry to hear that. It's every parent's worst fear. Is there still a good chance the effect might be minimal? Maybe the early diagnosis will mean a lot can be done early with therapies etc to compensate? Don't know what to say so here's a big from me. (I'm a new recruit so don't care what the rules are re die hard ESHness).

Re Mooncup - what Cosmo says is true. I used mine on a cycling/camping trip across Scotland - would rinse it out once in the shower in the morning, and once in the evening, in public loos all the way. I'd say it's less of an inconvenience 'cos you don't have to worry about running out of "supplies". Oddly, my droids appear to have become lighter post partum. I was rather expecting the reverse...

meds Thinking of you and your lovely E. I can't offer much in the way of anything useful, but have plentiful supplies of 'being here for you' and some slightly out of date cheese.

I am a mooncup virgin. And terrified of accidents. Knowing me it would be the worst possible spillage at some important work meeting, etc. Should I take the leap?

I?d give it a try fans. I have found it strangely liberating. No need to carry tampons everywhere, and it?s never leaked, whereas I often used to get leaks with tampons. And it ?saves ?shed loads of --dosh? is eco friendly.

cos Yes I suppose I should. Everyone seems to do it these days. One of my MN friends in York is a strictly organised GF devotee, and one day I bumped into her in Boots buying a mooncup! Even she is a convert now, despite her decidedly non-lentil weaving credentials.

By the way honey, your typo re snow bothies. I actually have slept in one of those! I dug a snow cave with my bare hands a snow shovel on the side of a snow covered volcano and slept the night. It was literally freezing. I used to be quite the adventurous sort, you know.

Hi medee, like everyone else, I really don't know what to say. But I am praying that your get the best possible outcome for your and your beautiful wee girl. Big hugs from me and if you want to talk about it, you know where we are.

Hi Medee - like everyone I hope that the inconclusive nature of the tests means just that, and doctors won't be drawn if there is nothing to say. We got kept on the run around for months about Alexander's heart and he is totally fine. Not the same thing of course, but I hope and pray that all of this will be a distant bad memory in a year's time when all is fine. xx

Fanny - you are like the female version of Bear Grylls! Camping in snow and force 10 winds is no joke. I remember my ex being very proud that our tent was the only one not to be blown away... God I would rather have been in the pub b&b! No I am definitely a fair weather camper these days. In fact, I do actually have secret hankerings for a caravan holiday. I literally am Hyacinth Bucket.

Mooncup sounds ideal I have to say but you still won't catch me sticking a load of rubber up my foofy. Oooh er!!!! I probably should try it though. Why does being a GF devotee not allow you to use one? I quite like lentils too... :)

I too thought honey meant a genuine snow bothie, which I thought sounded "nippy" but do-able.

Mooncups are great - just take the "bother" out of mine - although I ditched mine whilst TTC Bear because clearly my baby-making-hole had expanded with age and it started leaking. Need to get the next size up. Only thing is, the menfolk get a bit angsty when you sterilise them in the boiled egg pan.

Mooncups are all a bit more ap/slings/blw/hairy feet style of parenting though than GF is really aren?t they?

Although I have to say, I don?t think you?d put me as the hippy type on first impressions. I always think I look quite prim.

Why would you stick cotton wool up there and not a mooncup though honey? At least with a mooncup you know that you?re not leaving bits of it behind.

Although to be a true hippy you need to free bleed.

My top mooncup tip: If you're running late in the morning, don't try and remove it whilst you're running to the bathroom to try and save time. Anyone seen the lift scene from The Shining? Kind of like that, but with white tiled walls. Slippery little fuckers they are.

"Free bleed"? groooooo - and you're definitely not a 'hippy' to look at cossie!

honey Because you must know that mummies fall into two categories. Either (a) lentil weaving, co-sleeping, BLWing, mooncup using woofters, or (b) GF reading, controlled crying, Annabel Karmel, 'what does the book say?' strictly organised control freaks.

You must be one or the other. And you must also be highly vocal in your criticism of anyone who does not follow your exact style of parenting. It's the rules!

alps Is it because he is worried you are going to also ask him to sterilise his todger by this method before sticking it in your foof?

Fuck. I've not read the books at all - I thought Annabel Karmel was BLW! Please don't cast me out of motherhood!

fanny I'd be happy if he flushed the toilet every single time (!) after he did a poo and if he stopped leaving the fucking housekeys in the front door! Both of those should be punishable by todger boiling.

have you learned nothing from your time on mn alps?? AK is introduce new foods one at a time and make meals into smiley faces and disguise veg because god forbid a child should be aware of what they?re actually eating. Gill Rapley is BLW, which is in essence throw your child a kipper and some root veg and see what happens.

And as fans said, you HAVE to be one or the other. It is The Law.

I didn't know it was the law.

Morning all, thanks for the thoughts this morning. Sorry it was a bit of dramatic post-and-run last night; was knackered after explaining it all to MrM, then my mum, then prompting MrM while he told his folks, and then my brother.

As I said, she's been diagnosed with a type of epilepsy I had found when looking into it. It's an infantile form, with characteristic spasms and a characteristic EEG pattern; I was surprised to get the results of the EEG immediately, but it was so clear that it confirmed the diagnosis along with the other symptoms. She has "chaotic brain activity" which interferes with her normal brain activity - this is all the time, not just when she is having spasms - so this obviously has implications for her development. The "majority" of children with this go onto have further problems (i couldn't get a % for what majority meant) but doctor is as optimistic as it is possible to be that she could be in the "some don't" category. Things in our favour are an early diagnosis, and the fact she's already on anti-epileptic drugs, and good parents :)

Learning difficulties can mean a whole range of things, and if we can find an underlying cause, then prognosis and treatment is easier, but this isn't always possible.

She's been prescribed a steroid and if she responds within the first two weeks on that, that is good news, but they aren't without their side-effects, especially if she is on them long term.

Medee I am sorry to hear that. What a worry for you. It does sound though that she is getting the best possible early attention.

I have read all the books inc Sears, Ford (for sleep, weaning and loo), Karmel and Raply. So it is not possible to be a routine driven control freak who chucks food at her baby leaving her to figure it out and wears baby in a sling on back? Maybe MN is not for me. My baby is clearly not going to make it to a toddler.

Hope the steroids work medee. I know they aren't ideal, but they can work wonders and effects can be reversed. I was on them for six years at one point. Wonderdrugs IMO.

A question for the BLW fans. We never took a particular approach to weaning, and I now have a child who will ingest pretty much anything, as long as I can get it past her lips! She really doesn't like to be spoonfed (except at breakfast) and she seems to enjoy eating with us. When it comes to having the same meal as the rest of the family, even if that is squidgy, bitty food (like bolognaise or carbonara) do you just shove it in front of them and let them get on with it with their hands? Or should I be trying to teach her to handle cutlery?

She's been refusing food a lot this week, but I think that's because her teeth are giving her some serious gip. And she is becoming a real diva, foot stomping, batting things away, throwing her cup down. One going on terrible two... On the brighter side, she has learned to cuddle, which is lovely, until she has a fit because I have put her down again.

Artie likes to get his hands in. It does mean a lot of mess! Yesterday he had pasta sauce all over his t-shirt, face, hair, ears

He is also being a bit funny with food atm. I think some back teeth may be coming as he?s really chewing on things like I?ve never seen before.

He cuddles too, he puts his head on one side, rests his cheek on whatever part of you he can reach and goes ?aaaaahhhhhhh? it?s just gorgeous!!!

Oh and yy on the throwing things on the floor when he doesn?t want it any more.

One of the side=effects on the steroids is increased appetite. I'm not sure how that is going to go and if it were a normal growth spurt would just go with it, but wonder if I should try to supplement with formula (if I could get a bottle in her), but then I wonder if she might end up taking more than she needs and gain too much weight. Does anyone have any thoughts?

I would only supplement if she seems really unhappy despite increased bfing - unless you want to of course, ie if you feel you can't cope with increased feeding.

For my MIL (long term steroid user due to polymialgia) side effects seem to be a massive shopping habit