December 2010 - 'I read the manual, she shouldn't be doing this just yet!'

[DuelingFanjo]

Tah-Dah! New thread, hope this is ok.

old thread here

So our babies are becoming more independent, saying more, eating more and bumping into stuff... Seems to have gone so quickly!

How are you all doing? How is it being back in work (some of you)? I have a month left before I go back and leaving Bob with my mum is getting harder rather than easier :( I want to spend more time with him not less, though I do understand that I have to let him go and get used to being with her. Not looking forward to the settling in at the nursery but hope by October it will all seem normal for both of us.

Max hope you had fun at Lee Evans!

Glad M is healing well 93pjb and he is enjoying having the bandages off and getting in the bath.

Quick question to everyone - can you tell me what solids your little ones are eating and roughly how much and how much milk they are having (etierh quantity of FF or number roughly of BF). Am panicking about return to work Monday as we still can't get any milk into William other than via the boob and although his solids are ok, his cup drinking seems to be going downhill. Am getting a bit worried he's going to starve!

WLL
Hugh has
A weetabix made with warm water and a splash of milk for breakfast
4oz before morning nap
Lunch either a bowl of pureed veg or some pasta and sauce or stew followed by yoghurt and either a banana or a couple of those organic biscotti biscuits
4oz milk mid afternoon
Dinner either 2 rusks mashed with warm water or whatever his sister is having for tea - tonight scrambled eggs, toast and smoked salmon, tomorrow will be roast beef dinner
Bed time 8oz milk
Over night varies sometimes no extra milk sometimes up to 8 oz
He also has water and milk to hand during the day
Has a beaker but prefers a bottle still
Looking at it like that he does eat loads however hasn't gained more than a couple of ounces past 2 months as he is now mobile ( not quite walking independently) and climbing stairs
He only has one nap in the am and is on the go the rest of the time
Up at 0630 bed by 1830
Hope that helps

Bob has mostly breastmilk. We are lucky if we get 3 or 4 spoonfulls of food into him at each meal, though he does shove a lot of fruit, veg, ricecakes etc in.

I give him porridge and yoghurt at breakfast, something from a jar with lots of fruit/veg at lunchtime and the same at dinner.

In nursery he has a bit of toast, some veg etc but only small quantities. I feed him on demand and at nursery I send over 3 oz of expressed milk then breastfeed him at about 2pm when I go over.

93pjb glad M's improving

WLL it took a ridiculous amount of time to get there - we only live 25mins drive from the 02 but because of inexplicable traffic, it took almost 1.5hrs! However, Lee Evans was fab (as he always is) and he said he'd had a special request to do his Bohemian Rhapsody mime so he treated us to that at the end of the show.

Matty's average food day is:
210ml of milk
1 weetabix with whole milk and sometimes a slice of buttered toast
homemade baby food - either just veg, meat and veg, fish and veg or pasta (I store them in 100ml pots and he normally cleans the bowl) or occasionally finger sandwiches follwed by yoghurt or pureed fruit
some raisins or such like mid-afternoon
210ml of milk
homemade baby food - same as before followed by rice pudding or pureed fruit or a rusk with warm milk
210ml of milk before bed

DF how's work going?

Unfortunately my work have realised they overpaid me a few months back and told me today they will be claiming it back in 2 hits Jan and Feb.

I'm very impressed with myself as I've started my xmas shopping - extremely unlike me to be this organised.

Bea has been a little bit off her food this week and wanting everything cold and preferably things she can gum. It's been exhausting with the heat and she's had a bit of nappy rash. This all led me (slightly excitedly) to the conclusion she must be getting her first tooth... but still no sign and she's back to normalish with her food.

She has boob in bed, then toast/croissant with nutella or butter and yoghurt and some fresh fruit (whatever is in the fridge - bananas, strawberries and blueberries were still on offer this week) I give it to her as whole as possible.

She then has a mid morning snack of a rice cake and boob.

Lunch and Tea are similar, often veg/meat/pasta/rice combo. We've moved to slightly chunkier things, but still cooked 'til soft. Mainly eating our leftovers from dinner and a few pouches or jars for variety. My cooking isn't the best and she's getting more adventurous with taste. She's had a mild thai green curry and morrocan lamb and couscous. Dessert is either biscotti/rusk/yoghurt/custard and fruit.

Afternoon snack of fruit/rice cake/biscotti and boob.

8oz bottle at 10pm which she guzzles back quite happily, pushed it to 9oz and she'd leave that last ounce, so 8's her limit.

She has cooled boiled water, going through 6-8oz a day in the warmth, but normally about 4oz. Offered with her meals.

We have been referred to a consultant as she's still following the bottom line and I'm fed up of the HV going on and on at me to keep force feeding her, feeding her butter as a snack and changing to a special formula to help weight gain. I hope that they are going to say that she's just small and that's that and the HV can jog on.

Hey all,

so glad to hear M is getting better 93pjb, I have taken heed of your warning and try to be really careful about hot drinks now.

Work is OK. I like being back but it's very slow and that makes coping with being away from Bob harder. I work in an environment where technology changes has meant my role has changed and people use our services less so on Friday me and my work mate were fighting over enquiries. I will need more to do if I am going to feel happy to be back and have Bob in childcare so much.

He is slowly settling into the nursery but it has been hard. After the few hours settling in he got ill so I was off for an extra week then he had to start all over again. I am sure he is happy while he is there but I go to pick him up with my heart in my mouth as most times as soon as he sees me he gets really upset, cries and holds his arms out for me. I then feel like the worst mum in the world and worry that he hates me and has had a terrible day. On Monday he cried so much once he was in his car seat that I had to stop twice on the way home :( he's also started feeding like crazy, particularly in the evening and first thing in the morning. I do go over to feed him at lunchtime if he is in the nursery for a whole day but even that is upsetting as he is so pleased to see me but then gets upset when I go.

I know it will get better, everyone says so, but it's so hard :( plus DH doesn't get any of the guilt or the upset because I am the only one dropping him off and picking him up.

Oh gosh, poor M 93pjb... That can so easily happen but is a good lesson in extra care for us all. Hope he's doing better and is enjoying having the bandages off.

DF - how is nursery this week? I can totally sympathise with the drop off anxiety and the tears on pick up. My Ds1 was like that even though I knew he was happy when there because I had watched him once when he didn't know and he was happy as anything. I'm afraid to say it went on for ages but he really was OK. And at 7, there are no bad knock on effects - he's a confident happy boy. I think when he sees you he feels such a surge of emotion that it just comes out in tears because he cant deal with it all yet. Hope work gets better - I can't remember what you do? Was it something in a library?

Food wise jude has -

Brekkie - 8oz bottle plus cereal / toast

Lunch - Food pouch and some fruit / breadsticks / raisins etc

8oz milk for snack

Dinner - the same dinner as the rest of us if possible

8oz milk before bed

8oz millk in the night

He seems happy enough but doesn't tend to eat much breaskfast which I think its because of the night time milk - but he likes the milk and i dont mind getting up so wont rush to change.

Jude also has his first tooth!!!! not bad for 10 months he still has very little hair. My pals girl who was born at the same time has loads of hair and loads of teeth but is not crawling or rolling over yet. So I think Jude is just concentrating on the movement things rather than the cosmetic stuff .

Had a wonderful weekend last weekend as I took my 2 big DS's on a overnight trip to visit my friend and we did legoland and a farm and it was just wonderful. Jude stayed at home with my DH and they had a good time too. First time I was away from Jude and I missed him like mad but it was a brilliant baby free weekend with my 2 big babies . I'm definately going to do it again as they got so much out of having a bit more attention.

Hope all going well - our building work and new kitchen almost done !!!!! Phew - its been tricky with all the dirt and dust but almost there - well worth it...

Hey Chooster, I work in a library for a well known broadcaster so we provide stuff to programme makers.

Bob went to nursery on Monday but was really really upset, I had tuesday off and now he should be at my mum's house but I have a sore throat and he's off-colour too so I called in sick which I hate doing. I really don't want him to be missing days in nursery (or at my mums) as I don't think it helps his settling in.

My DH can't wait to go to lego land glad you had a fab time.

Hi everyone, saw the new thread and thought I'd pop in, i'll try and keep up again!

93pjb so sorry to hear about M but glad he's getting better.

Struggling here with early wakings anytime from 4.30am and they are up for the day mostly it's 5.30am though I try not to feed them though (still BF) until closer to 6am though in the hope that it will encourage them to sleep longer. DP thinks we should put them to bed later, but by 7pm I'm so ready for them to be in bed and from what I've read a later bedtime won't make any difference. Any advice anyone?

WLL I do BF 6am ish
Breakfast 8am, I rotate between 1.5 weetabix with a whole mashed banana & cows milk (between the 2 of them, 1 bowl, 1 spoon), readybrek with either grated apple or fruit puree in it, & sometimes Toast with philadelphia, strips of omelette and pieces of avocado and they feed themselves.
9.30am/10am depending in how early they woke up I do another BF before they nap (30 mins to 1.5 hours depending on the day)
12pm lunch mostly home cooked favourite is small pasta with cauliflower cheese puree, both ok with fairly lumpy food now. Then some fruit or a yogurt
nap in afternoon (30 mins to 1.5 hours depending on the day)
3pm I've now dropped the BF as I want to stop at some point and thought I'd do it a feed at a time, but they will take literally 50ml of formula, so i've been giving them a banana. They have water from a doidy cup and I use that but it's difficult with 2 for milk so I bought Nuk learner beakers that after 2 weeks they are just getting the hang of, so stick with it.
5pm dinner meat, veg etc both good eaters and often a jar of rice pudding etc.
then bath, story, and BF bed at 7pm.
Often hear a cry at 2.30am but they go back to sleep within 5-10 mins, so I don't go in.
I just need to fix the early waking and drop a feed every few weeks as I started to feel like I've had enough of BF.

Hi All,

DF if it's any consolation, Bob might be very teary becasue he's tired by the end of the day. He doesn't hate you for leaving him in nursery - you mean the world to him and you said yourself, he's thrilled to see you. If you're worried, speak to the nursery staff who I am sure will be able to reassure you about how he is when you aren't there. I remember having what felt like nothing to do when I first went back to work after having DD - they'd employed an extra person so we had the same amount of work but spread amongst 3 of us instead of 2. It did take time to adjust but things settled down.

Lavita I sympathise on the sleep front. DD slept really well as a baby but has got worse as she gets older. Last Thursday, she was awake at 4.15am - I had to go in and tell her to do whatever it was she was doing quietly as it was still the middle of the night! IME making bedtime later doesn't have the desired effect - they still wake up at the same time, but are just grumpy and tired. You could try limiting the length of their naps during the day to see if that wears them out.

So what do your LO's like to play with - Matty's favourite toy at the mo is a wooden spoon.

df sounds a lot like a response to separation anxiety to me. Both of mine have been like that - fine when I'm not there but distraught at the sight of me. I think it was just them realising they'd been without me and getting upset at the idea more than anything else. I'd say go easy on yourself but I bet you'll soon find something else to feel guilty about, I know I do!

M is completely healed now but not a pretty sight. It should be his swimming lesson tomorrow but I can't quite face exposing him to public view yet, maybe next week... He doesn't look that bad but the rest of him is completely perfect so it really jars iyswim.

Saw the dietician today at last about his dairy allergy and now have a formula prescription so hopefully I can swap 2 daytime feeds to ff and avoid expressing once I'm back at work next month.

Sleep is a lot better. I think he was just not feeding enough in the day because he was too distracted and feeding all night to make up. I have started to timetable feeds and plan a quiet location etc. At home dd stays downstairs with the tv and I feed upstairs with the blinds shut. It really seems to be working, we've gone from 3-4 wakings on the best nights to a dream feed at 10pm and 1 waking at 4.30am. Really hope it lasts so I can avoid leaving him to cry as I am just not able to do it!

Toywise anything that moves or makes a noise. Opening doors on a play kitchen can keep him occupied for a looooong time! Spoons are popular here too especially with a pot to bang.

Eek, sorry for v long post.

Hello I found you! Just marking my spot really. Night!

Morning all just popping on quick before o get ready for work
DF Hugh is the same with separation and he is home with DH all day - still reacts when I come and go as if he is heartbroken. 10 months is when separation anxiety hits so I wouldn't worry too much.

Just wanted to come and say

Hugh took his first steps on his own yesterday way too soon but he's been really mobile and mastered the stairs a few weeks ago. Sorry but I was really excited as he did it when I was home

Better go as he is shouting in his cot

Congratulations and well done Hugh. You are definitely entitled to a proud mummy moment MrsSL!

Well done Hugh, what a clever boy! Matty has started standing on his own and has climbed up the bottom stair, so I'm hoping his first steps aren't too far away.

We had a child-free night last night . My DSis had my DD and our nephew overnight and my DM&D offered to take Matty so that we could have a real night off. I have to say, the highlight was not being woken up at silly o'clock. DH and I went to the cinema and got a takeaway from a local Turkish restaurant that was absolutely delicious.

93pjb glad to hear M is healed up. I'm not sure if I've said on our threads before but I have a very obvious birthmark that gets a lot of unwanted attention. But as someone who's lived with something so visually different, I'd say do your best to get on with things as normally as you can. My DM&D have always behaved as if my birthmark wasn't there and as a result, I grew up being pretty much oblivious to it. I became more aware of it when I got older, but the fact that nothing was made of it when I was small meant I've never felt disadvantaged by it. In M's case, I'm sure he'll have more treatment carried out to minimise the scarring so imho it would be a shame to hold him back from stuff in the meantime. Hope I'm not overstepping the mark here and I certainly don't mean to suggest I know how you feel, because I don't. But I do have an idea of what it feels like from M's perspective iyswim.

Matty and I visited friends on Weds. His friend is only 10 days older than him and it was lovely watching them 'playing' together while my friend and I caught up. She's already back at work and filled me in on some of the goss. Turns out the person we appointed to cover my mat leave has gone and got another job within the trust so my team are going to be left short until I go back. At elast I'll be extra appreciated when I return

Have a good week.

MrsSL that's really exciting!! Bea did three steps a week or two ago and it's spooked her, she's more content cruising around the room, hanging onto the fireguard. She's started to stand on her own and can gracefully [more so than me] return to a sitting position.

93pjb glas to hear M is getting better, you won't notice it soon. DSis had an awful dog bite as a baby and has scars all over her face, we just don't see it now and it doesn't hold her back from her very active social life [whoever he may be!] There are some really good products on the market to help with scar healing and flexibility.

max I love watching Bea interact with other babies.

I handed in my notice finally, my boss was almost in tears and admitted that they've really missed me and value me more than they ever thought possible, glowed a little bit. Have added my name to the 'bank' list of help as a temp here and there. He was very pleased when I said that as I know they have hell with temps. MiL is quite happy to mind Bea, but not too regularly. :) I'm being really tight with money, only a few presents from me and Rob this year, but she won't notice as everyone else will spoil her rotten and she has so much stuff already.

Her favourite toy is my old mobile phone with the battery removed or the metal measuring spoons. Stuff the expensive toys DM&D buy her!

M took his first steps this afternoon. This should enable him to pursue his new toilet diving hobby with even more vigour.... I am very proud really but also quite scared!

kelle that's really great feedback from work - what a nice note to end on

df thank you for sharing that, it's a really useful perspective to add. It's mainly my guilt at having failed to protect him that makes me feel wary about putting us in a situation where I have to explain to people who know he didn't always look like that what has happened. But you are absolutely right, I shouldn't stop him doing stuff he loves. Hopefully, he won't have any longterm scarring but I need to be careful about messages I am giving him and his sister in the meantime.

Is anyone noticing much speech from their little ones? I think m says hiya (mostly to strangers on the bus), dada (daddy) and lala (big sister, Charlotte). Sadly no attempt at mama as far as I can see

Quick question for those of you still bf'd or finished recently, when and how do you plan on stopping?

I've dropped the afternoon feed and offer formula and a banana as they don't drink much. Still doing a wake up BF feed approx 5.30am aarrgh one at 9.30am before their nap and bedtime 7pm. I use a Nuk teated beaker but they seem to bite it more than suckle, do you think I should buy normal bottles? I get confused because I've read you should stop bottle at 1 year but no one seems to do this

I am going to think about stopping at a year and see how I go. Considering the fact that I intended putting DS into his own room at 6 months yet he is still in bed with me I imagine I might keep going with the breastfeeding for longer though I think him now being in Nursery could mean that I give up day feeding soon.

I would keep going with a beaker/sippy cup. Bob hasn't had a bottle since he was a newborn and will happily take feeds in teh day from a cup.

I also have a quick question. Carpet burns... anyone have babies with them? I picked Bob up from nursery earlier in the week and he had a red mark on his nose which got worse over the next day. Looks like a carpet burn but as we don't have carpets in the house it could only have happened in nursery. I just wonder how easy it would be for a baby to burn their nose on the carpet by just falling? No one in nursery mentioned a fall.

I'm so late arriving on this thread.

LaVitaBellissima - am still bf'ing, to be honest DS has been gradually cutting down over the last few months, so was going to see if the trend continues. I'm not planning on trying to wean him off just yet. He has morning and bedtime feeds, usually two inbetween, and sometimes one in the night, i.e. 4-5 over 24 hours. I am persevering with a cup, but know what you mean about the biting. I think of using a bottle as a kind of 'regression' and I don't want him to get used to one at this stage.

DuelingFanjo - my DS has had carpet burn on his knees from crawling, however it has faded within a few hours. He would have had to fall and... skid on the carpet to get it on his nose. Sounds more like a bruise-type mark if it got worse the next day, possibly from falling and hitting on something else? Sorry if this sounds ignorant but what kind of info do the nursery give you? My DS falls over quite a bit at home - do they have to note it all down?

I have had ine accident form, when bob slipped and it is head on a toy which was fixed to the wall. They just wrote it down and put a cross on the part of the body he hit. Maybe because it was his head it needed to be reported so I could keep an eye on him. Bob did fall off a step into the kitchen this week so maybe that's wat it was, though a scab formed and then fell off today so who knows.

Bob just won't eat a thing at the moment, he is all over my boobs but won't let me feed him solids and just squishes everything I let him hold. I wonder if it's a phase.

Ruby just took 3 steps on her own.

Oh god!!!

Hope the rest of you and your babies are all well

OWO fantastic it's great to see them moving about isn't it!
Had to get new shoes for huge this week he'd gone up a whole size in 4 weeks!
Third tooth about to make an appearance here

93pjb glad I could offer some light from a different pov. WRT explaining yourself, I can honestly say that most parents wouldn't think you'd been lax in 'letting' it happen. Accidents are just that and most people will just be thankful it hadn't happened to their LOs. Oh and well done M on your first steps!

OWO well done Ruby!

df IME you get an accident report for pretty much everything, it's not purely because it involved his head. Hope he's ok now.

lavita your girls must be coming up for 1 now aren't they?

Matty's really steady on his feet but won't even attempt a step. I think we'll be cruising here for a good while longer.

Hi ladies and babies!!

Maxpower - Jude is the same, he can stand on his own, cruise around but doesnt seem to want to walk alone just yet. I hope soon as he get quite cross when he's been in his buggy too long which makes day trips with the bigger boys a little trying, or he ends up filthy from crawling around on muddy grass!

Well done to all the walkers!! I love it once they are on their feet and a bit more mobile. We had a taste of it yesterday out in our garden (sunny yeah!!!!!) with the big ones playing away and Jude cruising around with his baby walker. We still only have 2 teeth tho!!!!

Lavita - You could always give the more traditional bottles a try... I personally wouldn't worry about introducing them now. I understand what cocopops says about it seeming like a regression, but if it works for now then why not. If you want to stop bf you need to do whatever works to get enough milk in them. I've always been quite slow to stop things that are working so my boys didnt stop having a bottle of milk at night until they were 2 or maybe even 3. It was good for them and they liked it and it wasnt doing any harm so why worry about it? Regardless of when babies grow out of things everyone is at the same point by the time they are 4 or so.

DF - Is Bob better at nursery now? Shame about his nose - Yes, I think he could have done that on a carpet, particularly if it was quite a rough carpet which they tend to be at nursery. Jude has had a similar one on his chin .