July 2005 Babies sitting up, giggling and rolling over into the New Year

[Bagpuss30]

Well, mine is anyway .
Here it is - a new thread to celebrate the new year with our babies.
Back later - I'm on the laptop at the mo and find it tricky to use smaller keyboard to type.

LOL mb. Hope the food poisoning disappears ASAP. yeeeeeeeuuuuch.

Just out of interest, can you describe a handful of successful finger food ideas ? We're just on splodged purées.

So far he likes:

mini rice cakes
baby biscuits (I snap them in half for twice the use)
rye bread with garlic or any other cream cheese (kid you not)
dry toast
apple, raw
carrot, slightly cooked
gruyere and mild cheddar cheeses
tomato flesh (skin/seeds removed, needs to be a firm one!)
boiled, cold new potato
saltfree oatcake

These are things we are having ourselves around mostly. He is also using bikkipegs very happily to teeth on, they are very hard baked wheatgerm and water.

With the non biscuit/rice cake finger food I cut it into thin sticks for him to hold in his fist and get a bite into his mouth himself. I also cut very small cubes: he tries to pick them up with a pincer movement which works infrequently but he is getting miles better every day. I also insert small cubes when he is getting frustrated so he can get some food!

Though he can tend to stuff his face and pouch things he doesn't do it much and I check in there everynow and then by getting him to open his mouth for something so I can see how well he is doing.

When it comes to swallowing, he has 3 reactions. 1) a headshake and 'gah' as he gets used to a new texture which is fine 2) a gagging cough which is more of the above and means he is figuring things out which I let him get on with 3) silence and mouth open and drooping which is choking. This is um, not good. He's done it twice and I've got the stuff up by laying him head down over my knee and patting his back. Carrot was the culprit both times.

As you can tell I am not getting out much but I am really enjoying this food thing with him

Golly, Vin is doing awfully well with food isn't he? DD has ambitious ideas but lacks the necessary skills . She spurns most puree but lunges at any food I'm eating. The only problem is that she gags/chokes/vomits very easily so she isn't getting much food down her at all. I'm just perservering - I guess it will click soon enough.

Well done on DS2's tooth, Bagpuss

dd thinks purees & spoons are pure evil. even the distraction of her own spoon doesn't work. so i've given up, & we're now purely on finger foods. i poke quite a lot in whilst she grasps things in her fist & waves them around. we had a big success today with homemade tomato/garlic/marscapone sauce with fusilli pasta - she sucked the sauce off the pasta & then chomped on it. she went mad for it, ate loads more than ds.... homemde pesto & spaghetti is also popular. she's very keen on raw apple, likes plum & mango, not so keen on banana. brocolli & salmon have also gone down well, & green beans. oh yes, cucumber & red pepper & tomato (just the flesh, like vin). she'll chomp quite happily on bread & toast, mostly with butter or the occasional scrape of marmite (&, ummmm, peanut butter but don't tell anyone - we are a totally non-allergic family).

i've been thinking about what to make next. fishcakes i think, & falafel. i've just bought some courgettes & parsnips to cook lightly & try her on. and chicken strips & tofu chunks.

actually, this post has made me feel better about her eating, as i didn't think we were doing very well, but i can see that she's got a pretty varied diet.

still breastfeeding, but her teeth aren't helping things. she's having the occasional experimental bite which is agony, but i think the main problem is that her teeth have slightly changed the way she latches on. ooooooooowwwwwwwwww.

god, this is an essay!

satsumas

to you too

lol! ds2 eating virtually anything I put in front of him really! He also likes those little baby biscuits and fingers of toast and is partial to a bit of fresh bread roll (its a bit like feeding the ducks, lol).

hc, my dd got teeth at 9 months and I fed her until 12 months so I can just about remember what you must be going through. Her latch should adjust soon, but it hurts I do agree.

Hope the weekend is treating you all well, have to go now and play with children!

Hi everyone- hope all are well. I am marooned in the house at present under a mountain of boxes which are growing by the day, only 6 days until we move house, yippee!
dd is also having loads of fun with her food- I have been very industrious in the kitchen and made her enough pots of lovely veggies to last her until adulthood it seems. There is nothing she doen't like so far- she even wolfed down broccolli yesterday which I was amazed at as it's quite a strong taste for little babes.
No teeth so far so it's puree at the way for us- and congrats on all the July teeth so far!
Work is going well if very busy- although I had my first big work night out on Thursday and there was far too much wine for a girl with no self control- I seem to remember dancing wildly with one of our directors... I am in a serious shame spiral and have to face them all at work again tomorrow, not looking forward to that much!
Anyway, back to the packing- hope you are all unpacked mb and settled in- I can't wait for it to be our turn on Saturday!
catch you all soon, xx

All these big eaters! Does anyone have any tips for getting them to be enthusiastic about food? I give DD her own spoon to mess around with and for a while that worked - I could pop the puree into her mouth when she was waving her own spoon around. But recently she has been clamping her mouth tight shut when I go near it. As I mentioned earlier, she gags and vomits really easily so I don't think she is ready for finger food.

LOL at your shame spiral DaF I haven't been out since she before DD was born - how sad is that!

I'm approaching my annual sulk-fest aka my birthday! I flounce around muttering about being old and loathsome and this year will be accompanied by DS1 (6) telling me "you'll be 35 next week mummy, act your age" . I think I'll order lots of lovely make-up online to cheer myself up. Oh, and I weighed myself yesterday and I'm only a stone overweight! I thought I was at least a couple of stone so I'm quite pleased.

Mrs D - you are just a youngster!

DaF - at your party. Hope all goes well with the house move.

Merryberry - hope the pills work. Didn't realise you could take that and still breastfeed.

I was going to ask everyone question about food and you've partly answered it. Just started ds on solids on Wed and its going OK so far but quite slowly. Was going to ask how much in quantity your baby eats and how soon did you get them onto 3 meals a day? I am being lazy as I could look up my diaries for dd an ds1. Of course every baby is different.

dd is so easy to please. She asked me for some spinach yesterday! Earlier she'd had green beans and a banana. She eats much more than ds1.

Thanks for all the info on finger foods... we will start to try and be a little more daring. Having said that, dd does eat anything that we purée, but I know it's important to expose them to different textures etc. etc.

I've put a new album of pictures up here .

Mrs D ? guerlain?s midnight secret cream is supposed to make you look like a teen and feel like a screen siren. I?m going to give that a go when I get my card back (eaten by cashpoint while on a late evening ice cream run, maybe the Link network is my secret dieting soul?). Re the food, maybe though a little bit of solid food will help her learn to move food around, swallow and take things easier when eating? Also, Vin doesn?t like warm mush, best for him is chilled. But that might be to do with his evil teething struggle, which we both seem to be losing.

DaF, did you get hooted at as you slinked into work? Tempted to make the house move a leave the country move? Sounds like a lot of fun that party mind, I envy you.

Eulalia, ds got up to three meals a day in about 3 weeks. He varies in the quantity he eats and when the big meal of the day is. In total though I think he would average 300g over the course of a day. I?m still struggling getting him to accept a bottle or cup. We are up to 2oz max. Nursery starts end of March. Wish me luck?

H2D, I like watching the motor skills improve even more than the food intake with finger feeding. Are you back in London yet? Love the pics, tell Dee she is looking like one foxy mamma. Now, is that set of well painted toenails in the luggage pic yours or hers? I think we should be told?.

hub - she is gorgeous! Re foods - you could maybe make food a bit lumpier now as she'd been on solids awhile now - mash rather than puree.

Sticking with one meal a day just now as its slow going even with that and I don't have enough hours in the day to sit with a baby. dd was a bit like this in the first month so I'm not worried.

Thanks for the food suggestions MB and more importantly for the skin suggestion . Funnily enough, Guerlain's Midnight Secret is on my little list that I intend to take to town this week, together with most of BeneFit's product range and some other little delights. Now that I am merely plump rather than lardy, I feel justified in going on a self-indulgent spree.

I have started again with wearning food today, and made more of a thing of mealtime and DD has seemed much happier. She loved having b'fast sitting with the boys, and the two of us had a nice chat over lunch. Blimey, it takes up the whole day though doesn't it?

She's lovely hub! Are you back home? Did you have a good holiday?

We're going well with the food. dd2 seems to love almost everything. I haven't tried finger foods yet. I'm too scared of her choking and me beign crap and not knowing what to do. I've read the St. Johns ambulance guidelines on it about 10 times already. I'll read it another 20 times before riskign it, just to be on the safe side.

Last week was a bit of a momentous week for dd2 lsat week. She got her first tooth, and moved into her own bedroom. I don't know which of those factors was the trigger, but her sleeping has come on fantastically. She wakes up once a night at most now. I'm still wakign her up to feed her before I go to bed, but I may try and cut that out as well now. Do any other July babies get a night time feed? dd1 was sleepign from 7pm - 7am at this age. Was she unusually good? Or, is that normal?

Good luck with the bottles MB. dd2 has very little milk at the weekends from me when I give it to her in a bottle, but the nursery assure me that she has loads during the week from them.

MrsD, 35 is a very fine age to be. I like being 35. (Not that I have any option....). I've read about the Guerlin thing and have been long tempted to try it. I'll be interested to hear what you think. My favourite Benefit products are Benetint and the highlighting thing thats in the same shape bottle. I like their cosmetics.

DaF, good luck with the move. I'm sure your work colleagues were so drunk they can't remember what you were up to!

Belo - also scared of choking, but am starting to include lumps as per Eulalia's suggestion. Camille seems happy. BTW - expect a little gagging as the sensation is so new for them.

cackle - LOL, rest assured those are dw's.

Yep, we are back home. Had a lovely holiday but too much moving around. Should've stayed in one place for longer. We had 4 internal flights, lots of different hotels etc. etc. We had a good time but are glad to be back home... even the simple things like washing clothes is a PITA when you're travelling.

hoxton / mb / anyone who can get to Hampstead - cinema or lunch or tea in the next month ?

MB, which bottles have you tried Vin with? I only ask because I have at last swapped our very rubbish Avent ones for some MAM Ultivent which are really brilliant. The teats are kind of flattish and are silky rather than being rubbery and ds2 loves them. In fact he often falls asleep after a feed now .

mrsd, I hope you enjoy your spending spree. I love BeneFit and have some lovely Benetint Lip Balm (actually that should read HAD as dd decided that it was such a lovely colour that she would decorate her face with it one day so I now have half a pot ). They also do nice blushers too - just the thing for a make-up bag revamp.

Belo, ds2 has been sleeping through for about 2 weeks now but before that was having just one night feed. His sleeping seemed to coincide with the addition of a third meal in the day.

Actually, could I just ask how much fluid everyone is giving their babies? ds2 has been badly constipated with the addition of certain solids and I have been trying to get some water down him in a beaker with not a great amount of success. I'm not sure how much he really needs to be having.

On that note I'm off now to hang up nappies and make up bottles. I hope everyone else's day is more exciting!!

pah to all of you with sleeping babies . dd was doing so well, but after a virus a couple of weeks ago has turned into a complete nightmare. she seems to be spending evening downstairs with us again, like a newborn, & is totally co-sleeping & feeding a lot during the night. aaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh. this nicely coincides with my return to work next week.................

she won't take bottles either mb. i've tried the mam ultivent ones & everything. she is however, very keen on liquids from a normal beaker, no spout or anything. water goes down an absolute treat, & she had some cow's milk yesterday. formula's still rejected though!

dd is settling into nursery this week. today was her first try without me - half an hour! tomorrow she's staying for lunch, & then doing a whole day on thursday (i'm planning a decadent day). i think it's harder for me than her, though the whole bf thing is difficult.

re make up. i have just bought rather a fab violet lancome mascara. was tempted by benefit stuff yesterday, as you all like it so much, but am not a blusher girl. definitely can't live without my beauty flash balm, laura mercier tinted moisturiser & touche eclat.

am a bit wobbly about work on monday, but i'm sure it'll be fine. looking forward to the lunch break!

HC I totally sympthasie with you. Lunchbreaks are nice, but I really do miss dd2. I don't think she misses me though. She doesn't as much as look back at me when I hand her over to her carer at nursery. Will your dd be at the same nursrey a your ds? We have had no jealousy at all from dd1, but she did get a bit jealous when dd2 started at nurseyr. For the 1st day she was loving all the attention that her little sister was getting (for various reasons dd1 was the last baby to start), but all the other children and the staff did get very excited about having a baby in the nursery and dd1 started to feel overlooked. The nusery have dealt with that by letting dd1 have special visits to teh baby room to check up on dd2.

Our sleep training has worked. It was hard work for the 1st couple of nights, but it got better fairly quickly. If you can face it, I would do it. They have to learn at some point that they're not goign to get any food at night.

thanks for the hope belo! yes, dd is going to ds' nursery, he's very excited, & is planning to visit her in the baby room. they encourage siblings to visit each other which is lovely. our nursery is very gooey about babies too, as they don't get many little ones.

the other thing i'm worrying about is that mil is going to be picking dd up sometimes, as she finishes earlier. i think it's all going to be a bit confusing for her....

Hope work is ok on Monday HC.

I've ordered a new pushchair. It's a lovely red 3-wheeler so when I go for walks on the beach I can go on the sand rather than stay on the promenade. I can also take it on holiday at half term - we are staying in a cottage in the middle of a farm. I'm very excited about it. Tomorrow sees DD charming another paediatrician (I tell myself that she has these appointments just becuase they all want to meet such a gorgeous baby!), and we'll go to TJ Hughes which I love. Then Thursday is cinema day - that film with Reese Witherspoon and HotBuns Phoenix whatever his name is. So we're having a lovely week. And the mental stimulation has come from a goveronrs' meeting today! God I sound like a brain-dead spendthrift housewife . Must do something worthwhile next week, like discover a new element or planet.

hope you kick ass with the paed mrsd, & about the cinema, that's something i've really enjoyed doing with dd.

HC, good luck for Monday from me too .

Mrsd, your days sound so packed. I feel that I am just sat here stagnating at the moment - I really need to be more adventurous I think. I hope the paed visit goes well. The red buggy sounds lovely - dh wouldn't let me buy a red one so I had navy blue instead and our other buggy is only a bit red which is not the same.

I am still trying to get organised for our holiday and all the children need new swimming things - does anyone have any recommendatioons for swimming nappies? I have one which was dd's but it is bright pink and I think ds2 may not approve .

DD got on fine with the paed, who thought she was lovely (quite right too) and has a sensible plan for future care which should avoid spending all my time at hospitals.

Bagpuss, I am having a busy week but usually spend most of my time messing around with mates, drinking coffee and telling rude jokes

The swimsuitthat waterbabies do is a good one. It's made of neoprene (?) and is nice and snug. It's called "Splashabout". You can get them from the waterbabies website, I think. DD wears a Huggies/Boots swim nappy underneath.

dd spent the morning at nursery today, with me hovering in the parents room (i quite enjoyed reading my book!). all went well until lunchtime, when she refused to eat anything.... not sure what to do really, she's doing a whole day tomorrow. i might take in a little lunch box, or offer to turn up at lunchtime to show them what to do with her. could do without it though, it's making me a bit wobbly.

so pleased to hear about the paed mrsd. and the red buggy of course!

we got reusable swim nappies from john lewis bagpuss, i'll try & find them later & see what make they are. i've got some huggies little swimmers too which are fine.