September 2011 babies are rolling into 2012

[ssmileWithFairylights]

Hello in new thread come over and chat part two from the September edd babies arriving thread.
Just watched strictly dancing final part one but can't keep eyes open for part two so off to bed now will watch.it tom. Sleep well.....zzzzz

Thanks everyone, she has lots of family around but Oz seems far away at times like this. My family came round yesterday and spoilt DS more than normal with cuddles.
On the sleep front we are having some success. Decided to get tougher and let him cry in crib a bit before picking him up, he only cried for 7 min then slept from 11.30 to 4.20, did the same last night, he cried a bit more but was mainly temper then slept from 10.40 to 5.20 without even waking for food. I lay next to crib and patted back so could see it was temper and tiredness not anxiety. DH had to remind me that he sometimes screams for longer than that when we try to rock him to sleep so I relaxed more.
As for groups we do playgroup once a week and have made nice friends there, also do rhyme time and will start swimming when weather warms up (he is 4m)

Wow, a LOT of posts. Hi again Sarah :) Welcome to the other side :)

Sorry it's not a personal catch up - although I do want to say sorry to hear about your cousin's loss candr I hope you all find a way through it.

Someone mentioned straining noises, yep LO does those, I think it's when she is either trying to move around more, trying to sit up that kind of thing.

And with regards to groups etc, I take LO to a swimming lesson, but that's because I love swimming and I wanted to know what I could do with her in the pool, and how to play in the pool. The lessons we go to, there is actually now only me that is in my 'group' so it's one2one atm, although when she moves up to the 6 month group there will be possibly 3 in the group. She already shows signs of what she is understanding in the water and loves the lessons, so I'll keep it up. I also don't want her to have to wear a rubber ring, and learn to swim when she is older, I kind of want it to be a natural thing, which if I continue with the lessons she will naturally start swimming and be able to swim before she is 4, she'll also have learnt safety awareness in the water as she grows with the lessons. I also go to an art group thing, but that's more for me and getting out and having new toys to play with (paints etc) but I don't think she is going to learn anything specific from it, it'll just be a fun thing to do with me. Other than that I don't do groups etc, I might start going to a bumps and babies NCT thing, in fact I was going to go this morning, but LO slept in, so I wasn't up in time.

Feeding has been mostly really good over the weekend. I don't think she's quite learnt her now tongue yet, but on the whole the feeding is less painful than it was recently and more chilled out.

Are other babies starting to need more interaction, LO seems to get frustrated more now, because she can't get to things she wants as she is aware of that toy being over there and wanting it. She's happy rolling around for a while, then she gets fed up. She practically never fails to grab something now if it's within her reach, and if it's just out of reach she seems to get to it being within her reach. She also grabs things with two hands if I hold her above something and she brings it (and everything else) to her mouth!

We've had a few meals with her sat in the highchair, which has been lovely, nice for her to be at our level and eventually it will lead to us all eating together. :)

Cold is now gone, so it'll be back on with the running plan.

Minky DD also wakes every 3 hours; I think that's more 'normal' than babies who sleep right through tbh. DS was much worse and didn't sleep through until he was 9 mo so I'm not going to stress about it at all.

Hurrah for your cold being gone *100, see you over n the running thread

Right, DD has just filled her nappy so I'm cutting it short! Will be back later on.

The quality of my sleep has decreased too. If I'm luckly she will go 7-11/12 but then up every 2hrs to feed and she is hungry its not comfort this is definitely full on 4mth growth spurt. In evening she feeding hourly from 3pm. Her jabs really upset her this time. Last night wasn't that gd and I gave her calpol again in morn as red hot cheeks.

We had three firsts today. Lo went in the door bouncer and loved it. I got highchair out of shed and washed it all down and fitted booster seat. Lo loved sitting at table listening and watching eldest do her phonics homework :) start them early I reckon :o she also watched me intently eating a pear so when I was finished I gave her the core bit to suck on and she loved the juice her little tongue licking away. I hadn't any intention to wean before 6mths but she looked SO interested and she enjoyed gripping the juicy pear piece. She is 20 half weeks. I don't know whether weaning at 6mths is 24wks or calendar months therefore 26wks? Tbh I think I will just follow Lo lead and offer minute bits to lick if she looks interested.
Off to bed now early night as body just aches from doing the Shred dvd and from last nights poor sleep. Hope u all have good sleeps zz_zzzz

Ssmile I previewed the shred yesterday and decided it was too much for me! Will wait till I'm fitter

My lo has been waking up every 3-4 hrs overnight for a feed as well, but at least at the moment he goes back down quickly.

On phone so can't remember who said it, but lo is also frustrated, grabbing things with both hands and shoving everything into his mouth!

He managed to go 9 days without a poo, so today we had an explosion poo everywhere, on his trousers, socks, vest, chair, changing mat... Had to do a top and tail wash followed by a bath, it was that bad! Still when he passed it it didn't cause him any pain, he was quite satisfied with himself!

We have the third injections tomorrow, am hoping they'll be ok

Feeling terrible today with painful booby so called hv who told me to go see bf counsellor. Really helpful one to one session which resulted in loads of info and a diagnosis of a blocked milk duct which is on the cusp of mastitis - counsellor told me to stick nipple in very hot water for 10 minutes and unblock the duct with scraping the tiny pinprick dot I have away then feed lo on all fours to let gravity help and the boob be pressure-free - basically all sounds like self punishment and I have to admit I don't feel too hot ! Boob now less solid but feeling very bruised and sore ! What I did discover that may help other bf mums on here is that the 4 month stage of bf is tough because it's a time of massive brain development which means that babies often go off feeding because they are too interested in what is happening around them and get distracted. My lo has been going hours sometimes in the day not being interested in feeding but then wants to feed all evening - that's because the milk gets very calory rich in the later part of the day (also why many people get blocked ducts at this stage because the milk is rich and thick and can block more easily than the thin thirst quencher stuff.) I think because lo has been fussing he didn't drain the breast properly and left behind the curds of the milk which has blocked the duct. I am feeding my way through the pain ! Lo is 17 weeks on wednesday and counsellor told me that I should go with my instinct with early weaning so I am considering starting lo on baby rice.

That's interesting about the brain development as although mine is bottle fed she's difficult to feed at the mo as she's looking all around her and if someone else us in the room she follows them with her head.

Still doing the weird throat scraping noises... She's not constipated (goes about 3 or 4 times a day!) and it's not when she's having a pop either!

Minky - hope blocked ducts get sorted, sounds painful.

Geekmum - at big poo ... Bet he was very pleased!! My LO has a new trick... You get her out of the bath, tuck her up in towel and go to her room and put her on change mat and just as I pat dry her... She wees !!!! Every time. Washing no end of towels. I end up dipping her back in the bath and going like the clappers to get her nappy on!

Ssmile - hope LO feels better soon. Think these 3rd jabs must really upset them. But to bouncer and sucking a pear. My LO seems to be starting to be interested in what I'm eating. Shell be 18 weeks Friday but want to wait to 6 months too but would be ok to start gently after 5 months... But I'm not sure either if 4 week months or calendar months??

Right, bedtime ... Night all ... Off to see my friend and her 3 week-old tomorrow - the one born early who wad on bye lights in special care for a while but home and properly discharged now. Got another friend being booked for c section next week - again early but waters are getting very low. She's tried for five years to get pg and managed thus time on 4th round of IVF so my fingers and toes are crossed fir them.

Sorry on phone... Poo not pop and blue lights in special care that meant to say!!

minkyj hope pain eases its horrid when that happens I had awful time with mastitous first babe but touch wood not this time.
I may go ask HV advice on weaning as my Lo is hungry, I'm exhausted with feeding her my boobs are emptying and she keeps biting me as if to say is there more (i think). It's too flipping hard to be feedin hourly in daytime and two hourly at night with another one to look after. Sorry had bad night and Lo just gone to sleep at 7am and I've got to get up for school run when all I want to do is crawl back under the duvet :( and flipping migraine brewing. Could just sit and cry this morning Hohum best get up...hope u had better nights

Morning everyone,

Just wondering about 3rd set of jabs, do they have 3 injections at this one, if so where does the third one go? Sorry if that's silly question

Lo is just over 17 weeks now and we're still waiting for the elusive laugh/giggle/chuckle, she does kind of big wide mouthed silent ones but wondering if all her pain has held back her laughter! Hoping it will come soon!

Also I was wondering what your lo's do as hunger cues as that's one thing I've never really had from my lo apart from when she was tiny and had bobby head. I know all babes are different but would be interesting to know if I'm missing something after all this time!

Sarah- the jabs all go in thighs - 2 in one and the other in the other leg. I find my LO chuckles when I directly look at her chuckling at her, guess she's mimicking. It's hilarious. Also my LO gies from happy to crying really quickly for food... Very few other signs!! She's bottle fed so could take a while to make a bottle up so now I try get in there before she's hungry. She used to go every 4 hours but now it's about 3 and 1/2 in the day.

Ssmile - know how you feel! Had about 10mins sleep after 4am... She just fussed so much but slept herself!!! Woke up after a shower but will crash later I'm sure!

Thanks Sebs. Yeah I tend to feed every 3 - 4 hours too depending on if we've been out and about as she can get quite irritable without any hunger signals I guess if it's working I shouldnt worry about it!

Thanks for the jabs info too!

I may curse the school run at times but actually that 30min walk this morn has done me good and really perked me up.

Some advice please from those using bottles. What flow teat are you using? I have very fast flow breast milk and I'm wondering if one reason we struggling to get her to take a bottle is slow flow teat. May try get some faster ones today and some baby rice.

We use Dr Brown stage 2 (medium flow) teats ssmile - these are from 3 months and we have no problems with them having moved up once LO got frustrated with stage 1. In fact, he would pretty much refuse the bottle in the end - not a happy bunny as you can imagine. Your instincts are probably right there.
sarah our DS does give us a few signals that he is ready for a feed (though similarly to sebs he will go very fast from smiles to crying if we miss them!). He will cough a couple of times, and then start to kick his legs/flail a bit. Since he's been more dribbly he also produces more dribble (which sometimes gives him hiccups). We are feeding every 3 hours; still breast/formula combo.
ssmile I hope you get some respite with a cuppa later today :)

By the way, thanks for thoughts about clubs/classes etc. I think that, because I am not going back to work (for a couple of years anyway) I feel less of a rush to do things than some of my friends who are going back after 6-9 months. I also just don't feel I can commit to a particular time each week, as DS sleeps every 2 hours (and gets really unhappy if he gets overtired), and his naps times are all a bit awry lately (this started last week - I've noticed he has started to rub his eyes and face, which wakes him up...).

Anyway, I am just looking forward to the weather getting warm enough to play outside. We have an allotment, which has a large grassed area with apple trees and I have been planning to walk up there during the summer and let DS crawl about :o) Also going to grow lots of the veg he will be eating by then - carrots, squash etc. We already have raspberries, strawberries, apples and damsons so it'll be great fun trying new tastes!

Brrr. We went for a walk this morning and I haven't thawed out yet.

Ssmile we've been trying DD on mam bottles and number 2 teats but she really ain't having any of it; clearly if it's not boob then it's just no good as far as she's concerned!

The HV suggested that, since she's four months, we could try her with a sippy cup so DH had a go with a little weeny Heinz one with a soft spout the other day which he said went OK and she was kind of coping with getting a mouthful of milk and then swallowing. Guess it'll take practise.

Sorry it's tough for you atm, maybe a growth spurt that'll settle in a week or so? DD was the same last week and I was bloody knackered. It is so difficult keeping up with two isn't it? By the time DS was this age he was in a lovely set routine that meant that I would always have three hours to chill in the afternoon but now I have to exercise a hyperactive toddler so DD gets dragged out instead of getting a decent nap. I hope your migraine isn't too bad

DD is doing full-on belly laughs these days at pretty much everything, she started smiling really early though. I am rubbish at telling her sleep cues as she just goes from having a giggle to yawning her little head off in the blink of an eye and she just gets a bit grumpy when hungry, she's not really a cryer like DS was.

candr sos orry to hear that. cannot imagine how upsetting it is for anyone, must have broken your hearts. love to you all

feral - ah yes, the running thread. Got visit to family this week, so after that I will go and start again. Have been eyeing up the 30 day Shred too, could easily do that at home in the morning while LO plays or sits in her chair watching me!

ssmile, we have a door bouncer baby too :) she also loves it. And it's lovely having LO at the table. Sorry your sleeping has decreased again. Isn't pear supposed to be one of the least allergenic foods there are, so it's a good starter, or have I read that wrong. Like I said to feral I'm thinking of shredding.. I hope your migraine comes to nothing, they are the pits aren't they.

Geekmum, I think I said LO was frustrated, lots of grabbing and not able to reach everything she wants. 9 days, wow that's epic, the longest we have had is 5 I think. Mine was fine after 3rd jabs.

Minky, feeding on all fours, that sounds like some kind of twister position. Hope it all helps you though. Yep, my LO does seem less interested in the boob, but then we've had that off and on for a little while.

sebs, enjoy the new babies, and hope your friend who is having CS is OK.

Sarah, when my LO had her 3rd jabs, she had the two given in one leg first then the third in the other leg. Re hunger cues it's hard to say now with my LO, I can't think off the top of my head.

TP I'm at people not going back to work, I think it's great, I wish I didn't have to, although I am going to look at changing my hours so I can do part time and probably work evenings so I don't miss LO in the day, but I'll have a 2 week FT course to do when I first go back, and I'm really not looking forward to that.

So, we've been swimming this morning, it was fab.

LO has properly properly found her feet now, this morning she was more interested in playing with her feet than having a feed first thing, mind you she had had 3/4 hour feed off and on between 5:45 and 7 this morning so I suppose she just wasn't that hungry at 9am when she woke up! She's found them before, but this morning was a proper interest in them.

AF has returned. Gah, she's only 4 months old and I'm EBF!!! I reckon that stopping the expressing (therefore technically giving up a daytime feed) has brought my body back.

And I had a mobile hairdresser come round just now, she's sorted out my hair colour and given me a cut. The cut and colour are good, or at least they look so after she's done it, will see what it's like the first time I do it. :) The only negative is that she is (and said so herself) a little dizzy, but I can overlook that. It was nice to have it done, but why do hairdressers feel they need to fill all the silence gaps, I'm quite happy to sit there at times and just have the hair do done, or is that rude of me?

Corr loads of posts to get through so just posting quick reply here whilst watching eastenders.
Mastitis/blocked ducts: I had this early on as I was expressing using hand pump and not emptying boobs well. I found that hot compress and massaging the lump helped a lot. Whilst in a hot shower push on the lump/where it hurts. Be brave and suck up the pain and really push hard on it to clear it.
I gave DD a suck of pear last week too. I left the top of it and ate the skin and let her suck it but not for long though as I read that you shouldn't give babies sweet stuff to start weaning.
I was going to look into shred but I seriously am soooooo lazy!!! The wii fit has gathered dust too and I was thinking of getting Zumba on it. The belly flab needs to go before June when I go back to work!
Distracted baby all round here. DD has also mastered the art of bubbling/spitting. I can only feed her when she is sleeping. So my day consists of a constant battle to get her to sleep to feed her and to stop her from screaming! Come 5pm everything is fine and she'll sleep through until about 4/5am whence the battle begins again because she's wide awake talking v loudly in her Moses basket and refusing to feed or sleep!
Omg everyone seems to be leaving eastenders! Time for Holby. Happy shredding/running everybody.

Hello sorry yet again I haven't been on here lately
Thank you all for your kind words regarding my DP who is on the mend and fingers crossed his medication starts working and stops him from having any more fits! And also regarding my living arrangements went to the council as I really cant afford to rent a place and have to wait till next month!! for an appointment then it may well be at least 6 weeks in a bnb or a hostel.

LO had his 2nd lots of jabs today and is very out of sorts think its also a mixture of teething! He has learnt that he has hand and feet and stares at them for ages, he is also very ticklish and has a real dirty laugh!

Re baby groups I haven't been to any yet but do go and visit my best mate whose LO is one month older than mine.

Re weaning I dont understand why it is now recommended that you wait until they are 6 months when it used to be 3 and why the baby food in the shop say 4 months + ???

Candr im so sorry to hear of your lost in the family words can not describe how your cousin would be feeling right now.

As for dieting Im still using the kinect and walking for what seems like miles everyday so thats good enough for me and my hat goes off to you all that goes jogging I get out of breath thinking about it lol

Sorry if I've missed anything my brain really is not working properly at the moment

Oh that's awful jojo. Do you think HV or children's centre may be able to help you? I know the children's centers around here have special sessions for those who need help but have never had to call upon those services. Maybe they know a way you could fast track to be seen?
Weaning was brought to 6months as at 4 months the kidneys are not developed enough and many wheat and dairy allergies start in children weaned early (according to some studies). Well that's what I read but what people choose to believe is up to them . I personally believe that you can tell when your baby is ready and to do it then and not when the HV tells you what s/he has been told to tell you!
Anyway hope you get sorted and settled soon Jojo. Good luck with the council.

Jojo that is appalling that the council would consider sticking a family with a tiny baby into B&B. I am bloody outraged on your behalf. Any chance the CAB can help you out? Our children's centres also offer a similar service. I really really hope that you can get something sorted soon.

Like pixie says, I think the weaning guidelines were changed not that long ago due to new research and the baby food companies never really caught up. Plus I suppose it's in their interests to get us buying it as early as poss isn't it?!

There was a study a few months ago that contradicted all the 6 months advice and advocated early weaning due to the theory that babies can become anaemic on a milk only diet but I think it was fairly widely discredited. I'm sticking with the WHO guidelines that say 6 mo; I'm certainly in no rush to do all the extra cleaning up that weaning entails! I'm praying for a really hot sunny spring so that we can do lots of meals in the garden

Mmm a hot sunny spring...

Jojo, hope something turns up for you, must be really stressful.
TP andFeral was wishing for that myself today - look forward to picnics and realised the warm weather should come at good time for baby led weaning with LO playing with food, can do it outdoors lots. Got told by HV 6m so that their systems are mature and less likely to trigger an allergy. Off to get weighed tommorow, was 14.3 2 weeks ago so am putting money on 14.12