November 05 Babies

[Rodeo]

A new thread for us and our little 2, 3 and very nearly 4 month olds, where is the time going??!!

Hi all, How is everyone it seems a lot of sicky ones are now on the mend!! Seth has another cold its just the same cold I think going around and around.

dh out tonight so am just finishing off putting kids to bed.

Just a warning if you want to donate to DH's run and want your donation to be anonymous then there is a box to tick as you complete the donation form!!!

RODEO - When is Joe's birthday?

xxxx

Evening! Am feeling lots better now - agree Tex how much easier it is to be ill without children! BEKS: yes, the bug hit at a good time; the weigh-in was never far from my mind!. Am having fish fingers and chips now (a minor 'glitch') but figured I deserved it as I couldn;t eat ANYTHING at all yesterday .Am finally in the 'stone' I want to be in (IYSWIM)! BTW, you can probably tell I am of the self-pitying school of thought when ill..can't help it I'm afraid! Funny, this time last year I was in the same boat, signed of work with severe pregnancy sickness (here I go again .
On the cleaning/cooking front, like others I tend to do stuff like washing, hoovering in day when she's asleep (though hoovering actually calms here, so a good excuse!). Food wise, have tried to avoid ready meals being on SW, but heavily rely on microwavable veg bags, quorn and/or casseroles. Either prepare late afternoon, or when they are all in bed (plus DH and I share cooking, which is an added advantage ; not so the ironing though .
Well, skating results soon RODEO! Have a bad feeling about Bonnie this week...

Thanks everyone for your support. It really helps having someone to talk to who understands.
Beksmum, I'll email you & it'd be great to chat. Probably Monday afternoon if thats ok with you.

Beartime, yes I'm sure I DO need more chocolate!! The only problem is I've started my diet (at last!) The good news is I've lost 8lbs in a week. I reckoned the time I'm likely to lose weight must be whilst I'm BFing so I eventually got my arse in gear. Today I was able to get into my fave jeans & I'm a little smug!
Sorry to hear the GF isn't working too well at the moment. I thought it was a little harsh in it's approach. I'm a BW kind of mum BTW.

Tex, LOL at your trip to the cafe. Kids choose their moments don't they?

Diege, have just got back into quorn again as I'm doing slimming world. Can't pursuade DP to eat it though.

Had another dodgy day yesterday. Ella seems to pick up on it & cries even more than usual. If I miss her "window" at bedtime she's an absolute PITA. Last night I just left her in her moses basket to cry it out (bad mummy) but thankfully she only cried for 5 mins. Tonight was the polar opposite. I took her up a bit early & all she wanted to do was play with my hair, look around the room & chat away to me. Definately an improvement on wailing her lungs out! She's "found" her voice which is a joy. Moments like this really lift my mood. Not had any tears today which I'm glad about. My friend popped round & we talked about clothes & make-up!! Can't wait for Monday morning as I'm having a facial & pedicure (my valentine gift) so I should be well chilled out for my GP appt. I think I'll ask not to take any tablets for the time being. Whoever asked about what treatment I had last time (was it Beartime?) I took Lofepramine as I was BFing. I also had counselling for 9 months. I remember being shocked when I was told I'd be taking these tablets for at least a year. Sure enough, I was. As I started reducing the dose my sister died so I stayed on them for a few more months till I felt over it.

Sorry to be so hope everyone else is well. Oh, anyone else's DP/DH still upset with the rugby??

Just remembered I think I forgot to answer a question - I'm not from the USA but my DH is.

Londoner - thanks for telling me your cleaning routine - I've sopied and pasted it onto my desktop

Nova - thanks for your schedule too. I'm holding out with you - I'm glad you asked as I thought I was the only one! Last night he woke up at 3.30 which broke my resolve a bit but then I researched mumsnet threads on holding out till 6mths while I was up feeding him and that encouraged me - hopefully it was just a growth spurt or he was too cold or something (it goes down to 55degrees in his room at night )

Goldne - i'm glad you have a cleaner, don't think I could manage cleaning with twins!

Poor Diege - at least it was only 24hrs though - never had one of those! Maybe you should read Baby Whisperer and go with the cues. That's what I did today - I had Gina in the back of my mind (like don't let him sleep later than 5pm!) but I watched for when he yawned and rubbed his eyes etc. more than I usually do and put him down straight away and let him sleep more as he wanted to. Can't you just let her fall asleep till 5pm if she goes earlier - that's what I did with him today and he was fine. I think if she falls aslee earlier, she probably needs it. I try and add up how much sleeo he's had during the day to make it 3 hrs and if there's been a prob. in the morning or lunch then I make it up either at 3pm or 4pm. Fun isn't it!

Mamman thanks for the cleaning and cooking tips.

So tex - if its only for a few months - when does it get better??!! I'm the same with showering - can't remember when I last had one

Diege - wish I was in the stone I want to be in - 2 still to go! BUT I fitted in my next size down jeans - I was 4 sizes above pre-preg so in USA I bought 3 sizes - my current and then, the two in between cos they were so cheap. And I fitted in the next one down - just 2 to go

Morning everyone! . Have a children's party to go to this morning, so just trying to keep them going till 12 when they have been up since 6.30 .
BEARTIME, yes, have come to the conclusion that if she's falling asleep earlier than 4.45, then she needs it. When I let her sleep later than 5 last night,she actually took all her 6.15 bottle, and was still tired at 7, so think I just have a baby that needs more than 3 hours sleep a day (still sleeping 7 till 6.30) She's also cutting back on 10.30pm bottle, and on 7am too - a cue perhaps that she doesn't need too much of a late night top-up? Reread my GIna this morning and have my faith renewed - just going to be a bit more flexible! (if you read Junior mag, her column is always suggesting shifting things slightly; I think she has mellowed in her old age !)BTW, just wondering where about you are in the UK BEARTIME?
KARMA: Ella sounds a real joy ; have a lovely pampering time tommorrow - you really deserve it! Congrats too on the weight loss ...it's great to get back into your jeans isn't it (not that I would know just yet!). On the quorn front, why not try the 'better' quorn first - say a spag bol with quorn mince, or even the softies option of, say, the garlic and herb grills? MY DH has the quorn pieces whether he likes it or not , and he's slowly coming round. GIrls love it too! (though they think it's chicken!).
Right, breakfast!
Diege .

Hi all,

Forgot to say was off to Scotland for the week to visit friends sorry have been offline! Haven't had chance to fully catch up but want to say HOW could you tell I was Canadian Tex -- and Diege, you were so close with the US guess!!?? Tho live in London now.

Your posts in response to routines have been really helpful and inspired me to do more. DD has had a great week and loved being with our friends who have a two year old.

Beartime, my daughter has reflux and we've been working on it for about 6 weeks. Can't see what you have tried so far and what you experience is (OK too little time to read back posts). I've tried quite a few things and have done loads of reading/websites etc so let me know if you want to talk about it.

Do you all find that your little ones are starting to get very chirpy? I think mine is getting very socially aware. We bought a bumbo yesterday and she seems a bit unsure so far but that's how she was with baths at first and now she LOVES it.

Anyway, I've really been struggling personally this week. Feel really like a flop! I know I'm not but perhaps all these weeks of sleep deprivation has made my fuse not just short but non-existant. Anyone been through this an dhow long did it last?

Glad to be back -- you really are the friendly bunch!!

Hi Candi - one of my boys has reflux which is being successfully treated. He has infant gaviscon in his bottles and Ranitidine x 3 a day, and Motilium x 3 a day.

We also tried a number of sessions with a cranial oesteopath - not sure if it had much effect tho.

Sleep deprivation is a very effective torture technique - now we all know why! Have to say I feel human agin now the DTs are going through the night.

Question for mums of babies going through the night. How do you know when to drop the dream feed?

typing 1 handed...

goldenoldie, are you bf? we are formula as i seem to be milkless. we are now trying a new formula, our 4th, with little hope. staydown ok but murder on my sleep as v finicky to mix. we are also on rantidine x2 day @ 1.4 ml. what does motilium do? i may try cranial osteopath tho a lot of fussing for her with no guartantee. she is such a happy baby whenshe's not bothered by reflux, so itis too bad. are you able to lie your ds flat?

finally have a chance to come on here, catch up (with most things) and type with two hands - woo hoo!!

Golden - I dropped dream feeding Nat as she never took that much, and it never stopped her waking up anyway. She dropped her night feeds by herself. How much do the twins take? Could you try not giving it to them and crossing your fingers?

Londoner - I love Nobu, can't believe you did it with a baby though, v. impressed!

Diege - any books you can recommend about weaning at 6 months? It seems from the weaning thread that most of the books are aimed at those weaning from 4 months.

After trying to get my loola on a bus, I've decided to get a quinny zap for Nat to use when she gets to 6 months (only 7 weeks away ). Also think we're going to indulge in a mozzee nest highchair, probably very impractical but it would fit in with our decor so well.

Come to the conclusion that baby wear is just a big con - Nat is wearing 6-12 month clothes, with 12-18 month vests! I've also got her some jeans from Gap that are for 12-18 months. I dressed her in blue on thursday, and sure enough everyone thought she was a boy (rolls eyes).

Proud mummy moment - in two weeks time she goes into the advanced swimming group

Candi - I was mixed feeding upto a couple of weeks ago. Now, sadly, it's just formula.

Yes - I can lay my ds flat now. The motilium inhibits the stomach muscles from squeezing upwards and moves the food through the ailmentary canal faster www.rxmed.com/b.main/b2.pharmaceutical/b2.1.monographs/CPS-%20Monographs/CPS-%20(General%20Monographs-%20M)/MOTILIUM.html

It def. made a difference.

Nova - the twins drain a 6oz bottle at the dream feed, so I suppose they are not ready to do without it yet. It's just annoying that I have to (sometimes) wake them to take it................

I'm always on buses with my double buggy, no problems at all - what's the problem with your single pram?

Can you really do buses with a double buggy? I just find the loola quite wide, and have difficulty getting it between things. If I lock the wheels I have to push it on the back two wheels only to get round anything, but if I have it on swivel wheels they fly around and get trapped. I have also found it quite difficult with shop doorways.

Also the quinny zapp is very small and would be ideal for taking on holiday/ into restaurants etc..

Diege - theres some interesting stuff on baby led weaning in the weaning section, including a link to a yahoo support group for it. You get to bypass all the puree stage and go straight to finger foods.

Evening all ! Had a bit of a shouty day today (with DH, not dds )so have sulked off to catch up on here! (just had a row about me forgetting to put filtered water in the kettle for the bottles ...hmmmm...who is it who's actually DOING the bottles in the first place?????). Seems I share your non-existent fuse at the moment CANDIMOM, though it's just DH and MIL who I am like this with ATM . MIL I can understand! .
NOVA: that's really interesting about moving straight to finger food - it's certainly something to think about (and a god-send when out)but I think I'll just start as if it were 4 months (IYSWIM), and follow the same principles as last time (fruit/baby rice - not that any of mine actually ate the stuff - swear by rusks though - mixed up with a bit of milk, really fills them up . Think I will have a look again at the Gina weaning book (yawn, yawn), as it held me in good stead, though gets a bit earth mother later on (I am a bit of a jar woman - found it too difficult to sustain organic, homemade purrees when working too). Start off with my own stuff anyway, pretty much like RODEO suggested (ahem, in my dreams!) BTW, never had problem with double buggy on bus, unless there was another buggy on board. The poles on the buses always seemed to be in wrong place though, and don't get me started on pensioners and their 'priority' trollies!! Often walked instead, then changed to mcclaren and buggy board. So are you thinking about a double eh, Nova? .
Re: dream feed GOLDEN, I think the time to think about dropping it is when they start to cut back on it and (crucially) according to you know who, they start to lose interest in first feed of the morning. The 'advice' is then to gradually cut it down, ounce by ounce, rather than stop in totally, until you're down to 2ozs for 7 nights (with no night wakings), then you can stop. We're still at the 6oz bottle stage at 10.30pm - often her best feed of the day , so there's no way I'm risking my night's sleep just yet .
Right, best get dd1's bag ready for school tommorrow. MIL is coming over to babysit in afternoon while I go to opticians. Can't wait .
Diege

Meant to add NOVA , wow on Nat being in advanced swimming group soon. Have vision of her sitting at foot of spring board, raring to go

No, not thinking of getting a double buggy - lol. Was feeling sorry for myself for getting the loola trapped on the bus on wednesday with some helpful ladies saying very loudly 'you're not going to get that through there love'. After much pushing/pulling/swearing along with the bus driver just setting off whilst I was still struggling I managed to get around the badly placed poles and got it in the gap. You're right though I would have been screwed if someone else had tried to get on/ bus was busier.

Just been looking at the zapps on ebay but they're not going for that much less than getting a new one from kiddicare, so think I'll just get one from there. We're also going to have to get a new car seat for Nat as she's only going to get a couple more weeks out of her current one. DH has finally realised he has to sell the car and get a more sensible one, so we can use a proper car seat, so might get the one that fits the zapp rather than the loola frame.

Ladies - thanks for all the tips re: dropping dream feed. Looks like we will be doing it for a while longer yet.

Nova - yep, I'm always on and off buses with the double buggy, it's easy for me - mind you, it is a narrow one (73cms I think). But your single one must be smaller than this? Of course, I can't get on if there is another one already on board, unless it is a bendy bus.

I collect buggies too. In addition to the double one, I've got two singles, so with DH/friends we can push them seperately and get into shops/cafes.

hello ladies, just a quick one to say hello! and goodnight to you. have read up on events and will post tomorrow.

want to cuddle up with DP before he says those dreaded words 'time for bed - work tomorrow' booooooo!
am i the only one who hates the end of the weekend because it means being alone again?

am i a saddo?

hey golden - you still on for a coffee on thurs or fri?

Evening all! Just catching up before trying to feed.

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes for Tessa, she had a brilliant day and LOVED the Aquarium. We were in there for 3 hours and though she would have happily stayed for a lot longer DH and I were completely fished out!

Unfortunately we had a bit of a nightmare in the evenings last week with our placid baby yelling and very upset every evening. Think it was a combination of him being too tired (he's so nosy that he fights sleep in the day and sometimes has only had about an hour in total!) and us trying to get him to take a bottle of EBM in the evenings so we could go out for DH's 40th birthday on Thursday night (Daddy's b'day being the day after Tessa's!) By Wednesday night we knew it wasn't going to work so postponed posh meal out (though not as posh as Nobu ) and sat down to work out what was going on. Have gone back to bf in evenings, will try bottle again in a few days when there is no pressure, and have been putting him down to sleep more in the day, away from some of the household noise. We have also been putting him to bed much earlier as eating tea makes him fall asleep so we have introduced a dream feed when all of those who did it from the start are thinking about dropping it!! He has certainly gone back to being his laidback, happy self so something is working. I'm just hoping that it will lead to a full night's sleep - something we had from quite early on but which disappeared about 4 weeks ago

BEKS I'm with you on baby rice being wallpaper paste in a very bad disguise. Made it up for Tessa once and DH refused point blank to feed it to her , did fine on veg and fruit.
So far Ash has had potato, apple and today we tried parsnip. Its all gone down well so far though he pulled funny faces today when we gave him apple after parsnip. Think the parsnip must have been sweet which made the apple taste sour as he was fine when he has had it after potato. At the moment he is in his bouncy chair tho a friend has just lent us a Bumbo so I might try him in that.
Nova - love the idea of choosing a highchair to compliment the decor. We just need one that folds up small so we can use the dining table area between meals

Sorry I seem to have ignored most people, I will try and catch up properly tomorrow.
Right, time to feed this baby.
Night night

JenJam - yes. Let's go to 'baby bounce'on Thursday. It starts at 11am and is just around the corner. I will give you a ring.

Can't do Friday. Off to Gt. Ormond St with the DTs (minor toe problem).

Diege - if you add up the amount of sleep she's getting you might find she needs an extra hour - cos you're feeding her at 10.30 = 30mins, and she's getting up at 6.30 = 30 mins. I usually figure out how much sleep Caleb needs in the day by looking at the total amount needed - I think its 14.5 now? And then taking off his total hours of nightime sleep, which is less if he gets up early or feeds in the night etc. so complicated but at least it gets the right result of him being happy and sleeping well (at night anyway ) He's woken up twice in the night now, so I think he's going thru a growth spurt and am feeding him every 3 hrs - bang goes routine I'm in Ashford, Kent - an hour and a half from London so I don't think I'm near anyone :)

Candie - what's the symptoms of reflux? yes mine is chirpy too. I read on other threads that 4 mths is a hard time - you seem to hit a wall emotionally, fed up of being in the house and baby starts waking up in the night too. Just forget the hsework and make sure you have a big nap when he has his in the day so you can build your fuse back up

Golden - the main sign for me to drop the dreamfeed was when he didn't eat that much in the morning. Other than that it was just having read you can drop it by 13wks, and also a suggestion that you can always try dropping it and if they wake up then you just start it again. I wouldn't worry about how much they eat at dreamfeed - Caleb would still be eating 40mins worth if I let him! I just reduced it myself.

Nova - I was reading some threads where seems like at 6mths you don't have to bother with baby rice, but still introduce veg one at a time, but can mash ratherthan puree and quickly go onto family meals.

Aaaah JJ thats sweet. Thankfully my DH works from home tho' it means more clearing up!

Caleb seems to be pooing for Britain ATM have no clue why!

Tex are you from Texas - I ask cos DH is.

Morning :)

Children are at school - half term is over (:) and :( at the same time!!)

Good job actually, went out last night for my boss's leaving party and feeling a little delicate this morning....

Good to see you back a bit more Nova - advanced class indeed! That's really good, you should be v. proud of yourself (and her) :) Will read the thread about the 6 months weaning. TBH I would have liked to have held out too, but it is so nice for dp to feed her a little something, I feel she only sees me as a milk machine sometimes I am being careful to only give her a very little amount so she still fills her tummy with milk, and she does love it and takes it really well and I suppose it's only 6 weeks.....hmmmm, I seem to be trying to justify myself!

I have the quinny zapp and (mostly) love it! It's very nippy, I'm looking forward to using it as a pushchair when J gets to 6 months because I'm using it with a maxi-cosi carseat still. Still HATE buses though

Tex, you're right - Annabel Carmen!! You clever woman! You've definitely not suffering from babybrain!

Diege, did you and dh make friends yesterday?! Think I'm going to combine jars and homemade food, Bella just had jars and will now eat anything, Joe had completely homemade stuff and he's the fussiest little b*gger!!! Maybe just a coincidence, but maybe you don't get such a wide range of tastes with just homemade stuff (or maybe it's just my cooking ).... God must get myself off the boring subject of weaning, I'm boring myself nevermind you lot.....

Right, said I'd help dp with some business stuff so better get myself off here!

Hi beartime,

The symptoms of reflux could be confused with colic. Baby arches back when eating, cries after eating, spits up regularly and sometimes several hours after eating (or could projectile vomit, though my dd doesn't do this), clears throat, burps and cries afterwards, gets hiccups often, cries when lying flat, smells 'sicky.' There are 'silent' cases and serious cases. My major concern with my dd was that I realised she was often in pain. There is a lot you can do to help but no cure. They just have to grow out of it. There are several sites I've found that help but mostly it's my pediatrician who is of the same mind as me that she should not be in discomfort and is watching out for any longer term damage to her oestophagus. www.infantreflux.org/Index.htm

I have definately hit the wall -- we were 3 months on Saturday 25th and I don't seem to be able to bounce back as easily as I generally do. Thank you for the words of encouragement and sharing the fact that it is not an uncommon thing to lose a bit of the high having a baby brings.

ps are you gals all doing gina? We're just doing on-demand due to the reflux situation and my general wimpiness. She now sleeps about 5 - 6 hours at night, feeds, then back for another 3 -4 but no guarantee when this all kicks off or ends...

Afternoon everyone! . Yes, I think you're right BEARTIME, as she's an early riser (6.15 this morning)think she does need more sleep in day, but at the same time don't to go much more than the 3 hours in case it has a knock-on effect on night-time. Think I'm safe giving her an hour at about 4; worked well yesterday . I must say you sound very much on top of things BEARTIME .
RODEO: yes, we've made up, but not before me snapping at DH again this morning . Just seem to be very irritable at the moment, and just feel a bit overwhelmed by pressures of returning to work/in house all day/3 under 5/bloomin' publisher's deadline for 1st march, etc, etc, then get cross with myself for feeling like this, as these are all choices I've made myself, and it's not like I'm the only person in the world to have a 'lot on' . Just trying to look at things with a bit more perspective, though it's hard .
Well, a very self-absorbed post I'm afraid . Speak later when MIL has gone (must not snap at her, must not snap at her.....
Diege .

Hi everyone.

Did a quick look at all the posts since we went away - gosh it's been busy on here!

Well our trip to Geneva went very well and Nate took to flying like a pro! Only hiccup on way over was I accidentally nicked him with my fingernail (rehooking my bra) and made him bleed which of course caused massive crying fit, but luckily DH was very calm about the whole thing and managed to get him quieted down (and calmed me down as well as I do think I felt worse than anyone!). Then on the flight back Nate did the BIGGEST poo and as I was trying to get him clean in the tiny Easyjet toilet he then started to pee which went all over the place - oh the fun of motherhood . But in general it was a good trip and made me feel much more confident about taking Nate places.

Only problem now is that I think I've upset his body clock and he's now waking up several times in the night. He's slept through pretty much since birth, but I'm pretty sure he's having a massive growth spurt right now and seems constantly hungry. Am starting to introduce hungry baby formula into the mix so I can try and get him back on to some sort of feeding schedule again. He seems to have doubled in size in the last couple of weeks.

Well should run as haven't made it out of my pyjamas yet ...

J xx