March 2012 - Brewed to Perfection!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Hello all, come and add your babies to the list and let's see what adventures they bring!

punk - have you ventured out since your nightmare shopping trip? It's so frustrating isn't it?! Big sympathies for you xx

Dd is also teething and it's causing her some issues. Hands and everything else all end up in her mouth too. She loves having a frozen muslin, you can literally see her getting comfort from it straight away as it numbs her poorly gums.

We are going thru a horrid growth spurt at the mo. She's become incredibly fussy when eating, pulling away, screaming, going back for a few minutes then screaming again...it's really frustrating! The HV said its teething and growth spurt related so should pass soon. Just hope it's not too long!

Nappies - we use pampers 3 now, just changed. They're a bit big but as we buy in bulk from amazon, we figured it was best for us as the 2s would only be for a few weeks.

broody is definitely frustrating!! Think she has been going through a spurt as well as she fed for ages when we got back from Westfield. We were out with her all day on Sunday and she was lovely she did sleep in her pram for about an hour which was nice! I have read that they need 3 hours sleep in the day but my dd seems to think its not for her! Did you get any advice from hv broody? We're going in to town shopping today as have some last minute holiday bits to get so we'll see how it goes!

Teething sounds hard for all the babies the cold muslin sounds like a good idea. How do you know they are teething? Is it the red cheeks and lots of dribble?

Had dd weighed yesterday she's 13lb 8oz at 17 weeks. Nearly a stone can't believe it!! Time is going so fast.

Nappies - we're on reusables but have moved on to size 1 outer.

Baby sensory was fun although my dd was seriously unimpressed when I plonked her feet in cold jelly whoops

Has anyone got any advice about bath time? Dd used to love bath time but this week she seems to think its the devils water and really screams. Hopefully a phase?

No ideas for bath time, I'm afraid. Tessa still likes it, although she's now seeming a little frustrated that she can't see the water. I have a little reclined thing that she used to lay and kick on, and now she tries to sit up, but can't yet, so just lifts her head. I've sat her up a time or two and she just moves her feet slowly under and above the wonder and stares in wonder.

I bet she might like swimming -- those of you who have done this, where did you find out about baby swimming?

Oh dear. News on the car is not good. Some kind of fuel explosion and parts of the engine have melted! We're waiting to hear, but it may not be worth repairing :(

We had been planning to go to an Olympic football match in Glasgow next week, but had been procrastinating on buying tickets. I'm really not sure now -- I had been a bit stressed about the idea of being out in public for so long and breastfeeding in the stadium, but took comfort in the idea that if things got to be too much we could just retreat to the car as a comfortable, familiar place (for her and me :) ). If we don't have a car it'll be a 3-hr journey on public transport just to get to Glasgow, and the same for a return, and at night. But then again, how many chances does one get to go to the Olympics? Argh!

punk that's exactly what happened with Fyfe! Yes, it's a phase, he's over it now, it lasted 4-5 weeks and we just bathed him once/twice a week as it was Si unpleasant for everyone. One day he didn't scream, it went as quickly as it arrived.
mad you should do it! Sorry to hear about the car!

How funny punk that they've both gone off the bath. Glad to hear Fyfe went back to it
So took dd out last night which was interesting it was my dh end of term work do and he wanted us to be there. My lovely dd fell asleep by 7pm so I could load the car in the middle of a storm and she slept the whole way there. However she woke up when we took her in to the room which to be fair was really noisy and then carried on to stay awake looking round at everyone till 11.30pm! Another girl who works with dh had her baby with her a week younger than dd. Going to rant now! first thing she said to me was I heard from your dh that she's normally asleep by this time doesn't look like it does it? Her baby slept for most of it waking up for a bottle and then back to sleep while the parents looked smug whereas our dd was going round the tables of people looking at everyone bless her someone said she had probably sedated her baby and everyone was really nice getting me drinks while I was bf etc. Bonus now is that after a quick feed at 6.30 she has gone back to bed and is flat out after her night on the tiles
I don't know why people have to act superior. I did kind of think it was a bit easier for her as when the speeches were on and her ds woke up she whacked a bottle in swiftly followed by a dummy but my dd won't take either of those and wanted to talk while her dad was doing a speech whoops
Sorry rant over!!

Sorry again! Should be how funny trouble am sending messages to myself have officially lost it

punk, you were the one with the cute, interactive baby! :)

No news on the car yet, but DH is now trawling the internet for used cars in anticipation of bad news. This was not in the budget... Starting to feel like a hospice for cars, but I suppose that's what happens when you keep buying vehicles that are 10+ years old. Considering shelling out for a slightly newer model with the idea it might be cheaper than buying another one in a year or two.

And wow, I think the Olympics are off the table. The public transport links just aren't there. I'm surprised, as the bus I take into work originates in Glasgow, but the last one leaves at 5:30pm... the game starts at 5! Even taking other connections, it looks tight to impossible to make it back after even if we just go for the first game. I wonder if that is part of the problem they're having selling tickets -- they say they want everyone to take public transport, and made it a real pain to drive, but then the public transport isn't running after the events. I suppose it'd be fine if you lived in Glasgow, but not much farther afield.

she sounds like a right twat punk! One of those smile, nod and move on moments! Fyfe goes down without a problem every night between 8.15 and 8.30. At our friend's wedding recently he was up until 2.30...I think that's normal for a baby at a party!
I know nothing about cars and don't drive mad!

Thanks for the support! Twat is right
mad bad news on car front, I am also useless on cars. Hope you get it sorted and shame about the games. You would think they would put on public transport to get people there at the right time

punk grrrr I am sick to the back teeth of smug parents!! And also when dd cries, I get "have you considered using a dummy?" Drives me mad! Babies cry, get over it already! I wouldn't mind but I am not a fan of controlled crying so pick her up straight away, comfort, then down again; she doesn't scream unless I've not understood what she wants straight away or is overtired. Or if I say she's not slept well it's "oh give her formula at night, your breast milk can't be filling her up enough" - she's a baby, I'm her mummy, I don't mind tending to her! It's my job! Yes I'd love 12 hours sleep every night but, again, she is a baby and it comes with the territory! Right. I've done my rant haha! Oooh. Feel better now

Re baths: have you tried getting in there with your babes to see if it makes them happier? Dd didn't reckon much to her baby bath but she loves it now cos either dd or I take her in our bath. We've done it for about six/eight weeks now and I think it got her ready for when we went swimming.

Mad - swimming lessons - we go to Water Babies every Sunday afternoon. It's a national company so I'm sure there will be a franchise near you. Our lessons are in the local hospital's hydrotherapy pool because they like to do the lessons in warm pools - under 12 weeks old or 12lbs, the water should be 30+ degrees, our pool is 36 so like a gorgeous bath! Hope you find somewhere as its my most favourite thing I do with dd and something DH can do quite easily with her (as opposed to all the v mummy led groups!)

Haha, broody, yes, I tried taking him in with me, nothing worked, it was just a phase he went through and he got over it on his own in the end! Just one of those things.
The things I find annoying are "are you feeding him again?" yes, I bloody am, he's a growing baby and this is all he eats, you wouldn't think it'd be that odd that they do it quite a lot! At the wedding at least one person said it every time I fed him! Also, I only fed him about 6 times in the whole day which really isn't very much for him as he was way more interested in the wedding.
Then "ah, look, he's tired" (not crying, not distressed, just sleepy) all bloody night...yeah, of course he's tired, it's 9,10,11 o'clock but hey, it's a wedding and he can catch up tomorrow, I'm not going to put my life on hold because I have a baby (I'd take him home if he was upset of course) grrrr...
That does feel better!

Hi mummies. Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine with your LOs? DH has taken ours out for a walk so I could have a rest..,,and what have I done? Ironing, washing, polished the lounge and dining room and cleaned the floors! Typical!

Feeling v down atm as my darling horse died on Friday. Good job I have dd because otherwise I dread to think....

broody, so sorry to hear that!

Oh, no, broody :( So sorry :(

I have a cat that I didn't expect to see DD's birth, but she's still around. I know I'll be really sad when she passes, even though I expect it.

Tessa has developed a new vocal ability -- screeching! It's really high pitched, and very loud. It's really confusing as sometimes she seems to do it when unhappy, like a scream/cry, but other times along with laughing as if she's trying out this new vocal ability. I desperately hope this is a short phase. Anyone else's LOs do this?

Ah, I found water babies, thanks! The one near us only have it once a week, and it is the same day as the local village Mums (and Dads) group which will start up again soon. As Mums group is the only place I've actually managed to meet people, I probably want to keep going. There are some a distance away that seem to have times every day -- but I'm not sure about making such a long trip...(about an hour drive - assuming we have a car!). I think I'll phone them and find out when beginners are and talk it over with DH. It would be nice for DD to be able to swim, as both her grandparents and aunt/uncle have a pool.

Oh Broody so very sorry to hear that you just make sure you get lots of cuddles from DP and LO and just take care of yourself. Really feel for you [hugs]

MadSci - Erin has recently started to do screechies too. She really seems to be experimenting with her voice. I know what you mean about it being hard to determine their feelings sometimes. Occasionally I'll think she's upset but she's screeching whilst looking really happy.

Is anybody still swaddling to sleep? We tried at the weekend to get her our of her wombie and it was a disaster, so we put her back in. Getting a bit worried now we'll never manage!

And has anybody though about what they're doing with weaning? I'd really like to go the BLW route but it's not very widely done here. Lots of the mums I know from my ante natal group have already started weaning but I don't feel LO is ready yet but feel like it's shaking my resolve because seemingly all those around us are spoon feeding and weaning already and we're not. I think we'll just do our own thing but it's hard iykwim?

In other news, we had a 3 feed night last night instead of our usual 1 feed night. Hope this was a one off and not the dreaded 4 month sleep regression!

Sorry to hear your news, Broody. My old cat's been quite poorly & I've been feeling guilty I haven't been giving her enough attention recently.

Bee- we had a HV check yesterday and she was very firm that their advice is not to start any weaning until 6 months. There's been lots of World Health Organisation research, apparently, and they believe that 6 months is the time the body is properly ready. They should be able to sit confidently which means it's easier for the food to go down, plus breast milk apparently starts producing enzymes at 6 months which helps to digest food. There were various other things I can't remember off the top of my head, but they seemed to make sense.

We've also definitely had a bit of sleep regression. The last few weeks she has fed 2 or 3 times in the night, but she's getting back to her previous routine (hopefully!) I think it's an adjustment, too, because she went through a stage where she was only having cat naps during the day, whereas now she has a proper sleep in the morning & afternoon. She also makes a variety of screeches and squawks- sometimes I'm not sure if it's her or the gulls!

Trouble- do you have one of those sun tent things for the beach? I don't feel I can take Ivy out for all that long in this real fierce sunshine, despite sun hats & cream etc.

I've been mostly staying indoors kiki! i just feel it is too hot for him! When we are out we're been sitting under trees rather than on the beach!
I forgot the all important news from Saturday...Fyfe cut his first tooth! We now have a toothbrush and paste, it's terribly grown up!
Yes, he screeches too, lovely eh?

Oh yeah, I plan to do mixed weaning (at 6 months) BLW for the most part but with some purées of things I would have puréed as want him to get used to that texture too and to using a spoon. So purées will be potato, sweet potato, swede and carrot, squash, avocado (like guacamole) tomato (for pasta sauces) and some fruit purées. The rest will be finger foods and I plan to include him in our evening meal each night so he'll eat the same as us, with us. Basically I'm not planning to purée a lasagne etc.

We've just been going out in the early evenings, trouble, when it's a bit cooler. I usually find a spot in the shadow of a boat or something on the beach, but even that's been too hot, really.

Good news on the tooth!

Weeeeeee! Exciting news about the first tooth, Trouble. That is very grown up indeed! Is it on Fyfe's lower jaw? Bet it looks very cute. Have you noticed any change in breastfeeding? I'm a bit nervous about the full teeth/boobie situation!

Good to know about what the hv said, Kiki. Our local (rather gruff) nurse is in favour of weaning early as she's pretty old school. She also said they have to eat meat or they won't get enough iron. I feel like telling her to do one but it's hard when you have these 'experts' and you're a first timer. Also just the full peer group thing with the other ante natal group mums (who see the same nurse with it being such a small place) weaning early. Nice that you ladies are on here to give me some perspective!

Thanks everyone for your condolences.

Re weaning - we are planning on doing BLW from six months. We had the HV come out last week and she left us a DVD on BLW and it all makes sense to us and seems to fit in with BFing so we will go with it. DH had done some research beforehand re best age to introduce food/start weaning and we had already agreed between us not to start til six months, unless hv came up with amazing reason to do it early. As it was though, she doesn't recommend doing it early because dd's tummy just wouldn't be ready and she has to be able to sit up straight and hold herself to aid digestion.

Think with all this parenting lark though, it's all down to the individual baby and what mum and dad think is best for him/her. We know our babies better than anyone after all

The DVD sounds interesting broody, what was it called? I'd like to see it.
At the moment the tooth is only a couple of mm tall as has only just cut so he doesn't look any different yet bee. I can't feel it yet whilst feeding but know two women who said the Lansinoh had to come back in to use for a while as they kind of chafe, it really doesn't sound too bad though and will hopefully make weaning easier.
What is the BLW stance on yoghurt for example? I want to do BLW but can't see how you get things like mash and yogurt in to them, does that stuff wait until they can use a spoon? I think I need to read the book I have about it as am getting swayed by all the people I know from groups giving purées and I really wanted to BLW!! They are all also weaning early, I can see that it's tempting but I am determined to wait until 6 months unless I truly believe it to be in his best interest.

I've answered my own question, I can put the puréed stuff/mash or yogurt on to a spoon for him which he can learn to feed himself with, that way I'm sticking with the principles (because I want to, not that I feel I have to) or he can pick it up with his fingers if he prefers! That way he still gets those textures I want him to experience. Does that sound right?
I've been thinking about this a lot recently so it's nice to write it all down and get a plan sorted! Sorry for the lengthy monologue!!

kiki, sent you a text, will be in town at 12 ish so will give you a ring then.