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March 2012 - Brewed to Perfection!

702 replies

TroubleAndFyfe · 26/03/2012 06:59

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

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TroubleAndFyfe · 06/09/2012 21:16

*since Angry fgs!

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Lawabidingmama · 06/09/2012 21:27

Oh broody feel your exhausted pain ATM :((((((((( baby law is keeping me up! Would not be put down between 11pm and 3.30am last night I even roused DH to 'help' cue screaming ( baby not him) she is VERY attached to me very rarely allows anyone else to pick her up! So I took back over settled her she woke an hour later so I gave in snuggled her in bed and toddler law came bounding in at quarter to six ready for an action packed day! She's never been a decent sleeper I visited my sister at the beginning of the week and newborn neice is sleeping for longer stretches than we get! I factor a lot of it down to our attachment she needs to be close to me at all times!!!

On a different note she's had green poos for a week now been to the docs today with a sample got to wait a week for the results has anyone experienced this?

milkymocha · 06/09/2012 21:33

Iam anti CIO too. I hope your book gives you some insight/advice/help. I know it seems like iam talking hot air but it will pass. Doesnt help you much now but, you will get a full nights sleep again..

.. Just dont do what i did and have another baby as soon as your 1st starts sleeping Grin !

milkymocha · 06/09/2012 21:36

Law how is your baby fed if you dont mind me asking?

broodylicious · 06/09/2012 21:57

Haha milky I said to DH earlier that if this book works and DD is asleep for 7 wtf are we going to do with our time?! And then laughed "not practice for DC2!!!!" GrinGrin
One of my NCT friends had a pregnancy scare the other week - her DD is only 20 weeks so it really would've been a scare!! I know we'd get by (i used to be a 8-9 hour sleeper before dd and am just about managing to live on the below routine so it can be done!) but holy moly I'd rather not try our luck just yet Wink

milkymocha · 06/09/2012 22:04

Hahaha ! My eldest slept through the night for the first time the night i was in labour with youngest!

Woke up 6.30 full of beans whilst iam rocking on all fours next to my bed. He says 'mummy what you find under bed?' cue him jumping to look under the bed lol
Off he toddles to get me a plastic tea cup and shouts TEA MUM?
Best pain relief in the world.

Sorry went off topic there Grin should send you all to sleep though! Method to my madness!

Lawabidingmama · 06/09/2012 22:41

She's ex bf milky the nurse at the docs was banging on about possible hind milk fore milk imbalance but I know it's not that her feeding pattern hasn't changed and my milk supply has been settled since she was a few week old? I bf eldest till she was 9.5 months and never experienced this!!

Second the advice to enjoy a little bit of sleep before DC2! DD1 did sleep through before DD2 but started getting up again after DD2 was born shes just started sleeping through again!

TroubleAndFyfe · 07/09/2012 07:16

Operation swaddle was a success, he woke just three times, once just for a cuddle so less than a minute and twice for feeds (5 mins) Grin I however, woke up at least 7 times to look at him and think 'wow, he hasn't woken up' my body must be so used to it now I suppose. Anyway, will try again tonight and see if it really 'worked' or was just a fluke! Smile
law hope all is okay at GP. We have had that before but just put it down to too much fore milk which makes sense to us. I can see why it doesn't for you if the feeding pattern hasn't changed.

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BeeWi · 07/09/2012 08:24

Trouble - that sounds promising on the swaddle. One word of warning though, it took us 5 weeks to wean LO off swaddling. Mind you, she'd been swaddled from birth, so maybe it's different.

LO has also started waking more frequently since about a fortnight ago. We've gone from a blissful set up of 10pm dreamfeed, one night wake up and feed and getting up between 5.30 and 6am to waking every 2 hours and getting up at 5. Not as bad as you've got it, Broody, but still so hard to cope with. I had to get my husband to take a day off earlier in the week to look after LO so I could sleep. I'd been trying to rock her at 5am and then suddenly started retching and had to run to the loo to be sick. I'd got so run down and exhausted, I'd seemed to get physically sick. Awful.

I read that babies' sleep cycles change around 5 months so that now, rather than having light sleep cycles that last 45 minutes but which they can drift between easily, they now go into more adult sleep cycles where they wake fully at the end of each. If they don't know how to self settle without you, they cry so you come and put them back to sleep. I feel I've really shot myself in the foot by rocking or feeding her to sleep as now she always needs me to go and give her a cuddle and a feed to settle her. I've bought her a Cushkie to try and get her attached to it and have worn it to put my smell on it. She seems to like it, so hopefully she'll eventually be able to cuddle that to resettle. Like many of you, I'm buggered if I'll let her cry it out. Judgey as it is, I think it's barbaric. I can understand how people get so sleep deprived they would try it but it's not for us.

Anyways, enough babble, here's that biscotti recipe (LO loves it with mushed avocado or hummus or nut butter on it)-

Preheat oven at 170C and line a caking tray.
Mash a medium sized ripe banana with 1TBsp of softened butter or neutral oil (we used oil) and 1 egg. Mash and mix until smooth. (Optional- you can add a pinch of cinammon if you want at this stage.) Sift in about 1 cup of white plain flour - do it a third of a cup at a time, as the amount you'll need depends on the size of the banana. If you're using gluten-free flour and the mixture goes dry, you can add water or milk a drop at a time until the dough holds together.
Put the dough on the baking sheet and (with floured hands) shape it into a long log shape which is about 4cm wide. Bake for 15-20 minutes until firm to the touch but not coloured. Remove and cool slightly on a wire rack.
Turn oven down to 120
C and once you can handle the log, use a bread knife to cut 5mm slices. If you want longer ones, cut on the diagonal. Arrange slices on the baking sheet and return to the oven until golden and crisp. Now, the recipe said to do this for 15-20 minutes but ours took much longer and I ended up turning the oven up, but maybe that's our oven?!

Anyways, I hope it's a hit with your babies too!

TroubleAndFyfe · 07/09/2012 08:49

Yeah bee, as I said I reckon it's an age thing much more than something we're (almost) all doing or not doing! Although the swaddling seemed to help it may well have been just an okay night, we do still get them very occasionally! We'll all get through it I'm sure! Smile
The recipe sounds great, I will give it a go!Smile

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milkymocha · 07/09/2012 11:55

Ds1 loved being swaddled up until he was 4 months (i was led to believe that it was unsafe after this point due to rolling?) but DS2 hated it sadly. Too flappy and wiggly like a little bird.

Perserve ladies, its definitely the age! Happy weekend :)

TroubleAndFyfe · 07/09/2012 14:44

Doesn't seem to be an issue milky from a quick google. Some suggestions of using rolled up towels to prevent rolling if the child is that way inclined. Fyfe is not much of a roller. He does it sometimes but not constantly like some babies, besides, I'm sure he'd cry if he got stuck. Interesting how some babies love it and others just don't!
It'd be lovely if someone could say when the phase would end wouldn't it? It'd be okay if they said 6 more weeks or whatever. Actually I feel okay about it all now...thanks broody! BlushSad
I'm loving this sunny weather though have been indoors most of today, we went to the cinema this morning then gave Fyfe a massage now he's dancing in his door bouncer and I'm going to start cleaning ready for guests this weekend. Grin

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broodylicious · 07/09/2012 20:50

Oh bee how I dream of two hour rests between wakings! That's an absolute walk in the park! EnvySmile

Re swaddling - we never really got into it because we had been told by three/four months you need to stop so figured itd be a battle. Dd sleeps in a sleep bag as she's not much a fan of blankets. She's just got a sleep suit on tonight though as its so warm.

TroubleAndFyfe · 07/09/2012 21:24

Fyfe is very flexible, fine with swaddling, blankets, sleeping bags, my duvet, nothing and seems very interchangeable! Good luck tonight everyone!

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Pinkpiglet · 08/09/2012 09:07

Hi all, I hope I can come and join you

It's very comforting to read that you are all going through the same sleep wows as we are. We've gone from DD sleeping through 8-7 on the odd occasion to her now waking multiple times in the night and being ready to get up at 4am. It's so much harder entertaining a baby when your feeling rotten. I'm sorry some of you have it much harder.
I hope the phase ends soon, just have to ride it out for now!

Thanks for the Biscotti Bee, I'm going to give it a try today.

madscimum · 08/09/2012 10:37

Welcome, pink! :)

Interesting about the adult sleep patterns, bee. I've noticed when Tessa wakes in the middle of the night now, it is much more of an "awake" awake, if that makes sense. Humming and making noise and such.

Yeah, and our 8 hours was a fluke. She's now waking regularly. Glad to hear its another phase, with hopes that it will end. And so sorry, broody, as perhaps the 4 month phase faded straight into the 5 month for you?? That's being optimistic that it still a phase that can pass!

broodylicious · 08/09/2012 16:18

I'm feeling much better that other mums are rocking/feeding their babies to sleep - I thought many of you had wonderful LOs that went to sleep the minute you put them down! We do want to get out of the habit as its going to get harder as she gets older.

One other interesting point from the weaning talk the other day was to do with teeth. Apparently, there's thousands of 4/5 yr olds having their teeth removed because of the damage done at our LOs age...although many parents understand the importance of teeth cleaning from the day that first nasher appears, they give a bottle/beaker of milk to go to bed with. As milk - formula, cows and breast - has sugar in it, the babies teeth are under attack overnight. Therefore, she said its good practice to get into giving water as the last drink if possible.

I got a few goodies from the talk too, including a doidy cup. Do any of you use this yet?

madscimum · 08/09/2012 18:33

Oh, broody, isn't it funny how we assume everyone is doing so much better than us? :) Yes, we're rocking/feeding to sleep. In fact, last night I put Tessa down when I thought she was asleep and then went to the toilet. She wasn't yet, and started making noise, and before I got back was in a full blown cry. It was really only like a minute or two. But, boy, was she upset! I tried to nurse her to calm her, and she kept sucking then popping off to stare at me and give a cry or two. As if to say, "See how upset I am! I cried and you did not come immediately! Don't think some yummy milk fixes this..."

And Tessa has now definitely said "da da". But not for her Dad, just something she babbles. Some "Mmmmm" but no "Ma ma" yet.

We didn't get a doidy cup -- we got one of those Tomee Tipee sippy cups. Does anyone know what is best?

broodylicious · 08/09/2012 18:55

Oooh I've tried my TT cup out today!! We start weaning on Tuesday (DH day off so we will both enjoy seeing it for the first time Smile) and I wanted to get poppy used to the cup so gave it her to play with. She seemed q interested so I put a little cooled boiled water in - v interested to see it move inside. I sat her on my knee and she took a big glug, let it all dribble out her mouth and then got v excited and pulled it towards her again! I tried a little formula in it tonight and ... success! She had what I'd put in there and cried when it'd gone!

broodylicious · 08/09/2012 19:11

Re what is best - the HV who did our talk said the doidy cup is the "in" thing with speech development folk as nothing goes in the baby's mouth (as opposed to a teat or spout) that could affect how it develops. However she also said TT sippy cups are the most popular as they're nice to handle and are a great brand. So really, I think it's baby's personal preference.

milky - nappy changes not solved nighttime wakings but she was happier for the second change at 4am today (first was 12ish) as it was saturated! V rare for her botty to be red but it was a little this morning. Poor mite! Bepanthen calmed it down almost immediately - she even smiled and blabbed "mummmum" in gratitude SmileSmile

I took poppy to my old livery yard today as I wanted to catch up with my horsey pals. She was fascinated with my friend's mare - stared and squealed and laughed!! It was a lovely distraction as it was the first time I've been to the yard since my boy passed away in July so I was naturally q emotional Sad

BeeWi · 09/09/2012 02:33

No worries, Pink. How did it turn out? Did your second bake take longer than the recipe suggests or was it just me? Welcome, by the way.

With regards to the giving water at night, I thought it was ropey to try and do that before 8 or 9 months? Last time I spoke to our nurse she said that whilst it's best practice to brush before sleep, it won't hurt too much if baby needs a night feed. I figure I'm not brushing her after every feed anyways during the day (just a morning and pre-bed brush) and nothing magically different is happening at night?

broodylicious · 09/09/2012 06:30

I don't think she was suggesting we give water straight away as the last drink, just eventually that's where we want to be. I agree, there is no way on earth I'm going to get into the habit of brushing after every feed and particularly after a night feed - theres no way dd would ever go to sleep then! Wink

TroubleAndFyfe · 09/09/2012 12:06

We're just brushing twice a day. Fyfe takes little bits of water from a TT cup (can hold it himself now) on hot days, we started at 3 months. He will sometimes take a little expressed milk from it too but never more than a teaspoon of either. I figure seeing as he has never used a bottle we might as well try to skip it completely and just use a cup. I was thinking of getting a doidy, let me know if it's any good.
Had another okay night last night but he got up from 5.20-7 (with DH) before going back to sleep until 10 (!Grin) so great for me, not so good for DH!

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Pinkpiglet · 10/09/2012 00:20

Thanks BeeWi, the biscotti worked out really well and it's been the most successful item of food to enter Isobel's mouth. But I'm pretty sure she's not actually swallowed anything yet!
Yes it did need longer for the second bake, I left it in for ~20 mins then turned the heat off and left it in the oven until it had cooled to allow it to dry out further. Next time I make it I may cut a few bigger bits for myself, it's rather tasty!

TroubleAndFyfe · 10/09/2012 09:01

Ooh, I must do the biscotti today! Pretty sure Fyfe hasn't eaten anything yet either but he's having fun trying! Grin

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