October 2011: Crawling, teething and (we hope) sleeping through

[Penelope1980]

Sorry guys - posted the 1000th message without realising , so hopefully you can all find this thread!

Thanks for birthday wishes everyone :) had a lovely time.

lookout rather than thinking of it as "BLW" and a seperate thing, I just think of it as "finger foods" so give him bits and bobs to try (anything really, as long as it doesn't have sugar or salt added, and even then he's tried a bit of cake/muffin!). However C still has purees for lunch and dinner, but he also has started hated being spoon fed. His absolute favourite food in the world is bread and butter. If he's screaming, I give him a slice and he's instantly happy. I have also spread his puree on bread, and gave it to him like that, cut up into little pieces for him to hold.

C has been putting things in his mouth since he was 3mo though, he explores everything with his mouth, so if I was more organised a better housewife less lazy able to I'd do BLW and cook him something for lunch and dinner. Omlette, sandwiches, pasta etc for lunch, and whatever we eat for dinner.

i.e. I don't think of it as a seperate 'scary' entity, I just mix and match. I grab stuff out the fridge for him to finger food. Broccoli, orange, cheese, pasta, bananas. Anything really :)

We're bf lookout and until last night he was comfort fed about every 1-2 hours, an would only be fed to sleep. It got to the point where I can barely think straight and was just miserable. Last night he fed at 11 then 6am ad they were proper feeds rather than the snacking he had been doing. Incidentally, he's also had better naps today too. He did et his porridge but played with and screamed at all other foods today, but I'm trying to stay calm an tell myself it will come. Easier said than done I know. He'll be getting some purée sandwiches tomorrow! (thanks scheh!)

Actually you're right Penguin about not eating for 12 hours! P has a feed about 11am but it was the feed somewhere between 2am-4am (and then possibly) another one after that that I thought she could do without and sleep through. She clearly didn't want the water in the early hours of this morning so will probably just carry on with the boob for now and hope she just sorts the length of sleep out herself That's you full up for a while with all those lentils then!

Lookout do you think he was frustrated maybe? Sometimes P has a shout/cry halfway through dinner, we just try a distraction technique (such as my fabulous singing) and then she forgets and carrys on. Doesn't matter if he trashes his food blw is about playing with it. Get a dog for the leftovers :)

Enjoy dinner Emma

Ipswich porridge is the one thing P chucks off the side, I even tried to make it interesting with yoghurt and raisins yesterday and she wasn't convinced!

lookout mushing up is good! As sch said, anything that he can get his hands on is worth a try. Sometimes S has a random lunch, I'll give her a chunk of cheese, a slice of cold meat, breadstick etc. Have you checked the blw website? Type it in google and it should pop up. Just keep at it. He will figure it out soon that this stuff is ment for his mouth and is yummy!!

Hi em not seen you for a while! Good trick from J W is similar in terms of food, much prefers being spoon fed purée but is starting to get to grips with some finger food now.
Enjoy your night out, hope J behaves

i think you can feel whether they are taking a full feed or not and it's always something that can be described.

Love all the fb photos.

they are not designed to be getting even half their calories from food yet. Even if they only suck they still get nutrients and you could try vitamin drops for extra peace of mind. It is normal for some babies to really not start getting in the 9-12 month interval, just society seems to be geared to thinking it's all 'go go go' at 6 months. All you can do is offer your baby a few diferent foods in a few different formats and see what takes, bearing in mind it could all change in a few weeks.

I do curse a bit myself when DS doesn't go straight back to sleep as normally for us means we're dealing with a development related waking and could be a while.

i want to add my sympathy to those worrying/getting anxious but can't find the words that don't make me sound like a twat, so I hope this sentence conveys what i want and people don't take offence. we all have our things that we over worry about, mine is letting other keep DS. It's like he is the pfb but i think it's more the bottle refusing, clingier baby that he is.

plus probably the fact it's only maybe every other month I am in a position to let someone else have him/them so there is no getting him used to it.

Ok, thanks. I need to stop stressing about it. E also loves bread/toast so will also be trying puree on toast tomorrow. Sounds --revolting- yummy

Sch not lazy, just busy! It's hard work cooking separate meals for everyone! I'm all for grabbing whatever is to hand and I shall now be doing the same.

ips sounds similar to E. He def comfort feeds in the night though probably every 3-4 hours. Sometimes we'll get a freakishly good night where he'll sleep for 8 hours. But that's happened maybe 5 times since he was born, that's all. I also am getting to the end of my tether with lack of sleep but am petrified of sleep training in case i get it wrong/it doesn't work/makes things worse. I really hope you get another good night tonight, it is awful going without much sleep for this amount of time!

Cheshire I have been 'hoping' for months that if I leave E to it on the sleep front he will get there by his own steam. I am still hoping! He may have been frustrated but he had just been rubbing a patch of eczema on his face with courgette so maybe that upset him somehow! I was disappointed because up to that point it had been going so well!

Will have a look at the website tomorrow. Off to bed to read a bit, am surely in for another rubbish night! Hope all yours are good

lookout - L shouts at his food too and I worked out its when he's really hungry. If I bf first he is more patient and takes his time and eats a lot more.

We ate out this evening and L happily munched on some flatbread with cheese and avocado. He's doing a lot better now.

Catching up on other posts now...

Try TKMax for growbags, I used to get all of DD1s from there.

After my 3 dreadful nights sleep last week M did brilliantly the last 2 nights, but tonight I'm on my 3rd feed, every time I tried to put her down after the 2nd feed she started crying again. Changed her nappy and gave her teething powder and just feeding again to try to get her off.

We have an emerging tooth - that might explain the sleepless nights!

Lookout - I'm doing BLW, I was totally against it until 2 days before I started weaning - all my fb friends were going on about how brilliant it was, so I thought we'd give it a go. I give her just about anything - lumps of meat, pasta tubes, fish fingers, tortilla, rolls with cream cheese, baby snacks, bread sticks, cheese sticks, chilli (very messy, she liked the kidney beans though), etc - and I'm also giving her puree, yoghurt and baby rice - to fill her up as not much goes in with blw - however, I load up the spoon and let her pull it into her mouth so she is controlling how much food she takes. A lot of the food is quite dry (compared to pure puree feeding) so I give her sips of cooled boiled water in a sippy cup. As others said - keep a close eye, M almost choked on melon when she first started eating and my DH had to turn her upside down to get it out, scary but this was only her 2nd day of eating and I think she's used to it a lot more now. She really enjoys her mealtimes and the BLW means I can get on with my dinner while she eats.

Jnice I bf first too, so not sure it would be that that's making him shout. WIll have to see if it happens again.

pink I'm slowly coming round to it. It's certainly a lot more fun than purees. I am worried he's not gonna be eating enough though, so will try loading a spoon and just giving it to him. He is having a sippy cup too which he loves and is slowly getting the hang of. Gosh that must have been scary with the melon, it would have ut me right off! At the moment he only really eats with us at tea, cos lunch is at 11.30 before his nap which is a tad early for me . We are having tea all four of us together atm cos I have to go to bed so early to cope with the nights, but I guess in a few months the boys will eat together and dh and I will have dinner once they're in bed. Ah, will be nice to get my evenings back!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. My brother is taking ds1 climbing this morning, I am scared and excited and looking forward to having one less child in the house for the morning

lookout I am ff not bf (unfortunately, I couldn't manage bf). How lovely that your bro is taking your ds climbing! That sounds so cute, all these things to look forward to in the future. Enjoy the partial break today with only one to think about

pink hope you get some rest today. Hopefully last night won't be repeated tonight

I am pleased/amazed to say J manged really well last night and my fears of having to leave the restaurant didn't happen. He was wide awake when we arrived and I was v anxious, but after a little cry he went to sleep and that was him. I even manged to transfer him to his cot after without him waking up (which is a first!). V proud of him. Now have to get more nights out before he grows out of the car seat. He is 8kg and I think it only lasts until 9kg.... Now where can we go next

Got the pils staying for the next few days which should be great, nice not to be by myself during the day

i can't wait until I can take DD to the climbing wall

I'm just catching up on all the posts now (have been busy the last couple of days) but just wanted to add something so when I come on next time I know where I've read up to

I am too scared to do BLW, are you all able to reassure me A won't choke?? I like the idea, but worry about it. Irrationally I think.

A hit another milestone today, the crawling forward to rip books out of the bookshelf milestone. Needless to say we've spent much of the weekend baby proofing the house!

pene yay for crawling, even if it did result in a mess W is only now at nearly 7 months starting to get comfortable with finger foods I think it takes some of them more time to get to grips with than others.

Went out for MILs 60th birthday today W had a great time showing off to everyone and enjoyed the bread, green beans and strawberrys he has from my plate (not all at once that would be a v strange meal ) He then screamed in the car most of the 2 hours home which was fun he perked up as soon as we got through the front door, think he just needed to be home.

em glad you had a good night out

Oh my goodness E has not stopped a high pitch whine (bar one half hour nap) all morning....argh!!

LP Poor you and poor E! Is it teeth?

em glad the night out went well. I concur - get out as much as you can before he's too big for the car seat! Am also jealous as El would NEVER fall asleep in the car seat now!!

PA Ds1 loved the climbing wall. He climbed all the way to the top, so lucky I wasn't there or I'd have had a heart attack! My brother's an experienced climber though, so was pretty relaxed. So proud of my big boy

Pen so far we've not had nay choking. Was one of my dear as well and I know we're only on day 3 or whatever, but so far so good. He's taking to it so much better than the spoon. It's very cute to watch as well. Never though I'd say this, but I'm converted. Try it! And hooray for crawling, or not as the case may be! It gets harder to keep on top of them haha!

sp W obviously knows what he wants! Driving in tha car accompanied by baby's screams has got to be one of the most stressful things ever.

climbing has a odd image but is very safe. glad he loved it

i concur, i find cryin in the car so emotionally tough and draining.

lookout glad DS1 enjoyed the climbing.

Crying in the car is horrible isn't it. I sit in the back with W at the moment so I can get to him. DH was driving so it was probably worse for him. I don't drive yet (learning now) not looking forward to him doing it when im driving.

W currently has a nice square red mark on his head from where he fell on some building blocks this morning I think it's going to bruise and we have an appointment with his Consultant in Winchester tomorrow!

Everyone out enjoying the sun....?

:( for W's bruise sp, dont they always seem to happen just before a dr's appointment?

the climbing sounds great lookout, glad he had a good time. regarding sleep training i figured the situation couldnt get any worse so thats why we went for it!! i just followed the method on supernanny's website (had been watching her programme earlier that day!) so far so good, we seem to be in a routine of bed for 7.15-7.30, sleep til 11 ish when he has bf then i go to bed, wake at 4 for bf then again 7.30-8ish. we've not eliminated night feeds and have no plan to as yet, will probably let him drop them when he's ready, but if we can keep the current state of affairs thats great. he's falling asleep on his own now and settling himself, and even nodded off before i finished his story, so no crying tonight.

glad you had good meals out emma and sp (apart from the screaming home!)

did the whine stop eventually pebble? it just goes right through you doesn't it, and i'm always sure i can still hear it long after they stop! its like tinnitus!!

N back to refusing solids again, and i'm running out of ideas. wondering if i should give it a rest for a couple of days and try then :(

No the whine didn't stop! Luckily I had to work this afternoon so DMiL had the joy of it from half two until half five....the first time I've seen the benefit of working lol!

Not sure if it's teeth, growth spurt or just a new thing he's discovered (heaven help me if it's that!)