Caution! December 2011 babies can be hazardous to health, bank balances and carrot sticks!

[LittleMissFlustered]

Morning/Afternoon! Still coldy here, DS was up 2 hourly again overnight, but he didn't take much formula yesterday so maybe it makes a difference. Now 5 days to Boob-wind-down day, so I bought some full size bottles: they are chuffing enormous!! I'm sure DDs' ones were only 7 oz, these seem to hold nine ounces, and I can't see DS ever getting through that....( though when the Milk Bar shuts he may surprise me and drink piles. Hope so as that will make me mightily relieved).

and the latest attempt at getting DS to nap is a pop-up-travel-cot from my lovely cousin's handmedown pile. He is at least now lying in it, that's a start....

Hope it's going OK at your end Kate.....

all things are good at the DSM household.

Over the weekend I've ready the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. I thought it was good but back to reality now!

Hope the nap is successful aethel!

I lowered minimopsy's five daily bottles to 6oz each instead of 7, now she's chomping three little pots of mush (veg and/or baby rice) a day. Is that the right thing to do? I've no idea!

(she hasn't complained about it, don't think she's noticed... )

As long as she's getting the recommended amount of milk it's all good. Food at this age is supposed to be in addition to milk, not instead:)

A minor me moment. We left the house at about two as the neighbour's music was insanely loud and annoying. Back home four hours later and it's just started up again. I so desperately want to move.

So, where's good?

Oh dear re: neighbours LMF, how inconsiderate of them :(

Re: milk I was only worried cos the weaning book said babies sd be having 20oz a day and if they were having more, you sd speak to GP. Well, minimopsy is on 35oz a day and has been for months! So was worried I was over-feeding her and creating an obese child in later life. They go on so much in the literature and bf being best and more formula babies being obese and I already have so much guilt about not succeeding past 6 weeks on the bf front (in spite of truly trying my hardest)-in fact, there was a celebrate bf thing on in town toddy, I didn't realise and wasn't expecting it and it made me cry. I hadn't realised I was still carrying that guilt around but clearly I am... Anyhow, I digress... My point was, if she IS having too much formula and I can easily reduce her bottles by an oz as she's having the extra ounce in her food (I make the baby rice with formula and she is walloping into it! She had 4 minipots of veg/baby rice
mix for tea, which is about 4oz), then it is not a bad thing, right? Ugh I wish i hadn't read that stupid weaning book, I totally wasn't worried at all before!

She's fine. She'll soon let you know if she isn't. Relax and enjoy the mess.

Next door's cd has stuck and she is doing nothing about it

Anyone live in Wales or Scotland? I am pondering somewhere reasonably rural:(

Mopsy the recommendation on my tub of formula is 4x8oz per day for a 6month old! Freya is still having 5x7oz at the moment but I'll be changing it to 4x8oz next week, following this week starting 3 meals per day

Can't help I'm afraid LMF, always been a city dweller.

You're right, I just need to chill. I made a point of not reading any baby advice stuff when she was tiny as it just stressed me out and I did fine relying on instinct and common sense, so I should just follow the same plan for weaning!

MissRee, reassuring to hear that Freya is on same as minimopsy!

I won't be dropping it too drastically either considering she dropped two centiles just a few weeks back. 20oz really doesn't seem enough to me

Thanks for asking aethel. The answer is it's not going at all! I've stopped offering bottles as it was getting upsetting all round. Decided to wait until he's over his cold and try again. He's almost better now, so may try tomorrow when DD is at nursery. Some friends and my Mum have offered to take him to bottle boot camp if he doesn't coooperate. Good luck with closing the milk bar your end.

He's also still refusing any solids so I am suitably at all your LO's tucking into all that lovely mush. He won't take a cup either, so I'm completely stuck with just BF at the moment

Will get him weighed Weds, and don't think it'll be good. Will see if HV has any bright ideas.

mopsy as you say, you should lose the guilt and go with instinct on formula and food quantities. And definitely lose the BF guilt. You're doing a fantastic job

I like the idea of bottle camp Kate I hope you manage to get him to take a bottle and don't need bottle camp though.

You did better than me, Mopsy. I hate the fact that freya's notes say that her first feed was formula I wouldn't say that it was as I kind of managed to get her latched. Ho hum, DP doesn't understand it when I get upset about Freya having formula from day 2 but I couldn't let her starve until her day-5 check which was when they said they would re-evaluate her tongue tie.

figgy, hope you felt ok today? x

The stupid expensive childcare is for 'out of hours', blardy shift work...and that was the cheapest I could find locally (most expensive was £2.8k!), it would be unfair to ask people to sit for us as we'd be working shifts & unlikely to finish on time.
I do love being a SAHM, but it's annoying to have the option of working taken away, ifyswim?

aethel, magnums?! I doubt DS is mine because he won't touch biscuits, ice cream or chocolate.

Northen, how did the spag bol go? How much weetabix does a 6month old need, half? a 1/4?

LMF, if you've killed the neighbour (and skipping cd left unattended is a muderable(?) offence), then I'm happy to be an alibi.
All the naice places I know of are vair expensive...how the frig locals manage to ever get on the property ladder in Cumbria I never know.

DS is on 4 feeds, unless he wants to feed every 2 hours during the day

Awww thanks Kate!

MissRee, it's weird. When you say that, I immediately think DON'T feel guilty! You do what's necessary and what's possible at the time. Sonetimes bf just doesn't work. It never worked for me really. But then I go on feeling guilty myself. It's so ridiculous. We sd all just stop with the guilt, we are all doing our heartfelt best and what more can we do? But easier said than done...

Hey AWCH- DS will munch about a third, and we just use full fat moo-juice to mush it up. Spag bol is being munched by us tonight, but DS is yet to try it bloody disorganised DP. He actually ate rough oat biscuits today too, so we can add that to the toast/'bix/yog combo... Still no interest on the fruit or veg front though!
He's having 3x 210ml bottles, then three feeds from me (which will be between 100-150 ml), so he's still mainly on milk.

It must have been upsetting to find out you were still upset about bf Mopsy, and that's probably added to the worries around getting the food and weaning 'right'. You were right to trust your instincts before, and I think you should do it again, because you're obviously doing a grand job.
And you too MissRee, it's rotten you feel guilty about that. How's it going on the tongue tie front, does Freya have an appointment yet?

That does sound shite LMF. Noise nuisance from neighbours is almost impossible to sort out, annoyingly. Re rural areas, round your way (ish) I love Alnwick and Whitby (but that's been rather expensified). Over the Pennines you've got quite a choice round my sort of way- Trough of Bowland is lovely, and you can still find some reasonably priced houses round Lancaster. Don't know Wales or Scotland well enough, and don't think you want to move daahn saarf.

Was very of DP today: him, outdoors at a Sure Start centre in sunshine, as DS played with all the toys, me, stuffed in an office feeling knackered as DS treated us to some warbling at 5am that was loud enough to wake me on the floor above... But DS is being dead cute, he goes all shrieky/chattery/excited then flings his arms around my neck in a hug and then grabs my hair or cheek and grips so I can really pretend he luuuurves me !

Best of luck figgy...

Feeling like shit about tomorrow, have started crying now which is annoying me!!

Mopsy im still full of the bf guilt too on some days, most days im fine accept it didnt work out and he is thriving but then, like you experienced today, bam it hits me. Its strange!!

Figgy just go with it. You will cry. It's normal!!!

And thanks for the vote of confidence, Northern , and everyone! I think instinct and common sense is defs best. I don't worry when I work that way. Reading too much can be a bad thing, and all babies are different so, apart from basic advice re: illness etc., I think I'll just go with the flow and with my baby's cues. She's usually pretty vocal if she doesn't like something anyway!

for mopsy, baby is clearly fine and we all agree with you!

for figgy, it's OK, you will be fine (albeit soggy). I'm a hard nosed * and I came over all emotional when I left DD1 for work too! It will get better and you will both be fine.

for LMF (or maybe for the neighbour's stereo)

Nap lasted 10 minutes max! Little blighter, how we loves him.

Oh well kate, give it a break and try again later (that's what I've been doing). Food is v variable at this end, today he eschewed brek and lunch but had some fruit pot and gummed a malted milk (ewwww) for dinner.
Some days he has no interest at all, but it's early days for solids. Big contrast to the DDs who both hoovered their mush from 4 months....

Hi all, have been AWOL for aaaages, so I apologise if I've missed loads of very important stuff. The cottage in Somerset was in a tiny exmoor village called withypool. There was no phone reception at all, and no wifi, so, whilst I missed you all, it was bliss!
mopsy just keep going with instinct, I'm sure your LO knows how much she needs.
We're still mainly milk only but introducing foods the baby led way, so he's ingesting very little. I may start introducing some mush in an attempt to get him to sleep sometimes.
figgy the first day is tough. Surround yourself with pictures. Figgyboy will be fine, so just try and keep busy. I've been back for about 6 wks now, and it does get easier, - I have no problems leaving him now. I want to be with him, of course, but it'd take a lottery win to achieve. And besides, he is thriving. He is crawling now. He takes his bottles from anyone. And smiles and charms everyone. He's doing fine. (mantra: he's doing great! You're doing the right thing. ...But cherie Blair is a tool and I'd rather be a sahm.)
lmf I can recommend a cottage in withypool, it was lovely and quiet, 20 yards to a tearoom, 75 yards to a pub, lovely garden rolling down to the river, from where you can see ponies on't'moors... But no phone reception and the local shop was freaking expensive! - It was way too quiet for anything more than a week or two. I'd be wary of both Scotland and Wales, they aren't so keen on us English types, so real acceptance can be a problem. However, Scotland's universities are free... So that could be a consideration if they're still free when your lot are older.
What else did I want to say?... Operation cutting down bf is going quite well. Kind of. He will take a bottle from me now.
Oh and we're moving house on Thursday! Yippee!!!! At last!

Welcome back Oi. Large amounts of for Thursday:)

Hope all goes well on Thursday Oi I hate moving house!

We're still waiting for an appointment, Northern and probably will be for months to come

I have a friend who is having an elective c-section next week as her baby is breach. She's panicking about not being able to BF, I've told her that lots of people manage but I have no real words of wisdom for her other than FF isn't the end of the world if she doesn't manage it. That's not really very positive though, is it?!

figgy you will be fine tomorrow, as will DS.

mopsy stop reading, you're doing a marvellous job with minimopsy. Eva is 7 months now and still has 4x 7oz plus 3oz in her porridge, she also usually inhales her 3 solid meals a day.

LMF I recommend East Anglia if you want rural.

Ditch the bf guilt ladies! As long as we all do what we have to or what works what else matters? I've tried and failed at BF twice now, after stressing so much about trying with Eva I've accepted that maybe it just isn't for me. I'm sure idbe judged but I'm not sure if I'd try it next time.