Postgraduate brookers - Brooking No Argument for happy, healthy and sleeping DCs..

[musicalmrs]

New thread time!

Hi Too there's so much conflicting info out there isn't there?! I just wanted to say that I definitely wasn't advocating stage 3 formula milk as preferential to bm. Noooooooooooo way would I suggest anything like that! I was simply saying that if you're already ff then I personally would go for stage 3 formula rather than stage 1 after 6 months. Obviously when your baby starts to eat a regular and balanced solid diet then they don't need any iron supplementation at all. It's just the intervening weaning period where I think the extra iron might be useful.

If they're bf then I'm sure the benefits of bm outweigh the fact that it has slightly less iron than formula. However if you're ff anyway I haven't heard anything to suggest the increase in iron between stage 1 and stage 3 milk is harmful. I definitely believe it's mostly a marketing ploy by the formula manufacturers either way!

Scarlet I can easily imagine that my A will randomly decide she doesn't like Aptamil anyway and my huge stash will be utterly useless! Don't be tempted to go back to Aptamil because of anything I've said - I have no firsthand experience at all! I was just sharing what I've read. If DD decides she prefers the flavour of C&G or any other brand (AFTER drinking Aptamil on our trip ) then I'd have no hesitation in swapping her. I'm sure it's all much of a muchness in the end, I just had to pick one.

Thanks for the toddler milk tip! As I'm lactose intolerant and only drink soya milk, we already have two kinds of milk in our fridge. When DD starts drinking formula we'll have THREE kinds of milk! It'll be nice to go back to "just" two types as soon as possible! DH secretly loves full fat milk anyway, and will love the excuse to go back to it rather than semi-skimmed!

Too, M's naming sounds like it went so perfectly - congratulations :) We were thinking of doing something similar but never got round to it -wish we had now. I bet the photos are wonderful too :)

Scream, sorry to hear about you and your DH - but at the same time, it sounds like you're definitely doing the best for you both. I admire the way you're both stepping away from the situation and taking steps to make everything better again - I think it takes a very strong person (or couple of people!) to admit that something needs changing and to do something. The counselling sounds like a good idea - I think it could be a good idea for lots of couples to be honest.

Also, Scream, on the milk front - what are you doing re DD and your lactose intolerance? Have you bought her a lactose free formula or not? I'm lactose intolerant, and my DH is a little bit too... which is one of the fundamental reasons we'll be trying to avoid formula. I heard that the non-cows milk based ones tasted hideous! But I'll be interested to hear how you get on?

Thanks for everyone's feedback on the maternity leave issue! I'm wondering if I should not go back until April - she'll then be 11 months, and I think DH will be happier leaving her with a childminder then. I think I'm only panicking because I worry about the finances side of things - forgetting that we lived off a hell of a lot less money in the past! I think I need to stop panicking and start thinking about the best for my family, rather than stressing. It also gives me longer to try and pursue a few other avenues, and see if I can earn enough income from home or from nearby work to not have to return to London. I feel a bit guilty about potentially changing my plans with my employer, even though I'll be giving them four months (a term's!) notice if I do - but surely that's more than reasonable?

Meeting a childminder next Saturday (was supposed to be today but that fell through), so I'm hoping that'll chill me out and help us come to a decision, whichever way we decide to go. Wish I wasn't such a worrier... DH really doesn't want me to go back until April, so maybe I should just go with his wishes and not...

Pet, will let you know about the fees! I'm hoping some childminders might have more reasonable holiday 'rules'. I understand why nurseries have holding fees over the holidays, but in my line of work that's simply not feasible - and I can imagine it's not appealing to those who get paid during the holidays either, like yourself!

Too your naming ceremony sounded wonderful. I bet you're glad you went to all the trouble now! I'm looking forward to DS's baptism but still haven't got a date. Must pin down DH, the church, my parents etc otherwise DS will be walking before we get it done!

Jaggy well done for getting DS2 to take the bottle. That's one less thing to worry about.

Musical I'm swiftly accepting the fact that our finances will diminish and our standard of living will go down if I have the time I want with DS, but as you said, we've lived on less before and can do so again. And the babies are only young once. Anyway, I hope your meeting with the childminder goes well. :)

Interesting about the formula / iron question. And confusing. This parenting thing isn't easy, is it?

Musical my lactose intolerance came on when I hit puberty - as a child I was fine with milk (I loved cheese and my parents made me drink a glass of milk a day up until I started puking them back up). No one else in my family has it and no one in DH's family has it (including DH). So I've bought standard formula for DD and I'm just really hoping it works out okay! I'll be paying close attention to how she reacts and starting off with only one feed a day though. It's definitely a concern.

That's a tough call on the maternity leave front! I'm sure you'll make the right decision for your whole family though, you're clearly giving it plenty of thoughtful consideration. Good luck with the childminder. FWIW I find it hard to imagine ever regretting spending 3 extra months with your child, but easy to imagine regretting going back to work too early. That doesn't mean I'm right though, and I've been fortunate enough not to really worry about money so far in my life, so I have a rose-tinted view of finances sometimes. Go with your instincts.

musical - for what it's worth here's my take in babies and milk issues! Lactose intolerance in babies is proper, proper rare. Lactose intolerance makes itself known later in life normally - teenage years as per scream. What babies can struggle with is an allergy or intolerance to cows milk protein. Although formulas contain broken down cows milk protein and bm 'filtered' cows milk protein from mum's diet some babies bodies can still recognise it and react.

The issue can be an immaturity issue which normally resolves by 12 weeks (and would be called colic) or can be closely linked to bad reflux.

The formulas that contain cows milk protein chains that are so broken down the body can't recognise them are grim but a doesn't seem to mind it at all (although she's only had 1oz twice due to the bottle issue!). They are easily available on prescription and you can use vanilla essence to sweeten them.

The overwhelming majority of babies with cmpi or cmpa issues are over it by a year old.

Hope that helps - I've spent ages researching all that in the absence of any medical help

However in other news a hasn't had omeprazole yesterday or today and seems... Fine!!! Sleeping not brilliant or anything but definitely major inprovements.

DD has just been sick in my cleavage

Don't know what to suggest maternity leave wise, I don't have a job to go back to as I was made redundant

Pomme, thank you, that does help! :) DH's lactose intolerance was definitely noticed later in life. I've known about mine for years, definitely before teenage years, but probably when I was an 'older' child. I'm hoping I won't need to go down the formula route with Iz, but it's good to know that the cows milk ones may be ok if I need to for whatever reason.

Pet, thank you for your wise words re leave. Do you have to take a chunk unpaid too?

Scream, thank you too. You're right - a term with students, or an extra term with my very little girl? I think one of the issues I have is that I HATE letting people down - having already said I'd go back after Christmas. But DH is right that she'll be so much bigger at 11 months than at 7 re going to a childminder, and you're right in that an extra three months with your child is so much more important than three months at work. Money wise, we can get by (it just won't be too comfortable!), but again, I think you're right.

Still might as well meet the childminder- it'll help inform us for the future if nothing else. It looks like you plus DH have set my mind at ease though. Thank you all :)

OMG is anyone else just watching the 4 boy baby quads on BBC Breakfast?

RubberBullets, is that you Jen? If not hello, welcome, tell us about yourself

Thank you all so much for all the formula advice yesterday. You gave vastly reassured me that the making of formula is not beyond my pitiful brain .

But the different sorts of formula are so complicated aren't they!! I suspect deliberately so on the part of the formula companies!

Scarlet I think we did the same as you last time with the formula - ie first milk up until 12 mths, then we tried the 1+ milk until I tasted some and thought 'Gosh how much sugar is in that?' at which point I started him in cows milk pronto! But I'm wondering now wether they'd even invented this 'follow on' milk (ie the number 3 stuff). I think I called the 1+ stuff follow on milk last time? Now they seem to call that growing up milk?

Sometimes I feel like I had ds1 100s of years ago so much has changed!

So my question today is about weaning. We are on holiday about 1 week after DS is 6 mths. This, IF we get to 6 mths before we start weaning, we'll only be 1-2 weeks into it. I can't imagine we'd be more than 4 weeks into it, which is still pretty early days. So, how would you deal with that and being on holiday? Would you take 'bought' food or homemade? Finger foods or purées? Those that are 2-4+ weeks into it, what sort of things are they eating now?

Discuss.....

Didn't see that Scarlet - what sort of time was it on - might catch it on the iplayer.....

Is NBC breakfast even on the iplayer?

BBC not NBC

we had to travel for a funeral when DS1 was 6 and a bit months old. we'd only just started and took some Ella's kitchen pouches and some baby biscuits. he was only eating twice a day i think so just tastes really. he'd not had any shop bought food before but luckily he loved it!

Hmmm I was thinking about those pouches. I seem to recall they did vaguely taste of actual food unlike some of the jars

Yes it is me :o I fancied a change so decided to become one of my favourite songs.

When you had the heel prick test, did you get told that one of the things they would test for is lactose intolerance? I was and also my 1 year old nephew was diagnosed with it then.

I didn't use formula at all with my other boys but there was a sort of follow on milk that was aimed at toddlers. I briefly considered it when ds2 wasn't keen on cows milk as a drink to start with. They both weaned of of bm around their 2nd birthday! I am hoping to do the same with D but he is a different kettle of fish altogether so I will just see what he wants to do:)
The chuckle brothers have returned but haven't broken anything today, yet!

i think i picked them as they are 100% food biscuits! much easier to squeeze a bit out than scrape out a jar i found. DS1 still likes a the fruity ones as a snack so i actually have some in my cupboard . he considers it a treat to sook it out of the packet. he calls them squeezies...

Where are you going on holiday, Biscuits? What sort of food will be available? You could do baby-led weaning at least some of the time with fruit and things from local shops.

Last night we had the best night's sleep in months - think M is loving the cot! I am loving it if it continues to encourage her to sleep like this. She went to bed at 7, got up at 8 for a brief feed and then slept from 8.10pm to 5am! And then went back down until 7.30! We had to get up to take DH to work, so she had another hour's sleep after that as well.

Holy crap, it is suddenly pouring with rain. I have 30 mins to get myself and M organised for her swimming lesson and a trip into town to meet my grandparents and I will now be packing the buggy into the car in lashing rain, and trying to persuade the dog that he won't melt if he gets wet.

Obviously I've never weaned, so I can't speak from experience, however I've heard blw is ridiculously messy. That's fine in your own home, I'm hoping to do mostly blw, but I'd be a bit more stressed about it in a hotel or wherever you're staying on hol Biscuits. My understanding is that the mess is slightly more contained (to every inch of the baby rather than every inch of the walls/floor) with traditional purees. So I'd be inclined to take jars/pouches and baby biscuits (Yum! Rusks!) as per Jaggy's suggestion. That's only the thoughts of a clueless newbie though.

Rubber I don't think my DD was tested for lactose intolerance during the heel prick test. On the other hand I was so worried about them pricking DD I wasn't really paying attention to what they were testing for. I wasn't aware of a lactose intolerance "test" existing actually. I thought they just put you on an exclusion diet to confirm?

Wants No Brooking that the comedy duo postpone their antics until they're safely off your property this time!

Scarlet I'll def have a look at BBC iplayer for that programme! Quads?!?! The mind boggles...

Oh and forgot to say - Hooray for M and the amazing sleeping!!! Woohoo!!

I'm very of Too and trying to remember all my reasons for not putting DD into her room full-time until post holiday. I'm such a zombie after a couple of bad nights. To be fair DD has been fairly good recently, only up a couple of times between 8 and 8, usually with a maximum awake time of an hour or so. It's my annoying insomnia which is preventing me from sleeping properly really. It's my own fault though, I've been eating huge quantities of junk and nothing else for weeks now! Remind me, what is a vegetable?

Maybe they test for different things in different areas but both me and SIL were told the same thing. DD came back all clear and DN came back as lactose intolerant. I didn't find out until after DD had the test about DN so it wasn't a case of me misunderstanding what SIL said and going in with preconceived ideas, we talked about it after and agree we were told the same thing about what was tested.

Ella's kitchen! We went to Italy when dd1 was 6 months - I took tons of pouches and bought yoghurt, breadsticks, rusks, cheese etc there to fill it out a bit. Will be doing the same for dd2 as we will be off when she is 7 months ish. I cannot wait for holidays!!

Time somehow goes quicker at night doesn't it scream? A can be awake for 90 mins at night sometimes and in a way it flies by.

Last night she did 7 till 6 waking for quick feeds at midnight and four. I am gobsmacked.

the plum baby stuff is pretty good too, we used a lot of their baby and toddler stuff out and about when DS1 was being fussy. DS1 had a strange aversion to bananas so didn't like any with it in though. i have a picture of him making a yuk face before we worked this out.

Musical I admire your commitment to your schools. If you decide to stay on mat leave till April, could you tell them now so they have even longer to make arrangements? Then you might feel better about it? Yes, after 9 months my SMP runs out and I'll be digging into savings if I have the extra 3 months off. But I still think it will be worth it. DH isn't convinced though.

BTW thanks to all for the advice on how to make up a formula feed. We've just been using the little ready-made cartons for DS's top-up, but I might follow Ninja's suggestion of keeping a bottle of cooled boiled water in the fridge and just using a bit of boiling water to mix the formula. Sounds quick and easy! One question: if you take an empty sterilised bottle out with you, how do you keep it sterile?

Biscuits I've got no idea about your weaning question but would also be interested to hear the answers!

On a different topic, Biscuits, thank you so much for recommending the Maclaren Techno XT buggy. I love it! So much easier than the Quinny Buzz that we bought from a neighbour. Wish I'd stuck with my initial instincts to just use my sling and a stroller rather than buying the travel system, but never mind. We did use the pram as DS's bed for 6 weeks so I guess it served its purpose.

Too yay for M's good sleeping! Did you get to your swim ok?

I tried to put DS in his own room in the cotbed one night last week but after he woke up twice before we even went to bed I got all PFB about it and carried him back to the basket beside me! But he really is getting too big for the basket, especially now he's rolling and squirming, so I must try again. Thing is, at the moment I can settle / feed him without having to get up or turn on any lights or anything, which suits me. I fear my sleep will suffer when he's no longer within arm's reach. :(

Yes, plum good too. A loves the banana/blueberry/vanilla thing.

The bottle will stay sterile until you use it pet just in a bag.
The chuckle brothers have left but not before knocking the satellite dish so now we have no sky!:(
D has just been a superstar and slept for the whole time I was in the doctors surgery despite being due for a feed! A 25 min wait for a 3 min appointment [ hmmm]