April 2012 - little people who actually DO stuff now!!

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

Ta da

I've not reduced how much tea I drink; if anything it's increased since DS was born - I have at least two or three cups a day now. Before I got pregnant I might have had one in the morning. Never really thought about it.

I suppose it would be possible in theory that small amounts of caffeine would pass into your BM, after all some babies have reactions if the mother eats dairy produce, I suppose caffeine would pass through in the same way.

Give it a go, see if cutting right back improves DD's sleep, you'd have to try it for a good few days though!

newmummyvicky I have to wedge S into his nest with a V pillow or he slides down and gets cross.
I don't reduce tea at all when BF, infact am doing the 5:2 diet so on my 500 calorie days I drink gallons of it to stave off the hunger.
S has regularly been sleeping from 8-9ish util 5:30-6ish since four months. DS2 however didn't sleep through until 15mnths

Just marking place as you've all dropped off my active list. Things are manic here so will try and get back on tomorrow for a proper catch up.

Marking place as I lost you all.

If you're worried that coffee is keeping her awake, have a nice g&t at bedtime

Henrietta - re pain meds, doctors are always over cautious of what they can prescribe while BF, kellymom have a good list that i checked mine on :)

Thanks for the tip, Beyond! I managed to get through the first few days on the milder codeine & am now alternating ibuprofen & paracetamol. The pain is much more manageable now. The occasional glass of red helps too, and I reckon is much more acceptable than codeine!

Back home today to go for check up & re-dressing at the Hand Clinic tomorrow. Then mum is bringing me & DS back down to stay with them for the week, as DH will be working & I still can't change nappies etc!

DS is thriving through all this. We have been on family expeditions to buy lots of lovely 6-9 month clothes, and he's getting really into food too - dinner times are a blast, shoving bits of veg around the table and investigating things. Finger food is strictly at home, though. I'm happy to batch make purée for trips out but my mum loves to splash out & has tried him on almost every Ella's kitchen pouch on the Market! She's not quite got the idea that he has what we have, though, and likes to prepare bits of bread & smooth peanut butter or similar for his meals. I applaud her enthusiasm! I haven't got the energy to do anything different.

Btw, is he old enough for meat? Not great chunks, clearly, but mince or similar?

Henrietta, when I weaned DS from about 51/2 m he had veg and fruit and porridges for about a month and then maybe around 7 m I started giving more adventurous meals that inc meat or chicken once a day and the other one would be a vegetarian dish . Don't remember exactly when I gave him fish . I followed advice in books like Annabel Karmel ones since I was clueless . I was careful with foods that can potentially cause allergies since they run in the family .

Dd is also getting into her food . Haven't started regular meals yet but have a taste here and there. Luckily she seems to also like veg eventhough this time I gave fruit first . She eagerly had this carrot / pea/ cauliflower hip org pouch which was vile to me ( I always taste food) then she devoured some baby from age fraiche . She loves those !

DS2 ate a piece of chicken breast a few days ago, I thought he'd just suck it, but I couldn't find it anywhere when he'd finished!
I tried to feed him a jar when we were out for lunch. He was less than impressed, so I ended up sharing mine

Nordic, I have a load of spinach and basil pouches left over, I've been mixing them into pesto pasta for DS1 to use them up

Henrietta anything bar honey now really, so meat is good to go

Easy to handle chunks (strips of chicken or beef for example), mince (DS likes chilli con carne on a loaded spoon), you name it. Ham and chorizo quesadillas seemed popular the other day.

Sadly though, DD is no longer so adventurous and will refuse to eat almost anything other than toast with peanut butter without some debate first

Last time around the HV told me to start weaning around 5 1/2 m so by the time DS would be 6 + m I could add the meat etc before his iron stores were gone . Had several problems with DS eating until he was around 3 1/2 y starting with having to make him laught to get a spoonful of veg in then not happy with lumps , choking on fingerfood so off them for a while, then hating any kind of veg /fruit bits in his food( peas, sweetcorn,pieces of blueberries in a yougurt or similar he'd always leave them ) . Had to really puree fruit and hide the veg to get them in . Didn't like to eat a whole piece of any other fruit than banana , liked dried fruit though when older. Then simply not eating at all at some of the mealtimes. Couple of years of struggle and he went from 50% to between 9-25% around 2 y but i didn't give up and from about 3 1/2y after not eating his tea at nursery for a whole year ( had to do one at home later) he one day ate when i was there and had some first myself and from then on has become an adventurous eater and gotten back to the 50% in weight and height he was on. DD seems More interested .I'll give her a mix of spoonfed food (and will introduce the lumps early this time so hopefully not such a problem) and finger foods like cooked veg,toast ,fruit ,pasta etc she can learn to feed herself...she makes such funny mmmmmm yam yam sounds and is all exited when we feed her that maybe this won't be such a struggle this time :)!

I like the frozen baby foods better than the pouches for an older baby . They taste like a homemade meal . They are much more expensive and harder to buy ( i've ordered online) but I'll use them when too tired to cook . I tried them all when weaned DS and also the jars and thought no wonder he doesn't want to eat it since he wasn't very nice... The fruit ones aRe good and now to start with I'll use the veg ones too . Last time I made almost everything from scratch but now am just too busy and oh so tired to do that . The goal is to get R to eat our food ASAP just have to cook without salt .

The jars weren't very nice tasting not DS ...

This week A will be trying carrot with potato, apple with pear and apple with plum as rough purée alongside anything else I decide to give him.

We've been given baby muesli to try but it has ground hazelnuts in it. Says 10 months plus but take it that's because they don't think babies can handle lumps before then but do I need to wait until 6 months or more because of the nuts?

I'd not give things that say more than 7 m+ .

Ok will keep it in the cupboard for a while, thanks :)

Hug, DS1 was always ahead in jars cause he was BLW so could eat the lumps, he (roughly) had 7m at 6m and 10m at 7m
Nuts are okay if no allergies. DS2 had marzipan this morning

I'd give him the muesli.

The issue with whole nuts is the choking risk. Ground nuts (allergies excepted) should be OK. Those of us not using specific baby ranges don't have age limits on the food boxes. Personally I think they're a con, and a way if making money out of parents

Fliss that's one of the reasons we wanted to try DS on peanut butter quite early. We are all allergy free & wanted to rule it out in him as early as possible. He wasn't bothered about trying it but I think he got enough on his hands/face to have highlighted a problem!

It means less worry about nut traces in other food he may try.

Like I said we have allergies in the family on both sides so have and will be more careful while weaning to see if we get reactions from the most common allergy causing foods. Ofcourse each should do as they wish with their own kids and use common sense. I like to have the option of organic baby / toddler products but will get DD to eat family meals with us as soon as possible . I like that the baby / toddler ranges have good selection of no nonsense sugar free snacks etc my 7 y is still happy to eat instead of a choc biscuits and crisps laden with fat and salt ( which he has also) . I'll be doing a mix of spoonfed and blw type of food . What ever works

... DS exema got so bad around 1y that we did take him to an allergy specialist to rule out food allergies . He didn't have any but has later on developed hay fever like both us . Different allergies are often linked .

Indeed DH ( department of health ) advises using caution in giving nuts during weaning if your child has eczema ,or any other type of allergy . Dd has a pretty good skin but I'll keep on eye on things I suppose .

...or a family history of allergies