October 2012... PELVIC FLOORS!

[Londonmrss]

Ready...
Steady...
And squeeze!

DD tries to grab everything and shove it in her gob - I won't be taking that as a weaning cue else I'd be weaning her into Lamaze toys and bits of fluff. I doubt they have to cognitive capacity to determine what "food" is and how it's different from fluff. They shove things in their mouth as its how they make sense of the world.

I have the snug chair. If you're in the FB group I've out some pictures up of her in it this week. It's still massive on her, but she'll sit in it. I dont think theyre meant to be as snug as bumbos anyway.She hates being constrained in anyway and would rather be bouncing around, but she'll tolerate being in it if there's stuff going on she can watch - me cooking for example. It's handy as we don't have a high chair yet so I can get on with a couple of tasks but she's not left out. Oh, and they're very wide at the base compared to the bumbo so I don't think he's be able to tip in it.

October I know a lot of people take the grabbing food from plate as a weaning cue - certainly my HV said her son did that at 5 months and that's when they started weaning him. I think once they stop pushing stuff out of their mouth you can give it a go as long as they're over 17 weeks. The conflicting advice from country to country just shows there's no one universal truth on this.

Bean is nearly 23 weeks. We are holding fire on weaning for as long as possible but it's mostly because I'm dreading the hassle after the ease of thrusting a boob in bean's mouth! :o I have started letting her 'taste' things e.g. I bite a grape or blueberry or strawberry in half, squeeze it a little for the juice to come out and let her lick it. She's so funny - gets this really thoughtful look on her face like some kind of tiny food critic or wine taster. Hmmm, zesty notes of acidity cutting through the springlike sweetness of the strawberry...

If lack of interest in milk was a weaning cue, dd would have been ready to wean from day 1.

Personally I'm really looking forward to weaning as I think it will be fun and hopefully dd will feed better once she begins solids. However she's showing absolutely no signs of even nearly thinking about being ready so we'll be waiting until 6 months and perhaps longer. From what I've read, some babies are ready at 17 week's but most aren't, so it's best to wait until you're baby is showing real proper signs, whenever that may be.

DH got back yesterday. It's odd. We moved unto this horse and then he went away the next day so I've settled in on my own. Now it feels like he's in my space and it's annoying. And I'm knackered. 4 month sleep bollocks.

Plan to start around 6 months here too!

For no other reason than I'm lazy and there seems fewer restrictions after 6 months. Plus he watches us eat, but he watches us talk too!! I'd be weaning now according to other countries plus a gp and hv said the nhs guidelines were more extreme to try to stop people giving solids at 2 months. Which for some crazy reason some people do. They said from 17weeks you can start, it's just easier after 6months.

Survived my course!! Was actually nice to do some brain work and feel like 'me' again. That sounds horrid, I've missed ds terribly, but I think I feel I can actually go Back to work and it make a total arse of myself!! Plus my managers talk on radiotherapy getting more funding makes sense now....

Plan to start around 6 months here too!

For no other reason than I'm lazy and there seems fewer restrictions after 6 months. Plus he watches us eat, but he watches us talk too!! I'd be weaning now according to other countries plus a gp and hv said the nhs guidelines were more extreme to try to stop people giving solids at 2 months. Which for some crazy reason some people do. They said from 17weeks you can start, it's just easier after 6months.

Survived my course!! Was actually nice to do some brain work and feel like 'me' again. That sounds horrid, I've missed ds terribly, but I think I feel I can actually go Back to work and it make a total arse of myself!! Plus my managers talk on radiotherapy getting more funding makes sense now....

So as well as eating less DD is napping more. Her day for last few days has been:
Up at 09:30
Sleep at 11.45-12.30
Sleep at 13:45-14:30
Sleep 16:20 - 17:00
Sleep 18:10 - (19:00 / 19:30ish?)
Then clamouring for bed by 9pm. Don't know if she is just poorly with cold and teeth or if this is the calm before the next growth spurt. Also slightly concerned that there has been chicken pox in her crèche and she has 2 little red spots on her cheek...

Gah! Just found this...

The rash often appears first on the scalp, face, or trunk. It can then spread over the entire body... Your baby will probably be tired and slightly feverish. She may have a loss of appetite and, for a couple of days before the rash appears, a mild cough or a runny nose. Chicken pox usually lasts five to ten days.

Eeeeek!

Oh no Angelico!!! What can you do to treat/soothe - what does GP suggest?

Think I've said it before but really interested to see how weaning goes for everyone! It seems like we have a nice range or different approaches - starting at various times from 4-6 months, some doing BLW, others purées, others a combo! In RL everyone I know did purées from 4m, and one who did BLW from 6m. Nice to have a wider range here!

One thing that is consistent between us is that we will all need more stain soaking powder... The mess!!!! The stains!!

Had a lovely few hours drinking wine while DH put DS to bed....

Drinking wine with a friend, I should add...!

angelico that doesn't seem like a huge amount of daytime sleep. is it a lot for her?

baby swimming. .. Hum. first I went to the wrong pool so dashed there, arriving one min before the start. dd was tetchy having been in the car twice. she hated the swimsuit.

the teacher told me it'd be hard for her to remember that dd is a girl as she's got blue swimmers. ffs.

the warm water was nice and it was fine but she was hungry and out of sorts after our terrible night so not the most fun. Getting her dressed whilst I was cold and wet wasn't fun and me trying to get dressed in quickest possible time whilst she howled the place down. oof.

and then an hour's screaming when home as just overtired.

so all in all, not the best of experiences. Let's hope next week is better.

Zara just reading your post again. Those are pretty much the exact times we feed in day! Only an extra one at about 9am and last one at 8.30 ish. Hoping when I up quantities at least one will disappear.

I digress. Must catch up.....

A few more spots on face but they are still red and not blisters - and tbh bean frequently claws herself in the face It's just with everything else - the cold, the cough, the decreased appetite, the increased sleeping... Will see how it pans out. The good news is according to Dr Google babies quite often get it v, v mildly because they still carry a little bit of mum's immunity - and actually easier to stop the little beggars scratching compared to toddlers and older.

Livvy sleepwise she has basically started taking an extra nap a day and still sleeping her 12 hrs ON with just 2-3 x 5 min wakeups for feeds. She is generally a terrible daytime napper - most naps 40-45 mins. As for swimming - sympathy! Think the whole thing is just so exciting and physical they are exhausted. It was ok for us last weekend as we just went up to hotel room and dried and changed screaming bean there, then put her straight in cot for nap. Don't fancy having to get her changed in changing room, then go about business!

First hope you get some sleep

livvy that's pretty much how our first swimming session went, only i got there early for stress free changing, saw a class in the pool and rushed to get out there, thus causing epic DS meltdown...only to be told the class i'd turned up for started in five minutes. Oooops!

Perservere. It got a lot better when we just went on our own. I count to 3, blow in his face and dunk him!

angelico don't worry. Naomi came down with chicken pox on New Yrs Eve of all days! The poor mite was covered from head to toe a few days later but I swear it did not affect her at all. I kept waiting for her to be gringy/get a temperature, SOMETHING, but there was nothing! A couple of weeks later and it was all gone. Only thing is, she's been left with a few scars, but only in her hair and on the back of her shoulder so nothing to worry about.

As far as daytime sleeping goes, this has been Naomis routine for about the last couple of months.

Stirs around 5am but goes back off with dummy.

Up properly 7am ish

Nap around 8. (Bout 30 mins)

Nap around 10/11. (Bout 1/1.5 hrs)

Nap around 2/2:30 (bout 1 hr)

Nap around 5:30 (bout 30mins)

Bed around 7:30, sleeps all night until 5am ish!

Any of these naps vary from 10 mins to a couple of hours. So not a lot at all really but obviously that's why she sleeps well at night. I don't honestly know how it happened. But when she was a couple of months old, as soon as she had that 7pm bedtime feed, she would cry and moan and wouldn't settle downstairs in her Moses basket. She HAD to be taken upstairs, into a dark bedroom so she could sleep! Funny little thing.

Those of you suffering sleep regression -

The advice my mum gave me was to make sure babies know the difference between night and day. So when night feeding/settling:

Don't turn lights on
Don't talk to your baby
Don't change them unless really necessary.
Put them down awake where possible so they learn to fall asleep themselves.

This advice has worked with both of my DC, alas I do get that time at night to relax :)

CWest thanks for that! Glad Naomi wasn't bothered by it too much, that's encouraging!

Ha. Interesting anecdote on weaning. My nieces are 19 and 17. They were weaned gradually from 12 weeks and 9 respectively! That was on healthcare advice at time. They are beautiful and healthy and have no issues or intolerances. Obviously this is not desirable and I fully intend to wait. But interesting nonetheless!!

weaning at 9 weeks huffle Mind you my mum also talks about feeding me curries and samosas her friend made from 2-3 months old and very spicy ones at that! I can't even imagine how you would physically do it as I think DD was still pretty floppy at 9w!

DD's not showing any signs of being ready to wean yet, although I'm getting quite excited deciding what her first 'food' should be looser I'm trying to get the BLW book from the library too. Sounds like good reading!

Think DD is over the worst of the cold, still has a bunged up nose though. sorry to hear about the pox angelico i wonder if getting it now means she won't get it again later???

Your swimming experience sounds horrible livvy Neither DH or I are really into swimming so not going to try it yet. And the thought of having to go and buy some swimmers at the moment is quite horrifying! Think I might stick to a rash vest!

Hope you guys in sleep regression hell are getting some sleep

We've had a pretty crap week in all fairness. I've been trying to frame it positively and there have been some good bits but I'm so wiped out.

Jess's sleep, whilst still not bad by many of your standards, is the worst it's been since she was 6 weeks old. She still goes down at 7pm but now wakes at 2 and I can usually get another hour by giving her the dummy. So she takes a first feed at 3, I remember when it was 5 or 6, sigh. Some nights like last night she goes back to sleep easily, so that's not too bad, others... she just feeds literally till 7 and I emerge for the day a weeping exhausted mess. Growth spurt? This too shall pass...

Not helped this week that boyfriend had diarrhoea and vomiting, so was off work. I was sympathetic initially and tried to look after him as well as Jess, but by the third day he was in a foul mood and kept trying to take Jess to "help" and then getting really irritated with her for needing attention adn not just watching tv with him, and then on friday he had a go at me for "making him help with the childcare" "I'm supposed to be off work, I'm sick" - I hadn't asked him once and he'd been sleeping in the spare room. And the flat stank of diarrhoea. And I'd spent a lot of the week trying to help our friend with the premature cystic fibrosis baby. So I told him he was a brat and he shouted at me and Jess looked scared and then I cried inconsolably for hours (I was just so tired) and he felt very bad. We haven't quite made up, though we had a nice time at yorkshire wildlife park yesterday, we were with friends so we couldn't argue (sometimes it helps to not be able to argue) and Jess was so wonderful and smiley and they have two lovely daughters who played with her all day.

The sun helped and I spent a lot of time running around playgrounds with the little girls. I love 3 year olds.

We were both very tired and a bit ... what's the word... muted and apologetic around each other last night, we decided to tag-team it, so he slept in with Jess till 3 and I had a lovely undisturbed 6 hours in the spare room. He came and got me when she needed her feed. She wasn't too bad last night, a feed at 3 and one at 5.30 and has been fairly settled in between so I feel ok.

I hope he apologises, I feel shit when we argue, I'm pretty shattered, and I don't feel like apologising myself. Massive respect to single mums, and indeed those of you here who do everything for the kids yourself. It is exhausting.

Need to do a proper catch up but Jess has just woken up and wants to PLAY, sorry!!

zara does he feed overnight? Or can he go 7-7?! That's really good anyway!!

Here he feeds 7 (sometimes back to sleep. Sometimes up) if he stays up he naps about 9-10. Then feeds about 10.30/11. Naps about 12. Feeds 2.30(ish) naps about 4. Feeds 6.30(ish) has nap about 8. Feeds 10 and goes down. He'll often wake about 5 and I give him his dummy. Or bring him into bed for a cuddle.

squid sorry you're feeling a bit rubbish. Nice your bf wants to help but I think this stage of playing they're not quite ready for. Stupid men!!!!

angelico hope the pox soon clear.

Cwest Aaah, Jess used to sleep like that until she hit 4 months... -dreamy face of memory-

squid sorry to hear about your stressy week :( but looks like you had a lovely day out yesterday! DH and I get so exhausted with the idea of arguing that once we start we just tackle it head on, both end up apologising to each other (regardless of who started it) ie cannot be bothered working out which of us is being the nobber. Usually we can't remember what we were even arguing about later. I think we are both doing a lot more "just let it go" these days....!! I think everyone does when you have a baby!

Last night our good friends (who live round the corner from us) made me stay (but sent DH home) and plyed me with wine so that DH had to go and do the bath-bottle-bed himself. I was like "but but but DS cries with DH, it'll take longer, it's stressful for poor DH" but they were quite firm, poured me another glass of wine and refused to let me leave the house! They have a 13 month old and said that DH and DS have to learn and do the weekend bedtimes otherwise it'll always be me doing it... at first I thought they were being mean but I think now they are very wise! The mum said "if you're over here and can't hear him cry, you won't be tempted to butt in and take over". The dad said DH would have too much pride to call for help anyway . By the time I got home (very tiddly, too much to be of any real use!) DS was fast asleep (but he did cry during settling) and DH was doing the bottles... have learnt our lesson now, DH will do bedtime again tonight, and every Saturday and Sunday night (at least!) from now on!

smile have got a craving for samosas now

horsey no he doesn't feed overnight, DS currently does a full 12 hours at night without waking, has done since we got back from NZ... feel very very very lucky and grateful, did not expect it to happen. Sometimes on the baby monitor I hear him thrashing around, but every time I go in his eyes are closed so I just leave him and then he settles down again. But I do not expect it to last - I am constantly prepared for sleep regression and expect every full night of sleep to be my last. My plan is if he starts to wakes up and it seems like teething, I'm going to give him a good dose of Calpol straight away.

Did a lot of re-organising and packing away of old baby clothes yesterday (including looking at all the teeny tiny newborn stuff in amazement!!). In a 2 brm apartment it's a constant battle to keep it all relatively tidy and under control, but I do have a sadistic decluttering streak so I always feel quite delighted and satisfied when I end up with lots of bags of stuff to throw out/recycle/donate to charity/give to friends.