JAN 06 - so what's THAT you're eating mummy?

[loomer]

Here we go then... I've also updated my album of photos on the \link{http://health.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/mumsnetpix/photos\Yahoo site}, it'd be great to see recent pics of all our angels on there!

Welllllll after being one of the first to start weaning (on HVs advice) and singing the praises of how it was helping her sleep thru from 8pm til 8am, I have given it up! I was spending hours each day trying to get her to eat baby rice and/or purees and most times it was just bldy hard work to get a couple of teaspoons down her. Don't get me wrong, it did help her sleep thru, but I didn't really see any improvement in her reflux over the last couple of weeks and I figure it shouldn't be this hard. If she was really ready for it surely it wouldn't be such hard work? I've gone back to purely bottles, and as a result have had to put back in a dream feed around 11pm as she can't go 8 til 8 on just 4 bottles. I reckon she'll tell me herself when she's more ready. I like the idea of BLW, and I think we're just going to have to deal with the reflux and keep using the infant gaviscon a bit longer.

am amazed at the level of organisation you all seem to have. i am so go-with-the-flow in my approach to parenting that i honestly couldnt tell you how many feeds Gus has in a day or how often they are or even for how long... sometimes he seems to feed more for a day or so, then sometimes less. sometimes he goes 4/5 hours between one feed and the next and sometimes he wants it 20 minutes after the last. i have no idea what he weighs, havnt weighed him, or me for that matter, since the midwife last did it at 10 days and will continue to breastfeed on demand till 6 months as much through laziness as through my belief that breast is best and that he has the best care possible by doing it for the first 6months at least.
i dont have to remember to buy, make, feed, clean up after mushy food several times every sodding day and i dont have to spend any time thinking worrying about what and how much/little to give him! why make work for myself?? and with the antibodies he gets from me, he hasnt had so much as a sniffle yet. and the hormone or whatever it is at the end of a breastfeed that settles his stomach means no crying from indigestion to deal with. brilliant.

its taken me till no3 to get this relaxed and secure/confident about it, but im glad im here at last. boobs rock!

You're very lucky to have the option to keep BF til 6 mths NG. I would have been happy to get my LO to BF for 6 days never mind 6 mths but it just wasn't to be (won't go into the why all over again), therefore I have little choice but to know how many times she feeds a day as I have to do the bottles.

Hey there Lilstarry.....both of my DD's have hated baby rice. I don't have anything against it personally! If that's what Bee loves, then good for her.

And good on those of you that are still BF.

And good on those of you that aren't.

And good on those of you that are weaning.

And good on those of you that are somewhere in between.

We're all doing that we think is the best for our LO. We should all get a bloody big pat on the back, a monster bar of choccy and a glass of vino for surviving this long with smiles on our faces (most of the time ) and love in our hearts.

G xx

oh im not criticising you lisa, far from it! i understand that some babies inc yours have different needs and different circumstances and i have nothing but admiration for you in coping so well with the challenge.
and i know full well how incredibly lucky i am to have a perfectly healthy little family, let alone a happy and (reasonably) well behaved one, believe me i dont take any of this for granted. even my toughest times dont come close to the sort of pressure other people live with every day and i think the least i can do is to know and appreciate that fact.

i really was commenting on my own experiences/circumstances and would never pass judgement on others, promise

agree with you G, very well put!

I didn't think you were criticizing NG, sorry if it came across that way. Was just in reply to you saying how organised we must be to know how many feeds a day etc, not really organised, just necessity. I sincerely meant it when I said you're very lucky, wasn't being narky, the only thing that still depresses me about the whole baby thing is failing at that.

well let it depress you no more because far from failing, youve done a fabulous job and have a happy healthy little person to show for it.

well done to all of us.

NAPPIES GALORE- I am soooooo like you in my approach 3rd time round!!
HV says how long between feeds, i say " I have no idea, mmmmmmmm about 2 hours? " but actually it could be 20 mins or 4 hours, I DON'T KNOW!!!

Why is this so important?
In fact at 4 month immunisation HV (not my usual) r4ecommended weaning aged 16 weeks but i have resisted basically cos i can't be bothered with the mess after a 4.6 y.o and a 2.4 y.o, she has had a few tates but the longer the better now AFAIK.

lilstarry ds has been eating solids since 3.5mths he was just like yours hungry hungry and after 3wks of hourly feeds day and night I couldn't take it any more. He is on 3meals a day 3ice cubes each one bf before and after still isn't going through but I'm sane. He eats tons of foods now at just 5mths and isn't a little pudding because of it. I really wanted to last 6mths with both kids but I just seem to have really hungry children. Formula made no difference to the hourly feeding either so it wasn't my milk.
We just go with what we feel is best for our kids and all are different. Fingers crossed he won't have allergies but if he does he does it is done now.

On another note the counselling is helping my PTSD and I had a positive appt with the gynae so hopefully all is looking up a bit for Mrs Chuffed and maybe sometime in the future Mr Chuffed .

Have a good weekend all, can't believe how quickly the last 5mths have gone.

i feel rubbish today. dss has been here for the weekend and, as usual, everyone (dp, ds's 1 &2 and i at least) is strung out, wound up, behaving badly and wanting to run away. i know it sounds absolutely awful to say this about a child but he is such bloody hard work and so bloody hard to like. and coping with the fallout of his visits is tiring, upsetting and achingly predictable. dp and i are of course miles apart from each other and hes (not seriously i think) threatening to run away fromall ofus never to be seen again.
ho hum.

dropping in to say hi - been worked off feet for last week... first day off yay!

Theo doing fine, but off to docs later to investigate a poo problem... will regale you all later :)

My gorgeous sister in Melbourne had her first baby on the 15th - a girl. All went well and they are calling her Chilli. Makes me feel v traditional (but sis has always been arty!)

gotta go, but hugs to all. Hope you're all feeling better now NG.

t xx

congrats on baby chilli. my dp would never go for such a non-traditional name so i never entertained the notion, but i like Chilli, i think. hmmm, yes. i like it

do excuse the depressing rant earlier. yes, we are all indeed feeling better and now im not bottling all that frustration up, it seems proprtionally less of a BIG DEAL and i can carry on as normal once again. ahhhh.

arch, max AND gus are napping right now (!!) and dp napped while Alex (my mums help person) and i took them all to the supermarket earlier, so the fact that naps this late in the day mean no-one goes to bed at bedtime is offset by dp saying that he'll deal with that when the time comes. no doubt i'll still need to look after one or more of them, but its nice to dream that i might just get some (gasp ) personal time.
actually, come to think of it, what the hell am i doing on here?? i should put my feet up now! mad woman.

Hi all - not been on for ages but life's been decidedly up & down of late (love the shiny new thread though!)Getting time on the pc is a bit hit & miss too (who invented MSN & all those "my space"s ?? grrrrr)
We've been up & down the country visiting my dad who's finally off the ventilator firmly on the mend after his op (going to see him again tomorrow) DH is away again & DD's in the throes of her AS exams.

Love the idea of BLW (thanks for the links Rach)started weaning "6 times a night" Dom last week but it made no difference to his sleeping - don't even know why I thought it would - & whilst he seems to love sweet potato I've come to the conclusion that it's too much hassle so I've stopped & will wait until he shows genuine interest. How's it going with Scarlett Loomer?

Sweetkitty - I'll have a look for your thread in a mo - I'm in a similar place by the sound of things!!

Lyra - am just starting the baby whisperer stylie thing with Dom - is it still working for Alex?

Tickle - congrats on your new niece - fab name too!!:)

Eshay - your chicken pox (in the nicest way)but hope DS1 didn't have too hard a time of it thought Dom would get it out the way as it was rife round here but sadly it was not to be.

Georgie - count me in for the big choccie bar & vat of wine - would rather Babbington house though (you lucky lucky girl!!)

Chuffed - at your PTSD - you poor thing! Hope you are getting the help you need now (((hugs)))
Hope everyone else is keeping well - weather's set to improve so at least we can get out a bit more (is it finally going to get summery? )
Dom was 16lbs exactly last week & can now roll over (back to front only at the mo - he seems to have a problem with going from front to back!) & he can sit up unaided for quite a few seconds before keeling over. I am soooo proud!! He's a right chatterbox too (unfortunately at his best at 5am!!)
Anyway - love you & leave you for now. x

Hi everyone

How was the bank holiday weekend for you all? Did anyone manage to get out in some sunshine?

We had a very interesting weekend - having taken another look at the GF book I decided that it really wasn't going to suit me/us, and I went to the library and borrowed the Baby Whisperer book to have a browse... I decided on Friday to just try Scarlett out in a four hourly pattern of feeds ( we were already following an Eat-Activity-Sleep pattern), and I tried using the PU:PD method to extend her morning nap time past 40 minutes.

Well, it worked really well, and I made DH read it when he got home Friday evening so that we could continue it together over the weekend. It was painful at times, the PU:PD took quite a while to work at first (forty/fifty minutes), but by Monday she was going down for all her naps with a minimum of fuss, and more impressively sleeping for nearly two hours at a time.

It has made me realise that over the past few weeks when I've been feeding her every two hours, in fact half the time she was crying NOT because she was hungry, but because she wasn't ready to wake up yet, and was still tired !

Scarlett really seems to have taken well to having a proper schedule during the day now, and we're only feeding once during the night. Now that I feel more confident with the daytime sleeps and feeds I think I'll try introducing the dreamfeed, and see if we can't persuade her to sleep right through... perhaps I'll get my first full night's sleep this year!?

Is anyone else following the Baby Whisperer? Lyra? Iris, how are you finding it?

As a result of reading Sweetkitty's post, and now having got Scarlett onto four hourly feeds, I've given up on the weaning for now. She's feeding really well on the boob, so we'll stick with that and maybe try some BLW further down the line shen she's showing an interest. Thanks for sorting out the info on that Rachey.

Right-oh, must get dressed and such before the postman arrives (that's my goal for a civilised lifestyle!), and hopefully enjoy some of the blue skies today.

Hello ladies,

How was everyone's BH weekend? We did quite a few nice things, all the while feeling guilty for taking Alex out in public since he may have chickenpox. He was tucked away in the pram, not near enough to anyone to do much harm though. Actually, I am starting to think he's not going to break out in blisters at all. He was feeling a bit crook last week so maybe that was all and he's one of those lucky children who don't suffer very much. There's no way he could have escaped getting it - Thomas made sure of that!

We're going on holiday this Thrusday, we're going to visit my fam in NL. My parents will take care of the boys for 4 days while DH and I go to a rock festival. We're looking forward to it a lot since we have not been on any sort of outing together since T was born in July 2004. My parents are looking forward to it even more but I think it may be harder for them than they think. After the festival we will have one day for friends and family to come and meet baby Alex. It's his first long trip but we're driving at night so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Lilstarry, that's a good idea to try and remember to talk about ourselves a bit too. We so often seem to think that mum = baby and there's not much else going on in the world. Well, I do anyway. I recently went on a hen weekend, That was my first night away from the boys. Dad was at home with them and he said they didn't really miss me at all. Iw asn't sure whether I was happy or sad to hear that :) The hen weekend was really cool. We had Bollywood dancing lessons & learnt how to fly a hovercraft. I completely forgot my Mumsy Me and was as excited as a little child!

Lisa, too bad the reflux is still a problem and that weaning was not a magic cure. Alex still takes a dream feed at 10pm as well. He's not hugely hungry at 7am so it's probably time to start reducing the amount he gets in the pm. I've been trying to get him to drink a bit more during the day but 6oz is usually his max.

Chuffed, I'm glad to read the counselling is helping your PTSD. It must be great to feel you are making some progress. Well done!

Iris, good news about your dad being off the ventilator - A big step.

Loomer, that's great you've found something that suits you and Scarlett. I haven't read the Baby whisperer myself as GF seems to work quite well for us but if you can get her into a happier rhythm without having to start solids early it must be good :)

Oh, I forgot to ask: Has anyone else been suffering from post natal hair loss yet? I can't believe my head! There's hair everywhere in the house and you should see the amount that comes out in the shower. I can't remember it being this bad after DS1.

And while I am asking personal questions: Is anyone else experiencing frequent menstruation? I think I've had three periods in the last 2 months and they last much longer than usual too. It's probably all normal after having a baby but it's driving me mad! Having one once a month is bad enough!

Er... apologies to all for coming off like a little miss know it all earth mother cow. i so dont know it all and in reality, i 'go with the flow' because its actually all i can do to keep my head above water. i actually wish i had more of a routine with baby Gus, hes so good, im sure hed be amenable to one, but truth is, i dont know how. i cant face learning how to put him down awake because i dont have the strength to face the crying. i love sleeping with him next to me but A, i dont always get much sleep coz hes squirming away trying to latch on, and B, Mr Nappiesgalore and i havnt had time or space to get intimate since b4 he was born.
its my own fault for having them so close together, but i honestly thought it wouldnt matter coz we can afford to get someone in to help me its not that simple tho because, A, ive tried hiring people to help me with the kids and none of them do it as well as i want them to, and B, I want to raise them, not leave it to some nanny!

anyway. sorry for the extremely smug last post. i read it back and cringed.

BTW Eshay, now you mention it, its not happening too badly this time, hair loss that is, but it did the first time. mad eh? why does nobody tell you this stuff beforehand??

Hair loss seems to have calmed down a bit - it had to, really, there's hardly any left!

Nappiesgalore, we all have to find a way that suits and the baby and the circumstances at the time too. We quite like routines in our house but at the moment I have abandoned all routine and rules as my poor little angel has the chickenpox! I knew it was coming bc his bro had it 2 weeks ago but it is heart breaking to see him like this. He is covered in spots, especially his head. Calamine lotion everywhere makes him look like a Starwars extra! So we now feed less formula but a bit more often and he sleeps off and on all day. I was up most of the night and have cuddled him to sleep many times. So unlike what we normally do but the wee man needs some extra love.
(I'm a little upset with him for getting it this week as we are in Holland and supposed to go to a 3 day rock festival. Now we're not going, or maybe just the last day...)

Blimey, not keeping up again, how did half term come round so fast?! Hey ladies, please don't worry too much about weaning, like all parenting - there is the 'official' line and then there is what we all do. I can think of 50 things I've done that I'd said I'd never do eg letting toddler eat crisps in a buggy, drinking milk out of the bottle, letting them sleep in their clothes... and social services still haven't been round. I weaned my older 3 at 3-4 months but this time I more able to exclusively bf and most importantly I'm off work and more laid back so things are different and I would like to go for the 'ideal' but earlier weaning isn't a criminal offence!

Finn is still on 6ish feeds a day and thats just fine with me, he wakes once in the night but then that 4am feed keeps him going till 8/9am rather than getting up at 6! He is rolling over and chuckling constantly, an absolute delight, really entertaining. Today we drove an hour to Cardiff, demolished the pizza buffet in Pizza Hut, whirled round a science museum, ate ice cream in the bay and spent a fortune on sun cream/ sun tents etc in Mothercare. Am exhausted! Hoping to tackle the beach tomorrow first time with Finn - wonder how long we will last?! Will try and wait till after peak heat.

Glad to hear your dad is on the mend Iris!

Eshay - I lost hair after dd (rushing around/losing weight quickly etc) but luckily my 10p sized bald patch was hidden by the rest of my hair and grew back in a few months. I'm not having periods (hurrah) due to mini pill. So sorry you've missed your festival :(

I'm on the mini pill too... Will go and get my normal pill prescribed as soon as I am back and can enter the surgery without a cloud of chickepox around me.

Ha! Am glad I'm not the only one that spends a fortune in mothercare! Just about to splash out on a Tripp trapp for her ladyship.

The sun is shining and we've had a lovely day. DH just bathing a v cranky Libby and going to put her to bed soon. She's gobbled up her tea (carrots and potatos) and is totally knackered now. When she's asleep we'll fire up the barbie and me, DH and Mollie will have some grub and a glass of wine (me and DH, not Moo!) and enjoy the evening sunshine.

Have come off mini pill as it made me go loopy. Was plunged into pits of depression. Scared the pants off me. Came off immeadiately and was back to chirpy self in a couple of days. Just wondering what on earth we can use now. Seeing as Libs was a result of condom malfunction need something extra to prevent bub No3 happening too soon .

Haven't got a hope in hell of catching up with everyone. But, from ehat I can remember after reading v quickly is that.....

Iris - yeahhhhh, about your dad. brilliant news.

NG - who cares if you sounded like a know it all? if it works for you it works for you. Lovely thing about MN is that you can be exactly who you want to be without fear of reprisal.

Lyra/SK - haven't heard form you guys for a while. All OK?

Rach - am with you. Have done things with Moo and Libs that I swore blind I would NEVER do. But hey, nothing bad happened and they are lovely healthy girls. Draw the line at Fruit Shots though. Made Mollie go CRAZEEEEE for half hour afterwards.

No hair falling out. Although despite efforts at the gym small jelly belly still apparent. Plus rather unfetching cellulite on legs. Bugger it. Don't care. A quick look round gym changing room has convinced me that although I might not be top model material am certainly not at bottom of the pile

Keep enjoying the sunshine girls.

All love

G xx

PS - what does everyone think of the name that Brad n' Ang have given their baby? Nouvel.... isn't that a brand of bog roll?!!??

hey there everybod -
well its smile all round here coz baby Gus went thru the night 2 nights running. in his cot! amazing. unfortunately i know full well that its coz hes on the sleepy second stage of a growth/development spurt, but hey, it feels good now

dh and i spend most of last couple of days sanding down the garden furniture and re-spaying it with teak oil or whatver. bloody tedious and boring work but looks great now. am v proud of our handiwork, and look forward to many yummy barbecues at our posh 'new' table
Eshay-
about the chicken pox, poor wee scrap. archie had it when he was really little too and people say its good to have it, the younger the better, but im not so sure. he was so weak and miserable with it, and he got scars anyway, even if he couldnt reallt scratch. still, neither max nor gus has had it yet so that pleasure is still to come hope Alex feels better
shame about the festival. dp and i went to glasto last year, in the camper van. got my mum to babysit and went sans kids. was lovely but TBH we spent more time sleeping in thevan than we did watching bands!! max didnt sleep through the night, or anything like it, for 15months so we were a tad on the knackered side. we were thinking of going to lost vagueness this year but i dunno...

the beach sounds fun! think i'll have some of that! need to get a sun shelter tent thing then i think we'll pop off to bournemouth for the day soon, what a good idea.

agree Rachel - oh the things i swore id never do! hah! i thought i wouldnt have them watching TV for a few years for a start, which is a laugh. they walk round singing and humming advertising jingles now! like you say, they are doing perfectly alright and its not worth sweating the small stuff, as they say.

contraception: mini pill not a possibility for me as you have to take at same time everyday. absolutely no way id manage to do that and id be up the duff again in no time well, i would if i were having relations so to speak. one day, one day... anyway - i went for the Mirena coil so i have to actually go and have it taken out if i want another baby, which seems a more sensible way round to me. it has hormones in it tho... and i have been a bit emotional, with a some worryingly low days, but im trying to work out if its the hormones or just me (old issues never really dealt with). am hopefully getting counselling soon anyway and still playing it by ear, each day at a time like, so time will tell, im sure.

thanks George - thats what i love about MN too, but i do think that pretending its all easy and a breeze is not on as it can make others feel crap about finding parts of it so hard. it can have that effect on me anyway.

Nouvel??? yeah, not sure about that. even Apple sounds a bit better than that. maybe it'll grow on you/us over time..

Anyhoo... must be off now, familys awake

's to all

Hi Girls
Just as the Prozac was starting to kick in for the PND, DH has had to go off on exercise for 10 days leaving me n Lola to fend for ourselves, which has got me a wee bit wobbly (gawd knows what I'll be like when he goes to Iraq/Afghanistan for 6 mths next year), but I'm sure I'll cope. It'd be so much easier if I had family and friends around but I guess I knew when I married a soldier I'd be moving around a lot and alone a lot.

On the positive side, my mum has offered to pay for me and Lola to go on holiday with her, just a cheap last minute deal somewhere in the med (DH is more than happy to have a week or two playing his computer games all night!). Have applied for wee yin's passport so as soon as that's thru we'll start shopping for a deal.

I'm on the mini-pill too and having no periods. Haven't been very good about taking it same time every day, but doesn't matter too much as relations still haven't resumed.

I had chicken-pox my first christmas (was about 7 months old), but then got it again while at primary school which is odd.

Know what u mean about all the things you were and weren't going to do. I was so full of good intentions:-

1. The re-useable nappies lasted all of a week before I was back onto disposables. Flogged the re-useable set on ebay last week after months of them lying in the cupboard making me feel guilty.
2. Breastfeeding didn't work.
3. TV has become a blessed resource to keep madam amused while I get some housework done.

Oh well.

Had my birthday BBQ last weekend and decided I was going to eat what I wanted just for that day, and take a load of my pain killers to counteract the gall stones. That didn't work. The pain killers weren't strong enough (and I didn't even eat that badly!!) and I ended up in A&E on a fluids drip and morphine. It's getting to the point where I'm actually looking forward to getting the surgery now where I was once dreading it. I figure it can't hurt more than the c-section wound did.
Well am off to finish the deep clean of my kitchen I started yesterday (the main benefit of him being away - I get loads done)

oh Lisa, ouch! poor you. i really feel for you. well i hope you have a really lovely holiday somewhere nice and warm and relaxing.

glad to hear the prozac is working for you. you hear so many horror stories and even v well intentioned people can be a bit discouraging, i just wanted to add a positive voice. when i took it years ago, several of my family and friends were dead against it which was an added stress i didnt need. but it worked very well for me, got me out of the hole i was in and helped me to sort myself out. exactly what it says on the tin, so to speak.
and i dont know what to say about when your dh goes to iraq/afghanistan... just hope it all works out and he's home before you know it.