March 2013 - time to wrap them all up in tinsel

[StormyBrid]

Old thread here.

worse we're like Plonky on the timings - we keep mealtimes and milktimes separate. I spotted something in Evil Baby Whisperer that suggested around this age milk should be at the time you'd give a snack. Thinking about it, that's pretty much what we do - milk at the crack of dawn, 11am, 3pm and bedtime, food at 9am, 1pm and 5pm. It seems to work, and Fartypants is definitely in the process of reducing milk herself. Those middle two feeds, she's having about four ounces now.

How is the worselet on mush? Does she show any preferences? If we were sticking with baby led weaning we'd be getting absolutely nowhere. Savoury mushes, she'll try a mouthful then get distracted by the cat. Fruit mushes, she practically inhales. For a reduced stress option, can I suggest getting yourself to Asda? They've a hell of a range of cheap fruity mushes, and then at least you're not having to throw away purees you've spent hours lovingly creating.

Incidentally, six month old Molly may love her porridge, but all that means is that Molly's a total weirdo - porridge is vile. It's weetabix all the way round here, with mashed banana in.

eco hang in there, it does get better. How long until 37 weeks for you?

I am thanking my heathen gods we don't have crawling yet. Nappy changes with rolling are bad enough. Especially when it's a particularly horrific one.

Hi Rainbow

I was just measuring myself in the utterly hilarious but actually genius bra intervention stylee thinking that I should finally get some new bras tomorrow when I'm in town. My pre pg are totally the wrong perky shape and my post bf are cavernous a touch large now .

DS survived, indeed actually quite enjoyed I think, his first morning at nursery today. We decided he was recovered enough to give it a go even if we're not and aside from not napping (they thought he would on the pram but I could've told them no chance - far too much stuff to look at!) which caused a few tired tears fixed by cuddles, he was fine and enjoying himself when dh went to pick up. Drop off was easy today, whether it will remain so once he learns what happens may be interesting...

Thanks for all the foody milky feedback. Useful to get a handle on how we're doing as we're making it up as we go trying to be led by DS.

Pud, I've been meaning to say, thanks for the tip about the wipers on the bus. Face washing suddenly no longer involves screams. Also, we mostly do jars rather than pouches, but we're generally between 150 and 250 grams of mush per meal. At least two different types of mush per meal though. She has a short attention span.

Plonky, get some yarn and a hook. Make a curve with the yarn, so it looks like an upside down U. Grab it in the middle and fold it down, so it looks like backwards P then forwards P. Stick the hook through the loop on the right, and use it to grab the loop on the left. Pull left loop through right loop. You should be left with a knot, still attached to the hook. This is The Start. It normally takes me five or six attempts to get this bit right. See the yarn attaching your knot to the rest of the ball? Grab it with the hook, and pull it through the loop that's on the hook. This manoeuvre is One Chain. I must be drunk, because I actually managed to spell manoeuvre. Do it again. You need eight chain. Then, grab the start if your series of chains with the hook, pull it through the loop that's on the hook, and you should have a nice little circle. Once you've mastered that bit, let me know, and we shall move on to Lesson Two.

Thank you Stormy! My hooks are in the mail so I'll be sure to have a good go whenever I get them.

I've turned into a right bumpkin. I have to drive to Straftord (London) tomorrow and I'm a bit scared. Majority of the drive will be fine. But the London bit...hmm...

Plonky do you have a sat nav? If not could you beg borrow or steal one for the day? I never bother with one normally, but when faced with the randomness of London I find mine a much better option than the A-Z balanced on the steering wheel.

Is it really quiet or is my phone broken??

No Any, it's just really quiet. We're averaging 5 wakes a night at the moment so I'm too much of a zombie to type coherently. Hope everyone else is fairing better and poorly Mums and babies are on the mend.

For the first time in weeks I feel slightly more human. Of course, I couldn't have a duvet day and capitalise on the recovery because I was as a work event. All day. In a field. In this weather.

However, minipud much improved. First proper day of nursery tomorrow, but as he's only had the one settling in day, my dm is picking him up at lunchtime and bringing him home for the afternoon. Hopefully he'll be ok and we can go full day Tuesday.

hello beauties.

hi rainbow, Betty and pud and thanks for your boob news. Sad that the magnificent curves of the early days are long gone. Good to hear it seems to be normal though. Am considering leaving ecobaby with SIL next weekend for the morning and dd normally feeds at some point between breakfast and lunch. Anyone else not giving mid morning milk? I'd guess so by this stage. Do you think she'd cope with a normal food snack instead? Am clueless and possibly pfb

Plonky did you get out of the big smoke safe and sound? And, did you have fun?

Worse I am pleased to hear tiddler is sleeping so well. Did you change something? What's your secret? Like Betty we had about nine out of beds last night. Sigh. Betty I have a theory, if you breast feed and do not do controlled crying you are destined for bad sleep. The babies I know that sleep are either formula fed or if breastfed have had a few nights of cc. What does that tell my pea brain? I'd love to hear of a sleeping breastfed baby who hasn't been sleep trained. I think they're a bit like goblins.

Pud I hope nursery day two goes well. Remind me what your job is. Standing in field all day sounds like it could belong to a cool job. Speaking of which where's christilass these days? And wing? Hello ladies. Second children and animals must make this baby lark a bit hardcore.

Anyone else purchased their next car seat yet? Anyone considering a rear facing? If so do you know of any that go beyond age two for rear facing? Done some research and it's a mine field! Ecobaby's head now sticks above the top of the maxi cosy pebble so we need to sort it urgently. Any advice appreciated.

dh is at home all week doing his prince 2 training so that will be nice and I might get some stuff done. Sorting the attic is on the list but pretty impossible with a baby and especially when the hatch to access it is in her room.

oh, nearly forgot, yummy well done on weight loss. And Gerry hope you had restorative cuddles and weekend. Worse thanks for holiday let tip: very valid point that we'd not considered. Thank you!

Can't recall what else I wanted to respond to but wishing you all a cosy night listening to the wind. The weather sort, not the baby sort Worse

Must go to sleep but just to say we will be rear facing for as long as possible - vid on my fb about why, although I knew the stats before. Minipud still mini so not made decisions yet though, which is less helpful. Sorry.

And no, we don't do a morning milk feed anymore, and haven't for a while. Although minipud fully formula now, we'd stopped before I stopped bf. fwiw. Would offer snack and water instead.

eco I suggest a snack and a drink of water at normal feed times if you're not there. The two KIT days I had last month (which they are paying me for despite not returning! - I digress...) I left DD all day so she missed two feeds, but didn't notice as DH kept her distracted and well fed. So don't worry.

Also, I have a goblin. Fluke, I guess.

Betty have a better night tonight. Are you sure you're getting ger knackered enough in the day? I find laps around the house before a very splashy bath make for sleeping soundly.

Pud hope it goes well tomorrow.

I have to stop as I sliced a bit of thumb off (stupid Ella's kitchen cookbook and its 'thinly sliced potatoes' - DH said he couldn't taste thw blood) and it's a bit sore while i'm typing. Sleepy dust to all and to all a good night.

ah, not goblins at all! Great to hear Any. This has given me hope and resolve to plod onwards through the sleep deprived haze! can I have your baby?

Thanks pud and any, we'll try snack and water. I suspect if the snack were good enough she would not bat and eyelid.

eco I second snack and water too. Ds has stopped morning feed for a couple of weeks now. We are in forward facing car seat now. Ds hated rear facing with a passion although as pud said the videos of the crash test dummies are shocking. I think ff babies sleep better is a myth unfortunately. the dark circles under my eyes tell a story. Each night is different. On a good night ds can have a 4 hour stretch max.

any ouch! Hope you are getting looked after by dh.

pud hope tomorrows nursery day goes well. He may surprise you and love nursery.

My poor ds has been unsettled all night. We had 2 good nights a third night would have been pushing it. Hope everyone else is dreaming.

Youngest niece is also a goblin. Can do an eight hour overnight stretch. SIL does have superboobs though.

Saturday night we had an awesome night - 6.45pm to 7.10am with just one cough. Last night we had a 4am bottle. Feeling a bit corpselike because of it.

Have looked at continuing rearfacing. No way we can afford to. DD is still light enough but her feet stick out the end of her current car seat. She's only in there once a week though.

Any she's definitely tired enough, she gets the rubby eyes, then has a long splashy bath then a full on meltdown then tries to fall asleep on the boob. She just doesn't like getting through the night without a few hellos to us and a feed

Eco some days we drop the morning or afternoon feeding depending on what we're doing and replace with water and snack and some days she still has it so you'll be fine.
We've moved into rear facing carseat as she was too tall and shoulders too wide for pebble. We got a britax maxfix and she seems to like it, I like it but my only bugbear is it doesn't recline too much. I kind of wish I'd got the dual fix. I got it when mothercare did 20% off everything weekend so you could find out when the next one is. The rear facing is to 18kg which is 50th centile for a nearly 4yr old I think but I believe they chose that weight because that's all isofix is tested up until and most have outgrown by then as their legs get too squashed. All the evidence on it being safer that comes from Scandinavia is that it's safer up to 2yrs so I figure once she outgrows it after 2 I'll probably switch to forward facing. The securatot website is good for comparing them.

I'm on my phone and can't remember what else was said and asked, sorry. Madam's breakfast and my shower awaits!

Baby progress update: Fartypants has figured out standing up in the cot. Theoretically she's napping. I just went up there to see what all the shouting was about, and discovered her standing up and doing her beaver impersonation. Daft child!

Just popping in to say hello, I survived the smoke but am exhausted by getting home after midnight and a sleepless DS. I ended up somehow volunteering to drop off a perfect stranger (from the pRty) because her train was ridiculously early. So I went from London to derby via Wisbech.

We are already forward facing because DS outgrew his cabriofix just when my mat pay ended, and I figured ff is better than no car seat. If only DS had been born on the early 80s, I could drive with him on my lap.

Oh and we're back in cloth nappies.

hello plonk. home via Wisbech is no fun at all. Pretty uninspiring scenery too. My dad had an Escort van whwn we were little. Mum used to bundle a couple of duvets in there and make us a nest for trips. We'd rumble around in back for hours

Oh, our 20 minute nap is OVER. Back later

Hello all
Not moved out of our first car seat yet but
also having dilemmas. Apparently rear
facing ones will be mandatory at some
Point but they are much more expensive.
DS will need a new one soon but his legs
are so long they are already halfway up
the back seat. We may go for the maxi
cosi axis- I liked the tobi and it does well
in reviews, but the axis twists so should
save my already buggered back in
years to come when they are even heavier!
Interested what others have though.

No goss really, totally exhausted at the mo ,
Typing this in bed as I've given up on
housework for this nap! Don't know what's
wrong with me to be honest.

Hope everyone else well

For Stormy here is link to good offer on next stage car seat in case it's of interest: on offer rear facing

Hello again, I fear we may have another nap coming to an end but I'll plough on....
Thanks for all the info on car seats. Very helpful. I think we may go for the Britax onne on offer in former post as MN love it and the price is currently right.
Plonky you are dabbling in nappies again? Just at the time of year when its most challenging what with drying etc. Gold star! We are two days on disposables and 3 to 4 days on cloth. At presenr ittakes us 2 days to dry.
Oh, and she's awake. Again.

eco we have a forward facing Britax. We have had no complaints about it. Its straight forward to fit and reclines.

shattered power naps are fab. Even 20mins can make you fee like a new person.

DS has been miserable today. He has been very clingy. First time ever he had cried during a walk in his pram. His bottom gum is white so more teeth are on their way. I hate seeing him like this. I want my bubbly active ds back. He has started babbling sounds we recognise. He repeats words like finished, fallen, dad and out (in our home language though). Its not clear but he is trying and we recognise it.

Uh oh hes awake better go see to him.

eco we have just bought the Cibex Sirona car sea which is both rear facing and forward facing. We will be keeping DD rear facing for as long as possible whether she likes it or not! I am far too risk averse and so we saved up for it. DD is not a fan of the car (i.e. screams head off unless asleep) but the bigger seat has definitely made her feel a bit better. It's awesome being able to put her in with the seat facing the door too so really loving the swivel function.

In terms of mid-morning breastfeed, some days DD doesn't really fancy it and I think water and a snack satisfy her equally. I have left her for a morning now with my SIL and she had no issues and just kept offering snacks.

DD is ebf and sleeps pretty well. She has had some terrible sleep periods but now sleeps 10pm ish to 6am ish pretty solidly, although will graze a few times between after going down at 7pm until I join her in bed. She does it in her sleep which I am fine with. We still co-sleep though so it is entirely possible that she wakes and eats through the night and I simply don't notice! Mind you about 3 weeks ago we did have a spell of her waking up and sitting up between us at 3am for a play for a hour or so but we just ignored her and she eventually decided that cuddling was more fun and has stopped (at least for now).

Eco I looked at that seat but DD is nearly 13kg now I think (well nearly 12 probably) so would have to turn forward very soon. It's a very tempting price though and none of the other rear facings are ever on offer!

Rainbow I loved that seat, so smooth and easy to use but I couldn't justify the price difference and hadn't started saving in time! Plus it's a bit shorter than the one we got and DD is a lanky one like her Mum!

For anyone planning on getting a new seat around the first birthday, if you have a mothercare near you it's worth popping in. If you give them your email address and sign up for their updates i think you get a 20% off voucher as a baby birthday present so that's probably a good time to buy.

Madam is having yet another bad night and I've abandoned my plans of an early night to make plum crumble and stuff my face!

RANT ALERT

DH is reeeeeallly hacking me off. AIBU to be peed off with him for the following: he goes off to work this morning at 4.30am with a 'i feel like crap' as he goes out the door. DD obv then wakes earlier than norm so I am in a bad mood all day, espesh when she's become a nap refusnik so I can't catch up myself. DH gets home around 4pm and is miserable. 'What's wrong?' I ask. 'Dunno, just feel a bit run down'. I tell him to get to bed - i'll do dinner and bath for DD and wake him for dinner. At 8pm I try and wake him for the lovely lamb moussaka i've made (i hate lamb and made it solely for him, as he loves it and we never have it) but he gets up at 8.30 and has a couple mouthfuls before telling me he can't eat it. Again, I ask, what's the matter, does he feel sick. No, just 'not right'. He's now eating toast and feels better. He's just had a week off work. Oh and I asked him to keep an eye on DD while I spent 20 seconds in the loo - she managed to spill my full glass of coke on the carpet as he 'didn't realise it was there'. Plus DD has woken three times this evening.
I give up. He's off tomorrow - let's see how he is....

Eek Any, sounds like he's being less than helpful. I have no advice for you as we sometimes suffer a similar imbalance - and it does genuinely seem to be brought on by dp being run down. Obviously I don't get that option [hmmm]. I'd love to be run down and have someone wake me up to have moussaka!

Yummy I think we have the same seat. Recline function is awesome.

I'm a convert to baby showers. Yuck, I never thought I'd be so twee, but it was lovely. Everyone should have one.

Eco we're in them four days a week. I invested in some Close Pop Ins and they dried over night! He's not in them at nursery though. Working from home definitely helps as if I want a quick break from the laptop I can get up and put a load of washing on etc.

Speaking of, must dash if I'm going to get him up and dressed, off to nursery and back in time for my food delivery at 8.30!