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.

I couldn't choose a favourite cake, Plonky, that would involve tacitly admitting some cakes are inferior. All cake is awesome. DD's not too bad, fairly cheerful though a bit subdued, and currently making little squeaky noises instead of napping. We've just been out for some fresh air and got her some vitamin drops. They smell like marmite, it's revolting, but she didn't seem to mind too much.

How's the considering of cbt and prescription options going?

Ah but Stormy, some cake is inferior. Mary Berry doesn't even put cream in a Victoria sponge. Dp says he knew he never liked her, now he has a valid reason. I'm leaning towards cbt. I'm not keen on the idea of medication just yet. MIL has very helpfully shared a video about depression on her Facebook .

Glad dd's feeling better. DS seems to be trying to drop a nap, but his sleep requirements are the same. Result? A 3 hour nap in the middle of the day. Makes getting lunch into him fun. I suspect he's got a bit of the same virus as me though. So dilemma - do I let him sleep? Do I wake him up and feed him?

I'm having a similar quandary - if DD doesn't get up soon there won't be time for a second nap, and she skipped breakfast already, but needs sleep as she's ill. In your case, Plonk, I'd give him till two, then late lunch, and a slightly late tea.

Plonky I'm feeling great, bizarrely, and thanks for asking. I'm expecting the full force of sleep deprivation to hit me tonight about 9pm when dd starts to monkey about over the bottle I really want her to drink. I suspect the current high is largely down to the fact she actually ate some lunch, properly, off a spoon and everything. Note to self carrot, parsnip and lentils may not sound like a great combination, but apparently it is is better than chicken, salmon, scrambled eggs and all of those totally yuck offerings

Glad you're being looked after. Sounds like you have a good GP, which is always a bonus.

Betty snort. Sorry, but that is funny. They'll not let you back in you know. Banned for life . Stormy I mentioned the tie story to DH. I believe he eats lunch with his tie stuffed inside his shirt for a similar reason. Attractive. Not.

I believe it may be the post lunch bottle time. Shhhhh......

Evening ladies. plonk I'm so glad that you got such brilliant advice from lovelies here, as well as a diagnosis that you probably don't want, but that I'm sure will help. It's great that you are feeling better, I was worried about you.

Welcome back yummy!

Hooray for poo Betty and lentils worse.

stormy, your open-mindedness when it comes to cake is inspiring.

So, I need help with a diagnosis... After the high temperature at the weekend, and vague snottiness, the last few days dd seems to be suffering from the weirdest bug. The last 2 days have both followed the exact same pattern.

Happily drink morning bottle
Show no interest in breakfast
Eat normalish (maybe a bit small) lunch
Refuse afternoon bottle
Eat normalish dinner
Get seriously cross (possibly in pain) after bath
After 1oz of bedtime bottle, suddenly (without any gagging/coughing/warning) produce 2 fountains of revolting smelling puke all over self and mummy. Grizzle a bit, have second bath with mummy, be incredibly cheerful all of a sudden, demand remainder of bottle. Go to sleep without a fuss. Sleep through.

Any ideas? (Also how do I get the stench out of my nostrils?!?)

Plonky that GP does sound good and it's good you are weghing up your options. Different things work for different people. If you want to chat about trying the drug free route then I'd be happy to share my experiences if that's helpful. Either way you will be taking steps towards the old plonky that you miss and that is great progress. And....way to go with that weight loss!

Welcome back yummychoc! Lovely to hear from you. Ditch the back seat for a journey and see how it goes? I go in the front and fondle my dh's knee and in the majority of cases it works out ok. We have one of those mirror things so we can see her face and what she's up to.

Worse I hope you are away from the pantry and that the 2100 bottle doesn't get monkied around with. That night you had is where I was at last week. Thankfully that was a flash in the pan and after feeling a bit sorry for myself it passed under the bridge. Fingers crossed for tonight. Spare room? DH on duty? Earplugs? Gin? Worse I was with the mummy of a 9 month old today at the coast and he is gorgeous, smiley, gaining weight nicely etc. He also only eats toast and rice cakes. He picks other stuff up but slings it on the floor before it gets to his mouth. I don't know many 9 month old babies but the fact that there's two unenthusiastic eaters must mean it's nature's normal way. Not that that helps you feel any better but I share in the spirit of normalising.

Wing, you are clearly a machine and will doubtless get Christmas and birthday sorted soon. Your life sounds busy! I know what you mean about a clear child-free day to do all the STUFF. That's what I dream of. Actually my dream involves going to my favourite cafe on my own with a book and a notebook/pen to while away an afternoon. That sounds like heaven to me.

Gerry did you have a fun day off? Do you finish this week or next in your neck of the woods?

Something how are things now with the clingy whiny baby? Hoping things on the up for you.

Stormy I read with interest your commenst about 'if she doesn't wake soon it'll be too late for a second nap'. When in your book does she need to be awake for ahead of evening meal and bedtime? Ecobaby regularly wakes from her 2nd or 3rd nap around 1630/1700. Would you think that might affect night time sleep? You have a good sleeper! I'm interested in your wisdom! Oh and are yoru vitamin drops Abidec? If so watch out! They stain like buggery. I have ruined a top of mine and a duvet cover with them. We administer in the bath now. And the bottle leaks. bah!

Betty I have to face Christmas shopping tomorrow and Thursday. After the Trafford Centre you are qualified to dish out advice. How do you do it? other than not wander around JL with a baby dripping poo on the Cath Kidston prints
I am currently sat here looking like a banshee. As DH left at 0600 and not due to return until 0000 I thought ecobaby and I would have some fun so we went to the coast with another baby friend to check out the damage (gerry I can report that Cromer lost it's beach huts; hope yours fared better?) and have a nice bracing walk when the fog lifted. So I have returned somewhat windswept. In my infinite wisdom I decided to bathe with ecobaby for the very first time. It was looking like she was cool with it after 2 mins so I dunked my head and then thought I'd better use the baby shampoo as the chemicals would have gone in her water. Just as I'd doused my head in her lavender gunk she started HOWLING. I managed to rinse the lavender gunk out but applying conditioner was out of the question. I cannot remember the last time my unruly mane didn't get that magic potion and I now remember why. I look like wurzel.

ah cross post Gerry. That sounds trying. I have no wisdom to offer I'm afraid. No puking at any other time? Know any babies who are ill too? Anything new fed at dinner time?
Go and burn some toast. That will at least replace the bad smell with another.

Hoping you have an ok night. Poor little poppet.

Sorry Gerry, no ideas here either though sounds tough .

Not on vitamin drops here yet, think of they're on over 500ml formula still don't need them? We generally are though have just dropped below a few times in the last week so should perhaps get some...

If yoghurt doesn't count as a balanced diet then we don't have one! It's the only thing that goes down in quantity. Well, Ella's purees do if offered I guess, sigh, but all the lovely finger food is very hit and miss. He does like grapes (bitten in half first) though, but not blackberries

A bird shit on my baby! Just as we were on the way to be weighed at clinic. Hv saw the stain she probably thinks im a neglectful parent oh well. I overheard a woman say her baby slept through the night since 8 weeks bitch. Actually we have development in that front. Ds hardly wakes for a feed at night now. yay. About twice a week he would wake for milk other times he settles with a dummy. He wakes around twice a night still.

plonky so glad you went to the gp. It seems like you have a fab gp.

Gerry sorry i dont have a clue. I was going to suggest perhaps she catches a cold at night but surely she would be puking anytime of the day and not just the evening.

Car seat chaos is sorted and clocked up bad mummy points for putting ds in forward facing seat. He hates rear facing and stressed me out driving to the point i didnt do long journeys on my own. He loves this seat. He is such a nosy baby.

I maybe able to come on here more frequently soon as santa dh maybe bringing me a tablet for xmas. Dh told me the other week not to buy myself a tablet as if I had the money to. Does anyone know what they are getting?

Any babies visiting santa? We had our visit. Ds kept pulling at his beard.

Eco I found having a ticking time bomb that might meltdown and scream any second really focuses the shopping mind, there's no fussing and maybes its just quick, clean decision making. It was the quickest Christmas shop we've done since we were first together and rushed it so we could go back to bed in years!

Gerry I'm sorry I haven't a clue, probably some short lived virus that'll be gone before you know it.

Yummy apparently bird poo is lucky! We still have 2 night wakings most nights, the first with no feed and the second with. You're not alone!

Oh car seats... I have had to drive DS so much on my own from the get go that I only sat in the back with him on the ride home from hospital. Since then I've been in the front even as passenger. He noodles away to himself and is generally quite happy. Don't have a mirror as would prob have an accident trying to check it whilst driving!

Morning all.

I've also not sat in the back seat since taking DD to the hospital for her check up (I had a HB). We had a mirror to check on here but last week we moved her into the next size up forward-facing seat anyway she's just on the lowest weight for it so she can see out the windows, ba-ba-ba at DS and we can see her much easily. She's lots happier.

Gerry how is DD? Sounds like whatever the problem is is digestion-related and that lovely big puke does the trick? DD's nappies have gone quite runny again recently which is odd and has also covered her. Not quite sure what it is but she seems fine otherwise.

She's just started cruising though. Faaaar earlier than DS ever started moving. Having to keep an eye open for bits of bloomin Lego everywhere which she makes a beeline for

Plonky and everyone else, hope you had a good night.

Gerry I'd say if it happens again go to the gp. The one time DS has done a spectacular puke like that was when he overate, but that's clearly not the issue. Teething? It makes DS gag a lot more than usual, could it be that?

Eco how on earth does your man stay out of the house for so many hours? Well done you though, for seeing as an opportunity. I wondered how your corner of the world fared in the storm, seeing as we had ripped down trees near here. Did you enjoy your bath pre-meltdown? I've never dared wash my own hair during a bath with DS, mostly for fear of the conditioner-less hell you describe. I also have a mane.

And thank you for your kind offer. I'm sure ill be ing you at some point for advice.

I'm certain I need to get DS on vitamin drops. We're on 14flozzes a day. Where can I buy them? Eco, could you put then in dd's water? Or is she a boob gal through and through?

Worse fwiw DS has always preferred random veg combos over meaty dishes. He will not tolerate white fish. Will only eat meat if its barely detectable, or lamb moussaka. But give him a fistful of raspberries and he's away.

Ooh behest get up, he's awake now and the cats moaning. I'm sure ages trying to say 'fiiiiish...now'. Poor kitty.

plonk shall I LTB?! out at 0600 and back at 0000! he has had to get the early trains to work in Sheffield, Manchester and London a few times of late. I spent some quality time with iplayer.
having a baby and a cat moaning for food in the morning sounds like fun. hope you are awake enough to ensure ds gets weetaBix and not Felix!

No ideas about the puking here, Gerry. Sounds like tummy trouble of some flavour though. Hope it sorts itself out soon.

eco I work backwards from bedtime when working out when second nap should be. DD can be awake for 2-3 hours quite happily, and her awake periods are naturally longer as the day goes on. For an easy bedtime I like her to be tired but not too tired by 7pm, so the latest she can get up from last nap is 4.30 (although I prefer 4). That means she has to go down for the last nap at about 3, or 3.30 at the latest. Which means she needs to be up from the first nap by 12.30. So she normally starts first nap around 11, having got up in the morning somewhere between 8 and 9 (after a first bottle at 6 or 7 and going back to sleep). Some babies can handle being awake for longer, but DD gets a bit fractious after three hours. Some days she's been awake for much longer, but generally only when we're out and about and she's got things to entertain her. Yesterday she got up at 9, went down at 11.30, and slept until nearly 2, so she wouldn't have wanted to nap until at least 5, which would have meant getting up just to have a bath and go back to bed. We haven't done that since she was very tiny. Anyway, I'm not sure if this affects overall night sleep. We mainly do it this way to make sure she's tired enough to go to bed with no fuss at bedtime.

As for the vitamins, I can't see the bottle from here but it looks like it'll stain yellow. Will remember the bath tip. 500ml is 17.5 flozzes and we're definitely under that now - usually about 6 first thing, 1 or 2 before each nap, and between 4 and 6 at bedtime. Bit worried about giving a vitamin drop every day though, as DD's poo makes it clear she's getting plenty of iron already (must be all the prunes). You can get them from the chemist, Plonky.

Don't think I've ever sat in the back of a car with DD!

plonky glad your gp was helpful and you have choices. Afraid I have no words of wisdom as I am the kind of person who loathes talking to strangers about my problems so I didn't even do anywhere near a gp or other professional after my DD died and I don't like taking even paracetamol. Hope you find something that works for you and you and you DP find a way forward.

Re car seats - I asked about next stage car seats at my local independent baby shop and they told me not to bother buying next seat yet as apparently the law is changing soon so that all babies have to be rear facing till 15 months. Not heard confirmation of this anywhere else though as yet.

gerry sounds like going to gp with mystery bug might be best option - sounds like very specific set of symptoms.

I have absolutely no idea how much DD feeds at night - still co-sleeping and DD has access to breasts at all times and just helps herself. I rarely wake to notice! it means I am finally pretty much sleeping through and it is wonderful although suspect it might all change soon as DD is getting more wiggly on going to sleep and sometimes ends up in such funny positions in the morning on me and DH.

We also still have an enthusiastic eater of all things except broccoli (DH is proud of her refusal on this!). I kind of have the opposite problem in that I occasionally worry that maybe DD is eating too much - for dinner she can quite happily put away one and a half sausages or half a chicken breast or a whole small homemade burger plus potato and various veggies in a single sitting - she is starting to rival me in portion size! My instinct is not to worry and just keep offering while she still shows enthusiasm for everything. Reading your woes about un enthusiastic eaters makes me realise these little monkeys all give us something to worry about no matter what they do!

betty oh dear on your poopy shopping trip but must admit the image made me smile and nod my head in recognition of a similar experience we had when DD was about 9 weeks old. Only funny in hindsight!

No Eco definitely don't ltb! He sounds lovely and that's quite a trip. I just meant yesterday sounds like it could've been hard work.

Have successfully administered the correct breakfasts, so I feel like I'm winning.

Stormy I admire your very logical approach to naps and feeding. Sounds like dd might be gearing up to drop her daytime bottles. Whenever DS routinely just had a floz or 2 he didn't even notice when they were no longer offered.

Forward facing from seven months here. How many bad mummy points is that? The perils of being skint and having a long baby. Should probably have given up buying food or something in order to recoup some martyr mummy points, but I decided to be bad. And drink wine.

I'd best go, DS has just commando'd it over to me

Plonky I would just drop the daytime bottles, but at the moment it's a handy way of signalling sleep time and also means I'm less worried about dehydration. As for my nap logic, it reminds me of Evil Gina a bit - always trying to make sure she's not overtired, because she's a lot easier to deal with that way!

At the rate DD's going she'll probably be in her first car seat until she's eighteen. It's good to 26lbs and she's nowhere near that.

Docs today to check out hips and ribs. Fun stuff.

Just long a long post due to technical ineptitude. It would be good if I could blame the PC, but no it was definitely ineptitude. Pressed a random selection of buttons for no apparent reason and lost everything.

So it'll have to be a quick hi and bye now as we're off to music group. 'The wheels on the bus' here I come. Or is it 'chocolate.... cake chocolate cake.... yummy yummy yummy etc'. Honestly, it'd make a grown person weep. Babies seems to like it though. Probably hoping for some real live chocolate cake. They'll be hoping a long time I'm thinking, judging from the number of organic baby wipes in bags. Mine aren't organic. I admit to feeling bad about this....

Bad night again last night, as despite eating really quite well and drinking a load of milk dd still decided to get up at 4am for a couple of hours. The little rat monkey.

I'm curious, worse, what do you do when she wakes up in the middle of the night and decides it's playtime? Also, I will happily admit mine eats cake. Only small bits, and only at my dad's, but she likes it very much. And she eats chocolate (since the man's mother bought her an advert calendar). And she's eaten four crisps!

Dp fed DS pickled onion monster munch. Put that in your rear facing, organic baby wipe pipe and smoke it

It was mostly for experimentation purposes. DS has a good diet. Honest.

So it seems it was just me sitting in the back seat with ds. rainbow i know they say its safer for babies to stay in rear facing car seats but i really hope they dont change the law just yet. Ds absolutely hated it and needed entertaining throughout the journey.

stormy how is the insomnia? Hopefully you sleep much better. Hope the docs appointment goes well?

worse enjoy your music session. The childrens centre by me is soooo unorganised. I put my name down for sessions but never got to join them until the receptionist confessed yesterday they had staff changes and lost the waiting lists for the sessions.

DD had a nice and spicy niknak courtesy of my brother. I gave her a quaver a while back (it was the first thing she ever ate in its entirety). And she's had a cheese and onion crisp off my mum twice. I figure the whole pack is a definite no-no but just one isn't going to do much harm. Feel free to not link me to any news reports of babies spontaneously combusting after just looking at crisps.

yummy the sleep is much better now. Still taking the tablets, but on the days when I skip them it's much better than the old days of four hours to drop off then waking up after two hours. Helps that DD's sleep is so good now too. If she doesn't wake me up I'm fine. How's your insomnia?

Right, I better get this baby up and milked and dressed, cos we're being picked up in twenty minutes.

yummy DH or I still sit in the back with DD depending who is driving. She loathes the car unless she is tired enough to sleep and gets very angry because she can't use her arms and hand to play properly. I suspect we will be doing this for a while as we will be going rear facing for as long as possible.