October 2014 // thread 5 // baby's first Christmas

[JeannePoole]

Welcome back!

(Dear greetings cards manufacturers: 'Baby's First Christmas' does NOT necessarily have to include Baby being liberally sprinkled with glitter from your shoddily-made merchandise.

Except that, as I'm rapidly discovering, it does.

Just jiggled the little fecker for an hour and he slept for a grand total of ten minutes :( i swear this child hates me!

Moose it can be but it can also indicate tiredness or a baby who's discovered their hands.

My slow cooker is being freecycled today. It takes up too much space and stuff tastes much nicer slow cooked in a cast iron pot in the oven.

Ah who knows then, he seems to have a new found obsession with muslin cloths too!
Do toddlepods go in/on something? Or just on the floor? Wondering if its worth getting one for downstairs
Apologies for being a grumpy cow today, im just loosing the will to live a bit

wonder I felt like that last night too. I'd got him settled at 7 and got into the bath I had been dreaming about all day I had sick in my hair and my legs were like chewbaccas all I wanted was half an hour to make me feel human again and he woke up after half an hour dp came in and said "he's awake" yes I'm not fucking deaf thanks! Can you sort it?! "Well I'm just having my tea"

The sleep deprivation gets to us all.

sazzle thank you yes everyone was ready and out of the house on time even managed to make beds

yellow I totally agree I can never get sauces nice and thick with mine.

Anyone looking for a nice warming slow cooked dish(in the oven)that's healthy with a bit of spice google hairy bikers fiery beef madras it's gorgeous and you don't need to go out and buy lots of random spices it's just fresh chilli and curry powder. I use chicken thighs as I prefer them and it's a firm favourite in this house.

Maybe I'd alone in regularly using my slow cooker then?

I use my (humungous) one at least once a week through the winter for stews/casseroles - that basically means diced meat (often leftovers from Sunday dinner), lots of root veg and occasionally dumplings.

Cornflour thickens the gravy fine for me.

Obsessive muslin and scarf 'sorting' going on here too.

Last night I was awake from 12.30 until 5.30 when she finally passed out properly like a starfish on top of the duvet. I think sleepyhead days are over. She needs to roam.

*fate I just like my sauces to reduce down a bit think they are a bit tastier but I know loads of people who swear by them.
I suppose because I'm usually in and out of the house most of the day I can just bung it in the oven but if I was out at work/ out of the house all day I would imagine I would use it much more.

I miss cooking and baking! I really need to grow some balls and start putting this baby down in the day lol

Overtired baby klaxon!!

Great morning at baby massage but now he won't sleep for longer than 20mins then wakes up screaming hysterically with real tears and everything.

Presently in a sling whilst Mommy paces the house

Love my slow cooker. I've bought a Schwartz chicken in red wine sachet thing so will try that out this week.

How's everyone found today? I was dreading DH going back to work but it's not been too bad. moose I miss cooking so much, I used to do a mean risotto but there's no way in hell I'd have the time for it now. Bread and cheese or pasta bake most nights now!

We use our slow cooker but not as often as we should. Boston beans and a gammon are our two faves.

Hasn't been too bad with DH back to work today, but the baby has mostly cooperated. Out to a cafe solo this morning with intentions to read intellectual magazine but actually arsed around on phone and to baby massage this afternoon.

How long do your babies sleep for their initial stretch? M does 6-7 hrs but goes to bed at 8.30pm which means a feed at around 2-3.30am. Then he'll do about three more hrs and is up for the day 6-7am. Too early! Kind of wish he went down at 10.30/11...

fatpony that's the exact same sleep pattern that DS would have if left to his own devices. We started waking him at 11ish for a feed and he now does his 6-7 hour stretch after that. He wakes up on the dot of 6.30 most mornings now - much more acceptable than 3am!

Yellow did you get 'a modern way to eat' for Chrimbo? If you did hope you enjoyed it. Lots of good dairy free recipes in there...

And for anyone else dairy free I made this cake for my ds 4th birthday yesterday and adapted the frosting a bit and it was a major success - so easy, and light and moist. You'd never know there was coconut milk in any of it. Genius!!
www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Double-Deep-Chocolate-Hanukkah-Layer-Cake-387493

Anyone got some good slow cooker recipes? Where I can prepare during the morning bit of sleep.

jeanne we do the same, wake and feed at 11. Little monkey still wakes at 3 though.
I've gone on to a faster flow teat today and upped his milk to 6 ounces hoping to get him to go a bit longer between feeds at night we are still every four hours.
He will get there in the end, they are all so different even though I've done pretty much the same with all mine they've all slept through at different ages dd1 was 9 weeks, dd2 was 6 months, ds1 10 weeks.
Think r is heading the same way as dd2!

Im still undecided about the slow cooker i like the idea of something cooking when im out as i dont really get in till about 4pm most days & the idea of something just being ready as i get in the door is tempting but i just dont know what i would make apart from casseroles ?

pregnant that curry sounds amazing will deffo try that one, love love love curry !!

Jeanne that's really interesting. Do you wake him or try and dream feed? Any idea how much he is getting? Breast or bottle? M takes bloody ages over each feed now, around 45 mins for both boobs so wouldn't want to be sat there for yonks at 11pm. M is breast fed apart from his last feed at 8pm when he takes c.200mls. Sometimes he'll go to 4am, sometimes 2.20am...

This is amazing in the slow cooker
allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/26680/slow-cooker-ham-with-honey-and-mustard-glaze.aspx

The other thing that is confusing is how the books/sleep gurus count 'through the night'... Is it 7-7? 12-6? ...

I'm worried mine goes to bed so late! But he's just still cluster feeding all evening so not much I can do really. I guess? He's still only about 8lbs at 10 weeks which I guess has something to do with it.

fatpony we wake him, usually by changing his nappy. He's FF and has 5 feeds of 200-240ml a day (he's a massive baby!). He doesn't always take a full bottle at 11 but will usually manage 200ml. He does often wake at 3am, but isn't hungry and will usually go back to sleep in bed with mummy with a little bit of gentle persuasion.

Fatpony could you link to your Boston beans recipe? I'm always looking for a good one. If you get a chance x

splendide it's worth remembering your baby is a good few weeks younger than a lot of the others on this thread and at this stage even a week makes such a difference. We're twelve weeks today and she's so different to how she was a fortnight ago- going to bed earlier, for a start! Also, they're all so different.

Im absolutely dreading tonights attempt at sleep. Ive no idea what went wrong last night but i feel like he's buggered my milk supply again because this afternoon hes been super angry feeding and ive not actually seen any milk for a while :s