September 2014 - Into the new year!

[RedToothBrush]

Shiny New Thread for a Shiny New Year.

I agree developments seem to be sudden rather than gradual as a rule here too. Its like DS wakes up one day and goes, today I will do X and its a massive leap from where he was up to the previous day.

Still not rolled yet though despite all the threats to.

DD is about to move up to size three nappies, but I have no idea what the difference is between the pampers simply dry, baby dry and active fit. Any hints and tips as to what to go for?

Yes to sudden developments. When she learns something new, she then does it quite often. She's now laughing, and it is so sweet. Laughs at totally random things though!

Yes to laugh at random things, when ds is giggly he laughs at anything I say to him so some time ago I started a play, when he laughs I say "joke number 11" and he laughs out load, then I say joke number 32 and again and again until it wears off... Have you girls heard the joke?

Pampers simply dry is the budget version of baby dry - I have not tried them because their rating on mumsnet nappy rating page was terrible. Baby dry keeps their bottom dry for a long time as it absorbs a lot of wee lol! but it smells terrible (specially in the morning when full) but I like them cause ds is quite happy with them and they don't leak.

Active fit, don't know yet; ds is not much active yet so haven't tried them yet

I agree about sudden developments.

Team simply dry didn't work for us, we use baby dry at nights but they do smell a bit grim, and I really like the active fit ones. They are really good.

Teething central here today. Lots of crying, so gave calpol and took him out for a walk to send him to sleep - he had 2hrs! Then a feed and a play before a weep and a 30 min snooze before bath. Gave half a dose of calpol before bed just to ward off any pain that may come. Hands in mouth, red cheeks, v upset poor boy

DH on phone and BLOODY LOUD. need bigger house.

Fingers crossed for another good nights sleep...

We use the baby dry at night, he wakes up stinky but dry :)

I do think he is hungry as when he wakes at 3.00 he'll often take 3 or 4 ozs.

We also use baby dry - they do last all night with no leaks and also seem to handle poo's better than new baby too. You certainly can notice the smell in the morning though!

Also seeing what seems like very sudden developments. Molly can now spin around on the playmat and rolls on to side but not quite over yet. And grabbed her feet for first time today in bath! She's started to be a lot more wriggly during nappy changes too which I think spells trouble!

With the dribbling, has anyone else had so much dribble they soak through front of their clothes? Molly keeps doing this - just seems to keep hand in mouth so long that saliva builds up then pours out! I keep her bibs on and use dribble bibs but she can need clothes changing several times a day if it's particularly bad. Hope it passes soon! Not been too bad today I have to say.

Great news on the feeding Red. Which are you finding you prefer?

Thanks Fate. Honestly, I think its six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Me and DH are both struggling a bit with his refusal to take bottles at the moment now. We have no idea how much he's eating and its disconcerting to say the least. Neither of us have any clue if he's hungry or not at the moment as a result. He's still being fussy on breast too, which isn't helping.

We have well and truly done the sales, and bought loads of stuff for the coming year. I think together with stuff he got for Christmas he probably should be good until about September... (and we have got one or two items for past then too). I'm thinking its an expense to do now, but getting ahead means we can just shop the sales for him from now on.

Team, we went up to size 3 a couple of weeks ago. After trying the baby dry and active fit... we went back to the new baby as the yellow line makes life so much easier.

"fate you are a genius b slept till 7. admittedly he was sponsored by 2.5ml of calpol but still"

Not sure what I did, but fantastic news Holls. Wooohoo for some sleep. Here's hoping it continues.

"We have no idea how much he's eating and its disconcerting to say the least"

I hear you on that one. For EBF mums, from the outset you don't have any knowledge of how much (in volume) baby feeds through the day. I lived in this blissful ignorance through my first two children and so there is no real worry about how much they eat, just how long they feed for.

Then when DC3 was formula fed, you automatically start to think in volumes of milk in a way completely alien to a breastfeeding Mum. So for me now to go back to breastfeeding for DC4 and for you going from expressed to breast, you can't live in that world ignorant of millilitres and fluid ounces. So I find myself thinking - no way she's just had 7oz in that feed, surely not? And I start doubting myself in a way I know I don't need to.

Nappies. If you have a baby that poos a lot during the day or who needs their nappy changing frequently for any other reason - then might as well use a cheaper brand through the day. The more expensive ones are down to extra absorbance, but if you change nappy every few hours through the day then as long as they fit well, you don't need then to be super absorbent

However night time, nothing will beat Baby Dry in my experience. I don't want to be changing a nappy for the 12 hours of the night if at all possible.

DD has been in size 3 from about 6 weeks old.

We de-Christmased the house today.

I get filled with that odd feeling of being glad and sad at the same time. Sad to see 'Christmas' boxed up and packed away in the loft, but glad to get the house back to normal.

I'm taking xmas down tomorrow.

anyonr else had a miserable dh mainly (I suspect) due to return to work? no? oh good just me then.

also does anyone else have v sore knees/back/arms from the lugging around of not so little people?

Yes dh is feeling a bit down here as well, just going to miss us both I think!

My back has been aching a while, DS is about 17lbs and has been on the 98th percentile for a while so is heavy! My three doored car is causing me issues as well, think we'll have to buy a new one soon because lifting DS in and out of the back is tough going.

DS has done two 6am poos two days in a row, he hasn't pooed overnight for weeks and weeks. I know it's not exactly night but he doesn't normally wake for the day until 8 so losing two hours sleep is very precious for me. Today he also threw up in my bed. Not a little bit, but loads and loads! Mattress topper in the wash and everything. Really unlike him. Hope we are not in for a sickness bug :(

Holls, DH went back on Friday. He's been miserable all weekend.

Sore back and arms? Hell yes. Not helped by small boy wanting to play standy-uppy ALL THE TIME. He's only just hit 13lb but I'm tiny well I was until I piled on the pounds with him and he is particularly long which doesn't help me. I'm panicking a little as his projected height at 2 is potentially going to be an issue for me. His thumb nails are already the size of my little finger nails which I find slightly scary.

I am starting to grow tired of the 'its a growth spurt' or 'its teething' as a reason for every grumble or peak/trough in feeding as they seem to be ever present symptoms.

Today DS is obsessed with his feet. I think that's his thing for the day.

Red, Honey, no offence, but THANK GOD. My DH was a nightmare yesterday.

I agree on growth spurt/teething as the reason for everything. At the moment B is eating much bigger amounts but is also v weepy (not like him) and gnawing fists, red cheeked, dribbly - teething AND growth spurt?!

Red, standy uppy is the thing here too. I got the jumperoo out yesterday but he isn't quite upright enough for it yet , and his feet didn't touch the floor - may stick a cushion under it and try again in a week or so. He yelled when I removed him though.

Sodding dummy at 4.45am. Don't know whether to leave him to munch his fists LOUDLY - but fear this won't get me anymore sleep as will lie there listening to the monitor.

Doe anyone else's child need a sleep about an hour and a half after their first feed of the day? B had 240ml at 7am and is now snoozing in his bouncy chair.

Right. While he sleeps, I'm going to remove Xmas from the house. :-(

Lol at the thank god!! I am pleased that we will be back into a normal routine. But it's been nice having an extra pair of hands around the house so I can eat/shower in relative peace.

DS is only ever awake for between 1-2 hours before needing a nap at the moment so usually within an hour of up, feed, dressed he is ready for a sleep.

holls I found myself listening to every tiny mumble on the monitor, after a week I've decided to put it on 'mute low'. So I don't hear any tiny noises, only when he uses his voice properly or cries. This has worked much better the last two nights, I'm getting to sleep more quickly and also sleeping deeper because I'm not listening to every tiny snuffle. Appreciate this won't be for everyone as hearing breathing can be reassuring, and I'm not sure all monitors have that setting, but thought it was worth mentioning.

DD needs to have a nap about 90 minutes after waking, so she's just asleep on me now!

DH is going back to work tomorrow and he's also being really miserable about it. It's been really lovely for him to spend so much time with DD, to see his confidence with her and their bond increase. I think he also now has a little more appreciation of how tough it is to be with her all day everyday. It is amazing and she's wonderful, but it is exhausting and relentless. I don't think he got that when just spending weekends with her, but after two weeks he now understands it

My dh is miserable too. He told me he didn't want to go back to work for another whole year!

His confidence has boomed when it comes to looking after Elijah

Oh how I would love it if Elijah slept through every night :(

I am starting to grow tired of the 'its a growth spurt' or 'its teething' as a reason for every grumble

I dislike that too, just as much as things like 'she's very cross today' or 'she's just tantrum screaming' - she's only 14 weeks for goodness sake! It's like saying it's OK that she continues to cry because it's only... whatever.

I smile sweetly and think it's not OK for my baby to cry at all, regardless of the reason for the upset. So I pick her up, give her a cuddle. Then I continue to smile through gritted teeth as I get 'she's got you wrapped around her little finger'. Sod off, just sod off.

He told me he didn't want to go back to work for another whole year!

DH was offered and took redundancy when DC3 was 8 weeks old. He got a very lucrative redundancy payout and in deciding what we would do with the money DH decided he'd like to use some of the money to take 6 months off work. I was a SAHM so we were both off work and at home with the baby. He enjoyed it so much that we eeked out the rest of the money and he took a full 12 months off work with me and the children.

Without doubt that year was the very best year of my life. We didn't do anything special or go anywhere special - but got lots of time to enjoy each others company and spend lots of quality time with the children.

I sometimes wonder if memories of this are the reason DH is unexpectedly struggling this time around.

WOW. Fate. that sounds amazing. I have loved having DH at home - not that he has done nappy changes or feeds, but we have done things as a family and that has been lovely. He has named himself "entertainments officer" and B ADORES him which is lovely to see. I can forgive him the lack of nappy changing etc for that!

Bought B a beanbag as he has grown out of the cocoon and loved it…he is currently lying on it whilst I check my work emails (ahem, mumsnet!) and seems really happy. Got a new tummy time mat today in the hope that it encourages him. He does a vague wriggle on his front at times but is frustrated by the fact that he can't move. oh, and occasionally face plants in a fairly epic way.

Hi all...not been on here for a while as I have been so busy over Xmas/New Year. Just caught up with the last thread/this thread. It's nice as I don't have any friends with babies the same age in RL, so all the posts about hand chewing, sleeping etc really resonate.

My house feels very quiet today as the twins are back at school and DH is at work - but I've enjoyed having a day of just me and little J.

Managed to get lots of things done today which is odd as usually in get nothing done!

The irony of DH being home for two weeks is that I've found it harder! DH is hands on and brilliant with DS BUT doesn't get the value of quiet times and some sort of routine.

He seems to be under the impression you have to be 'doing' something with DS every hour of the day. Whether it be feeding, napping, playing... he hasn't grasped the concept of just leaving DS to play on his own for twenty minutes whilst you go and do something.

Net result: lie ins have screwed up the whole of DS nap and feeding times, DH insists on 'doing something' every other day at least as he gets bored, DS has been over tired and stimulated. I've got nothing done (and when tried to I got moaned at for either 'neglecting' DS tongue very firmly in cheek or moaned at for leaving DS with him). DH was complaining last night about how physically and mentally tired he was no shit Sherlock!.

Today, despite having to go to the bank unplanned DH needed something doing only to be told it wasn't possible DS has been so much calmer and relaxed and kept to his normal routine. AND I've managed to tidy up and do three loads of washing.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved DH being around. And DS just adores his Daddy I'm not jealous at DS looking for and smiling more for him at all. But I think everyone really needed DH to go back to work for a rest!

Fate that does sound amazing. DH would love to be able to do that, but can't see it happening anytime soon!

I just took A out for a long walk hoping it would help him have a nap (as he has been fighting anysort of afternoon nap for the last few days!) but no luck. He maybe slept for the first 20 mins then stared out of the pram for the rest of the time (almost 2 hours!). Now he is sat mumbling to his toy monkey and rubbing his eyes, so no doubt I will get the crying overtiredness in about 20 mins!

All Elijah has done today is had short nap after short nap. Most he has slept is 30 mins and he is now using my finger as a comfort!