August 2014 Babies,half way to one and staring at you while you eat.

[GingerCuddleMonster]

I've been told via Whatsapp by a MN'er this morning who used to be a member of the ante-natal group that there's a Facebook group, but that they won't accept anyone or her back (a bit weird if you ask me, but each to their own, and have really left a PND suffering mum feeling like shit, but I doubt they care in their "clique")

So are there any August Mums left on here willing to chat, without connecting to Faceache?

Hmm, we have Ewan and he doesn't work for us - the noise stops after 20 minutes which is just the point when DS is stirring and at risk of waking up. Basically it has 4 noise modes (white noise, heartbeat, vacuum cleaner and harp) which play when you squeeze its legs.

I use Ewan to condition DS for bedtime .

so I put Ewan on, give DS his night feed and then lay him down to settle with Ewan on. He fights it for a bit but soon drifts off to the harp music.

how is everyone doing?

We have a crawler here! No rest for me now She's also obsessed with eating newspaper and magazine pages. weird kid

How's everyone else? have you started your new job Ginger? how is it?

We're on holiday at the moment and just like last time dd is sleeping atrociously. I am not completely sure if it's being away or just a coincidence though as she slept really badly the night before we came away too. She's happy and full of beans in the day though, sometimes too full of beans. There is not a moment's peace! Her grandparents are also getting her over excited, I think.

Yes, we have a crawler too, with an uncanny instinct for anything that might be dangling within reach. He has just developed quite a cute bum-in-the-air hands and feet crawl too! Hope DD's sleep improves, MrsMilky; we had a bad time in the run up to and just after crawling, then it got a bit better for a few nights. Unfortunately he now has a cold and is teething simultaneously, so not a happy little chap at all, and sleep is appalling!

Yes started my new job and adore it. It really is a lovely place to work and be and the job is so worthwhile. Also it's nice to know that DP is happy for me even though I'm taking home £300 less a month my mental well-being is much better and he agrees.

DS is starting to self settle and sleeping through in his cot which is a welcome break. We had a bit of tough patch about 2 weeks ago when he cut 4 teeth all at once but it's better.

Yay crawling babies there's no rest now haha

I guess we officially have a toddler. DS took his first steps this morning...

I think I am more relieved than proud. He's been threatening to do it for over a month and I just wanted him to get it over and done with.

DH has to find away to prevent TV attacks this weekend as DS keeps trying to pull it over.

We have also discovered Hey Duggee. It is officially the best show on TV as voted by all three of us.

Ginger I'm so pleased for you. I'm going back to work full time in September but already thinking about how I negotiate to part time as the extra stress will not be worth the extra pay (for me anyway)

Congrats to the other crawlers and also the the first one toddling. Have you had to go out and buy shoes Red? Had baby Red been frustrated making the move from crawl to walk? baby Felkov yells so loudly when she can't coordinate her arms and legs or she gets stuck under a chair/table. She hasn't worked out how to reverse yet so can only go in one direction, it's quite amusing except for when i have to rescue her every 10 mins!

No shoes here yet. He kicks off socks and the shoes we bought previously and he seemed to cruise better bare foot anyway.

He was ok going from crawling to walking really. He's been cruising for a couple of months though anyway. He generally doesn't have access to chairs. He did crawl under the bar of one the other day to get a plastic bottle. He then tried to get out, and was able to do so but for the fact he couldn't work out how to get the bottle out as the same time as him. He could get his head under the bar but he keep getting stuck as the bottle got wedged. It was very funny to watch. I had to rescue him.

Supermarket trips are turning into a mission. He climbs out and refuses to stay in his seat. Even with the straps.

He's still massively behind with food. Its still a massive on going battle on that front. We have the same trouble as the supermarket trolley (won't stay in his seat) which is not helping.

The frustration is coming out more with eating as he can't get food into his mouth or can't eat it if its in his mouth. And fighting sleep. And nappies. We are starting to get what seem like toddler tantrums. They are fun.

It still amazes me that they are all so different and develop in totally different ways.

Red, how is DS with milk, is he still feeding OK? I find that we have days when I can hardly get any food in her at all, then other days when we have a mini breakthrough. Last night she had tangerine segments and for the first time ever she swallowed them rather than just chewing and spitting out. It seems to go in fits and starts though and we're still really struggling with anything spoon related.

It must be really hard but I'm sure you're not doing anything wrong, just hang in there

He's good with milk now. Finally. Which is a small mercy.

I find different development rates amazing. I do think its a reflection of personally more than ability or anything else, and each thing that they are 'ahead' or 'behind' on comes with its benefits and drawbacks.

DS is a little determined explorer but he lacks the understanding that he can't do certain things still. He has no fear at all, and the word 'no' isn't quite in his head. We have had a LOT of bumps and tears but its not even slowing him down. He also has no interest in food, I think in part as milk is just easier and after he's used all his energy trying to kill himself one way or another, he just wants instant food without the faff of playing with it or being patient.

We've just got DS accepting spoons properly in the last week or so for yoghurt and fruit puree after he figured out that nutella comes on spoons. (Bad Mummy). We've tried veg puree repeatedly but he spits it out everywhere! So back to the drawing board on that one. Yet he'll happily suck and nibble on a slice of pizza or munch on savoury baby crisps so its not just a sweet tooth. He's clearly fussy already but we are persisting. I'd love to say that he was eating all the healthy stuff but as that's just not happening so I've now got to the point where I've resigned myself to the fact its more about encouraging and teaching how to eat rather than getting him to eat the right things straight away.

Main frustration here is sleep, on a good night he wakes up 5-6 times, on his frequent bad nights I lose count - has been like this pretty much since he was born and the cumulative exhaustion is getting desperate, particularly now I'm back at work. On the plus side weaning has been a breeze - I guess it's swings and roundabouts!

How's everyone doing? Hope you're all holding out in the heat!

Luckily its not been too hot here in rainy west coast Scotland, although our bedroom is up to 22degrees. But we had a massive storm earlier today and torrential downpour so its cooler now!

I'm so fed up of being woken up at night I'm starting to wonder about some sort of sleep consultant or something. last night DD woke up at 10.30, 1am, 3am, 4am, 4.30am, 5.30am and 6am then finally slept till 8. Gaaah!

i feel guilty for just moaning about it all the time at home but I'm so fed up of having no sleep and DH just sleeps through it all and totally doesn't understand why I'm so grumpy always. i wish i could figure out why and do something about it!

Oh felkov that sounds a nightmare. Maybe a sleep consultant would be a good idea. It's not been too hot here either (east coast of Scotland) and we had a massive storm the other night too.

DD is getting into everything right now - crawling, cruising, and nothing is safe from those baby hands! I feel like I need eyes in the back of my head and it's very tiring too. Sometimes I miss the days where it seemed like all I did was sit on the sofa and feed.

As it's now the summer holidays up here, a lot of the baby activities have stopped so it's harder to amuse DD now. There's a nice park not too far away but it does get awfully busy.

Yes, we have a baby getting into everything MrsMilky, it's exhausting - he went from not crawling to pulling up in about 10 days so we had very little time to get used to it. Now he just doesn't seem to stay still for a second, he's so curious and determined to get to something new; it's lovely to see what he's interested in, but it makes bedtimes a real pain. Felkov, much sympathy - your nights sound like ours except DS is up for the day at 6am, which isn't terribly popular! Can't your DH do a few of the night wakings? We're trying to take it in shifts which does help a bit, though I still do most of the night feeds obviously.

DD sounds the same Jess! She loves to explore and even in a room filled with toys she'll home in on the one thing that's not for her (a remote control or adult book for example!)

Are you guys starting to think about first birthdays now? What are you getting your dc? I picked up a couple of things in the mothercare sale online - a ride on duck and an activity cube walker - but still looking for inspiration.

He has lots of toys so not planning any big purchases - we'll probably have a barbecue for friends but he's a bit small to really appreciate a party so we'll save ourselves for future years!

Yes, it's amazing how they prefer the toys that Mummy and Daddy play with MrsMilky! I was filling in the questionnaire for our 8-12 month check and one of the questions was whether he would find a toy we'd hidden. And I was thinking that sometimes he will, but he often gets distracted and goes off to get another toy. But if I try to hide my mobile phone from him, he homes in on it with utter concentration!

Yes we're not doing a big party either, probably just going to soft play with some friends and their babies. Our local soft play has a really nice baby section and they love it in there! We go every week but now it's the school holidays, it is starting to get a bit busier.

jess that's interesting you have an 8-12 month check - we don't get one of those, as far as I'm aware. From speaking to friends, it seems the next scheduled contact we have with the NHS is when DD is 13 months and has her next set of vaccinations. And even then I don't think there's much of a check involved, just the jabs!

How are you finding being back at work? I'm absolutely dreading going back although I have enough annual leave that I've pushed it back it back to 1 September. Getting stressed about putting DD into nursery and expressing milk at work. I still haven't decided if I'll stay back yet either...I have to go back for three months to keep the maternity pay, but I am going to use that time to see how it works out.

I've not got as far as organising anything for DDs birthday but if the weather holds and if we manage to move house in time then we'll hopefully have a bbq or something like that. more of a housewarming party really although the way its looking at the moment we might not be able to move in time. mortgage is taking forever due to me being on mat leave

I'd quite like one of those trikes or maybe a swing for the garden but haven't chosen anything yet. I'm sure the babies have no idea what's happening so I might just wait a bit until there's a good sale on.

We've been to a couple of 1st birthdays recently and in both cases the birthday boys just seemed totally overwhelmed by having so many people in their houses. i think either going out or doing something casual/low key is the way forward!

Hmm, trying to work having been up ten times a night is rather a surreal experience - going remarkably well considering I'm so shattered all the time! Expressing is going OK, he has 9-10floz ebm in the day and then 4-6 feeds in the evening/night/early morning. Though the last week he's been wanting more in the day, so the freezer stash I'd built up has come in really handy. He's eating a reasonable amount but has still never really dropped milk feeds which does make life a bit harder!

Luckily my husband's looking after him on extended paternity leave so I don't have to worry about leaving him with nursery, though he's booked in for 3 days a week from August. Hoping he'll be OK, he's a confident and sociable little chap who's very curious and happy if he's allowed to explore and cuddled when needed.

We were wondering about a swing Felkov, but there's a really nice play area near our house so it didn't really seem worth it.

Evening all, sorry I've been absent.

glad to see everyone is holding on!! I can't believe first birthdays are approaching . it's surreal!!

sorry posted too soon.

Hess I feel your pain, working is hard in no sleep . I hope your little one starts to sleep better for you soon!!

as for me it's been busy and stressful few weeks, I've had a court case to attend and its all just gone a bit Pete tong. there's no prison or fines as it's family court but it's a nightmare!!

Toddling! We arent even crawling yet though may not be too far off.

Sorry to hear about sleep and eating problems. The latter must go away at some point, or we'd all be spitting out purée and eating with hands but it's hard.

Sleep ginger have you tried sleeping in the same room to see if you can work out what's causing the wake ups? ours was appalling for two weeks needing the dummy put back, so we bit the bullet then and dumped it.