September 14 babies - bring on the weaning!

[KitKat1985]

New thread for the Sept 14 babies. :)

lil the tray kind of slots in not clips on, have you had a look at where they join. If you clip it, it will hold for a bit but it isn't secure and it pops off.

My baby is very testing today argh!!

Nazly if I don't want Jessica to fall asleep straight after a feed I wind her afterwards in a seated position on my lap (as it's difficult but not as I've discovered, impossible for her to fall asleep like that). xx

Bec, interesting, off to google now.

Kitkat that does not work for us; and I don't have the heart to wake him properly at bed time when he does not wake burping in sitting position! Interestingly if it was towards the morning and I did it he would be up in a split second!!

Lil , I agree with cookie, just push it down and it clicks and falls into place. Are you sure there was supposed to be no hole in your storage? I never had a faulty item from IKEA and I buy lots from them; I thought their QA system is brilliant; but maybe I am lucky!

Top I am even more concerned now cause he has cracks in his nails and they have started to break quite easily :( both toe and finger nails :( I tried to mix formula with his food today but he stopped having the food!!! Why does he dislike it??! Aaagh.
What vitamin drops do you use? Based on advice from whom?

Ds is always testing! I paid another ten quid for a new bottle which was supposedly going to be similar to breast; it took 10 seconds for ds to reject it! Even though it had expressed milk in it not formula! Aaaagh!

We have started on the hideous mission to stop swaddling DD. For her nap this morning I swaddled her with one arm out, but after 30 minutes of hysterics I gave up and swaddled her properly. Tonight she is in a different swaddle, one that gives her a little freedom in her arms. See how long she lasts

Nazly - That's how i've been doing it but one side clicks in but the other doesn't. Never mind, a bit of tape seems to do the trick. There definitely wasn't meant to be a hole in the bottom of the storage box lol.

The NHS advises vitamin drops (vits A,B,C & D I think) for all breastfed babies from 6 months old and for all formula fed babies once they have less than 500ml formula a day. I think cracking nails can be caused by Vitamin D deficiency. Lots of people in this country are Vit D deficient because we get no sun!

Good luck for tonight Team.

Nazly - My DC2 simply refused any milk of any kind within a week of him starting to be weaned. He was EBF and 6 months. He refused the breast, refused expressed, refused formula, even refused cows milk as a drink once 12 months old. Even now (aged 9) he doesn't like milky drinks so it must have just have been his personal tastes coming out at 6 months.

On our HV advise, he had a diet very heavy in dairy. I used to give him a full sized yoghurt after all three meals every day. Always had a milk & cereal breakfast, lots of cheese etc, that kind of thing.

Nazly, I had a visit when Jessica was about 5 months old from the nursery nurse who talked to me about weaning and she gave me the vitamins and told me the nhs advice:

"Healthy Start children’s vitamin drops contain:
Vitamin A: for growth, vision in dim light and healthy skin
Vitamin C: helps maintain healthy tissue in the body
Vitamin D: for strong bones and teeth.
Healthy Start vitamins are for children from six months old or who are having less than 500ml (one pint) of infant formula a day. Babies under six months old who are fully breastfed might benefit from them earlier – ask your midwife or health visitor for advice."

You can get the drops from children's centres for cheap or supermarkets. Fate is most probably right that your lo just doesn't like milk especially now he's been introduced to the world of solid food.

You've probably come across this before but just thought I'd share it. Sob! Makes night feeds feel nicer hehe.

Thanks Top, lilone, interesting. Do gp s even know much about babies? ds is already on multivitamin and has been for the past few months based on his prematurity and being ebf. Then the other week I asked a gp if I should continue and she suggested to stop at six months! wth!!! (But corrected age) he was 6 months corrected yesterday.... We are just running out so I go get some. Which ones do you use?

Fate, thanks that's really good to know... It maybe he just dislikes it then. Could I stop worrying about him not taking a bottle maybe then? when you say full size which ones do you mean?

Unfortunately he is still interested in his night bf , and a bit during the day, if we can manage it... And I can not dream of dropping night feeds now

Team why do you want to stop if she likes it?

Nazly, you're not supposed to swaddle once they can roll. I think it is because their arms aren't free to push back over or to raise their head.

Thanks Fate!

We ended up going off plan due to a problem with our washing machine meaning the swaddling blanket was soaking wet at bedtime. Instead we had to use the Hana wrap, which has previously been unsuccessful as she can move her arms quite a lot. She's able to knock her dummy out, but she can't actually claw at her face and eyes. We didn't really have much choice, so though maybe using this wrap instead of full on swaddling could be part of our strategy! Managed to get her off to sleep ok and she's been in the wrap all night! She has woken more often than usual and needed feeds to calm her where normally just putting the dummy in and stroking her hair for a few seconds works. Normally she gets through two 5 oz bottles over four feeds, but she's had most of a third one tonight. I'm not sure she's actually woken more than usual, just needed more help and feeding to get back off.

I think it has been a partial success, and it was actually easier than having to re swaddle her every couple of hours

Now I think our strategy will be to use the Hana wrap at night, and for naps stick to the traditional swaddling, trying with left arm out until she gets used to that, then add in right arm out. Once she's used to napping without swaddling we will stop using the wrap at night.

I think I going to put a limit of 20 minutes of crying on the swaddling with one arm out attempts though. It may take longer to achieve what we want, but I know that she gets herself into such a state it will be counter productive.

Let's see how today goes...

Oh, someone had asked what I thought about the web chat on sleep issues. Honestly, it didn't tell me anything that five minutes on Google hadn't already told me.

Dreading today. DD is meeting her paternal grandfather and his evil wife. I have bought a bottle of wine for tonight in preparation!

Topmammy- you can go to Notthern Ireland on a driving licence as its classed as a domestic flight but for Republic of Ireland you will need your passports. If you're going to NI you don't need anything for your LO (we went atheist as with DD @ 3 months old and flew Squeezyjet)

First time in ages dd had a rubbish night. Thinks Becuse she has a very bunged up little nose. Sounds better this morning but as DH can sleep through anything it was all on me and I'm going to doing my first 10k obstacle course

Its all very confusing Zana... I keep getting different answers, I think I'll renew my passport to be on the safe side

Had a not so great night last night. She went down fine by 7.30 pm but woke up at 10pm just as I was planning on going up to bed and she was fed then woke up good and proper and was all hyper! Not so much crying just wiggly and smiley and looking about everywhere like she'd had a load of sugar lol. It freaked me out a bit! Finally got her back in her cot at 1 am then she ended up in my bed at 5 am and still got up at 6 am! Why don't babies lie in to catch up on their sleep?!

At Christmas not atheist!!
I've flown to belfast several times on my licence (DH is from there originally and MIL is still there) but if at any stage you're going to "the south " it would be a good idea to have passport. Hope that lessons someone the confusion.

Lessens some of* sorry

Team - it was me that asked about what you thought of the sleep expert. I read through it and wasn't particularly impressed. I know it's difficult based on just a few sentences and without knowing the child's whole history but still.

Top - I think it depends on who you fly with to Southern Ireland. Ryanair insist on passports regardless but we flew with Aer Lingus in November to see DH parents, and they just required a form of photo ID for adults, and A didn't need anything, but they did recommend taking his birth certificate in case we were asked for it.

Top - made me cry!

Top, that piece of writing is beautiful! Cherish the moment.

Nazl, when I said full sized yoghurt I meant adult sized (like ski yoghurt sized) rather than child sized (like petit filous)

Why don't babies lie in to catch up on their sleep?! - You could change the word babies to children, in our house anyway. I hear that somewhere around teenage years a miraculous thing happens and children start staying in bed in the morning.

Not happening here yet, all of my children are up at 7am at the latest every day. Doesn't matter how late the go to bed, they still get up at the same time (so they never have late nights, since it just leads to tired children).

Ten plus years of never having a lie in together with DH. I long for the day when DH & I get up and have an hour alone before any of the children surface. Just once needing to wake them rather than the other way around. I'm sure it will come one day...

It is a pretty emotional poem isn't it!

Thanks for the Ireland info. We're are going to Killarney. I'm not sure who were flying with I will have to check.

Wow Fate, no lie ins with your DH for 10 years and still going. That's intense. And makes me appreciate how long I've got to go..... might have to start planning some Grandmas house sleepovers

We're so used to it that even when the children have sleepovers with grandparents, we still don't stay in bed. 8.30am would be a huge lie-in for us.

In the early days we used to take it in turns who got up with the children at the weekend and who got to stay in bed. We don't even bother doing that anymore, we just both get up and our Saturdays and Sundays (and Mon-Fri) start at 7am, week in week out. I guess our body clocks have just adjusted and altered.

They do say you need less sleep as you get older...or more like you are unable to sleep as much as you get older ha! My DH works shifts so when he us actually here in a morning I don't get a lie in as he'll either be asleep after a night shift or he'll need to catch up with his sleep after his god awful shift pattern. One day we hope he can just work Mon to Fri. It'd be more family friendly and I wouldn't feel like a single parent half the time!

I've hit a brick wall today with tiredness. I feel guilty that J is laid on her play gym watching baby tv and not moving while I'm laid on the sofa wondering where I'll get the energy for tea time and bedtime from....

I was so tired this morning I very nearly sprayed my perfume under my arms instead of my deodorant lol. Has anyone else done funny things down to sleep deprivation?

I've been tired this week too. Not anywhere near as bad as some one here though.

I have had many sofa days this week, doing little more than the bare essentials all week. The washing is done and the family are fed, that is about it though. I spent the rest of my day on the sofa playing hayday on my phone resting.

Why would you feel bad about baby lying in the gym? My DD spends probably 80% of her awake happy time under the play gym or generally rolling around on the carpet chasing after toys I dot around just out of her reach. I sit on the sofa playing hayday talking to her.

Don't feel bad, floor play is really important for babies.

Why don't you nap when baby does? With my first two I got so used to having and afternoon nap with baby that it became ingrained in my body clock and I had to wean myself out of it.

top - Doing strange things due to sleep deprivation: Went to check on dinner while it was cooking last night. Looked in the washing machine, not the oven lol.

I felt bad Fate because she wasn't moving at all,; she was just staring at baby tv. She does play with the toys in the gym though but the tv is a sure way to keep her calm for a while. I did plan to nap today when she did but all attempts to put her in her cot failed and she would only nap on me. It's a shame as I thought I was getting somewhere with the cot.

I was reading this about high needs babies and it pretty much describes J a lot of the time :
www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/fussy-baby/high-need-baby/12-features-high-need-baby

It's good how it is written in a positive way though rather than focusing on how difficult things can be