September 2014 - 6 months already?!

[holls2000]

new thread!

Might night sleeping through was indeed a fluke. 4am wake up last night. I am aware though that this is nowhere near as bad as many here.

4am did her "Cooey I'm awake" happy/awake time where she is just smiling at me, talking and laughing. Ignored for an hour and gave in. Tried to feed her a room temp bottle (my plan for making nightime milk less appealing) and she spit most of it out, soaking her sleeping bag. Had about 1oz. Lay her next to me while we waited for the bottle warmer to warm the bottle for a proper feed and so some sleep. Of course then she fell asleep. Had to move her in order to switch the bottle warmer off, so put her back in cot. She's so close to sleeping though, it's like she's teasing me.

My night time sleeping through, not might.

You are so close Fate, I'm jealous!

I think DS will get there it's just going to be a slow slow process. He was doing half 11 and half 3 wake ups before getting up at 7. The last couple of nights has been half 12, so a little longer. Then I skipped the half 3 feed by persuading him with a dummy and he went to 5! At 7 I fed him in my bed and he fell asleep, so I did to, and we woke at....9am!

I'm hoping each night he will sleep just a little longer and then we will eventually get to all night. Pleeeeeease?!

I think he's pooing again...it's like having a newborn all over with all these poos! Except I am changing him for teeny rabbit poos rather than full on explosive nappies every hour. Can't he just save it up and do it all at once?!

I too am having tons of poos since starting weaning. Stinky ones too. My milky days are gone. Boo hoo!

Does anyone else find themselves opening their own mouth wide when spoon feeding?

Maybe it's just me. My cheeky monkey 9 year old son that pointed this out to me yesterday. "Mum, why are you opening your mouth like that?" I had no idea I was doing it.

Fate - I am always opening my mouth spoon feeding. DP caught it on camera!

I meant to ask Nazly you said you put a plastic mat under the Highchair. Where did you get it from?

oh thank goodness re poo. I reckon on 3 or 4 a day whereas it was one a day when just milk.

b went for morning nap in cot. had 40 mins and woke up shrieking. I can see his tooth under gum. had a massive lunch and a bit of a play then started rubbing eyes and crying again. calpol and anbesol and he is now in cot going to sleep. this is the first time he has been terrible with teeth and I am now wondering if our recent crap nights have been a build up to this.

Well I officially started weaning yesterday and although it's only day 2, it's going great. So far, i've only done baby rice and mashed banana, but J seemed to love it. He seemed to know what to do with it - swilling it round his mouth, grinding his jaws and swallowing. I'm going to make a load of purees up today and freeze them. He is also still sucking on apple or cucumber too. I'm surprised how he's taken to it - hope it carries on like this.

Told the HV about the weaning today at J's weigh in, and got mildly told off for not waiting until 26 weeks (he's 25 !!). I don't care though, he's obviously ready - and back in the day when the twins were babies, the weaning guidelines were 4 months - and they've turned out fine. The HV who came to my house in the early days was very much of the mindset "wean when your baby is ready, 6 months is a guideline" - the one at the centre has different ideas. I find advice between different HV's very contradictory anyway, I would probably be in bits if I hadn't had kids before and didn't trust my own instincts.

J is quite active, and is now rolling both ways and bouncing in the door bouncer. He loves rocking his bouncy chair too, shame he will grow out of it soon . He's very content and smiley at the moment, and he actually has a long nap during the morning, which he never used to. However, he still wakes up several times a night...but we will get there.....

And here's a couple of pics of the little man - first meal, and enjoying a sunny walk.

ooops I started at 6 months rather than 26 weeks.....

Poos have decreased here! Sleep still terrible here, hoping an increase in reflux meds will help. I left him on the rug while quickly hung out the washing, heard him crying so ran in and he'd rolled at least 3 full turns into the laminate floor, despite having tentatively rolled once before. Honestly, why do they wait until they're left for a minute!

I have the angelcare video monitor, no complaints, works as it should the one time I actually tried him in his cot

Review appointment at paediatrician today, she agrees his eczema was probably a reaction to dairy free formula so need neocate if I want formula. And the oilatum bath emolient I was given from 2 gps contains soya, which of course he's allergic too! So hopefully that's why it's been spreading. Though she also told me to try a specific bread as it doesn't have soya flour, I check the ingredients and it does actually contain soya. It's the little things which make me question their knowledge!

holls Haha..i know...Ridiculous, isn't it !

acorn J first rolled back to front when I was out the room too. I left him on his playmat, went and put the kettle on and when I returned and he was on his front. They definitely seem to know to do these things when we aren't there to see them !
Hope you manage to get the eczema sorted out - lucky you checked the bread ingredients !

DD is on neocate and getting on really well with it.

Weaning is having mixed reactions here. She was really loving chewing on cucumber earlier and then she suddenly got really upset. She also seems to have been straining to poo but without success a few times today. Also having more poos since weaning!

Nights are not amazing, but not awful. She had four bottles through last night!!!

Lactulose was helping DD with her poos so I stopped it once she had had a week of normal ones. They are back to small and firmer now (making her bottom sore), but as we are weaning it could also be down to that. I'm going to put prune puree on the menu next week though I think...

The exactly 6 months for weaning HV advice annoys me because they just robotically regurgitate what they have been told to advise. If you read any source that is based on research it says 4-6 months.

Jay - your little man is adorable, I love his little cap!

Acorn - That is bad about your various doctor mistakes. I very much doubt a lot of them too. Like the Oilatum thing - it's like just going through the motions of this is what we prescribe for babies with this issue without actually considering the individual baby.

Thanks all for your advices for holiday; I'll get on with it.

Lil We are going there tomorrow.

Hon I didn't buy them here as I thought they were expensive for what they are, got my mum to send me a few packs; but you can find loads on Amazon - called plastic mat for weaning or messy play

Sleeping not going very well here either...I find myself giving in second part of the night and bring him to our bed; but then he has had a cold on and off since going to nursery.

Nursery, OMG- the biggest nightmare ever... And it never ends... It hasn't improved much and I just don't know what to do... Today he cried so hard he didn't even want a drink of water and he didn't have his lunch either so completely on hunger strike and full on crying and shouting the WHOLE time he was there

For those of you who will send your LOs to Nursery at some point, don't let my complaints worry you, there are to little babies who started nursery at the same time as ds (one 6m and one 9m) and they are both absolutely fine. As if it is just another day, they play and eat and do every thing normally.

Thanks for asking team

oh nazly the nursery thing sounds - are YOU ok?? I have no experience so all I can say is you have obviously given your ds such a great time that he doesn't want it to stop. I hope he settles soon.

Aw Nazly that sounds so hard. Are the nursery staff supportive? They must have taken children who've had similar experiences before.

Holls Our nights have been rubbish for a couple of months but now dd's getting on for 7 months things seem to be improving. I just think it's so hard for them in the first year with so many changes in such a short space of time. If it's not weaning and digestion it's teeth or a cold. Poor babies!

Jay We saw the specialists about dd's hemangioma and they didn't really add anything we don't know. They were very clear that they grow most rapidly in the first 6 months and then a bit more until 1, but start to shrink after that. Unfortunately the ones under dd's skin (as opposed to the strawberry mark type ones that are more easily visible) have grown quite large, so looks like she's going to have to go onto some pretty strong meds for a year. We've got another appointment soon to get it sorted. While I'm happy that she's getting the best treatment, I'm sad that she'll be on such strong meds through such a key period for development.

I agree apples, I think alot of it is him practising all the things he is learning to do. 2am is optimum time for rolling and singing practice clearly.

DD appears to like sleeping on her front! Now she can roll about I guess I can't do anything about it?!

Nazly, this may sound crazy and please feel free to ignore, but... Is there anyone else who could take your DS and drop him off at nursery? The reason I'm asking is that I've really noticed recently that DD feeds off of my emotions and how I'm feeling really influences how she is. Understandably your DS being so upset at nursery is very stressful and upsetting for you, but I wonder if it is becoming a vicious circle? He gets upset, so you (understandably) get worried and upset, he picks up on that and therefore goes into nursery worried himself. Perhaps you could try someone else dropping him off? This could break the cycle? I really hope you don't think I'm out of order suggesting this, but I've seen for myself how much my anxiety influences DDs mood and behaviour, and it just struck me that you could be stuck in this vicious circle?

Holiday tomorrow

lilone Thanks, i love the cap too. DP bought it for J before he was born, but it's getting a bit small for him now. Definitely something i will keep though.

nazly Sorry to hear of your Nursery experiences - sounds stressful for you both. Hopefully in time it will get better...like Team said - could someone else drop him off ?

apples Thanks for the hemangioma update. What medication will your LO have ? We have been so lucky; J's hasn't grown since the end of January so looks like it's staying small. I've actually come to terms with it now; just after Christmas, i became obsessed and it was all i saw when i looked at him. Now, i am so used to it, i think i will miss it when it goes. Please still keep me updated on your LO's progress. How are you feeling about it ?

And one last thing...is anyone braving the Next sale tomorrow ? I've committed myself to take my 12 year old son (he loves it and will only wear jeans and shorts from Next) - plus, can't deny I will probably end up getting loads of bits for J. My daughter has the right idea, she's a Primark and H&M fan so will be tucked up in bed whilst DS1 and I are freezing in the queue at 6am .

I was tempted by the sale. I love Next baby stuff. I just know I won't drag myself out of bed in time though!

Yippeeeee 7pm-5am!!!!! then I gave him his comforter and he went back to sleep. v snotty boy today - any hints as to anything I can do?

holls Wow, impressive ! I'm happy that J went 12.30 am till 6.30 am last night - you must be ecstatic.

honey Not looking forward to the early start, but thanks god it's not a 5 or 6 a.m start this time ! I know it's a completely sad getting up so early for a sale, but I can't resist Next for baby stuff.

Holls, that's great in the sleeping.
For the snottiness I found Vicks really helped on the chest but be careful if he has eczema etc ( I can't remember). Also Olbas Oil for children on a tissue and normal saline ( sodium chloride 0.9%) nose drops. You could buy the calpol and snuffle babe branded ones or ask at the pharmacy counter if they have any generic ones ( they're exactly the same and half the cost )

I just bought one of those calpol vaporisers that you plug in and it smells amazing! I think if I have a cold I'll plug it in my room. Has seemed to have helped my snuffly baby the last couple of nights. The pads are quite expensive though so I don't think I could use it very regularly.