September 2014 - Rocking and Rolling

[FATEdestiny]

Our babies are rocking and rolling, crawling and climbing into the second half of their first year.

Let the fun continue...

Oh Tops I am so glad it is not only me. Kitkat that idea could be brilliant for some babies but ds is just on the go and he is very forceful too. Plus he hates being held anywhere or in any position he doesn't like; he screams blue murder! So I am sure he will be off with the changing matt attached to him!

Fate really? Do your kids stand up calmly for a change of clothes? I definitely prefer the change of cloth before baby is mobile; he just never stays anywhere calm; just want to go go go; he even prefers get going to mummy's cuddles sometimes now.

Tops yes to old mc donald buying some time... According to my various version (to keep his attention) the farm now has crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, butterflies, bees, frogs, etc... On top of usual farm animals !

Ds loves his toothbrush so much every single night he cries because he has to stop brushing at some point and give his brush back to mummy!!

She would be fine if I just let her brush her own teeth (basically just chewing the toothbrush at this age) which I let her do after I've brushed but don't feel just letting her do it is enough really. But at the same time I suppose proper teeth brushing is a bit far off yet!

lil our children's centre had a baby dental care session on with a dentist and she said that just wiping a teeny bit of paste on the teeth that they have is good enough, so giving them the brush is even better

Fate really? Do your kids stand up calmly for a change of clothes?

Well, I wouldn't say calmly. But it's not a massive challenge to get baby dressed (usually!). I just do it fast and move DD into sitting/standing positions to make getting dressed easier.

The clothes worn make a difference. My MIL bought DD a really pretty set of short dungarees. Very cute, but no under-leg poppers so the whole thing has to come off for a nappy change. Faff, faff, faff! At this age I need clothes without too many buttons that can preferably just be pulled on and off without any undoing of anything. Often tights are abandoned if DD isn't in the mood to sit still when having them out on.

Ella mentioned earlier about nappy changes on your knee. This is only something I do when out and about, if no change mat is available. Another great time saver when nappy changing out and about is mastering the nappy change without removing trousers and shoes - so just pulling trousers down - not off - for the nappy change.

When I am at home, especially so late afternoons and early evenings, I often leave DD without bottoms on. Sometimes without a nappy on either. Makes exploring easier for her, and makes that particular nappy change quicker and easier.

nappy change on the knee? how? i am in a nappy nightmare.

b teething and has v red bottom, is that a thing?

I have changed E on my knee, but he often goes rigid and shoots off the side, fun!!

He is a pest on the floor twisting and turning to get away lol! It's not in my nature to take trousers and shoes off (nursery nurse) but if its warm he is usually just in a nappy and top at home!

Genuinely curious question to knee changers: How do you avoid getting poo on yourselves? I'm sure I'd be covered if I changed Jessica's nappy on my knees. Bleugh.

Holls yes apparently this is a thing. Something to do with teething leads to more biting / chewing which in turn leads to more saliva being produced, which changes the PH of the tummy acid and makes poo more 'irritant' so I've been told. It happens to Jessica too. xx

I wouldn't change a poo on my lap, we would get it every where!

I couldn't change a nappy on my lap. It would be armageddon.

First day of the summer hols done. Phew, I'm out of practice!

Eldest DD had her waist length hair dip dyed bright red. It looks awesome! I only allowed her to have it done on the basis that she's going to have the dyed bit chopped off in 6 weeks time, ready for going back to school.

I don't change pooey nappies on my knee. In fact I don't change many that way but could if there wasn't an alternate.

Hands down I'm impressed! Changing nappies on your knee .... Wow, I honestly wish there was a video tutorial ... I can't even picture how that would work with squirming baby.

Hi all.

Snotty, sneezing, grumpy baby here since Monday. Not sure if it's teething or a cold, but I do wish it would go away now. She's not really eating that well and we've had some bad nights with her. In case it's a cold I decided not to take her swimming yesterday and I had a moment where I suddenly realised that no swimming meant nothing to do all day, and it did hit me that I'm just reaching that point of starting to find maternity leave a bit lonely and boring. Not that I'm on leave for much longer. Back to work in Sept!

A few questions for you lovely ladies if you don't mind:

1. Do any of you have any tips for teaching Jessica how to eat finger foods herself? She STILL has yet to feed herself anything or use her beaker. Is this okay? She's about 10 and a half months now. Most other babies her age seem to be able to manage to feed themselves finger foods. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

2. Jessica has been able to stand independently for about 3 weeks now. Any ideas on when this is likely to progress to walking? How can I encourage her to take first steps?

3. As we're all starting to approach our little one's first birthdays (how did that happen?!?) I was just wondering what you all had planned? Originally I was just going to have me and DH take her out for the day somewhere she'd enjoy as I don't really get the point of parties when they're too young to appreciate them, but then I thought grandparents etc might be a bit sad if they don't get to see her on the day well, MY parents might; DH's parents never make the effort to come and see her anyway, unless we go to them so I thought about just doing a small gathering at our house with just tea and cake etc for a couple of hours for our close family only (rather than a party with invites, party bags, etc) but now I'm getting invites from other mums I've met at baby clubs etc inviting us to 1st birthday parties and I'm wondering if I'm being a bit mean? Are you all doing parties? We're a bit limited by the fact we can't afford to hire a hall or anything (pretty skint now by the end of my maternity leave) and we only have a 2 bed semi so there is a limit to how many people we could fit in here. Sorry probably rambling a bit!

xx

I have no answers to 1 and 2 KitKat. A has fed himself from the first day I gave him food, and much prefers to do this! And no independent standing yet, although he is cruising along furniture.

For his birthday though, me and DH are taking him out for the day on his actual birthday, although not sure where yet. On the Sat closest to his birthday we are having a small gathering at ours for grandparents and close family friends. There will be about 10-15 people, but only 4 kids (friends children) and no party bags or anything. Will be very much like your idea of tea and cake and possibly a few sandwiches if my DM will make them. I agree on there being no real need for a big party, not like they will remember it! But I do want a photo of him 'blowing' the candle out on his birthday cake

Ella so how does the knee-based nappy change work? Is baby on their back or front? I am so confused but it sounds amazing!

KitKat we're just doing tea and cake for a couple of hours with close family and a few old friends for dd's birthday. We were going to do nothing but then I realised we probably won't have a party for her now until she goes to school, so it seemed like a nice idea. The family all seem quite excited about it. We're also holding it at the grandparents' as we don't really have space here. I wondered about inviting other mums and babies from groups but decided it was WAY too much hassle! Also I don't think it's mean or actually unusual for a first birthday to mainly involve family.

KitKat - Does she not put anything in her mouth? Like toys and things. Assuming she does, I'd try giving her some thing you know she'll love (like a chocolate biscuit) just to play with and see what happens.

Once standing unaided, I'd do things like stand just out of reach when she wants to come to me, or stand to one side of her to encourage twisting when balanced.

We are doing basically the same as others first birthday wise - DP, DD and I will do something on the day and then will have the grandparents, aunts and uncles round for a little tea party on the Saturday.

Am currently sitting by my front door next to the garage where DD is asleep in her pram, we've been back half an hour, but she woke up at 6 and would not nap so i'm not waking her up now!

I've heard of knee changing before from the older generations but have never attempted it or seen it done. It does sound handy.

We are having a party for DS's first birthday, but it's an adult party really rather than a kids party with party bags etc. We didn't have a christening and DH's family love a good do so we thought we'd do one. We have said though that there won't be another until he is in school most likely. We have just paid the local pub to do some food and put on the invites 'come and have a drink any time between x and x'. It will be very relaxed I'm sure but I am looking forward to it. We would have done it at home but I'm not sure our two up two down terraced house would cope!

Kitkat DS is quite a good eater so not sure I can help too much. Have you tried sitting her in a highchair while you cook and just putting some picky bits in front of her to play with? I find this is the time DS will feed himself the most, when I'm not looking. When I sit with him he often looks at me like 'well go on then, you do it'. He can be quite lazy. He's not even crawling so I can't help with the walking!

There's a couple of things playing on my mind that are making me feel a bit blue so I'm hoping here is the right place to share, I hope you don't mind and bear with me if it comes out all rambly!

Milk - I have been breastfeeding quite happily (with the exception of bed time where he has had a bottle since 4 months) until recently. I had been thinking I would carry on feeding beyond 12 months to be honest because it was working for us. We went away for the weekend and what with being so busy we kind of dropped day time feeds quite unintentionally. From about 8 months I had been having to actively offer milk to DS because he was too interested in the world to bother asking and it was affecting my supply. I spoke to a LLL Leader and she said it was a common problem at that age and to just make time to nurse and all would be well. But now I've dropped those feeds and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I believe the official line is formula or breastmilk until 12 months? I had also been trying to introduce cows milk as a drink because DS will start nursery just as he turns one and I thought this might be easier (even though my boss and the nursery have agreed I can come into breastfeed twice a day, further conflicting my feelings) but he just doesn't like it. So it's been a week since we got back and I just haven't given any kind of milk during the day. But yesterday MIL made a passing comment about how he loves a bottle after his nap when she has him for the day. So yesterday and today I gave him one and sure enough he drank the lot. Am I making it difficult for myself introducing bottles now? Should I bother? I still bf first thing so could probably get my supply back. Should I? I don't know. I think I'm just having a massive wobble over it all because I didn't choose it to happen this way, I didn't plan it. It just sort of happened. I'm not sure what I expect anyone to say, I think I'm just confused!

The other thing is, I'm bored!! I do go back to work in September so it's not the end of the world but a lot of our classes/groups have stopped for the summer. What do you all do with your babies at home? I think maybe I'm just bored of his toys and we need to get some new ones. But I do worry that he's not getting enough stimulation and there is only so many times we can go to the swings in one day. Any ideas would be very appreciated.

Oh god that was the longest post in the world. Sorry.

Lilly - I wouldn't say you would be making it difficult to introduce bottles now. I'm assuming this is formula rather than expressed milk? Formula is as easy to give to the nursery as cows milk and if that's what he likes and he doesn't at the moment like cows milk you are going to have to wean him off one or the other (formula or breast milk) gradually anyway, then it wouldn't be such a big deal to do that in a hurry. If that will make things easier for you, then it will be better for him too.

During the day I chase DD around and tell her off for causing various trouble. Our flat is tiny so there just isn't enough space to hide everything from her! It's surprisingly hard to find gaps in meals/bottles/nap schedule to do things without being in a massive rush though.

Boredom, I get...I now spend my day saying no. We have been at my in laws this week and so have done stuff which has been great. I'm sure b is bored of me. Have invested in some new toys.
Advice please, he has been in 4+ nappies for a few months but this week we have had a LOT of leakages...runner poo which I am putting down to teething, however, the leaky nappy shouldn't happen. Would you go up a size?

LilyBugg in all honesty from what you are saying if it was me I'd probably go over to bottles now. Since he already knows how to take them and is taking them quite happily I'd say it would be fine for a few months until he is able to manage beakers. Plus it sounds like it would be easier when you go back to work. I can appreciate the mixed feelings though. I felt a mixture of relief and sadness when I stopped.

Where I am most of the baby groups also stop for the summer too. This means that I have a lot of time to fill, and yes boredom is getting to be an issue. And loneliness. DH often isn't home from work until nearly 7pm and I have no nearby friends or family so it can be quite hard. I think Jessica gets bored too.

Glad to know we're not alone with not doing a 'proper' party. Some of the mum's where I live are really going to town though. For one we have had proper professionally printed invites and everything. Seems a bit mad to me!

Oh and thanks Fate / Lilybugg for the advice / tips. I tried giving Jessica a chocolate biscuit yesterday to play with and the results were: play with it, smear chocolate that had melted onto hands onto everything, and smash biscuit against objects until it crumbles into carpet. None went in her mouth. Sigh. I guess it's a question of persistence. I'll just keep trying!

Holls I'm not sure what to advise. We have the same issue here too, especially at nights. Jessica is also in 4/4+ and she's still only 17lb so the fact that she's still able to create leaks is impressive!

Thanks for replies ladies. Yes sorry I should have said when I say 'bottle' I mean formula. I think maybe when we are at home and it's easy to give one then I will give him a bottle. I might start diluting it with cows milk and see if I can transition him on to it that way. You say about weaning him off lil but in those few days where I didn't offer any day time milk he was quite happy. He likes the bottle if I offer it but he doesn't ever ask for it IYSWIM. But I suppose my worry is that he should still be having milk even if he isn't asking for it. How much formula are all the other babies drinking please?

DS is in 4+ nappies and he is a big boy, I think about 23lb but it's been a while since I had him weighed. I would just buy a pack of 5's and see holls. I bought some because of a few overnight leaks but when I tried them they were far, far too big. They were coming half way up his torso lol. But I figure he will need them eventually so it's no loss, I've just put the pack away for future use.

kitkat yes I'm feeling a little lonely to. DH also works long hours and it can be hard. I tried to say something to him about it but he just took the piss. His usual response to everything to be honest. It can be a little grating! But I think I'm just a bit on edge because I'm fed up.

Hmm not sure I'm the best person to answer your question Lilybugg as Jessica loves her milk. In fact I'm convinced that if it was her choice alone she'd never bother eating food and just have her milk. She generally has about 25oz (or more) in a 24 hour period. This usually is 7oz in morning, 7oz in afternoon, about 9oz pre-bed and a feed at night at about 3-4am which we dilute with water (we're trying, hopelessly, to make the night milk less appealing).