Jan 2015- what will they be doing next? Sitting, eating, crawling....

[Dec1314mummy]

Our babies are nearly half a year! Where on earth has the time gone?

Thanks for the Matalan recommendation
She's quite happy with her legs out at the moment... But always good to have the gro bag as the weather changes.

Dd has started rolling onto her front this weekend and gets stuck on her left arm! (So funny!)
Just created a prison with loads of pillows and cushions and trapped her in it while I had a quick bath.

Dd tends to wake me up by repeatedly rattling along the bars of the cot...morning mummy!
I feel as though she's staying awake longer and dropping a nap in the early evening but to be honest everyday is still so variable!
Just saw the weather forecast for the week... Eek... Think we might be staying indoors!

Dd3 doesn't roll at all at night, just literally every time I put her on the floor, she managed to do a 180 degree turn this morning aswell but I can't work out how

All my lo's haven't really been crawlers either, they've all done it a little but at around 8 months are much more chuffed standing and holding the furniture. Dd2 could stand un-aided for a while at 9 months, I'll just try and find the pic.

She's been conked out since midday, I think she's going to be a blondie

Q doesn't really nap much either at the minute, 3 or 4 half hour naps usually. sometimes he'll have longer if we're out but he usually gets woken by DS3 at home. He rarely cries when he wakes though, I usually hear him sucking his hands. Not sure if he's teething but he's so dribbly, it's a shame as he's permanently wearing a bib so I don't see his lovely clothes!
We use Nani teething gel on the boys when they've been really bad with teeth, it's a Spanish brand so we buy it when we go away but it's amazing, far far better than anything you can buy here. If you have any family or friends going to Spain then ask them to buy you a tube lol. If they're not too bad we use Ashton and Parsons teething powders and I have a Amber teething necklace for him too. Not sure if that works but Ds3 didn't have any issues with teething at all so worth a try again this time!
He isn't rolling really, he can do front to back but doesn't, I quite like him being non mobile as I know he'll stay still if I leave the room lol.
My boys have got later each time with walking at 12, 14 then 16 months. Will be interesting to see if he follows the trend and walks at 18 months!

Dd is asleep on her front holding on to the bars after fighting going to sleep. Dd is finally sleeping more in the day, about 2-3 hours over the course of the day instead of the 30-45 mins over the day! She seems so much happier too! I know it won't last but I will enjoy it while it does

Tooth coming through and so are the dirty nappies!

Last night she mastered getting her arm out from under her and now is on a roll! Can't sit up but rolling everywhere!!
Soooo hot here already ... Melting..,

Well done baby Pesto!
Here's my munchkin after deciding that it's much more fun to throw her toys out of her ring rather than play with them. She looks rather pleased with herself.

Beautiful babies

Dd only woke once last night for a feed (and she was really thirsty!) and then up for the day at 6am. I however woke up numerous times because I was so worried about why she hadn't woken up more! When I woke at 6 she had been fast asleep on her front which is the first time she's done that without crying to be rolled back over.

Wow it's a hot one today!

Aww bless chi. It's not been fun in this heat with a chunky baby in a sling, and a 6 year old in the pram, I'm shattered.

Aww look at her with her toys!! Cutie!

That is a super cute pic chi.
Well I have to say, I hate it when it's cold, but it doesn't cause half as many problems with the children as when it's like it is today. Both babies have been too hot to sleep. Dd has been sick quite a bit today but I know she is just too hot. Both babies are just in nappies tonight so we shall see how it goes! Here's hoping they sleep, but something tells me otherwise. Poo things!
Oops, meant to post this earlier. They won't sleep

What crazy weather it is! 36 down here in London. Ds has been whining and whinging most of the day. Not sure if its the heat hes not coping with or what. He wants to be entertained and held all the time and doesn't like it when I walk away now. Was hoping for a bit longer before separation anxiety set in. Its not full on separation anxiety but its got the makings of it!

Hes got his 2 bottom teeth now which cut without too much hassle. They just seemed to appear one day. The run up a couple of weeks before was pretty hard with lots of dribbling and crying then it settled down for a while and then they just popped out. Good tips on the Spanish teething gel. We're going to Majorca in sept so will have to look out for it.

His sleep is not wonderful but not as bad as it was I suppose. He wakes without fail at midnight every night. He never sleeps longer than 5 hour stretches, which im sure dd was doing good stints by this age. We tried wake to sleep to try to stop this habitual waking and the first night dh roused him gently at 11pm and he went through til 3.30 which was a very rare thing but last night he was up at 00.04 again! On reading further it takes 3 nights of gently rousing before it stops.

Weaning wise ive probably totally jumped the gun and am not 100% sure im doing the right thing but hes on 3 meals a day as of today. Im very impatient by nature and although i'd promised myself to take it easy and slowly I caved and fed him 3 times today. He was ok with it. Will have to see how he gets on I suppose.

I tried a bit of blw and I think im too stressy for it. Im a control freak and I cant sit by and watch. I have to be actively feeding otherwise I cant cope! I put some steamed carrot sticks in front of him and he had a choking fit which sent me right over the edge and I panicked and thought I cant do this. That's not the first time that's happened. He choked on some banana and its too much for my blood pressure so think its going to have to be purees until he can tolerate lumpy foods.

His reflux has gone to a new level. Not just milk sick now its food sick. His sick is orange and lumpy and pretty horrid, especially in this heat! And always a delight when im with friends out of the house and he throws up all over my trousers or on their furniture!

Ive been off the thread a while as we were away last week so got a lot to catch up on. Hope you're not all melting and get some sleep tonight. Fans to the ready!

It's been so hot today! I love it when I'm on holiday but not stuck at home without air conditioning! Our room is 30 degrees so not fun! Luckily he slept all night last night so hoping for the same today but wouldn't settle until about 10.30. He's fed quite a bit today which is understandable!

Q had his first try of food today, just a bit of banana and rusk but he loved it, he shoved it in no problem lol. Need to get some proper bibs for him though as I forgot how messy it is lol.

I have lots of sympathy for everyone suffering with the heat. It's relatively mild up here in Scotland, but so humid! It's only 21 degrees in our room tonight, though, which is positively chilly compared to all you guys.
Sleep isn't amazing here but it's manageable. She goes down around 9pm, quick dream feed around 11 (when I go to sleep), then up at around 3 or 4 for another feed lasting around 20-30min. Then she'll sleep in til 8.30, which is quite nice. It feels like she'll never 'sleep through', which is why I don't have the confidence to put her in her own room just yet. I like the ease of having her in her crib next to the bed, but maybe I'm waking her up, or not giving her a chance to self settle. She did settle herself this morning, as DH said she was awake when he left for work, but she didn't wake me up and was asleep when I woke 2 hours later.
Anyway, enough moaning. Here is a pic of her showing off her eating skills by covering her face in bits of rice cake.

I gave dd some banana today too... First day... I gave her some chopped banana on her tray, she mashed it with her hands and that was it! I then tried spoon feeding some, first sign of gagging and I was panicking like mad!!
Only day 1... I need to get better at this!
Tmrw I shall try some banana again or some mango... Was gna wait till next week and do some veg shopping at the weekend!
30degrees here and I've had a Velcro baby all day too! Screams and cries if I'm out of view for more than 5mins then wants picking up...
Wasn't sure about separation anxiety ... I know she's teething... We have one tooth and the other had been cutting through the past 2 days... I swear she bites me when feeding now!

10.54pm and she's still wide awake on my lap...and pulling at the tab on her nappy already ... Gna be a long night methinks!!

Good luck everyone.,, bring on the rain tomorrow!!

Well last night was... Interesting
New day!
Going to aim to feed her solids twice today...
little think I'm like you and worried about my blood pressure and stress levels!
alyx and others who are experienced with blw - how long do you let the babies play with the food? ( before I start pureeing the food and feeding them with a spoon!)
Also do you feed lo after a milk feed or before?
Only planning to feed dd fruits and veg this week before venturing onto pastas and meat etc
I'm so lost!

Last night was awful, all of my kids were up at some point thanks to the heat. The baby has a really horrible cough and at night it takes her an hour of coughing and choking before she gets to sleep

Pesto, I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about but I'll tell you what we're doing. I'm doing mixed feeding, so giving her some finger food to play with at every meal, and also feeding her purée to fill her up. I've found that giving her the finger food first seems to work best, as she's a bit hungry and more likely to try and shove it in her mouth. I tend to hand her pieces one at a time, or point them out on the tray (which I know you're not really meant to do, but I'm impatient), and catch them when they fall down her front or off the side. I go on until she loses interest or the food has descended into a sloppy mush (rice cakes are the worst)!
You have the remember that the vast majorly of the time the baby is 'choking', they're actually just gagging and it's an important part of them learning how to handle lumps in their food. DD has gagged a couple of times, and managed to vomit once (which was charmingly purple, as she'd had some blueberry and banana purée just before ), but was utterly unphased by it. She's managing to handle lumps much better already and has eaten chunks of rice cake now.
I'm currently feeding her food about half an hour to an hour after a nap, and before a milk feed. It seems to be working so far. She only gets food once a day, though, and I'm in no rush to do more than that.

love the way her face lights up when she sees her sister

I've done weaning before with dd but I'm still a bit lost with it. It's been a while. From reading up on it, solids are just a taster until they're one and they need milk more than solids. Solids just compliment milk. I feed milk first then solids as you don't want them full up on food and cutting their milk intake.

So I would do first milk feed of the day followed by breakfast 30-60 mins afterwards. I like him to eat with dd for the social side and she won't wait too long for breakfast so he does more often than not have breakfast fairly soon after milk. He's been having ready brek with fruit puree and a small finger of toast which gets squished rather than eaten.

Nap at 8/8.30 depending on what time he woke up for 40 mins.

Then milk 11 ish followed by lunch at 11.30. He's been having a savoury like butternut squash, sweet potato etc then a fruit dessert like puréed Apple, pear, peach.

Nap around 12 for 1.5 hrs. Milk at 2/3pm

Nap again 3.30/4 for 30 mins then dinner at 5. An ice cube of something savoury. Milk at 6. Bed 6.30. That's how it went yesterday and you know what? He slept 6.30-6.20am for the first time ever. He woke for about 2 mins at 11 but settled quickly. Woke again at 5, dummy, music, back to sleep. Sounds great but I got no benefit as dh staggered in at 00.30 after being out in central London drinking with friends then dd was up 4 times which is very very rare as she sleeps so well but she was hot. The window was open and the car doors outside woke her, she needed potty etc. So I don't feel any better for Ds doing so well last night!

Oh just a tip, I read that if you give fruit at dinner time it makes them poo in the early hours so doesn't help them sleep very well so give fruit at lunch. Not sure if it's true but I don't want to find out!

Thanks chiruri
After a nap sounds like a good plan
I need to get organised.
Got mil and sil in my ear telling me that shop bought food is best so I've gta fight that battle too!

Gave her some mango today. Lips tight and hands down by her side! To say she wasn't interested is an understatement!
As soon as I cleared everything away she started chewing her dress!! Grr
Still... Only day 2...
Thanks again

Hopefully things will be better tonight bigfam

What a busy day and night little
Defo need to get organised!

Really useful weaning tips, so many that I hadn't thought of - thanks all! We start this weekend. Dd is pretty uninterested in milk most of the time so I'll be interested to see how she gets on with solids. I am nervous about the gagging but I'll just have to get over it!

I go by 'Food is for fun before one' so don't worry if they don't appear to be eating much. DS2 didn't really get food until 9-10m at least.
I haven't bothered giving Q any today as I was busy lol, he's not bothered at all so will probably start properly next week once I've been shopping!

What a beautiful day again, thankfully not as hot as Wednesday was. We went swimming. Dd is really getting the hang of this kicking! She is so noisy, she just shouts at the top of her voice for ages! Makes me chuckle (and deaf).
Dh said to me last night 'do you think our family is complete?' I have to be honest I don't, but also I'm not sure that I want more, purely because of the time we have for the children and I know that (selfishly) my career will suffer more. I wanted 2 close together so that they would grow together and be similar ages etc, so I don't want to wait too long if we do have more. I have ok idea what to do though! Has anyone else thought about having more?
Oh and forgot to say I have a phobia of childbirth (think panic attacks daily and inconsolable crying) which I would need to get over!