November 2014: The one that needs baby-proofing!

[ladydolly]

And maybe ends with 1st birthdays!!

DD's odd eating has got to another level. She now points with finger at things she wants to eat when put in the highchair. There was a plate on the table with different snacks I had for her ready and things I had for her dinner. She kept pointing at random things and would only eat what she pointed at. So she had a spoon of beef casserole then bite of pear, then again beef, then strawberry yogurt, beef, pear, carrotstick, water, crabstick, pear, beef etc. I realize that the sequence doesn't really matter as it will all be a big porridge once in the stomach, but still weird.

Guys my head is melting trying to choose a car seat!

We've twigged our cars are too cramped for rear facing which makes me really nervous, but I will admit that DS will loooove looking at the backs of our heads, lol.

I'd prefer isofix. But they're all so expensive! Is there any that are reasonable?

Joie stages is £175 at kiddicare with free isofix base and can be rear or forward facing prob a 5-10% discount code around as well

We have from ds1 a mothercare sport which is for husband car was £50 from £100 and in mine a maxi cosi priori that was £100 still considering joie stages through as both car seats will be 4/5yrs old before baby goes in them

Consult with securatot first before you write off rear facing. If you tell them which car they'll sort it out.

We've got a joie stages and I love it. Dd is really comfy in it. Was easy to put in with the belt too.

I'm in Ireland so no Kiddicare. I was looking at the Joie Stages yesterday - €199 on its own here which is pricey enough tbh. I'm just worried about the safety belt thing as we'd prob be moving it from car to car and I'm not great at adjusting them!

We got this one:
www.johnlewis.com/britax-trifix-car-seat-max-black-thunder/p231838154

We were lucky that our local JL had an error in price tag, so we got it for £213 instead. It has a belt behind, so won't be great for moving between cars.

I was initially looking at the seats highest scoring in tests by Which?, but they had the safety shield instead of the belt and DD hated it, so no joy:

www.amazon.co.uk/Kiddy-Phoenixfix-Racing-Black-Colour/dp/B00CXNR2FI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445508176&sr=8-1&keywords=kiddy+pro+2

It appears on Google that there are some websites they sell them for around £160. If your DS doesn't mind the shield, could be a contender.

Anna is there Argos or Halfords in Ireland? They appear to have Joie Stages for £150, maybe they deliver to you?

Actually, dear Amazon has Joie Stages for £150. I hope it is the right model.

I like the seat, but am still worried about the belts. I also like its rear facing for a while cos you never know until you fit it, right?

I really really wish there was the equivalent in isofix though. Not sure it exists. Might chance the Car Seat board though they're all bloody intimidating over there. Its rear facing till 4 or you clearly don't care about your child!

Haha. If you find that intimidating then don't call securatot!

Well after spending the last hour researching whilst DS drags every single toy in the house out to litter the floor with I've come to the conclusion that car seats in Ireland are a fucking rip off, pardon my language.

We're talking a €100 mark up in some cases. So a lot of the ones recommended here as "affordable" suddenly....ain't.

So I think I'll get the Joie Stages as at least we can afford it and its a good seat. And I plonked DS in it yesterday in a shop and he was nappy as Larry. Hopefully the belt fitting will be easy!

Mothercare had joie stages with free isofix base as well recently

DD was sick overnight and again this morning, so now she can't go to Her (joint with me and my 18yr old sister) birthday party tomorrow :( My mum has invited 30+ people, mostly extended family, to the party. She most likely has a contagious vomiting bug from nursery, which will infect us all ruining our plans for her birthday and half-term. The less likely possibilities are that we have introduced dairy too fast or something else. She is quite happily crawling about chatting away though. Argh!

Oh no happy what rubbish timing!!!

I have had a great week off work baby went to nursery 3 days as usual husband has had 3 days off so Mon we had a family day out, Tue chilled at home did jobs like washing sofa covers etc!! Wed cinema trip just dh, me and ds1, yesterday had a day just me and ds1 shopping and lunch and today been to soft play and now doing homework while baby rolls around the floor getting anything he shouldn't as toys are boring!!

Oh no happy. Hope she's ok enough in herself to still make the party.

We have maxi cosi tobi seats that were ds's & we're reusing for dd. Not sure they'd be anyone's preferred choice these days since not isofix & forward facing only, but we found it to be a really good seat for ds.

DD has cried all. day. today.
Its very unlike her, I think a mix of teething, overtiredness & possibly getting a cold. I kept her dosed up but didn't seem to help much. I feel mean saying this but boy was I glad to put her in bed tonight!

She is well enough in herself, didn't eat anything yesterday but has had breakfast today, hasn't been sick again (yet?) and the rest of us aren't ill (yet?), but she can't really come to the party in case she is contagious and everyone else gets ill. At least she is too young to know that she is missing out.

Guys, what are you all doing about dropping bottles? Realised with some alarm today that they're meant to be weaned off bottles by 1.

We may start diluting the formula and swapping the bottles for beakers. I think he'd be ok. What are you all gonna do?

I know of people who literally bin the bottle at 1 and that's it cup or nothing my feeling is if they have a cup in the day and they need a bottle at bedtime so be it.

You could do 75/25 formula/cow's milk from 1 for few days then 50/50, then 25/75 before going 100% cows milk.

Don't be fooled into following or toddler milks all money making gimmicks

Oh should say one bonus of a bf baby who refuses bottles is we have no bottle to remove and cut down day feeds at 8mths, will cut the 5pm feed around 13mths and 7am feed at 18mths and bedtime feed at 2 (WHO recommend bf til 2yrs) - NIGHTIME needs dealing with but he is either teething like now or I'll with nursery germs cough now for 8weeks which wakes him!! Giving it another week and going back to doc as it sounds so nasty at night it's there in the day but mostly on waking from naps

It's DD's birthday tomorrow! I know everyone says it, but the year has gone so fast. It's crazy that she is almost 1 already.

anna ha, we only recently persuaded DD to drink out of a bottle, so I don't know what to do about now convincing her not to. She can drink from a tommee tippee cup, but mostly puts water in her mouth then spits it out or just pours it everywhere, so milk in a cup wouldn't be very successful.

How did you all get on with the extra hour of night? For me it was an extra hour of shushing my crying baby, definitely not an extra hour of sleep. Almost a year of regularly sleeping sitting up holding an increasingly heavy baby has given me an achy neck and shoulders and the need for better pillows.

Happy I just looked at it as an extra hr in my day to get stuff done so I wasn't disappointed with no extra sleep we didn't change clocks until we were up dressed and sorted so was fine baby actually was up for day at 6.45 (5.45 New time) and ds1 up at 7.45 (6.45 New time) so not all that bad, slowly moved timings of routine in day but was in bed for baby at 6.45pm (actual time)

We took the military operation approach and moved everything gradually forwards over about 10 days. Needless to say it then went tits up a bit as he had a very strange Saturday with only 1 nap but all is OK now. The only time he has a bottle is of water in the night so not worried about that. Down to 3 bfs per 24 hr period with none overnight. Will drop the afternoon nap one in about a fortnight when cm needs to start doing those naps. So it'll be just morning and night til 19m as we're going away when he's 20m without him.

Not too sure about the bottles, I think I will probably go along with how DD feels. 1 year is a generic guideline which should be adopted to every individual child accordingly or is there any particular reason for this? At the moment she drinks water from beaker (she actually drinks it) and the milk from bottle, have tried to put milk in the beaker month ago but she would not have it at all. She drinks water out of bottle though. Haven't yet met an adult using the bottle, so I suppose they all drop them in their own time. I'd rather she has bottle few more months than screams the house down for days. I know a child who likes to drink a bottle of cows milk in afternoon when home from childminder. He is 2. While it looks bit funny, in big scheme of things there is no harm in it, is it? That bottle should be substituting that one feed a day breastfed babies would get at 2 years?

We had an odd Saturday as well. DD had a nap 12-1pm and then went all perky till 8pm! Next morning she was up at 6am, so not that bad. Didn't feel too tired as our bodies also need some transitory time.

DD has started to walk fairly stable by holding only one hand now. It's quite funny because as soon as there is something to distract her attention she looses her cool and starts to wobble and sometimes even lands on the bum. She has also become more affectionate needs to hold hand to fall asleep and comes herself to cuddle us. Before it was a "can't breath, leave me alone!" gesture when we were hugging her.

Yesterday we went to the local National Trust place for a day out, saw advert that they had carol singing on DD's birthday at 1pm. So we took the plunge and booked it. We may have to leave 10 minutes in or I might have a smug face for the rest of my life . I just hope it will not be too busy as it's a Friday lunchtime event in the middle of nowhere. The plan is that after that we will go to get a Christmas tree. Playpen ready to protect the tree from DD Ark!