August 2015 - Jaffa cake wars and many Mugabe greetings to you!

[mzzzf]

New thread ladies - praying for a decent sleep tonight!!

Fatty, he is just delicious! So cute.

Nice to see some new people and good to hear others are winging it too. Interesting to hear about weaning and Crohn's Giraffes - I have Crohn's and am seeing my consultant next week, so will ask if there's anything else I should be awake of. I'm terrified of J developing it, so want to do as much as I can to avoid that for him. I'm currently off my meds so I can bf, so hoping to stay healthy as long as possible

To be honest, I couldn't give a stuff what MIL thinks, so it mostly doesn't bother me what she says. DH really went back at her after her comments about J's name and she sent me a grovelling text about how she doesn't mean to speak without thinking. I just need to get a bit sharper and call her out when she says particularly unacceptable things.

Good luck with the ILs clstow

Welcome new folk!

Quick post as I'm left handed typing while feeding but I have a bunch of unused bamboo reusable breast pads and lansinoh disposables. If anyone wants them for free pm me.

Well DS hasn't napped yet this afternoon but is being really cute on his playmate cooing and shrieking away! He only has eyes for his hands - he's properly discovered them and is just staring at them and waving them around. Not sure what to do about his wind though, he had it a few weeks ago then it got better but it's back now regardless of which size teat we seem to use!

Can't remember who was trying to find it, but catastrophe is on all 4 (the channel 4 catch up player) under the comedy section. Just watching it now!

Tindel wow you've done so well to come off medication for bf! My dh is so dependent on his, though he tries to lower the dose when he can. His consultant recommended cutting down/out red meat for him and the children too - interesting seeing today's news story about red meat then.

I'm not an Aldi/Lidl shopper either, I like the internet ordering that the big supermarkets offer and found those shops too chaotic and not enough choice when I went there, I'm probably just lazy

Teddy yes! boob out my first port of call always. And exactly if not hungry he will be comforted. I may have also breast fed last night so DH and I could enjoy Homeland in peace and quiet too.

Clstow I wondered off to breast fed DS every time my in laws got on my nerves when I was there. He came back from that trip the size of a 3 year old. In general our feeds take about 30/40 mins. I would class a quick feed for DS as 20 mins. Anything quicker with him and he will be wanting fed again after 15 mins or so. I also never leak either and can't express but HV also assures me is not an issue. And to be fair DS is big although dropped little below his percentile.

In the ever up and down world of breast feeding, DS and I now apparently have thrush. Oh joy.

So someone mentioned the no cry sleep book. Is it any good?

Might go and watch strictly on catch up for the second time as someone cried all the way through it on Saturday, didn't they DS......

After not sleeping all morning, ds is now into his 4th hour of napping! I've even taken his hat off and he's still flat out.
I've made a yummy dinner, had coffe with my bil and nieces, watched some crap to and written yet more thank you cards. I want him to wake up now so I can squish him!
I wander if he's having a growth spurt with might explain all the eating, sleeping and not sleeping!

I'm definitely a 'if in doubt boob out' parent teddy. Ds loves to nap holding on to one of them. He needs both hands as they are still bigger than his head

Enjoy catastrophe magrat. It's really good. I'm looking forward to the new series tomorrow.

Gutted about the thrush kbro. I've been taking probiotic supplements and have managed to avoid it so far, which is a miracle considering all the sugar I'm eating.

I hope you're all having a good day.

Holy cow, loads of posts!!

Giraffes DS was obsessively chewing his fists about a week or two ago, and it was DEFINITELY that he was discovering his hands. It's now pretty much stopped, and he's grabbing toys and putting them in his mouth, and reaching out to stroke things to find out what they feel like. He's also gotten much better at getting his thumb in his mouth if he wants it.

teddy absolutely follow that! If DS looks unhappy, first I check his nappy, then I try putting a boob in him.

Love both Aldi and Lidl, but not for my main shop. They aren't as cheap as the value own brand stuff from Sainsbury's for a lot of stuff I use a lot of. I usually do my main shop and just pop into Aldi for a few things I know are good and to look for treasure in all the random stuff. The 79p cotton pads are a favourite!

Been to the healthy child drop in today with DS. He'd been referred for an ultrasound on his hip at his six week check and ice heard absolutely nothing about it since and I've now noticed that his thigh creases don't match. Tried calling the GP and they just said "oh we sent it" and kind of fobbed me off, so I thought the HV might be able to do something. HOLY CRAP BUT SHE TORE THEM A NEW ONE!! She chased it up and managed to find that the unit at the hospital that does the scans never got the referral, then she phoned my GP office and absolutely bollocked them. Hopefully we should now be getting an urgent referral.

Yet again I can't keep up!

Half term here and we've seen my parents this morning and a friend this afternoon which was nice.

Welcome teddy

I waited until nearly 6 months to wean DS1. I don't really understand the rush to start sooner. Milk provides all the nutrition they need until then and beyond. We did baby led weaning (feeding themselves finger food basically - learning to chew before they learn to swallow whereas purée weaning involves swallowing before they can chew) so no need for purée and he could eat everything from the beginning whereas before 6 months there are some foods they can't have. No salt added to food and no honey until 12 months if I recall correctly. We did spoon foods you eat off a spoon - yoghurt and porridge, that kind of thing, but only with his active participation. I found it a very relaxed approach although the gagging (he gagged a lot but never choked) caused some anxiety in both our families. My MIL asked regularly when he was going to have baby rice and the answer was he never did.

I plan to do the same with DS2 but he doesn't so far seem to be such a greedy gorb as his brother so will be interesting to see how it works out!

Oh yes and I'm not breastfeeding anymore but if you are you can't over feed them so no harm in the 'if in doubt boob out' approach!

Thanks for the nice messages. Feeling a bit more chipper now although I suspect another uti is brewing (4th in eight weeks). Outdoor playgroup was fab, Storytime went well and then I lay on the sofa with the baby and dd1 watched CBeebies ALL afternoon. Not feeling remotely guilty about that. Then Dh came home a shade early and made macaroni cheese and chips for tea. He also nipped out to the shops and bought some face paint so we won't disgrace ourselves tomorrow. Dd1 will be a sort of witchy-vampire. Considering wrapping the baby in bandages and she can be a mummy.

I don't leak and don't need breast pads and I'm feeding two lassies so I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with my supply. I feed the baby just all the time. 9 times out of 10 it's the boob she's wanting. I haven't a clue how long or how often. I just boob her when she wakes up and then if she cries or it looks like she might cry or if she looks hungry. I'm getting expert at building duplo towers or train tracks while feeding. I can remember last time being scared to move in case I disturbed a sleeping or feeding baby but this time I reckon it's a win if she's not got playdoh on her face or food in her ears.

We did a mixture of baby led weaning and mush last time. Started at 6 months although she had wee dabs of tastes before that. She's never been fussed for food which is a heart sore to me because I love food and cooking. We're quite adventurous and grow a lot of our own fruit and veg so I'm gutted she only really likes plain rice, eggs and ice cream. Another prebaby belief gone: I was absolutely convinced that fussy eaters came from fussy parents. Ha! Universe likes to mess with us.

Sian hope you get your hip ultrasound soon, if it's any reassurance dd was referred for one and her thigh creases didn't align, turns out she's just chubby

I'm also in the if in doubt get boob out camp, fed both of mine to sleep etc, never seen any harm in it, they grow out of it.

Mugabe!

What a lovely day it has been. Grumpy 2's Oddmother came to visit and we took the girls to a falconry to watch the birds of prey fly. I'm pretty sure the vulture was eyeing up grumpy 2 for lunch. Here is a picture of her all snugly in the autumn sunshine avoiding becoming vulture snacks

'If in doubt, boob comes' out is the motto in the dwarf house. With grumpy 1 I couldn't get my head around how much she needed feeding and so DH and I spent hours and hours trying all sorts of things to calm her down. We both fell into the trap of believing that she couldn't possibly be hungry again if she had recently fed. By the time we worked out just how wrong we were we had stressed ourselves out massively for no reason. Second time around we now default to food first and 99% of the time it is what she wants. Poor grumpy 1, we basically starved her through naivety!

joskar glad to hear that you are feeling better. A good afternoon in front of the tellybox sounds like just the thing. I completely agree about the fussy eating, it's definitely down to the child. Plus they are constantly changing just to keep you on your toes. At 4 grumpy 1 now eats totally different things to that which she ate at 3 or 2 and there is no rhyme of reason to her changing preferences

Weaning: we weaned at 6 months first time around but in hindsight I wish we had gone a little earlier, not much just by a couple of weeks or so. We were basically terrified by the HV into waiting until 6 months on the dot when in fact grumpy 1 was making all the right signs at about 5 and a half months. At that point she also regressed massively in her night feeding, went back to 2 hourly feeding through the night having previously been going through from 7:30pm to about 6am. It was awful and I nearly gave up bf'ing as a result. In the end we topped her up with formula but I should have had the courage of my convictions and started her on food instead. She was clearly starving.

We did a mixture of home-made purée (which didn't stay super smooth for long) and baby-led. We basically gave her the appropriate style of food at the appropriate meal, so weetabix / toast etc for breakfast, tiny sandwiches / crudités etc for lunch and a puréed up version of our meal for dinner. It worked well for us and we batch cooked and froze puréed meals in ice cube trays so it wasn't too arduous.

Cor - re the weaning. I'm by no means an expert (although thankfully my bestie is) so I'm not saying that weaning at that time is right for all babies or all parents. But for me it feels right to start her tasting and exploring food then, especially given our situation that dd is a very refluxy child and that I want her as comfy as possible as soon as possible, which for us will likely involve less of a liquid diet. Yes milk gives all the nutrition they need but weaning/tasting isn't just about meeting nutritional demand which I'm sure you know anyway. I hope I didn't come across as saying "all babies must do this" as that's totally not what I'm about, sorry if you felt that. Each very much to their own, I just wanted to share what I was doing and start the discussion as its a huge complex topic.

Oh and super jealous of the double carb dinner Joskar!

Siani - leg creases don't necessarily mean there are hip issues. Try and keep cool, could well be just padding. But well in the HV for getting it sorted!

Strictly was awesome Kbro. Although anton is getting right on my tits!

Frolic - yay for the snoozing, and double yay for catastrophe starting tomorrow, I can't wait!!!

Slow - where did you get that pramsuit from, tis lovely and looks snuggly

We were at the in-laws for 4 minutes when I was told we were cruel because we don't want another baby Ffs! 4 minutes! At least let us take off our shoes before telling us how cruel we are...

Sorry to hear about the thrush Kbro, hope it clears up soon. I've heard it can hurt like a bastard so make sure you keep your spirits up with lots of chocolate.

Good to hear a positive HV story Siani, hope the appointment comes through fast and that all is well.

Love the idea of the mummy costume Joskar, boo for another uti though. You really do need to keep away from those PVC pants...

That's a belter of a nap Frolic, if sleep promotes sleep you're in for a great night.

Good to hear about weaning from the experienced mums. I feel like I've only just got my head round BF, can't imagine DS with real food. Though I do keep finding him with my hairs in his mouth... Have visions of him coughing up a hairball

clstow in laws need to fuck off. So what if you don't want anymore children. Your choice, not theirs.

joskar those pants need throwing in the bin. It's no good having uti half the time.

siani glad hour hv is on the ball and hopefully things are fine.

Just watching the walking dead. Won't say what's happened but I'm and at it!!!

Mugabe evening augmums!

We are well and truly testing the sleep promotes sleep theory tonight after ds' 4 1/2 hour nap. My money is on a shit night ahead.

Your hv sounds great siani. Good to have someone like that on your side.

We have a hip scan tomorrow because they clicked for the pediatrician in the hospital. Apparently his folds are fine. I have no idea what any of this means. It must be the only baby related thing I haven't googled a million times.
Has anyone else had one? Do they require complete stripping off of clothes? Just thinking about what to put ds in for the appointment.

I love the mummy idea jockstar.
Glad you're feeling better. A sofa day is always a good idea.

Grumpy2 looks very cute and cosy slow. I think there is something lovely about wrapping then up all snug and getting out in the crisp air.

Wow clstow! I don't think I'd have taken my shoes off or stayed. How rude of them.
We've had a few similar comments about only having ds. He's only a few weeks old for fuck sakes! Why are people even talking about something so personal ?

All the weaning talk is very interesting. It just goes to show what a minefield we are negotiating. I find it really useful to hear all of your different views and experiences.

Here's hoping for a good night and lots of sleep all round.

Re: weaning there was something in the news lately about how the 6 months recommendation is more important in areas where the food is less safe, and people in the West shouldn't worry about letting their babies start exploring solids earlier if they are showing an interest. One of my friends from Uni has a baby a few months older than DS and although they planned to follow the 6 months rule he started grabbing food from their plates and trying to feed himself aged around 5 months -he DEFINITELY looked ready.
Personally I'm planning to take a very baby led approach - as soon as DS can sit up he'll come and sit at the table with us, and whenever he seems ready we'll let him start gumming at some veg!
That's interesting about starting with the most bitter flavours, mzzf. I'll remember that! I'm desperate to do whatever I can to avoid having a fussy eater, I love food myself now, but I was horribly fussy when very small. My mum reckons I ate nothing but peanut butter and banana sandwiches and macaroni cheese.

So sleepy...but yes we had the hip scan...they take off trousers and nappy and place them sideways on a bed inbetween blocks put a little gel on them and scan (like when we were preggers). Takes absolutely no time at all. We were in and out and you get the results there and then. We spent more time in the waiting room than in the scanning room. Good luck xxx

Weaning - no fucking clue, loving the insights though! I was a terribly fussy eater, when I was a toddler/small child I went through the nothing but chips stage. As I was so skinny my parents let me be as they thought it was better for me to eat something than nothing (I was an expert tantrum thrower). This meant at a posh restaurant I got chips given to me silver service style one by one once, I was mesmerised....
I then went through nothing but square shaped foods stage....I WAS A DELIGHT!! . Would like to add I was a perfect baby though, just slept are slept, was from the age of 2 I became a terror....

There's nothing you can do about fussy eating. It's coming for you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon and for the rest of the terrible twos! The number of folk I know who smugly patted themselves on the back because the bairn ate everything...well, let me be telling you that there will come a day when you'll happily allow chips dipped in peanut butter or pasta with raspberries if it means the wee beggar will actually eat something! Vegetables? Pah! I know someone who counts spaghetti hoops as a veg because of the tomato sauce. You'll say anything to comfort yourself that they aren't getting scurvy.

Who has thrush? I've forgotten. I had ductal thrush last time. Without doubt the worst pain I've ever been in. Hope you and the baby are both getting the anti fugal treatment. We got it from nipple shields/bottle teats because it loves warm, damp plastic. Then because I had very cracked nipples it got right in. Sterilise everything, wash all bras and towels hot, hot, hot and paint your nipples with vinegar. It's a beast of a thing. I've an idea the breastfeeding network do a leaflet. I think it's available online and certainly Kellymom website has good advice. My heartiest sympathy.

Bloody uti. I'm very prone but this is getting ridiculous! I'm seeing the urologist at some point but until then just trapped in the cycle. Been trying to avoid too many antibiotics but I'll take them tomorrow if I can't flush it out. If only my pole dancing career didn't rest on the pvc knickers...

Joskar true, there's a legitimate developmental stage around then when kids get extremely averse to novel foods, too, so if your kid doesn't already like curry you may as well give up for a couple of years. At least if I try everything I can to avoid it I can just shrug and roll with it instead of beating myself up when it happens!

This thread moves so quickly!!

I am another who 'if in doubt boob out' . Unfortunately that meant all night last night - DD has been waking only once or twice during the night lately but decided to feed all night last night - boy did I watch some rubbish on the TV. She is sound asleep now - typical it's not the holidays anymore and I am up super early as usual on a school day getting all the other little loves ready. By the time the school run is over I feel like I've done a days work!!

Have a lovely day ladies ..........

My girl has always been averse to food. I can't say that spiced foods make much odds though. Sometimes she eats them, sometimes she doesn't. It's the capriciousness that gets you. One day she'll eat prawn curry with rice and fruit for pudding but the next day she'll only eat four grapes all day. I genuinely don't think when you wean or how you do makes the slightest difference. I just keep dishing her up a variety of flavours (mostly whatever we're eating) and trust that eventually she'll eat something. I don't bother getting frustrated when she rejects it. In the meantime the dog has got very fat!

Mugabe morning!

We had a hip scan with grumpy 1 because she was breech. As fanby says it was all done and dusted there and then - it's a straightforward ultrasound. Well done for pushing though siani, one of my friends daughters did need the corrective brace as a a result of the scan and the sooner it's on the sooner it's off again! So annoying of your GP, having said that I'm still chasing for a 6-week check appointment and she is now 8.5 weeks - argh!

mzzzf the pram suit was from mothercare. I like it because it doesn't have legs (it's like a gro bag rather than a snowsuit) so it goes over her cloth nappies easily. The snowsuit are a bit tight in the crotch!

frolic we are part Scandinavian on my mothers side so there is a lot of snugly outside sleeping in this house (as well as hat wearing and brightly coloured knitwear.) Nothing like living up to national stereotypes

What is it about people feeling that it's okay to discuss your life choices clstow! It's as if having kids is a public statement not a private affair. We had this a couple of times, firstly when I got pregnant with grumpy 1. I had never wanted kids (she was planned I hasten to add, I just changed my mind) and people found this fascinating. I got a lot of 'your not the maternal type' comments but my favourite was the several people who told me 'we always thought your DH would make a great father'. Err, thanks! Then because we have a slightly larger than average age gap between them (4 and a quarter years) people assumed we only wanted one and told us we were selfish. My favourites that time were the friends with more than one kid who would tell us how much we were 'missing out on' by only having one kid. In the end we used to be really blunt with people and tell them that we would love to have another but didn't seem to be able to. It embarrassed a few people but it did shut them up. I think you did amazingly well to keep your cool tbh!!

Regarding fussy eating, I completely agree with other posters in that all children go through fussy phases regardless of how creatively you wean them. We have managed to avoid chaos at mealtimes by having clear expectations around how you behave at the table - and I am hastening to emphasis that this is just what works for us, it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. Grumpy 1 has always sat at a table to eat and we have always had three rules, one you have to taste everything on your plate once, two we all get down once the last person has finished and three there is nothing else if you don't eat this. We never made eating a battle by making her stay at the table until she has finished all her food or anything like that. If she doesn't want it she is allowed to leave it. 9 times out of 10 she scoffs it. The best advice I received on this is that a child won't starve itself so don't get pulled into the trap of panicking if they aren't eating. Just keep it calm and it'll all work out.

Morning all.

We had a good night. I was expecting worse after the jabs. Up until very recently we've been up for a feed around 1, 4 and 6/7, after feed and going to bed at 9. But I started giving a 3oz bottle of expressed milk before bed and I got two nights of only 4 and 6 wakings. Nice long stretches! Last night was 2am then 6.

My daughter had a hip scan due to uneven creases and she was fine. Can't remember how they did the scan, but it was very quick and results given there and then.

I weaned my daughter at a week short of 6 months. But she wasn't trying to steal food or anything prior to that, and couldn't sit up unaided. I started with some purees then moved onto a mixture of finger foods and mush. I remember her loving her first try of carrot and she was an enthusiastic eater! She has since been through many phases, things she once loved she then hated, and then back to normal. It was interesting that she may be fussy at home, but the positive peer pressure of nursery meant she ate anything they gave her there!

Has anyone had any success with a nap routine? My boy is generally pretty grumpy during the day. We have some short happy awake periods where he smiles and chats, but quickly decends into crying because he is tired but can't fall asleep. I've been putting him in the sling at this stage, but would be nice to not have him on me all the time.