Mugabe Nights: sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your (sleep deprived) pain!

[mzzzf]

New thread ladies!
Buenos are still free, the bar tab is still open and you can leave your healthy living resolutions at the door!

😴😴😴

I'm having fun giving dd bots of good to try. Today I'd been out for lunch so gave her some tomato to try. She could get enough of it. She only swallowed a bit but she definitely swallowed it as it came out in her nappy a few hours later. Then at tea I was making a jambalaya so I saved some chicken, mushroom and tomato for her. Again she didn't eat much but she really enjoys playing with it and tasting everything. I'm enjoying giving her tries at food because it doesn't take any effort at the moment. Will get harder when I have to give her more and give it regularly. Then I'll have to be more organised but for now is just fun to try. I knew she was ready though because she watches my every move when eating. I've not read my weaning book yet so just winging it.

mzzf to paraphrase Mrs Merton, "so Jerry, what attracted you to the aging billionaire Rupert Murdoch?"

We've had a lousy few days and I've been feeling really low. Sleep is all over the place - we had a good run last night by letting J sleep on me downstairs and taking him up when we went to bed. Although I think he just had a nightmare - woke up screaming hysterically. Eventually took boob, but was really upset, tears and all. Finding it really tough at the moment

We have started giving DS food to try, too! He's tasted a few things previously, but last night he'd just had a huge feed before dinner, and wasn't hungry. He did have the most fun ever in his life with a pile of mashed potato, though. Potato everywhere! I'm dead lazy and made "rustic" mash because life is too short to peel potatoes and he LOVED squishing it all about and feeling the bits of skin. He's very very into little details like that right now, all his toys are getting their labels very carefully explored.

Footmuff: our travel system came with one and it's GREAT. Little chap is all snuggly warm, even in really cold weather, and it's so much easier to unzip it in shops than it would be to take off a snowsuit.

BTW, I saw this article linked elsewhere on the subject of baby led weaning and found it very reassuring. I was worrying about a lot of the stuff in it, my instincts were definitely that it made sense to let DS play with food as soon as he was sitting atat the table, but all the stuff about waiting until a minimum of six months seemed to be saying not to. www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2013/09/13-baby-led-weaning-myths.html?m=1

Where is everyone today? Have the pesky babies and their non sleeping ways finally broken you? Come back! I'm lonely!

We had 3 hour sleeps last night - which feels like luxury after every 90 mins the night before.
I sorted some kit days out for March / April yesterday. Ds is so clingy at the moment, I'm already looking forward to them!

So per cute photos, as always dozy.

Off to baby massage now. Why on earth don't they do mum massage as well?

Happy Wednesday augmums 🙂

Tis indeed a bit quiet. All ok ladies?!

I'll admit to feeling broken, I thought I was mailing it over Christmas but really it was because DH was here to help. Not major stuff that he did, just little bits like helping with mealtimes, taking her so I could use the look in peace etc
She's deffo in the fussy phase of next leap with the super clingyness and high pitched screaming the moment I'm out of sight, joy!

Dragged my arse to the patch mums and tots group, they're lovely. I really should make more of a social effort but it's so hard juggling her and the dogs. God I'm whinging aren't I?!

Ordered a beautiful red star fleecy Footmuff from John Lewis in a bid to make me get out more. It's was super cheap considering some of the options, I pick it up tomorrow!!

Last mince pie left in the house will deffo be munched today. Then I've only got quality street, stollen bits and a chocolate reindeer to eat - trooper that I am!! 😁

Well done on the 3gr sleeps frolic, that rocks!! Enjoy baby massage. And yes they deffo should have a mum massage portion to those sessions too!!!

Why can babyloves self settle in Moses basket during the day and sleep for 3 hrs but do nothing like this at night??? - probably because she is shattered having been awake most of the night!!!

mzzzf you are doing a good job finishing up the Xmas goodies - I have a box of Thorntons chocs and a box of Celebrations left - do have the DCs to help though

frolic when I've used baby rice I usually mix it with fruit or veggies to 'bulk' them up a bit - on its own it reminds me of wall paper paste!

siani lol at DS with his potato mash - can imagine him covered in it! Picturing babylily tucking into a big Mexican feast!! High five to all you ladies doing blw - I hate the mess of it - I am definitely a spoon feeding mummy, however babyloves still showing no sign of being interested in food at all. Love the pics dozy

kbro glad you enjoyed the cinema - I think it always feels like a treat during the day when most people are at work.

giraffe lol at your DH thinking you have loads of time on your hands cos DD at nursery - my DH constantly wonders what I do all day with 4 DC at school - never mind I have a toddler and baby at home, the school run, shopping, cooking, cleaning, blah, blah, blah...........

Hey, sorry I've been quiet. Have been lurking but just been feeling a bit low. I can't complain about DS's sleep but he's being so so fussy in the daytimes - needing so much attention and sometimes it's like nothing I offer him will help. This is a terrible thing to say but I actually look forward to nap times at the moment as it gives me a break from the winghing 😔 Plus we've done our sums and it basically doesn't pay for me to work once DP is back at work. I'm going to anyway as I can't take too long out or I'll never be able to go back (and I love my job) but I hadn't realised quite how much our finances will be impacted by nursery fees.

Sounds like quite a few of us are finding things hard for one reason or another at the moment. Big hugs to anyone finding it difficult, I know I could use one.

Still haven't tried solids but I'm sure DS is ready as he grabbed my Nandos off my plate on Monday and I had to wrestle it back off him! I want DP to be there when we first offer him food though so think we'll wait for the weekend.

I sleep in PJ bottoms, a t shirt and the worlds skankiest nursing bras. Hoping to ditch those soon though as I think (hope, pray) my boobs are shrinking and returning to normal now I've stopped BF.

I'm just on my way in to central London for a meeting with one of the companies I used to work for to see if they've got any more work for me when I'm back in Feb. Fingers crossed DS turns on the charm for them or it may be a very short meeting! Hope everyone else is having an ok day.

OMG. We have tooth number two.

Also some really horrible mucousy nappies. I'd blame the potato, but absolutely none went inside him. Suspect he may be getting DP's manflu. :/

I'm feeling a bit broken today as well. 3 hour stretches of sleep is fine - but it's the having to sit upstairs all evening thing that is getting to me at the moment. He wants to sleep in bed, but wakes up if I leave the room. I need a break, so have arranged to go swimming with a friend tonight. Dh can deal with Ds.
Massage was crap because he was tired and hungry but wouldn't eat or sleep. He just cried, which is quite unlike him. We ended up leaving early. He's snotty again and not had a poo for a few days, which may account for the foul mood. He's usually a little charmer all day, which kind of makes up for the nights. Today not so much.
And I'm bleeding again, 2 weeks after I had a period. Lucky me! My cycles are usually 35 days. Who knows what the fuck is going on, but I'm just too tired to care.

Those John Lewis star fleeces are lovely mzzf. I really fancied one, but at least two others on our street have them!

We tried pear purée last night loves, and it went down much better than the rice. I think I'm going to stick to purées and finger food as well. I don't like too much mess, and since he won't take a bottle, I'd like him to have something s bit more 'measurable' than blw. I think spoon feeding will be easier for nursery and my mum when I'm working as well.

I hope your meeting goes well clstow.

Yay for the second tooth siani!

Weaning. Just go with the flow. Whatever suits you and baby. There's no right or wrong way of doing it. unless your 9 month old gets slapped on the hand and shouted at for trying to pick food off your plate, and you still refuse to offer anything other than bottles

I'm broken too. I had no sleep at all last night, so I decided not to test out the new sling rain cover. I will do that on Friday instead.

Hello. Yes please to a group hug!!

Also feeling bit down today. Went to a talk about weaning by the health visitors. Bit of a funny one. HV very dismissive of BLW but not entirely sure she understood it if am honest. She also said you have to have started by 6 months which made me feel stupid as I thought you could wait until 6 months and don't even own a high chair yet. But worst of a said you have to start night weaning and anyone currently giving more than 1 night feed shouldn't be. DS eats all night at the moment. When I mentioned this she said I should come to her sleep workshop. Not sure whether to or not. You know what hv's are like about bed sharing. Over all came away from it not feeling great and more confused than ever about weaning. Oh and at the start she said to say anything you want to know and I said I'd like info about introducing gluten as there is lots of cealiac in my family and she said I can't go into that. Well why bother asking what we want to know??

Think we will probably do a bit of BLW and spooning. The stress of not knowing how much milk DS gets plays on my mind a lot so like to know he is eating but be good to try some of BLW stuff too. Arrrrrrggg can't believe my baby is ready for food.

Right must go. Have an exciting evenjng of sitting in the dark with baby to get cracking with.

Ohh and yes to the bloody high pitched scream. I know it's good for him as he's finding his voice but sometimes I give the dummy to have a little break from it. Kind of goes through me if am honest. And on no bloody sleep is even worse.

Kbro our local HVs are very into baby led weaning, funny how it varies! I'm going to go into the HV drop in sometime soon to ask about weaning and about returning to work and what I need to do to prepare. I'll try to remember to ask ours about gluten and report back. :)

I went to the pool, only to find out it's closed on a Wednesday
Today is not my day!

Love that article Siani- our HVs are REALLY pro BLW too it's strange how it differs I thought it would be standard nhs guidance.

Good effort on the Xmas goodies eating up Mzzf have some for me I'm being horrifically good at the mo so I can get my arse in my work pants but I'm missing goodies so much!

Loves- I tried to attach pics of DS munching on his Mexican feast but they didn't appear- trying again now!

Clstow- your LO has excellent taste I loveeeee me a nandos! Ohh I'm gonna have to go soon- it can be fairly healthy right!?

Giant group hug to us all

Kbro- Hv hinted to me yesterday too that DS shouldn't really be night feeding now too but I think more because I told her he wasn't eating brilliantly in the day she suggested water overnight to get him to eat better in the day can't see me getting much zzzz doing that!

Repay the squeezes please guys- just as I felt I was on the up an was managing DS well had news today that my cousin (the one who had the cancer diagnosis in November) died overnight- brain aneurism leading to a big stroke whilst she was having chemo and was gone by the morning. I'm just numb and angry- 5 kids left behind how is that fair.

DS has kept me happier today though it's like he knew- he had a 1.5 hour nap whilst I was on the phone to my dad so we could have a good cry and then has been practicing his opera singing (high pitched delighted shrieking) all day which has me in hysterics. Appears to be allergic to avocado though and has come out in a major rash almost immediately after having it- totally fine in himself though and no other symptoms I'm obviously watching him like a hawk but I don't need to go to a&e right ladies- reassurance please? I'll try and put pic on.

Off to heat up tea just hear DH pull up!

Avocado rash 😕

Massive hugs Lily and thinking of you and your family. That rash looks nasty, hope your DS is ok.

All this talk of weaning is making me nervous - J shows no interest in food at the moment. Am going to the HV's weaning workshop next month.

Have decided to give up on getting J to settle in his bed at night for the time being, so planning to stick with letting him feed and sleep on me downstairs. Trouble is, am now pinned under a sleeping J desperate for a drink and DH has gone out to the gym! He's promised to be back soon though.

It think for one night we should rename the bar Hug-abe nights. Looks like we could all do with one.

kbro you have pretty much summed up the reason why I avoid all HV's like the plague. I am sure there are some absolutely brilliant ones out there but sadly all my experiences with the profession have been exactly like yours today. My advice? Pretend like you never went to session, get on with doing what you originally felt was the right course of action and download a couple of weaning books from Amazon to read during your (perfectly developmentally normal) night feeds.

frolic sorry to hear that you are feeling down as well, and that the swimming pool did not play ball today. The lack of 'adult' time can be as corrosive as the lack of sleep I think so make sure you do leave DS and get out by yourself regularly.

lily I have no idea about the rash I'm afraid but I had heard that avocado is something that can trigger a reaction. Hopefully he will remain fine in himself and it will disappear as quickly as it came.

clstow You have all my sympathies on the all work and no pay front. That is basically the situation we found ourselves in after having grumpy 1. In the end we moved out of London which meant I pissed away a great career and although I have no complaints now I do still resent the fact that the astronomically high cost of both housing and childcare meant that we had to leave the area we had both grown up in. Hope your work meeting went well today and that you are starting to feel excited for your return in February. Oh, and nothing wrong with loving nap-time. I was gutted when grumpy 1 dropped her afternoon nap at age 3 - I genuinely wasn't sure how I would cope having to spend all that extra time with her

Weaning - we went with purees and finger food last time and it worked really well so will do the same again. Not for a few weeks yet though. I found that weaning = major reduction in portability of the child and so I am in no hurry to crack on with it. As far as purees go we just made tiny versions of loads of our favourite things and grumpy 1 loved them. Her favourite was a mini fish pie made with trout, a bit of dill, mashed potato and milk. It was pretty good tbh

Sleepwear - I have a few of those H&M vests with the nursing clips on the straps so I wear those with PJ bottoms. Its pretty chilly in the dwarf house now though so I have started slinging a PJ top over the top of the vest as well. Glad that the cold weather is finally here though, its been such a mild winter we could do with some cold weather to kill off the bugs.

Off for early night but just a quick message to say huge hugs Lily. Truly truly awful. Will be thinking of you

God ive been pants. Molls has been a PITA today, grizzled all during rhyme time at the library, I dared to do something for myself and attempted to get my nails done - we had a tantrum as big as injection tears, then my mum came into London and we went for afternoon tea everytime she held her molly had a full on fit!?! She usually loves my mum, miss clingy or what!!!

Over to you guys...

Lily - first and foremost my utmost sympathies to you and your family. Massive hugs and kisses to you

Fatty - you too my lovely, hope you're all doing ok x

Dozy - great pics!!! Love pipes!!

Loveandsmiles - epic pooage - your poor son!!

Mzzf - ha! To those child free money rich days!! I was the dreadful person getting on the commuter train at rush hour in Victoria tonight. Hated of London 'twas me!! Did you live in the big smoke too?

Frolic - hope DS is feeling better, yes please to mum massage

Giraffe - hope nursery settling in went ok!'

Kbro - glad you enjoyed baby cinema, haven't been for a while. Not sure molly would behave atm. I've seen joy - still not overally convinced - silver linings is still my fave. Hated American hustle!
HV is talking codswallop you do whatever you think is best!!!!!! You're doing an incredible job xx ooh and ive asked about gluten as coeliac disease runs in DH's side - apparently fine! Just keep an eye, no reason not to introduce it apparently!!

Slowwife - hall/Murdoch - actually had to rewind this morning when they announced that!!???!

Tindel - hold on in there lovely!! This too shall pass ;)

Clstow - I live for nap times too!! Please don't feel bad about it!!! I love the peace when she does decide to snooze. Hope central wasn't too bad, contemplating going on on Friday myself x

Thanks tindel- he is happy in himself so I'm not too worried but it is a bit shockingly red! DH has just got in and seen the pics I took (optimistically thinking DS would be in bed when he got in and he was for once) and he said he's not worried if he's happy and has no other symptoms- what's the betting DS sleeps for once though but I'm up all night checking him! Oh and don't be nervous about J not fancying food yet, DS was completely not bother until about 2 weeks ago when he suddenly switched on to us eating and he is only 2 weeks of 6 months.

Slow- was I not supposed to give him avocado yet then or is it just a common one for reactions? Shame as he really enjoyed it too!

Thanks kbro hope you get some zzzs.

Bloody hell Lily! What a shocker. Thinking of you missus

And slow is right lets have a hug-abes tonight instead!!

Re the weaning I think HV up here are a bit behind the times too. I do a mixture of finger food and spoon feeding. She loves a porridge brekkie and I whazz up our bits of our normal food too before I add salts,sauces etc. Normally o give finger foods in the evening so that DH and I can eat our dinner whilst she play around with hers in the high chair next to us. I've found having a bag of frozen mixed veg in the freezer awesome for easy finger food - as a few bits of broccoli, cauliflower and carrot takes minutes few to cook. It's true though when they're smashing the meals out they become a bit less portable - she's now expecting her mealtimes! On the plus side though she's gone back to the 75th centile finally since being on food as well as milk!

Fanby - mini mzzzf had that clingy phase too. Can also be a sign of impending leap/skill development or just another case of dickheas babies 😁 I lived all over in London - Finchley, Highgate, Fulham and Putney but used to work in the city. But I was never cool enough for east London living! Uber place dropping here but I also used to live in Manhattan - now that was child free party time!!!!

Must just be a crap Wednesday all round ladies. Let's chalk it up to experience. We've all got through it. We're tough cookies!! But reaching out and connecting with others in the same boat is what mugabes is for. Let's not sit alone in our homes feeling down. Get on here and have a whinge etc. I feel better know ing I'm not the only one feeling like I know nothing (Jon snow!) or that I'm at the end of my tether, or that I've just eaten an entire back of buenos!! For humour you can all at least mock me for realising I've not trimmed my bush in ages and got a bit of a shock in the shower!! Haha! Rocking a lady garden Afro!! 💂Hope that's given a wry smile. Not the thought of my bush (obvs!) but the ever decreasing standards or personal appearance - bush topiary included!!! 😁

Oh and re the avocado! The most dangerous time frame for reactions is the first 2hrs. So if he seems fine if a little blotchy then he should be fine but obviously ring 111 if you're not sure!!