September 2006 babies - smiles all round!

[clairemow]

New thread for us....

Mabel, sorry about the car
Ezridax, i was a bit nervous at first about going to clubs with DS but have found people so much more friendly now I have him, its like I've been accepted into the world of mothers
We gave DS some formula this morning and he seemed a little unsure but he drank it. I'm going to try giving him a little bit more each day at his 11am feed until he takes just the bottle for that feed. Hope it works.

just to put our recent storms into perspective...

Mabel - LOL at me being posh , it's just that Waitrose is the only supermarket in walking distance, so if I've forgotten something in the Tescos weekly shop, DS and I take our daily walk via Waitrose to get stuff (also when we've been to the docs, it's nice to pop in there and get a treat afterwards on way home), but it is lovely and I would love to do all my shopping there (plus the fruit and veg is v. nice there) - maybe my return to work in April will fund my Waitrose habit too LOL!!! Only shame is I won't be able to do daily walks to there with DS.
We have so far lucked out with no damage round house, although I heard a loud band whilst out the other day in the car and think a car passing went over some debris in the road and it flew up and hit the car! All takes me back to those storms in 1987 (and now I feel old)!
Liquid - as probably over-documented on this site I've cut dairy (and lots more) from my diet for DS and he is now on hypoallergenic formula and when I discussed it with HV she said that eczema was a common symptom of allergies/intolerances, so I would definitely recommend looking into it - your GP should be able to sort it for you. Hope it improves soon.
Mabel - sorry to hear about the car, but I'm sure the perfect one will be just round the corner. We bought ours in November from an advert in a car magazine (can't remember which one - sorry useless - one of those with pages and pages of cars), but I think my DH did some sort of online check which you can use for cars before you buy - am sure you or your DH already know this!
Claire - good luck on weaning, your DS2 is obviously showing an appetite for it. I think Annabel Karmel's book says you can wean from 17 weeks too (not that you need anyone else to tell you when your baby is ready). Hope the pear went down well.
Right off to bed to try to catch some zeds before DS wakes for feeding. Sleep well all!

ezridax, im right there with you with the 'getting out to the baby clubs'. i cant imagine the mothers in my area having anything in common with me, besides having a baby. but i'm tempted to go purely for the sake of my LO to see new places and hear new sounds, etc. As far as the massage, if you have a health visitor, perhaps ask them if they show new mummies all about it. thats what i did...they came to the house instead of me dragging him around all the place.

just got back from a very early birthday dinner for me. wasnt expecting it. it was at my MIL's farm in north wales. ((its not til february 9 but they'll be on their hols then)). i'm so very very thrilled that they gave me a voucher for a day spa/massage clinic here in town...it only says its good for a Top to Toe treatment...but it doesnt specify. hell, i'll be soooo chuffed even if its just a facial. ha! now the only issue is finding someone i can trust and feel 100% relaxed with leaving the boy with.... ok i guess there's always the DH...but im not sure he'll be totally relaxed with that. he's still going through the 'what the hell do i do if i cant console him' stage, since ds usually only shush's with me.

My SIL gave me a voucher for my Christmas, Last year!
I discovered I was pregnant soon after and then never got round to using it!
I have checked and they will still honour it though so thats good. Only prob is deciding what to get done and when? At least I know I will be able to leave DD with my parents and be sure she is ok.
DH is the same, loves to look after DD as long as I am near so he can come ask a question! Not sure who would be more nervous if I went further afield, me or him!

On going to groups, I went along to the baby massage but it was only a six week thing. I do go to a breastfeeding group and it is nice, but I have not really clicked with anyone. I think there is a baby and toddler group in my village but I am also not sure if I would have anything in common with the few mothers I know of locally. Some seem a bit rough. Perhaps I am judging too soon and I ought to give it a go. But if I don't fit in, and then never return I would worry that they thought me rude for not returning? Bit of a catch 22.
I miss having a busy schedule though. Before christmas I seemed to have a very full diary now I have nothing! But it does mean I get more time just DD and me. But, as you say munki, I feel I ought to be taking her places to meet other babies and see things other than our house or my parents house!

munki & fairy - I felt quite similar about going to groups when I had DS1 - felt I had nothing in commin with anyone plus they all seemed to be closer in age to my mum than me! 2 years on though and I'm glad I persevered as I've made some really good friends. It only takes geetting to know one or two people and then you can go to different groups together and not feel too much like a lemon, then you get to know more etc etc - so take the plunge!

Jingle, I think I will go to my GP, I have to go and talk about DS1 too who's still puking 2/3 times a day quite regularly and he's now 2.4, according to the V he should have grown out of it by now - what is it with my sicky kids!!! (sat upstairs in church today and won't be directing DS2 towards the balcony rail again any time soon! - fortunately it didn't quite make it over the edge...)

sorry, the HV

Mabel - yuk about the car; so sorry.

Munki & Fairy - I'm with Liquid. When we first arrived here I went to the Moms' Club of Bentonville & thought we'd have nothing in common ... but really all kinds of people & even the ones I thought I'd never understand at first I have really, really enjoyed getting to know. If we make another move from Houston to wherever I will def find the Moms' Club there too. ...

On the groups thing, we moved here when Ds1 was 5 months and I knew nobody but pushed myself to go to mother and toddler groups (particularly for DS as he wasn't going in to nursery and i wanted him to get used to other children), i did find it difficult at 1st everyone seemed to already know each other, but as time has passed i've made some great friends, at 1st it is hard to talk about anything other than babies, but as you get to know people better you find that you are able to find other things than nappies and weaning to discuss, so get out there, it will be good for both of you.
We had a good night last night ds2 slept til 6.30am and i think i may have worked out why, nothing to do with weaning or formula... i think he was getting cold! `dh tried again with that last bottle at 10.45pm but he only took 3oz, but as it was so cold in his room, he tucked him up in a fleecey blanket...that's the only thing i can think of that helped him sleep.
I have been reading some of the old threads about weaning and a lot of people seem to think that there is a growth spurt at around 4 months, so i suppose it could have been that, so I am going to hold off the weaning for a bit longer and am also interested in baby led weaning, anyone know anything about this?

ohh yes, I would like to know about baby led weaning too. Is that when you watch them to see if they are inerested in what you are doing, following everything that you put in your mouth and trying to grab a bit??
I really don't want to give food to DD before she is ready but it is so tempting because I am also excited about getting there too.
I let her have a wee suke on a plum the other day, she seemded to really like it. Then I paniced thinking it might be to acidic for her?
Oh God, could that explain the horrid nappy rash she has a mo. It is just one spot but it is starting to look like an open sore slapping loads of cream after every change and will leave her open all day today if I can!!

On groups, you are right, I think I was getting here, but I will defo go ask about the local group and get my nervous ass along there. Nothing ventured nothing gained. And, at the end of the day, it is an excuse to show off my little darling!

fairysnuff - i think baby led weaning basically offering them finger foods and more or less 'normal' food, as if you wait til 6 months and they are able to sit up and feed themselves, you can give them things like broccoli 'tree's' to knaw on etc. I am not sure what the advantages are , if it's meant to be more natural or what?
have a look on www.babyled.weaning.com, i have just discovered it, but haven't had chance to read it yet, but I think it's basically a blog written by one of the mums on MN

Got a call from my sister last night from a Dallas ER - my new nephew has RSV -- I had to look it up - they'd been there already for 30 hours and complications had set in as of last night; they'd had to do a spinal tap & weren't letting her feed him for fear he'd regurgitate it; giving him electrolytes and fluids interveinously ... he's 5 weeks old. Will get an update in next few days; he's their third & what was a bad cold for the older two children turned into this horrible condition for him. I'd never heard of it before.

So sorry Marls, that's terrible news. I haven't heard of it either. It must be heart-wrenching.

The weaning is going so well... He gets SOOOOO excited when he sees his little bowl.. grins, coos, laughs and kicks his arms and legs about. He's got his mouth open like a little bird before the spoon is anywhere near his face! Tonight he tried really hard to grab my pint glass (full of.... .....water). Aaah!

Marls - how awful. Really hope he improves quickly, poor little thing and your poor sister must be going out of her mind. Sending you lots of hugs.

Claire - good to hear how well the weaning is going, DS2 is the same his little arms and legs are going when we sit down to eat, he was v. jealous of DS1's chicken skewers and veg noodles tonight - but thought that's not really the best thing to start him on!

He has been practising his sitting up over the last few days and can manage to stay upright long enough for me to put his vest on over his head, I'd forgotten how much easier it is to dress them when they're not lying down!

So sorry to hear about that Marls

Well done on the weaning front Clairemow. What did you start with? I'm thinking of giving it another couple of weeks and then going for it. I can't remember when it's ok to give mashed banana though. Also I was looking at some of the stage one jars in Boots the other day. They're so misleading. It says Egg Custard is fine from 4 months and when you read the ingredients I think it was 13% egg but they're not meant to have egg until 6 months I thought. With ds I did a combination of jars and purees and remember having to read all the ingredients before 6 months as it's so confusing.

Marls - hope your nephew gets better quickly, I'll never forget seeing my poor LO hooked up to tubes and monitors - worst I've ever felt - hope your sister and BIL are coping ok too.

Claire - sounds like he was SO ready for weaning! What a little guzzler!

fairysnuff - it may have contributed to the nappy rash but you'll probably find that with a lot of foods at first (we had trouble with tomatoes in particular) but a really good nappy rash ointment is 'metanium' - way better than sudocrem or any own brand stuff. I found it helpful to keep a note of what I'd fed DS1 day to day so I could make connections quicker.

The other weaning advice I found useful from my HV is that if a child is going to have an allergic reaction it's more likely to be severe the 2nd time you give it - after the body's had time to develop a reaction to it.

DS2's excema has subsided a bit so will see how things go this week while we're doing everything 'right' and if he has another flare up we'll be of to the docs.

Ordered DS2's baptism cake today - it's so cute! It's blue with a little noah's ark on top - will post a piccy when it comes - I've warned the vicar about his sickness but she says it's OK - hope she wears her white robes!

At least it wasn't this cold today!

(sorry about my links, I've been using stumble upon again! - timewasting or what! - we have no tv at the moment )

just a quick one. F's only had baby rice and pear at the moment - seems to like even just baby rice on its own... weird! Going to go quite slowly. Next is carrot... can't wait for those poos.... I've done some apple and parsnip in ice cubes as well so guess that'll be next after that. I think with DS1 he had banana quite quickly Mabel. I'm not going to use any jars unless I can help it - doing a pear only takes about 4 mins more than opening a jar! And later on, there are all sorts of easy peasy options that don't need cooking like avocado and banana.

Pretty freezing here tonight...

Best wishes to your sister marls, Gosh, how awful must that be for her?

Thanks for the cream tip liquidclocks, I have been using kamilosan, it worked a treat in the past but this is a nasty one, so I may look out for metanium. She was out to the air for most of the day (saves me loads of bother washing nappies) but it didn't seem to be much better before bed time. So DH slapped Loads of cream on I just hope it helps.
I only gave her a wee suke on the plum too, but afterwards felt silly cos it will have been too much. Don't think it was anything I had? Ah well, think I will put it all off for a bit anyway. It was my curiosity, and not hers, that made me give it a go.

Had a look at that blog Mabel and I am now clearer on the idea. I think it is a good one, but also did not have time to read very much about it. It's in my favourites now, and I sent it to my mum, maybe she will read some for me and relay the info? It'd be a good idea, if it worked eh?

Mabel, DD's first weaning food was mashed banana at 5 mths! Plan on given the same with Jack.

Sorry to hear about your sister Marls

all this talk of weaning is very exciting. Going to resist it though for the time being. DS2 slept til 6.30am this monring, so I am pretty convinced he either had a growth spurt at 4months or was cold (it was FREEZING here last night!!)
Compo - I wouldn't give egg that early - I remember getting confused by jars last time, as I thought they weren't supposed to have red meat til 8 or 9 months, but you can buy jars of spaghetti bolognese and beef casserole...i always tend to err on the side of caution.

morning all

marls sorry to hear about your sisters little boy.

Fairysnuff i also find metanium a good cream used with dd and ds1 whenever they were sore.

well things are quite here at the mo and iam holding off on the weaning, although i can not wait to get started i love watching them when they try all the different foods.

Its very cold here today and i really want it to snow.

I can't quite keep up with Jack at the moment. He doesn't seem to be feeding enough from me anymore - well that's the sensation I get. He cries after his 8oz bottle of formula & just seems to want more & more. He's only 18 weeks so do not want to start weaning quite yet but I don't know whether we can all hang on until 5 months +. Does anyone know if upping the formula & dropping another breastfeed will make any difference? Such a difference compared to DD....HV did say boys are hungrier...but I'm knackered just trying to keep pace !!

cori maybe he's having a growth spurt, i am convinced that's what happened with ds as for 2 weeks he woke earlier and earlier, and then the last 3 days suddenly he's sleeping later and later and settling back down. he is 19 weeks on friday