November 2014 - the one where they answer back.

[MrsAukerman]

New thread.
Hop aboard.

We wash about twice a week with J&J baby shampoo. I had some organic ones, but they were irritating her eyes every time. DD has quite a lot of hair and curls at the back of her head, but there is no chance of haircut so far, she doesn't let anybody near her with scissors. She had very long fringe, which needed cutting. We ended up taking her in the car and once she was in deep sleep we parked up and between me and DH we cut the fringe. I think it would have looked better if we have done the bowl cut, to be honest. Thank goodness it has grown back a bit and doesn't look so hideous anymore.

I steadfastly ignore the nose picking so it doesn't become a game. It totally grosses me out though.

We use tesco sensitive baby bath and J&J easyfoam shampoo, I like the easyfoam because it's easier to use a tiny bit. She has a bath every day because she loves it and she's usually filthy and wash her hair once or twice a week. She also has a mullet, business at the front, party at the back. It's fine so I think where she spends half and hour rolling round her cot before falling asleep it's breaking. Saves cutting it though and at least it's never in her eyes :)

No nose picking yet! It's Mummy's job to get those bogies out! Weirdly satisfying...

We use boots hair and body stuff, just coz we got given it when he was born. We're still not through the bottle! He has a hair wash every other day, or every three days, depending on whether he can put up with the splashing. Luckily, he's not one for rubbing food in his hair.

His eczema is bad at the moment though, on his legs and ankles only, but very sore. I'm using sudocrem and aveeno, but it's not really keeping it at bay. The water does seem to make it flare up, and when he's outside just in shorts (grass allergy). Doctor has prescribed more hydrocortisone, but I'm wary of using that too much. Maybe fewer baths, or a wash while he plays with some water in the bath room. Anna, have you found anything really successful?

Had a really rough night last night, dh couldn't sleep, I had a stomach bug, and ds was up a couple of times for something to drink. Dh has called in sick (he did yesterday too), so at least we're having some family time, albeit rather subdued.

Sudovream isn't much cop with eczema as it just dries it out more. It's a drying paste.

We've had the most success with Cavilon which is an emollient barrier cream which we use in the hospital. It's really excellent for healing sore skin and nappy rash etc. It was superb on his dribble rash when his earlier teeth were coming in. It's not sticky like Vaseline.

In saying that though we had a very bad patch around his waist at the back and it didn't go no matter what we used. Was there for a month and just got bigger. Eventually we brought him to the doc and were prescribed Fucidin H which is a hydrocotisone/antibacterial combo cream. That worked immediately. So clearly that was something other than just plain excema but we'll never know what.

To add though I think fewer baths is the first and easiest way to tackle it. We use baby wipes in between baths as he does play in the mud a lot. But we only use them on face/hands/feet (& bum obvs!) and try to leave his back and legs and arms alone outside baths.

And after a bath we do use a moisturiser. Epaderm at the moment but Aveeno is excellent too. Especially that cream-oil one.

Do the babies with eczema get it on the nappy area? Just cos ours is in armpits, elbow pits, knee pits mostly and a bit on the stomach and I'm currently testing to see if it's our washing powder. It is never under the nappy and also never on her face feet or hands, and since the warmer weather it is less in the knees and elbows which I thought might be due to her wearing looser shorter clothes in the summer. Any way might be worth a try if it's the same for you guys. Hydrocortisone got rid of it but it started coming back within a week.

Will drop the sudocrem! It was taking away the redness, but yes, was making it really dry. We don't get it in the nappy area at all, just legs, and two tiny patches on the tops of arms. I wondered about washing powder, but then it would be more spread around. Dh has allergies, so I think it's just a hereditary thing. I was advised by the doctor not to try altering his diet, as it's not likely to be anything he eats, and would mean a lack of vitamins that could be more harmful long term.
Will be starting a new bath time routine tonight! Just a wash and some bowls of water to play with, rather than submersion!
Thanks!

Hope everyone iis OK.

I did another eve last night for same baby as couple weeks ago and back again tonight getting ds2 down early so I can get over there us 45-55min journey there about 40mins back at 11.30/midnight as no traffic

Ds2 woke at 5 this morning fed him gave him to dh at 5.45 he brought him back to me at 7.30 fed him to sleep and he slept from 8-10.30 I grabbed a couple hrs as dh +ds1 went to hairdressers.

Morning everyone! It's been very quiet here recently. How is everyone doing?

We have had a patch of few dreadful nights, DD would wake up around midnight and scream for no reason, any attempt to calm her down would result in her kicking us away and screaming even more. Hideous. Then it suddenly stopped Saturday night she had a quick drink at 11pm and slept till 5am.

Early Friday morning I was watching referendum results coming in on iPad, suddenly at 5am DD woke up, came over to me and asked "What's that?" pointing on my headphones. Now she points and asks "What's that?" all the time.

We have definite naughtiness now. Not sure how effective the firm "no" is as sometimes he copies it back at me and laughs then repeats the behaviour. So annoying. Also having jelly poo so wondering if he's getting his back molars soon. I sincerely hope not as sleep was getting on track. Sleeping through most nights but up at between 0515 and 0545. Some nights he wakes at 1200 then just needs a quick shush and goes back to sleep. Any ideas on the "naughtiness"?

Not a clue. DS doesn't have No yet so all he does is have selective hearing when you're calling him. And if you deny him something he cries and feels very sorry for himself but that's not naughtiness really.

I'm a bit scared of the prospect as so far I've gotten away with murder with being Nice Funny Cuddly Mum and I don't relish the prospect of having to turn into Shouty Mum. But it comes to us all I guess.

We still only have 3 words: Car, Teddy and Nana (banana). By God I'm getting sick of them! Be careful what you wish for and all that! He spots them everywhere and delights in pointing them out ad nauseum and my enthusiasm is beginning to wane a bit!

In other news my SPD is now so bad I have to come off the wards at only wk 28. As I was doing Agency that means no money. So glad we live in a fairly cheap area cos we'd be screwed otherwise. Also thankful we don't have Brexit uncertainty. Huge hugs to all of you over there dealing with all the tumult.

Anna I was to ask what, if any, feelings are in Ireland about the possibility of Ireland reuniting after the Brexit vote. But wasn't sure what's the etiquette was here with regards political topics. There is a lot on news about Scotland considering going independent to stay in EU, but not so much from Northern Ireland or Ireland after initial mention of reunion possibility.

Oh that aint gonna happen. The only people actually chancing it are Sinn Fein and they're a bunch of political opportunists who jump on anything that'll give them a chance to shout really loudly on the 6 o clock news.

Nobody else here is mentioning it as a possibility at all. Tbh, it sounds harsh, but nobody wants NI. The culture is too different nowadays and half of it doesnt want us anyway. And we cant afford half a million new dependants!

Hi all, back from a couple of days away with in laws. It wasn't great. Dh and his sister don't really get on, and his mum bought it up while we we're away, so put a damper the day and upset dh. Ds also decided that it was appropriate to get up for the day at 3am, so we're exhausted and a bit blue.

Nice to be home today, though not really looking forward to having ds on my own again. He's very good, but certainly getting more cheeky and I've had to be really stern with him a few times (mainly for throwing cars and crayons and food!), which I really need to get comfortable with. I'm also struggling for activities to do with him. We play with cars, water, do a bit of cooking, but he's not really into arty stuff. Any suggestions from yourselves or from nursery?

porsmork our nursery last week mixed shaving foam with colours and gave kids to play and paint with it. DD currently doesnt like the touch of foam, not even the bath one, so she apparently had run off and played on her own, but other kids really liked it. Other times they have done glittering and there are paper figures hanging from the ceiling in their room and I find glitter even in her nappy, never mind hair.

I found two second molars sprouting through! That explains a week of horrible nights and DD waking up and screaming for hours...

On holiday in Norfolk this week, quite nice to be away in an almost brexit free bubble. Great place, converted barn so all on one level and owned by a couple with kids so child friendly and indoor pool is great for rainy days. We attempted a bike ride today, I had both dd and her cousin in a trailer, we got lost and ended up carrying the bile and trailer above our heads over not 1 but 2 field gates, steep hills, crying babes (not mine thankfully). No one seems to have remembered it was my idea so I think I'm off the hook. DD has been brilliant, she's loving having other littles around her all day, knackered by bedtime so goes down a dream and whispers sleeps in til 7.30.

Also been offered a new job today, mine hasn't been going well since we got a new department head so started looking last week, interviewed Friday, and here I am! Nervous but excited.

ladydolly that's amazing!

I am a very lazy Mum. I just buy some new cars every few weeks and very much encourage DS to just play with them for hours on every surface he can find including my bump

He never gets bored with them but if he lags a bit then it's his books. We have a few of those 100 First Words books and he gets totally lost in them. In other words I do sweet feck all except supervise from nearby occasionally saying What a Clever Boy in an absent minded fashion. I've always been utterly shit at activities. Am rather a 1970s Mum actually. "Look! The back doors open! Go play in the vegetable patch and I'll wave at you from the window!"

Congrats on new job ladydolly. Interested in detail of place you are staying at in Norfolk please

I'm pretty lazy too, I find it easier to take her out than try and entertain at home. I have alot of time for reading her books though, we do a couple as part of wind down time but she only likes those with flaps and parts she can move.

This is the barn we're in eastmids thefelbrigg.co.uk

At nursery they have these big black trays that go on the table (think they are for putting your tomato grow bags in!) and they put flour or rice or stuff in them. Last week it was flour and glitter and they had a load of arctic / antarctic plastic animals in there to play in the 'snow' :-D

At home she generally just potters around playing with whatever is the top toy at the moment. Currently it's often her plastic tea set - she sets out the saucers, cups and spoons, pours from the kettle to the teapot and then from the teapot to the cups :-D. She also spends a lot of time in the garden playing with her little tikes slide and car - she loves the car - will bring books outside and sit in the car 'reading' them. She loves stickers too and scooting round on her wheely bug toy. We don't do many planned activities at home because they never really seem to be what she wants to do at that precise moment, so there's a lot of time spent preparing and tidying for very little interest from her. I try and join in with what she's doing when I start feeling guilty I'm not interacting with her enough!!

We don't do much in the way of planned activities either. DD is a bit of a lone wolf and will wander off to play alone if she's bored of me. DD is off her food lately. We were on holiday last week and she barely ate anything aside from blueberries and cheese. I think there's more teeth on the way as she's been quite crabby and drooling these past few days. She did enjoy eating sand on the beach though. I reluctantly trimmed her fringe last week and it doesn't look great. It was really long in the middle but barely there at the sides so it looks wonky even though I cut it straight, but she won't entertain bobbles or grips. Will definitely wait until she's asleep in the car next time though! I'm struggling to be "bad cop" when she's being naughty too, especially when family are here and look at me like done something terrible when I tell her off. It's hard at this age because they have some understanding of what they should and shouldn't do, but how much? She was throwing toys off the sofa last week and my dad made it into a game which she found hilarious, so now we've got big plastic toys and books being hurled across the room and in the direction of 7 month old DS I tend to try and distract her with something else.

Lady dolly that looks lovely

Congratulations on the new job ladydolly

We had a "first" this evening: both DH and I are convinced DD said her own name - bear in mind that this is from the child who'll be 19 months old tomorrow and only started saying "da-dee" last week...so it's really exciting for us!

posmork I carted DD off to the local garden centre yesterday in an attempt to find something to do - they have a fish section with some huge koi carp which she watched for ages and then she just liked wandering around looking at the watering cans / pots / --horrible garden ornaments.

annatha, I'm totally with you when you talk about the level of their understanding re what they should / shouldn't do. Yesterday evening DD stood next to the coffee table (where we have a pile of magazines); looked me straight in the eye and then tossed each one on the floor whilst looking at me all the time . Even when I got down on my knees and tried the talking to her in a low but calm and steady voice to pick them back up, she just looked at me and laughed ...guess I need to work on that one.

find (posted too early!)

Eh?!? What's going on?

Ladydolly was trying to say that your holiday cottage looks lovely and a great find!