March 2016 - I can't think of a pithy title because I'm too sleep deprived :/

[DomesticAnarchist]

New thread?
Sorry, really couldn't think of something humorous!

Up hourly here as he's full of cold and just wants to feed feed feed.
dom wandering hands here too, usually pulling at whatever top/muslin I've got in place to hide my boob.

Hi all, been lurking this week! Camping last weekend was fun, but our "trial run" of dd1 and 2 sharing a room didn't go so well on Saturday as dd1 woke dd2 at bedtime doing her usual "i don't want to go to bed" and woke her at 5am the next morning. Sigh.

We've also got wandering hands here when feeding, have had for a while now. I got a feeding necklace from etsy which helps as dd2 grabs that instead.

Sleep has gotten a bit worse the past few days with dd2 waking up three times (instead of 2) and waking a bit early - apparently she's just entered the next wonder week developmental leap, joy. Dd1 has also decided 5am is her new wake up time. Took her to the dentist yesterday and she's still got two molars to come in, and is almost three so they should be coming soon and im hoping that's whats causing the early wake ups clutching at straws. On the downside since dd2 is 5 months old this means we will effectively have no break in teething between the two! Sad times.

Hope your ds is doing better me. Im dreading chicken pox. Dd1 hasn't had it yet so we're due it!

I'm feeling a bit depressed about my body this week. I'm back down to pre preg weight but my stomach muscles are still at least 2cm separated and so i look pregnant. I do core exercises every day (bridges, pelvic tilts etc) and have been for months, i never miss an evenings core session so i feel like nothing i do will change it I've just bought a belly binder (the belly bandit) because even if it doesn't work to close the gap it still at least makes me look a bit less pregnant. I was thinking of going to the doctors but can see them just brushing it off, particularly as i plan to have another dc at some point.

We still haven't started weaning here yet as i want to wait till six months but i put dd2 in the high chair yesterday and she loved sitting in it! She cant roll yet (no interest) but she can sit for 10 seconds or so unaided so am going to put her in the high chair now rather than the bouncer so she's more involved at meal times.

We've had some bad nights too, after one glorious sleep through S has been waking up at around 4 and taking anything up to two hours to go to sleep, by which point there's hardly any time before the boy gets up.

Dh is off to a festival today until Monday and I'm all on my own for all that time! I think I'll be in my jamas at 7 and plan to have cheesy pasta every night. I can't even drink wine as I'm on call to get my nephew if sil goes into labour!

Sympathies, marmite.

I would expect the GP will try to fob you off, but make it really clear that you've been doing the exercises every day for however many weeks/months AND that it's now causing you psychological distress (allude that it may impact on your professional as well as personal life). You might also need to explicitly ask for a referral.

No direct specific experience, of course, just experience of reluctant GPs who need to be told what to do. And no idea what kind of specialist you might need.

I'm nearly back to target weight (though most of it is probably muscle wastage!) and I swing between being happy with things as 'it's only been 4 months' and 'I'm over 35 now' and 'this might be the best it'll be and that's not bad' and realising that realistically I still look 5 months pregnant. But, I'm fairly sure my muscles aren't separated. Just loose and flabby.

And I should say well done on getting to pre-preg weight. That's a feat in itself.

Ooh, Swear, that doesn't sound fun. (The wake-up, the gallivanting husband and the being on-call).

Our high chair is still MIA. DS2 sat on my lap at the table yesterday and had the best time ever! We need to find it. Or buy a new one. He can't sit up unaided yet though (20 weeks tomorrow).

marmite how annoying, when I had physio for separation (3.5/4 cm, can't remember) they were happy to discharge after 2 sessions when it had gone to 2cm so a referral might be tricky - though worth pushing for. Or could you save for a private session? One may do as it is mainly about correct technique when doung exercises. And you may get a straight answer on whether the separation or something else is at fault. I only say this as even when my separation was at its worst I was back in my usual clothes and didn't look pregnant. I am 37 and walking dogs is my main exercise so not kidding myself I had great core strength .

Sorry to hear some of you have been having sleepless nights. It's so hard trying to look after small children on hardly any sleep.

marmite we've been doing the same with sitting ds up at the table so he can be more included in mealtimes even though he's not ready to be weaned yet. He loves it. I'm sorry I don't know much about muscle separation but I agree with Dom not to let your gp fob you off. I hope you can get some help for it.

french I have had 2 sicky babies. So glad my Dh insisted on a leather sofa because it has to be scrubbed down daily . I remember ds1 got much better after he was weaned so I'm just waiting for that. Everything in our house (including us) constantly smells of sick.

I got to have a little cuddle with my friend's newborn today. She's so tiny! And sleepy! Almost makes me broody but not enough to have another one!

Sorry, to clarify, it is the baby who is tiny and sleepy, not my friend! That would be a weird way to talk about another adult.

So we've had a weaning break as T's had a bad cold since early last week . Today she decided she was interested again and grabbed my apple while she was in the sling. I couldn't get it back, she was so keen. I think I'll give her a rusk or something to slobber over at DS tea time later. T likes to go in her booster seat at mealtimes. It's nice to have her join in.

I pulled out DS's old ERF car seat to see how T fits (it's 6 months plus) and it's broken! The foam is all cracked and torn. I'll have to order a new one. I like the look of the Maxi Cosi 2 way Pearl, and we have the base already as we have the Pebble Plus for her baby seat.

TheM if it's the polystyrene ring the manufacturer. I've broken ours a couple of times (leaning over it) and Britax have sent a full set of polystyrene bits for £15. Much cheaper than a new seat until I do it again.

We bought a new highchair/booster seat (it does both). We'll find the old one tonight, you watch!

Hee Hee Dom that made me lol about the lost highchair!

Swear thank you so much! We have the cabriofix and I would never ever have guessed that the foam comes out. It's out now and DS head looks comfier again, don't know how long for though as he still seems squashed. I'm sorry your nights haven't been great. The cheesy pasta sounds good but the being on your own not so good. My DH is away on a jolly soon too!

marmite DS loves sitting in the high chair and staring at us eating too! He has started to imitate chewing movements with his mouth as I was chomping through a mars bar yesterday which makes him look like a little goldfish. He's not ready to start weaning yet though so he will have to stare and pretend chew for a couple more weeks.

We have wandering hands here too, we bottle feed so both hands are either clamped onto the bottle, half in mouth and half on bottle, or stroking scratching my arm. He loves to stroke DH's arm hair too!!

I can't believe DS is 5 months old today, time is going so quickly it's scary. I met a friend today with her three week old and he was so tiny. It feels like a lifetime ago that DS was that small but it really wasn't! DS got weighed today and is 16ib! Little chunky chunkster!

Dotty aww copying you chewing sounds so cute!

Mship I really like the Pearl too. I only didn't get it for ds1 because it is £££ when you include the cost of the base, but definitely makes sense to get it if you already have it (that's if you can't fix your current car seat!).

I made the mistake if letting ds1 have a 30 minute nap yesterday and so he was up until past 9pm, then ds2 was awake with teething pain throughout the night, then Ds1 was up again bright and early. I've let Dh sleep in because he was up the most ds2 so it's only fair. Hope everyone else's night was better .

dotty ds is also 16lbs and we have removed the newborn insert completely, he started protesting when put in the car seat but after taking that out seems a lot more conformable - same car seat too so might be worth a try.

Same as Q here (and same car seat) - I took all of the newborn insert out a while ago because even without the wedge DS was too scrunched up with the head support in. He is much happier in the car without it, before I took it out he had taken to whinging for the duration of every journey. He is 17lb4oz now but I took it out a good while ago.

DS will be in the seat for a long time yet but I'm not sure what to buy next. We shelled out for the isofix base so the Pearl would be the next one up but I don't know whether to just sell the base and buy a group 1-4 seat that will last him until he's 4 or so. My friends have bought one which swivels so they can stay rear facing for a while, might do that.

DS is more or less completely better from his chicken pox now, the spots will take a while to go but he's all scanned over so we can go out again, hooray! It's been very dull without meeting up with my other mum friends.

Having put it off for ages I finally went and had a smear test yesterday ... I was well overdue, having got my letter a couple of months before getting my BFP, but obviously couldn't have it when I was pregnant. Turns out that a smear test is a walk in the park after having a baby extracted with forceps! I barely felt anything, and there was none of the angst and nerves I had before the last one (only ever had one before this one). One small silver lining of a traumatic delivery I suppose

I've been looking at the joie one in mother care which stays rear facing until 4 but then can be used up to 12 ffacing too.
Well done on the smear me also had one a few weeks ago and seemed like nothing in comparison to having a dr checking dilation haha!
Ds still full of cold here, dp slept on the sofa last night as baby was shouting every hour waking up coughing and sputtering, brought him into our bed so he could feed as needed. Has anyone tried the calpol plug in? Thinking of getting one today if they're any good - his poor nose.

Q the thing that works best for DS when he's got a cold is a humidifier, we bought the Vicks one when he was a very snuffly baby. It emits steam and you put a little Vicks tab in it so it gives out a lovely Vicksy smell! Might not be so great at the moment though as it's been very muggy here and the humidifier does warm up the room. The calpol plug in we did try as well but it didn't work for DS as well as the humidifier.

First night out on my own since giving birth, last night. Only 4h but had a great time ( found local group to enjoy long time hobby with). Not so my DH, found him frazzled and DD starfished on our bed after apparently screaming for an hour straight and only having 25ml of expressed milk. Nothing I know to those that have hard to settle babies but an eye opener for him. Made me realise we must share more of the settling down to sleep though, I do 90% and if he is having a hard time I've been known to swap in (he does same too - last time both were asleep within 10 mins)

Oh yes to the wandering hands and the occasional pinch mid feed.

I now have a crawling baby, pretty slow still but definitely forward motion, anyone got a spare pair of eyes please?

Wow MrsElls first crawling baby of the thread? I'm sure that slow crawl won't be slow for long .

Well done on getting a night out by yourself French. I think 4 hours would probably be my limit for a night out these days! Nice for dads to get some experience of looking after the baby by themselves too.

Q is that the joie stages car seat? Because if so I think it received a pretty poor review on which. I can look it up for you if you like?

Group 1, 2, 3 car seats tend to not perform as well at each stage as separate group 1 and group 2-3 seats do. I think isofix seats are safer up until 18kg too. Can you tell I've been researching car seats a lot recently? The one I'm currently looking at for ds1 is the Britax Evolva which looks pretty good but I can't find any independent safety testing for it.

I've once again had to pull a piece of food out of ds2's mouth after he's snatched it from my plate. I've had a little look at the NHS advice on weaning and he is showing all the signs of readiness and I do feel like he's ready now. He's only 22 weeks though so I'm going to hold out another week or two just to get him closer to the 6 month mark and then start offering him finger foods and leave it up to him. I don't think ds1 ate a single mouthful until he was around 7-8mo so this is all very new and strange for me!

Thanks me got one of those today and he's gone down easier this evening so here's hoping I get more than an hour at a time sleep tonight, today has been much cooler here so the warmth in his room isn't too much of an issue.
1french I'm going out for the evening bank holiday Sunday and keep wondering if dp will be OK - I know he will but keep thinking what will he do if ds won't settle as I just tend to stick a boob in?!
Wow mrsells that's good going! We mastered sitting today, held himself for 3 whole minutes before toppling forward and onto his front haha, some swimming type thing going on but no forward movement.

That was the one trinpy hadn't looked into it as such, just spotted it the other day in mother care. Dp isn't looking like he will be too big for the cabrio fix anytime soon so not really researching yet. We are 22 weeks here too and Rory now does this cute little mouth opening thing when we are eating too, today I gave him a soft spoon to play with while we ate as he kept reaching out for our cutlery. Think will do the same as you hold out another week or 2 preferably but he definitely seems to be readying himself.

Am looking to start introducing a bottle of formula every couple of days, any realuck experience with this? Don't have a set feed in mind it's more just that I don't seem to be able to express much anymore and so need him to take formula if I have to leave him. Would a bottle every other day be OK? Maybe looking to increase to daily then 2/3 a day as we get closer to me going back to work. Thinking he will then be mainly formula fed by January and I intend to only bf for his lastfeed and night feeds if possible.

dp is far too big for the cabrio fix, ds however still fits in it fine!

I think she just wants to copy big brother. We will be starting weaning this weekend as well, she is 25 weeks tomorrow so pretty close to 6 months. If she is on my lap when ds is eating she is literally bouncing to try to get to his plate. Not sure whether she will eat it or just play with it when she gets food though! Need to dig out the Gill Rapley blw book to remind myself what we did with ds!

Wow MrsElls crawling already! That's amazing. DS lies on his front and tries to pull himself forward like a wiggly worm but he isn't strong enough yet.

We're a weak into weaning here and DS is doing really well. He's had a different vegetable every day and the only one he really hasn't liked is broccoli. I think I'll try it again mixed with something sweeter. All the other veggies have gone down well and he has also tried (and loved!) mashed banana and today a tiny bit of buttered toast - which he didn't really know what to do with! Next week I'm planning to introduce more fruits and maybe some yoghurt - DS is not quite 6 months (24 weeks) so I know technically I should just stick to fruits and vegetables for now really.

Has anyone read the thread in AIBU about using pouches ... some very strong views! I haven't given DS any yet but as I posted on there I do plan to buy a few of the fruit ones where they're fruits I wouldn't usually buy, and maybe for when we're out. Though so far I haven't found it really hard work to take a little Tuppaware pot and a spoon out with me.

Sounds like it's going well me like you I have no issues with pouches, was chatting to sil at the weekend about weaning as dniece is 10 months and she used them for ease when knowing they'd be out all day or if out for a meal in a restaurant. Don't think they do any harm but wouldn't personally choose to use them and nothing else from a taste point of view but also intend to introduce ds to eating what we eat more often than not anyway.
I do wonder though - with buttered toast, do you have to buy unsalted butter or can you use the lightly salted stuff for baby's?

Me we are c. A month from weaning but thinking about it, how do you time food from BF/formula? I've seen suggestions one hour after BF, do you time like this or around your own meals?

I dipped into the pouches thread but it all looked a bit angry for me. I may get a pouch or two as backup but love cooking and do it from scratch for us daily so doubt I'll use many.

Q fingers crossed your DH is fine. Mine is usually very good at settling DD and in the first few weeks was the only one that could. He just had bad luck, though may have overstimulated her playing a bit too close to bedtime...

MrsE impressed at the crawling. DD scoots in circles and pushes herself backwards but rarely gets up on her knees/feet so nowhere near crawling.

I have to say the piece DS had today had salted butter on it - I reasoned to myself that it was such a small piece - just a tiny corner off the piece I was eating - and so little of it actually went in (he really just bashed it about with his fists) that it wouldn't matter! However I am planning to buy unsalted for him for the future.