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!

Loving the weaning updates, we are a couple of weeks away though the few tastes E has had have resulted in sime interesting facial expressions.

Has anyone here got a rucksack style baby carrier they'd recommend? We have a sling (close caboo) but I want something for longer walks that I can easily swap across to DH. I think framed designs seem better for weight distribution and have seen a few 6m - 3 year options but would really prefer personal views from this group.

Hope the cooler weather across most of the country means better sleeps all around.

Feeling nervous about sleep training. The consultant wants me to axe all the night feeds but that made me feel too anxious so we agreed I'll do one. She says as a result he will take better more satisfying feeds in the day.

Who knows!

Good luck maybe I'd be worried about the night feeds too though, I try to not offer boob immediately when ds wakes in the night but sometimes it'll turn into complete meltdown and with dp needing to be up for work it's just easier to feed. It's only rarely that the dummy will settle him straight back off.

Time like the others DS hated broccoli the first time I gave it to him and spat most of it out! The next time I mixed it with sweet potato and it all went down.

I just gave DS pear for the first time for breakfast - we had a week and a half of just veg and now starting to introduce some fruit. Wow, it was like I'd given him crack - he wolfed it down and demanded more,
I had to defrost another cube in the microwave quickly! I also gave him half a bit of toast cut into squares and spread a bit of purée on them - well that was also very successful, he sucked all the purée off and some of the toast actually went in unlike the last time I gave him a bit. Most of it still went on the floor, all over the high chair tray and all over him - but it was the first time I've seen him really enjoying food and feeding it to himself so it was lovely!

I'd love to say we had a better night but DS decided that he needed to be awake for no apparent reason between 3.30am and 4.30am. Then of course he slept in until 7 while I was woken up at 6 by DH getting up. Yawn!

Same Q but she thinks me offering to feed every time he woke was what caused our previous attempt at sleep training to stop working, because he's getting mixed messages. I can see her point and I know that he can go 6+hours without feeding as he's done it before. So I think 1 night feed is a fairly reasonable compromise.

Last night he literally just fed constantly but I do feel somewhat better rested as he was just in bed with me. I don't get brilliant sleep when he's in there though as he's so hot and wriggly so it's really not something I'd want to do full time.

I'm really excited to start weaning in earnest now, you guys have inspired me :) I think I'll go down the traditional weaning route of a mixture of purées and finger foods as I just get too anxious about him choking.

Should I introduce veggie purées in the first instance?

Maybe I did. I followed a Cow and Gate book I had that suggested starting with broccoli, carrot, pea and cauliflower purees first. But I also added in butternut squash as we had this too. I introduced fruits the middle of week 2. Apple, pear, avocado and banana. This week I've mixed up veggies a bit, and have bought mango and melon. Plus adding in the weetabix, bread, eggs and cheese.

1french We have an Osprey Poco framed back carrier. It's fab - works both for plump me and skinny DH, though we are both similar heights (5'7" and 5'9") and I don't know how it would be for someone quite short or quite tall. Go Outdoors have a decent selection, you could try on a few.

maybe ooh, thanks for letting me know about not trying to do both night and day sleep together. I sort of assumed it would work better to just try and crack it all at once, but I guess you might end up with a very overtired baby! I'm feeling badly conflicted about doing sleep training. I have nothing against it in principle and we did it with DS successfully, but I'm struggling emotionally with being apart from T. Probably because I am going to work soon and know I will be away from her for 9 hours a day, I don't want to give up my night time snuggles. And she really is a very good non squirmy co-sleeper. I sleep fine beside her and so does DH on the other side of me.

1french we have an ergo and an osprey poco (frame backpack).

DH bought the Osprey (their standard backpacks are second to none) with DS1 but it's only been used a handful of times. I find it heavy and uncomfortable (unlike Osprey's other packs). The ergo, however, was used daily for the first two years and almost daily for another two (and then had a year off before DS2 arrived!)

DH says the ergo isn't comfortable for him, but it's the first thing he reaches for when he's supposed to be looking after the baby and he'd rather be doing something else. It's likely this is because he's been a bit rotund and would probably be better with an onbu style carrier or wrap (but he cba to learn how to wrap!).

Short answer: I recommend a soft structure carrier (ergo/boba/Beco/nova/Connecta/Tula etc) over a frame carrier. Second bonus is that they can be worn on the front, and third is that most of these will be useful up to 4 years.

TheM, I understand your conflict - I'll be back at work full time soon and that's partly why I'm happy (in theory) to feed overnight as needed. (But, he's still in the bedside crib so it's a barely waking slide-n-boob).

We didn't sleep well last night! No particular reason, to my knowledge. He woke up as I came to bed and was awake for about an hour till after midnight, fed at least twice and was WIDE AWAKE at 6am! Ah well, I need to start getting up early anyway!

Like dom I think soft structured carriers are the way to go. I have used the ergo, Connecta and Manduca extensively and they're all gray for different reasons. The ergo is great for v long hours but bulky and gets too warm in hot weather , the Manduca is the most customise able fit wise and the Connecta is lovely for back carries ! Sympathies dom no sleep here either and I'm meant to be packing !

All great not gray !

Thirding the soft structured carrier, though I've never used a framed one so can't compare. I've got a Boba 3g which is great on the back, and a Beco soleil which I prefer for front carries as the straps cross over so it doesn't slip down my narrow shoulders.

Hmm, looks like we need to look more into softer carriers. I'm attracted to their smaller size/weight just thought framed was the way to go for hikes - probably from seing my sister and brother. One thing we are keen on is being able to swiftly adjust. Though DH and I are similar heights - 5ft3 and 5ft7 he is more than twice my weight and wouldn't claim that it was muscle.

Does anywhere on the high st carry framed and soft structured carriers so we can try in the same session?? I've seen framed carriers in outdoor type stores but no softer ones.

Mind you, till E stops puking so often and copiously we are not linng up to carry in that way

John Lewis have the Ergo (avoid the 360 though) but that's it. You'll have to try separately. Look for a local sling library/consultant to try different soft carriers.

Bought this for c today.
12.99 and she loves it

We've got one of those time, S isn't too fussed yet but my boy really loved it! Hopefully you'll get some nice coffee drinking time while she's in there

For soft carriers I'd recommend the manduca, we've got one and today between us me and DH carried dd2 on our front and then dd1 on our back, swapping them over between buggy and carrier. I've actually gone full hippy now and got a woven wrap which is unbelievably comfortable but probably not of much use for hiking! The manduca is definitely light weight and supportive and easily can be modified to suit different heights etc.

Dd2s tooth is now almost entirely out but she's been a bit fussy today so wondering if tooth no2 is on its way. Blargh can't wait for them to be through so i can have my chilled out baby back.

Good luck with sleep training maybe. Glad you were able to stand your ground on keeping a night feed. I get irrationally irritated when people say that by 'X months babies can go without a night feed' as I just don't believe that all babies are the same in terms of stomach size, metabolism etc. We are still in 1-3 feeds a night here, more often than not its two. I'm pretty sure when she has three feeds that one is for comfort but I cba to try to cut the feeds down. If it gets unmanageable then I will as I did with dd1 when I couldn't deal with her 4-5 (sometimes more) wake ups a night. Hope it all works out for you!

Wow to everyone's weaning stories. DD2 is 23 weeks so still a few weeks to go as we are doing just blw so really do need to wait until she can sit unaided, put hand to mouth etc and she's not there yet.

She does seem to know what she's talking about marmite and she's EBF her own kids so I do respect her opinion on the subject but I agree with you - all babies are different!

Does anyone else's baby seem to forget that they know how to roll over? Ds is able to roll from front to back, yet has just screamed the place down - checked the baby monitor and there he is on his front crying and looking scared, went in rolled him back onto his back stuck a dummy in and he's gone straight back off. He's an odd one.

Felt awful yesterday, left dd with dh as I had tickets for something in London with my bro. Fed dd at 10.30 and left enough expressed milk for 2 feeds plus formula just in case. Text dh on the way home at about 6pm and he called to say she hadn't had any milk since I had left,he'd tried everything and I could hear her sobbing in the background. Poor dh had ds to deal with as well by then and had also received some bad news about a family member's health. Of course I immediately checked my feed app and the poor thing hadn't fed for over 8 hours on one of the hottest days of the year . It was almost 9 hours by the time I got in and she then fed from me for almost an hour! We haven't actually given her a bottle for ages so I really should have checked before leaving her.

Oh no MrsElls, poor DD and your poor DH as well. Did he try giving her a cup? Or even a bit on a teaspoon. I'm sure he did try everything, it must have been awful, but you weren't to know, if she's taken a bottle before then you had no reason to think she wouldn't do it again. No long term harm will have been done so try not to worry about it.

Q how recently did DS learn to roll? I found my DS would often "forget" how to roll back from his front when he was first mastering the skill and we had the same, quite a few wake ups because he'd rolled over and not been able to roll back again. Now though he just sleeps on his front 90% of the time anyway!

I told him to try water in a sippy cup and she had some of that but I wasn't far away by then anyway. Its the first time I've really left her for long so I think dh was really trying to let me enjoy it. We will definitely trying the odd bottle every now and again to remind her that its fine!

Rolling rolling rolling... C rolled back to front for the first time today and almost got front to back as well. :) He's 22 weeks on Monday and has a new trick to show his daddy when DH gets home from Brazil tomorrow!

Our new trick is babbling - lots of da-da-da-da-da and bla-bla-bla-bla-bla!

He's forgotten how to roll front to back though! (and its very noisy round here now!)

Yes DS rolled from back to front for the first time yesterday too and now he won't stop!!