************DECEMBER 2006 - PART 3 ****************

[MARGOsBeenPlayingWithMyNooNoo]

I was brave and started a new thread!

Hello!

Lucy I'm so sorry for your family.

Will someone please tell my keyboard to function normally, exams are not over yet and I need it!

In deepest darkest parental home again (would ask you for a coffee AQ but I'm on a bit of a pre exam hideout and work, though I'll prob be taking ds swimming this week.....you have my e mail if you fancy that!) Feed, hand ds over to mum, work, feed, work, lunch, feed, send ds out for walk with dad...erm.....MN...damn, went wrong somewhere....ok ok I'm leaving!

The sleep by the way has not been repeated

where is everyone? Indith, you are working your proverbial off, Margo, you are moving house, Oli, hopefully you are too....??

Hope everyone is ok, LOs too. We're still fairly cold-ridden but not in the nastiest stages - hopefully (do wonder about dd2, who is dribbling a lot and uncharacteristically grumpy/crying: either teeth or a sore throat, teeth please please please).

Solids are going well - babyrice being her favourite, with squash/sweet potato or banana far behind, and apple a big no-no. She's learning to swallow, but also how to blow huge raspberries with a mouth full of mush

Does anyone know/remember how much water I should be offering a newly solid-eating babe?

Hope you all have good nights, and Lucy, am thinking of you and your family...xxx

I'm here, Eli! I can't remember giving DD1 any water when I was weaning her - just loads of BM. But then again, I can't remember what I had for supper yesterday, so I wouldn't listen to a word I say

I'm trying frantically to get ready for our holiday (we don't leave until Saturday). But my lists just keep getting longer. And I don't know how many times I've asked DH to sort out what he wants to take so that I can work my packing miracles on it (I am very skilled in packing and can cram loads in!) I did, however, order the cutest swim nappy and matching hat from Jojomamanbebe Utterly frivolous, but oh-so-cute.

How much wine can I drink on hols and still breastfeed safely? Priorities ...

And I got my eyes tested today, and my short-sightedness seems to be correcting itself, although my astigmatisms are changing, or something (I don't really understand - I thought that astigmatism [astigmata?} were pretty much stable - ie I was born with weird-shaped eyes and thus they will stay). So I still needed to get new specs. Why is it so difficult for me to commit to a new pair of glasses? I end up dragging everyone in the shop into the decision.

Morning all.

DD slept from 7.20pm until 4am last night he had a 10 min feed and went back to sleep unti 6.30 so I am in heaven.

Eli - I am gust giving breast milk & solids. No water.

BP - My eyesight (short sight) has improved since I havent worked in an office (4 years) and - ahem - am not in front of a computer all day...

I have been trying water from a cup immediately after solids but dd doesn't really know what to do with the cup so isn't actually drinking - if some water manages to get into her mouth she looks a bit bemused and the water dribbles out of the side...

Still doing lots of bfs though.

I have just had two fabulous nights! Sunday, bed at 7.15, resettle at 9ish, feed at 10.30, resettle 11.30, feed at 5.15! Wake at 7.30 - no inbetween wakings! (or I slept through them )
followed by:
7pm bed, 8.30 resettle, 2.15 I wake him up as I am so uncomfortable and desperately want to feed him, 6.50 Feed and wake for day. Unfortunately when I went back to bed at 3am there was a strange vibrating noise (like an electricity sub station gone wrong!) and it took me 2 hours to get to sleep after trying sleeping in bed, on the sofa, on the floor in ds's room and eventually back in to bed in despair!
I had got 2 sleep books out of the library but hadn't turned the page (until I couldn't sleep last night!) - maybe ds took all the info in through the covers?
I had been v jealous of Indith's sleeping baby but I think mine's stolen your sleep vibes

Hi unchief and welcome

welcome unichef

great news sascha!!

my DD is on 3 solids meals a day and cat get enough. lol.

She is still b/f every 90 mins to 2 hours during the day to. Not sure how to stretch them out as I had hoped solids would help.

Margo, good luck on the house hunting

Eli, I just give bm and solids usually but have started to give a bit of water from an avent soft spout to get him used to it. He is great and takes it no problem.

Ds1 is still not sleeping great, keep waiting for his cold to come out properly but its just sniffles at the moment.

My mum has just got a new puppy who thinkks ds1 is a toy Dd4 (nearly 4) makes up for it by thinking the puppy is a toy

Ok someone come and do my ironing!!!!! Please Its a mountain and the kids are wearing the same clothes that don't need ironing!!

Welcome unchief Dd is on solids and eating really well which is a huge relief as bf has always been a bit of a battle. Sh'e been very happy with a spoon although i have tried her with a bit of banana and a rice cake as finger food. I'm not entirely convinced about blw because of the mess!!!

Hello everyone ...

Glad to hear some of lo's are getting sleep now ...

DS has recovered from his cold at last...but has a little ratty cough but doesnt seem to bother him so thats good . last night he slept from 9pm to 4am , feed then it took ages to resettle - everytime i put him down he wakes up grrr ! so didnt get back to bed till 5.45am !! then he woke up 15mins later - DH got up and fed him then he settled back in his cot at 7.15am till 10.30am !!! so I had a nice lie in !

Weaning is going very well - loves his food -havent figured out wot his favourite is yet as he seems to wolf down everything and cant get enough ! I certainly feel hes gaining weight well !, 2 meals a day with sometimes fruit puree at lunchtimes .

My breast are bit sensitive today..ive stopped b/f as with holidays next month and rtning to work in July , I started weaning him off breast early - with DD1 i had trouble weaning her off the breast and took ages for her to get onto formula so I thought I'd be more prepared with this one ! hes 5half months and now takes formula no problems . Should I be feeling guilty about stopping bm before 6mths ? But I feel much better feeding him on bottle now as DH can take over with feeding more often ..and ditch the nursing bras !

Welcome Unchief ...I havent started giving my ds water alone yet as I dont know when/wot age youre supposed to give it to them ?

Coco, you shouldn't feel guilty at all! I thought it takes about a week for your body to comfortably 'drop' each feed so it would take about 5 weeks to change 6 feeds to formula if you are intending to stop bfing completely - better to prepare for it than to end up everything being a mass panic at the last minute and being engorged and ending up weepy and painful with the risk of getting an infection! Just feel pleased that you have given your LO the best start in life (and pleased that dh can do some of the feeds )
I'm now on a dairy, egg and wheat free diet! Help! So for lunch I ended up cobbling together bacon, lettuce and tomato in a corn wrap as I have no gluten free bread yet (have the flour but not got round to making it for some reason ). Have GP appt Friday to get it all officially in ds's records.

'Just feel pleased that you have given your LO the best start in life '
Sorry, don't mean to upset anyone who's not bfing! Should have written it differently!

GS, my ds too feeding every 90 mins or so. Trying really hard to space them, but he's not having any of it! Although of course I haven't weaned him so that might be a solution. Still putting it off, I must at least puree some stuff or look at BLW and what it's all about. HV suggested giving him water to see if he was just thirsty, but I haven't so far. One thing that will always amazingly shush him every time is stepping out into our garden, he never makes a sound just looks around big-eyed grabbing fronds of things. Been v.helpful with his teething grumbles of late.

Coco, I think five & a half months is amazing, don't feel guilty about stopping now But I do think Sacha's right about dropping feeds slowly otherwise it could be harder for you.

Thanks Sacha & AQ..

I started dropping breast feeds 3wks ago and introduced formula for each one , so its worked well ..and certainly has an impact on the bm , expressed less then last friday I only managed to express 5oz so I decided then and there just to stop , so over weekend they only started to become sensitive - so am hoping it will stop soon

Welcome, Unichief

Good to hear all the fluids/foods/feeding stuff from everyone - will stop worrying about giving dd enough water, as she's only really taking two small feeds of babyrice (with or without fruit puree added) per day, and a spoonful or so of veggie puree at lunchtime. Not very keen on anything bar babyrice, yet, and still learning to manage proper swallows!

Thing is, its probably about 60/40 breastmilk/formula for her now - so wondering if thats enough BM without water, IYSWIM?? She does seem to like water, and has a cold (still) so maybe a bit of it is good??

Sounds as though a lot of our LOs are starting to go a bit longer at night - dd2 certainly doing better since starting solids. If she has a dreamfeed, she'll only really need one other feed till the morning - going 5-6 hours first stretch.

But am still knackered, as am coughing all night - if its not one child, or t'other, its me

Unchief ..

Poor baby , hes been through a lot ..hope he gets better soon ..I know he will ...My ds had bronchiotitis last month and it was a worrying time so I understand what youre going thru ..hang in there x

Hi all, sorry no time to catch up.

Good news is, we exchanged today and move Friday so will be offline for a bit.

Ds2 isn't sleeping - he's up every 50 mins on a bad night and every 3 hours on a good one. Thank goodness I'm at ILs as they send me back to bed when ds1 and dd get up so I'm catching up vslightly in the day. I think ds2 is my payback for the other 2 who were really good sleepers!

Great news about the house, Oli

Bad news about the sleeping

Welcome, Unchief - sorry to hear your LOs been poorly.

Not just you, unichief. Attractive but repulsive at the same time iykwim!
Oli, every 50 minutes!!! OMG how are you surviving woman, you have to find a cybercafe to come on here every day to keep sane

DS2 wouldn't take his eyes off my toasted cheese sandwich (to the point of being quite annoying really) so I gave him a bit of the crust. Is that baby led weaning? Have just pureed 4 different vegetables and soaked apricots so I'm getting ready to start!