FEB 07 ***** A brand spanking new thread

[peachygirl]

Thought it was about time!!

hello everyone just caught up with everyone, the babies seem t be busy! DS2 is just a gorgeous "big lump"! He is still very clingy and spends most of his time in a sling or my arms which is getting a bit wearing now, no attemts at sitting up or rolling over are being made and he is still b/f every 2 hours or so.

Have had a bad few weeks, DH and myself are in the process of splitting up and DS1's transition to high school has gone very pear shaped, I chose the school because of the special needs facilities that they said they would provide and in his last week of primary I find out they aren't offering the support they promised and have even put him in a form without any of his friends, he has a social communication disorder FFS, it took him 4 years to make friends at primary, I am so and at the same time as I know this is the wrong school for him but noone wants to help, the LEA are hopeless and the autistic link team don't want to get involved due to "a conflict of interest", it makes me so mad.

We have just had a lovely week at Centre Parcs in Nottingham, DS1, DD and DS2 all loved the quietness and the facilities, I had the most lovely busy but happy time, my parents and sister and her partner joined us for the weekend, I desperatly tried to get to the spa but DS2 was so unsettled I couldn't leave him with anyone......hopefully next time I will get a bit of "me time"

ohh, just realised none of you will know who I am as I have name changed, slightly paranoid but just don't want DH checking up to see if I am saying anything, and also incase anyone he knows uses MN they will be able to identify me by my previous name, I was the one with the nappies in my name sbn

Last night we had our first night sleeping from 7pm all the way through without waking. In fact, I went in and woke him up at 5.45am as my boobs were so engorged I HAD to feed him. It has had a strange knock on effect of him sleeping more than usual today which seems a bit bizarre. Is that normal?
Also dare I ask, does anyone want to do it again? What gap are you leaving between this bubba and the next one?

cwce I have thought of doing the same thing for the same reasons funnily enough.

GOodness me, I never seem to get much of a chance to post here. DD is a lovely wee thing. She's really content in her own company which is a good thing as I often forget about her when seeing to DS then realise she's been sitting in her bouncy cradle without any toys or anything to do for 20 mins without a peep! She's still a crap sleeper though. Used to it now I suppose. curlywurly, I'm still feeding every couple of hours, though not for any real length of time.

CWCE sorry to hear about the school and your DH. I'm really at the school too! I just hate that noone takes any responsibility for anything in these situations and I really do hope that you get something sorted soon.

Sorky, I found with DS the more sleep he got, the more he took. Still the same at 2, he slept well last night and then napped for a whopping 3 hours today. NOT planning number 3 for quite a while... if ever. Just found out that my cousins going to be a dad so I'm handing all my equipment etc down to them I think. With his girlfriends pregnancy, 2 of my friends being pg with their 2nd ones (one due in a few weeks, one in Dec) and then I visited a lady for the bf peer support thing i do today who had a 2 day old... I'm seriously broody! Though I thought that the 18 month age gap we have was awful when I had morning sickness/was huge pg/the first couple of months I now think it's great. Any longer and DS would have been jealous and terrible 2s. And if I was to do that sort of gap again, I'd go a few months shorter. MUCH easier to deal with a 15 month old and a baby than an 18 month - 2ish yr old I think. Or I'd leave a gap of 3+

Hi all
Sorry to hear about your woes Curly, any support I can offer, just ask. Thats very naughty of the school. you may have grounds for complaint could you try the govenors? there will be one which has SEN responsibility and maybe the statementing team in the LEA???

I've thought about the next one at the moment we can't afford to have one too close so I'm thinking of about 3 years, hopefully DD will then be starting nursery which we won't have to pay for.

I'm still Bfing. I suppose we have gaps of about 2-3 hours and sometimes she is very snacky. She does have the formula at bedtime which helps at night.

We have just come back from a week in Wales in a Caravan - weather was ok - didnt use the raincover once while we were out, but it rained at night or early morning. Was a good break.

cwce - schools are a law to themselves - it is very infuriating - I hope you get something sorted - they forget that it is people they are dealing with not units that have a cost attached.

We are not having any more kiddies - two is enough for me - the house isnt big enough!! We have a five year gap (less two weeks - both Feb babies) which has worked out fine - she plays well with T when she can be bothered!

We have started on food, aminly because he tries to grab anthing yo have if he can reach, and if not you can feel his eyes watching everything you eat with the mouth wide open! If he gets given anything his legs and arms wave in an excited fashion! Tried apple, sweet potato and peach and banana - apple and peach ok rest was not good! Baby rice didnt go down too well either! Problem we have is that he is sick all the time - whether it is five mins after a feed or two hours later - and food makes no difference. Will persevere though as he loves it! HV was as useful as ever - suggested talking to the doc - will post message on weaning board instead - may get more useful advice!

CWCE - sorry to hear about the troubles with DH and school, love the new name, making me want to eat creme eggs now .

I am already feeling very broody but would like to wait around 3 years before number 2 as it would be easier for me with one lo walking (well mostly walking).

I have been looking into training to become a Waterbabies instructor as a career change and to satisfy my tiny baby needs, feeling very excited about it but had a meeting today with the lady who would be my employer and there is some doubt about whether I would be able to physically cope with the lessons because of my arthritis so thats a bit frustrating.

We are enjoying the lovely weather with lots of pub lunches and long visits to the park with other mums/babies. Hope it continues....

Peachygirl - any news about DHs job yet?

Meant to ask how all the babies are doing with sitting unaided/unsupported? DD has been close for a long time but is still a bit away and just topples. Though she's OK in the highchair/booster. It's a bit weird for me as DS was sitting well from 5 months. I was hoping to hold off weaning until she was sitting, but DS decided to wean her at the weekend (24wks) on a ricecake (could have been worse lol). She LOVED it so she's getting more in the way of ricecakes for a couple of weeks and then we'll move onto other things.

She's moving around on her tummy (mainly 360!) and attempting to crawl as well as standing all the time and attempting to pull up. She's so eager to get on the move and very frustrated. I think that's why she isn't putting much effort into sitting? I don't want a mobile baby yet lol. Mind you, if she rolls over a few times she can go the width of the room anyway.

CWCE - big hug from us... sounds like you've been having a rotten time. Don't worry about the new name... we all know who you are and we won't let on to anyone else....

I know where you are coming from though, it's the downside to telling everyone I know how great Mumsnet is... it means that anyone can look up my posts and see whatever I am saying... not that I have ever really had anything controversial to say... but if I did I might be tempted to go under another name myself...

Wow suzi2 - standing???!! T can sort of sit for a few seconds then plops on to her face!

CWCE, sorry to hear about your troubles, hope things get better soon.

I had my appointment at the hospital today, I saw a very nice lady doctor who had a good look/poke at me (nobody warned me not to look at the screen beside me until I was a big close up shot of my bits - eugh!). She concluded that I shouldn't have surgery as it would put me back to square 1, but should just wait for time and carry on taking the Amitryptiline (sp?) until I have mended completely. I need to get a lower dose though as it knocks me out and I'm a zombie all the next morning!

I gave T a piece of fruit yesterday and she ate 3/4 of it. Can you guess what it was??

A grape.

That's right. A grape. Three measly quarters of a grape. That's it. Ah well, I'll try again in a week or so....

Moosma, she needs supported by the hands. But if you let go she stays up for a few seconds - longer than she manages to sit for anyway! Sorry, but I have a huge mental image of your bits on a screen... not that I've seen your bits...

Sorry if I gave you nightmares!

dd can sit for a few mins unsupported but it still pretty much depends on how she is feeling and the positioning. no standing going on here although yesterday I had a cuddle with a lo born the day before and she was forcing me to let her stand up on my lap, which she then did for ages with no wobbly legs.

Mossma - were you happy with the outcome of the hospital appointment? what dose amitriptyline are you taking? is that for pain relief/mental relaxtion? I used to take 10mg amitriptyline at bedtime to help my brain detach from my joint pain but I am too scared to go back on it as it used to really knock me out and I'd feel a bit grumpy in the morning (am worried I won't hear dd if she wakes). Dr has suggested I give it a try though as I am really not sleeping well (and dd is).

dd hasn't managed to eat anything yet she just sucks whatever I give her although she did break off some green bean on sunday but then started to gag so I took it away (but will be braver next time) and when she had a piece of bread on Tues MIL removed it 2 secs after I gave it to her which made me a bit cross.

couple of weaning questions which I know I should ask on the weaning thread but don't want to feel really stupid

is there any particular type of bread I should give as I was a little worried about the salt content? or does it not matter as they eat so little anyway?

what sort of rice cakes should I get? the organix ones say from 7 months so can I just buy the lowest salt normal ones and break into pieces?

MM - I've been taking 10mg too, I was told it's a low dose but because I am small it has more of an effect on me. I'm going to ask my gp if I can get a lower dose, but I think 10 is as low as it goes. They said it's a nerve supressant (sp?) which works for me as I am over-sensitive for no good reason! It does make me sleep very well which is nice, but I can't wake up the next morning (poor dh!).

Bread - They're much the same TBH. They're all quite high in salt but if you give nothing else with salt that's fine I feel. I think the guidelines for under 1s are less than a gram of salt a day. Which would be about 2 slices of bread (maybe a bit more). So I use to work on that rule with DS - no more than 2 slices on average in a day and no other salt. You could make your own, but when I did I found that I needed a little salt for the texture to come out right and it was easier to buy! Some brands are lowering theirs so have a read on the packets.

Ricecakes - You can get salt free ones pretty easily and they're fine. you might find you don't need to break them up - DD enjoys them whole with 2 hands! The organix ones are tasty though with the apple juice on them. The 7 months thing isn't really for those doing a bit of BLW. There's nothing in them that isn't permitted before then.

ooops I forgot to post about it Dh didn't get the job. He got good feedback they said he was very employable but the went for someone with different research interests... this is quite ususal in academia they often have very specific criteras for jobs but don't let this on in adverts!
He was a bit disappointed but I suppose relieved too as we won't have to move in the short term.

hello everyone - and hugs to curlywurlycremeeggs: feel free to come on here anytime for an e-cuddle. sorry peachy that your DH didn't get the job but as you say, at least you don't have to move again!

DS still has his cough/cold so a bit under the weather. Worse at nights, which is annoying given that before he was ill, he had just started to go from 7:30 bedtime through to about 4:30am and then 7ish wake up.

Weaning trundling along. Most of what he's tried has just been sucked or squashed - very little going down yet. Haven't tried anything other than fruit & veg yet but he's 6 months tomorrow so will crack open the rice cakes to celebrate! I'm also offering the odd spoonful of mashed food (same as whatever he's got as finger food) to get him comfortable with spoons, as I figure there are some regular foods eg yogurt, soup, mashed potato, which you do need a spoon for and I don't particularly want a spoon-phobic babe.

bye for now.

A bit quiet here - all enjoying rare sunshine?!

A word of warning - when you feed your LO weetabix watch out for the poo! DS had two teaspoons of my weetabix and about 6 hours later had a poo which pebbledashed his bum and yes it is as hard to get off the bum as it is when it has dried on a bowl! Wont be trying that again in a hurry!

Did some plums for him today to try later!

He now rolls all over the place back and forward bit of a shuffle in the middle and that gets you around the room! On his front he is pushing up his bum into a crawling position - very funny as he goes no where!

Just added a piccie to profile from our hols - visit to a castle in the baby carrier

well I leapt right in on Friday and gave dd some steamed parsnip sticks on friday at the baby group picnic. Tried to do it discreetly with dd facing me as everyone else had their jars and pots of home puree out but unsurprisingly someone noticed, cue the funny looks but dd seemed to enjoy it and in the afternoon MIL asked if I had anything for her so she gave dd some more parsnip and didn't panic .

Decided to be a bit more adventurous at home on sat and tried steamed butternut squash (very squidgy but she seemed to eat loads) and roasted parsnip (not as successful as steamed ones). Later on she grabbed some banana off me (very, very messy).

All in all a very liberating experience that I want to continue although I wasn't sure about whether you are supposed to give the same thing for 3 days like with purees.

Thanks for the advice about bread and rice cakes, I won't panic about bread as I can't see us managing 2 slices for a while yet and I found some very low salt Cow and Gate rice cakes although will check out the adult ones as well when I haven't got DH tapping his foot.

Am feeling a bit annoyed atm as have been watching and bidding on a few Tripp Trapps on Ebay, 3 went up yesterday for pick up only to end in 5 days and have just got home to check and find out they have finished early on buy it nows. Not very fair imo .

Hi all.
We had a lovely day out today at the Innocent Smoothie village fete in Regents park, Lots to see and do and lots of free stuff.We made out like bandits!!
3 alpro cool/ lunchbags - just rght for my packed lunch in school and DD food when we go out, free samles of ecover, sunream, a mini beach ball, a fan and a cotton bag, 4 packs of yorkshire tea... lots and lots. It was a great day out. Lots of lovely things if you had older children face painting, puffin books to look at, minitractors and ferret racing and dog agility etc.
We are off to my mum and dads tomorrow for the week so I'll not be around.
DD scoffed her pureed apple and also had a good chew/ suck on some melon slices on the train on the way home
well done marmite on the parsnip, so should that be well done mini marmite

Peachy, v envious of your day out - we really wanted to go but decided it was a bad idea just before we go off on our hols. Will certainly do it next year.

Hope everyone has been enjoying the sunshine. We ate most of our meals outside this weekend which was great, although Evan's desire to chuck most of his food on the floor has left lots of slug fodder on the patio. Still very little actually going in, but it's still early days. Well done marmitemad baby for eating the squash. Evan finds it very slippery so either squidges it in his hands or drops it down his front. I haven't figured out yet how to make stuff soft enough to eat but still robust enough to hold.

marmite not sure how much you want to pay but back in action have tripp traps in clearance for about £70 link is here

cwce - thanks for the link, I had already looked at Back in Action for the brand new ones but decided £150 was a bit too extravagant (DH nearly had a heart attack). I didn't realise they had a clearance section. I am prepared to pay up to £100 to get the chair and baby set so £70 for a chair is about right. Have sent them an email to reserve one which I can go and have a look at at the Amersham store.
So looks like no more stressing with Ebay, Happy marmitemad on a Monday