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

[peachygirl]

Thought it was about time!!

Peachygirl - sounds like you had a great time at the Innocent fete, I didn't find out about it until Sunday morning while reading the papers otherwise we might have got the train in and gone along. Hope you have a good time at your parents.

Babydriver - the squash was very messy, the first piece was immediately squeezed in the mannner of play dough but the next few pieces were a bit bigger and not quite so squishy, I think there must be a perfect size and cooking time to make it easy enough for eating but not too soft .

Just added some new pictures .

marmitemad, the 3 day thing is so that you know the culprit if anyhting isn't agreeing with them or causes an allergy. I stuck with it with DS and will do with DD as we have a lot of allergies in the family. I have to say that ocne I knew DS was ok with most fruit/veg and wheat and dairy I didn't worry so much though that was about 8 or 9 months I think.

DD had some apple puree this morning - DS fed her it with my permission and she loved it. It's funny as I was all set for doing BLW as I had to with DS, but I think I'll mix as it's handy if she'll take a jar off a spoon now and then! She'll maybe get some steamed baby carrots from my grandads garden later in the week though. I won't puree stuff I make for her at home and unless it's out of a jar or yogurt or something I can't see the advantage in spoon feeding.

Sounds like we're all starting to go down the messy road of weaning! We've started and DS loves getting his fingers in everything. Quick question for you about BLW. If they have a chunk of something and it breaks in pieces and drops down their front/on the floor/down the side of the chair. How many times do you pick it up and put it back on their tray? Dominic had real fun with some courgette today and also loved plum. He cries when no more food appears!

lol smudgemum. When DS was doing BLW I would pick it up for as long as it appeared edible/salvagable. Or often I'd make double and give him another portion. Though if anyone I didn't know well (or my MIL) was watching I would bin whatever went on the floor. They do get better with the grabbing and less and less gets pushed off the tray. Well, until they hit the stage of pushing it off deliberately!

Smashing to hear all the weaning stories. Nice to pick up a few tips about what everyone is feeding their babes! Henry has a nice 50/50 puree/chunky bits mix going on. Will devour a piece of ripe fruit if you eat the skin for him, loves toast fingers, cries if you give him rice cakes! DD, Henry and I all shared a jar of HIPP organic penne with courgette and tomato the other day , darn nice! On the bad mother side he is loving ice creams at the seaside and a tiny bit of the froth off a pint!! (BLW again...reached down when DH wasn't looking!)
He is sitting unsupported beautifully...we tried one of those playnests (we call them doughnuts!) ..same as with DD... and he learned to sit unsupported very early as they can wobble around in them to their hearts content without falling!
Has one pearly white and another coming through. Bit me at the end of a feed the other day...I yelled and grapped my nipple while he hung on..like pulling oneself through a serated grater! He chuckled...yes, chuckled at my obvious discomfort! Ouch!

Very cute pics Marmitemad

checking that this works..

ooh, Sallyallyally that sounds painful. Why is that our LO seem to find the most painful things hilarious. Dominic has really started to pinch and managed to grab my nip this morning (through my t-shirt) and really twisted with a big smile on his face We have no sign of teeth yet although the dribbling and chewing has been going on for a few months. I gave Dom some baby rice on his tray last night and he happily shovelled a load in before splashing his hands in it like it was water. I really must get some sort of plastic to go under his chair before the beautiful wooden floor in our rented house gets too ruined!!!!!
CWCE sounds like you're having a tough time but like others have said, we know who you are and can happily do e-tea, cakes and a listening ear any time.

Meant to say that the pictures of Babymite are lovely. Anyone else got any new ones that they've added so that I can have a nosy?

OK... it does work...

Following Curly's example I'm here with my Clark Kent specs on. I have told too many people I know about MN and I would rather keep some things to myself.

So. I did a bad thing last night. After tea I just put a jacket on and walked out of my house without even thinking about it. I didn't say a word to DH, I just checked the baby was OK with him and went out for about 2 hours. I went for a big walk for what felt like about half an hour or so and when I felt like I could face it I went back home feeling a whole lot better. DH scowled at me like I was the worst mum ever but he had done all the bath and book routine and I just needed to feed the baby and put her down. DH did give me a wee smile later on so I think I was forgiven.

One way and another there hasn't been much time lately for family time, far less any time off for me. n top of that our breastfeeding has been going through a difficult patch where the baby has been scratching biting and pinching me during feeds as well as constantly pulling my hair. She's been quite unhappy with teething too, though hopefully that will be better when they actually come through. I'm also starting to worry a lot about money things and returning to work. I'm going to have to go back for financial reasons but my job is pretty full on with long hours and plenty of stress and I just don't know how I am going to handle being away from the baby so much. And I'm sure it's very common after having a baby, but I feel just horrible about how I look. I am still carrying more than 2 stone of baby weight and I wasn't slim before that. My stretch marks and especially my "overhang" just disgust me. And as far as I can tell my body pretty much disgusts DH too. DH isn't big on affection in the first place but I am really missing hugs and kisses just now. Don't misunderstand me, he does help out a lot, he's fantastic with the baby and does nice things for me like candlelit baths, special dinners and suchlike but sometimes I just want a big cuddle and to be told that I am loved.

Last night I kind of snapped. I suppose I just helped myself to a couple of hours off. I know if I had asked him to look after her for a bit while I went out that he would have done without complaint, but I don't think he knows how emotionally and physically draining it is to have someone cry at you and hurt you all day (albeit unintentionnally) and when it's a challenge to even get food for yourself during the day.

Sorry for off loading here. I guess where I am really going with this is that I am scared I might have a bit of PND creeping in and that scares me witless, but no-one else seems to have noticed at all and I don't really know how to ask for help because I'll feel like a total failure. Being a mum is the one thing I really wanted to get right in my life and I thought I was doing ok but it's breaking my heart that it's going a bit wrong.

TBH, writing all this down has helped sort things out in head a bit. So thank you all for listening. Sorry to have gone on so much. Thanx.

psuedonym1, sorry you are feeling so crap, it's good that you managed to get out last night and sounds like you need some "me time". It can be so difficult when the LOs get to that biting, pulling, sctratching stage, DD did it for ages, I am still tandem feeding and DD insits on holding "DS2's booby" whilst she feeds "too keep it warm" As much as I love her, the mauling drives me mad! I know how you feel about thw weight thing, my wheight just hasn't shifted and I don't think it's helped having two close together, I was amazed I didn't have an overhang afer my c/s with DD, but it's eiffinatly caught up with me now.....this is part of the cause of my split with DH, he is nothing but loving towards me but I feel grossed out by my "wobbly" bits and how much I have changed and just couldn't stand to hear him say anything nice as it felt like he was taking the piss....even though he wasn't, poor bloke couldn't win! Maybe we should join one of the weightloss threads together for a but of moral support, let me know what you think I had PND quite badly with DS1 and my HV was great, I got a lot of support and although it was hard to tell her, she thought I was doing fine, actually having someone who made the time to visit just so I could talk was great, she also arranged for a nursery nurse to come for a weekly visit so I could have some "me time".
Just to lightening things a little, you made me at the thought of myself with Clark Kent glasses on!

Thanks to everyone for their virtual hugs and support over my "crappy time", it's good to know you are all there

Hi all, been away for a few days so not been on.
Sorry to hear about the split cwce. I would feel pretty peed off in your situation and it sounds like yo're being v reasonable. And pseudonym don't beat yourself up about taking your time off. When I was bf ds I had lots of probs with breast pain and sometimes I truly felt like throwing him across the room. The demands of bf can be truly exhausting especially around 6 motnhs I think - they're bigger and all their nutrition is still supplied by you. The pain really got in the way of our sex life and put quite a strain on us.
As for going back to work, I don't much want to either. I remember feeling the same with ds as the time approached too. What is helping now is reminding myself that it wasn't so bad once I'd actually gone back. I did enjoy talking with my colleagues and the actual work. I found also that having had a baby gave me a whole new perspective on work - I found it much easier to step back from all the crap and not get so stressed out about it. It became just a job rather than the reason for being!
Calling Bienchen if you're lurking and npot posting - we midlands girls should definitely follow the london laydees and meet up - either mid august or mid sept would suit me. I'm in Brum so an hour or so drive will take me to many places!
Big hugs and chocolate eclairs to all!

sallyallyally - ouch! Those first teeth are like little razors!

smudgemum, try a big bath towel under the highchair. VERY easy to wash.

Psued... (damn you picking a username I have to think about the spelling of! ) Sorry to hear you're feeling low. If it's any help I've felt the same way many a time with both DS and DD. Sometimes you do need to just scream and get out. I think it's normal to feel low at times but if it's more often than not, please do go and see your GP. I've sufffered with depression in the past (not PN) and know that it can be tough to ask for help and that it takes a lot to feel that others are taking you seriously. What I found helped was to write to my DH. OK, so sometimes I spilled my heart out and it went down like a lead balloon. But usually it aired some things and got DH to help me through them. My DH can be pretty crap at times too and we barely have a chance to speak to each other let alone have physical contact. I remember it improving when DS got a bit older so we're just putting 'us' on hold for a while I guess.

On a practical note, try getting some nursing beads. DD is far less pinchy and distracted when I wear mine. Various people o them, on place I can think of off the top of my head is lait d'amour on ebay. I made mine myself and it's dead easy if you're that way inclined.

Weightloss wise, I haven't lost anything for a few weeks as I've not really been doing my 'diet' very well. But prior to that I lost 21lbs in about 12 wks on the Paul McKenna book. There's a support thread for it somewhere but it's gone a bit quiet as I think we've all slipped lol. It's an easy diet that has made me feel very good about myself for the first time in a long while. £5 out of ASDA for the book/CD and worth it!

Right ladies, I think we need a nice fresh thread for all the nice new names and things.

So I have taken the liberty . New thread here

pseudonym - sorry you've been feeling crap, sending you and how about joining me in a large glass of wine and some orange matchmakers? there's plenty to go round .

Bit naughty really as I've been feeling down about my weight as well but had an email discussion with a friend last week and she made a comment about not being happy with her weight but also not wanting to get to 60 and find she'd spent most of her life on a diet, this really made me think about whats important and decided I would stop weighing and focus on trying to be happy with my new body. I invested in some new jeans, trousers and tops today that actually fit properly and I feel so much better but then I did also find out I'd lost 3.5lb at RC class after 2 weeks away (but I still weigh 2 stone more than I did before getting pregnant).

Do you have family/friends who can give you a break? I've started putting dd in the creche so I can enjoy a proper swim and I feel so much better for it.

When are you going back to work? can you think about changing to something less stressful or is that too difficult?

I've worried about having PND as well and up to a few weeks ago was having plenty of sad feelings which DH worried was to do with him or the trauma with my placenta, he wanted me to see the dr and get counselling/ADs but I have talked about it more with friends/DH/HV and seem to be feeling a bit better atm. We are also always out somewhere which helps me and dd seems to be happier although I sometimes think it would be nice to have a whole day with nothing planned.

I can remember in the early weeks thinking how much I regretted having dd and that I hated her, try to remember you are not alone and that you are a fantastic mum especially to be still bf and that it is just a sticky patch and life won't always be so difficult.

sorry for the epic post everyone