April 2018 babies

[Aspenn17]

Hi!

Any mums out there with April newborns? If there is already a group going please point me in the right direction!

I’m a first time mum with a 2 week old little girl looking for some people to chat to with similar aged babies!

@Aspenn I'm probably not much help as my LB is an appaling napper, yet he sleeps from 930pm until about 6 sometimes 7am.

I try to get him to nap every 2/3 hours but he's usually not having any of it! Longest he naps is an hour (though the other day he was asleep on me for 2 hours!)

He can have a nap a 730 until 815 and still go to bed at 930! I think I just have a strange child 🤣

We are usually best and sleepsuit or vest and top and trousers. And sometimes a hat.
We have had an awful week with both the kids being ill, so sleep has been awful recently. But he used to get up about 7.30, sleep at 9.30, 11ish and 3, then sometimes around 5ish a little nap and bed about 7.
Tonight is the first night he has been back to his bed sleeping by 7, and need to get back into a nap routine through the day. But I start work at the beginning of October so that'll change everything again I'm sure

How are we all doing? Think my little boy is now going through the 4 month sleep regression, he won't nap and wakes up on and off though the night, usually hungry but sometimes just fussy and needs a cuddle.

We’re having an interest few weeks sleep-wise. We had been using an arms up swaddle and a Sleepyhead, but decided it was time to stop using the swaddle bag as he was getting a bit big for it and seemed to be wanting to move around more. But having his arms free did disrupt his sleep quite a bit. Then he started trying to roll and move even more so we decided to try taking away the sleepyhead too so he can roll. So 2 big changes for him and obviously even more disruption to his sleep! He has not been self settling as well as he was but I think he is gradually getting used to it, and does seem to be making the most of the extra space by rolling onto his side to sleep. Has anyone else used a sleepyhead?

Alxx, we have stopped using the sleepyhead too, it was great when she was little but it doesn’t seem to have made much difference recently as our LO wasn’t sleeping that well in it anyway once we hit the 4 month sleep regression. To stop her rolling I have put two small rolled up towels under a sheet in her cot, they don’t cucoon her like the sleepyhead did but they seem to stop her from rolling. Our nights are still not great, she is waking up about 3 or 4 times but will settle fairly quickly with a dummy and me putting Ewan the sheep back on, she normally won’t settle when she wakes up at 4/5 so then I feed her and she will go back down for a bit. I really need to teach her to self soothe but it’s so hard, if I put her down before she’s fully asleep she just wakes up.

On the plus side daytime naps are going well again and I’m really loving this age, she is so funny and cheeky! I cried last night because she is growing up so fast 😂🙈 I’m blaming the hormones.

Has anyone started weaning yet? I'm thinking about starting in the next week or so, but not sure if it's to early? My LB is 5.5 months old

@Aspenn my boy was self settling at the start of naps and bedtime with the swaddle and the sleepyhead, which is making it so much more frustrating that he is struggling to do it now, I feel like we’re back to square one. He seems like he wants to roll and sleep on his side but can’t quite get comfortable. But I know it’s a big adjustment going from swaddle up and sleepyhead to having neither and being in the big cot, so we’re persevering through the tiredness! He also still wakes up in the night needing his dummy replacing, I am in 2 minds about whether to ditch the dummy or wait it out until he can replace it himself... anyone have any advice?

@Amy we’re planning to start weaning at 6 months, which is in 2 weeks time. I’ve been reading up on it and we’ve bought a highchair and some other bits- I’m looking forward to it but also feeling a little bit daunted...

@Alxx same here. I was planning on waiting until he turned 6 months old but I had him weighed today, and HV has said to start weaning as he's 6 months old...he is if you go by 24 weeks and assuming every month has 4 weeks, but he actually turns 6 months on 17 October.

So I'm a bit confused...might just try him on a puree and if he swallows take it slowly if he spits it out I'll wait.

We are weaning! It’s a lot of fun but very messy. I started a couple of weeks ago because my little girl was showing lots of signs of being ready, the main one being reaching and grabbing for the food on our plates! I did a couple of days of baby rice then moved onto 3 days of carrot, 3 days of parsnip and now we are on day 3 of broccoli. I bought the tomme tippee little blender (£10 down from £20 in the Asda baby event) and it’s great as it does little portions. I tried to use my nutri bullet but didn’t find it as good. She makes this constant mmmmm noise when she eats it’s so funny. We also got the ikea high chair and insert which is only about £15. The Ella’s Kitchen app is pretty good if you have no idea where to start, it has lots of info and also recipes. There is a free version but the full version is £3.99 but I think it’s worth it. I’m going to mix in a bit of baby lead weaning as she is always trying to grab the spoon off me so I think she would respond well to it but I might wait a month or so. If anyone is doing blw let me know how you are finding it?

Hi, how are you all? I can't wait for weaning! It's going to be so exciting...and messy! On the other hand, it's going to be more work for me steaming and pureeing. I'm planning to start weaning next week as my little girl is turning 6 months old on the 8th of October. We bought Chicco Easy Polly highchair as it looked comfortable and big so every time we eat we sit her in it so she can see us and get used to the chair. I also bought silicone bowl and spoons as I don't like plastic ones. I'll have to puree using hand blander. We'll see how it's going to work. Didn't buy any freezer trays yet as I'd like to batch freeze later on. Anyone else planning on that? When did you start giving water to your babies?
Alxx my LO was used to sleep in her moses basket as it was small. When we moved her to a cot bed, I placed my banana shape maternity pillow to one end of the cot bed where her head goes as to make a feel of the round moses basket and she liked it. Maybe you can try similar? I wouldn't ditch the dummy because it helps my LO to settle at night. As soon as she starts waking up, I run to put the dummy for her to go back to sleep.
Do your LOs sleep in the sleeping bags at night or under the blankets? I bought these grobags and my little girl wouldn't sleep in these. She prefers her sleepsuit and 3 blankets

@Amy my LO is 24 weeks too but I was planning to wait til his 6 month ‘birthday’. He got weighed 2 weeks ago and I talked to the HV about weaning but she said there’s no rush. She said if he starts waking up hungry in the night more than he was then he might be ready for solids, otherwise wait until 6 months.
@yustynne that’s a good idea about the maternity pillow. Although he has self settled last night and this morning’s nap so fingers crossed he’s getting used to it now. He sleeps in a grobag, he’s always got on well with them. I occasionally put a blanket over if the temperature really drops in the night but I get nervous he’ll put it over his face. Yeh the dummy does really help him settle at night, I just get tired getting up to put it back in every 1.5-2 hours! I think we’ll stick with it though now.

Lost this board for a while! How are we all. After my last post I decided to wait to start weaning my LB as he came down with a horrific cold and his bottom 2 teeth cut through at the same time!

Probably going to start next weekend when hubby is home and can help with the process...anyone got any tips?

I have no idea where to start, I went to a weaning class at my local children's centre and it's left me so confused.

Hi all, I've not posted in ages sorry.

I started introducing foods about 4 weeks ago, LO seemed ready, however once I started he obviously wasn't so left it for a week and tried again he was more interested and since then we have been doing really well.

I started off offering a small meal once a day, but am now up to 2 small meals a day.

We're doing puréed individual vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, peas etc. about a tablespoon now, but initially it was a teaspoon.

He's also having baby rice .... which he can't get enough of.

I normally give him something mid morning and then baby rice late evening before bed.

Hi everyone, nice to see you back posting! Yeah, weaning is like a dark forest, wasn't sure from where to start and where to go next. I started weaning more than a week ago. I gave my LO baby rice the first day which she loved and then continued with vegetables. So far she had a puréed carrot and broccoli. She makes a sour face every time she tries a new vegetable. Moreover, she seems to hate broccoli and keeps mouth shut just after a couple of mouthfuls. What about your LOs and vegetables? For how long do you keep offering the same vegetable for them to like?

If my LO isn't too keen on something I'll try giving it him for 3 or 4 days, then if not leave it for a little bit and try again after about a week.

I also sometimes mix a small amount into his baby rice. I guess some things are quite strong in flavour.

My LO seems to love pretty much everything he's had so far, we've had carrots, peas, broccoli, sweet potato, pears, strawberries, mango, apple and banana.

I always thought we wouldn't have any problems with food though, as he's always been extremely interested in what we are eating lol!

He's terrible at the moment for napping though, he's never been great, but really fighting it, which is extremely frustrating.

Afternoon! So our weaning adventure starts today!

Going to start with carrot 😁

I just wanted to check that you offer food after a milk feed? I've got conflicting information that says food before milk and food after milk.

I downloaded the Ellas Kitchen app, am I right in thinking I do 2 weeks of puree and then move on to the 6+ months stuff?

At the moment I was thinking of doing 2 weeks of 1 flavour (diff veg every day) and then do a week of mixed flavours and then bring in breakfast on the 4th week, does that sound right?

I'm so worried about getting weaning wrong that I'm panicking

So weaning failed today, LB still has his tongue thrust reflex so pushed the small amount I offered him out of his mouth...anyone else have this? What did you do?

My LO did this at first @amysaurus87 I tried a couple of days, but was the same so I left it for a week then tried again.

I give in between bottles, which seems to work for us.

I've just been doing single fruits or veg. But I've also been offering some finger foods to encourage him to explore and have a bit of fun. Will just start mashing things roughly soon so he has chunkier meals

We started weaning at the weekend too, just did baby rice on the first day which he seemed to like and took 2-3 teaspoons. However we did the same the next day and he didn’t seem bothered about it. Tried carrot today, I think he ate some but a lot he did push out with his tongue. So I’m not sure if it’s tongue reflex or not, as he did eat the baby rice on Saturday.

I’m also struggling to know when is best to offer solids, in terms of how long before/ after milk. I’ve read he needs to be hungry but not too hungry, which is tricky to time! I’m EBF so it’s hard to offer a half feed which I’ve seen advised somewhere. Any advice?

It's the third weaning week and we are at pureed single vegetables just about starting fruits. I'm afraid we are too slow in this but she doesn't like almost anything she eats. I'm also confused about her pushing food out instead of swallowing. Is it just the way to say she hates it or tongue reflex? I've read somehwere that the best time to offer food is half an hour or an hour after milk feed. This is what I'm trying to do every time but soon after she hatefully tries her vegetables she creams at me requesting milk. So it does not always work to make it between milk feeds. Do you have similar issues?

@Alxx I'm also EBF and offer my lo 'lunch' about 1hr to 1hr 30mins after a feed. He will also tends to want a little milk 'afters' once he has had lunch.

It's hard trying to get timings right when your feeding on demand and need to get baby to have a nap and then try them with some solids as well!

Lost this thread for a while so glad to find it again and you're all talking about solids which is on my mind this week Haha.

We started at the weekend, just a few days before officially being six months. We are doing baby led weaning so really not stressing about how much he eats, or what he actually takes in, just introducing stuff and seeing how it goes. I EBF on demand so have just decided to do food at one meal a day for now and have it at the same time every day (teatime). I'm hoping this way he gets used to having food at this time and adjusts his breastfeeds accordingly. No idea whether that will work or not but makes sense to me

So far we have tried roasted sweet potato, roasted butternut squash, steamed carrot, steamed turnip, ripe avocado, ripe pear, and some stewed pear (which he has had a few nights as "pudding"). He definitely finds it easier to hold the roasted stuff, the steamed veggies are a bit slimy for him to keep hold of but he has such a determined look on his face trying to get them in his mouth haha. He sucks at stuff really rather than actually managing to bite anything I think. With the stewed pear I put a bit on a spoon and give it to him, he pretty much manages to get it in his mouth and swallows quite a few mouthfuls.

It is quite hard not to just step in and try and feed him myself (my husband especially is struggling with this), but I've watched my niece and nephew go through BLW so know it's a slow process to start with. I think he still has his tongue reflex, but he's interested and having fun with the food so that's enough for me for now.

As we are all doing it in different ways it will be interesting to see how the babies progress.

Found someones comment above about the health visitor saying about waking up hungry.... My lb has been waking up to feed much more often during the night for the past few weeks so hopefully the solids will make a difference to this!!

My LO doesn't want to nap daytime. It's been going on like this for a couple of months. Is it normal? She is just screaming and rubbing her eyes most of the time but wouldn't sleep. What should I do? How many times do your babies nap a day and how many hours do they sleep every night?

@yustynne my LB is the same, he is an appaling napper. If I'm lucky he'll have 3 naps totalling 2 hours, but more often than not it's 2 naps totalling 1.5 hours. This said he is a very good night time sleeper and goes down around 9pm and sleeps until 7ish. He doesn't wake up for a feed anymore either, but occasionally he stirs if the room is cold or he has got himself in an uncomfortable position.

Amy I think your baby naps pretty ok. My LO sleeps about the same amount of time at night like yours but the problem is she doesn't nap daytime at all. 0 naps. She is very irritable and most of time crying. I wonder if it's sth to be worried about.