February 2019 babies - thread 2

[Celebelly]

New thread, ladies!

Ok TMI, but did anyone else feel like there was something in the way in there, when having sex for the first time after the baby?

@DeliberatelyGinger - not this time as I had a section, however after my first it was really painful / uncomfortable. I'd had an episiotomy which didn't go all that well x

deliberately it's probably nothing but you might want to get checked by a doctor or women's physio just in case you have a small prolapse. Where I am you can self refer to physio for postnatal issues. And get doing pelvic floor exercises if you aren't already, really makes a difference!

@detachablehoof I've got the Weaning Made Easy Recipes book. I used it last time and still make one or two of the things for everyone. It's got a mixture of purées and more blw type recipes but I found it gave a good, balanced view of both approaches and a combination.

Hello all, hope you’re all well.

I went through a pretty terrible patch but have (mostly) been feeling much better the last 2 months. I think my hormones have had a huge impact on my fluctuating mood and so I’m keeping a very close eye on them now, but it’s definitely not the whole of it, and I still get down and anxious during difficult days and worry about how I’ll keep coping as the changes and challenges keep coming too...

DD has started with a childminder 1 day a week now (to help me get back to my uni work) and will be 2 days from November when I return to work. It has been really tough leaving her but she’s adjusted well, and in all honesty I think the breathing space each week is starting to make a difference. Being able to focus on looking after myself as well as uni work (swimming, a cinema trip for my birthday) has been a big plus. I always wanted her to settle into it early and I’m relieved it appears to be going well.

We are doing BTW and if anyone has any good hacks to make planning and prep easy then please let me know! I find myself flapping around the kitchen trying to find something for her to eat quite a bit! I’ve never been much of a meal planner as I like to be spontaneous with food!

I’m using the opportunity to try and diet. To get to a healthy BMI I apparently need to lose almost 2.5 stone/16kgs which is seriously disheartening. I’m naturally curvy for my height (massive boobs) so take it with a pinch of salt but still... it feels like a bit of a mountain to climb. I’ve lost over 10kgs before and it took me 18months and I was so exhausted AND had time for Pilates and running so who knows how long it’ll take this time (and that’s just to get to being over a stone heavier than I was at my lightest!).

I feel motivated though, and the no sugar in her diet and really wanting her to not have to deal with childhood ‘puppy’ fat like I did is a big motivator. We went on holiday in July to Austria and all the kids were so slim and athletic, it really made me focus on wanting an active, healthy family.

@bubblybrit we have the BT and agree it is good, although I find it makes me anxious when it goes off with her just wriggling in her sleep! At night we are close enough to quickly hear her crying so I don’t have it on anymore as I find it a bit stressful and disturbs my already very limited sleep... it’s great in the mornings though when I’ve gone downstairs to get breakfast started etc.

A little picture of her having a hipster brunch x

@powkin. I ended up buying the BT monitor and agree that it’s pretty good. I only use it during the day for naps as DD is still in our room at night. She is 6 months now so I do need to think about moving her to the nursery but I’m not fully ready for that yet!

Hope your weight loss goes well. I’m really struggling with it at the moment. I’ve lost 2 stone but really need to lose another and tone up a little (especially around the tummy area). It’s difficult as DH works long hours and also travels for work so I’ve no time to go to the gym. I’ve been walking loads with DD but it just isn’t enough. My diet needs to improve as well. It’s fine at home but I’ve been meeting friends/family for lunch or cake which needs to stop ASAP!!

I’m glad you are feeling a little better now. You are doing brilliant as your little one is gorgeous and looks very happy and content in your pic.

Glad to hear you are getting on ok @powkin. It's great to get some head space and it sounds like you've found a good balance. Your little one is adorable!!

I also could do with losing a stone: am going to start a trampoline fitness class in September and do couch 2 5k when DS1 is in school and push the buggy.

Re BLW I find Max likes any type of bread so give him toast, buttered bread and especially wraps which he seems to love. I also give batons of carrot and sweet potato and spears of broccoli and small chunks of strawberry and mango .Haven't tried him with any meat yet though. Doing a mix of BLW and spoon fed food at the mo: weetabix is another favourite but causes a real mess!

Hi all, not been on in a while! DS2 is 6 months today. He's big! I think around 20lb, he's been rolling for a couple of months and almost sitting independently. No teeth yet but the bottom ones are close (hopefully).

So I need help with his sleep! Since 8 weeks he was sleeping through (9pm - at least 5am) and he gradually just got better. He'd been sleeping 7pm-6am for a while. Then all of a sudden a couple of weeks ago, he stopped! It was mainly because he was rolling on to his front in the night, waking up unhappy and wanting to be rolled back (he can't roll himself back reliably yet), but this has descended into waking fully and crying, and he won't settle without milk! He had TWO night feeds on Tuesday, it's not been as bad since then with only one feed around 3am, but it's not a habit I want to get into really as he's been without a night feed for almost 4 months!

Any tips? He SCREAMS if we try and settle him in other ways and milk is an instant settler. Problem is he then seems to be having slightly less milk in the day. We started weaning earlier in the week but only tiny bits each day so far.

Hope everyone is doing well! Emma has been sitting on her own for a couple of weeks now –such a game-changer! She'll sit and play with toys on her own for ages, it's brilliant! I can get so much done during day now while she just sits there. She's loving her food too.

I can't really help about the night feed thing as E still has a night feed about 3am but I'm still breastfeeding her so it's probably more a comfort thing for her. I don't mind the one wake-up as she generally does 7-6ish fairly reliably!

He could be teething or just going through a growth spurt or something so I'd be inclined to just settle him with milk if he needs it for now and if he's getting distressed otherwise as he's still pretty little. I know E doesn't technically need milk overnight as she's a chunk and has plenty of milk and food during the day, but I also know that we're still quite lucky with her sleep compared to a lot of people, so I don't really begrudge it!

There's a thing called reverse cycling where they stop feeding so much during day and then catch up overnight - if he's distracted when feeding during day he might take less so maybe worth making sure he's being fed somewhere quiet with nothing to distract him!

Tried to attach a pic of my smiley girl but didn't work, maybe this will!

@Lookingforadvice123 its been very warm this week just thirsty maybe? Im 30 and still not sleeping through night 🤣🤦‍♀️ could it be leap 5? Teething? Growth spurt?

I dont actually need to count night feeds as we bedshare so just one big blur really. But i ditto the above. Was case for us. Feeds less in day as easily distracted so catches up over night.

Shes also taken to biting when distracted to 😭

We started weaning last week at 6.5m as shes only started sitting fully independantly for long periods last week or so. Its made her reflux flare up unfortunately.

@Celebelly what a happy little soul 😍

Oh what a gorgeous girl celebbelly! Thanks to you and notquiteagandt, it's definitely had a knock on effect of his daytime feeds too (he's FF) and it's a vicious cycle! Ended up giving him milk around 1am last night which was super annoying as he only had 8oz about 7pm and he was previously not needing more until at least 5:30am generally (but often later).

I don't know if he's starving, I think it's a habit/cycle, but he screams and screams if I just try to comfort him (tried last night as it was so early) but milk is the only thing that does the trick.

Going to try and break the habit tonight by DH taking him downstairs for a nappy change because once he's distracted a fair bit he's calm, but there's no distractions in his dark bedroom.

Morning ladies. Hope you are all well.

Just looking for some guidance please....DD has been teething since 3 months. She is 6.5 months now and still no sign of any teeth. She has good days and bad days. The bad days she is really unsettled and normally requires calpol as nothing else works (powders, teething toys, wet flannel etc). Over the last week she has started to gnaw at her arm which has resulted in bruising. When she is with me I remove her arm from her mouth and replace it with a teething toy. However she must do it overnight as well as the bruising always looks worse in the morning.

How do I stop her from hurting herself? She is gnawing that hard that the bruises are bright purple/red.

Her arms are usually covered at night but the heat has meant that she has had to wear a short sleeved vest to bed!

@Lookingforadvice123 we went through a stage like that at about 5 months. Suddenly had to do two night feeds again. I didn't have the energy to fight it so just went with it, and it didn't last long!

We've developed some bad habits though, we have to sit by her while she goes to sleep and stop her from rolling around. And if she is really unsettled in the night we put her in her pushchair as she sleeps soundly there. I was aware these were bad habits, so booked a visit from a sleep consultant. She came today and has left me with several A4 pages of recommendations. The goal is basically to teach her to self settle, so I'm not supposed to intervene much other than to be present and provide comfort - which is a bit tricky with a roller! Tonight she wasn't at all happy with the change of routine but did calm down quickly, but then pretty much fell asleep on her bottle (which apparently is not a good habit either). So I'm not sure if it was a win or not! She did go to sleep really fast though, let's see what sort of a night we have... 😴

On another note, she's just starting to use her elbows to pull herself along! I think she will figure out crawling soon. She can sit but is rather prone to toppling over (too busy to stay still for long!). Such a fun age!

Anyone else got a baby who doesn't particularly like milk? I basically have to force it into her. She's probably having less than 20oz per day. She loves her solids though!

detachablehoof DS2 has been off his milk in the day since we started having a night feed again! So I think it's more that he's less hungry. A 7oz bottle now takes 45 mins to an hour instead of about 10 mins like it used to. We've managed to improve our situation slightly by introducing a dream feed 😂 which is ridiculous really as most are weaning a baby off a dream feed at 6 months, not introducing one! But he's stirring at 1am and 3am for some reason (I'm almost certain due to teeth discomfort) and with the dream feed (at 10:30pm) we've been able to avoid giving any milk in the night. Last night he actually slept through for the first time in ages, we didn't even have to go in and turn him over at all. So fingers crossed we can start weaning him off the dream feed. He is a roller and has only rolled front to back once or twice in the day on his play mat, but he's now started to do it seemingly quite easy in his cot, so I suppose that should help his sleep soon. The mattress has more give I suppose so easier to roll!

Emma has her first two teeth!!! I'm amazed as she's not really had any teething symptoms and the only reason I noticed was because I spotted a white bit on her gum, poked it and it was sharp! She's been her usual cheery self, maybe just wanting boob a bit more than usual but other than that she's been fine. I wonder how long they'll take to come fully though! So far they've just broken through gum and not much more.

Ooooh @celebelly I've really been hoping we'll get teeth with zero trauma like that!!

All my friends seem to believe in amber teething beads... I'm hoping we will get away without resorting to pseudo-science 😂

Someone gave us an amber anklet but it made her look like she was off to Glastonbury and I was worried about it being a choking hazard if it fell off (plus I'm pretty sure it's bollocks!)

I literally said to DP last week that I didn't think she would have teeth for a long time as no sign and then pop! So weird

Hi everyone, this thread had slipped off my list so I'd missed it.

Hope everyone is OK.

Emma is now 7 months and I just found she's cut a tooth, the one next to it has surged cut, or is right about to. Bless her, I had no idea! She's such a little love. Really starting to look like a proper girl and not a baby! X

DS2 has cut his first tooth today! And the second is on its way, could be a week or two though I think. I wish I could say we've barely noticed but that would be lying! We've had a few weeks of broken sleep after previously sleeping through from early on, and the last couple of weeks have been worse for sure. He's also a moaning Myrtle all day long, so I'm very glad it was definitely teeth and not just a new personality he's developed!

@Lookingforadvice123 - my son suffered with his, especially the back ones. Thankfully Emma has been. So much so, that second tooth has cut afterall x

I think the second tooth has now cut too, or at least is literally about to. He also slept through last night, Yey! So I hope his sleep will improve now the two teeth are through, fingers crossed.

Is anyone's baby babbling / not babbling yet (as in consonant sounds, ba ba etc? DS2 isn't, and I remember DS1 didn't start saying da da da until he was 8 months. But all the apps etc seem to say 4-6 months!!! It's gotten me a bit worried...