FEB 07 - 6 months down already!

[suzi2]

A new thread for the second half year

Moosma - love the boots and the picture of the dd's

Smudgemum, if his head isn't sticking up over the top of his seat, keep him facing backwards, it's soooooo much safer! I had the problem with DD1 that her legs were too long and she was all crumpled up so we got a Britax one which can go either way round. It's much bigger than the little infant carriers so she got more leg room but still had the safety of being backwards facing. We got it because we were doing a 10 hour drive to Scotland - she slept the whole way .

We've got a Concord one for DD2 which goes either way too and I will keep her backwards until she's over the weight limit.

Best Buy - Tummy Tub bath. DCMMY still fits in his though he mostly stands now and it gives me two hands for washing him. That and the Kari Me sling.

Worst Buy - Breast pump. Too much messing about sterilsing and reassembling for my liking - manual expressing is way easier, even if sometimes you do cover the computer keyboard in a fine mist.

Best Thing on TV - The Simpsons. DCMMY is mesmerised by it which gives me x2 30 min break a week. Post DCMMY-bedtime it has to be The Peter Serafinowicz Show as it's taught me how to cope with my seemingly endless domestic chores.

Moosma, thanks for the offer but I suspect they'd be enormous on her much like everything else.

Smudgemum, rear facing is the safest as long as they still fit in their seat that way. That is that they haven't got over the weight limit or their head isn't coming over the top. Being 20lbs in weight is a must. And as a guideline, being able to sit unsupported for 30 mins is a bare minimum as they need very good muscles to suppor their neck/spine in a front facing accident. If you do go for a group 1 just now, make sure and get one that's properly fitted to the car (road safety officers at the police are pretty good for a double check IME) and ideally, one that performs well. I have access to the Which? report on car seat safety if anyone wants a note of the best buys. I believe that if a seat is in it's full recline position it's also safer in a front impact crash but I'm not sure if that's specific to DSs seat (road safety officer suggested it when I had it checked) or if it's a general thing so don't quote me on it.

Having said all that, we moved DS at about a year old even though he was still ok in his rear facing (actually, is only barely out of it now!) as he was so miserable rear facing. We thought about it from about 9 months (when he turned 20lbs) and kept putting it off. But in the end, we figured that it had to be safer, in general, to have him forward facing and not screaming blue murder for every journey and distracting me!

DS2's been in his next stage car seat for the last couple of weeks and seems very happy in it. Gives me a toothy grin if I catch his eye when reversing! Also seems to be OK at keeping his shoo shoes on - I guess he must have long wide feet like his bro.

With the car seat and the move to his own room, we've got a couple of big milestones sorted. Only got to persuade him off the breast now...

To chip in on what's been good/not, I wouldn't be without grobags, tripp trapp and my Ergo baby carrier - it did sterling service tonight with DS2 in a back carry to calm his teething wails whilst I cooked dinner. Also been v happy with the washable baby wipes. Stuff that I haven't used/didn't work were swaddle blankets (DS2 hated being bound) and "sock ons" - totally useless!

Baby driver I'm currently coveting a back carrier. I tried an ergo the other week but am very interested in a Patapum.

Hello All,

Best buy for us was also tummy tub which Sandy still loves and allows baths in front of the TV for days when good telly co-incides with bathtime (I'm a baaaad mother), followed by Coorie sling which has had endless use as sling, blanket, changing mat, play mat, mopping device, and on once occasion.. emergency nappy. Also love gro bags, my Jane Carrera pro travel system, my bamboo nappies and my ikea antilop highchair.

On Carseats... Sandy has been in his forward facing britax for ages, he met the weight requirement more than 2 months ago, and he hated being rear facing, his head fell forward when he slept in it and I didn't like not seeing him. Forward facing britax eclipse has been great, he sleeps well in it and enjoys being part of everything.

(as for my maternity ring plans, I'm still waiting on a good moment to drop the idea into conversation, but I am still hopeful)

suis I've been using my coorie loads recently and we have the IKEA chair at my parents I'm going to have a good go with it when we visit this weekend as I really dislike our current high chair - given to us by SIL. DD sits terribly in it even with a booster cushion.

We're off to a fancy dress party tonight I'll post pictures so you can all have a chuckle. Robin Hood and Maid Marion!!

Another quiet weekend...

E and I had an interesting day yesterday. We were mailshotted about a research study into peanut allergy and he was eligible so we went to the hospital for a screening appt. (if you're on the bounty mailing list you might have had the card too.) They took all DS2's vital stats and checked over his excema and also did some patch allergy testing. Good news is that he's not allergic to egg, wheat, soya, sesame or peanut (at the mo). We've got to go back in a fortnight to find out which group he's been assigned to - one group get to eat peanut snacks weekly from now on, and the other continue to avoid peanuts as per the current advice. They're trying to find out whether avoidance actually makes the risk of allergy worse. I thought it was worth doing as my mum has peanut allergy and it's growing fast in the population too.

If any of your LOs have either moderate/severe excema and / or egg allergy and you're interested in taking part, you might be eligible - I can pass on details if wanted.

Right, need to go now as I've got DS1 party planning to do - 4th b'day celebrations tomorrow!

Hope Babydriven1 had a good Birthday. Did you have lots of manic 4 year olds around? Sounds interesting about the allergy stuff - hope it goes well and that if he gets assigend to the peanut group that he actually likes the snack!!!!

Did you have a good night out Peachygirl? I'm supposed to be going out a week on Friday for a 30th birthday do but it's soooo cold up here, I think I'll need my thermals.

All well in the Smudge household. DS crawling, pulling himself up, jabbering away, eating anything going, sleeping okish but still no teeth. He also won't let me go to the bloomin' loo in peace but apart from that, he's pretty independent!
DCMY - when you manually express, what do you collect the milk in? Unless you have an amazing aim you must do it in something bigger than a bottle??? I've given up on the pump as not getting anything now but wondered about manually expressing?

Hi I'm back I'll try to get the pictures on soon. DD is staring to stand alone which is very exciting, even doing daring things such as clapping her hands at the same time

Hi eveyrone,
we both still have the colds from hell (3 weeks now for me) although dd seems to be slightly less snotty today.

Should I be worried about how little milk dd is taking? She is averaging about 7-10oz formula + about 2oz cows milk in porridge, a yoghurt and wedge of cheese a day. I thought they were supposed to be taking about a pint (20z) in total and sometimes I reckon we don't even get halfway to this. We dropped the lunchtime bottle about 4 weeks ago after hv advised to start cutting it down and after a couple of days dd seemed to be happy with just solids so we stopped offering it. Keep meaning to ring the hvs but am worried about looking stupid.

I wouldn't worry as such marmitemad, though I would try to encourage some more milk. If that means cutting back a little on the solids then go for it as there's plenty time to get going again on them. Though yogurt and cheese are good sources of calcium, there are other nutrients in formula that aren't in them so it's still good to get plenty of it. But I wouldn't stress myself if he's just not interested.

marmitemad, I've been pondering the milk issue as well, as I've dropped the mid afternoon bf but DS2 will take very little formula instead. I'm afraid I got impatient to move on, and hoped that a bit of mid-afternoon cold turkey would encourage him to take the formula, but actually he now just has a very small amount, sipped from a cup or spooned in, so I give him a snack as well. He still has morning and evening bf, and I've been giving him things like home-made rice pudding, custard, mash with loads of milk in, as well as the usual milky breakfast, yogurt etc.

Actually, you've prompted me to check [walks over to bookshelf and back] my NCT book about pg and bf. It says that good sources of calcium (best first) are dairy products; tinned fish esp sardines, pilchards & salmon; soya milk & tofu which often have calcium added; foods made with white flour; spinach & spring greens; chick peas, kidney beans & baked beans; sesame seeds & almonds; oranges & dried figs.

Hope the colds clear up soon.

My twin neices were fed tinned sardines with the bones crushed in to top up their calcium intake - bleugh!

All is well here, T can now crawl properly for a few steps but does belly-dragging for speed, and is pulling herself up on everything, my legs mostly, normally when I'm cooking [sigh].
She's doing well with food now too, she'll eat most things that can be squished with her gums as she still only has 2 tiny teeth. They're good for smiling with but not a lot else!

We're having some problems with DD1(2.2)'s digestion at the moment, she's had on/off squits since she was about 10 months and has finally recently been seen by a consultant who thinks she may be intolerant to fat. The poor little mite looks so scrawny, especially with T galloping up behind her on the centiles!

How To Be a Human Cow (lesson #1) -

Firstly paint black splotches over self, attach large bell around self's neck and rename self Daisy. Or Clover.

Secondly choose your milk pail. I use one of three, depending on the occasion. A bottle (sterilised of course which is annoying and boring and the main reason my breast pump is currently on sale at the local Help the Aged shop) if baby will be drinking it in the next few hours, one of the pre-sterilised (hazaah!) sealable breastmilk bags if it's going in the fridge or freezer, or a little bowl if you're expressing to make up baby rice or porridge.

Thirdly check that the curtains/blinds in the room you are expressing in are closed - very important unless you want to have your binman unexpectedly appear at the window, with facial expressions going from to to to .

Remove self's Milk Producer (the largest of the two) from storage. Check curtains/blinds really are shut.

Take aim - with the bottle and the bag I try to get as much of the nipple into it, with the bowl I just keep it close, or have it on the kitchen counter and lean into it. It's not that messy although if you take your eye off the task in hand and get all engrossed in Strictly Come Dancing you may find a fine shower on self's jeans / newspaper / computer keyboard / child.

Get into character with a nice big "Moooo" and then, holding the bit just outside the areola between the thumb and forefinger, squeeze. Repeat the "Moooo" if you're a Method Expresser. After a few you should get some milk, sometimes it's a constant flow, sometimes you have to keep on squeezing depending on how the milk reserves are. (It's worth it at this point to check the other Milk Producer as sometimes both cylinders fire up, which is always fun when you don't realise and then pop to the corner shop for the paper.)

And really that's pretty much it. I never had a manual or anything; I just started doing it one day after I'd thrown my breast pump across the room and Don't Call My Mummy Yummy was yelling for his daily porridge. Just have a go and see how you get on. I can usually get about 100oz in a bottle in 15 mins (supermoo). Once you get going you will wonder why you ever sterilised a breast pump. Just don't forget to remove the bell and black splotches once you're done.

LOL DCMY
I'm impressed at how much you are expressing. I'm still going but again am thinking about dropping feeds. I'm at work four days this week (INSET on monday) so This could be a good week to drop the AM feed and replace it with a bottle.
Terrible colds here, DD has got some antibiotics and I had an emotional moment in school on friday as I really didn't know if I should have stayed at home with her - this decision has to be made by 7.30 am BTW [shock
I got her into the doctors and then came home in the afternoon. she has been very sniffy and chesty but is still leaping round the room!

Anyone else got a cat? ours seems to be becoming more tolerant of the baby, allowing her to touch her if she doesn't lunge to quickly??

And is anyone else watching I'm a celebrity? It is the only reality TV I watch and it is my favourite!!

DCMY - LOL!!! 100oz in 15 mins!!!!! What's lesson #2? I might give that a go as I have totally given up expressing. I gave the hand pump a good wash and final sterlise and have put it away as it was driving me round the bend. I pumped for an hour and got half an ounce!!! I was going with the option that I've got 5oz left in the freezer and then DS will just have to have cows milk or water. I know, I know, he's not meant to have cows milk as a drink until a year but I'm not working and not often out so it would only be one offs.
Peachygirl - we dont have a cat but visited a friend who has cats and theirs let DS stroke and pat although ran off when it got a bit vigorous.

thanks for the advice about dd's milk intake, we actually tried sardines and chickpeas (not together!) last week and both went down very well .

I have managed to get an earlier cancellation appointment on friday for dd's 9 month check so will discuss further with the hvs then.

we have a cat and she does seem to be getting more tolerant of dd, she competes to sit on dh's lap when he is drying dd after her bath. Depends on her mood whether she is ok with being patted and pulled, sometimes she sits watching dd just out of reach other times she tries to get in the treasure basket which is amusing.

dd has learnt to clap when I ask her to (not show) which is cute, working on finding the nose now but trying not to turn her into a performing monkey.

We are trying to clapp and then wave both hands in the air , at the moment to no success. I'm also doing a bit of baby signing, (Makaton) mostly mummy daddy and cat

gad... I went back to work today... .. I'm just a couple of days a week till Christmas but it's all up in the air after that. I have found out that there is voluntary redundancy on offer at pres, and that I may have to re-apply for my own job in January, or possibly not have a job at all. Meantime all changes to working patterns (such as new mums wanting to reduce or change hours) have been suspended while our new structure is sorted out. So now I have no idea what to do with childcare arrangements. I had hoped to cut the hours so that nursery wouldn't be needed, but now I don't know. To put the tin lid on things I got home after DPs first day of daddy-daycare to find the house a tip, no washing done, nappies all stuffed in the pail with no liner, bed not made etc etc and DS's wrap fitted wrong so that he was soaking. So it was effectively "Welcome home from your first day back at work here's the housework you missed out on". Plus on attempting to talk to DP about the work/redundancy/childcare situation he said "well you aren't at work now, just forget about it", and refused further discussion. So apparently I've just to decide on our family's future on my own. rant rant.

Just a bit sad today I suppose. The very best few months of my life are now at an end with no certain future and it's hard.

Poor suis! Hope things become clearer for you soon. My DH sounds like your DP in many ways. Stick your head in the sand and it might go away!

We've just come back from a few days in Paris. It was nice, but not sure we'll be doing a citybreak with a small child for awhile! DS slept really badly - one night he refused to sleep anywhere but across my belly?!?! [hmmm]

Am I the only one still breasTfeeding on demand ie 3/4 times during the day and 2-4 times at night?! A couple of months ago I managed to get 240mls expressed from one side! Couldn't do it now - thats for sure!

Oh Suis, poor you. HOpe you opened a bottle of wine!! You can always tell us your options for work and we'll try to help Daizydoo I'm still BF on demand and we're on about 4 feeds during day and usually just once in the night (although did manage 3 nights sleeping through followed by one night of waking up twice
Marmitemad very impressed with the clapping. We're getting there but only when we model it for him. Can do waving too and seems to be different for hello and bye bye.
Must go to bed as really struggling to get up in the mornings at the moment. Night night!

Suis, hope things get sorted soon. Maybe once your DH gets used to being at home he'll get to grips with the housework too. Does he like surfing the web? Point him to the flylady website and hope he takes the hint!

We have a cat. A poor, tormented thing that was once my baby and was cuddled up to me day and night. Now he's a toddlers punchbag and a babys thing to chase and squeal at. Poor thing. He used to be pretty tollerant of DS until he started getting very rough with him. He's been worse since DD has been squealing and grabbing at him too and now tends to lash out without warning which isn't his usual nature. Also have to kick him out at night these days as he meaows a lot and wakes DD!

I'm still demand feeding daizydoo. And she's very demanding. Several times in the day andd more overnight. Mind you, the only way I can get her to sleep these days is to feed her to sleep. And there are as many times that doesn't work. We're really at a loss with her crap sleep so I'm doing a grasping at straws thing and she's seeing an osteopath again tomorrow. And HV has referred her to the sleep clinic. So we'll see what comes of that.