August/September 2019 babies - #3

[Stroan]

Just spotted we were about to finish the last thread....

I don't think she's allergic. Prior to all this, she's been absolutely fine with meals containing beef. I think/hope it's the same as what happened with cheese early on in weaning, and she's randomly developed a sensitivity to it. Just need to eliminate it from her diet for a few weeks, then reintroduce slowly.

Agreed with the doing what you have to to guarantee enough sleep for everyone! They won't keep it up forever. Right? 🥺

Oh, and happy birthday baby iano! 🥳

Happy birthday babydb92! 🥳

Awww thank you @Dyra ! That's sweet of you. DS had a lovely day. Half a day at CM and then out with mum and dad.
I can't believe he's 1 already. It's flown by. Mixed emotions here as it's our last baby

How has everyone's week been? Happy birthday to any birthday babies! How has anyone starting childcare going?

Nate is now taking wobbly steps. He looks drunk, lol. I slipped putting him in the bath during the week. Managed not to drop him but landed on my ribs on the side of the bath. Ouch. Feeling a bit sore.

Have also tried out wearing contact lenses. It's a whole new world! No more foggy glasses with a mask. Most disappointing when I take them out and I can't see again, lol.

Happy birthday to the babies turning 1!

It is such a big event hehe

@Geegrl19 that's a shame about the slip but at least you held onto him. Unlike me who dropped Arthur into a marble top and had a gash in his head for about two months :(
That's great re. The contact lenses!
We also have a week drunk wandering around. Got ten steps totally out of the blue where he went from the coffee table towards me and then every since then he's unstoppable lol

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend! How are people feeling about the new 6 people limit?

We've had a cold over the past few days, no temp or cough though so very unlikely to be covid and nothing that would allow us to get a test to find out, but I've been stuck in for a while with a grumpy girl!

Anyone got any activities that their littles are loving at the moment? Struggling to entertain her in the house now!

@yevans aw that's a shame. We have illness in our house too. I've dodged it so far but now my throat is sore.

I saw an activity online where you take a sheet of paper and put some paint splodges on it. Like red green blue and yellow. Yeh out that into a IKEA Ziploc bag and then the babies can finger paint through the bag! Keeps it clean. Arthur quite liked that and it was very simple to organise.

Happy birthday baby dipsy and Felicity @Megan2018! 🥳🥳

How rubbish @yevans. Hopefully your little girl is feeling better today, and on her way back to her normal self. I'm crap with indoor activities sorry. We just rattle around with her toys and the occasional bit of CBeebies.

That sounds a great idea @Horehound.

We've had a couple of steps here. Alice seems inclined to not take any more for now. Especially as we keep trying to video her.

For those moving on to cows milk. When exactly do you give milk? Does it replace water at mealtimes? Or just at snack times? Is it supposed to be their primary drink now? Everything I look up just says they can have cows milk as a drink from 12 months, but not how much, or when. Atm Alice is having a beaker of milk with her breakfast (not that she drinks much of it), then has water for the rest of the day. She always gets cheese and/or a yoghurt with her lunch. She still has 2 breast feeds a day, plus whenever she wakes up at night.

@dyra my understanding is that cow's milk would be in place of breast milk if that's what you wanted to do. Water is their main drink although of course you could still offer cow's milk too. Milk is still important but you don't want them filling up too much on milk and not eating a broad range of foods. That's a jumble and somebody please correct me if you can explain it clearer!

Nate only has an early morning feed and a bottle before bed. When I feed him he's lucky to stay attached for longer than a minute as he's so distracted. He just has water in the day and I make sure he has plenty of yoghurt and cheesy stuff.

Happy birthday baby @Dipsy77 and felicity @Megan2018!

I'm so seeing the same @dyra but I think it's to replace breastfeeds so when Arthur usually feeds every four hours if give him a bf in the am and pm but anything in between could be cow's milk.

I haven't tried him with much yet. He rejects my expressed milk at nursery and with my mum :s

Ah yes sorry I didn't see @geegrl response there

We're on three feeds here, occasionally missing in the middle of the day one if we're out and busy. I think in a few weeks I'll start replacing her middle one with a cup of milk but unsure how it's going to go down....when we are at home she loves feeding. Sits and chooses which one she wants as if it's a buffet..🙄🙄

@yevans buffet 😆😆

Nate would not sit still to feed during the day. He still manages to down two bottles during the day when at daycare though. He's like a dog with food. A sniff of anyone else eating or drinking anything and he has to join in!

Happy birthday to all the babies I may have missed!

We've actually just swapped whatever bottles E had with formula over to cows milk. So one in the morning, one at 2ish and then before bed. I think this week will be the last of 2pm bottles though as he is eating so much and just not interested.

I'm not sure if we've done it right or if we should have been cutting all bottles right down and just giving milk as a 'drink'?

I think my confusion is stemming from Alice only feeding to sleep. I'm pretty certain she isn't going to accept a cup of cow over a boob of mum just yet. So should I give milk at alternative times, or wait until she starts dropping the rest of her feeds?

@dyra personally I would probably wait until she starts dropping her feeds or you want to wean. From what I thought, you don't need the cows milk as long as you're comfortable she's getting enough calcium in her food (cheese, yoghurt etc)

@Dyra with DD1 I gave cows milk at alternate times and still fed to sleep. Eventually the cows milk with dinner filled her up and a cuddle and song got her off to sleep. Dd2 still has loads of breast milk but since she a still only has one tooth she's not really filling up on real food so the switch across to cows milk will be later or more gradual!

@dyra the cow's milk is not compulsory! It's to replace formula. Babies need nutrition from milk until they are at least two (hence the WHO/NHS guidelines re breastfeeding til 2 or over), as they are too small to get everything they need from "solids". Really little human babies need human milk, milk from other animals won't do, and that's why we have formula, which is an approximation of human milk. After one, babies can cope with just having milk from another species, so cows milk will do, in the absence of human milk. If you are happy providing the human milk, there's no reason for Alice to have cow's milk at all.
Mine have cow's milk in a glass with breakfast or snacks. The eldest had cow's milk in a tommy tippee cup at bedtime when he stopped having my milk (at about 2 and a half), the middle never wanted that, and transitioned from being fed to sleep straight to going to sleep in her own bed, with me nearby (at the same age). I guess I've got another 18 months or so to find out what number 3 does. I haven't offered her a drink with a snack yet- her snacks are usually still just a breastfeed so I can nab a sit down...

That's really good to know! That's cleared up all my confusion. Ty @DustyDoorframes!

I'm not desperate to wean and quite happy to continue BF for as long as Alice wants. We'll need to give her a cup of milk with dinner on the days I'm working then, as I won't get home until long after she'll be asleep. I guess she'll get milk before her nap at nursery. I'll keep giving her milk at breakfast. Can't hurt after all. :3

Another couple of questions.

When did you guys know when your settling in days were going to be? It's rapidly dawning on me that my return to work is.... well... rapidly approaching, and I don't know when Alice's settling in days are. She starts part time on the 5th, so less than 3 weeks away. It seems unbelievable that I'm going to have to chase the nursery yet again. I'm getting increasingly irritated with them. Every step it feels like I've had to instigate. I don't have a bloody clue. Never had to send a child to nursery before

Second. Has anyone not had their 9-12 month check yet? Through choice or the HV hasn't contacted them yet. Seems I'm going to have to chase them down as well...

We were told about the settling in sessions 4 weeks before. We did 3 over the three weeks before he started so you should have been contacted by now I'd say.

Still no contact from our health visitor re the 9-12 month check/ questionnaire. She was useless when we last saw her (6weeks) so I don't hold out much hope of actually being contacted to be honest.

I'm also really struggling to get through to anyone at our gp surgery to book in his jabs!

@db92 I feel you on getting the jabs booked. I had to call 7 times over 3 days before I managed to not get a busy signal. Then during the call itself, we were rebooked twice until we finally got a double slot with the correct nurse.

Nursery is sorted. I dug out all the documentation we've had from them, and to their credit, it did say that I had to contact them to organise settling in days. I must've skipped over reading that particular sentence at the time. Two sessions of 1 hour each, which doesn't feel like a lot since she'll be there 8-6 when she starts up properly, but ah well. It's something. She might only be going to this particular nursery for 16-17 weeks anyway

Thanks to covid our nursery shut for a deep clean and re-set for August, and I was back at work second week of September so Catherine only had one settling session ☹️ She's still pretty upset being left but I think/hope she cheers up during the day!

Happy Birthday to all the newly 1 year olds!