August 2021 Babies - They Had To Be Gorgeous, Just Look At Us

[PurplePansy05]

Welcome to the chattiest post-natal club on MN!

We spent a year together chatting about all things pregnancy and baby...

...we've tried and tested countless baby products...

...exchanged hundreds of tips...

...talked about all the big things in life, all the little things, the good times and the tough times...

...we had a good laugh together 😁...

...and somehow we now have gorgeous 3 month old babies without looking a day older ourselves 😅 (must be that good laugh!)

Graduates of the August 2021 (and thereabouts) thread:

@Smurf123 & baby Sophia 💖
@wimbler & her baby boy 💙
@Jessicapebbles & baby Ebony💖
@Inmypjsagain & her baby boy 💙
@PurplePansy05 & baby Leo Alexander 💙
@WinterBabyof89 & baby Rosie 💖
@Winecoffeeteamum & baby Emily 💖
@Ready2020 & baby Rowan 💖
@Magik01 & baby Isaac 💙
@Hoares3 & baby Ellis 💙
@Daffodil21 & baby Elliot James 💙
@sarah13xx & baby Freddie 💙
@MrsB2019x & baby Ella💖
@biscuitcat & baby Rowan 💙
@Whatshouldbemyusername & baby Arya-Nyah 💖
@notinthestarsigns & baby Erin 💖
@Aaaaa1519 & baby Anum 💖
@Angelesque & baby Isaac 💙
@Millymay13 & baby Ethan 💙
@WolfMother326 & baby Alasdair 💙
@BertieBotts & baby Alex 💙
@RandomCatGenerator & baby Solomon 💙
@lucyrp & baby Evelyn Rose 💖
@HopefulB & baby Chloé 💖
@Mmr224 & baby Alasdair 💙
@Smallbean27 & her baby boy 💙
@Fran919 & her baby girl 💖
@Caz1226 & baby Dougie 💙
@Ava50x & her baby boy 💙
@dirtyfries & baby Frankie 💖
@ame88 & baby Lily 💖

Sorry if I've missed anyone, please join in! xx

Vacuum bags are good for storing clothes, but TBH I just kept them in big cardboard boxes labelled by age and some in big blue Ikea bags, because those things are free/hanging around the house! Good time of year to collect big boxes.

When you get clothes out of storage you may notice they have big orange/yellow stains on the necks that aren't there now. That is just what milk staining does over time. If you wash them with Vanish and dry in sunlight they will be good as new.

No rolling here yet but DH did get the first laugh last night :)

Forgot to add - no rolling here either!

@Smurf123 yes our dog is the issue too! I couldn’t have the dog in the room with him low down or on the floor. The only time the dog is allowed near him is in his pram or high chair 😂 I always think how much easier life must be if you only have a baby and can put them anywhere without fear of being licked to death 🙄 I’m sure it just takes time and they do it when they want!

@lucyrp wow, 8 months! No pressure for your little one then 🙈😂 they definitely just do things in their own time, some things quicker, some things slower 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Daffodil21 yeah it’s quite a lot of pressure 🙈 I actually enjoy the class but it’s putting me off rebooking it next month because I hate having to say something interesting or funny every week when you’re out on the spot 😂 I had to fill out an evaluation form for it and it said anything you think they should take out and I really wanted to write that bit. Obviously I didn’t and just said oh yes it’s great 🙄 I think she actually does it to take up some time though, to save her doing as much 😂

That’s good you stayed at the class and got talking to people. Those things can seem so cliquey at first. I now go with a friend but there’s been weeks it been so busy we’ve had to sit separately and my main fear before starting was that I would be the only person there alone. About 80% of the people there are alone though and they’re all so friendly. 1.5 hours is quite long though! We get to 45 minutes and he’s usually girning by the last song and needs fed to sleep

@Daffodil21 DD always does about an hour then h have to strap her in to her car seat and rock her and she goes off to sleep then and I can drink my ( cold by this point) cup of tea and eat my biscuit and chat to the other mums 😂

@sarah13xx yeah definitely no pressure 😂 DS was 10 months too so not a great deal of difference! 🙈

Also anyone else found it impossible to book swimming? Not even baby swimming lessons (have tried that too to no avail) but just an actual swimming sessions 🤦🏼‍♀️ I wanted to go last weekend with him, tried every local pool on the phone and online. For most you had to make an online login to get on it. After many emails with membership numbers, PIN numbers and verifications I finally got through the log in stage. Managed to click to book a session but I couldn’t add anyone else on. I tried everything and there was no way of doing it. I’ve managed to get through to one of them on the phone tonight only to be told I have to go through that rigmarole for every person who I want to book for and they all need booked on separate accounts. It took a good 20 minutes just to get mine set up so I questioned whether she meant I had to do this even for a baby?! She said yes, as if that was a completely normal thing to have to do 😂 I remember the days you could just turn up to a swimming pool, pay and go in! She allowed me to book over the phone this time but I’ll need to set aside a few hours this weekend to get my family a log in each (then somehow not forget all the pins) 🤷🏼‍♀️

@lucyrp oh really, 10 months is fab! I’m not as bothered about all of the other ‘stepping stone’ type milestones but walking is a big one, I’d secretly be delighted if he walked that early! 🙈

We've got second set of vaccinations tomorrow (slightly delayed because the first we're delayed by 2 weeks). They're at 10:45 and then at 12:30 is that music class thing i mentioned a few weeks ago with the loud music (thankfully not so loud) and lots of bright coloured things to play with etc. I'm thinking I should probably skip it tomorrow? What do you all think? It's a 25 min drive away if that makes any difference.

@sarah13xx it would put me off too tbh. I bet you're not the only one! You should just start saying really ridiculous stuff with a serious face. I know, I can't believe he stayed engrossed for 1.5 hours!!

@Daffodil21 we've got second lot of jabs too tomorrow 🥺 OH took the afternoon off work last time to come with us but isn't tomorrow so it will be hard ☹️

@sarah13xx km not encouraging any type of movement yet as I'm quite happy with her staying in one place although she actually manages to move herself across the floor just by lifting her bum up etc she's a maniac 🥴😂

I'd say you should be fine to go if you wanted @Daffodil21 second set werent as bad.. Dd was supposed to have third set tomorrow but we have had to cancel them as she is so full of the cold 😫

Not a good night so far. Usually we go upstairs do bedtime, bottle and he goes down no issues. Tonight took 2 hours of crying, trying to put him down but no luck. Decided on calpol and he is currently sleeping on me, I don't think I can try and put him down to wake up again. Husband is at work for another hour...
I have had a nasty cold, so I presume that maybe why - if he has it he must feel rotten too.
I have no idea to the point of this post unless anyone has any magic words of wisdom!

@Smallbean27 no advice other than your not alone. Dd is currently also asleep on me she will cry if I put her down though she is coldy and very snotty so that's partly why. I'll hold her for a while longer so she's at least had a bit of sleep and then I'll try again.
Also I can highly recommend a Contigo West loop thermal mug... Leak proof spill proof and toddler proof.. I actually manage to get a cup of hot tea without the fear of me spilling it on dd or ds knocking it flying!

@smurf123 thanks! It's reassuring to know it's not just him.
I think I will wait until OH is home then if he cries he can share the pain and help.
Hope your LO has a good night!

Another one showing no interest in rolling here! I don't mind if he meets movement milestones late, I like that he stays put 😂 can't wait till he talks though!

Possibly a gross question - does anyone know what egg white cervical mucus might mean at the mo? I'm BF-ing and no period yet, and just noticed it today. Could it be that I'm ovulating, and my period will come in a couple of weeks? I hope not!!! I wanted a few more months without!

@Daffodil21 - wow 1.5 hr class, that’s amazing. I’ve been to a class but told it’s not on after Xmas so feel it’s been a bit of a waste. It’s only 50 mins and she just about manages that

@sarah13xx crikey, that’s some time to sort out swimming. We’re lucky and we have no issues, there’s some spaces available for swimming lessons (which I need to book but annoyingly can’t pre book for January, I want to avoid excess travelling time in the build up to Xmas) have you looked for any local private pools? there’s a few little pools around which we can privately hire so I’ve done that a couple of times to get her use to the water and take DH.

No rolling here or any intention to, not even holding on to my hands like the wonder weeks app says, she still hates it so I’ve upped the frequency over the day rather than individual time. Everyone gets there at their own pace which I need to remember.

@Fran919 it wasn't a class, it was a baby/toddler/parent group in a hall but he enjoyed that much more than the 35 min all singing all dancing baby class thing we go to on Wednesdays! Maybe he's just a lazy baby and prefers to just watch rather than participate!

I remember a discussion about nappies a little while ago and a few of you said you use pampers and don't change them at night - are these the 'dry nights' ones? Do they last a full night? I might treat myself to a pack for night times only (what a life of luxury I lead!)

I didn't meant dry nights I meant 'dry'

@Daffodil21 I'm still using the side 2 pampers new baby and they last us all night. As ds got bigger I moved to pampers premium protection but then he was very prone to nappy rash and has really sensitive skin. (His would have been changed during the night at this age as he didn't sleep so it was usually a last such attempt to see if it would encourage him to sleep!) from about 18months he would have gone through the night in them.

Booking swimming here is impossible too @sarah13xx, I had to do it two weeks in advance to get a space, it was rammed and cold and I decided not to go again. That was a public swim in a leisure pool. I'm waiting to book swimming lessons for him and in fact might do this instead of booking another set of sensory classes. It just got quite dull tbh. Plus what's annoying me, earlier this week parents brought two girls clearly full of cold. I know I can't protect Leo from germs and he's already had a cold, he's just recovered. I didn't take him to the class then because it says clearly once you sign up, do not come if baby/you are unwell. But yet some parents are so selfish! Ffs, it's a fiver or thereabouts, get a grip! It's not the end of the world if they lose one class and not make everyone else ill 🙄

I would hate having to talk through what he's learnt week by week. I'm sure I had weeks when I thought he's learnt nothing at all and to me they were a blur, just hard going blur when I didn't even notice the difference between a Monday and a Friday. That's a really unhelpful way of running a class IMO. Also @Daffodil21 I am really surprised your class is 1.5 hrs long, that's super long. Mine are 45 mins - 1 hr. Leo definitely wouldn't last 90 mins, he'd have a massive sensory overload. Are they tailoring them for older babies considering the music and length? It's rather unusual in my experience xx

The baby dry aren't as good as the premium protection IME although baby dry are still better than other brands.

Sarah I would not worry about saying anything funny or interesting at your class :) Having run classes where I asked a question like this (not a baby class) it was not meant to make anyone feel they had to perform or compete, it's just a bit of an ice breaker because if you don't ask a specific question then people tend to not know what to say and be too shy to talk to each other, or they just do the social pleasantaries and no more. It could be anything from "he enjoyed his bath the other night" to "I got him a new toy" or "We went to the supermarket".

I'm sure the organisers would want to know that you find the question format stressful though - it's the kind of feedback which is useful, and really they probably just need to vary the question every week/be a bit mindful that new parents are often stressed out by any suggestion of comparing babies' development (even though that isn't the intention!)

I used to go to an NCT bumps and babies group and they would have a focus every week rather than it just being unstructured chat, I found it quite useful as it means you can skip small talk and get right into real conversations. If a group is very short and you only go once a week/once every 2 weeks then wasting a lot of time saying oh hi, I'm Barbara, this is baby Sue, she's three months old, is it your first etc etc - it doesn't build friendships and can make you feel quite lonely at a time when people are often feeling isolated in the first place.

@PurplePansy05 it wasn't a class that was 1.5 hours long, it was just a baby and toddler group in a hall so basically a play mat and buckets of toys for those old enough and a cuppa and biscuit for the mums. But he loved loved loved just sitting watching them play. I didn't play with him as I thought that might be too much when he was so happy just watching. The sensory class thing we go to is only 35 minutes and he definitely wouldn't last longer than that (and neither would I 😂)

Ahh I see, sorry I got confused as to what event this was, what a social life little Elliot has this totally makes sense. I can't possibly think of anything worse than 90 mins of sensory too 🤣 xx