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

@Inmypjsagain no no way to elf on the shelf! I’m an infant teacher and I havent even commited to doing it with any of my classes over the years. It takes so much time to think of something to do every day plus the fact that just winds the kids up even more at school in December. Hats off to anyone who signs up for that though 😂

@wimbler oh that’s good to know. I should maybe check the height chart in his red book and see if he’s likely to be really tall really fast 🙈 it’s so daft! Surely a button on the back would have been the best place for it 🤔

@biscuitcat I know, it’s good and so handy for taking on the pram lie flat too but every time I have to do that I just cannot believe they’ve sold it like that 😂

@Inmypjsagain what length was he? He was 62cm last time she did it but that was a while ago now. I’ve noticed in the last probably 2 weeks he’s gone from a wee chubby baby to this long skinny baby. Even the rolls on his arms are starting to disappear but suddenly his 3-6 trousers are all too short before he’s even 4 months. I feel like I look at bigger sized clothes so many times and say they’re massive or hold them up and think it’s way too big then I try them on about once, they fit and are instantly too small within a week 🙈😂

Just looked up the thing about snowsuits in baby carriers and it said

1. Avoid Snowsuits, Please. ), it's important that your little one doesn't wear one when they are in a baby carrier or sling. Not only could it cause your baby to overheat, the padded snowsuit can prevent your little one from sitting in an ergonomic, safe carry position.

So every single person at that fayre had one on their child and they shouldn’t have 🤔 it looked fine on their child but just couldn’t imagine squishing him in there with one on

@sarah13xx I saved this post on Instagram a couple of weeks ago as I thought it was helpful regarding baby wearing during cold weather il paste the link here

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWGdANBKZXx/?utmmedium=copyy_link

@Inmypjsagain I've got the health visitor on Wednesday so will put weight and length on then. Its her 16 week vaccinations today! I hope she manages to sleep them off peacefully

I think I'm going to get a note book and write my sister a letter and any memories I think of.

Currently have a baby on me after a feed. I think she's thrown up a bit as I can feel a warm wetness on my top. We seem to be feeding more at night because she's waking more and I'm not sure if it's due to hunger or not. I just presume after 4 hours that it is and feed her...

We're trying pampers tonight with no changes. Will report back later on leaking.

That's a great post @lucyrp. @sarah13xx Yes, a lot of people are putting them in pramsuits in carriers. I had Leo in a vest-babygrow-M&S cardigan combination in October when I took him to IKEA and he was too hot, think I shared it on here as I was shocked when I checked his chest, it was so hot. This has taught me to never even consider a pramsuit in the carrier! Babies need even less clothing if you go inside. If we stay outdoors for the duration I pick a short sleeve vest, a babygrow (or long sleeve vest with thin leggins and socks), then joggers over the leggins, light fleece booties on feet, a hat and a light zip up hoodie I got him from Benetton. Their sizing is small but thanks to this it doesn't lift in a carrier, fits him well. It sounds like a lot but he's just layered up and seems just right temp wise. Do you have that 3 in 1 parka or another 3 in 1 item? Cause that will change things too, he wears less on the bottom then.

Questions about protecting little hands in winter. Any tips for prams/baby carriers? The pramsuits we have which he sometimes wear when I take him out in the pram have no mittens or anything (and I very much think he'd take them off anyway). What do people do, please? xx

@PurplePansy05 I've bought a hat and some mittens from Morrisons and I'm going to attach a ribbon to the mittens so that they're like the mittens I used to have and thread them through the jacket or jumper etc that DD has one so even if they do fall off (less likely) they won't go anywhere. The mittens I have are like knitted with a fleece inside. Xx

We have the ergobaby omni 360 and its honestly the most useful and most frequently used piece of baby kit we’ve invested in. Can take DS everywhere - we’ve been walking in the hills with it and around the city.

He didn’t fit well in it until he was maybe 2/2.5 months but he’s a little 9th centile baby (by UK standards that is - by Indian standards he’s a big old chonk!). He now fits really well but does have a tendency to fall asleep every time he’s in it… Like others, I can’t wait until he can face forward! I reckon it’s probably height that’s a limitation - he’s 60-65cm now and when we’ve put him forward the front fold down bit goes halfway up his cheek, so not very comfortable.

I would agree @PurplePansy05 and @sarah13xx that it isnt as intuitive as I expected and it took longer to get used to than I expected. I wanted it to be really easy to use and was annoyed when it wasn’t especially for such a cost. It took probably a dozen attempts before I and DS felt properly comfortable with it.

On car seats, thanks @BertieBotts. We definitely aren’t bringing our car back - it’s a vintage model only made in India and doesn’t have airbags…- but my dad might pick us up from the airport so I’m keen to post one to him for use immediately. Thanks for your advice - as ever, you’re so wise and well informed. I’ll ponder.

@sarah13xx - that’s such a lovely idea to get a picture of your baby putting star on every year! I may just steal that…

@PurplePansy05 we haven’t been anywhere really cold yet - about ten degrees is the coldest we’ve been but it was cold for DS as he hadn’t experienced below about 20 degrees before. - Snowsuit / pramsuit definitely too much - layers is the way forward, I found. I put him in a not overly thick, long sleeved body suit and layered with cardigan (so it’s open at the front on me / DH) and jersey trousers, with pulled up socks underneath held on by Socks On (or is it Sock Ons?). Used a body suit that had folding hands and put socks on his hands underneath them (I find socks stay on better than gloves). That worked well and gave us lots of optionality for layers on or off, and he didn’t get too warm even though we were doing a lot of walking up and down hills so DH and I were quite warm with him on us.

I know all the advice is to keep their core warm but in the carrier his core got TOO hot - so focusing on layers for limbs and digits was more important.

Sorry, to add to the above: I’ve just bought him some zip front hoodies with fold over hands for the same purpose for when we return to the UK - so the front can be open on me, but his arms and head will be warm.

I’d love to meet some of you when I get back to the UK by the way! It’s so nice to be able to communicate across such a distance. I’ll be west London based :)

First nursery tour (virtual) this afternoon. My GOODNESS the prices! It’d cost as much to send him to boarding school!!

@lucyrp that’s a good post, thanks for that!

Glad others share my feelings about the carrier 🙈 I think it will be good if we get any snow etc here though for taking the dog out. @PurplePansy05 he has a few wee fleecey pairs of gloves but I’ve had to tuck them inside his sleeves or he’ll pull them off trying to suck his thumb. I’ve got a wee zip up during the day onesie made of kind of hoody material so I’ll maybe do a long sleeved vest with the built in hands and put that on top for going in the carrier on cold days. I’ve noticed it’s handy for the car seat because it’s not a big thick layer but will keep him warm

Thank you all! Some useful practical tips, I can't believe I've not thought about unfolding the hands or putting little socks on them! I will try this and also have very similar mittens to lucy's, see how he fares wearing them, the little rascal 😂 xx

Sorry back to books again - does anyone have any suggestions for story books that rhyme? Not worried about them being suitable for now or educational or anything, just looking for some fun to read books that he'll enjoy properly in a couple of years but I'll enjoy reading to him now 😂

I guess kind of like Mr Stick Man? That's basically the only one I know of from my friend's toddler. Totally clueless 😂

@Daffodil21 stickman, snail and the whale, the gruffalo, the gruffalos child, room on the broom were firm favourites of my ds from about a year. They are fairly long but he's always loved them. Also we're going on a bear hunt.
Current favourites are Hairy Maclairy books, the Dinosaur that pooped series.
For Christmas I have bought ds the dinosaur that pooped Christmas and dd we're going on an elf chase. Ds will enjoy it too. My mum had bought him the Easter hunt version for Easter.

Baby book wise ds loved Peter rabbit I love you, all the that's not my books, where's Mr duck but he liked longer stories pretty early on.

My house is coming down with books 🙈 my parents are big readers and mum was a childminder and has kept pretty much every book we ever got as kids and my brother and I both teach in primary so yet more books 😂

The jolly Christmas postman, jingle bells are both lovely Christmas books. Also the works does 10 books for £10 and usually have good christmas/ winter ones. But my advice would be to get some board book versions at this age! Reading ds books used to be one of the strategies we used to try and get him to eat food so quite often they got covered in weetabix or the likes and at least it can be easily wiped off board books.

Our Cybex car seat is like that too, I have to hold it with two hands at the bottom of the handle, then transfer to one hand at the top. I think only Britax make one where the release button is in the middle of the handle at the top so it is one handed.

The Cloud is really long lasting, it's just the Sirona that isn't. DS2 is 3 and 3 months and he would 100% be too tall for it, even though he was only 97cm at his 3 year check. Just going by how he is in his Britax and Joie seats and comparing from when I worked at the baby shop. The Cybex was a good inch or two shorter. You put two year olds in it and they are near the top setting, it's silly.

Random Do you have an infant carrier now? I'd just fly with that one and then you can use it straight away in your dad's car, as they are so universal and easy to use. You can often even use them on the plane if you book a seat for the baby. Once you've got your own car then you should be able to keep using the infant carrier a few more weeks/months as well so should have plenty of time to research and buy the next seat. It will be hard to get hold of decent brands in India, and it can be frustrating to buy online and then realise the seat you've got isn't one you wanted or you don't like the fit in your car or you overlooked some issue.

Daffodil I LOVE Stick Man! Most of the Julia Donaldson books are similar and great. I also love reading these:
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
The Dog who could Dig
Oliver Jeffers books
Hairy Maclairy books
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

@Daffodil21 I love Dr Seuss!! And also Edward Lear poems - my mum adores them and we were read them a huge amount as children. And (a rogue suggestion!!), another one we were read as children was Struwwelpeter/Shock Headed Peter, which is a German children's book mostly featuring children coming to grisly ends 😬 maybe for when a bit older, but I know I was definitely in lower primary when I was read that! Nice rhymes and pictures, even if not totally traditional children's themes!

Well pampers were a bust but I'm not convinced I got the right kind plus DD is having major wet poops just now that soak into the nappy. I'm a bit worried about them but OH thinks it's just from all the drool. She's happy during the day so I guess she's OK.

Had the 16 week jabs today and I was kinda looking forward to a day of DD having major long naps but she's been totally fine! Fell asleep on my boob during a feed which is unusual but apart from that just her normal self. Which is good really but I've got things to do

I'm really feeling the lack of sleep just now. I'm getting sore heads and my body just feels knackered. OH let's me sleep in the morning as much as he can but he's got work. Role on Christmas holidays!

@Daffodil21 Judith Kerr and Eric Carle are favourite authors of mine for nice books that aren’t dull to read as a parent. I also really like the Hairy Macalary series which I remember being read as a child.

All good points, @BertieBotts. The one we have here is no good as it’s bloody heavy, so we’re passing it on to a friend, but that’s a good point on it potentially being frustrating if not quite right. Thank you.

I absolutely love Roald Dahl's and Astrid Lindgren's books, obviously for older children, but I'll be starting DS early. Same with Winnie the Pooh, can't wait to start reading this one with him! 🥰 xx

@Daffodil21 my three year old loves the 10 minutes to bed series of books, and I enjoy reading them as well. As well as snail and the whale, sharing a shell, giraffes can’t dance, Elma the patchwork elephant. We have so many books. 😂

Sorry I’m more of a lurker here nowadays, everything is very full on with Xmas. Also we have our loft converted into DS bedroom (was done probably 10 years ago by previous owners) and it’s so hot in the summer and super cold on the winter - it was 12 degrees on the gro egg the other night! Not sure what we can do though! It complies with building regs but obviously insulation has come a long way in 10 years. No accept to the actual room from the room either. At a loss, don’t have the money to take the roof off!

@sarah13xx wow Freddie must be tall! That’s average length for a 6 month old! Baby is 69cm but my worry is more the fact the red book has him a high centile for height and relatively low for weight, I’m not sure how the 2 should correlate. Nct babies seem to be a similar height and weight centile 🤷🏼‍♀️

Re: books we got loads of the “that’s not my….” Series at a charity shop.m that are fun. We also have a book called wigglesaurus that I like reading cos you’re a finger puppet too! We also like the little people big dreams books, but we mainly have the baby editions. I’ve learned lots of about David Attenborough and Stephen hawking! Also adore Winnie the Pooh and already started reading it to him, mainly for me!!!

@Ready2020 we use pampers baby dry and they’re a hit. Hope health visitor goes well and you managed to get some sleep?

Oh and the baby carrier and outfits, I always see babies in their pram suits and carriers which I’m sure is against advice!

@Magik01 12 is so cold! Have you got a portable heater? We have a Dyson fan that can be used as a heater that’s cheap to run… do you have something like that?

I’ve put together the sit up pram now, officially outgrown the bassinet- I was trying to keep him in it as long as possible because it was snuggley and you can layer. But what should I be dressing him in now- he’d normally wear a pram suit and blankets. Now he has a footmuff, so a pram suit might be a bit much and hard to shove blankets down the muff? I miss the bassinet already!

@Inmypjsagain I think the night I did the pampers test was just a bad night for her watery poops. Last night was better and I think she would have been fine over night. I'll try again tonight.

The HV was here today. At 16 weeks 4 days DD is 13lbs 7.5 oz and 61.5 length. Its fairly average I think.

DD and I both slept in until 8.30 this morning! From 5am. No idea how that happened but it was great to wake up to that.

@Inmypjsagain I know! There is a radiator up there but I don’t think it’s big enough for the actual room. Think we are going to get a larger one fitted!