August 2021 Babies - From Santa to Solids, Hohoho!

[PurplePansy05]

Here we go again!

I'd do another delightful intro, alas I've lost count which thread this is now and we all know our LO's names anyway 😁

So instead I will just say, Merry First Christmas together to you and your LOs! 🎄❤🎁

May the sleep regression pass as soon as they see Santa later this week...

...May they love weaning and may our kitchens survive...

...May 2022 be full of blessings for them and for us ❤❤❤

Oldcomers and newcomers welcome, as always! 🥰

I've been doing bedtime at 8 but he hasn't been going down recently until more like 10, so I've been tinkering with naps. It seems a last nap at 4.30 is perfect for bedtime at 8, if he has another one at 6 then he won't be sleepy until later.

We have been doing some teeny tiny bits of food but I didn't want to say as I am one of those terribly impatient parents and I didn't want to egg anyone on :o I think I've started all of them just before 5 months, around 20/21 weeks. I gave him a stick of steamed carrot to suck/gum on (BLW style) on Christmas day and DH gave him a bit of mash off his finger, just a taste. Tiny bits of carrot came out in the nappy, so he clearly swallowed some! He is 19.5 weeks or about 4.5 months, so I don't think he's really ready, but he is absolutely obsessed with food whenever it's around. He practically mugged me for an orange yesterday, so I got the highchair out and tried the banana test on him. The banana test is where you put them in a highchair (step one is that they can actually sit in it without slumping, he passed that) and place about a third of a banana in front of them. If they can, without ANY help, pick it up, bring it to their mouth, chew and swallow then they are ready for weaning. It used to be on the NHS website, no idea if it is any more.

Anyway the bananas were a bit soft, so not the best. He couldn't pick it up because grasping it made it disintegrate so instead he used both hands to scoop it towards himself and then put his face down and just sucked, licked and gummed it to death for ages! There was quite a bit of banana in the nappy today (it looks like black worms, for the unprepared) so the technique clearly worked for him :o

However, I am a bit confused about whether that classes as passing it or not. So we are definitely avoiding spoon feeding for now but will probably let him have a bit more of a go at picking stuff up and eating it over the next few days/weeks and see how we go. But not starting anything regular yet.

Interestingly the German weaning approach is really solid but slow moving! I didn't follow it last time but found it really interesting to look at.

Ah about the teething gels, that's probably to do with the ones sold in America which are much stronger than the ones sold in the UK and can potentially cause choking as they numb the back of the throat and mess with the swallowing reflex, so the advice there is not to use them when feeding anything at all.

I believe the UK ones are fine but if unsure you could always ask a pharmacist or your health visitor or try the drugs in breastmilk helpline? I know that's more for medicines you would take but see what they say.

I know if you mention teething gels on Reddit everyone goes insane like you've suggested rubbing whisky on their gums!

We do give calpol if it's a tough day and teeth seem to be the issue.

@PurplePansy05 we swore by anbosol liquid with DS1 and I have used it on Isaac also. Choose the liquid over the gel, so much easier to work with. Tip it up so you get some on your finger and just rub it on the gums. It tastes horrible (I tried it!) but does numb the pain pretty quickly. Haven’t noticed that it interferes with BFing either. We also have the Ashton and parsons powder as we used it with DS1- people swear by the stuff. I personally found it a bit meh but brought it again as it’s useful to have in! Bit 100% get anbosol!

@PurplePansy05 it was the liquid I've used and thought brilliant 🙂
I also bought a dummy clip here in denmark that's made of silicone beads big ones and dd is having a great time chomping on that and I have attached a gel teething duck to it. She's not particularly interested in a dummy. She's found her voice tonight and is chatting non stop 😂

Thanks so much everyone! He's had a better day today. Will stock up on your suggested remedies 😊

He's found his feet and keeps playing with his toes 😂 We just had a bath and he makes me laugh so much.

Bertie, I'm thinking to start him off with carrots and mashed potatoes in a fornight (5.5m). He sits in his chair with us at nearly every meal and is so curious. xx

@sarah13xx @Ready2020 just a little warning - I just used the bath thermometer that comes in the baby box. The thermometer said 32 but I thought it felt a lot warmer than that so double checked it and it was actually 42! Might just be a low battery as normally no issues with it, but just thought I'd best mention it.

@PurplePansy05 Rowan has also decided not to roll any more! He's done it twice, and every time I pop him on his front to see if he'll do it again now he's having none of it

I don't think Rowan is teething yet (though everyone who sees him put his hands anywhere near his mouth is convinced that he is!), but the recommendations for teething gels are so helpful, I need to stock up in advance

I'm busy wondering when to start weaning - I ordered some bibs today so we're all ready to go. Rowan is still just shy of 5 months, but he stole some broccoli from DH's plate the other day so is definitely starting to get interested!

Hahaha I think sometimes when they have so many skills to work on they're like right, I've nailed rolling, fuck doing that any more. Time to focus on grabbing! It's like they've checked it off a list and they never have to do it again :o

@Daffodil21 oh wow! 🙈 was there not another leaflet posted out about the thermometer after you received the baby box too? I just binned it at the time but I remember thinking it sounds like people have complained about that! We were using the pebble thermometer for the bath that lights up with a heart but I’ve actually not used one for a while. Probably use it again when we move house and the taps in the bath aren’t quite the same as ours now 😂

He can be very grumpy /girny (is that a purely Scottish word? 😂) at times too, can never work out if it’s just tiredness or teething. He does continually put one finger along where the bottom row of teeth would be like he’s obsessed with feeling it but I’ve never actually put my finger in to see what’s there 🙈

For some reason I’m completely fine with any dirty nappy no matter how bad just now but for some reason the idea of feeding him and it coming out in the nappy makes me go ewww a bit 🙈 Really hoping in reality it’s fine, don’t have much choice I suppose!

We have one of those inflatable rubber ring playnests and I had put it away over Christmas due to the exploding mountain of toys in our living room but I brought it back out tonight and I couldn’t believe how much better he was at sitting in it. He used to just slide down and lie back like he was going round a lazy river 😂 Now he can hold the top part of his body up above it even though the edge just goes round his back and isn’t high enough to support his shoulders and neck. It’s crazy how they just can’t do things one minute then all of a sudden they can!

@sarah13xx I think there were some batches where the thermometer to check their temperature was only suitable from 1+, but I don't think ours was that batch (it does say it in the leaflet of the thermometer I think)

Yes! I really want our playnest but it seems to have been "stored" somewhere It's great for this age. Maybe I'll check the cellar.

I don't know if food coming out in the nappy is just a BLW thing? If you start with smooth purees it might not be as noticeable at the other end.

Have any of you FF ladies tried the 'hungry baby' formulas? DS doesn't seem as satisfied anymore and I'm thinking about giving him a bottle of the hungry milk before bed to see if that helps to keep him fuller for longer. Have read it can cause constipation but just one bottle per day should be ok? He is only waking for food in the night, not comfort. He goes straight back to sleep after he's been fed. If DH was here I would actually be tempted to give him something like baby rice, but don't want to do it without him. He went to sleep really late late night, and then still woke up an additional time in the night for a feed...

OK, we tried a soft steamed carrot today, a finger stick and mashed up. Zero interest 😂 Perhaps because he was tired but I've only noticed about 10 mins after we tried. The dog didn't complain though 😂 We'll try again tomorrow xx

Ah perhaps he's just not ready yet 🙂

I just came to say I've seen on FB that the positive breastfeeding book by Amy Brown is in offer for 99p on Kindle. I know breastfeeding is well established by now but in case anyone was interested as it has chapters on returning to work, weaning (both kinds, ending bf and starting solids), sleep, breastfeeding older babies and toddlers and breastfeeding in pregnancy so lots of info that might still be useful. I follow her on FB and find her stuff really good.

Does anyone's baby still have issues with flailing arms? When DD begins to get unsettled at night it's generally her arms flapping about that wakes her. We need to hold her arms down and it settles her most of the time. I thought she would have been past this by now.

Also I really want to start giving a bottle feed every day to her. Just to get her used to the bottle more than anything so it's not a big deal if she doesn't have loads but I guess it's better to do it at the same time every day?

We're getting the high chair out once the Christmas tree is down. I've ordered an insert for the IKEA chair to help support younger babies so I hope that will mean she can sit in it as I think she wants to sit up more now and be nosy.

We are home 🎉 I'm so relieved!
Ds finally settled in bed he fell asleep in the car on way up but then couldn't understand why we were waking him only to put him back to bed again 😂 (actually in his bed this time)
Ds falls asleep almost instantly in the car on long journeys dd on the other hand does not seem to be a fan. She also has decided she hates the infant carrier since we went to Denmark I'm hoping maybe because we are using it belted instead of on the isofix base? I'm not sure why that would make a difference though but it's the only thing I can think of.
@Ready2020 we still have lots of flailing arms during the night too

@Daffodil21 haven’t tried any of the hungry baby ones so can’t really help there. My friend said she did and she slept all through the night again after that. Could it be helped by him taking more at other feeds in the day? I think this was our issue when we had that minor blip a week or two ago where he randomly started waking up absolutely starving in the middle of the night. Now I make 7oz with every bottle and he’s rarely waiting 3 hours between feeds because he’s always hungry but like last night he slept 14 hours 🙈 So he’s able to go that long without because he’s kinda of evenly taking in calories all day while he’s awake. What size bottles is he taking the rest of the day?

We’re moving house this week so I’ve been having a huge clear out of clothes today. Tried vacuum packing clothes for the first time, omg why has it taken me til now?! The satisfaction 😍😂 On top of that everyone and their auntie has ordered from my Etsy shop in the last few days. I really wasn’t expecting it at all since it’s January and I expected a rush for Christmas presents then probably nothing for a few weeks. It’s amazingly obviously but I’m now sitting up at this time trying to get orders done to have them ready to post tomorrow 🙈 Was trying to restart the running and fitness thing but so far I’m too knackered during the day when I do have a spare minute 🤦🏼‍♀️ The baby is actually the least of my worries bizarrely and he’s just sort of sat in the middle of all the chaos entertaining himself with no idea what’s going on! Can’t wait to get moved and settled then be able to get into a bit of a routine with my orders and maybe get my mum to babysit at set times each week so I can do them during the day

@Daffodil21 I’ve not personally used but friends have and had mixed reviews, some liked it and some it made sleep worse by giving trapped wind.

I just started to load LO up in the day and slowly reduced the night feeds which has worked

@sarah13xx, good luck with the house move, how exciting! Also agree with the vacuum packs!

@Smurf123 welcome home!

Don’t know if anyone remembers a previous poster who sadly lost two of her babies, I came across this story today on IG and I hope it’s her, there are similarities but of course might not be 💜 www.instagram.com/rockabyereflux/p/CYTJyBLMYV7/?utm_medium=copy_link

Omg this must be Champson's girl! ❤❤❤ The names and story all match. I have been thinking about them on New Year's Day. This has brought a tear to my eye, couldn't be happier for them!

@Smurf123 I feel the relief through your words! Fab you made it home ok. @Ready2020 he still flails too, unless he falls asleep kneading one of his comforters. xx

@PurplePansy05 amazing isn’t it! The name Holly has always stayed with me and I as I read I thought… wait this is HOLLY!