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! 🥰

Oh the Tomy eggs are great! Even Leo likes playing with them at my friend's house.

OK we just tried soft boiled egg and he was really not a fan - vomited up loads of milk immediately!

Please could I have fruit ideas?

We’ve tried apple, pear, watermelon and banana. Apple and pear mixed together seems just about tolerable but unacceptable on their own; watermelon and banana are unacceptable alone or in combination with anything else.

It’s probably a good thing he doesn’t have a sweet tooth but feel like I should try to get him to eat fruit?

Vegetables continue to be a big hit. Bloody loves peas and carrots mixed together; broccoli, potato, spinach and lentils (boiled into a daal with a very very small bit of garlic) all going down very nicely too.

Oh, and tried weetabix for the first time today. Was not totally sure but enthusiasm grew as time passed and then he almost immediately fell asleep - clearly very, very filling!

Berries tend to be good - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries. Not in season at the moment though. You can buy them puréed.

Pineapple, kiwi? Those are acidic so go carefully/slowly. DS1 loved kiwi from an early age but it always gave DS2 bad poos and he was very upset by eating pineapple at nursery, he kept saying it was spicy and crying.

Stewed plums or rhubarb perhaps. Again rhubarb is very sharp.

Dd loves strawberries they are quite big atm so easy for her to hold, also enjoyed melon fingers. Though with blw I doubt she actually eats alot
@RandomCatGenerator im away home to try weetabix before bed then 🤣 someone told me to try giving her cooled boiled water in a bottle during the night instead of feeding her all the time to see if it persuaded her to sleep longer instead of waking for it. She just drank all th he Easter difference being it didnt send her back to sleep like breastfeeding does!

@RandomCatGenerator Pureed mango is DS's favourite. Or mango & raspberry 😊 xx

Also re water - should we be introducing it any time soon? And should they only drink cooled down boiled water till they reach certain age? xx

6 months so not far off for unboiled water. I have been trying him with a spout cup but while he is very enthusiastic he gets soaked if I take the valve out so it's free-flow and can't get anything with the valve in. I have decided to leave it for now although I give him a bit of warm water in a bottle when he's very phlegmy/coughy as it seems to help.

Once they are taking some quantity of solids it makes sense to me they would need water alongside.

@BertieBotts that's useful I thought it still had to be boiled until a year, we are over the 6 month Mark here already. Dd still isn't sitting unaided so I won't be introducing a cup of water yet she will just send it everywhere without a doubt 🤣

We give cooled boiled water with food, @PurplePansy05

Having a bit of a day today. No reason really. Just annoying things like both my mum and OH took DD out for nap walks for way longer than what I said so she's fighting sleep now after too much sleep today. But OH thinks he knows best and that she's over tired.

My left boob has a hard lump in it I think from DD not feeding over night last night. I presume it's blocked or something. The lumpy bit hurts when I press it. I think I need to add some heat to it to help. She's fed from it today but the lump is still there.

My mum took her out so I could do some cleaning. I think today I'm just fed up of feeling like I do all the baby stuff. It's not OHs fault I guess that she will only go down for me these nights but it just feels like I'm the one organising everything like weaning and nursery yet OH will happily give his opinion when he thinks I've got it wrong.

I have left him to sort out the washing I did today and off to do a bit of sewing before bed!

Has anyone seen the Joie ispin 260 grow.or know anyone who has one? I was planning on getting the I spin 360 for Alasdair as we have one for Iona already but have noticed they now have one which goes to 25 kg instead of 19kg and 18.5 kg rear facing. Both are 50% ish so happy we would get to 4 at least rear facing and I'd be happy to turn them around at that point. It's £400 instead of £300 but would last much longer so considering upgrading Iona and moving Alasdair into her seat.

@Ready2020 I've had a bad day today too, DS was cranky and DH is just...DH. I could write a really long post on this, but honestly I can't even be bothered to waste more time on talking about his attitude. I've run out of eyerolls.

Do something nice just for yourself tonight - and a nice warm shower is in order for boobie's sake, definitely Also maybe your OH could organise a part of Rowan's life as of tomorrow, he might have a different perspective then (and at least don't criticise, that's just a load of nonsense to criticise you, the doer)? xx

My delayed response… 🤣

@PurplePansy05 thank you! 21 orders deep now and desperately gasping for breath at the surface but I’ll somehow get there 😂 Yes I definitely think the prices of cars will drop as soon as there’s new stock available again so I really want to get the money for ours before it drops! I went to a show room tonight just to see a few in person (then I can hunt for a deal on one tomorrow) and the guy said they were actually so short on new cars they didn’t have anything to display in their show room and were having to show cars that were already sold just because there’s nothing else. The jeep I looked at wouldn’t be available until July 🤦🏼‍♀️ I might just get a bike and a bike seat instead at this rate 😂

I hadn’t attempted the cooled boiled water on its own, I do give him more water than necessary for the milk/water ratio in his bottle sometimes so he’s getting a bit extra but yesterday was the first time he tried just water. My mum gave him it and he started frantically drinking like it was milk then looked at her in sheer disgust when he realised it wasn’t 🙈

I feel a bit of a failure with the whole weaning thing . He has tried blended carrot, broccoli, potato and cauliflower but that’s it. There’s been two days this week he hasn’t had anything because he’s got to be in the mood for it and the only time I have a spare millisecond to make it is at night but by dinner time he’s for none of it. I think I need to start pre making stuff and giving him it for lunch instead if I can because there’s been days he just doesn’t end up having anything but milk 🤦🏼‍♀️

Joie Spin Grow is a total false economy. Don't bother :) It only goes up to 25kg as a booster seat. You can get an actual 25kg rear facing seat for about £200 (or £360 for a fancy one which is still less than the Joie!)

My boob is lumpy too. Do you have one of those silicone one piece pumps like the haakaa? I have heard of putting hot water (and epsom salts if you have them) in it as a kind of "boob spa" as apparently the steam and heat helps. I need to do it when there aren't children climbing on me which might be never :/

Sarah don't worry, that sounds normal with weaning, I think it's nice for them to have a slower start. You can also make extra and freeze as ice cubes or there is nothing wrong with buying jars. I have a load of jars in the cupboard and haven't really got around to making anything fresh yet. Lunchtime is more successful IME, at this age they are just knackered by dinner time.

Don’t feel like a failure @sarah13xx - it is hard especially when they get so tired by dinner time. I have steamed / boiled and then puréed several options and stuck them in ice cube trays in the freezer. It makes it incredibly easy to just pick a few cubes, microwave them and voila, baby food ready. We aren’t trying anything particularly exciting - the most elaborate food we’ve tried is daal (little bit of oil, little bit of garlic, yellow split lentils, water, boil it all up into a delicious soft mush). Again, it’s in cubes in the freezer.

BLW is entirely not happening here. I wish it was but he’s just not interested. He’ll gum a pear that’s been in the fridge a bit, probably because it’s cool on his gums, but is totally unaware it has to be chewed and swallowed. Cucumbers not successful; watermelon the product of the devil. It’s fine - he’s eating purées vegetables fine so I’m just trying to go with it and not over complicate things :)

(This makes me sound very zen. I am not zen; even on nights when DH is doing the baby, I can barely sleep and am panicking about the house/country move, the long overnight flight, no job to go to and an exceptionally rubbish Keep In Touch manager, feeling directionless and unmoored, all the admin before we leave India, seeing friends before we leave India…argh)

Well, Alex has grown a tooth! And then we went for a walk to the shop (no more quarantine, yay!) he screamed all the way around and then when we came home fell asleep for 2+ hours 😲 when he woke up I realised he'd pooed (oops - I think that's why he was upset in the shop) so after I changed him he did three more poos, each one explosive and sad :o poor baby! It's been an exhausting day for him.

The skin on his head has overnight gone sooo dry and scaly.

Welcome, Alex's tooth! 👋😁

@RandomCatGenerator That's a lot to take in, so many uncertainties and changes at once. No wonder you're feeling like this. Without meaning to sound trivial or patronising (as my own anxiety is eating me up), things do fall into place when you move countries - they did before and they will again. Deep breaths

So I thought I'm going to be that awesome mum and bought Leo the Munchkin 360 cup. Rave reviews, no spills, I thought, great.

Only I couldn't figure out how to use it. At all. No instructions which clearly shows that I am in fact, really that thick

After 10 mins of unsuccessful attempts, I've resorted to good old YT Found a video, great.

Gave it to Leo who is officially a 6 month old boy 🥳 Leo took one look at it and in under 2 seconds worked it out.

...

It's a special kinda day when you're outsmarted by your 6 mo son!

(In case anyone's wondering, you just meant to sip from the edge...anywhere, hence the 360 in the name...and 'sippy' in the name...)

I gave him tap water today and he was ok. 2 poos since then, haha! I think he prefers the tiny open cups that I also bought him, however I definitely need to help him to avoid spillage everywhere 😄 xx

Oh we've got some of those from DS2, I could try him on them. I think we went for them later last time but can't remember why. I love them because they are so easy to clean in the dishwasher and don't get gross gunky greasy stuff inside the spout.

The no spills is a lie, but we did find them better than most other options.

I’m so happy I’m logged in! I’ve been trying to log in for a few days and it kept giving me a message saying MN aren’t taking new users atm! I was panicked that I was blocked or something!

Glad you’re feeling better @BertieBotts and yay for a tooth!!!

@PurplePansy05 well done Leo with his cup! Thank you for the toy recommendations, I’ve made an order! Is he into those eggs atm? My niece has them but I think he’d just put them in his mouth! Also I know you asked ages ago about stuff for the face going out- but I’ve been using a mix of barrier creams (bepanthen mainly, could use Vaseline, makes them look shiny but it gets wiped off when home) and neals yard baby balm- you could use normal moisturiser but it’d probably need a top up if you’re out for ages.

@RandomCatGenerator fully justified to be stressed out! I have no helpful advice but you can do this!

@sarah13xx you sound so busy, I wouldn’t worry about weaning though, there’s enough going on. Great the business has taken off though. I was going to say car shopping is fun but it sounds stressful! I’m actually finding shopping everywhere pretty stressful as I’ve noticed shops putting their prices up, seems everything’s going up except wages…

Weaning here is weird. My husband is away for work this week so I bought some Ella’s kitchen pouches just incase I was knackered/we were having issues. I wasn’t organised to freeze the purée even though the tray has arrived! Anyway, he clearly doesn’t like my cooking because these pouches have been a hit! He’s been having 2 120g pouches a day and I’ve been giving him his usual milk feeds but in the last day or so I’d say he’s drinking half what he usually does… does that sound right? Should I hold back some of the food to give more milk? I feel clueless!

He’s still pooing twice a day, which he did pre weaning, but the poo is brown and smelly now! We have a tippy cup but he doesn’t use it, he’ll hold it and try and suck so I’m going to get one with a straw I think. He’s not interested in water though! Honestly I’m a bit scared of baby led weaning because I’m worried about choking, I’ve given him some Ella kitchen puffs as they basically dissolve and I’m waiting for him to get the hang of them before I introduce other food and am sticking to purées. I know I need to get over it though.

I’m sure I’ve missed loads of posts, so I hope everyone’s okay!