August 2021 - They've been here for half a year

[BertieBotts]

Can you believe it! Our lovely little ones are (roughly) halfway to their first birthdays.

Welcome friends old and new for discussion of sleep, teeth, weaning, milestones, navigating post-baby relationships and the whole existential dread of parenthood... I mean those amazing moments when they make your heart melt. Or produce a poo that makes the wallpaper melt. Oh, all of them. Nothing is off limits because it's just good to know that somebody else has been there.

@BertieBotts I got confused between DS names on here then and thought you were planning on potty training the baby for a second 😂😂 good luck with Leo!

Funnily enough he quite often only poos when I have him on the changing table pushing his legs up, it's quite disconcerting :o :o but was one of the catalysts to deciding to go for it with the 3yo!

@biscuitcat keeping the food diary sounds a great idea, I think’ll do the same. Gosh soy is a difficult thing as it’s added to so many products that you don’t realise. A friend’s son also gets eczema from tomatoes so it really can be anything. Thankfully he hasn’t had a flare up for a couple of weeks but it has meant I’m slow at introducing new foods. But we are getting there. Good luck with the food diary, I’m sure it’ll help a lot.

I think my DD is a bit older maybe. She's 8 months now and is crawling properly for the last 10 days or so.

Her sleep is awful just now. I'm not sure if it's hunger as she has gone from a baby who loves her food to refusing and spitting it out like it's a fun game. Drives me bonkers. I've no idea how to rectify that and just give up feeding her. It means that's she's hungry for more boob though. Hope it's just a phase.

We had to cut short our trip to my sister in Durham as I was just so tired. We were sharing a room with DD and it just wasn't working. My sisters house creaks everywhere and DD just kept getting woken up. I'm so glad to be home though she's woken 3 times so far tonight! At least I'm in my own bed.

3 weeks until I start work 😫

No, DS is definitely definitely not crawling. He barely sits up unaided. And that is fine - the nursery and GP are not concerned.

I say this as I’m sure I’m not the only one who read about all these crawling, standing, walking babies and panicked!! Some of yours are clearly v advanced!

@WolfMother326 no crawling here either and he’s just turned 8 months. I do think he’d have had a better chance at it if I’d had him on the floor a lot more the last few months but with a house move, very limited space and two big dogs on the (unclean) floor it really wasn’t where I wanted to put him! Finally moved house now so hoping he’ll get a better chance at playing on the floor in his nice dog-free room.

I think it’s the same as every other stage of having a baby where people just feel the need to say something/anything but it’s like every person I meet will say how is he? Is he crawling? And i feel like I can’t just say no so I have to say he’s kind of moving to the side but not going forwards and backwards or whatever but why does everyone feel the need to ask? 🙈

No crawling here yet either and dd is 8.5 months. She can get up on all 4s and rocks back and forth but that's about it she can't actually move forward. She has however mastered getting from her tummy up to sitting independently which she now does constantly. Which is super cute and a fantastic milestone but also oh so annoying! You know the 30 secs lie there on your baby mat while I grab big brother a drink/ answer the door now can't happen as she's sitting in a. Split second but on all wooden floors I'm worried about her falling over again . In the last week she has got remarkably steadier though.
@Ready2020 I'm back full time to work in 2 weeks also.. and likewise still up feeding during the night

Thanks for the crawling (or non crawling!) updates! I actually don't mind that mine is stationary still he can take his time as far as I'm concerned, I just wish he wasn't screaming about it all the time 😂

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter weekend x

Indeed have a nice Easter everyone xxx

I’m sorry to have been a bit absent. You guys have been such a support. DS and I have been pretty ill for over a week - bronchiolitis, which nearly killed me as a baby - and just getting back to normal.

I am worried that DS isn’t sitting or crawling at 8 months next week. And sad about it. Oh well.

Have a great weekend ladies x

@RandomCatGenerator I am pretty sure DS has bronchiolitis too. We've had a difficult few weeks with two trips to the GP and one to A&E as he developed 40C fever and refused feeds entirely. He feeds ok now, albeit less than before. Cough and runny nose still here, ughhh. Apparently he's fine the drs said, but he's not 100% and it's been a while. I hope both of you are ok xx

No crawling here either. He shuffles on his bum, occasionally faceplants the floor (bless him!) and mostly gets really frustrated - he'd like to a standard crawl I think, but because he's never liked being on his tummy (still not a fan) I really don't think he's had enough opportunities to exercise this. He puts weight onto his legs now and loves standing up with my support. I think he'll move on to this rather than crawling, he tries pulling himself up every now and then.

He can also sit up, not from a completely flat position, but he's not far off. Abs of steel on this kid, I swear?! Very jealous. Not after me, sadly.

Communication-wise, lots of new noises, we've had fake coughs, fake laughs, some parrot-like sounds to get my attention, some sounds of frustration (really loud and strong) and lots of "yayayayas", "manamamas", "blablabyabya" and similar. It's quite cute when he goes off and just doesn't shut up for a while sometimes 😂 He has the best chuckle I've ever heard too. This morning we were chuckling out together whilst having breakfast. I love little moments like that with him ❤

Could anyone help with this, I wonder, he leans to one side a lot whilst sat in his high chair - why could this be and should I be worried? Doesn't seem to do this at any other time.

Happy Easter to you all ❤ xx

There seem to be so many illnesses around at the moment, huge numbers of the babies I know are poorly at the moment.

@RandomCatGenerator DS is sitting, but doesn't move at all yet, not even a bum shuffle. He's been quite whingy recently and I think that's partly from him realising that moving around is something he might quite fancy doing but doesn't know how to yet. I've tried putting things he likes just out of reach to tempt him to move but he just gets angry! Something I've found quite reassuring when I worry about his development is looking up the ASQ for each age (it's the questionnaire that health visitors use), and you can answer and score up the questions yourself to check if there's anything that might be worth following up on - just make sure to get one of the pdfs with the scoring guide on as some cut it off.

Hope everyone has the same glorious sunshine that we do here and that the Easter Bunny visits!

Thanks @biscuitcat such helpful advice as ever!

@PurplePansy05 the giggles are the best.

Is it always the same side? If it's different sides perhaps he just needs more cushioning/support around him?

DS1 didn't sit up until 9 months. He was crawling at 8 months (plus some days/weeks I'm sure) but he was one of the earliest babies in our NCT group to crawl. It's actually really early for crawling yet, it generally happens at any point between 6-12 months so 9 months is the halfway point and for lots of babies it's more like a 10 month milestone. Then walking is spread between 10-18 months - most people think 12 months but not usually.

Movement wise here we have constant efforts to escape :o He sits well but is constantly reaching out in all directions to reach things. If he's near anything vertical (sofa, highchair legs, person) he will grab it and attempt to pull up although usually he doesn't get very far. If you hold his hands and pull him up he's delighted but he doesn't take steps. Sometimes when he reaches to one side, he will find his legs in a kind of Z shape and then he'll go up on the one knee and his arms and look like he's almost crawling, but as soon as he flips that other leg over, his tummy/bum/legs go flat and he gets cross again. We are constantly having bumps and bruises at the moment as he just launches himself off things and at things and tries to stand up on things that are not stable.

We seem to have the word "up" as well as "mama" as well though I'm not sure if he really knows what we think it means :o maybe it's just a sound.

DS2 has done well on potty training with no accidents on day 1 - let's see how day 2 goes - will probably be a disaster.

@BertieBotts it's usually the same side, he leans to the left.

I am thinking about moving his high chair to a different side of the table as an experiment - I wonder if he does this because where he sits now, if he turns to the left, he can see the hall - and there's usually a distraction there, like daddy coming from work, our dog etc. Still doesn't explain the leaning IMO, but maybe moving the chair will help.

He also turns to the left more when in his jumperoo because he's favourite toy is to the left, so I will make sure to rotate him now. I have no idea what I'm doing 🤷🏼‍♀️ xx

How are our babies getting on with weaning? I've discovered Rowan will spit out her food when tired or over stimulated so feeding her out in a cafe can be interesting. She generally doesn't eat much when out. I was reading that at 8 months the pincer movement can be progressing but I'm not sure on giving her small enough food to pinch! My pop up shop finishes tomorrow so I'm going to spend more time cooking her more different things to try. I've ordered her some bamboo plates as well as the plastic one I got her is getting bitty.

The weather is improving here lots so I've just planted my tomatoes and pepper plant! The peas are just poking through the ground too. Looking forward to some home grown veggies.

Aah yes maybe. I was thinking if there is a lean to one side there might be a tightness on one side so you could look into something like osteopath or chiropractic? Although they are a bit "woo" I think. Maybe worth mentioning to HV is it's a worry, but might just be him being nosy as you say :o

Weaning is going well here, he generally demands food at every mealtime now. We haven't really done much eating out and about, I've only braved the Ikea cafe. Alex definitely has a pincer grip but I remember it being more like 8-9 months with the other two. The thinking is that if they can grab it then it's safe for them to eat it (except for hard/round things like nuts of course) so it's safe to let them try. What about trying slightly bigger things first, like squashed blueberries, or raspberries? If she has the thumb to forefinger grip down then you can move onto smaller items like sultanas and cheerios. I have to say I love the pincer grip stage as they get so intent picking every thing up so carefully. Also the tiniest bits of fluff and dust from the floor BTW :o

Hoping everyone's babies are feeling better, it's terrible when they're unwell and we can't help. So many colds going around on top of covid.

So last week's screaming may have been a sign. Alasdair has just started doing a very rapid army crawl out of nowhere and is suddenly saying mamama bababa constantly. The mama does seem to be when he wants me: for milk, nap, cuddle, general complaint 🤣 it's all so new and cool. I'm happy for him but spent the whole morning trying to tidy and baby proof, I thought I had more time! I know his crawling is a little early.

Hope everyone has had a lovely Easter! Any other babes had a sneaky taste of chocolate?

Also I couldn't help but bunny ears on Ivy

Oh @kagerou, she's so gorgeous! And look at that dress, super smart! 😍 I've been thinking about giving him a teeny tiny bit of a chocolate Easter bunny, but so far he's tasted a hot cross bun and obviously liked it. I don't think there's anything DS dislikes, apart from when his food is finished 😂🤷🏼‍♀️ Maybe he'll have a little taste tomorrow.

@BertieBotts I agree this may be a bit woo and OTT, his posture seems ok to me. I'll move the chair tonight and watch him more closely.

@WolfMother326 Wow, amazing progress! Sounds like he was frustrated and figuring things out in his head and now there's no stopping him! 😁 A new chapter of fun begins! xx

Oh bless her!!

Mine has mostly been eating sand

Teeth driving us mad. We have the bottom two in for ages, then for some reason we got teeth 3&4 on the top instead of the middle two? But the middle ones are coming in now. So much drooling and biting everything.

@kagerou what a cute picture 😍 and I love her outfit!

@Ready2020 we seem to finally be getting somewhere with weaning - it's been a very slow start! Over two months in and today was the first time we got a poo which was very definitely not a milk poo. He's starting to get there with pincer grip, blueberries are very popular. I tried peas today but he ignored them, partly as I think he was a bit tired and partly because there were carrots too, which he really likes. My veg is also growing nicely! The lettuce is looking very healthy and I think I can see the beginning of my potatoes sprouting 😋 courgettes and green beans to plant soon once all the frosts have passed!

@WolfMother326 how exciting!! Did his crawl seem to be totally out of nowhere? Rowan is still sitting still (or standing still with help), no interest in moving at all!

@biscuitcat and @PurplePansy05, I know, it's been a shock! And yes he just started doing it out of nowhere, having previously only airplaned angrily on his tummy while shouting. On Friday he started moving, and by this morning he was zipping around the room. he's also starting to get up on his knees and rock back and forth, I think he wants to be able to properly crawl next, not just shuffle on his stomach.