January 08 shiny new - year babys , tired mums and dads!

[lilyloo]

Will that do

Betterhalf - Dead cute!
I got abit annoyed with DP the other day cos he's been saying for ages he wants another one quite soon. So anyway I finish my last pack of pills the end of the month so I asked whether he wants one this early or not. (Secretly hoping he'd say yes so we can start TTC as it took 2 years to concieve DD) and he's decided he doesn't want another now nad I found myself stupidly dissapointed at that and really upset.
Its ok though, I'm gonna go docs and get another 6 months worth of pills and during that time i'll work on DP

Aha don't bother Lucky go with the flow so to speak and see what happens .
Hark at me. Funny I was looking at this pregnant lady at Tesco yesterday and for the first time ever I wasn't thinking 'oh I wish I could do that again'. Definately done my bit now.

re the falling in love thing - def with ds1, straight away. not so fast with ds2.
ds1 i had a planned home birth, all went well.
ds2, like betterhalf, was undiagnosed breech and emc-s. when they brought him round the screen, i sort of looked at him and thought 'oh' & 'he's not mine'
after cuddles in recovery i still felt quite detached & remember lying in hosp bed looking at him in goldfish bowl cri just staring at him, waiting to feel something...and it came, thank goodness. not in a wave or rush or anything just gradually, esp every feed so by the time we came home (48hrs) i was fine and felt how i'd felt with ds1. so i guess it's diff for everybody and for every baby. as gingeme said, as log as it happens in the end, that's all that matters...

ho hum, dh done back in so has spent 2 days in bed i am fed up with it and him, not a good nurse. have friends here tom with 3 kids so hope he is well enough to help with them!

off to bed, night all

Mmm. Well, I'm glad not to spend the money. Does it make a difference to getting Los off to sleep at night?

I did feel a big rush of love for Sabela and it's not worn off. I sang to her all night the first night! I WAS off my head on morphine though

re blinds: Nah, our curtains are dark which helps if he starts meeping around after a night feed, switching off the light convinces him to go back to sleep, but in the evening he needs to have my bedside light on to sleep when I am not in the room with him.

Re rush of love, yes massively so. I felt like I had known him all my life and really felt like 'oh there you are', even though ten minutes before I could not believe I would have a baby . That same rush of love made for some scarily intense feelings though when he was in ICU. pretty unbearable. Lucky, I think that your experience is pretty much the normal one!

Evening all, seems like everyone is having a slightly better time of it now - me included!

I feel bad about my comments re DH - he has been absolutely wonderful yesterday and today - like someone else said, he just needed to be told what to do. It really didn't help me being psychotic with lack of sleep as well.

I have also started weaning in earnest following some horrendous nights, and Ben slept from 7-11-4-6:30 last night for the first time in ages - he was previously waking every 2 hours.

I feel a little bit bad going against various guidelines, but he's taken to it like a duck to water. So far we've tried baby rice and pureed parsnip and carrot. Going to keep these up for a week and see how it goes, but they're definitely going down - somtimes it just takes some time though! I couldn't believe it tonight though - Ben ate 3 ice cubes' worth of carrot and parsnip at 6:30, then at 7:30 drank 8oz of formula. I don't know where he puts it all!

The only drawback is the number of clothes we're getting through - even with a bib it's a very messy affair, and I was getting puree out from between his toes and his ears tonight!

My next task is to learn how to get Ben to go to sleep by himself. Currently he only ever goes to sleep on the bottle or in my arms.

What is amazing, is that with two night's decent sleep, how much Ben has come on. DUring the day he's had loads more energy, been really motoring around (well shuffling on his back and his front - mainly in circles!) and has been babbling away like mad. He's very different to the sullen, grumpy baby he was previously. We went to Ikea today, and he just wouldn't stop smiling at everyone! We also got him a high chair (a bargain at under £18 for chair, tray and cushion) and he started making a new shrieking noise when we sat him in it - he was very excited!

Right, I'm falling asleep at the keyboard, so off to bed now. Hopefully I can still get a couple of hours sleep yet!

it sounds like youve come a big leap forward neatha. Good for you lol at the messy food. Just remember the bigger they get the more food they eat the more mess they make

Naetha - How old is Ben now? I'm glad everything is working out better for you and your DH now and that you're able to get some more sleep.

My fabulous one night of sleep didn't happen last night (wasn't too bad though) she slept from 8 - 3 then 4-7:30 so not too bad. I can cope with that.

We've just bought her a walker and high chair off ebay and she loves the walker. Haven't tried her in the highchair yet as it's FILTHY

Hope your all ok. xxx

Ben's 4 months old today - last night he slept from 8 - 2:30 and then 3 until 6. I changed his nappy at 6, gave him a bit of a feed, and put him back in his cot awake - he played by himself for an hour. All of the above is unheard of previously! It's the best night's sleep he's ever had, and the longest I could have left him to play by himself was about 15 minutes at the best.

The other drawback is how stinky his poos are!! They are absolutely rancid! I got used to the poos that smelled of slightly off milk, but these are horrendous! Thankfully though he has no problems getting them out like he has done in the past

Ooh forgot to mention as well, got some proper me-time yesterday, and went for a 2 hour spin on the motorbike - was great!

What are your techniques for getting your LOs to sleep by themselves? Ben will only ever go to sleep in my arms, or when feeding. He's better at night, but terrible for daytime naps when he regularly gets overtired because he won't go to sleep. He used to fall asleep after a few sucks of the dummy, but he has no interest in dummies now.

Hope you all have a good day tomorrow

Naetha Nathan sleeps best after a long and leisurely feed (falls asleep while feeding, feeds in his sleep for a while then drops off) but is quite good at putting himself to sleep. Try the babywhisperer technique: Put in bed awake but sleepy, say night night, leave the room. If he cries pick him up, pat his back and shush gently. When calm but still awake put him down. Repeat as necessary until baby realises he is safe, not alone, and capable of going to sleep. It makes sense to me although I have never tried it as Nathan only cries in bed when I really mistime it and he is not ready for sleep.

He is really tired tonight, but we had a great day with lots of fun. He really enjoys sitting at the moment, with help of course, although alone for a few seconds. He loves sitting on our chests as we lie in bed and producing verbal diarrhea that gets louder every day. He loves it when you say oh yes, is that true, what happens next etc. . This afternoon we went to a farm centre and he really looked at the cows and the pigs. Real fun. He then did two big poos, one really smelly, and I ended up giving him a 'bum bath' as it was such a mess that I would have irritated the skin trying to get him clean. By the time I had the first poo nappy off it was on his legs, knees etc . And it was not even an explosive one as I did not hear it happen.

I use the BW technique for night-time, but Ben is always too highly strung / over excited during the day for that to work. He gets tired without getting sleepy. Maybe I should give up on trying to get him to sleep downstairs where there's lots going on? I just don't want him to get attached to sleeping in his cot so he can't sleep anywhere else.

I'm amazed at Nathan's development - he's doing the same sort of things that Ben's doing now, but is 4 weeks younger! Have you tried sitting him up in front of a mirror? Ben absolutely loves this and babbles away at his reflection, and is able to hold himself up better than if he's not focussed on anything.

Evening ladies. We had a good day today too. We went to a fair which the big boys loved. ds4 is old enough to go on a few rides now but Mummy had to go on the tea cups and felt just a bit dick and sizzy when she got off but the boys laughed all the way around
Were off to London Zoo tommorrow as DH is off. Can't wait to see their reactions to all the different animals.
Goerge doesn't realy put himself to sleep. At night its usualy with a bottle or dummy and in the day its usualy a dummy too. Ive also taken to putting him in his cot to nap because ds3 and 4 make so much noise he gets over stimulated and crys
Think Ill try him with some purees soon too. He seems to still be looking for more milk when hes finnished 7 oz's.
Have a good Bank holiday all xx

Getting Aaliyah to sleep - I tend to put some music on, swaddle her and let her be. She seems to be able to nod off on her own now which is quite good.

I managed to get her to fall asleep for 8:30 tonight so things are looking ok but this afternoon didn't work out too well, She slept a stupid amount of time so i'm thinking she'll probably wake up a few times during the night.

What kind of things do you all do during the day to "pass the time" All I've been able to think to do is go for a walk (which by us is crap) and swimming oh and baby club once a week. I'm running out of things to keep DD amused.

Re: Weaning. I've been told that they can only have baby rice is this true as I'm sure Aaliyah is looking for more food (she's drinking 9oz bottles now and still acting like she's hungry at the end) but everytime I make her some babyrice she pulls a face and spits it out. Is that her saying she doesn't want any "food" yet or just that she doesn't like it?

Oh forgot to say - we've managed to cure the worst of her sickiness, as long as she's burped REALLY WELL and stays sat up for a while it stays down.

Naetha, with daytime sleeping it is a matter of 'catching' Nathan when he gets tired. I have a way of holding him across my chest, legs on one side, head on my left shoulder. He has a characteristic whiny cry that indicates it is nap time. I pat his bottom (as I did when I was preggers- told dh I wanted to see if it worked after birth and it does )and just hold him for a few minutes. He then usually drops to sleep mid-cry with his mouth open like a little fish. If he is well gone I can put him in his cot, but I quite enjoy spending a quiet half hour watching rubbish tv while holding him while he is still small enough.

Lucky, I have no experience, but 'common sense' says to me that if she wants apple/carrot but no baby rice she is ready but does not like baby rice. If she generally spits the lot whatever you feed her I would think she is not ready. I think I would try feeding less more often.

Lucky none of the boys liked baby rice. I bought sunshine breakfast as a first food and they all loved it. It smells realy yummy too. I did try adding a bit of pureed peach or pear to the baby rice though and they liked it a bit better though I think you can buy it with a little something in it already these days or was I just imagining that ?

I think I will have a look at some of the pureed pots and buy a cheap one and try her with it. See whether she's not ready or whether she just doesn't like baby rice.

If she's not for eating "food" i'll try your suggestion MM. The only problem is if you try and take the bottle away from her before she's ready she really screams!! So...... we'll see.

Have a lovely day at the zoo Gingeme, we taking a picnic to the park.

Lucky i would just puree her a fruit or veg and try her on that.

Naetha i just put Martha down hen she is tired and she tends to go off on her own but we have a dummy!

Ok so after the advice on a thread I started on here, I decided to give Aaliyah as much milk as she wanted and she's just devoured 15oz's She keeps looking at me as though she wants more as well but I think if I give in she might just keep going and going so that's plenty for now.

I've also bought a pear today - do I just steam it and mush it? Do I need to add anything to it?

Re "Things to do with your Baby" - DH took DS to B and Q and took him along the lighting aisle for a special treat!

He really seems to like going to Asda with me as well .

We took him to the pub for Sunday lunch for the first time yesterday as we don't have Sky - dad had to see the last day of the football season (well the Championship anyway) play out. I woudn't take him to a proper boozer but family friendly ones are OK.

Have had a really busy weekend and have been out twice for meals, once leaving DS with DH and once with babysitter for first time. Alek was good as gold and the curry house was only 5 mins walk away if any probs so didn't fret too much. But meant that I missed out on the couple of hours sleep I usually get before DS wakes at 11.30/midnight so am shattered.

Wow Ange out twice
I went out Sat and have been tired ever since

Lucky if you haven't given it her just peel it and blend it it should mush down quite easily. Then freeze individual portions in ice cube trays.

I do believe in this much cheaper / nicer than jars and if you do a couple trays of fruit and veg lasts you a week and you can add an extra cube at a time. I did this with both my dc's and they both love their fruit and veg!

hey all

dh did his back in so was in bed all day fri & sat
so went to a godchilds birthday party in surrey with the boys on my own - luckily the other adults helped out with ds1 whenever i was feeding ds2.
tho their kids are all older so nowhere safe to put ds2 down all afternoon.
and ds1 wouldn't fall asleep in the car so didn't get to bed until 9 pm!

sun we had friends with their 3 for the day, exxhausting but fun.
today has been recovery day, lol.
and dh has got out of bed thank goodness, i am SO not cut out to be a nurse!!
anyway he's back off to work tomorrow so nurse-duties are over.

meanwhile ds1 managed to open the side gate and run away
we didn't even know until the doorbell rang, and someone asked 'have you lost a little boy?'
he hadn't got far but had crossed the road!. we only got him back cos the woman who found him was the poll station officer when i voted on thurs and remembered my name! so she asked some neighbours who came out for my address and they could say which house was mine.
luckily i had taken rescue remedy to stop me stropping at dh () so didn't freak out but we both feel pretty shaken.
needless to say gate is now locked - yes should have been before but he couldn't open it before...always one step ahead!

sorry for ds1 hijack!

ds2 fine, 1 feed about 4.30 atm, mostly settles again ok and then wakes up about 7, so pretty good there. tho i am really dreaming of a full nights sleep

advice re puree i got last time:

• mix some milk (whatever they are having, ff or bf) with food to help them adjust
• start with orange veg as it's sweet but not as sweet as fruit so that they will eat some veg, else they may just want fruit

• try and get some green veg down them too as it's more bitter so they prob won't like it as much

um, can't remember much else, if stuck annabel karmel's book really is fab, well worth the money.

i had 2 nights out in a row last week and it took me days to catch up. not doing that again in a hurry.
out on fri to the footie tho, yey

right, trying to concentrate on waking the dead so best go

Yep Lucky - I do what Lilyloo said Also I don't think you should ever limit the amount of milk they have - she could be having a growth spurt and really need it. Not all babies have the traditional feed non stop for 24 hours. Ben has a week-long growth spurt usually, where he'll feed like mad for 12 hours or so, then have another 12 hours feeding less.

In fact, I've been really cheap and used fruit and veg that's been on the verge of going off! I don't feel too bad about it though, as it's sweeter, softer and nobody will notice once it's blended! None of it was mouldy, or the skin broken.

I know you're meant to only try one new flavour a week, but as I've had a veg rack of very squishy fruit and veg, I went mad with the blender this afternoon and let Ben have a try of each one.

I made up: Banana and plum (steamed and took the skins off the plums this time)

Sweet potato and red pepper (sliced red pepper, steamed both, scooped sweet potato out of skin and removed skin from pepper)

Apple and strawberry (peeled and cored apple, steamed it, and blended it with slightly squishy strawberries).

This is on top of the carrot and parsnip I made last week.

He absolutely loved the apple and strawberry - was getting really overexcited about every mouthful, and pulled some right faces!

I filled three big ice cube trays, and should have enough frozen puree to last a good couple of weeks.

Ben really wasn't interested in baby rice - partly because I think it was too watery. He took it much better when I added some crumbled weetabix. However I think I'm going to leave the rice for now, and just try flavoured weetabix with EBM.

I'm finally starting to wind down my expressing. Over the last two weeks I've gone down from expressing every 4 hours, to every 6 hours, to every 12 hours and now every 24 hours. I'm not sure if this is a down-side, but the quality of my milk has really dropped. It's nowhere near as creamy as it used to be, and I would say has the consistency of skimmed milk rather than previously when it was like full fat. This is part of the reason I have cut down, and also part of the reason why I think he wasn't sleeping so well at night - essentially I was just feeding him slightly flavoured water. He now gets formula all through the night (previously only his 7pm feed was formula, all the rest were EBM, which may have been why he was waking every hour from 3am), and also for the first feed of the day, then 50/50 formula/EBM throughout the day.

For the first time tonight, I went for a run! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to be honest, and was nice to get out by myself, even if it was just for 20 minutes once I'd put Ben to bed. Hopefully this is something I can keep up with, as I really need to get fit!

Right, off to watch some TV now

I did the pear and me being a proper numbnut did half a pear cos I thought a full pear would be way too much. Mushed one piece then realised D'uh Peel the pear first, so then I had to peel really hot tiny pieces of pear. DD loved it though. Although after the 15oz at 3, she has eaten a bowl of pear mixed with baby rice and another 9oz of milk!! She must be having a growth spurt I can't think of any other reasons.