Feb 08 - Never mind my wrinkly tum, look what's come out of my baby's bum!

[Gill79]

done it

Hi all

Princess, thanks for the reassurance re the allergy. I think I've managed to sort out a referral on my health insurance which is good as at least I will know what's going on one way or another. I am very impressed with your plans re parties, i am thinking about arranging DD's 4th birthday party and even that scares me. Good luck

Leesmum, I'm glad to hear that working is going well, I am so scared about going back and have no idea how a routine will work . Am so sorry about your Dad, anniversaries are really tough. Be gentle with yourself.

Bessie, thanks re the photos . When was your DD born, am very impressed with the clapping and high fives !! DS still has 3 sleeps most days, short in the morning, long at lunch and then very short in the afternoon. Recently though he seems to be sleeping longer in the morning (1 hour +) then another hour at lunch time but then no sleep in the afternoon at all He gets so tired though in the afternoon, he keeps falling asleep when he has his milk after his bath like a newborn!! I kind of think they take the sleep that they need but thats just my opinion.

Ginger, I'm sure you will be fine at work, although I definitely sympathise. Not sure my brain is going to work again either. LOL at your DS trying to walk - I think its a boy thing!!! Oh, and my DD was scared of the hoover for ages, not that she heard it very often

Alkar, hope your DS is ok. All this food stuff is so scary and confusing. I hadn't realised we needed to do anything about iron. I am hoping my appointment for DS with the dietician will come through quickly so I can discuss all this stuff. I can't really buy jars now because they all seem to contain milk.

Our other news is that we started Monkey Music today. DS really enjoyed it but I had to leave early because my car broke down on the way there and I had to come out to meet DH and the AA. Will be back next week although slightly that I had to do singing myself, hadn't thought of that for some reason!!

hiya all.

leesmum - v nice to hear from you and glad your ds is taking to school. its funny to remember how much fun school was when you were little. i remember being about 6 or 7 and other kids moaning about science classes and i remember thinking i was a bit weird cause i thought they were great cause you got to cut open apples to look at the star inside . plus playtimes and bean bag!

bessie - you are holidaytastic! am v jealous tho' we have been billing our new boarding school pad as centre parks with a harry potter twist to all our mates with kids. dont you feel like your baby's a genius everytime they do everything for thw first time? dd also does that horrified look with food quite a bit. i can take it and carry on regardless but when dh is there he joins in the horrfiied-looking too and i feel outnumbered. like you i also feel like dd is a food monster. all day i feed her and she never tires.

ginger - you sound a bit low. are you ok? dont sweat the work. this is always an awful time for anyone in education. dh and i having a bit of a tough time of it and i have to remind myself that during the six years we've been together, always the rough moments have been in sept/oct when he is feeling the pressures of work. my theory is that maybe he should have less holidays for his brain to go off the boil ...

alkar - impressed taht you have insider contacts for the tests! i too have been having iron panics after reading annabel karmel book recently. all i can think of is the old popeye spinach thing, plus peas now cause of that advert on telly with the bloke off madness. you know, where the peas fight the brocolli??

princess - ach yes its nerves. i hate making friends. i like old friends but they are all so far away. and childless. its all that early stages hard work stuff when you dont know people. ugh and ouch. street party, huh? my tip - get everyone munted. works every time.

strawberry - just reread my last post and saw i said diary rather than dairy ... a diary intolerance would be far easier to deal with ...

took dd to tumbletots. she pulled a boys hair. he was a very good looking boy tho'. i applaud her taste. another boy was sick on her. that was a shame cause i was really getting on with mum but she ran off straight after the puke. ach - and i had so much vom-patter in me!

hello all [waves]

Helloooo. Sorry to hear quite a few of you are feeling stressed / down / struggling with food probs with DCs etc.

StrawberryC if you try Plum Baby pots they are 100% dairy free. They do cost more than jars but don't seem to stain clothes and bibs so the money saved there is huuuuuge . Also I often put mixed beans in DTs food (I get cans of mixed beans in water (no sugar or salt added) from Tesco and then grind them up and mix them in to veg) which adds lots of protein and iron. The DTs fave Plum Baby pot is Carrot Lentil and Cheddar so no meat but lots of protein although not sure about iron.

Also Strawberry, whereabouts in SE London are you? My sis has a friend who runs one of the Monkey Music's (they are in Forest Hill). My DS1 used to love Monkey Music . There is not one near here and besides I can't take him now as there is no way I am taking all three. The chance of it being at a time where someone is not having either milk or food or a nap is nil .

Actually Tyaca that reminds me that DTs have 4 x 7oz bottles a day (although DS2 actually has 9oz before bed). DD rarely actually takes more than 5 or 6oz though at each feed.

Their day is kind of like this...

6:45am 7oz milk
7:30am weetabix or other cereal or yoghurt / fruit
10:30am 7oz milk
11:30am lunch - protein and veg plus fruit or yoghurt or biscuit
2-2:30pm 7oz milk
5:00pm supper - protein and veg plus fruit or yoghurt or biscuit
6:15pm 7/9oz milk

They basically usually have yog once a day, sometimes half a biscuit, always some fruit (either puree or whole if soft).

I rarely bother to give them snacks in between bottles and meals as invariably someone will gag or puke and I just can't be a**ed with the mess . Realise I will have to start giving the odd snack if I want to cut out the milk more. I did Gina Ford loosely with DS1 and remember that it was around this age that he cut out his 10:30am bottle and just had lunch a bit earlier instead.

As for naps. They usually have about an hour 9-10 and then a couple of hours 12:15-2:15 but sometimes (like yesterday) they both poo and only have an hour at lunch so need an extra small sleep at 3:30 or so but it always means they are harder to get to bed by 7pm so trying v hard not to give them afternoon nap. Then I can get them in bed by 6:30 hurrah!

We have got their 8 month check up with HV in a couple of weeks. DD is at 11am and DS2 is at 11:30am. So will get in the way of trying to give morning milk and lunch by the time I get there and get home. Gah.

Gill how is Malc now? Hope you are getting a bit more sleep. It is so hard to know what to do as I am one of those mean people who thinks that my sleep is important and so I would try not to feed at night now esp if he is taking less in day but I know a lot of people disagree and say they feed at night because they need to.

DD is so so much happier since she doesn't wake at night and it means she is not grumpy all day like she used to be.

Talking of which, she is yelling now (ie not sleeping), can only just her her over noise of washing machine and bin men! Doesn't sound like she is going to go back to sleep. Hmmmm.

Sorry have rambled on about me and not finished replying to other posts, and now have to go. Back later!

StrawberryC sorry I was being a bit of a muppet there. I looked at the ingredients list for Sweet Potato Lamb and Carrot, quoted Plum Baby for being dairy free and then went on to talk about one with cheddar in which is clearly not dairy free [muppet emoticon]. Also I was getting confused thinking you were vegetarian when it is Alkar (and Ginger, and Bean and prob more), so was mixing up my bad advice anyway .

I shall be quiet for a while...

Prob not long though.

Did I tell you DS2 finally has a tooth? None for DD though.

congrats on the tooth egg. in true stalker esque fashion i dreamt i came round yours again last night. dont remember much (perhaps i was there briefly?) except that your dts had the most amazing heads of hair

i have an awful hangover. my sis came round last night and we polished off two bottles of wine. ughhhhhhh. i have been waiting all day for it to go. cant believe i feel so bad... a bottle is a lot but shouldnt have floored me this much.

waving back at you gill

congrats on the tooth egg. in true stalker esque fashion i dreamt i came round yours again last night. dont remember much (perhaps i was there briefly?) except that your dts had the most amazing heads of hair

i have an awful hangover. my sis came round last night and we polished off two bottles of wine. ughhhhhhh. i have been waiting all day for it to go. cant believe i feel so bad... a bottle is a lot but shouldnt have floored me this much.

waving back at you gill

wine is a killer. I feel crap after half a bottle these days .

Hope my house was tidy in your dreams... It is such a tip, even worse than when you were here!

BTW, have heard that hair pulling is a sign of affection . When I was 7 I was chased and had my hair pulled by a boy at school and it turned out he had a crush on me so maybe Esther has moved on from Jacob and found new love? He only has eyes for his mummy anyway now. He is such a mummy's boy.

i have unique vision that just doesnt see mess egg the dirt blindess is as pronounced in dreams as in RL.

speaking of which i am eye deep in mess that i really do need to get sorted before dh gets home. he did his second 11pm in a row last night and when he came back i was passed out before doing the bottles or boiling the water for the morning. he always does the morning feed and was not amused at 6am today....

yes i fear esther may well have moved on from jacob. but she doesnt know about the tooth - so there's hope yet.

My DH is home late tonight on his first, or possibly second night out since we moved here last August! Not working late, just actually having FUN. Poor man rarely gets to do that!

I find that M&S refridgerator cakes are great for hangovers. Or even if you are not hungover. I have eaten three .

Check the jars strawberry, I have found a few that dont have milk - saves you making every meal yourself

happy eating egg. gagging for a glass of wine here tyaca, even felt jealous of your hang over, i will just have to make do with green and blacks. i feel a bit cheesed off. i went and got contraception sorted out after being bugged by dh for ages. he had promised to get the snip then backed out (i can see his point a bit). so i had a coil fitted on monday(sorry tmi). the dr told me if i had continued bleeding or pain for more than 24hrs to come back and get antibiotics. well 2and a half days later felt rough, tearful and sick and still lots of bleeding. so now i'm on huge doses of ab's and can't drink. meanwhile i still had to do the night shift (up from 5) and dh not showing enough sympathy imo.. well he is now because i made him . hopefully should feel better soon and only 3 more alcohol free days.
Meanwhile plans for the street party are cracking. Am so chuffed with myself for having achieved anything. i even managed to get £100 sponsorship today from our local garage. so i've invested in vast quantities of bunting. just hope it doesn't pour.
anyway, enough about me
egg well done on tooth. i am going back to the unmentionable book tonight to work out how i can cut down the milk for ferdie. he wakes at 10pm if i don't feed him though-anyone got any ideas.
tyaca did you ever put your vegas pictures up? i'd love to see them.

leesmum i hope you've got through your dad's anniversary ok.

you got sponsorship from a garage princess? good lord i'm actually a bit scared by that. are the ABs doing their work yet? sounds awful. porr you (tho does only reinforce my sneaking suspicion that you horribly offended a senior deity in a previous life)

now - a small round of applause (or just a quiet moment of appreciation please.) tenants in our old flat which we now rent broke the light switch in the bathroom. guess who went round there this afternoon and replaced it? [bursting with pride] have done wall switches but never a ceiling cord one. .

dh out again tonight. i fear i may spend the evening googling retraining as an electrician....

leesmum so sorry I missed your post. I hope Saturday goes goes ok for you. Have you planned anything to mark the occasion? How is your mum coping?

How are you finding being back at work? I am in awe of you all sounding so cool and calm about it. I am terrified I have lost all ability to actually pretend I have a brain!

Princess that book says you should give the morning milk at 11am I think and only give half or less so then give lunch and offer rest of milk afterwards, thus hoping they will be too full to want it. However I always give their bottle earlier or I have a screaming hour from 10-11am (used to always take DS1 out for a walk but it's impossible with all three as would never convince DS1 to leave swings or park or wherever to come back in time to do babies' milk and lunch so we are housebound in morning atm.

As for the coil experience... ugh. It sounds awful and your DH really ought to be helping a bit more while you are feeling rough, esp if it is because he backed out! TBH my DH was all for going for the snip (he said as long as twins came out healthy he would get it done asap) but when it came to it we both felt it was a bit drastic. We really don't want any more children but you never know what's around the corner. I keep meaning to go back on the pill but have not got round to it. We never have sex anyway !

DD was still having 10pm feed until we got the night nanny in. She never woke for it and often resisted it but we were too scared to try and drop it. DH would leave her til 11pm at weekends to hope it would mean she would sleep longer but it never made any difference. She now goes through phases and sometimes wakes 3 times a night but always only briefly and settles herself back. Last few nights have not heard a peep from her but I fear she could be bad tonight as has been very unsettled today. Maybe she has a tooth coming too.

Right, DH is out tonight and I must turn off PC or I will spend all my time on here instead of being able to watch crap tv!

Tyaca missed your post. FOrgot you were a budding leccy! Impressed!

Also impressed that you only just found the lights in your bedroom due to DD!

Princess I missed the street party bit of your post entirely! Now remind me, what is the occasion? Or just because you can? Sounds fab. Something like that would work well here as our road is full of families and everyone is LOVELY. DS1 was standing on the windowsill in our bedroom looking out earlier and a family of three children aged 8-12ish and their parents walked past and they all waved up at him and said hello (have never seen them before!). He was very chuffed!

Finally Alkar meant to say, that if you are not breastfeeding (like ginger I can't remember) then you can use the No 3 formula from 6 months which has extra iron. With DS1 my HV said to me that if he was happy on the No 1 formula and was eating a varied diet then there was no point changing but if he was not eating well then to use No 3 to get the extra iron. Hope that makes sense!

Hi again - another fleeting visit. Don't know what's happened but am SO busy - bought Heat on Monday and have only got as far as page 5....

Leesmum - was thinking recently it must be coming up for a year. Hope you're all going to be ok on a sad day.

Tyaca - I hope you manage to adjust to life in the new place with DH at work. It will be hard and take a while - but I actually find it so much easier to make friends now I'm a mum so hope there are others close by for you. How's the running going?

Ginger - sounds hard. Well done for just being there at work. Hope things improve!

Gill so funny I got Heat on Monday and only read it last night. The longest it has ever lasted in my house. Maybe a dull issue .

Agree with what you say about making friends as a mum. I talk to everyone now. esp at swings, but also in shops and just walking round, am sure I am known as the local nutter .

Computer going off NOW. I promise........................

Another unread heat mag here

Thanks for the advice about the iron I am still bf and as DS may have a milk allergy we cant switch to formula (and I'm not ready to stop feeding him yet ). I have tried reintroducing baby cereal which has extra iron in and milk - he isn't being as sick as he used to be with milk so hopefully it was just a passing phase......

Just been to circuit training I love it. Its all postnatal women with a creche next door, aerobics tomorrow. I really have to lose weight now I had stopped weighing myself and I think its crept back up again. I'll be starting the weekly weighins again on monday.

Tyaca I saw the pea and broccoli advert last night now I understand what you meant!

Hi everyone, just a quickie.

Alkar - don't be that you're 'still' breastfeeding, what's that about???!! I've just worked out that I've breastfed for over 10 years of my life so far, and not stopping any time soon!

Have you read the Kellymom page on iron/anaemia? Seems that iron rich foods rather than iron fortified foods are the best ones to concentrate on, alongside vitamin c rich foods. Doesn't have to be meat - my first 3 babies were veggie as I was then, and were fine.

I was too lazy to do the school run this morning so DH did it - and DS4 has spent the whole morning happily lying next to me playing with his feet, feeding, napping and smiling....I love babies!

Hi everyone -just a quickie here too!

Alkar - lots of us on here are still bf - nice lazy option as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for the link re iron Slacker - I was getting a bit concerned that I wasn't giving lo anything other than veg and fruit (although we've been a bit more adventurous this week and cheese, pasta and chicken have all gone down well). He's still taking plenty of milk though and regularly has sweet potato and squash so he should be getting plenty of iron. He certainly seems happy and healthy.

Leesmum - all the best on Saturday - you've been so strong over the last year. I hope the anniversary passes quickly for you and your family xxx I'm glad work is going ok and ds1 is enjoying preschool.

Hi to everyone else! I have been popping in and catching up with everyones news but haven't had anything vaguely interesting to post myself! We're all well here though.

Does anyone have any ideas for really cheap child friendly holidays? Dh is off during the October school holidays but center parcs would be £600 for 4 nights which is a bit much (especially since I'm still on mat leave). We're in Scotland and wouldn't want to drive too far so could only really do Scotland or north england - any ideas? We went to a caravan park in September last year and it was awful - it was freezing - so October would probably be even worse.

Oh and princess let me know how you've find the coil. That's what I've been planning to do but it doesn't sound as if you've had a pleasant experience. How have those of you who had the implant got on with it? Is weight gain a side effect (not that I'm vain or anything). My cousin had contraceptive injections and put on a LOT of weight (that was around 7 years ago though so I'm sure things have moved on a lot since then). Really must get myself sorted out though.

rozzy will keep you updated. re holidays, i know that in the lake district they have cabins to rent , think they might have heating? but v basic otherwise. i think the national woodland trust or something like it may do them all over the uk?
leesmum-sorry insensitive moron i am, i got it wrong and thought the anniversary had happened this week. i'll be thinking of you this weekend.
nice to hear from you again bessie
i feel shattered as dd had a 50 min tantrum in the middle of a street. everyone was looking at us and i couldn't move her. 30min in ds started to get upset too about being stuck in the buggy. several people stopped and tried to help but unfortunately this made it even worse. guess what, it only finished when she fell asleep after i'd forced her into the buggy. then she continued when she woke up at home . ds then had a melt down too because he wants to feed himself but once he's holding the spoon i can't feed him. is this happening to anyone else and what do you do? i'm going to try him on some bread next week. he was really pleased to be eating the same as his big sister at lunch-she started feeding him baked beans and sweetcorn. lord knows what bad stuff was in that-please don't tell me, i'm not going to let her do it again.
egg how can you be so witty when you must be on your knees dealing with all the babies? makes me feel a tad inadequate.

tyaca i do have moments of feeling i was something nasty in a past life however did feel my luck had changed with my £100 sponsorship. yes, still feeling pants. i still think about the lady from our meet up not talking to us after and wondering what i said. well done on the electrics-what a triumph to get there and sort it and not lose your nerve. 'here come the girls'
egg you made me snigger re coil-dh was here though so had to stop quickly so didn't have to admit to whining about him online (he's just come home with huge bunch of lillies and sushi)

Sorry not been posting.

Egg - I know wot you mean about talking to all and sundry - if i didn't, some days the only person i speak to would be Katie!