March 2008:A new thread before they start crawling!

[turtle23]

Thought it was about time....

Hope Mums and babies are all well.

LO now has two bottom teeth and I'm pretty sure there are another couple waiting to come through. I've now moved two feeds to ff, but LO is a monkey and refuses to take anymore than 2 or 3oz, even if he's not eaten for four hours. So, I'm assuming that he's tanking up during breastfeeds so he can hold out when needed .

For the last couple of weeks he's been waking just once for a feed between 12 and 6am (which is good for him), but last night he decided to wake up four times . I'm hoping it was an off night..

He is loving food and gulping down portions, but I've been trying to do a mixture of purees and BLW, and he's not overly keen on finger foods at the moment. Broccoli didn't go down well, so hoping some cheese this afternoon will have a better reaction.

Thankfully the rain has stopped (literally two days non-stop here!) so am off out to get some fresh air

MM i don't think gg drinks that much now he eats loads. Has been fully FF since Sunday. It made me anxious to begin with but i see on the cartons it's about the amount you'd expect round this age. He has (on average and at roughly):

6.5oz 5am (grrr)
Adult fist sized gloop (say porridge and fruit) about 7am
5oz 9am
Yoghurt 11am, fair number sips of water ?how much as so much spilt
Something to hold and munch while ds1 eats 12pm
4oz 1pm
3oz 4pm
Adult fist sized portion of whatever is good for him from our food, plus some finger foods 5pm
6.5oz 6pm

He won't drink extra milk where he has the water, but deffo wants water then.

And am reserving judgement on this whopping great steroid dose i got in me bum today, but i think I am going to get on top of this arthritis OK. spent 5 hours at UCH today, god they were good. more later, am enjoying right hand completely free of pain for first time in 3 years and am going to go do nefarious things with it instead

MM- DS's record formula volume was 4 oz. He hates bottles. Have given up even trying as tooth number 3, 4, and 5 are all pushing through together and he only wants BF when teething. Yawn.
Interesting Merryberry to see what your DS eats. If anyone is interested in P's intake:
4am(ouch) 30 min feed
6/630 20 min feed
800 fruit and porridge (3 baby fists,)water in cup
900 20 min feed
1130 20 min feed
12/1230 3 cubes veg with a bit of rice, water in cup
300 20 min feed
500 2-3 cubes fruit and rice, small feed
630 20 min feed or 4 oz bottle
1130 dream feed of as long as possible/4 oz

Gosh. Never wrote it out before. For someone who has been giving up breastfeeding for the last 5 months I do a lot of breastfeeding...
BTW...how much sleep are they all getting in the day? DS is still on about 4 hours.

Oh, should add that DS also has finger food on a pretty much ongoing basis. I have also not eaten an entire meal to myself in weeks.

yup, mine is doing around 4-5 hours in 3 naps per day. less when there is school run, more when we have a quieter day

Had a bit of a nightmare with finger foods yesterday, gave Harry some banana in sliced in half then long ways again, he could not hold the banana as it was quite slippery but i put it in his mouth for him he loved it was sucking as it was his first time with finger foods or something firmer than puree, he decided to bite a piece off and choke on it, i placed him on my knee and tapped his back the piece of banana shot out of his mouth, made both him and me panic.

Anyone got any better ideas for finger food, seems like years ago when Oliver was at this stage.

if he's ok for wheat, then toasted bagels and large crusts of toast are magic. also semi cooked veg like carrot, hard enough to hold, soft enough to suck, cut a notch out in middle of large piece so they have a grip on it. broccoli v. good for baby holds. rice cakes also, and the dreaded rusks. also, old porridge and old polenta - you know how if you cook them and leave them they solidify? if dry enought o begin with these are good foods. more of a squidge with these, but gg has got some good pincer actions going on now with his food so is coping ok

i hate the choking panics, but try to remind myself that gagging and coughing up are good and desirable, they are learning to cope. the scary ones are the silent chokes.

ooh just remembered when i read blw stuff last time, that the trick is to not pop anything into their mouths, let them gum off what they can that way they tend not to take more than they can swallow. banana is a bloody nightmare, for sure.

gg has also had large penne pieces to gnaw, and (don't recoil in horror) wedges and chips of various root veg (unsalted and all organic!) as these are dry and grabable on outside and soft and suckable inside. i usually bite the end of for him of anything so he only has to suck out the inside

G recoiled with horror at the half a teaspoon of baby porridge I tried to give him over a few days. Kept batting the spoon away and making hilarious faces. Don't think a molecule made it in.

So the other day I was eating some edamame while Bfeeding him and he was mesmerised. So I handed him an empty pod which he chewed and chewed. I took it away when it started to fall apart and he screamed! I couldn't help laughing.

Now we're on to safer things like a stick of carrot/cucumber/pear a couple of times a day. He barely gets any of it down, but I think he likes the feeling on his sore gums and we'll get there with practice.

Hoping Tripp Trapp arrives today and we can really get messy with some broccoli!

Am i a bad mummy to just be sticking to purees at the moment then? Any time I try "finger" food, little hands are happy with it for 10 seconds then drop it on the floor so I can't be arsed frankly. He likes the Organix carrot stick things though, shame they look like giant wotsits, but at least without all the brainfrying additives.
Wish me luck this weekend...off to an old coaching inn, all bedrooms on 1st floor, no lift, no fridges in rooms so have to bring along mini fridge. Also have to haul xplory up and down stairs as at least he'll sleep in that of an evening so we don't have to stay in the bedroom with him all the time.

Oh, and that gag reflex - works brilliantly on a thermometer. Now I know why they say to take temp from ear or armpit etc

helllooooo to you all. Really try to keep up with reading the thread but sometime get a bit caught up in RL...but anyway glad to know you are all doing well. Our DS is great, slowly weaning him off the boob - finally - feel like the end is in sight which is a joy and he is loving food so I feel v lucky about that.
Now, the reason for writing is a bit pathetic but I feel the need for some reassurance, and although I don't know any of you I've been on this thread since last june I think so I feel I can out pour anonymously and you won't think too badly of me. My DS is a great size and finally yesterday I made his pram into the pushchair. i've been putting it off quite simply cos I love having a little baby and although he's six months going into the pushchair feels like a major step! Also and this is where I need your help...I am massively regretting that the pushchair doesn't face me. I know the many reasons we did it and I know he'll be fine as he's the most sociable little thing but I really feel it was a bad move. Can anyone with experience remind me that it isn't the end of the world and that all will be well. right now I want to put the whole thing on ebay and never leave the house again. (for someone who has handled the new mummy thing without too many blibs I'm really feeling thrown by this - I know it's silly!) sorry to over load but would so appreciate the words of wisdom.

evie- don't panic, a baby won't be scarred for life because it faces away from its mother at 6 months old . Its personal choice- i still have the girls rear facing mainly to check they are still in one piece and neither of them has mugged the other one if you feel really strongly- put it on ebay, flog it and buy a hauck infinity from kiddicare for £100 (or buy one off ebay with profits from your pram for even less )

A lot of people are using mclarens from 6 months so it can't be all that bad

Anyways- hows life girls? Millie and Carys are cruising atm- they skipped crawling and went straight for the kamakaze(sp?) wobble around the room Eating us out of house and home and causing general mayhem but its great!!!! I'm going to film them dragging themselves around tonight and post it somewhere- it just looks so wrong for these tiny little tots (remember they are still smaller than most 8-12 weeks olds!!!) to be trotting around the room- i say trotting but its one step forward, on the bum, up again, down again etc etc ad nausem!!!

ooh won'tbe those girls sound adorable. I would love to see that video.

evie I have a McClaren which is forward facing. Sometimes I wish it was rear facing but not enough for me to swap,iyswim. I think it may be worse for you as you have been used to seeing your DS facing you in the pram. Can you see over the top of the buggy as you're pushing? I ask that because I'm short and can only see DS that way if I have my heels on (wedges, girls, nothing too spindly). I keep an eye on DS that way and I also have a transparent window in the hood. I think you'll find that you'll get used to it. I'm sure DS will be fine and it's probably worse for you than him. I tell myself it's better for my DS to be seeing things other than my face all the time, even though there are some thiongs round here that I would rather he didn't see .

MB your DS's routine is almost exactly like my DS's except Charlie has more milk and less sleep.

iwanta2ndone how many teeth? Poor P and poor you. We are still tooth free here.

fitnfortyone don't be daft, as we say up north. Of course, you're not a bad mum. Whatever works for you....We have had some scary choking incidents here as well. Banana particularly bad. I now mash it with a fork with other fruit or yoghurt. DS is a maniac though when it comes to stuffing food in his mouth. I gave him an extra large strawberry to nibble on, reckoning it would be big enough to hold and gum at the same time. Seconds it was in his fingers before he pushed the whole thing in his mouth. He couldn't shut his mouth the strawberry was so big. I had to get my finger in ( wasn't much room) and hoik it out. Really, we do mainly spoons, he holds one, I hold one and the same sort of finger foods that Merryberry talked about.

Apologies if I've missed anyone else off.

dd sleeps about the same- 1.5-2h in the morning, 2h in the afternoon and a 30 min catnap around 5:30.

I didn't think I wanted to do purees, but I've started! And I think it's the way we'll go. I give her soft veg or ricecakes while we eat our dinner though so she gets used to finger foods.

So right now, our days look like:
7:30- 8oz milk
11-11:30- milk and baby rice/fruit/veg
3-3:30- milk
6:30-7- milk and baby rice/fruit/veg

(This is first week of solids though, so will build up to 3 meals soon)

Anyone else got a cockrel waking them up? Not crying, screeching! And quite happy to stay in her cot, just really noisy!

I'm off on Saturday- wish me luck for the flight and I'll lurk while we're away.

thank you both so much for total words of wisdom - I knew I could rely on this thread! Just been for our first walk and wasn't as traumatic as I feared! I kept the hood up so I could see him and to be honest he was so busy looking from side to side I'm not sure he'd have given me a second glance even if he was facing me! Have promised DH I will give this a try for one month and if it still annoys me will do just as you suggest and flog on ebay! one month....

I can't believe your girls are walkign...I really really want to see them - please post somewhere - you're technologically very advanced to be even considering doing that but anyway - we'd all love to see.

love to all and again thanks

My god, I have just, as per instructions (you know who you are AK) mouli-ed 3 sweet potatoes and I think my arm is about to fall off. DD is just going to have to get used to fibre.
My mood was not helped by returning from quite a relaxing week in the Lake District to find that the men who took away my fridge the day before we went away also managed to turn off the freezer. So all my yummy mummy tomato sauces and casseroles etc for DS spent a week going really appallingly smelly.
DD is now faffing around with purees. I gave her a rusk yesterday and she waved it around for a minute before tossing it on the floor with contempt. She likes holding her own spoon tho not actually using it to get food anywhere near her mouth. Her speciality is dropping her head at the last minute so much of her food is entering her stomach via her nose. .
Prams- I always had a forward facing one and I hated it when DS was tiny but when was sitting up and alert he loved seeing what was going on and even to this day will point out particularly intersting traffic or (more embarrassingly) outfits.

Just to add, we would be doing more finger foods, but DS's mouth is v sore and he ends up just rubbing carrot and broccoli on sore bits at the mo. At least with purees he's tasting different things. That, and DH has offered (!) to do lunches so if DH prefers purees SO BE IT!
Good luck with the flight e14 that'll be me in 2 weeks..eek!

MB thanks, that makes me feel better about LO's milk intake. He is loving food, and I'm trying to add milk to it (e.g. porridge etc) when I can so he's getting it that way too. The cheese didn't go down well either yesterday - he was happily sucking away until he managed to bite off a bit and then didn't like the feeling of it in his mouth...

Ds also still sleeps quite a bit during the day - normally 1.5 hours in the morning (08.30 ish), 2 hours ish between 12-2pm, and then another 1 hour around 4 or 5pm. Or if we're out and about he'll cat nap in the pram/car etc.

Evie- my LO is also in a forward facing silverscross and has been for a couple of months now. He is such a nosey parker he got really frustrated being in the pram mode after 3 months or so, and now likes to see what's going on. It can be quite frustrating not being able to see him properly, but there is a little clear window in the hood so I can check he's ok. You might find your LO loves it, but giving it a month before flogging on ebay if you have to sounds like a good idea.

Iwantasecond - Lo is also teething and a disc of cold cucumber straight from the fridge went down v well.

wontbepreggersagain HOW DO YOU DO IT? i've started treatment for rheumatoid arthritis(just steroid so far) and i feel pretty much on my uppers re: stamina and fighting the good fight. any words of wisdom for me please?

i've just posted this on my arthritis forum if anyone interested, skip if you don't want a downer on this lovely autumn day:

'Yesterday I saw rheumatologist who confirmed 'active and agressive RA', I have at least 21 painful/swollen joints and an anti-ccp >100 plus an awesonely high sedimentation rate. I had a 120mg depo-medrone injection after the consult and am due to start methotrexate on Tuesday if chest x-ray and yesterday's bloods OK. Sulfalazine to follow once meth is settled.

this all came on the night after my second baby was born, back in march, and i've trooped along, losing function, fun, rest, everything that makes life a joy along the way. the jab yesterday has relieved nearly all the pain i had at rest in my joints and tendons, so I kind of forget about them and i've been really hurting myself overdoing things today.

the baby is teething and has puked terribly everywhere, the toddler has fallen head first down the stairs. i've convnced them both quiet time/naps are in order at the same time and here i am, thinking about myself for the first time since i got up. i had a hot flush in the shop so bad i nearly lept in a chiller cabinet, my right eye feels like it's swelling up, i think i'm getting vertigo just sitting on the sofa and i do not know where the stamina has gone/is going to come from. we have all had a cold since monday and mine seems to have morphed into plague quality grimmness since the steroid has dialed down my immune system. and i can't eat. me! i NEVER lose my appetite!

my husband was also very impressed by our treatment yesterday, but also being very sunny side up, seems to think that things are solved now, but i've just had to chat to him on phone to vent how crap i feel and to get jollied up to make it through to tea time. i am taking things one at a time but to be honest am hating it. i hate i can't make plans, i hate the tip the house is in, i'm scared i won't cope when the kids wake up and i really don't want husband to come home today, i just want to find the strength myself .

so: milk and gloop for baby on waking. jungle book or the incredibles for the toddler. sugary drinks for me. when husband comes home, more time for me to get head round mound of paper work and stuff from yesterday and an exceptionally early night.
'

mb- i'm not sure what to say- i have to say i never feel positive at the begining of a treatment- the first few days are my black days where i have a f**k it mood on me!

i have steroid courses in conjunction with my chemo- it does make you tired BUT your body adjusts after a while! chocolate cake and baileys (shhhhhhh) helps me through!

as for staying positive- i found having a depressed day on my own helped me come to terms with everything- i spent the day crying, walking, watching parents with their kids in the park, and thinking about what i wanted to do with my kids- it made me realise that what i was going to go through was just a means to an end- i had to go through the crap bits to get to the nice bits. That day was kind of my turn around point, when having chemotherapy treatment to get rid of cancer was a positive thing- it was going to make me better.

As for housework- stuff it, if anyone mentions it give them a withering look and point to the hoover. I guess in one way i have an advantage on that one- when i answer the door looking like fecking humpty dumpty (i don't wear wig or head covering in the house), people don't tend to expect a clean tidy, quiet, calm household- in fact it has pretty much decended into total anarchy- but hell its far more fun than it used to be- the kids get to play a new fun game every morning- this morning it was 'Hunt for mummy's right shoe' it was eventually found in the shoe cupboard, it says a lot that it took us half an hour before someone thought about where it SHOULD have been

Belive me once it sinks in that your treatment is a postive thing (and i never thought that my hair falling out, and losing my boobs would be classed as positive ) it gets easier somehow, then you start to think: when i'm better i want to....... !

If you want to chat privately CAT me. i'm always lurking around somewhere

wbpa thank you so much. i have this weekend with just me and baby in house, maybe i can turn that corner. i do need to just let myself get down and work through it, but i usually find that a day spent dealing with pain, i'm too tired to think and just sleep instead. i'm not processing this all as i'd like. well, you've made me feel so much better, every word makes sense. thank you

once you hit rock bottom the only way is up- sounds really harsh, but i found it worked for me! spend the weekend thinking- it will be emotionally painful BUT its the first step!

Good luck- remember, i'm here if you need to chat or cry (but preferably not punch- i bruise very easily atm )

I appreciate that you will be having your very early night mb but I just wanted to post to say I am thinking of you tonight. Hopefully, you'll look back and realise that this was your lowest ebb, before the drugs really kick in and you start to feel better. It is really horrible to feel that you can't trust your own body to cope with looking after kids. For what it's worth, and you don't seem the kind of person that needs help in this regard, but when I was pregnant and feeling like death, things like Play-doh involves sitting down and making voodoo dolls of people you don't like and watching DS squash them- minimal physical outlay, a lot of emotional satisfaction.
Anyway-have a big glass of wine and a cuddle and I hope tomorrow is a better day

Cheering up time! Just thought you'd all like to know that although we were sure DS said "hello" for ages at 3 months he said something much more clearly this evening...I'm sure it was "dickhead."

Hi there everyone.

It's so nice to catch up and hear how all your LOs are doing. I LMAO at your giving out about DCs saying "grarse". I'm Irish so grarse sounds particularly amusing when I say it. DH considers himself to be from the north of England (even though he's from Oxford originally ) so he approved of your horror at grarse and was able to say it properly.

I still haven't introduced any solids at all. We've been gallivanting about the place all summer. Last weekend we bought our high chair (Antilop) and this weekend we'll start weaning. We'll have to wait until Sunday though as I have to work on Saturday afternoon.

I really resent having to work anything more than my contracted 35 hours now. I used to be such a swot and do loads of extra work. Now I just want to go home and see DD. It's weird I guess the old me unwittingly made life harder for the new me by allowing expectations to arise of certain types of behaviour.

won'tbepreggersagain it's good to hear you doing so well, you sound so positive and on top of things. Can't get the image of you running about with a twin under each arm out of my head now.

Glamma that is brilliant about starting your business. Best of luck with it all, it sounds so exciting. I believe the oilcloth sector is quite tough business

OMG I just remembered the story of FfFf's DD rolling around weeing in her cot. Your stories of Ffion make her sound a lot like my DD. She's not managed to get out of a nappy yet TG.

I'm very impressed by how unflappable you are with this psycho HV. It's fantastic that you trust your instinct on your DD being well. My DD is quite small too and I'm very lucky in that I have a really, really ace HV who is also a BFing counsellor. She always tells me how great I am and pretends that DD has chubby thighs (well actually she is started to ) but I still sometimes worry a bit. My solution is to just never get her weighed.

I'm also in the horrified at the though of being preggers again so soon camp. I can see the argument for getting the baby years out of the way quickly, but now that a baby is here and I know what being pregnant is like I'm less keen than when it was all just a theory