June 2008: weaning with every flavour baby rice . . . . and loving it!

[spongebrainbigpants]

new home!

Hehe 100 days think i wouldve died from sleep deprevation by then!!!

I know that's almost 4 months!!

Hi all, LOL at PP's comment about my uncontactable night nanny! She's mine anyway tee hee! She's £14 per hour but private so no agency fees. Mark earns enough to afford it as we never go out/buy clothes/drink/go on holiday (not this year at all until our 3 day mini break next week). For me who sleeps so badly anyway and who has a noisy baby who wakes up 6 times a night it has been a gid send and if it was £20 an hour I would have found the money. She's on hols now and we were hoping we wouldn't need her when she returns but I am now counting the days!!!

Sorry for all with teething/ill babies. Luke is both. He has a cough on him which makes me think that he's on 20 Bensons a day!

We did have a better night last night. I just closed the dorrs so I could only hear muffled noises and slept from 11 till 4.30 which for me is a lie in.

Had some joy with feeding too on Ella's Kitchen ready made goo. Can't remember if I've already said that!!

Morning all. Very bleary eyed here and v. angry. Was feeling all smug (sorry Sponge) about the efficient service I thought I was getting from IKEA. Clearly too efficient as 6.15 is, in my mind, an ungodly hour to phone.
Other than that we had a mixed night - Ali, Iestyn has a similar sleep pattern but can do without the 1am feed. He did last night, and it was great! (However, he had done a big poo by 5am, something he hasn't done for ages.)

HH I don't understand how you're glad you haven't got a monitor. Another RL friend said it would make her more paranoid - didn't understand that either. Maybe I'm being thick though and have missed a point?

We don't do cuddling and sleeping on sofas here because a baby in our NHS area died that way. Admittedly, it was a freak incident (fell asleep with a tired parent, fell down between back of sofa and parent, suffocated) and made all the papers locally. But I'm also quite paranoid hence only being able to sleep if I know the breathing sensor is on. And false alarms mean I know it's working, so if Iestyn holds his breath, chokes on a cot bumper (!), a fox comes in and sits on his chest so he can't breathe, or any other such freak incident, I'd rather know about it.

Sorry long delay in posting - probably x-posted loads, but Iestyn didn't really feed much at 8am. Then he had a nap at 9.15, but only for 10 minutes. I've just fed him again (I'd be hungry!), and he's doing tired motions. What a surprise. But I need him to have that nap because I need to do laundry!

Morning guys - already lots of posts!

Another shockingly bad night last night as poor little boy is still suffering with a stinking cold which has now developed into a hacking cough so sympathies for everyone else suffering .

Is there anything you can give a baby for a cough?

Dh was a right grumpy bugger this morning as A slept with us from 3am. However, my sympathy was limited as I had suggested he moved into the spare room but he couldn't be bothered!

PP, really sorry to hear about your false alarm - we've had a few and they still have the power to make me feel sick to the core .

Neenz, yer I agree that the poster was back-tracking. I think she thought she was being really clever and part of the "exclusive bf" gang and that I was too stupid to understand that all formula is pretty much the same (except Aptamil of course which is the same as breastmilk ). Her smugness backfired when loads of people laid into her. However, I did feel bad for calling her stupid and illiterate!

ali, you're right - hardly anyone ever apologises on MN!

Talking of rolling, Alex's latest game (as of yesterday) is to roll over and over until he hits the tv unit or the fireplace. He can only roll left not right so he then gets stuck and needs rescuing - it's bloody killing my back! I'm going to give him some "rolling to the right" lessons today to ease the strain!

at the 6.15 phone call!! They just can't get it right can they?!

I'm off, I can hear Alex waking from his HOUR long nap!

Ok quick question Do you know if can buy hand warmers from any uk high street store, thinking nice pressie for mum, If i cant ill order them online

Funny thing, Paro, I just bought one from a stall in Wimbledon. You click a button and it goes hard and hot. (!!! )
This is the company, but I don't know if you can bear the video! I have a small 4inx4in one, but I blagged it after buying a big one for my back - that was a total ripoff expensive, £20.
I can pick one up for you if you like, in exchange for you bringing me cute food pots!

Oh, here they are on amazon.

oooh Essie!
On the market you say Ill ask my sis if they have them on norwich market or any where near If not we will do an exchange!
Getting the packs of pots next weekend and then will see how much to post them etc

Well, on a stall in the middle of the shopping centre in Wimbledon. When you walk along you have to avoid silly salespeople. But I actually accosted them the other day - they couldn't believe it!
I think the first link with the silly video might have something about franchises or stores. But I'm in Wimbledon quite a lot so let me know if you want me to pick one up.

Essie PMSL at your comment about the handwarmer!!! I agree about the monitor - feel so much less anxious with it as I know that should anything happen I can be there in time to do CPR God forbid I should ever need to - I am a natural born worrier though. I am prepared to endure any false alarms for that reason.

Sponge Luke can still only roll onto his tummy. I think my life will be much easier once he manages to work out how to roll the other way but I never thought about the left and right scenario!

PS To make up for Luke's crapness at rolling he can sit up on his own extremely well for a good 5 minutes or so now and play. However he does fall over eventually and one of Mark and I's favourite games is to guess which way he will fall (like baby left/baby right in the old TFI Friday programmes (actually that baby was a friend of mine's if you rmember it)). See my old post about not going out - clearly we need to do this more .

Yeah, but Amber, think of money saved by sitting around guessing which way Luke is going to fall. (I now have something important to fill my time. 'Dear Social Services...' )

Everyone, the handwarmer really does go hard and hot when you push a button!

PMSL at "hard and hot" - forgotten what that feels like!!

My NCT group was talking about the TFI falling baby thing the other day - don't remember it I'm afraid! Yes, the only rolling one way is a PITA - intensive lessons will proceed over the next few days with a sticker chart for achievement!

Thanks Essie, i thought it was about £100 a night and actually we are paying £800 a month at the mo for our new car (will be paid off in Jan) so if we weren't paying for that we would be able to afford it - but I am a bit tight so I think I would be really reluctant even if I really needed it! (Same with the cleaner - we can afford it, I just think £80 a month is a lot!) But I am just on SMP now - was shocked to find I still get taxed on it

Yes that woman on £100k . I don't believe it myself. DH doesn't earn near that and we are very well off IMO. We don't have luxuries but what do we need? I have everything I need! Our summer hol cost £1000 including spending money and everything (went camping )

Well I have had a very wierd day - woke up with the beginnings of mastitis. I felt so rough, had a tender boob, making the twins' breakfast made me want to puke and I was all shivery down my back and legs. It was horrible! I thought this is either mastitis or I am PG! Thankfully it was mastitis. Had some paracetemol and got some anti-bs from the doc and I feel so much better already. My sis in law came round bless her to give the twins their lunch while I went to docs. She has 23-week-old baby herself and isn't weaning him yet so she did very well to get the twins to take all their lunch, and look after her own baby.

Forgot to read rest of thread before posting before!

PP - sympathies re. the alarm. My SIL has the same monitor and she has had two false alarms. Very scary. I didn;t get one of those monitors for that very reason! I figured it was more likely to go off for no reason than because babs had stopped breathing (also 2 of those would have bankrupted me ). He is past high risk for cot death now so maybe you should stop using it if it makes you anxious?

HH, that's what I mean about London - surely you guys are lots worse off than me living there! LOL at thinking a cut was meningitis. I am glad you can afford night nannies tho, those who are using them, I am glad you are being looked after. Sympathies to everyone having sleepless nights still, Alli - can't believe your nights, poor you. Sympathies to Paro too!

Glad you had a better night Amber with the doors closed!

Essie, LOL at fox coming in and sitting on Iestyn! I feel the same as HH about the monitors. I just think they are playing on anxious parents' minds, and the cost . Cot death is so rare, yes I know if it happens to you the stats are irrelevant, but I just have faith that millions of babies go to sleep every night and wake up the next morning still alive - without breathing sensors monitoring them. However if I wake in the morning and haven't heard a peep from the twins all night my immediate thought it they are dead . But really I am 99.99% certain they are not dead! It is always a relief to go in and see them moving though .

Hi all -sorry to hear about false alarms but am glad that I went same route as neenz/hedgehog and the old fashioned way. Essie - ikea - how shit are they (is this for your kicthen or you still going for mfi? have had them from both and both were good although on balance think ikea ones are near as damn it as good as some much more expensive versions).

big sympathies to ali too

its poonami time here -had to explain to dh that its prob teething rather than anything else .

oh crap - work have just phoned - unable to 'accomodate' either p/t or flexible working.

off to register with recruitment agencies then

oh hedgehog I'm sorry... is this completely unexpected?

Hedgehog that is a serious bummer about your job. You are allowed to appeal though aren't you? You are at my work, but not sure if that is company policy or Employment Law.

Baby monitors - pleased that Neenz and Poppy joined Hedgehog on the sceptical side too. I gave our ordinary monitor away on freecycle because it was rubbish - kept on giving up with interference. Now we only use the telephone intercom if Peter is upstairs and we are in the basement. Lets face it, it isn't as though he is asleep for much of the day anyway!

Thanks for the sleep sympathies folks. I didn't really post looking for sympathy, more to record the current "standard" night. The niceness of your reactions is making me feel sorry for myself though .

Amusing things today:

Getting Peter's passport photo taken. He was a bit tired so we have a very gormless looking picture that he gets to take with him till he is 5.

Reading "Hello" in a coffee shop. There was an interview with the actress who plays Sarah Louise in Corrie who has had a baby two weeks ago. This question made me laugh: "Did you have PND". As though if you are going to get PND it will have been and gone within 14 days of giving birth. How odd is that?

HH, make sure they give you a valid reason - there are only eight reasons why they can refuse you (IIRC), the reasons are in the Birth To Five book we got when babs were born. What do you do for a job?

I am feeling very fraudulant cos after feeling like absolute sh*t this morning with mastitis, the in-laws have all been rallying round. SIL came for the 10-12 shift, the twins napped from 12-2 and now FIL has taken them for me until 5 so I can rest. But I feel loads better (it is a nice treat tho having an afternoon without kids! I can play on MN all day )

thats not fraudulent neenz.. chances are if you don't rest (and mn counts ) then you'll take longer to get better.

hedgehog reasons are here for countering request (as given in o to 5)

Your employer can only refuse your request for
one of the business reasons set out in the rules,
for example, if it would have a detrimental
effect on quality.
Your employer must explain why a particular
reason applies in your circumstances. If your
employer refuses your request, there is an appeal
procedure that you must use.
If your employer does not follow the
You must have a good reason for asking
to work differently. Some good reasons for
asking are:
● you can?t find or afford full-time childcare;
● you can?t find or afford childcare outside 9?5,
Monday to Friday;
● you have to be there when your children
come home from school;
● you are suffering from severe stress from
working long hours.

Watch out MN - Neenz is on the lookout for a ruck!

LOL ali at going for a ruck. Actually I am missing the DTs so much I am tempted to go round to PILs, but I think Poppy is right, I should take the opportunity to rest and they will be back in an hour anyway. Just watched last night's episode of Entourage on Sky Plus, I love it.

Neenz - you should go and have a lovely long soak in the bath uninterrupted!