March 2008 babies: Why aren't humans born with teeth and other important topics!

[MarchNowFebMum]

new thread - old one getting too big for some...

Thanks for the link turtle! Will try and get down there next Wednesday and get a bookstart pack and generally check it out.

Ff - I lived on Chessington Road for 8 years! My Mum still lives there.

DD a bloody nightmare last night, I am reluctantly co-sleeping to try and get some sleep as with all the redundacies being made I can't afford to not be on form in the office.

Mmm Four Seasons in Sharm-el-Sheikh sounds perfect. Will please with DP that we need a January break. I know I have had five holidays in the last 8 months but by God I bloody need them.

Happy Thanksgiving all! My best friend is living out there at the moment and is incredibly excited about her first thanksgiving.

Thanks JFly will try it out

Ewe i know exactly what you mean about harder work now than in the early days, must be truely horrid with the extra pressure of worrying about the work situation atm.

i am so fed up of this feeding lark. please can i go back to breastfeeding for hours on end in front of the telly. I promise i won't whinge about it. DD has now decided (after initially taking to food very nicely) that she no longer wants to eat. anything. everything i try results in head being turned away and screaming fit. won't take purees or finger foods (although she loves to play with finger foods). am at my wits end. am fairly sure she is losing weight (clinic next week just so i can be sure and can beat myself up about it properly) but not sure what i can do about it. her sleep has also got way worse so am up lots at ngiht again and not getting any time out in the day. please can christmas hurry up?! am exhausted and down and generally fed up. sorry to rant.

oh and to add insult to injury just had SIL on the phone very upset because her 5 monther who slept 4 hours in a stretch from birth and then upped that to 8 hours at THREE WEEKS is having a growth spurt and waking every 2 hours for a feed. Tried to be sympathetic and not scream - MINE HAS WOKEN EVERY 2-3 HOURS SINCE BIRTH YOU INSENSTIVE *.

Sorry to hear so many tales of woe, although I must admit that there is something vaguely comforting about coming here and finding that I'm not alone

I've been feeling blue and slightly weepy for the last few days. It may be hormonal, as with fnf1. I'm feeling pissed off with work/house/childminder in a kind of "trapped by responsibilities" way. All very self-indulgent I know.

Cricketsmum I second your wish for Christmas to come quickly. I need a break.

HQ I'm not planning to give up BFing yet, as I just can't imagine not doing it anymore iyswim, but I wanted to say that I am exactly the same as regards sugar cravings and although my skin is OK, I haven't really lost much weight since the birth and it's starting to get annoying.

It's hard to know how you'll feel after you give up, but 8 months is a very good innings and if you are generally feeling the way you described in your post (and it wasn't just written in a fit of pique , which is the kind of thing I would do) then it sounds like the balance is shifting towards stopping.

Would you think about dropping daytime feeds but keep morning/evening for the moment? See how you feel then, although of course that means keeping the nicest feeds, so won't really help you decide if you should give up altogether.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans.

ilgb - the answer is everything. everything is wrong about pumpkin pie. Pumpkin. in a pie. is it sweet? is it savoury? why is it all brown? what is that goo from a tin?

Only kidding, I'm sure it's lovely for grown ups to try who aren't still indulging their fussy eater status from when they were a pita child who only ate various shades and sizes of chicken and chips.

Oh and is it yams you eat with marshmallows? Weirdest dish ever.

Skidoodle - thanks for the coments re pumpkin pie - made me smile (although you need to share the credit with the medecianl glass of wine I am working my way through )

have realised that i was being too self-indlugent earlier to respond to various comments so here goes:

HQ - your holiday sounds AMAZING!! Does your DH do deal-spotting consultancy for worn-out MNs? On the bfing front... I am also starting to think about giving up (she bit me!) as we are finally making some headway on bottles so i have a choice... My mum however said that I ought to keep at least one feed a day for the winter to help support her immune system whilst there are loads of bugs around. just a thought. not sure one feed a day makes that much of a difference but it can't hurt! i know what you mean about sucking the life-force out of you though. it really does.

FF - thank you for the tomato sauce recipe. i think that's what we are both having for lunch tomkorrow... she just got very excited about our dinner and practically launched herself at our food until i conceded a pizza crust to her for her chomping pleasure. think she thinks that baby-food is dull, even though it is actually far more imaginative and lovingly cooked than our food is!! And yes i do live in Epsom but only for the last couple of years and my local knowledge is rubbish so am afriad i don't know chessington road! re feeds - we are on 4 aday, and more than i like to think about at night.

can't remember if there was anything else i planned to reply to but dh has just got dd down so it's bedtime!! night all!

no, marshmallows on sweet potatoes is americans we canadians wouldn't dream of it! (just joking JFly, I'm sure it's delish)

anyway, you don't have to use the goo from a tin, you can actually just use butternut squash and it still tastes yummy!!

butternut squash pie? Blimey. You're all so creative with your cookery. I'm feeling quite chuffed at myself for baking a Christmas cake last night, even though it was mostly out of a packet and just needed me to add eggs and butter...and I haven't burnt it!

Very of those still bf, still hung up on the fact I had to give up by 2 weeks Grass is always greener whatever we do eh?

So looking forward to my day "off" tomorrow. No work work, but plenty hard work at home - got to find somewhere safe to put the Christmas tree away from enquiring little paws

we never used our baby pen for ds1, as he was easily manageable without one. except when he saw the xmas tree...so we put the xmas tree in the baby pen. and dec'd the tree from only midway up.

daft, but effective.

Sheer genius, MB.

Thanks for all the recipies - didn't know buckwheat had protein - excellent info as trying to raise baby veg.

ff i also have the class screamer and terror. spend half the time trying to corral her and she gets excited by the other kids and abuses them! the rest aren't crawling yet so are at her mercy.

we are doing three feeds - 6:30AM, 2:30 and 6:30PM and 3 meals (turtle have you tried cottage cheese, yogourt or whole wheat cheerios for breakfast?). The first and last are bf and the afternoon is formula. For those thinking of quitting/cutting back, I highly recommend just doing the first and last feed. I def feel like I have my body back, am not on call on day and don't have to wear nursing bras! But feel like I am still giving her something, and we benefit from the closeness. It's a nice bookend, if you will, to the day. She seems to have gotten the message that nursing is at night time and eating and drinking from cup/bottle for day - she does't ask for the breast. I intend to keep this schedule until one year old if she and boobs will agree, the I plan to scale back maybe only keeping the morning feed (although 'eggggsperts' say you should do it the other way around.) Caveat to all this is remember that we are a bit ahead because of her being early. She is 9 months, 2 weeks now.

Went to the hv yeaterday - haven't been in months and they are so blase no mention was made of my abscence. She was like [insert bored voice]'oh so are you just here to get weighed' Told me that other than the one year immunizations, they don't [in Westminster] want to see her util she's 2! I know North Americans are overdoctored but I find that ridiculous. And funny story - I was bragging telling her about how my baby ate all sorts of good things like cabbage, spinich, etc and cut in and said [once again bored voice] 'yeah that won't last, she'll only eat fruit and toast in about 3 months'. thanks for that, dr. spock. anyways so i went straight to waitrose after and bought a bag of brussel sprouts - thought I better get em in while I still can!

MB - i know someone who does the same thing with their tv/dvd/wii things - they are the only non-childproof thing in the house, so they get penned in and toddler gets free run of the rest of the house

CM/skidoodle - thanks for thoughts on bf. I guess I'm thinking that I'll get DS over this bad patch and back to 3 feeds a day for a few weeks and then start dropping the mid-afternoon one. So I guess I'll carry on through to around Christmas and start dropping then - also DH will be around to help get DS used to taking bottle at that feed if he moans about it. After months of seeming ambivalent about bf, DS is suddenly very attached to my boobs and I think that is why I don't know whether I should stop. If he was still amibvalent about it I probably would but he actually seems to like bf now so I feel bad about wanting to deny him and i still feel guilty about him being mixed fed for a long while when i could have excl bf him really.

Rough rough day here yesterday DS only had 20 mins nap all day yesterday rather than his usual 3.5 hours, wouldn't let me put him down without a huge fuss so I got nothing done, and then would only sleep on my or DH's chest yesterday evening - not needed to do that with him since he was a few weeks old. He then went down in his cot from about 10.30 until 12.30, and then we were up with him 7 times in the next 90 minutes In the end we co-slept which worked wonders for DH (who has been ill) and DS but not for me as I was sandwiched between them and didn't want to disturb either. So I'm now shattered.

DS did a horrendously explosive nappy this morning, the worst since he was very newborn, and it needed two of us to clean it up because now he is so wriggly he was getting his hands and feet in it and smiling and giggling while doing so . It was horrid! Anyway he seems a lot better after getting that out of his system, and has finally gone down for a sleep in his cot so I'm hoping he is feeling a bit better. Maybe it isn't teeth and maybe it's just a bit of a reactyion to being back home - change in temp, water, food etc.

I have to take issue with 1) the sullying of the name of the greatest dessert known to man: pumpkin pie and 2) the suggestion that marshmallows are an American tradition. Bah!

Pumpkin pie is so indulgently rich and delicious that it is only allowed on two festive occasions in the entire year. Pumpkin most certainly sits at the top of all sweet additions. I submit: pumpkin bread, pumpkin scones, pumpkin cheesecake and of course, the pumpkin pie. Until you have tried it, reserve judgement.

As for the dreaded marshmallow, don't ask me who came up with that idea, but be reassured that many American do not let the white goo near their sweet potatoes/yams. While it may be traditional for some, it is what you Brits might call a bit "common".

Here ends my Thanksgiving rant.

MNFM - tbh, one of the things i am desperate to do is get rid of nursing bras. My boobs are my biggest best feature and I always prided myself on being able to look Rubenesque with the aid of a good underwired bra and a plunging neckline. There are only two nursing bras available in my size, neither of which are brilliantly supportive, and I just feel like I'm one of those women who has given up looking attractive and wears their boobs round their waists. I'd assumed I'd need to keep wearing nursing bras until I'd stopped feeding fully so nice to know I can maybe stop wearing them quite soon

i find pumpkin pie an odd concept so have a mental block when eating it. Pumpkin bread however is utterly delicious - do you have a recipe JFly?

Pumpkin pie is yummy.

morning all... i have a request... my little sister is being induced today... please can you all send happy birth thoughts to the birthing angels on her behalf??? (am soooo excited about being an auntie!!)

Hello! Sorry to hear about colds/bugs/blues etc.

LO has been on good form the last week or so, as we seem to be in between any colds or teething for the moment - I'm enjoying it while I can! He's also just started to say 'dada', although he's not aiming it towards DH yet and I think just likes the feeling of it on his tongue. He is desperate to crawl properly and getting v v frustrated. He can go round in a circle and almost sit on his heels but just can't get the going forward thing yet!

As for sleeping, we're still firmly in the non-sleeping camp....

On the nappy front we're still on size 3s, but LO is still small - got him weighed this week and he's just hit 17lbs, but all in proportion.

I feel very inadequate reading all of your recipes and dinner ideas for LO - where on earth do you get the time to make all of these lovely sounding dishes!! At the moment, firm favourites here are cauliflower cheese and courgettes.

For those thinking of winding down bf, I started cutting back feeds gradually at 6.5 mths, with the plan being to keep the morning and bedtime ones. Didn't quite work out like that as all feeds are now bottle feeds, with the exception of any during the night, although I'm fairly sure LO doesn't get much from me.

I must say that although I had a really hard time BF, I really do miss it, and you don't fully appreciate how much easier and convenient it is until you stop. My LO is v fussy about temperature, so making up bottles when out and about is a PITA!! Good luck whatever you decide to do, but if you do decide to cut down be prepared for the fact that your supply might reduce more than you want....

Oh, and pumpkin pie is yummy

CM-happy good birth thoughts floating your way.
Can I just warn you all that those pod-people aliens are about? HV just been to see me and spent whole time saying that I'm doing a great job, well-done you for this and that, don't worry about P's weight, he's a great baby... WTF? Have been avoiding her because she wanted me to give up BF and was nasty about everything...beware, they look just like people!!

Lots of good luck vibes for your lil sis CM! How exciting.

DD's nursery just called to tell me she managed to take two steps before falling over today she is too bloody small, I don't want her to keep trying to walk, would it be too cruel to tie her down?

Nursery were so excited - of course they are, they have her in a completely baby proofed room with no hazards! I have already babyproofed my house and it's still a nightmare, she just falls over and hits her head on the floor so much. It worries me how often she bangs her head. It is normal isn't it? Reassurances please ladies?

In a really weird mood today, feel like just going out and getting trashed and being really irresponsible. I imagine this is what a midlife crisis feels like.

lol at midlife crisis...yes it does. add a dose of existential angst and a body that won't behave and you have it. in fact, get trashed tonight and you can have all 3 tomorrow with your hangover

sounds like you need a relief of tension, and i'm like you, used to a grand night out to get the juices flowing. if you can't go out, queue up your fave music and drink while dancing at home. do leary phone calls/internetting if neccessary. i've done that a few times for a good night in. it is a bit like methadone substituting for heroin (not what i used to do on nights out i must add!) but it's better than slumping round the house.

very sweet the nursery called you though get what you mean about terrifying changes.

Ewe- funny you should say that. P got up from the floor and stood up(no hands ) and took a step while the HV was here, so I know I didn't imagine it. Am truly terrified as he was only 8 months yesterday.
He falls over pretty much once an hour at the moment. It is normal. And it will only get worse as they become proper toddlers!

Thanks for the quick responses ladies! That is reassuring... I posted a thread about how to teach a baby no so hopefully someone will have some good ideas.

We should get P and T togather sometime turtle, they can attack play with eachother and we could have a minutes peace! They seem to be at the same place developmentally.

I am really glad nursery called me, they gave me the option before she started of them not telling me about firsts that happened whilst she was there but I wanted them to tell me.

I have managed to beg my Mum to babysit for me so I have a couple of hours to drink relax tonight, just need to find someone to go out with!