June 08: All we want for Christmas is a good night's sleep!

[bitofasnowqueen]

New thread!

neenz i know which is why I was saying that it comes from other sources not just Josey's professionals.

Josey lucky you I am dreading my next meeting with HV as they are awful.

I know this is far in advacne but some advice on potty training, having unsuccessfully tried 3 times from the summer to potty train DD she is know doing it by herself, so wait until they are ready and saves all the washing and the frustration

I only have 5 mins cos off to my mum's, just want to say I didn't mean to offend anyone about blw! I didn't mean it wasn't a valid way of feeding your baby - I just meant that my babies don't feed at all with blw (ie they don't get anything down them!). Like I said I will be very interested to follow all your BLW exploits.

Never meant to start a ruck

We're all about the purees in this house, though have been doing it for a while so now on to lumpy rather than smooth. I have always given babypearls somehing to chew whilst I feed her, such as a piece of bagel with mashed banana, bit of crumpet with marmite, rice cake, banana etc. She's pretty good at munching on it, I have to say. She also reaches out for a bit of anything I am eating or drinking so I guess you could call that BLW!!!

Tempted to go and get on of those munchkin net bags though....they sound fab!!

Teeth are making babypearls a bit antsy in the afternoon but have not affected her sleep yet, bless her- I've been going to bed with her at 7 with my teething pain and am feeling so much better today.

Morning all xxx

PS- Josey- didn't even think that about the chair- just thought how lucky Oli is to have such a devoted mummy xxx

Morning all, things still nightmareish here with the bottle refusal. Big panic.
aberdeen I was going to ask for a two year old for Christmas but I saw a friend's one, and I've decided they're not for me.
5GoMad great news on the potty training! I remember it was getting you down before, so you must be thrilled that she's decided that now is the time! Edie (that's DD, right?) is also v. beautiful - that photo on your profile is gorgeous.

More weaning to come today - purees, and finger food has not been offered although he did once have a cucumber in his hand but rejected it for a toy. Neenz has a video of her twins on facebook - I think purees are the right choice for Neenz as she has to feed 2 babies at the same time (literally 1 spoonful to Esther, 1 to Theo and so on until they're done) and I think I forget that with twins she really needs to be in control otherwise she wouldn't get out of bed. Ever. BLW with one baby is one thing, but with two, she just wouldn't be able to keep track of who's eating what (and who isn't eating at all) and she would be permanently surrounded by half chewed bits of food...
I'm not joining the debate really, just a little defence of Neenz! I think it's sometimes hard for us (especially first timers) to see how things are for others - I struggle to understand what life with twins would be like, also I have no idea how to cope with a SN baby like Josey does. In fact I'm mystified by girl babies! Yesterday I was at a loss how to play with one little baby because I didn't know how to speak English to a baby!

Oh, enough of this philosophical stuff - I need to phone the night nanny to see whether she can cope with Iestyn and his boob obsession, because I NEED SLEEP!

Another one here not too keen on BLW, as with DD we will be starting on purees and when a bit older will offer finger foods at lunchtime.

Quck post. Olivia now on Anti Biotics cold heading into her chest boohooo!!!

Essie, if he is teething, then bother my older DCs couldnt cope with a bottle and night, for some reason its then that there gums are particularly hot and the temperature or texture not sure which bothered them. What I used to do was rub some calgel or something of the like 1st to numb then there was no issue. Worth a try.

2nd What essie says re Neezes twins, I have twin nephews who are nearly 2 and they chuck food at each other now so my SIL has no idea who has eated what or stolen what

PS AH you for get I know your DS you cant kid me he is housebrokenjust pulling your leg of course xx

josey that post is very timely - can't figure out why edie wincing (only way to put it) at bottle this morning.. doesnt seem poorly in any other way but is dribbly /gnawing. so will dig out the calgel.

think essie is right re having twins makes a different perspective -both my friends with twins in antenatal are very much on teh puree regime as they've not got luxury of indulging just one baby (if you see what I mean). although that said edie seemed to quite like messing about with a rusk.. I'm just going to persist gently. and sympathy re teh bottle thing - I've got a baby who has taken to the bottle in much the same way as her mother/father but I know it is incredibly stressful . do you want me to pop round to demonstrate to iestyn with some wine how to do it?

by the way ladies of london -did you know there is a nice christmas market on the south bank? we could if time incorporate that into our meet up...

Essie, as I have posted at length before Jamie refuses to take a bottle and never has done. We have recently discovered the little Boots beakers however, and he will take up to two ounces (but sadly no more so a top up rather than a feed) from these. He likes to chew it. I will try to feed a link.

sorry, find a link!

Bizarrely I can't find them on the Boots website so am no help whatsoever. Sorry!

sybil it makes sense that they wouldn't need vitamins if they have a varied diet - but my DS1 is a fussy eater so I wouldn't have called his diet varied so I'm glad I gave him vitamins! Same as everything I expect - different kids need different things.

5gomad we've just had the same experience with potty training here - DS1 basically did it himself as long as he got treats or stickers and praise. Much easier than I expected...

josey well, housebroken if you take his potty everywhere

poppy love the offer of a bottle demonstration

ohh and hedgehog, at least our kids aren't in the same household. DS1 got up at 5am this morning, just when your Isaac fell asleep. (Fraser was up at 1am then 4am but just for five minutes each time thankfully).

how thoughtful of htem to co ordinate so they weren't up at the same time ah

still stuck in waiting for heating to be fixed and making disgracefully slow progress on all the jobs I was going to do

neenz loved the video of you feeding the twins. They eat so nicely.

We do a mix of purees and finger foods here. DS likes to feed himself and I like to know he's eaten so it works well for us!

paro saw this thread and thoguht of you ..maybe you can shed some light

childcare in spain

Sorry disappeared again as both kids been poorly and dp v. negative and unhelpful, which makes me feel really low so I go into hibernation. Also struggling with ds who is now being 'proper 2' with me - it's like living with a very loud, hyperactive, self-destructive, aggressive, extremely charming and funny, doubly incontinent drunk, while trying to look after a baby at the same time ... arrgh!!

Interesting to read everyone's weaning experiences. Caitlin decided to start BLW herself, exactly 6 months to the day after her due date, by faceplanting into banana exactly as (was it katyjo?) described. She has since eaten carrot, butternut squash, mango, toast, and radicchio , absolutely delighted by the whole thing, and getting enough down here to show up in nappies. Ds was a mainly puree baby and would never have managed or been interested in what she is doing - horses for courses, definitely.

Essie, Caitlin won't go near any bottles but is taking milk happily at nursery from a fast-flow cup. I bought loads of different bottles before I went back, including an Adiri breastbottle - you're welcome to it if you want to try it?

down *her

systemsaddict that sounds really rubbish..not surprised you're fed up but nice to hear from you

I was wondering where you got to SA Sorry you're feeling low. Vey impressed with Radicchio!

Essie I was exactly the same with boys after I had ds, when I was pregnant with Mia people assumed I wanted a girl, but I was actually really scared of having a girl! Of course I was absolutely delighted when she was born, but the first few nappy changes were a bit scary!

Ali Thank you so much for the banana tips, I might buy the book, it actually sounds really good.

Aberdeen I'm doing the same as you, I let Mia do a bit herself and then I jump in with the puree.

Puree Can def recommend the munchkin bags, although they say for 12mths plus, I couldn't see why though.

Thanks all for the help! Will try all options - Josey's Calgel, and various beakers. I have the first two listed here, also the first cup, closer to nature bottles which are now rejects but with two different teat 'speeds'; I am going to borrow some avent bottles and others from Penguin (thank you kindly, Penguin!) and will seek out the Boots beaker.
Anyone know where I can get a doidy cup? I'm panicking (panic buying, indeed! ) because I'll be going back to work in January...

Systems, what kind of cup does Caitlin have? And Sybil does it sound like Jamie's? How do you get them to drink - do you give them water to practice then ebm?

Sorry, totally teat post. I'm sure you can sense the panic... Night nanny coming tonight and it will be a total waste of money if I don't get a full night's sleep because he has to be brought to me.

Essie not sure of the brand, it's one they use at nursery, they showed it to me, a fairly plain spouted cup with four holes in the spout. As for how I got her to drink from it: handed her to nursery staff, said she won't take a bottle but might take a cup, here's some EBM, away you go! I bet the night nanny will be used to doing similar, if she's any good. At least one of the advantages of oversupply is it isn't hard to get enough EBM to play with.

neenz you asked for thoughts on BLW, sleep and food, these are mine. Ds woke several times a night, both before and after he started eating lots of pureed food. For him, it wasn't hunger, it was not knowing how to get back to sleep at the end of a sleep cycle. Went on till we CC'd him (actually more like CIO ) at about 9 months, at that point quite reluctantly in desperation. But it was just what we all needed and I have no regrets!

Now Caitlin wakes and feeds a bit several times a night and I just go with it, but have the luxury of being able to co-sleep with just the one, so it's not a big issue for either of us. When it becomes a problem I'll be quite ready to CC her too. Of course if it's hunger that wakes them, getting more into them in the day will help, but for my two I'm fairly sure it's not hunger; my own fault, I trained them both into thinking they need me to go back to sleep.

I think I need to be crowned super mum I have just been swinging from drainpipes(my days for chandalers are gone) hanging up Xmas lights, my kids offically love me, well for the next hour anyway lol!!! Its stopped DD1 and DS fighting as she wants his bday presents.

I would say some babies are just unsettled at night but some do start waking cause of hunger, even the smallest amount of solids makes a difference this is due to solids taking longer to digest so keeps tummies fuller for longer.

AH lol I take it I didnt traumatize your DS by sitting him on the toilet in hoodles then, took me ages to work out why she was looking horrified

i could cry.. heating not fixed still.. and sent british gas engineer away thinking that other bloke could fix it (who now helpfully tells me I shoudnt have done that). no heating, no hot water..

and feel irrationally upset as was planning day out to go to town for lunch /see acupuncture lady (who is nigh on impossible to book) and that'll go for burton as I spend my third farking day stuck at home in the cold

Poppy bugger about the heating, hope it gets fixed soon.

Josey you are alerady Supermum so what shall we call you now?

Well I have made a load of purees to start tomorrow, we have a choice of butternut squash, sweet potatoe, peas, broccoli, carrots and pear with apple and cinammon. Have added olive oil instead of butter so he will get his fats that way. He should like something out of that.

Essie, sorry I can't find a link, maybe will try to take photo later. They are quite small stage 1 weaning beakers, boots own brand with quite a bit spout that is a part of the lid and two small holes. We tried practically every beaker/bottle going and this is the only one we had any successwith. We also have a couple of doidy cups ( bought online from babyzoop) but he kept bashing it and throwing the milk all over himself so we gave up with them.

Poppy that's really bad, these little things really get to you don't they? (Says a woman who burst into tears in PC World and all the spotty teenage staff were struggling with how to deal with such a show of emotion...)

5GoMad will visit your B&B because I fancy some of that pear with apple and cinnamon on my porridge in the morning!
Any joy on the carrots? Anyone? Still nothing here. Mind you, I'm busy focusing on the bottle issue!

Systems the cup sounds a bit like the basic Tommee Tippee one. I really can't imagine Iestyn going for a doidy cup - whatever anyone says, he needs a lid. We have a cream carpet. He needs a lid...