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

[bitofasnowqueen]

New thread!

Allnew - completely understand the martyr, thing that is how I felt. Ignore what others are saying and doing, and wean when your LO is ready. We started at 24+5, after P had been swiping food from us that week.

Just got back from NCT Xmas do, didn't give P any food as it was all salty or processed stuff, and it really wouldn't have been appropriate in someone's lovely lounge, we weren't even socialising in the kitchen. We had a nice time though and I got some nice Kath Kidston smellies from the not so secret Santa! Some of the other babies have gone off their solids or are downright refusing to take anything at all, Amber this one LO reminded me of Luke, so I mentioned your boy and that he will have a go with toast, but won't do purees.

Thanks all
Kath Kidson from secret santa - very impressed!

Rolf It's something to do with a tube to allow them to feed Olivia without the tube through her nose. I'm not 100% confident I've got all the details right so I'll let Josey explain when they're home and settled.

allnew if you want to wait till 26 weeks then you wait. 'Tis no-one elses business.

Sending special thoughts for Olivia...

Aberdeen fingers crossed for a successful move.

I have read all the other posts, but still a bit weary from my work's Christmas do yesterday, so my brain is quite mush like. If I didn't say thanks to people for lovely comments about the pics I posted, then I'll say it now - Thanks! .

at your secret santa allnew - I got an awful rude present yesterday. I didn't mind so much that it was rude (although that's really not my thing) but it wasn't in the slightest bit funny/clever/relevant. The person who chose it just clearly picked up and bought the first thing that they saw. I spent ages (and started a thread) choosing a gift!

AH, please send my best wishes to Josey and Oli.

Hmm, snowqueen, that is the problem with Secret Santa, some people put absolutely no thought into it or buy things that are clearly inappropriate. Last year Matt got a sexy santa outfit for me as his Secret Santa present from a colleague!! He was stunned and mortified as he had to open it in front of all his colleagues, none of whom really knew what to say! However, we got the last laugh as we flogged it on ebay for twice what it was worth!!

Good for you sponge! I hate secret santa, I have to say. 3 years in a row, and 3 years of terrible presents. It's particularly annoying this year, as I could quite happily have spent my £10 on something for me - something I dont get to do a lot at the moment!

Just picked up my six month bounty pack and the C&G free sample says "Our Pure Baby Rice: just right for Alex".

Does everyone got a personalised pack for their own baby then?!

Evening not had much time to post as sorting out bits and bobs before we go on Sat

School caotic as ever xmas parties in classes tomorrow and santa on Fri.

We always have secret santa in oour school I always make a big effort and normally gifts are lovely. But this year and hit me if im being not nice but i was a bit peeved to open my pressie and find clothes for Fleur! Now thats nice but it was my name they picked out of hat!

Having lebanese take away tonight so off to eat now ummmm falafel and hoummous yum

Sponge, the salt thing is a worry. I think even bread is quite high in salt! But anything you make for him and don't add salt is fine.

Ali - I'd definitely do the BLW at your friend's. I hear P is very good at it. Your friend will be so !! But yes it is a bit messy. But purees are messy too - my kitchen floor needs a power wash on it (or for me to get down on my hands and knees and scrub - don't think so). LOL Puree at always wanting cream carpets - we went for wooden floors through most of the house, but cream carpet on the stairs! It doesn't look too bad three years on but I think we could have got something more hard-wearing.

Allnew, sorry you feel annoyed about the work thing. People just don't think before they speak. Hopefully soon you will be able to go part time if that is what you want. Have you been on moneysavingexpert.com? It is an excellent site which tells you how to get all the best deals on mortgage/phone/mobile/broadband/elec/gas etc - the forum is brilliant for advice too (I used to live there before I discovered MN cos saving money is my favourite thing to do after being a mum ). Don't feel guilty, you are doing the best for your family! And I think it is great that you have been able to wait to wean. I felt very guilty doing it at 22 weeks and was convinced I had poisoned them... you won't have that worry and yes it is a faff so enjoy it while it lasts!

I have been to Chester today to meet Essie, which was lovely. Feel very jealous that she has also met many of you which I probably never will . Unfortunately though we didn't get chance to go shopping for medised because lunch took so long! Hopefully she got some without my help!

Well, after Esther slept from 7pm till 5am the night before last (despite eating very little) she was up every 2-3 hours last night feeding (cos she ate very little again yesterday). I think she has eaten more today so here's hoping for a better night. Theo ate most of her food as well as his own yesterday and slept through .

Paro, I would feel that way too! Fleur will get loads of pressies this Christmas. You probably not so much . I think secret santa is a waste of time too - £10 is a lot when it is a load of tatt!

Ok, so now I'm going to look like Neenz's weird stalker, waiting for her to post and then dashing in with mine...
Had a lovely time with Neenz and Theo and Esther - I can report that Theo is delightful, a lovely cheeky (in the best way!) little man, and Esther is a beauty with her big blue eyes. They eat really well too! It was really great, shame Rolf couldn't come too. But next time?
Maybe we should have a massive party somewhere central next June, everyone who can come. I'm really nosey and always want to know everyone's real names, which is why I'm such a slag when it comes to meet ups - I'm off to Aberdeen in January, so anybody around? (I'm joking - although I do sometimes get sent to Aberdeen as they have a Celtic dept, and a good (if scandalous) medieval Celtic history dept.)

I've never done secret santa ever! ?? Or not?

I did go to fetch some medised, but they shone a bright light in my face and asked for details of my child - including pointing to a child in a nearby man's arms and saying 'is that your little girl there' (seriously!)!! I lied convincingly, won the prize bought the medised, only to see massive warnings all over the packet. So feeling too guilty to use it.

Allnew I'm going back to work full time in January - hope that makes you feel better!

Oh, and Sponge, yes, those Bounty packs are personalised because mine said "just right for Iestyn Seiriol" and they had spelt his name right and all.

Glad the two of you had a good time but I'm disappointed I couldn't make it. Anywhere further away than Liverpool is difficult for me with the school run, and DH can't commit to being around to do it for me.

Aarrrgghhhh S is being a nightmare. He's been crying on and off for the last couple of hours. I think he might have trapped wind as he's clearly quite agitated but both DH and I have tried to settle him without success.

Essie - interesting on the medised. I noticed some behind the counter the other day at the pharmacy and it clearly had 'from 3 months' on it!

Completely forgot about the bounty pack. Am sure I got sent a voucher? Is it really worth me finding it and collecting it?

Paro while clothes for S would have been more welcome than the useless rude tat I got, I can understand where you're coming from!

Yeah, go away you weirdo

Iestyn was a lovely little thing too but he was very good and slept most of the time!

Glad you got some Medised. It doesn't have a dosage guide on the pack for under 2s but it is the same as calpol (2.5ml - 5ml every four hours and no more than four doses is 24 hours).

I feel guilty when I use it too. But if he is sniffly and can't breathe properly when he is lay down flat then go for it. He needs it!

Rolf, what about Cheshire Oaks? We were thinking we could meet there next time (no nightmare parking!)

Yeah, and LOADS of bargains at Cheshire Oaks too!
Do we know why the medised rules were changed?

BDQ (or BSQ) we had a weird one like that with Iestyn last night. He screamed a horrible high-pitched scream* for 2 hours solid. We held him, we put him down, we fed him, we changed him, we walked with him. Finally, at 12.40 (am, thanks Iestyn!) I was holding him, and he lifted up his head, and said 'goo'. And that was that.

That sounds really-serious-illness-scary, but Iestyn is high pitched. Isn't that right, Sponge, Ali, Penguin*?

Oh, crap. I need to get back to work NOW, because I've just put a footnote in that post.

Neenz - don't think Cheshire Oaks is much closer than Chester, is it? I don't have wheels (don't ask - it's along the same lines as the storage fiasco ) so my world is horribly tiny at the moment.

neenz, good to hear you had a lovely lunch with Essie.

Can totally second what you say about MSE - I discovered it a couple of years ago and spent a week of my school summer holidays trawling every single financial expenditure we had and changing it for something cheaper. We ended up saving ourselves a staggering two thousand pounds a year!

It's still our first port of call if we need to do anything financial. We go and look at best buys, check out the tips and receive the weekly email which keeps us up to date with all the bargains! Changing our bank accounts to interest paying accounts and money back cards was one of our biggest winners - we earn about £1,000 a year alone doing this (bearing in mind dh puts all his work expenses through on one of those credit cards).

Anyway, sorry to be a money bore, but I could eulogise about MSE all night! Neenz, what was your sign on name - we may have chatted before?!

MSE if anyone's interested .

oops x-posted with loads of you!

Essie, lol at your bounty pack! I'm impressed they spelt his name right too !

You must have missed all the medised chat, they changed the rules cos parents were using it to drug their children to sleep every night cos of the sedative affect - sounds perfectly reasonable to me!

snowqueen, there's a fair few money off vouchers in the bounty pack if you can find your voucher. Sorry to hear S is in distress .

Er, yes, Isetyn's shriek is something else - has to be heard to be believed!!

Hi all,

Sorry for going AWOL for a few days. Thankfully you guys haven't been too chatty.

Sorry to thise with colds and vomitting bugs. How the hell I haven't caught the cold I will never know. All my family have been ill with it and both the boys and my parents have been on antibiotics. I'm still muddling though (on my own as DH is away once again), am knackered and really low, but have so far managed to avoid it. You wait, I'll finish for Christmas on Christmas Eve and wake up with it on Christmas Day knowing my luck!
Anyhow, we had our decision meetings yesterday and I'm to be made redundant. Pretty pissed off really as I'm the main breadwinner so will have to update my CV and get looking for work again.
Ho hum.

Luke not interested in solids whatsoever. Was planning on BLW at Christmas but after speaking to the HV this morning, she says maybe he's not ready and will do on just his milk. He's 26 weeks next week. Don't know what to do for the best. Anyone have any odea how quickly the iron levels start to diminish on milk only after 6 months?

Hope everyone is OK and looking forward to the festivities.

I can confirm the Iestyn is v high pitched. Peter looked q put out that he was not the loudest baby. He has been trying to remedy this since though...

Pleased to hear that Essie and Neenz had a good meet up. Where would be the most central place for a June meet up? The ladies in Aberdeen might offset the ladies in Dorset and we would end up where exactly ?

Sponge at your DHs dirty Santa outfit. What did you say he does again? Had imagined it to be something sophisticated and clever, but thinking maybe he works for "Nuts" magazine.

Right, must try to get some sleep.

Just marking my spot before heading off to bed. Libra really sorry about your job, I hope you find something new soon.

Re iron levels, I dont know too much about it (because S is FF so it doesn't matter) but you can get vitamin drops I think for BF babies after 6 months.

BLW might work best for you if Luke doesn't seem that interested yet. If you go down the 'purist' BLW route then he'll start eating when he wants to.

Anyway, need some sleep - my course starts again tomorrow and I'm so out of touch with the HR world its scary.

morning all

sending positive thoughts for olivia's op today

sorry to hear about the job ll

paro - have a fantastic christmas in the uk - shopping and showing off fleur, eat some british goodies for me. are you going to norwich? my mum lives in norwich but she's coming to us this year

sorry to hear about illnesses,

june meet up sounds great - i know a great venue - a very nice austrian village!!

Mmm, Cheshire Oaks no good with no car, Rolf, but I could pick you up - if we schedule the timings right we can make sure we are there and back before you have to do the school run. We'll have to tell Essie that we are meeting 45 mins before we actually are tho so she'll make it on time

Sponge, I was nh101 on MSE but had another name before that and can't remember what it was (think it might have been nh - very original!). A £2,000 saving is pretty good! But I think most people could make that kind of saving esp if they find a good mortgage deal. If I have any money questions now I always go to the forum to ask - it is great. I got a great mortgage in the summer that way (0.48% above the base rate for life). I think if you are a mum and don't want to work, a bit of time spent on MSE could equate to having to work less if you save thousands. I made about £3,000 by stoozing at the height of the 0% credit card deals (before they introduced balance transfer fees).

Libra, sorry about your job - you seem OK about it...? Or just resigned to it? Iron levels apparently deplete after 6mths but your breast milk has iron in, not very much but it is easily absorbed by the body and if he is not eating then he will BFing lots so I wouldn't worry. In the Amazon they don't give their babies purees or vitamin drops and they all survive - nature is an amazing thing . I give my two vitamin drops (when I remember) but just to boost their immune systems not cos I think they need them. Just keep trying Luke with food - what have you tried already? Baby rice mixed with ebm or follow-on milk is always a big hit at first because it tastes like milk and is very slushy (?). Rice cakes have gone down well here BLW style cos they are nice and firm to pick up but then break down quite quickly once they come into contact with the mouth!

Meet-up in Austria sounds great Deb!

It was a better night for us last night. Esther woke at 2.30 - but she was only chatting to herself not crying so I left her and fell asleep. An hour later she was still chatting away. So I got up and fed her and she slept till morning. She ate more yesterday (I just kept making more and more food at tea time cos she just kept eating and eating) but this morning she would only have her breakfast sat on my lap, which is becoming a common occurance. Anyone else had this? I try not to encourage it cos it is not fair on Theo, so I feed Theo and give him lots of encouragement and keep offering spoonfuls to Esther (who just blows raspberries) so then I ignore her and go back to Theo. Only when Theo has finished do I put Esther on my lap and try her with some (which she eats). Any other suggestions? I hope it's just a phase cos she is a bit poorly with her cold - they both seem to be recovering from that now thankfully. I also can't believe I haven't had it!

Currently sitting at Heathrow waiting for a flight that we left the house too early for- doh. So far Peter is liking the airport it is v exciting.

Deb, got the birthday video done yesterday. P performed marvelously by sitting unaided for the first time.

Good luck Oli!

Libra - sorry to hear about your job. Job hunting is something I hate.

Re: iron. I believe from BLW literature that LOs iron levels start to fall but it isn't a problem till about 10 months ish. Would google and check it though. However, an NCT person has been told by a friend who is a dr that BM changes at 6 months and becomes less nutritious. I think she has got the wrong end of the stick, but can anyone correct me? Her LO who is 5 months won't take purée and so she is stressing about iron levels, but I think it is probably not a cause for concern for sometime yet.