September 08 - New Year PFBs, Last Year BFPs!

[ninja]

Hi - welcome to the new thread!

Robyn has spent the last 3 nights now in our bed for almost the whole night. DP said it was my fault as I let her stay up to watch Heston Blumenthal (yumm) last week. She is getting better at waking in a morning but we still have a lot of work to do before her bedtime is in the right place.
There was a good article in Readers Digest last month about how babies and adults sleep. Apparently in the western world we are too fixated with routine and gertting them to bed on time. Also they think that the likelihood of mothers rolling on to babies in sleep is tiny and all to do with mothers 150 years or so ago doing it deliberately as they couldn't afford to feed them then saying it was an accident.
All in all i could see Foxy nodding along as i read it. lol.
Hoping for some more sleep tonight, spent the last hour feeding and nodding off. Dp is back at work hopefuuly next week so need to be back to normal.

And got AF today and I am so drained.

splish I was going to ask the exact same thing about babies being sicky after feeds. How much is normal? Dh is complaining that he has to wear a new t-shirt every day and yesterday the follow through from ds's burp gave dh a very soggy crotch. He's burped milk down my friend's cleavage, and straight down my sleeve today. Sometimes pure water just comes out of his mouth. I've ended up always putting a muslin round his neck after a feed to catch it, and its always soaked soon after. Its only little bits though, not full feeds. I always get a burp (which is always impressive!) but for the whole time between feeds there's bits of milk coming up. I'm guessing its mild reflux, but as he isn't the slightest bit bothered I have no intention of getting medication. I was just wondering what 'normal' possetting looks like.

Am feeling like a very very bad mum today. dd has been teething with molars for a while and being very unhappy and waking overnight and generally whinging...then today she said "ear ow" and I took her to the docs and she has an ear infection.

Carrie- sounds very similar.She doesn't usually produce much if anything when I wind her, but it continues between feeds, often quite watery,sometimes a bit phlegmy maybe. She'sdone the cleavage thing to mewhen I've put her in the sling,and i suddenly feel a curious warm sensation.... If it could be mild refluxmaybe that would explain unhappinessat being put down??? (Or she just lovesbeing held, and is generally a nosey parker whowants to see everything going on???)

Lolli - wellI think it's nonsense too, thanks for your nice words. Don't think anyone could look at her and think there was a problem with her weight or thriving. And you're right about solids. Dd1 had zero interest infood forages,and I used to get stressed about it. Now I will be more relaxed as I know milk is the main thing til 1 and it'll happen in the end. She didn't even ask how/what I was feeding c. Why are so many hvs good at undermining mummies though?

Ninja I read in some magazine that a study showed ff babies actually slept slightly less at night than bf babies,contrary to usual beliefs, something like 40 minutes less. No idea if it's true,but tell your h!

i too have been wondering about the sickyness. Ds is sick often, mostly a couple of tablespoons worth of curdley stuff, if he's been feeding loads then its often watery, and then occasionally (usually when a bit under the weather) its huge pouring amounts- like today in fact! He seems quite happy about it. Ds1 when asked about his brother ALWAYS says 'he's called Alfie and he's sick' so its obviously pretty bad. Dont particularly feel the need to do anything about it, his growth has been good, following 40th centile pretty much exactly since a few wks old.

He's been sleeping pretty well recently but i am expecting a bad night tonight as he literally fed and slept all afternoon, both of which but especially the sleeping part is unlike him. perhaps i should go to bed now but the wine is too nice

Well I'm glad c's not the only 1. V funny re Alfie's brother's comment.

This afternoon seemed to be clearing poo, wee and sick up left right and centre.

Hope tonight better than last - she woke about 3x before 10, woke around midnight, then at 4 thought it was morning, gurgling and kicking happily for an hour- she's never done that before- she'sbeen awake ages before but usually miserable or just not settled, never acting like it was time to get up... hope that's not going to be a regular thing! She then slept peacefully til 8.30, while I had to wake at 7ish for dd1. Hmm

sorry for any dodgy typing, keys are a bit sticky (possibly due to c's vomit actually) and if that not bad enough, the computer must have some virus as it keeps trying to block everything I do

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a sicky baby too! Ds is perfectly happy to lie down, but I remember that feeling from being pregnant of lying down and feeling the stomach acid rise up into my throat, so I really sympathise with babies who have painful reflux. Interesting that others bring up water, I'd not seen that before. I'm sure they'll all grow out of it!
Dd was gorgeous the other day when another child gave ds a cuddle and she practically snatched ds into a bear hug as if to say 'MY baby brother'. I was so happy

i was thinking the watery stuff is just undigested breastmilk cos it does have a white ish ness to it???

Starlight, don't you worry, Diego is 17 weeks today and he's not had his second round of jabs yet. They are due tomorrow, but I wonder if they will go ahead given than he's exposed to chicken pox virus... Mind you, he's not developed the disease so far, so maybe he's receiving enough immunity through my milk. How clever nature is.

Most of the babies at my NCT group have a musling permanently draped over their clothes to catch the perpetual possetting. It was something of a revelation to me, as T has possetted perhaps 3 times in his life, and vomited twice ever. He doesn't like to waste good milk!

Starlight I carefully write things like jabs in my filofax, but I look at the damn thing so rarely I'll probably miss T's jabs too!

Urgh, we have had another evening of T getting overtired. He obviously needs to sleep (briefly nodded off in his bouncy chair, and was generally tired and grizzly), but he can't seem to sleep in the evening. It's so frustrating! He eventually nods off in the pram, but sooner or later he's going to have to go into his cot every night instead of one night in five.
Carribo and other people with predictable routines, are your babies still having afternoon naps? T still seems to very much need his, but I don't know whether I should let him have longer (currently wake him up in an effort to stop him sleeping till 6pm and then being up till midnight!) or try to shorten/eliminate it and get him to bed earlier. Arghhhhh. It's so frustrating, he's so easy in most ways, it's just this one thing that I can't work out how to improve. I feel I'm missing either a tired or a play time cue, and therefore cocking up his chances of a good evening's sleep.

Hello all, haven't posted for ages, but tonight DD is amazingly asleep in her cot (as opposed to on me on the sofa) so we are actually having an adult evening. So here I am on MN.

I came running back to this thread tonight as earlier today I thought, gee, I must do some research about this weaning thing as I am floating along thinking I don't need to know anything about it until DD is 6 months old. But she's 5 months in just over a week, and I know nothing, e.g. do I have to buy a high chair soon? exactly how do I do this baby led thingy? etc. So I had a look at a weaning thread (thinking, I can't ask ALL my questions on this thread) but the tone on the other thread was quite horrid, with lots of arguing and criticising.
Didn't like it. I feel safe here. Scared everywhere else.

So if you don't mind...

1. do I need to buy a high chair?
2. what are the important things to know / critical dos and don'ts? I am assuming that from 6 months I'll just start handing DD bits of soft food to play with / shove in her mouth / etc?
3. what's a good book? I read that the BLW book itself explains why it is the right thing to do, but doesn't really tell you what / how to feed.

Starlight etc... I am really embarrassed and sorry to say that I can't agree with the general view of "hottie" guy in the sling video. Oh, I agree the baby is SO cute, but the guy looks about 12 years old!! It would be like having a crush on my nephew. Am I really so old compared to the rest of you?

Wishing everyone good sleeps tonight, especially those who really need it.

Oh, and I should clarify that I am in no rush to start weaning. I just want to be prepared for what I need to know when the time comes. Kind of a "plan ahead to take it as it comes" approach, iykwim.

Ponymum I thought the sling man looked a bit adolescent too, and I'm only 26!

Starlight somehow I never saw you as someone with one of those Organised Mum diaries.

I was thinking about weaning last night (as in, I was thinking about the subject of weaning, not I was planning to wean Teddy any time soon), and I was wondering why so many people are in such a hurry to wean. So many mothers/HVs etc I meet are desperate to start weaning early, like you get some kind of a prize the earlier you start. MN kind of made me think that everyone is happy to wait till 6 months, but actually MNers are kind of in the minority in actually following govt guidelines occasionally! Although I am a geek who is looking forward to making baby food, even I can see that weaning is going to add a whole new level of complication to things like going out for the day, and I can't see why anyone would be in any rush to do it before the baby is asking for it. Clearly I'm missing something.

In other news, I have become a little too domesticated. I made 3 dozen butternut squash muffins last night (v nice actually, bit like carrot cake). I'm thinking about taking some to NCT group, as I have no idea what to do with them all!

carriBo splish and plusonemore my ds2 is exactly the same, he spends most of the time between feeds sputtering back up bits of milk and his also sometimes looks like water and sometimes is phlemy. I go through 3 or 4 muslins a day. He's not bothered by it usually- the occasional one that smells more sicky he might moan about- so I don't think it's a problem either. And it doesn't make him want to feed more often either so he must be keeping enough down. His fat legs are a good sign too I think!

Hopefully What sort of time in the afternoon is T sleeping? I've been experimenting with the long early aft sleep. Andrew goes down any time between 12.00 and 1.00 usually and usually wakes by 3pm. He has also been having a 30 min nap from around 5ish but he's getting close to not really needing that and if he sleeps past about 5.15 he won't want to go to sleep at 7.45/8ish when I'd like him to. I haven't decided yet if its better to wake him at 2.30ish so he will have a tea time nap or to leave him as long as he wants (3.30 the latest so far) and then see if he'll last without the teatime nap- which he did but it was hard work keeping him entertained. My nearly 3 year old still has between 2 and 3 hours sleep after lunch so some children do keep that sleep for a long time.

oh and hopefully will the muffins keep till Tuesday? Bring them to Basingstoke for me

Sigh...well, poor Toby still cant sleep lying down due to his congestion

Ds1 said I was a "bad mummy" yesterday because I dont give him any attention anymore. I ashamed to say I actually cried after he left for school Am so tired. Feel sick too.

Really hope this bout of illness doesnt wreck tobys sleep pattern and ability to go down in his cot (which he had been prior to this cold/cough virus)

Luckily PIL are doing the school run today for me so I dont have to take Toby out in the pouring rain.

So very fed up.....

Starlight don't laugh, but I have spent literally the past 3 weeks debating whether to get a red, blue, white or whitewash tripp trapp!

Debi some of the muffins are in the freezer, so I'll bring some on tuesday if you promise to be nice to me and not laugh at the fact that I've arrived late/early/with no shoes on/with a baby in a dirty nappy.
T sleeps from about 12:30 till about 2-2:30. I too have been debating trying to encourage a longer lunchtime nap and attempting to get through without the afternoon one. I suppose the only way to find out is to try, but I'm so scared of disrupting his relatively good night time sleep!

soooooooooo wish i'd bought a tripp trapp, nearly did but then thought i needed one that reclines so ds could sleep in there too....HE NEVER DID

what do you reckon to this instead?

hopefully not just you, I'm so tempted by a Tripp Trapp! There's a red one on Ebay round the corner from me, but not sure I can justify the cost atm. I checked and new TTs with baby-restraint and cushion are £150, or £125 without cushion. Ebay ones are only £30 less.

Or I could get a East Coast one (£70, nice wood), or £20 at Ikea... but that means going to Ikea, fate worse than death!!!

Actually what I'll probably do is get up horribly early and go to the NCT sale next week - but the Ebay TT auction has one day left, starting price £90... choices choices...

A had his 4-month jabs this morning and was lovely. Gave him Calpol during a screamy nappy change just before (he enjoyed sucking the spoon), and fed him immediately, and no problems. And I got the MMR.

I have various pieces of old sheet and nightshirt to use as muslins. They work as giant handkerchiefs when I have a cold, too!

Morning all, just back from weaning workshop! It was very useful and interesting (things have changed since having DS and forgotten all anyway!). HVs seem to be very much into BLW (one has a 2yo DD BLW), and it's definetly what I'll be doing this time, so less cooking etc, especially as I have a lot less time, no sterilising, not need to boil water, etc. M's already sitting up (with just a little help) and puts everything in her mouth, so that won't be a problem. M's 22wks this Firday !!!

hopefully those muffins sound yummy....

becaroo I got a lot of that from DS, but mainly in the first few weeks (when I was at my lowest already) and it was terrible, especially hearing him telling DP I didn't love him anymore . So I made sure that I did the bedtime story every night for a while, and things definetly improved. I also tell him to "babysit" and pretend not to be checking on him, and he loves that too. (now he just doesn't like mumy or daddy because he can't be a good boy all the time )

or this one