Sept 08: We'll soon be weaning, and of a full nights sleep we're dreaming ......

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Hello ladies.

Pull up a chair, grab a biscuit and lets start talking about puree vs blw and sleep deprivation

xposted. That's really interesting carriebo I'm hoping once A has learnt to roll that he'll start developing the co-ordination to do other stuff on the floor. What's the wriggly reflex?

starlight I must admit I initially misread that and thought your friend's dd was reading and writing by 7 monnths. My immediate thought was 'creepy, like Stewie in Family Guy' I'm sure her mother is very proud though.

Lots of babies don't crawl and are just fine - eg ones who learn to walk early. A few may not crawl because of crap coordination (me, for example) but still unlikely to be an issue - I read at 2 and my writing wasn't unusually bad at school (bad for a girl but not overall).

A does breaststroke on his tummy which is very funny. A couple times he's been on his back, lifted his bum in the air and shuffled back a few inches. He rolls and rotates a bit - managed to turn off the TV recorder the other day when I put the baby gym too close...

becaroo I guess you need to decide what is more important. Sleep now with a possible (but not guaranteed) problem later, or probable sleep problems now with possible (but still not guaranteed) easy time later.

Personally I always go for what makes my life easy now and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

Perhaps have him in bed with you for a few nights to get him used to sleeping well and then move him further and further away until in his own place?

The alternative I suppose is having him in his own space and trying to get him used to that until he sleeps better!??

yeah, I'm probably worrying over nothing. He does shuffle forward on his face when trying to get comfy in the cot. Sooner or later he'll realise that there are easier ways to get around.

bec I find that A has 'good' nap days and 'bad' nap days. Sometimes he'll only snatch 20 minutes here and there and generally be grumpy most of the day. Othertimes he'll get 3 solid naps of at least 40 minutes to an hour or more. Perhaps tomorrow Toby will have a 'good' nap day.

I've heard that stuff before too about how you can end up with bad coordination if you don't crawl (fits with my younger brother), interesting that notcitrus you said you didn't crawl because of crap coordination, rather than the other way round. Maybe people who don't crawl are destined to have bad coordination anyway.

digi my ds1 loved to walk while we were holding his hands from a very young age and he still crawled and walked himself at a 'normal' age of just over 1. He only crawled for about a month though as he bum shuffled everywhere before that. I do remember being glad that he crawled even though it was just for a short while as I knew about the coordination stuff.

Well ds2 had apple last night with his babyrice which he's had a few times before and didn't want his late feed again so we're just not going to wake him up tonight. Of course what that means is he'll wake up screaming before the usual time and we won't have a bottle ready for him.

We had a great day out today (at Alice Holt park for those on here who are locals to me) with a friend from my work at a big country park with a picnic and ice cream. Spring is on its way!

snow yeah, I guess so...dh is good about going on the sofabed as is ds1 who just wants one of us - he is not bothered which!!!
Cant bear the thought of putting Toby in a room with ds1 yet though....we are planning on it when he is 6 months so only 5/6 weeks away.

sigh....cant help feeling its something I've done (or not done) that has provoked this change....perhaps it was all going a bit ^too well?

carriebo I LOVE swede but it can make you - ahem - a bit trumpy!

digital I missed crawling (cue my mother panicking at the hv's wondering what was wrong with me) then I walked at 11 months. And as you can see I can read and write .

hopefully so sorry to hear about your sickness bug, they are the worst when you are a mummy. I hope you are eating ok now.

I went to Wagamama with the DC's today, my sister came too, to minimise the carnage. DS was on good form and tried to use the baby chopsticks, he loved the 'noonoos' as he calls them. DD was not so impressed with the spinach puree, I gave her the squeezy 'Ellas kitchen' one. I had to make it up to her when we got home with a bit dollop of baby rice.

Last day of half-term so back to normal next week [sigh of relief emotion]

Saying that we went to a farm today and fed week old lambs and goats - very sweet.

I'd heard the link between not crawling and dyslexia but as someone said it's the chicken and egg scenario .....

My Niece never crawled and she's exceptionally bright

I seem to remember my mother saying I never crawled (although she also seems to think I was wandering round snacking on bacon sarnies at about 4 months, so perhaps should not be relied on), and I am, of course, a genius.

I nearly cried earlier at the prospect of putting T in a different room, despite the fact that in terms of actual distance it would be about 6 inches further away. We've decided we'll try him in our room tonight (in case it was bottom discomfort causing the problems) and set up the airbed in the spare room so we can take turns in there if he's a disaster. Also planning on making sure he's something approaching awake when he hits the cot, as recently he's been unconscious by the time I've got to the cot, and I'm positive that when he goes in awake he sleeps better in the night.

Thinking I might try tummy sleeping for his morning nap tomorrow if sleep is awful tonight.

LOL, after saying not crawling was rare, you all pop up and say you never crawled.

Oh well, - I obviously need to update my piss poor knowledge.

Hello everyone, starting to find it hard to keep up with all the talk =) Sorry to hear about redundancies. I'm halfheartedly looking for work, but can't say t hat I'm overly keen.

Spent an hour this afternoon making a cot bumper. Katie keeps moving to the edge of the cot, banging her head and getting her arm stuck outside the bars. So I've made a lovely cot bumper which hopefully will make things a bit comfier.

We're now on our 5th course of antibiotics for the infection on her ear which just keeps coming back.

Soooo, we have definitely reached the end of the road with the dreamfeed. Woke T for it last night and he was so furious he barely fed at all, just screamed at me. I couldn't figure iut what it was, assumed wind, was merrily burping him while he screeched. eventually i decided to jiggle him in the pram for 5 mins to calm him down (our guaranteed solve-all) and he fell asleep instantly!
Obviously he hadn't taken enough in, so woke twice anyway, so if that's going to happen i figure i may as well at least go to bed early and get a decent night's sleep first.
Other than that, he's not been tooooooo bad tonight, certainly fewer wakings than last night, but still about every 90 mins (I think, will check with dp when he gets up).

Oh blimey hopefully, I've just noticed the time of your post. DS dropped his dreamfeed a couple of weeks ago. I tried for about 7 nights on the trot before I finally gave in and didn't bother anymore. Maybe you could still dreamfeed him, but later. This is a pain, but it may help him sleep for longer in the wee hours of the morning?

So, M decided he was ready for food this morning. He grabbed dh's toast (with jam and butter) and shoved it in before either of us could stop him. He was very pleased with himself, but all I could think of was 'gluten, dairy, wheat, sugar arrrggghh'. He's 2 days shy of 24 weeks and I think he's telling us he's ready. I was amazed at how good he was at holding it and feeding himself - and yes we did scrape the jam off!

Post this morning was at silly o'clock because I came downstairs to feed him in the hope of waking him up enough to take a big enough feed to last till 7:30am (he made it to 7:05!)
He was actually only up 3 times between 11 and 7 (trust me, this is good for us at the moment). Once he needed resettling, the other two times were for feeds. Considering he barely fed at 10:30, I don't think that's too shabby.

Not bad at all Hopefully. I thought you meant he was up every 90 mins!

I'd assumed he was ILTMIMI, until I spoke to DP! Every 90 minutes would still have been an improvement on the previous night, but actually it was more like every 2.5 hours.

Ha ha ha, I know that feeling. You feel like you've only just got back to sleep but it's actually been a couple of hours!

hopefully we're having similar problems with the late feed (although A wasn't waking quite as often as T). After saying this last night: "Of course what that means is he'll wake up screaming before the usual time and we won't have a bottle ready for him" that was exactly what he did! Couldn't believe it! So rushed to make a bottle but he refused any of it. So I tried feeding him to get him to calm down a bit and he had what seemed like a decent sized feed. But then he woke at 2.30 and had another big feed and then was awake just after 6. I don't understand what's going wrong, why wouldn't he take the bottle? He has medium flow teats, wonder if he should be on fast flow. Although if that was the prob I'd expect him to at least try to drink some. He's also not settling himself as well as usual, his nighttime sleeping is worse than when he was a newborn at the moment.

Isn't one of the cues to start weaning doubling birthweight? If so Robyn has another 3lbs at least to go before she is ready. Probably another 2 months the way she is putting on weight.
Going to get her highchair next week and have bought some babyrice, spoons and stage one foods to try her with. Also going to try pureeing some veg when we have room in the freezer to put them.
She is still quite uncoordinated and often slaps herself in the face with her fists. On the plus side she managed to pick up one of her toys and shove it in her mouth.
I have to admit even tho she is my third i am a bit overawed by all this weaning, sometimes i feel like i am the newborn.

I think doubling the birthweight isn't seen as a sign of weaning anymore. No more tongue poke reflex, sitting up unaided, being able to hold food and bring it to their mouth are all signs of weaning. I'm sure there are more but my mind has gone blank

Debithescot - 6 month growth spurt? Or, to rule out being uncomfortable from solids. Don't give any solids after say 2pm?

I'm at my wits end already I'm trying to pick up put down technique as described in the BW book. its not going well
I cant co-sleep anymore, he's using me as a dummy every hour and while he remains asleep I'm woken up evey hour, and its telling in my mood, apperence, conversation, attention etc. I know it can take up to a week if not longer but I really have no alternative, I refuse to do the controlled crying. I just hope I'm doing it right. why didn't I try doing this when he was 3 months, he's nearly 6 so its going to take alot of doing.
I got to keep telling myself its not his fault, its mainly mine.

barnpot - it's nobody's fault. You do what you have to do at the time, but now that needs to change to something else. I've not tried pupd, Maybe someone will come along who can help. In the meantime {{{}}}, sleep 'training' can be so difficult.

Barnpot You could have tried it at 3 months, and it might have worked, but then things change and you'd probably be returning to square one again not so soon after.

I'm afraid I can't really help with the 'training' because I have never done it (except for the uncontrolled crying mentioned above), but if I were to choose a method I think it would be the No Cry Sleep Solution. However, that might be what you are doing for all I know.

All I would advise is to be gentle on yourself and your baby. What I mean is no deliberate stressed crying (as if you would) and no blaming yourself for any set backs. I'm not a big fan of BW tbh, but I would say the same of any parenting books. Your baby hasn't read it, and if they don't conform it is because the book is rubbish, not because you or your baby are.

Debs75 I forgot to say, my DS doubled his birthweight at 10 weeks so I don't think it is a sensible weaning sign.

Bloody hell BabyStarlight1. You must have been a very efficient feeder and your mum must have goldtop!!