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

hopefully you will sleep again and so will I...... I'm just not sure when.

I'm weighing up the pros and cons of trying to sleep in the day vs doing anything this week.

Oh god, T has barely slept all night (it feels like, don't even know how many times he was up), and now will only stay asleep in the pram with me rocking it constantly, so no chance of a catch up nap. I can't believe I'm still in this stage and he's nearly 6 months, it's so phenomenally depressing when we have days/nights like this.

I think it all (as always) comes down to his gut - he hasn't had a poo for about 4 days, so we're really at peak discomfort time. I think I'm going to have to go back to the doctor's about it this week, as it's making our life a misery every 3-4 days without fail. I don't know whether I should wean him (nearly 24 weeks), get him on something like lactulose or what. He's hardly having any formula, in an attempt to ease it, but he's still insanely constipated (doing rabbit droppings when he does go, not just going a long time between poos). Gaaaaah.

Sorry to hear that hopefully. Are you drinking prune juice etc? (Does that make a difference?)

Advice please ladies.... should I introduce a dummy? M is still awake up to 6 or 7 times in the night. She usually settles easily with a feed but last night was taking a bit longer and waking up 20 mins later etc.

I've just put her down for a nap as she was obviously tired but unusually today fighting it (I usually put her down and she goes to sleep with hardly a murmur). She had her toother and was trying to suck it so I thougt about the dummy I'd bought to try her with (and to demonstate to DH that she wouldn't take one as I'm really not a fan). Lo and behold it settled her and she went to sleep.

I'm wondering whether to try it at night to try and get rid of the feeding dependency - but would I just replace it with a dummy dependency? Would I then beable to remove the dummy?

Votes please.

Thanks

I just had a shower, went to put my jeans on, and realised that somewhere inbetween comforting T and finding a clean nursing bra, I'd put on 2 pairs of knickers

better than none

plusonemore You've done fantastically. Well done. You can probably have whatever balance you like now wrt ff/bf. With DS at 7 months I was on 2 a day and managed that until 15 months. If you feel your supply is dwindling you could always up it a bit if you wanted to continue.

Ninja IMO the older our babies get the greater the difference between wants and needs. I wouldn't sleep train at 6 months, but that isn't just because I don't like the idea for Baby Starlight, it is because a)I'm not very good at being consistent and bedtime is different every night, b)I don't mind feeding in the night and c)Baby Starlight appears to be through the 4-5 month hell and is waking between 1 and no times a night (between 11pm-7am).

I don't like the idea very much for younger babies, but I think we are all negotiating with our babies to some extent now.

plusone The emptier your breast feels, the higher the fat content, the fuller, the higher the water content that's all. It isn't broken. Yes give it (fgs don't waste an opportunity to go out), but baby might be hungry again sooner that's all.

Hopefully When you offer solids you will need to offer water too (pref in a non-valve cup). Squeezing some orange juice directly from the orange (a teaspoon no more) can really help with constipation. You CAN add it to formula too, but I can't imagine what that would taste like. This is usually very good for constipation.

hopefully You had a shower and got dressed? That's a big achievement in this house. Quantity of knickers irrelevant.

ninja I vote for the dummy. It works for us - at night when she is unsettled or starts to cry, and I know it's not feed time, just pop it in and she instantly calms and sleeps. But then, I have no experience of getting them to stop the dummy when they are older... maybe it's hell?

DD's cold is awful atm. She needs lots of cuddles and feeding (not much sleep for me last night as I just cuddled her rather than listen to her cough and cry). And since I was awake I spent my time worrying about my work meeting tomorrow about the redundancy. Was I worried about focusing on fighting for my rights? No, I was worried about leaving DD for 4 hours when she is sick. What if I can't express enough milk today? What if she won't take the bottle? What if my breasts leak in the meeting? Why are the bastards putting me in the position where I have to attend meetings under these circumstances?

Deep breath... calm... think happy thoughts.

Ponymum Can you take her? Get someone to hold her outside of the meeting if you're not brave enough to feed through it?

I'm very sorry you're in this situation

hopefully Oh dear...poor you My ds1 was like this and it is AWFUL. I really sympathise. With ds1 I think a lot of it was down to him being very hungry but unable to suck effectively/constantly ill with viruses for months on end, oh, and then teething. No advice, just wanted you to know its not just you and that you are doing an amazing job

ninja re: dummies. My ds1 had one (on the advice of a paed to help him learn to suck) and it was a godsend! Would not/could not settle without it. Wasnt a major issue giving it up either - wish we had done it before we did. Babies have a physiological need to suck - whether it be on a breast, bottle, finger or dummy. Ds2 is a thmb sucker. I vote yes

Dreading meeting this afternoon - feel sick already.......

snow Is that right about introducing water after introducing solids?? I have not been - and his ff have gone down to 5 x 7oz but one of those is a dreamfeed. I have got a cup. Do you still need to use cooled boiled water til they are 26 weeks??

Does anyone know how much formula (or bm for that matter) babies need at 5 months if they are being weaned too??? My baby book says 5 x bottles of 8oz = 40 oz per day, but there is NO WAY Toby will drink that amount now - perhaps before he was weaned and on 6/7 bottle per day.

Am a bit worried he is not getting enough

becaroo Yes. Well, if you don't then the baby will be thirsty and drink more milk which will fill them up and then they won't want to eat iyswim.

It isn't harmful not to unless you are deliberately denying ff then they could be at risk of not getting enough fluids.

Also, it depends what you are feeding, i.e. if pureed apple has more fluids than bread. It is just sensible to 'offer' water.

With DS, the HV advised giving cooled boiled water until a year. However I researched the subject and concluded that there was no harm in giving water out of the tap (can't remember references sorry), so surprise surprise I chose the easiest way. Having said that, I think I started with cooled boiled water until 6 months.

And bec What reason do you have for dreading the meeting? Do you feel you will be challenged, or are you worried about criticising the teachers?

Teachers CAN be defensive about their teaching, but generally they are not. The whole world criticises them so they probably won't even notice. Mostly, they appreciate parents that are trying to be involved in the education of their children. Good luck!

I dont want to appear over critical as I feel the school are doing what they can. I feel some of the problem may be dowm to me as I may have been helping him too much with his weekly homework and therefore the school has not "flagged up" his problems when marking it.

Also, I feel I may get a bit upset and I HATE crying in public! Much rather sit on the sofa with aome malteesers and cry alone thank you very much!

I think I have read somewhere that the "guidelines" now say its ok to give tapwater from 6 months - which is only 4 wweks away - so will do that. Thanks!

Happy birthday me! Having a brilliant day (well apart from ds wishing my boobs a very happy birthday at 3am) as dh has excelled himself and got us a photo shoot at venture (no one, I repeat no one is to tell him there are much cheaper places out there!), I've got lots of chocs, lots of fat face vouchers for shopping happiness, and I'm going shopping for a new camera with my dad this afternoon. Yay! We spent this morning at a farm shop where dd played on the baby tractors, I had a fried breakfast in bed and we're going to a restaurant tonight. And my mum just did the washing up. I tell you days really don't get any better than this. Although its now only 365 days till I'm 30. Gulp. Also dh took some pics of the kids holding signs saying 'I love mummy' and printed them out in miniature so they fit in my wallet. The marriage enrichment course we've been on has paid for itself already!!!

However on far more important matters ninja we gave dd a dummy at night to settle her which was amazing at the time, but we ended up getting up a million times a night to put it back in. We did sleep training with her at 5 months, and again at 9 months (she got dummy addicted again on a trip abroad). So in our experience, worth it at the time, but a lot of tears involved getting it off her, but then if she'd slept well and not woken for the dummy we wouldn't have had to do sleep training. HTH

I haven't been offering water with food because either he's just had a bf or is going to have one pretty soon after the food and as he is uninterested in my milk as it is, I don't want him to have less. When having purees he normally just has fruit or veg on its own but if he's not had much milk that day I add babyrice with milk to the food at teatime.

If I was going to change a feed to a ff can I give it from a cup instead of a bottle?

CarrieBo your husband is amazing. His valentines presents and treasure hunt and his birthday treats and present are all so amazing and thoughtful.
Happy Birthday.

My dh is 29 in a couple of weeks (I'm 28 next month and already worrying about getting near 30 so I know how you feel), maybe I should get him a marriage enrichment course for his birthday so that he gives me a birthday like yours

Hello everyone, I am just checking in, I see we have lots of teeth and weaning going on!

George has cut his 1st tooth, i noticed it this morning! These babies are growing so fast, I didn't notice it as much with my other two, maybe as George is the last one I am hoping he will stay a baby IYKWIM!!!

He can roll from back to front, and on Sat rolled back again 3 times but hasn't done it since!

We are going away on a Sun hol in 3 weeks, when he hits the magic 26 weeks, I'm looking forward to being able to give him things we are eating at the table!
He is having a little puree everyday now, and seems to like it, we are on one feed a night now too, so its all coming together!

I still have to get out of bed through the night though to put his dummy back in, I am tempted to try and take it away now, but don't want to distress him too much!!

starlight you weren't meant to read that!! . I'm probably not hard consistent enough but we'll see

Happy Birthday Carrie sounds like a good day. I have to say though that 30 is a very young age - I'll be 40 next year!!

starlight I wasn't thinking of anything drastic, just persuading her that she doesn't want ta feed quite so often (30 mins after the previous one is a bit ridiculous)

Wow, a first tooth!!
And ladies please...30..old??! I'm 37 this month, though still feel 17 in my head. I loved my early 30s. Being in your 20s is so last year .

Hopefully and ninja I am so sorry you are having bad sleeping. Can't say anything except keep telling yourself you are doing the best you can and sleep is more important than housework/cooking etc - get DH to cook/buy takeaways. It will end.

My question for the day - DP and I disagree about giving biscuits to C when we start weaning in 2 weeks. He thinks the ultra-organic, flavoured with pear juice, no added sugar etc are OK. I've read the ingredients. There is nothing in them I wouldn't want her to eat. However, my instinct tells me that she doesn't even need to be aware of the concept of biscuits until she's older and I'd prefer to not give them to her until she's one. Am I being anal mum or is my thinking logical??

imoscarsmum I agree with you. Not because I'm a lental weaver - I'm not at all, but because preventing the knowledge of them prefents the demands of them which prevents the having to say no, and therefore prevents the tantrums (using this argument implies that your DH is happy for her to be upset - he he). They might be organic and of natural sugars, but these companies have done their research, - they clearly aim for a product that children will demand more of.

Also, if she is clearly enjoying brocolli, why tempt her away with sugary alternatives.

Finally, when you hit the mummy circuit, toddler groups and other peoples houses are 'littered' with biscuits and cakes etc. and if you want to enjoy a carefree cup of tea your lo will be picking up from the floor and eating other kiddies cakes whilst you have a natter. There is plenty of time.

imoscarsmum and snowlight I couldn't agree more. We never gave dd biscuits, cheese, yoghurt, cake and drinks other than milk or water until she discovered them herself when it was out of our control. She is mad for those organic biscuits though. However she still only knows about white chocolate, and we didn't teach her the word for it until recently (she's 2 next month!!) . The cheese and yoghurt thing is coz I know so many kids who are addicted to them, so I made sure she had a really varied diet before those thigns came on the scene.

Anyway, off out to Loch Fyne for dinner now

OMG Imoscarsmum does that mean I'm out of fashion?! I'm only 26!
Agree with what others have said re biscuits.

Happy birthday Carriebo!

Have finally given in and started a course of suppositories with T to try to temporarily improve the gut - hoping it will get us through to 25 weeks (next week) and then he can have some fruit or something a week early.

Bloody hell, that was quick! He's currently feeding and pooing non stop. Feel awful for forcing the issue, but he seems supremely unconcerned.

Thanks Imoscarsmum most of the time I don't mind - I get the odd tired and teary moment but then who doesn't??

As for dh cooking tea 1) he's never back in time and 2) there's only so much frozen pizza I can take . Does your DH cook you gourmet meals?

I agree about biscuits - I think it's dangerous to make too many things forbidden once a child knows about them and can ask. However, why introduce them if you don't need to. I was planning to wean on savoury first this time (rather than fruit, sweet potato etc) but we'll see how long I can stick to that.

I agree that early 30's are the best. Saying that I was child free and had some money then so .....