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

Hmm... I started to write a post at about 8pm stating that T had gone down incredibly easily and how pleased I was. He, of course, got straight up again, and only went down properly about 15 minutes ago. If he gets me up at the usual time of 11:30 for a feed, there's going to be some rude words, I tell you.

Thanks for the reassurance re: weaning. I'm thinking once he's 6 months (next week) I don't mind helping him with the odd bit of food (i.e. holding it up so he sees it and grabs it), but until then I don't want to assist in case I 'help' him choke on something!

I love Heston too - DP and I were aboutto book a meal at the fat duck when I found out I was pregnant, but since I couldn't then have half the stuff on the menu we decided to give it a miss. We ended up going to Claridges for our annual posh 'thing' (last year was theatre and hotel) this year, want to go to Fat duck next year (assuming we haven't successfully TTC again)

digital ponymum and hopefully When I was pregnant with DS 'Heston' was on my short list of boys names.ex-p point blank refused to let me call him it, then bought me HB's cookery book for xmas to make up for it a little bit.

fingers cross Hopefully that he will sleep longer than usual.

Is any lo learning to talk now as my dd2 is 6 m on 21st and since Sunday she had been ner ner ner and Da-Da....

Heston admirers... I am fascinated by his dedication, but think it's maybe going a bit far. It is food after all. My current gastro-crush is Andrew Pern of The Star at Harome. See his gorgeous new book, Black Pudding and Foie Gras. Bad, bad, bad food! (But oh so good... droooool.....). With that sort of stuff on the menu, can you imagine the pain of going there while pregnant?

biglips DD chatters away all the time, but its all nonsense, just coo coo ah ba goo sort of thing. But we are convinced she knows "hello" as she sees us and says ah-wo or ha-oh. Sounds so much like hello sometimes!

Sorry about the job DG. These are tough times and many companies are actually re-employing their own staff but into different roles if the can. They have to advertise the posts legally though.

Hi Potxola Lovely to hear from you. Congratulations on your sleeping baby

Have a confession to make. Baby Starlight hasn't yet had anything other than milk. I'm just too frightened to start the food thing. Not because of choking, but because I'm a lazy mare and have a nice life without the hassle!

Har har - love the porridge idea DG. Not sure if I can be arsed pan frying porridge is for us though as C is still a milk fiend too.

Tried c with yogurt on ricecakes today - went well and all over the place! She ate sucked Yo valley plain organic yogurt too - DP said it would be too sour for her - ha! I did help a little but just so she could get stuff in her hand.
Having lunch soon and am having salad. Think I'll try her on cucumber, tomato and a little hard cheese. I quite like this now!

Deb I feel for you re waterbabies - sounds like C. Try her in your local pool, C loves that and you can do it at your pace. Don't be put off that all the other babies at wb class are 'doing it', not all babies are suited to it, whatever they say (they told me all babies were and I should persevere with next term. Wonder why.....(£££))

Grr, what an irritating 24 hours. My mum was visiting and as yesterday was her last night here, DH and I went out for a meal once LO was asleep.
As we walked home I started to feel ill, spent a few hours being sick and stuck on the toilet then had a terrible stomach achey night.
Mum said she'd stay longer but I felt better by this morning, so she left for Leeds and I thought I'd just carry on as normal. I went to put some stuff in the compost bin, felt a bit wobbly, and fell over backwards into our most thorny rose bush, ripped my jeans, my t shirt, AND half my leg and my side- bloody well ouch!

Ooh. Actually, I'm going to be visiting Leeds probably towards the end of April - would any Yorkshire ladies like to meet up for a coffee one day? There are some Yorkshire people here aren't there?

I hope you're feeling better Jenbot, it doesn't rain but it pours huh?!

porridge cakes - apparantly if you make porridge then put a dollop on a plate into the microwave they turn into cake type things. I haven't tried this, but apparantly it does work.

We've only been weaning properly this week and I can't believe how quickly M has taken to it. We now have brown poo!

Yes yes yes jenbot I'm in York and ponymum and mamamuffin are nearby. I'd love to meet you in Leeds, or York!

Talking of meetups, I have a definite date for CROYDON which is...Wednesday 13th May. Sorry this is me dictating the date, but I'm only down for three days ostensibly to see a friend who is about to move abroad, so I need to see you guys when she's not free! Really hope some of you can make it. My mum tells me the old Water Palace on Purley Way is now a soft play...idea for a location? Or the huge starbucks on the A23 . I'm excited already!

I'm babysitting for friends tonight as the dh has cut his head open so is being taken to casualty. At least they have internet and bt vision, so I won't be bored. Missing my dh and our bottle of Baileys though.

HiStarlight-SnowlightMckenzie I love your nicknames It is lovely to "talk" to you again,... you got me in the thread.
I know what you mean about the cooking hassle

I started Lorea on solids 2 weeks before she was 6 months and now she eats 3 times a day.
So far she loves everything, she is like her mum, she loves eating. I just hope she can control it when older, otherwise she could use my size 18 weddding dress....

I started on baby rice, then sweet potato, carots, pumpkin, then mixing any of those together and rice.
I puree fruit and veg and add it to rice or veg
One thing I have tried this time and highly recommend is a microwave steamer, it costs £3.99 and in 4 min you can steam veg or fruit in small or big quantities.

I just hate cooking with boiling water, because I usually carry her and it is dangerous. With the steamer it is very fast and let's face it with 2 kids us mums don't have much time to ccok.

I have also given her puree chicken with baby rice and she also likes Petit filous.

She still BF, but not as much.

I was looking today at the Annabel Carmel book for meals and ..... I never had the time the first time around with my son and I won't have it now..... I mean...Give me a pressure cooker any time.

Hi again.
I was just reading past posts Sassafrassy well done for the BF support
Is Jearund still around?

Potxola, I love the sound of that steamer. Whereabouts do you get one?

Katie is getting slightly better at sleeping and we've moved dinnertime to an earlier time so that she can eat with us. She is particularly keen on looking at her big sister while eating. She had mashed potato and sausages today which was quite popular but we did have mash everywhere =)

Carriebo thanks for the honey advice. Don't worry about the pan-burning, i burnt three pans in a row whilst steaming veg's for tea. Completely ruined one and now dp and dd keep telling me not to burn the water.

Thanks for the pushing vibes, my cousin gave birth this morning to a lovely little boy 7lbs4oz. Feeling quite jealous at the thought of a tiny, tiny baby and of starting all over again.
Calm down dear no more babies for me. Weird how you can get broody so quick.

Heston god how scruumy is he, and he can cook, pity he is married. I'd love to see how he would wean a baby. I don't think snail porrige is appropriate and could you imagine the HV's face when you told her.

Am thinking of getting a meitai, can anyone remember the website where you could design your own? Am thinking Starlight might have shown us.

Oh and Leeds meet-up, yes it's only an hour from me, maybe less on the train. Let me know what you decide

Yes, I'd be up for a meet up in York or Leeds.

Burning pots - well I am supposed to be a kitchen queen but last week I burned my big le Creuset (and they are nearly impossible to burn). It will never be the same again. I was trying to make stock from some bones I'd been stockpiling for ages in the freezer, but got stuck BF and... (But how sad am I? I was nearly as upset about all the bones going to waste. )

Weaning - I am on day 4. Don't know if I mentioned the vomitting on day 2 or not. Seems to be gone, and I'm not sure if that was anything to do with it, or a residue from the virus thing she had last week. Anyway, I gave up on the baby rice because of the expressing problems. Carrot seems to make her happy, so I'll stick with that for a few days.

Questions:

1. What time of day does everyone feed? I am trying one food feed a day, and was doing it at night. But my sister said no, do it earlier in the day at first so you can watch them for any reaction to new foods. Any opinions? I am trying lunch time now.
2. DD loves the Tommee tippee cup (I don't put much water in it so don't think she's actually got any out yet). But she is always dropping it on the floor. How do I stop this? I can't have a row of 10 freshly cleaned cups waiting to replace it each time she drops it, can I?

ponymum I weaned DS at the lunchtime feed but have just done DD at the tea time feed as it was too much of a faff to do her in the middle of the day. She got caked in food too, so I could bathe her afterwards.

If I drop one of DD's cups, spoons on the floor I still use it , I would never have been that daring with DS. I figured that as she chews\licks all the toys on the floor and meets lots of toddlers then her immune system is probably quite robust. I am an obsessive bottle steriliser\formula maker though.

Dropped cups/toys/whatever still get used in this household too!

I give food in the middle of the day, but I don't particularly think there's any reason not to do so in the evening - an allergic reaction would be very quick, so can't see how you could miss anything.

Back from my mum's this afternoon. T was in a different room there, and the sleeping was definitely better. He is in our room tonight and has already needed resettling 4 times! When my mother goes home tomorrow (she brought us back today) he'll be going into his own room permanently!

T didn't have any food today or yesterday, but I'll pick up again tomorrow now we're home - so much easier with a high chair (holding him and trying to let him grab stuff was a complete pain) and without my mother panicking on the sidelines and declaring I'm killing him.

I don't know anywhere to go in Leeds these days so someone else will have to suggest a place. We could have lunch even?

York is harder for me as I don't drive, but doable if it is better for others.

I'll be about from the 20th April and don't have anything else set yet so any day that week would be OK for me!

Hello all, great to hear of all the weaning progress (including brown poos!). Starlight, I'm a little bit in your boat, not wanting to get started because it's just so easy to breast feed! I've only got two more weeks to go, so I better start getting my act together. I have ordered the BLW book, and the Gina Ford book of the contented and weaned baby, or whatever its called. I am hoping to read both and find a happy medium (says she, in a bout of wishful thinking).

Digitalgirl, sorry to hear about the job. It is clearly their loss. Hopefully you'll find a good arrangement with your current employer.

Potxola Kaixo to you too! Lorea sounds all grown up! Did you get her Spanish passport ok?

I have been settling Diego to sleep when he wakes up to space feeds longer. Today we had a great night by recent standards: bed at 7:30, settle at 9 and 10, feed at ten to one, then at 5:30, up at 8:30. I feel strangely human!

I don't know leeds at all well. Lunch sounds fine, although somewhere child friendly please, I'll have dd in tow!
ponymum we must have that wednesday lunch date in York soon!
Ds is still a fan of liquid lunches, but taking lots of breakfast and dinner. Avocado puree was a big hit! I need to buy a new hand blender today, mine was struggling with brocolli. It did used to belong to my gran who died 6 years ago, and goodness knows how long she had it. I think it might even have been free with Damart or similar, so I feel happy to send it to the great blender retirement home.
Dropped cups def get reused here!
Gina recommends introducing new things at lunchtime, then when you know they're ok, moving them to tea, and introducing the next new thing at lunch. I find that ds is too tired for lunch though, so we're not really sticking to that, but then he's been on purees for several weeks now.

I think the logic for introducing new things at lunchtime is that they can be harder to digest the first few times so it gives them time to go down properly before nighttime. But I think that that's only really relevant before 6 months when their digestive systems aren't as good.

DS23 still isn't right. I don't know whats up with him. He's still got the runs, has pooed 5 times today although 3 of those were pretty small. I'm still offering him food at lunch and tea but he isn't overly interested. Yesterday lunchtime he wouldn't take anything except purees so I tried to give him purees at teatime but wasn't interested. he did eat some of our sausage and mash though and a couple of carrot sticks (lets not think about what the ingredients of the sausages were!)
He's waking more than usual during the night and I'm offereing him milk in case he's a bit thirsty and dehydrated but he's not having much so now of course I'm thinking are getting in a bad habit that when he's better will be hard to stop.
I don't know if its his tummy or his teeth or both that are making him grumpy and pooey and tired. Cant see any sign of teeth but I'm fairly sure they are bothering him.

Welcome back potoxla was thinking about you the other day and wondering if you were ok, was also wondering about eandz and foxy as they've not been here for ages.

A friend of ours had a baby boy last night that was 9 weeks early and just 2lb 14oz. he's breathing on his own but thats all the details we have, hope he's ok.

oops, don't have 23 sons!

13 May in Croydon fine by me carriebo, so long as it's somewhere near public transport.

A was 6 months yesterday and had been enjoying playing with bits of food, so I started proper weaning - he had 2 tblsps baby rice at 11, after a feed. Seemed to like it but started pretty full. Loads came out later so it must have gone in!
Got him weighed - HV looked at his chart and laughed as you'd swear it was faked - he's been exactly on the 50% except for losing the average amount when bf was getting going. Plotted new weight and he's still bang on 50%! As she's the sane HV we discussed weaning - she seemed a bit surprised he was still feeding 6-7x a day but said if he's often sleeping through then obviously don't mess with it! So plan is to give food at 11am and 5pm, and then offer breast after, and introduce 3rd meal once he's given up a bf.

But then yesterday pm he refused to feed - screaming and getting settled but screaming again anywhere near the breast. Finally got him to nap and then a snack. Then dinner - sweet potato mashed with fork. got new spoons with soft ends, as toddler spoon too big.

This was a great hit - got one glob in, and then he wanted to feed himself. But bit frustrated at speed of that, so we both worked on putting food in his mouth, with spoon and fingers. He wolfed the lot, and then sucked on his spoon like no tomorrow and clearly wanted more, so I gave him - he must have eaten half a sweet potato! Also some Greek yoghurt went down. He wasn't interested in bf then so we went for a bath!

But then he acted hungry at 8pm as usual, but screamed near the breast. In the end we gave him some ebm, and he went to sleep fine. Woke round 11, and same again - resorted to formula. Quite upsetting. Most relieved when he woke at 5 and had a bf as usual. Then he slept until 10am - I was going to give baby rice only MrNC had drunk all the whole milk, so did bf. And now at 1.30 he seemed hungry, but again screamed at the breast - we've managed to calm him but not got any nosh into him. So I expressed and now the pump motor's burnt out...

Capricious wee beastie, that baby...

Pacita Yes we did the passport with the photo the way you told me to do it through that web, but, and this is where there is lots of explaining to do...., I haven't taken Lorea to visit our country yet.

DebitheScott Thanks, I feel great being back in touch with you
Sassafrassy I bought it in a shop called The range. I am looking for a web that sells it for you.

Debs75 Hi, I (I haven't changed. I just love slings. I have a bit of an obsession, I have purchased 12 so far and sold 6 of them.Lorea used to have her naps on them, now I don't use them as much, because she sleeps in her cot, but I have tried lots.
The latest I bought are 2 Mei-tais :
A black Napsack ( I bought it ex-display £15.00 cheaper}
AND a denim Maya Tie I got yesterday(on offer at the moment down from £ 52.00 to £35.00) which I love.

I like both, but I prefer the Maya tie, because it has wrap style straps and it is better for your back.
www.littlepossums.co.uk/offers.htm
They only have the medium size, which is ok if you are size 18 or less.
Lorea is almost 8 kg now and I can only carry her now in woven wraps and mei-tais.

Sassafrassy Are you still using your Gypsymamas* I am keeping them for the summer. I used the purple you one so much that I don't want to give it away, maybe she will use it on the beach as a sarong when she is older

Today I made a stew with sweet potato, onion, cod peas and cous cous. She loved it aand her brother ate it too. It took 15 min to cook in the pressure cooker. It felt great to feed them the same.
I will put a photo of Lorea in my profile now.

I am still reading your post for the last 3 months!!!!!!!!!!