August 2008: Six Month Milestones and More

[TwilightSurfer]

I'll second that ts
good night ladies

DS decided to have a complete meltdown in the taxi on the way back from my Mums group yesterday afternoon. The taxi driver had the cheek to ask why I didn't take him out of the car seat! Needless to say he got fairly short shrift from me. I pointed out that in most countries it is illegal to travel without a car seat and that given the standard of most Singaporean's driving that I wouldn't dare risk it and that he'd just have to put up with a screaming baby. Sam continued to scream for the remainder of the 20 minute taxi ride and there was no tip from me. They make me so

TS your post on food was interesting. Here you can even buy baby rice with ikan bilis in (kind of small dried fish like anchovies) I would have thought very salty but hey ho. Also tofu is quite popular as a baby food which I can understand as it is very high in protein after all. If we're here long enough quite looking forward to seeing DS eating with baby chopsticks at an early age too .

Morning all

Shockingly last night was ok, just one wake up , an hour long one but that was easily dealt with by DP and I working as a team. So now I feel pretty terrific and will probably annoy you all by being so perky

Expectant Of course you should risk your baby's life just to save your driver's tender ears from being polluted with his noise - priorities, darling! Glad you didn't tip, he sounds a complete anus.

Thanks for the reminder about tofu, think I will grab some when I'm next at the shops. Fried tofu would make good finger food, I think.

Sazz I haven't got the date sorted out yet but am planning to go back to work probably around June, when my SMP runs out. I'm already on a part time contract anyway so at least I don't have to negotiate that hurdle.

Enjoy your shopping

yay, we've got a perky cyteen!

our night was ok, DS settled by 12.15, woke at 3.15 and then again at 6.15. it seems we were doing 3hourly slots last night! didn't realise til i typed it here!

expectant sorry to hear about your cab journey, he sounds horrible

hmm fried tofu is a great idea

sazzles you had a bath? in peace? what did you drug DD1 with?

so apart from sazzles and her "essential" my arse! shopping trip, has anyone else got any nice planned for today?

Woah we were talking about PMS the other day yes? Last night I got a full-on incapacitating dose of it (and only CD21, more to come?) Went to bed cross with DH anyway about minor things but when he got into bed and started reading I realised I was this scrunched up rigid ball of fury, couldn't breathe in a relaxed way at all, every noise or move he made was making me even worse. Had to go sleep in the spare bed with just a ticking clock and a snoring baby to annoy me. Also took some herbal sleeping pills and cried myself to sleep basically.
Feel ok this morning but OMG, it's been bad since Kurt was born but never that bad! Off to do some research quick, someone on MN recommended Starflower oil.

Today's plans: trip to the doctor (nothing too worrisome), into town to get a get well soon card for a friend who has just smashed his knee to bits Poor bloke, the last two years have been one dreadful occurrence after another for him.

morning, glad to hear that some babies are sleeping longer, well done babies!

I await an improvement in this household

expectant I have to confess to getting ds out of the car seat when he's been screaming but twas my dad driving not an unknown taxi driver. Hope Sam was ok

I have fab news: we have an allotment!! And it's 5 mins walk away!! Hooray! Is totally overgrown, but will be fab exercise for me n dp as we both have spare tyres now (recent choc fest) and it has a great view over Tolworth . We visited last weekend and we have lovely allotment neighbours at our plot too .

DS has had breakfast - steamed apple, pear and toast crusts - he only gagged on the pear as he bit off some skin - he went puce and I patted him on the back and he was fine. Quite scary. I think he may have swallowed something too.

Miamla I plan to clear out my greenhouse today - it's full of chairs/boxes from when we moved here and had no room in the house. I am getting ready for planting some seeds . Hope you have some thing nice planned too

Ooh sambo very of your allotment - I cherish the dream of growing my own fruit and veg, despite being barely able to keep a houseplant alive.

Yay for cyteen and Joe!
And glad to hear you had an ok night as well Sambo
I felt seriously pissed off last night when Seb woke before 3 and just refused to settle by any means. He just screamed and screamed. I think it's getting to me because he's so demanding all day, not lettig me put himdown. Then he's up al through the evening and then I still havethe nightto deal with before starting it all again. It just feels like it never stops, that I never have a moment to myself. I think it would help so much if he went to sleep earlier, but he doesn't, and I go to bed straight after I manage to get him down.
I need a break.

buckets that sounds dreadful and sadly very familiar - just what I went through in my teens and early 20s. The last 15 months have been wonderfully free of all that stress and I'm not looking forward to it returning. I have heard that star flower works, but have no experience of it, hope you find out some useful info

Just managed to read one page and Toby is up so won't get any further for now...

Buckets PMT gets worse as you get older, I have had to have counselling for mine in the past as became violent dh knows I am going to have my period before I do. I did find extra strength primrose oil helped and took it every day (but for those who bf you can't take it when bf)

Having crappy time here. Am tired to the point of losing it (and had to go out of the room and scream yesterday evening - unfortunately the children heard and asked why) I also smacked ds1 on the hand which I never do

Back later

ann poor you, my sympathies. We did not have a good night, quite the opposite. I know what you mean about being pissed off - ds woke one hour after his dream feed - starving and that set the pattern for the night. Can you get some help from your mil today?

Thanks sambo I'm going out this afternoon so hopefully that will help. Will be surrounded by babies and children but at least it will be a sort of break. We'll be seeing Seb's little girlfriend. We haven't seen her in a couple of weeks because she's had measles. Her mum is going nuts now, because she's dropped a centile due to having been ill and the HV has said she shouldn't have lost weight because of being bf (wtf?) and going on about formula. Thing is she's always been tiny what with being half asian and having been 3 weeks prem. She's dropped from 9th centile to 2nd centile.

Pf and Ann Van does sound like you're both suffering at the moment. Hope that you both get some well deserved rest tonight. I have my fingers and everything else crossed for you.

DS only woke once after his meltdown in the afternoon at 4am but it took me an hour and a quarter to get him back to sleep again and then he woke up at 6am.

He has had a better day today napwise but I can't seem to see any pattern so who knows what the night holds.

Morning, or afternoon?

ann sympathies for you, it is rough not getting any kind of break. Did the bouncer help at all?

Could you leave him to his grumbling for a while in the day? If you know he is clean/fed etc it won't hurt him for a bit, especially if you are around and give him a pat from time to time. I know it's difficult when you can see and hear them, but it might just help?

I remember sitting outside DS1's room in tears as he was screaming when he was around 9 months old, wondering how on earth a sensible, intelligent person could be so unable to sort out a baby. If it's any consolation, he is now a much much better sleeper than DS2, who was a really good sleeper as a baby from a pretty young age. So it does get better (or worse... ).

ataraxis he loves the bouncer as long as I'm standing right there talking to him while he hops about. Kind of defeats the object really. I do leave him to grumble somtimes, but feel so trapped at night as I can't do this then. I felt so resentful this morning.
Anyhoo - had some good news last night, although it could disrupt my weekly trampolining. The coach is pg. 16 weeks along already, she was about 12 weeks when she found out! Really happy for her as she really wanted another baby - last year we talked about it, and she was saying that her and her DH were going to give up trying once their DS turned 5. So really good news apart from the fact that the only other person there who can coach trampolining is her DH, and he can't cover her hours on top of his own.

hello all - am catching up and all round lurking. one handed so apologies - annvan, wow had no idea you were a trampoliner, how very fun asnd cool.

pert - sorry you were bumped - i imagine you were in the "zone" but all the thoughts about edxpressing are great and this enforced wait will give you a headstart.

buckets - sorruy about your wrong placed basin - but i so don't see you as a wimp!

sorry to all those having sleep or lack thereof issues.

Af/pmt - we are clearly all synchronising! I have been "difficult to live with" apparently. And i have the skin of a teenager (and not the dewy fresh looking type either!)

must talk to you all about blw - am going down puree route on advice of dietician but interested in the long term reason for blw - will it mean your lo's will be able to eat "normally", sooner, in essence?

PF it gets WORSE as we get older?!? God help the members of this house. Buckets I was you over the weekend. I considered leaving and hidying myself at a hotel til it was over. To make matters worse I think dd1 may have been in hormonal battle thus the horrible horrible weekend. My hormones get tested April 26th. Hopefully that means only one more round of crazy for me.

Hmmm, night times are hard. Any ideas why he is waking or does he just wake up?

Do you let him have any time to self soothe or do you feel (because of dp) that you have to get up immediately you hear anything? If the latter, it might be worth having a discussion with your dp about not picking him up immediately and seeing whether he begins to settle himself, or doing the pick up/soothe/put down immediately routine for a couple of nights. If you do it starting on a Thursday or Friday night, you will have a couple of nights to see if there is some progress?

Trying to think of other things that might help... we bought a fisher price aquarium with DS1 an older version of this and it really helped as he was transfixed by the lights/bubbles (scarily, I can still hear the tune option it plays in my head).

Have you tried a lamb/sheepskin on his cot?

I do know people who swear by cranial osteopathy as well.

Trouble is, it all ends up costing such a lot of money and in the end it might just be a matter of time.

That took a long time to write

ts, that's tough on you and your family. As pf says, EPO is a fairly tried and tested way of helping pmt so might be worth a try.

sausage, that's my understanding of blw. Although I started dd on bits of food that we would eat (tiny bits of fish, roasted squash, home made pizza dough etc) and all went really well until I gave her some yoghurt. Now she will only eat purees and spits everything else (with any texture)out with giant raspberry fun.

Have to actually go and do some work now...

I really don't know why he wakes. I tried burping, feeding, changing, rocking, walking etc and all he did was scream. He was squirming as if he had wind, but none came out no matter how long I patted for. Gave him some gripe water eventually. Still no burp.
I don't get up immediately as sometimes he wimpers a bit then goes quiet, so I tend to wait and see if he's going for the sustained cry.
I might start trying pick up/put down soon.
Anyway, I'd better get off as I'm already late. will talk to you lovely ladies later

s&m we started blw today and it's messy. You have got the jist though which is that babies eat 'normally' from the word go with no special food/texture although should be healthy and low salt/sugar. How is the pureeing going?

for lunch ds had a lentil ball (thanks cyteen) although most went on the floor, plus toast crust and a steamed apple slice. Will stop detailing ds's meals now as I'm sure you dont want to hear our daily menus but I am quite excited

Ann Cranial osteopathy is expensive (Kurt's was just under £100 for 3 sessions) but maybe something grandparents could donate towards? Am I right in thinking your folks are miles away - might be something they'd like to help with for that reason? No idea if it did anything for Kurt but one of those better-untwisted-than-twisted Emperor's New Clothes gambles.

My bathroom is done, will look fab as soon as I get an offcut of lino tomorrow and DH does a coat of paint. Do you want a pic when done? Unfortunately I did not arrange with them to takeaway the old suite so it is in my front garden. S&M I am v wimpy and shy anytime I feel I'm imposing on someone else - even if I'm paying them (one reason why I find paid childcare so difficult). Some kind of martyr complex mebbe? PITA anyway and I guess would really limit one's career progression (oh dear).