Sept 08: the thread for when they may start crawling, and there will definitely be some separation anxiety bawling ....

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Welcome ladies

Well, there's no crawling going on in our house, but there's defo some separation anxiety bawling going on .... tears, screaming, the works - oh joy!

ILTMIMI you're an absolute star! I've just posted on the wall of the FB group so you can remember who I am in RL and message me! Thank you!
And well done Diego!

meglet thank you so much for the getting the vest off over the body tip you gave us the other day. DS2 did the most skinky explosive poo ever this morning while in the bumbo so it squiged all up his back. I was so glad not to have to put the vest over his head. It was so bad the vest went straight in the bin.

DG Perhaps take some iron supplements. Your body isn't used to you leaking blood.

Meglet No-one can predict the future, but truely suicidal people very rarely threaten.

Congratulations Lollybaby pacita That menu sounds perfect to me. Well done on the sleep. Bet you feel rubbish coz your body remembers it and shouts 'more more'

debi packet sauce does have a lot of salt. You could wash it off, or add it at the end after you have taken a portion out. For DS I used to freeze blocks of unsalted cheese sauce, blocks of tomato sauce and pureed fruit sauces. Then just add them to whatever I was making for him.

Carrie I did signing with DS but it was a hopeless failure overall. Now I realise it is likely to be due to autism. However he learnt the sign for more pretty quick, it was just the only one.

Kagey How exciting

Oh yeah Meglet Your bodysuit tip came in handy here too.

Think you should sumbit a MN tip. How can us two 'experienced' mums have only just discovered it?

CARRIEBO am definitely going to try baby signing there are a few groups near us so when holidays are over we will be out most days doing baby things.
starlight ds didn't get signing at all when we first startyed, but at school his teacher signed most of the time and he has just picked it up and signs quite often during the day.
i think it helps if you don't activelt teach them, doing it with dd and dh he may well just start to pick it up. it has helped with his speech as well

uh oh - I now know why D slept so well but was then grumpy: he's got a temperature and has been in and out of sleep all day. I am not sure what it is, but his dad has a cold, so it could very well be it. His nose is not obviously runny though...

I've given him calpol and his temperature has gone down. I'll give him some more 6 hours after (at 10 or so) and see how he gets on. Anything I should keep my eyes open for? I'm letting him cuddle and feed a lot, and he's been sleeping on me on and off.

Starlight freezing cubes of sauce sounds remarkably efficient...

Digi I am dreading the return of AF. As if one did not feel tired enough as it is! I don't know whether it's your cup of tea, but I'd recommend a calf's liver steak from the nice Crouch End butcher...

Meglet today I used the very tip (vest down rather than up) as I also had to deal with a stinky weaning poo explosion. I also think you should submit it.

I agree with Starlight, packet sauces are best saved for busy adults. I made batches of tomato sauce (literally garlic & onion fried off in olive oil, add tinned tomatoes and black pepper. Reduce down and freeze. You can even add a splash of white wine for flavour as if you simmer it, the alcohol will evaporate off) and pour over whatever we're having, if it needs a sauce.
Creme fraiche & grated cheese heated makes a brilliant cheese sauce.
I find if i plan mine and DP's meals for the week, then look at what is OK for C (eg I wouldn't give her pizza or sausages & the like) and those that are OK, I portion off a little and she has it the next night, which saves cooking twice a night. Those nights not suitable, we use freezer stuff. She's trying loads of new things and seems to be OK. A huge hit is yo valley plain yogurt with pureed apple stirred through, oh and macaroni cheese is very loved!

Yay, 4 days with adult:baby ratio of 2:1!!! Happy Easter!

My leg is slightly red, but I suspect amputation will not be necessary. I forgot about the ice packs and when I stood up to go to bed they all slid out of the bottom of my trousers. Ice pack incontinence!

Happy Easter everyone!

I've submitted the body suit suggestion!

I am starting to wonder if I have missed any other blindingly obvious 'functions' on anything else I use all the time .

To the blw-ers- how do you stop them taking too much into their mouths,or do they just learn?
Up til now, she's had mashed or smooth food apart from sucking on somepitta bread and a banana. But today at play group I let her suck some slices of pear they put out - they were quite soft,and to start with her sucking just seemed to make thepear squshy enough to be swallowed - then she swallowed about an inch of it,and got v upset and I had to turn her over to dislodge it.

I'm off to the north west to visit my eldest sister for Easter - not looking forward to hours in their car but will hopefully be fab to have a sofatp sit on and other adults longing to interact with the kids

splish I started by giving dd big broccoli trees. They are too big for her to get into her throat so she could just chew on them and get the idea of eating, she would occasionally break a little bit off and either swallow it or spit it out. Toast seems to work well too, she just sucks it and it goes to mush. When I tried BLW on DS he would sometimes gag on food, not sure why ds seems so good at it, she hasn't gagged or choked yet (touches wood). She had roast dinner today, well the chicken, squashed roast potato, brocolli and a bit of yorkshire pud-i was suprised it was actually low in salt.

Have a wonderful break at your sisters, you deserve a chance to relax . Haven't you got a sofa at home?

Thanks for the tips Meglet - I'll have to give it a go.
No, no sofa. Or table for that matter (well have 1, it's just taken apart andlost under the boxes and bags of belongings filling 1 room) so my bed has to do for everything. So eating for dd2 bit tricky. I tried her in the high chair but she's still quite slumpy in it,solooked v uncomfy.Usually feed her in bouncy chair,car seat or sitting on my lap.Hardly ideal

carriebo - doing a fair bit of signing as I like practising BSL and don't know yet if A has inherited my hearing loss. Went to one sing and sign class which was useful revision for me and mentioned the most useful signs for a baby (HOME, MILK, MORE, FOOD, TIRED, NAPPY). Giving musical instruments to lots of toddlers and babies was not my idea of fun though!

splish - A will shove huge chunks in his mouth and then spend ages fiddling with them with mouth and fingers. Some then falls out. Fruit gets smaller, meat gets the goodness removed, but chicken gets stuck in the roof of his mouth. Chips etc just end up of the floor. I tend to just give him a stick of some food to play with while I prepare the rest of his meal!

Splish I don't understand. Did you have to move out?

Do you need anything? Please say if you do. We might not be able to help directly but may have some suggestions or ideas.

think I'll have to be more organised like imo and plan what we're having so i can give ds2 something different quite easily if what we're having isn't good. Having cubes of a cheesy sauce ad a tomato sauce in the freezer then taking out a portion of pasta or whatever it is for ds2 before adding our packet sauce sounds like a good plan. Suppose ds1 probably shouldn't have them either. Not that either of them eat much of the sauce, just a coating really.
I feel guilty now, hope I haven't done him any harm

have made and frozen a tomato sauce and a cheese sauce.

Those of you who give your baby pre-loaded spoons, do your babies put the right end of the spoon in their mouth? At tea tonight I put yoghurt on a spoon, gave it to ds2 who turned it round and put the other end in his mouth!

splish I wish I could come round and make your table for you. Where are you? I agree with starlight, maybe we could do something? There must be loads of MNetters wherever you are. Keep us posted.

I have had a day on my own with the dc's and not spoken to any adults, not the most fun day I've had I have to say. We went for a walk earlier and ds decided to sit in a muddy puddle . Mum is popping round tomorrow so I can get to the gym. Still no sign of ex p this week.

debi I'm sure your ds is ok, babies are pretty robust. The human race wouldn't have survived if they all got ill at the tinest little thing.

Debithescot Do Not Feel Guilty!! I'm sure you've done no harm and, in the grand scheme of things, there's much worse than packet sauces. I feel bad if I made you feel guilty. You've made sauces - brilliant! I'm sure you'll find them easier once you get used to it.
As to the spoons, I just let C get on with it - bit messy but if she gets very frustrated i will help her by turning spoon round right way.

Splish BLW - they learn how much to take by practice. If you start with very friendly foods like broccoli or soft carrot (or we've found baby veg in Asda - C actually managed to chew and swallow half a baby courgette tonight, steamed whole, and a whole roasted baby parsnip! It's a first!). I go off the principal that if it's hard and nut or pea sized, i don;t give it (eg a whole blueberry, small piece of raw apple) cos of risk of fitting in windpipe and choking. Any other foods, worst case scenario, she'll vomit if it won't go down and she can't gag it up. Babies have a strong gag reflex. It's frightening at first but you get used to it. Generally, gagging is noisy but harmless, choking is silent and, well, not so good!

Wish me good vibes ladies. I am a bit upset as it's C first night in her own room. She's gone down fine but god I'll miss seeing her little face peering over the cot tomorrow. And hearing her breathe.
I worked out that if you include the pregnancy, for the last 1 year and 3 months, C has never slept more than one foot away from me at night.

The pear was a bit slient and deadly, she went red, tears started popping out of eyes, no gagging. She's got a fine line in blowing food out of her mouth - like a living blow pipe. Gave her a bit of grated cheese it shot back into my face

Starlight - no,I'm in the house (for now) - just everything was packed up to do major work on house. Because ex is total idiot (long story, don't want to go into here),and i am too for putting up with it all for so long, have no money to finish work. I need to try and get round to sloshing some pva on walls and painting them - funnily enough finding it's not my first impulse by the end of the day looking after the kids! Kitchen and bathroom ok except plaster walls need painting, my room ok but messy as playroom, dining room, bedroom, sitting room at the moment.

Anyway, a friend offered some help next week, and I will just have to forsake MN for painting. Ex claims will do some sanding while we're away. Yeah right.

Does cheese sauce come out as nicely when you freeze it? It never seems to be as good when I've had some in the fridge and used the next day

Debi LOL You'll need to be a bit more robust. Goodness knows the guilt you are going to fell for the next,- well forever. A bit of salt or processed food isn't worth the emotion. Just make sure you offer plenty to drink to help flush it through. Overall babies livers can't cope with the proportion of salt that our society is used to eating, so just be careful. Perhaps read the ingredients on the sauces before deciding to give them and ration them a little.

Splish Sounds like you are coping very well considering. Please do yell if there is something we can do to help, even if is just to make suggestions.

I can't believe this has dropped off my Threads.

It's been a busy week what with it being Easter hols so DD1 off school and then M being ill. I knew something wasn't right when she cried at swimming on Monday. Poor DD1 has had to be very patient.

I've also (finally) decorated M's room this week (with some help from DD1) - so she'll be in there soon. I'm a bit and a bit .

We've had a busy day today too as we had 16 people round for an Easter Egg hunt and meal and this is my reward for being busy all day.

Off to Ireland on Sunday to visit the inlaws. They're mad but love babies so I suspect I'll hardly see M all week! Plenty of babysitters too

Imo your menu planning's very organised. I've been meaning to plan for a LONG time, but haven't got round to it. I think once M's eating more it'll be a good idea. My sister managed to get a spoon of pumpkin soup in her mouth today - after a wrestling match but she wasn't impressed.

Debi when i give Robyn spoons she pokes them in her eye then drags it down until she hits her mouth, sometimes she is soo excited that she flicks it round and the food flies off. She is generally better with 'dipping' foods but still makes loads of mess.
We have had a few gagging times and i have had to fight to keep calm so i don't scare her. She is quite calm and just coughs the bit up then smiles at me, even with the drool coming out her mouth and nose.

Splish how on earth are you coping living in one room. Don't worry about the decorating too much, we have been in our house 7 years and only decorated the living room last summer.

Debs - we spend a lot of time out, play groups, the park, thelibrary - just to escape - it's not just decoration for the sake of it - it's been re-wired and mostly re-plastered, bare floorboards everywhere, some holes in floor where 1960s fireplaces were & need to sort out sharp bits on floors before dd2 gets mobile. All newly plastered walls need painting at least. Coping - just about but find it quite depressing & that's without everything else that's going on!

Where are you based splish? I know it's a bit cheeky but some of my friends have done it and it works a treat: bake a cake, make some sandwiches, buy some beers and organise a decorating party. Where are you based? Those of us close by could come and help!

Super crap night after the amazing 10 hour sleepathon. Good news is his temperature went the same as it came, and he looks totally fine now. I think he woke up because he did not want his dinner last night, not even the bottle, although he did have some boob. Can someone explain to me how he can devour a plate of porridge and fruit compote one night and want nothing to do with it the following???

Could this change of heart be influenced by constipation? [TMI alert: he did a massive, dry and smelly poo this morning. As I was about to fasten on the new nappy, he mister-whippied another set. I cleaned that up and as I was about to fasten nappy number two he repeated the operation, all the while delivering produce of varying texture and colour. I felt very overwhelmed, but managed to get nappy numero 3 on).

I've not been on for ages .

I've always taken C's vests off downwards, and put them on upwards! She didn't like things going over her head at one point, and then it just became habit. My mum and MIL always look at me as if I'm mad but it works for us.

Hopefully, are you on FB?

Leeds meet up - is this still on? Shall I just pick a date? Everyone say if it suits? How about Borders on Wednesday 22nd at 11am? I looked on the net and people said it was BF friendly in their cafe bit!