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!

Long post alert - sorry. Get carried away

First, sorry to hear of troubles Meglet, you are full of courage i think.

Hello all, popping back in whilst C is having her first ever daytime nap in her own room!! Start of project sleeping in own room, though I'm half hearted about it as she sleeps so well with us (we come to bed at 10ish and put TV on low sometimes, and bedside lights, and she never stirs) but i think it's time to slowly start viewing her as a lovely little person rather than my lovely baby girl extension of me who shall never be apart from me..ever
Oh, and the fact that I am back to work in 3 and a half months .

Weaning going okish. I find teatime hellish as we all want to eat together but DP rarely home from work till gone 5.30 and that's just too late for C. So i cook for her, feed her, give her a bottle and cook for us so we eat around 6ish. God knows what I'll do when she's at nursery and I'm picking her up at 5/5.30. I think feeding her at 6ish will be too late for her.

What i have done is made a decision that, for the moment, I'm only giving her breakfast and tea. She has such a small appetite that as soon as I gave her breakfast she immediately dropped a milk feed. If we had 3 meals, she'd be on to 2 bottles a day i think!

On the BLW front, we have worked out a nice compromise. C is such a petite thing that she isn't strong enough to pick up her food and get it to her mouth all the time. That's a problem when she actually wants to eat it - all this talk about letting baby choose what they eat: - well C chooses to eat it but just can't manage to pick it up! Cue tears of frustration!
So, we feed breakfast together. That is, I feed her porridge and she helps out with fingers . We then have milk feeds all day and I offer her lunch but never help her so it doesn't matter if she eats nothing.
Tea is a combo of finger food and spoon (eg fish pie and a piece of bread). She does seem to be learning to chew.

Mothers day this worked a treat! DP had booked lunch at v swanky bistro in Cheshire - car park full of Bentleys/Land Rovers etc. I was quite nervous but DP had checked it with owner and C was welcome. She sat in her highchair at a very posh table (leather tablecloths!!). Then as i got merry on Kir Royales, we ate a wonderful beef roast and DP gave C some of it and she happily munched away! She was so smiley and laughing and charmed the pants of the waiters. People around us were looking on in admiration (well, that's what i tell myself). Only downside was when she did huge, loud gags on a piece of beef. I'm used to it now but DP and other tables were very alarmed .

Oh and I have found brilliant fromage frais by plum baby that have no added sugar and are sweetened with grape juice.

Tomorrow it's Trafford centre with DP and we give her her first sushi!!

meglet glad dd is getting better and fingers crossed ds won't be a horror child all day!

hopefully ds2 doesn't seem to be cutting out on his milk either despite eating quite a lot of food. This is what he ate yest:

3.30am- bf
7.15am- bf
8.00am- 8 mini weetabixes (equiv to 1 big one), sucked on piece of banana
11.30am- bf
12.00- bread stick to keep him going as was going to be a late lunch as ds1 at pre-school
12.30pm- whole piece of homemade bread, half jar of banana and peach babyfood
3.30pm- bf
5.30pm- half baked potato with chicken pieces and salad. fromage frais
7.15pm- 7oz of follow on milk
11.30pm- bf

All those bfs seem to be same size as they've ever been too. So after thinking about how much he was eating I decided we really need to try and stop the night feeding as I'm sure he doesn't need them. For the past few nights he'd been waking about 2.30am, screamed for about 45mins until I cracked and fed him.
Yesterday I spoke to my neighbour for 1st time in ages and said to him I hoped he wasn't being disturbed too much. He said it was ok as he's used to it then said he doesn't always hear him as he's a deep sleeper (contratiction but never mind).
But last night when ds2 woke at 3am and we ignored him the guy banged on the wall! Really not what I needed when I was already feeling bad about leaving ds2 crying, hoping ds1 wouldn't wake and hoping not to piss off the neighbour too much.
Thankfully he stopped crying and went back to sleep after 10mins. Then woke at 5 so I fed him then.

imoscarsmum you'll prob find that when C's at nursery that they do tea before 5pm so you could do something like she eats most of her tea then and then sits with you and has her pudding with you.

Whoops - gave T soup for lunch (some with bread dipped in for him to hold, some spooned in). I was so pleased with myself for not salting the soup when I made it, but it didn't occur to me to leave out the chilli flakes! Not hot, but a tiny chilli effect. T cried and cried and cried when he had some, and has been BFing ever since. Every time he unlatches he cries. Bad mummy.

Debithescot - How old is your DS? My DD is nearly 6.5 months but I think she's only swallowing about three things a day, everything else she spits out.

lollipop he's 6 months 3 weeks. And he's blw so we're not forcing anything anything into him. If anything he'd probably eat more if we let him!

Got him weighed today too for 1st time in about 5 months. He's gone from birth weight of 8lb 10oz to 18lb 2oz. Just about 50th line to between 25th and 50th. I'm happy with that.

bec yes def keep up with ABs, your GP knows why he's prescribed them.
Random crap night here too. First dd was crying out for a drink and had a huge glass of water, then threw up in her cot this morning. Yuk. Ds woke at 3:30 and I fed him, and cried for about 10 mins at 5:30 and 6:30, then was so asleep I had to wake him at 7:30. Odd. Would rather not feed overnight then have him wake up for breakfast! He had his first protein today as I managed to cook some lentils without setting off the smoke alarm, and stirred them into dd's left over mashed potato. Then he ate a whole mashed banana. Is that too much food

Avocado is the official big hit of the day here!

Meglet what a lot you have to think about! Sorry your ex is causing trouble I think you're doing the right thing with the hysterectomy though.

plusone never mind a new sainsburys, we've got s new Turkish shop here! I am so excited, it feels almost like I'm back in Haringey haha, I can get cheap plaintains again! And a yam if I fancy one, I might do one day...

Been so busy this morning. My SIL has just been refused flexible working after her ML and is really upset so was talking to her and MIL about that, then my neighbour came over to talk to me about her marriage problems. I don't know her that well but she tells me everything. Half the time I think she's in the wrong to be honest, but I don't feel like I know her enough to say "actually I'm on your DH's side!", so I end up just going "mmm" a lot then feeling a bit cowardly after.

Ok I've just read debi's post and I can see that a whole banana isn't too much food!!
Ds totally not interested in finger food, he just sits and looks at it on his tray. But when he sees that spoon coming...he can't get enough!

Wow debi, I don't think I'm feeding DD enough after reading your DS's menu.

Hi All .

meglet I think you are amazing with all you are going through.

debi why won't my DD eat like this? Everyone said, oh once you start giving them food they just can't get enough. Really? DH and I have decided that we can get more medicine into her with a syringe than the total volume of food she swallows each day. Though I have had a bit of success with avocado pieces and broccoli florets. Though when I say success I mean she is fascinated but then spits all the chewed up green stuff out again.

Anyhoo... my big huge problem atm is the weaning to bottle thing. It is hell. I have been very brave and have started a thread in the weaning topic here. I really hope I get some help. (But I am so scared that I will just get a whole lot of responses yelling at me saying why don't you just keep BF, etc.) Fingers crossed.

I replied to your post ponymum, but I was writing all my thoughts as they came so it might be all rubbish - anyway, another thought: Our friends said they got their DS (very bottle-averse) to finally have a bottle by the mum going away for 48 hours and basically giving the baby no other option.

I wasn't brave enough to try that myself but I didn't really have the push that you have as you're back at work and need to stop BF sometime soon too.

Megletso sorryto hear about your ex p. my rl friend threw her p out in Nov and she has had quite a hard time for a few months, what with his family butting in and him being a prat. She has finally managed to get him to talk to her about the kids and sort access and stuff out and she says she feels 100 times happier then she did this time last year.
There is light at the end of the tunnel

Big hugs and a large box of extra special chocolate biscuits on their way (all calories removed of course)

jenbot thanks, really appreciated your post. Also thinking about your 48 hours cold turkey suggestion too. My mum is arriving in 2 weeks to stay (nearby) for 2.5 weeks. She told me this when I last spoke to her on the phone: when my cousin was a baby, and the family was in a bad car accident, my uncle was in ICU in a coma for weeks with my aunt by his side. So my cousin (then a small baby) had to be suddenly bottle fed. She said he went on hunger strike for 2 days then took it. It sounded awful to me, and I don't know if I could let her have a go or not. Still thinking...

I am liking all these virtual chocolate biscuits with no calories! Could someone please send me a calorie free virtual vodkatini and some indulgent virtual canapes ?

Imo agree about tea at nursery - they usually have a snack or full tea at 3.30/4ish, so I'm sure C'll then be able to last.

M doesn't seem to be dropping any feeds (well certainly not the night ones ). However, I don't think she's eating that much.

Here I was thinking that a bit of sucking and getting the odd half bit of pasta down was doing well She does seem to enjoy playing and tasting it all and that's good enough for me. I'm certainly not going to get stressed about it this time round.

Work was OK but I made SOOO many mistakes in my first presentaion that I had to use the 'I'm still on Mat leave' line to get some sympathy! Got better after some caffeine. Just got to prepare for next Tuesday now.

maybe its not that your babies aren't eating enough but that mine is a pig! Tonight he had chicken korma and rice, had a crying fit when it was all done, couldn't get enough of teh rice! He didn't have much sauce at all, just what was on the bits of chicken but it does give him his first taste of nuts as there's obviously coconut in it.
Also found a great way to get ds1 to finish his tea, he'd stopped eating so we asked him if ds2 could have what was left but he refused to share and ate it all before he got near it!

Those of you with passports for your babies, can you remember if the birth certificate came back before or after the passport? I thought it'd come 1st but ds2s passport came today and don't have birth certificate back yet.

well done ninja for getting through a day at work

Sheesh, T doesn't have a quarter of that Debi! Am impressed by your DS2's appetite. If we get a few teaspoons of mush in (I tend to offer him a loaded spoon at most meals as he finds it easier than picking things up) along with a few bites of finger food, I consider it a resounding success! Although about 1 in 6 meals he'll wolf down everything in sight, and eat and eat and eat, then not be interested again for another 2 days

Ponymum wish I had some words of wisdom, but haven't had the problem, so no idea what to advise. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Hello ladies, it's been aaages since I've visited, so I've just had a massive catch up.

Meglet, pretty horrified at the sheer absurdity of your XP's behaviour. Stay strong, like someone said further up, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck with your operation too, it does sound like the right decision.

Diego will be 26 weeks next Tuesday, but have already started weaning. I've been giving him puree, but always having something he can grab at the same time. So far, he absolutely adores and cannot get enough of carrot and sweet potato, the first things I gave him (he may have harboured the believe that all foodstuff is orange and sweet, but I soon disabused him by giving him mashed cauliflower, which he hated). He prefers cauliflower in florets and banana in chunks. He does not get a massive amount in, but he has a play and licks them a bit.

I am only giving him one meal a day at the moment, but will start giving him tea as well as lunch next week. Am I being a bit too slow? Looking at what some of your LOs are putting away made me worry a bit! I am also being careful about the eczema/allergies issue, so I am being extremely anal about introducing things one by one. How does the BLW way deal with the allergy and intolerance issue?

Also, my nights have become a whole lot better, kind of by accident. I had started giving Diego one bottle of formula for the 11 o'clock feed, which was going OK-ish. I was using the Aptamil-1 cartons. Then I sent DP to the pharmacy to get some powder and he came back with the hungry baby version. I was not keen on the idea because of the extra casseine content and blah blah... but he sleeps for 6 hours in a row and wakes up chirpy and refreshed! No constipation either... Is the hungry baby supposed to be hard on their digestive system?

Well done to Ninja and those ladies soon to be working. I think I'll need a brain transplant before I'm able to be my profesional self again... but I do miss it some days.

Bookmarking the thread - not doing very well at keeping up! Ds is really keen on his food now - I made homemade bread today (for the first time in about 2 yrs) - it is much denser than shop bought so when I gave him a piece of crust he could suck on it without it disintegrating.

Hello everyone, DH is back from the UK so I've had no time at all...just wanted to ask Debithescot am I dreaming, or is that your 2 DS's on the e-mail I just had from those rugby shirt people?? I'm sure it was you who posted a link before Xmas, & now they send me regular updates etc as I ordered a present for my friends son...sorry if it's not you & I'm rambling uneccessarily...

sounds like everyone is doing so well on the weaning front. Alfie is 25 weeks on sunday so gonna wait a few more days i think.

Great night last night, didnt wake til 5.30 and then he wasnt crying, just doing that excited squealy noise!

Night of dooooooom here last night. Why on earth do we have 4 good nights, and then this?! T woke briefly at 10:30, managed to resettle himself, then woke at 1:30 (fed for 45 mins), 3 (managed to resettle him) 3:30 (had bottle), about 5 times between 4 and 5, had another feed at 5, then woke for good at 6:45. GAH!

hopefully it's because M stole the sleeping vibes She slept from 7 - 3 (sadly I wasn't asleep 'til gone 11.30!)

ponymum I wonder if your two issues might sort of get sorted at once, in that, if you're not there to bf and dd won't ff, then she might eat more food! My dd (believe it or not...) was not interested in food as a baby, but when she had diarrhoea we gave her 24 hours milk free and she ate everything in sight. So maybe reduce bf to morning and night, and she'll eat in the day out of necessity? You could stir lots of milk into her food so she's still getting the nutrients, and offer water from a sippy cup so she doesn't get de-hydrated.