Sept 08: They're under starters orders .... and they're off .... well, some of them!

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

I thought I'd use this title as not all of our delicious babies are on the move yet, including mine

pacita - you shouldn't need to use bottles - you can go straight to a cup - I did with dd (she was a bottle refuser and we had a very gradual transition between 9 and 12 months before I gave up bf completely). She still has 3 cups of milk per day at 2.5 .

I think they need approx 12-20oz per day once they are on decent quantities of solids 3 meals per day - probably need more than that at the moment. Dd still has towards the upper end of that range. Am trying ds with a cup regularly but rarely takes more than an oz.

ponymum i have grown brussel sprouts from seed this year . They will look ultra poncey when they are ready in the autumn, although DS just stood on a few of them in the garden while I was pottering about. You may have heard me yell "NO" from where you are . He jumped off them pretty quick.

Its raining now so we are back inside with cbeebies on.

still bfing, round 7am and bedtime and mid-afternoon, and sometimes another in the night. He's been grouchy in the evenings recently so tried feeding - think he's had a touch of the sniffly/gurgly-tummy lurgy MrNC and I have had on and off for weeks.

plan to stop afternoon bf before he goes to nursery in august.

right, time for bedtime feed!

think af must be coming. Just shouted at dh because he didn't clean the toilet even though I'd put the stuff down it and left it. Then moaned that i do all the housework and tried to argue that doing the dishes doesn't count as housework

meglet I heard you shout. Did you hear me too? Shouted at ds1 for not giving ds2 the toy that he wanted- it was ds2's toy and ds1 only took it becuase he knew ds2 wanted it.

It's been a long day here too.

Hi Pacita, glad the Ergo went well - I never got to using the hood as Maebh didn't really take to the Ergo and so never slept in it. I'm sure someone on MN will be able to help you.

About a week ago I was thinking of doing a survey as my period hadn't returned and M didn't have a tooth, and when I thought back with DD1 both events happened at 4 months. So I was going to question whether there was a correlation.

Then yesterday .... I posted that my period seemed to have returned (albeit v. lightly) AND at bed time I realised that [drum roll emotion] M has got her first teeth!!

Just think if I'd managed to post that last week how good I'd look . Anyone else with any correlation?

I'm still bf (around 5 or 6 feeds??), I'M hoping to continue for another year (but DH isn't really keen on that idea so I've got to get M into a morning and night routine before she's one.

meglet, hope the rest of your day went better.

ponymum hope Effy's feeling better. Rocket's a great thing to grow as it's so expensive in the shops (she says trying to sound knowledgable as her seeds for rocket are on the side in the kitchen )

Cheers, newlark, i wish I could know how much he is taking from the boob. I suspect that the major feed is in the morning. Evening he gets 210ml, but mixed with his porridge. Does that still count as part of the 12 to 20 oz?

Ponymum, I hope everyone is feeling better.

And no teeth here either, although his lower gums look slightly whitish and swollen. Surely this must be a sign?

T has far too much milk. I'm wondering if the reason he is waking in the night again suddenly is because he's taking in too much in milk feeds and not enough in solids. Could that be a reason? He has around 25oz throughout the day, and another 5 if he wakes at night

debi it was a full moon today which might explain a lot of things. DS had definately got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.

My day finally settled down when ex p came round to do the dc's bath and bedtime, so they were both in bed by 7 . Mind you before that DS had decided to take a poo-y nappy off on the living room rug (and he was told off for the millionth time), how it didn't make a mess I don't know, my only bit of 'luck' all day.

DD has one proper bottom tooth and one bottom & top tooth poking through. They have made her grumpy though, poor little mite. But she's getting much better at eating 'proper' food now.

I'm still very much breastfeeding. On days I'm at work DS gets a morning feed, a bedtime feed, and wakes for a least one night-time feed, usually twice. If I'm not working then he also gets a lunchtime and afternoon feed. So 4 daytime feeds and one or two nightfeeds.

The past month or so his appetite for solids has really dropped due to various niggles - teething, illness. So we're gradually working towards getting him to eat more solids again in the hope that he'll sleep a bit better at night. He hasn't slept through for months...I have a feeling those days will never return.

I think it's the ocassional dropping of daytime feeds that has brought AF back. I'm on day 6 - boringly long.

And his fangs are poking through a bit more now I can feel them more when he chews on my knuckle. I realise at some point I will have to start saying 'no' to him chomping on my body parts. But because he doesn't have any incisors it doesn't feel as though he could do much damage.

pacita Home insurance is paying out - thank the lord. Car needs a few repairs and the locks reprogramming so will be a couple of weeks till we get that back. Have ordered the new Maclaren XT, there's some sort of national shortage and its going to take a couple of weeks. So we've borrowed a neighbours Volo, supposedly good from 6 months but the poor little mite looks so slouched in it I worry about his back.

Also need to replace the changing bag that was stolen - I was given a beautiful Skip Hop bag that they don't sell in this country. Can anyone recommend one - budget up to £80.

oh and DS refuses bottles and formula and even EBM now, so drinks cow's milk from a cup (sometimes doidy, sometimes sippy).

digigirl So glad the insurance is paying out for you. We have a Baba bing change bag which I think was about £50. It's been great and the best part is DH loves it. (It's one of those satchel style ones and he insists on proudly carrying it about even when it's a short trip and we don't actually need it. )

I had a bath with DD tonight. She was sitting on my tummy splasing her hands all excited... then her eyes lit up and she reached out and grabbed hold of my nipple! Owww...!!

Hopefully you have done really well to bf after T has bitten you. As soon as DD1 bit me I stopped and gave her a bottle, I was only doing night and early morning feeds so it was pretty easy to change. Diassapointedly she didn't seem to miss it. I don't think I will be able to wean Robyn so easy, she has about 6 feeds during the day and a few during the night (5 last night) sometimes it is like feeding a newborn.

Digi so gald you are getting things sorted out. Just realsied we would of been stuffed if our car was stolen. It's a disability car and the insurance doesn't cover belongings inside so we would have to replace everything ourselves. The car is like another room for us so is usually full of things

hopefully Toby has dropped from 5 x 7oz ff to 3 7oz x ff per day in the last month which means he is still having 21oz ff per day plus solids...yesterday he had 4 meals!!!! So I dont thing T is having too much! We dropped the mid morning feed (around 10am-11am) as he was not having much which helped him eat more lunch. He still has his mid afternoon feed (around 3.30pm) and I will continue with this as long as he wants.

I just think (and this is from bitter experience with ds1) that some children just dont sleep well/need as much sleep as others/sleep very lightly.

We have been much more laid back with Toby (with him beng no.2) and have bought a double bed for ds1's room which means that although I end up in bed with ds1 and Toby ends up in our bed with dh every night at some point, we all get some sleep - which at this stage is what its all about IMO!!! I realise this isnt for everyone, but its saving my sanity at the mo and means
dh and I both get some sleep.

I really wish I had been brave enough to do it with ds1, but he was such a small, poorly baby, I would never have got any sleep anyway for worrying if he was ok/too hot/too cold/too small etc etc.

Oh, and Toby now sleeps on his tummy (which worries me) but he seems most comfortable that way He also likes to "walk" along with me or dh holding his hands whilst he chases his bro around the house!!!!!!

Ds1 is 6 on satueday and its dh's b day today, so he wants to go out tonight, but I am sooo tired...just want to slob about in my PJ's and eat choc (as I do every other night!!!!)

RE: connecta carrier - Toby hates it! Have only used it round the house with no success - do you think they would take it back??? HAve only had it 2 weeks, and its basically unused???

Have a good day, ladies x

Hi all, still no teeth here (& no crawling), though lots of sitting & playing & shrieking at the cat!

Just got back from almost a week in Scotland. Was fab. Hired a seafront appt on Lieth docks - £300 for 5 nights and it had 2 big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a lovely open plan living room/kitchen. DP was working up there, so I hired a car for 3 days and pootled round to St Andrews, and various places. Self-catering definately the way for us - so much flexibility and C slept well in her travel cot. We even ate out at loch Fyne restaurant and she had smoked salmon and haddock bake!!

She did the journey home really well but only managed 50mls of ff at 3pm and then 10mls at night before she fell asleep!!! She slept to 6.45 though, so not too worried....

Oh and have just found little insect in her plum baby museli . Gonna email them a photo as I'm quite shocked and saddened as she loves their porridges and museli. Not too worried about her as it looks very dead....

Back to work in 5 weeks - oh god

Hi all - we have had an exciting weekend! At about 10:15 on Friday evening I could hear Effy crying but it sounded like she was really struggling with it. I went into her room and she was trying to cry but having problems breathing, she'd gone a little blue and her chest was really concaving when she took an in-breath. I called 999 and the paramedic and ambulance both turned up within 5 mins, by which time she'd thankfully started to calm down a little and was starting to be a better colour.

Turns out she has croup. I felt like a totaly neurotic mum but the leaflet we got from the hospital said we did the right thing calling 999 with the symptoms she had.

Anyway, we got blue lighted to hospital. She was given salbutamol via a mask (which I had to waft in front of her face) and then given oral steroids to open the constriction in her airways. We then had to wait in paed A&E for that to take effect. Normally it takes half an hour, three hours later Effy was still wheezing, so they considered admitting us, but eventually decided that as long as I was happy, I could take her home.

By this time, although still wheezy, she was more back to her normal self, happy and smiley etc. So I took her home and she seems fine although she's still a bit wheezy and has that awful barking cough.

It was very very scary but luckily with a good outcome.

OMG sunshine!!!!! So pleased Effy is ok now What a nightmare for you!

how scary sunshine glad to hear she's ok now though.

Glad to hear Effy is feeling better. What a bloody shock that must have been. You were NOT a neurotic mum btw.

Poor you Sunshine, glad Effy is a bit better now.

poor you and effy sunshine. Sounds very scary and not neurotic at all.

Your trip sounds good imo, you stayed near where we did in May. Just out of interest what did you think of the Loch Fyne restaurant? (I'm assuming it was the one in Leith) My fil ate there recently and wasn't overly impressed with it. Said it was ok but nothing special.
Good idea going along with dh when he was working too- make the most of it before you go back to work. DH is going away nx week and we thought about going with him until we realised I'm back at work!

Oooh imo St Andrews is lovely isn't it? Have stayed there a couple of times and really like it.

Starlight feel free to come here and whinge/moan away - we all need it and you certainly don't need to apologise!

Sunshine how upsetting for you - you must have been soooooo worried and thank goodness all seems OK now.

my moan today is that c will not take water out of anything but a doidy or a tommi tippee cup without the lid - she cannot get the hang of spouts at all. She will only take ff out of a bottle, not a cup, and so i have to hand feed her the water by holding the cup. I know that sounds a good thing but it means she won't hold a cup at all except to throw it on the floor and i fear we'll have to do this for the foreseeable future meaning she can't control when & how much water she drinks.

She also has no strength in her legs at all and looks drunk when i see if she can put weight on them.

And as to loch Fyne in Leith, Debi we found the setting gorgeous, overlooking the harbour, but we found inside very hot and they had no blinds to screen the sun out.
Our food was good, not outstanding (eg I had sashimi style salmon to start and think Yo Sushi better) but it was certainly fresh fish. On the downside, wine is expensive and my glass of white wasn't chilled properly.
The manager came over at the end to say C was a lovely baby cos he hadn't heard a peep out of her all evening . Wot ya gonna do if she'd been restless matey - chuck us out??!!
Overall, worth it but only for a lunch or early tea. A night out with friends and a couple of bottles of wine would be expensive.

Sunshine You've been so brave and composed about the whole thing, I'd have probably become quite hysterical. I hope Effy recovers super quickly

Starlight, do come and moan to your hearts content. You are always full of understanding and good advice for everyone else.

Which one is the free flow cup? the one with the spout that pivots into the cup for portability?

Digi I have a normal skip hop bag in black and just love it. I find it super practical. It clips to any buggy.

www.skiphop.com/product/20000.html