F(l)ab Feb 2009: Primark pants and teething rants

[dinkystinky]

A brand new sparkling thread to mark the four month mark for our bubs

Hello all. Thanks for all the nice messages. My mum is still in hospital. They have opperated on her wrist but have not stitched it up yet so she has an open wound. Once they confirm that everything inside is all ok they will stitch it up and she will be aloud home (hopefully Friday

I am getting more scared by the day about swine flu. It is rife around here and I am so worried for dd and ds...

hope you are all well and little ones are all good....

bumps Hope your mum is home on friday. Surely they'd know by now if there was any serious damage done? Fingers crossed for her.
I'm a bit worried about swine flu too. I haven't read the paper today so don't know full story on tht poor little girl, but they haven't ran tests yet to check her overall health have they?
Both my ds's have colds at the moment, so their immune system is weaker. I'm trying not to panic though, just getting on as normal and hoping for the best really.

LBB both mine have cold and I think dd has a chest infection as she has a slight crackling on her chest. We are going to gp tomorrow to check it out... No temp though so that is good!!

Hello everyone, back into MN orbit again. The last month feels like a long one. I haven't read previous posts so I'm not sure if I'm alone in having a baby who still doesn't really sleep through. Al goes to bed at 10.30pm but wakes regularly at 2am, 4am, 5.30am. I then have to get him up for the school run by 7.30am. I'm very tired!

I did the Edinburgh test online which is used to help diagnose PND and I got a score of 13 / 30 which suggests I may have it, but I did it when I'd been struck down with a virus which probably swayed the results, so I'm keeping a bit of healthy scepticism there. I'm not mixing with other mums during the day though and I do feel a bit isolated, so I'm looking forward to Friday when DH and DS1 both break up from school and I get bit company.

Apart from the rubbish sleeping routines Albert is a lovely baby. He's on the 50th centile for his weight - so no longer the big beast he was at birth! He can do the tummy to back turn really well and is getting there on back to tummy. Nowhere close to being able to sit up without support though.

Anyway, I hope you are all having a lovely summer with your babies and I'll try to post again soon.

bumps The lack of temp is good. My gp said it's not swine if no temp.
Good luck tomorrow, hope they get better soon.
pluto hiya Glad Al is doing well. Luke wakes up through the night a bit, I don't feed him though. Last night he slept all the way from 6:30 til 5am.
My doctor told me not to rely too much on the PND test as it kind of depends on your actual personality first iyswim. I scored quite high, but mine was only out of 20 but have PND anyway, I knew that without the test.
Hope you have a great summer holiday with the family. Might be just the ticket

Rosie, Conor isn't really sitting up and I'm beginning to worry a bit about that. He can hold his head up quite well as if I put him down he rolls over and lifts his head and looks as if he's trying to work out how to crawl.

I'm feeling a bit stressed and upset though as he's teething badly. Feeding is getting quite uncomfortable a lot of the time. I've just had an argument with M (I don't feel like calling him dp just at this minute) because he really doesn't seem to understand what I'm saying or that suggesting he's ill (errr, no, he's in a lot of pain and discomfort but it looks a lot like teething) really doesn't help.

elkie Stan doesn't sit up properly either (unless he's propped up with lots of pillows)and if I remember rightly there's only a day or two between them.

Teething is not great here either - lots of grizzling and biting of mummy's nipples.

Find Ashton and Parson's is quite good - calpol pretty useless as he doesn't seem to have much of a temperature.

Sorry to hear your other half's being rubbish - that's very annoying.

I've just been hideously busy - constantly juggling boys and work stuff. At least I don't have to go into an office but the downside of flexible working/self employment is that I'm often working at night and get very, very tired. Need sleep but not sure where that's going to come from.

In a good mood most of the time but a little bit frayed round the edges

Teething bad here too, although I do find calpol helps......it keeps him quite and looking slightly more relaxed for a while anyway.
Frozen carrot sticks are good too. How do we forget about this stage so quickly?

DS is teething as well which is a shock for me as dd didnt get any teeth until she was over a year and never really bothered her when they did come.

LBB - when DS wakes in night and you don't feed him does he settle pretty quickly? I don't think I can bear long crying in the night. HV had suggested that I give Al water so he doesn't get reward of snuggly BF if he wakes but when it's the middle of the night it just feels easier to offer him a boob... He's still sleeping in our room but we're moving him out next weekend when DH starts his long holiday and can help me through the nights. Perhaps knocking out the night feeds is the way to go - we're still very much on demand here - if he cries I generally feed him. Have started solids but only half-heartedly, summer hols and six month mark we'll really go for it properly. And he's teething too...

We've made up and dp has grovelled a bit, C is asleep for the moment.

DS1 (who was formula fed) always had milk if he woke up wanting it, it's a lot easier offering C a snuggly BF without having to wake up too much. And those feeds don't seem to involve as much biting/chewing/pulling off. I do need to start using his cot but it will be in our room. We only have two rooms and the boys will be in together at some point but it will be a while.

pluto I haven't fed Luke in the night (between 6:30pm and 5:30am when we get up) since he was 3 months because when he was in with us, he'd wake and grizzle, I'd give him his dummy to give myself a minute to wake properly, and he'd be asleep again! I figure if he was hungry, he'd be screaming and wouldn't settle at all. He won't think 'it's ok, she'll feed me in the morning', he'd think 'OMG, if I don't eat now I will die', so I think he wakes for teething pain, or being hot/cold, or lost his dummy. The past 2 nights, he has woken, but settled himself without the need for me t go into him. I've heard he's awake from change in breathing through the monitor, but not another peep out of him. I go and check him when his breathing has evened again.
I wouldn't leave him screaming in hunger or pain. Although I believe in a little benign neglect, I'm not that bad!

My 2 boys have been in together for about a month now (I think) and it's gone really well, they have both adjusted perfectly and don't seem to wake each other (yet).

The weaning here is a bit hit and miss too. I offer breakfast and dinner, sometimes he just has a taste with some on his lips, other times he has a few spoonfuls, but like you say pluto no rush really, won't push too hard. I was going to introduce fruit puree for lunch next week, but think I'll wait until breakfast and dinner are more established iyswim.

In regards to swine flu, like I said yesterday, I'm trying not to get into a huge panic over it, but am I being really irresponsible for getting on with normal life, i.e. going to shops, playgroup etc although they both have runny noses? I never keep them in for little colds or else I'd never leave the house! I don't want to get OTT with this, but don't want to take silly risks, especially if perfectly healthy people are getting a more severe case now.....what do you all think?

P.s. by benign neglect, I only mean things like not rushing to them the minute I hear them cry, and trying to teach them from an early age that their needs aren't the be all and end all iyswim. Nothing awfully bad, just that I like to encourage independence and not make too much of a fuss

Thanks LBB - it's probably going to be easier to be a bit more resistant to Al's little cries when he's not in the same room as us. We did controlled crying with DS1 but it was a bit traumatic and I'm not sure I can face that again.

I must be the only one with a baby that is still in no routine and that is still not sleeping.... It is Karma bitting me in my big fat arse because I used to gloat when dd settled into her routine at 7 weeks (feeding every four hours during the day and went through the night etc...) Karma is a bitch and then some!!!!!

pluto I also did CC with ds1. Like you, didn't think I could bare doing it again, although I still do it with ds1, but that's what he knows now iyswim.
Anyway, I started off holding and rocking Luke to sleep which I said I'd never do with another baby, but then about a month ago, when we moved him into ds1's room, I'd put him in cot and leave the room, go back after a minute, then leave for 2 but no longer than 5, so I suppose it was still CC in a form, but I felt ok about it. Now I let him grizzle and he moans himself to sleep but I go straight in if he cries. It's not that I'm resilient to my dc's cries, it's just I can only be in one place at a time, but I know what you mean, they do get used to waiting a bit after a while, doesn't do them any harm IMO, at some point it has to come as an important lesson anyway......
bumps Maybe . Only joking. He'll settle into something when he's ready and no sooner I should think. I have been keeping a diary of all our activities from napping to pooing, just because it helps me feel a bit in control and it helps me to try and organise some sort of routine that suits all of us, but takes a week or so to just study everyones behaviour when left to their own devises(sp?) iyswim and then when it's all written down, I can see where I can tweak things to make them better suited to myself

Ds1 is eating his lunch with his eyes closed. Woo-hoo!!!!!!!! That means nap. Now I have to repeat yesterday and get Luke off straight after so I can spend the next 2 hours on here catching up around the house

LBB at two hours... ds only cat naps for 20 mins in the day.......

It can be a bit hit and miss, like everything else........this has only been the past week, befor that he was napping here and there for no longer than half an hour. Now he has between 1 hour and 1.5 hours in morning (from 8:30/9) and then (fingers crossed) 2ish hours now and will be in bed by 7pm latest.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm overfeeding though.
He is having 7oz milk in morning followed by a few spoons of baby cereal, then 7oz milk at 10am, another 6/7oz milk at 12:30/1pm, 7oz milk at 4pm with a few spoons of puree and then 7oz at 6:30 for bed. That sounds like alot doesn't it? And it's hungry baby formula..........

Now they are both asleep, do I hoover and mop the ins and outs of bathroom as planned, or puree up some veg, or just lay down with my book?
Or all of the above?............
Think I'll 'work' for 15/20 mins then relax with my book before the fun starts again!
Although now I am being so smug, they'll probably both wake up in 10 minutes screaming bloody murder!

That's a batch of puree done. Sweet potato and broccoli. I remember it being one of ds1's favourites.
My biggest regret with ds1 so far is stopping the home cooked food. He went through a stage where he refused it when he started teething properly and would only eat cold jars, so I allowed it and now it can be hard to get him to try new foods or eat things that aren't fish fingers, and although fish fingers and chicken nuggets are fine, I would love for him to eat more home cooked stuff, even though I am not great cook!
This is the thing with staying at SIL's for a week. I bought some jars but am thinking of taking my blender and things so I can make stuff there, but will be extra hassle in someone elses house. I just don't want Luke to prefer jars over my own cooked stuff.
FWIW, I deon't think there's anything wrong with jars, they're great, I just want to ccok it myself......for now )

Right, off to do hoovering. Although don't know why I'm telling you that, this stuff belongs on the FLY thread........

DD2 dropped her 2 hr sleep at 18 months so even though DS has slept from 12 till 2 I've had the DD of Doom to contend with.

DS has about same amount of milk feeds, sometimes 6 a day inc a night feed, tho no solids as yet, LBB. He's a fat little erm boy tho so maybe I'm not the one to ask!

coco ds1 also dropped his nap when Luke arrived and has only just in the past few weeks got back to it.
Luke is a fatty too. He is just above the 91st centile, but suppose he has his toddler years to work off any extra bits?

doesn't the hoover wake them up?

No. I have to wait until ds1 is properly asleep though, but Luke is fine regardless. I can even hoover in their room while they're asleep. Under the cots too! There has never been any creeping about here. I am too much of a loud, heavy footed, clumsy freak for my dc's to need silence to sleep, there's always something being dropped or walked into

Luke awake now so back to reality!