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

Might be worth a try bumps It could be that he just needs comforting through the night but as he can smell your milk, thinks he's hungry iyswim. Personally, I'd say if it's true hunger, nothing else will do and he won't settle at all. If it were me, I'd give it 20 mins, if he not asleep by then, then feed him. Does he always feed to sleep? That might be something to think about if he does...............but that's just me, I've not much patience and absolutely hate holding and rocking babies to sleep, although ds2 fell asleep on me yesterday bedtime, and for a moment I felt a bit that I don't hold him more when he's asleep.

Morning!

Bumps it is unlikely he needs feeding every 1.5 hours but not impossible. At this age you need to be careful they get enough milk during the day - they are getting to that distractible age. Also if you are weaning you need to ensure he's still got enough room for milk - not many calories in veg! You could certainly try your Dh's idea. If DS is hungry he won't give up so you'll know!

Ds1 just had a little accident. We were walking to Tesco and of course he wants to run in puddles, he spotted one as we walked into store car park, slipped and went flying into a metal railing and cut his forehead. Big deep dent, so there's me on the wet floor with my top pulled up holding it to his head to try to slow the bleeding so I could run him over to the new clinic across the road, fat belly out, stretch marks and all, people coming over tp see what happened, blood everywhere, all over me and ds1 and the floor. Managed to slow the bleeding, chucked him in pushchair and ran to clinic, they cleaned it and said it wasn't as bad as looked so only needed some glue.
We then had to do our shopping still covered in blood. Nice!
He is ok, think itwas more of a shock than anything as he calmed down pretty quickly.

Weaning question:
Luke isn't drinking much water. Has anyone tried the baby juices yet? Ds1 never drank water but I stuck with just that and in the end had to insert suppositries(sp?) into his bottom before I caved and gave squash. Don't want to do that again........am thinking hipp organic stuff or should I wait? He is still producing wet nappies but I think he should be having more fluids that aren't food. WWYD?

your poor ds1 lbb.... he must have had such a shock! sounds like you handled it brilliantly though. sympathy on the shopping while covered in blood btw, had to do that once after one od dd's nosebleeds and the looks i got going around the supermarket were mental!

bumps... aaron is feeding more at night now than he used to (i don't know how often but the ache in my back suggests he's latched on for most of the night). it's fairly normal at this age, with dd i refused night feeds (well, between 12am and 5am) at 6 months and she still woke loads but with ds1 i just went with it and once he was eating more solids he stopped asking for as many feeds at night.

dinky, hope danny's cold improves soon... it really sucks when they're miserable and you can't do anything to help.

Poor DS, LBB, glad it was not as bad as it looked. Lucky there was a clinic opposite tho, hey! Re the juice, when DD1 was teeny - about 12 mths she saw a consultant for constipation, who said the baby juices were a marketing ploy, and diluted (decent quality) normal juice is the same but tons cheaper... not sure if that advice applies to under-6 month olds tho.

We are recovering from our attack of the oinks. DH is a bit wobbly, but kids seem improved, and I feel human - almost - for first time since Saturday. Yesterday was bad. I still start sweating and shaking if I do any tidying up, but feel alive again. Quite pleased not to have to worry about catching the dreaded flu lurgy now, I've been stressing about it for weeks and weeks, sterilizing all our hands as soon as we leave anywhere etc etc. Much good it did us.

Mum made me cross tho, when DS first got ill and called her and she said oh, what a shame you aren't bf/ing him anymore, then he probably wouldn't have got it. I know she's probably right, but how TACTLESS, grrr, I was worried he might actually die from this awful flu, and the implication there is that it would all have been my fault. Foot in mouth disease, bad case of, but she knows I did the bfing thing for as long as I could stand.

Coco my mum is like that she never thinks before she speaks... Grrrr for you!!! Glad you are all on the mend. I am also bricking it about swine flu, but it has got so bad now that everytime I go out i can not relax.... Crazy isnt it!!!!

Pink i am so glad I am not alone. DD was and is still a good sleeper that I have never had this problem before, so it is nice to know i am not alone....

LBB so sorry for your ds what a shock for you all.... Glad it didn't need stitches and that he is ok.... Big kisses for ds1 poor thing....

Evening all.

LBB - so sorry to hear about your DS1's accident: I'm glad he's ok and that the clinic was so nearby for you guys! Re fruit juice - I'd really try and avoid it for a bit longer if I were you as it can sometimes have a bit of a laxative effect on little tums - if you are going to give them juice try something easily digested like heavily diluted pear juice though. If you're giving Luke purees he'll be getting a fair amount of water in the purees and hopefully he'll get the hang of drinking water. Have you tried giving him a cup to drink out of (he might like copying his big brother)?

Bumps - good idea re your DP having a go at settling your DS. That's what we ended up doing with DS1 when he was over 6 months to help him drop his non-essential night feed (he was sleeping through till 5 and then waking for a feed then up at 6.30 anyway and refusing his morning feed) and it worked - though it took a couple of weeks (DH reading over my shoulder insists it felt much longer than that though) and DH was exhausted by the end of it. You're not alone in having a baby who feeds lots at night - Danny has been feeding lots for the past month and a half at nights. I think its mostly because he's getting too busy looking around and rolling everywhere during the days - night time is nice quiet and dull so the perfect time to feed.

Coco - glad you're all well on the road to recovery. Ignore your mum - there is absolutely no guarantee that DS would have avoided swine flu if you were still bfing. I was at a baby group today and there were several women and their bf babies who had already had swine flu. If you get it, you get it. The way I see it, we can take sensible precautions (like cleaning hands, avoiding clearly ill people coughing and sputtering over us) but beyond that its a case of being educated as to the symptoms and getting treatment quickly I think.

So Danny was up lots last night - feeding and rolling himself around his cot into bizarre positions and getting stuck in them - so between that and his snotty cold was uber cranky today. Got him weighed today for the first time in around 2 months and he's still sat firmly on the 75th percentile but am sure his weight will start tailing off as he gets more active. DS1 has had another day of being rather challenging - though thank god his nanny had to cope with it rather than me

dinky Hadn't thought about trying a cup........we have thousands as it took a while to find one ds1 would drink out of. Good idea. I don't really want to give juice, but I don't want to have to do what I had to do withthe other one.

DS must have know something was going on last night as he was very very good . He went down at 8 and I went up at 10 to do dream feed but didn't do it in the end i just left him. DD woke the house at 3 screaming so i fed him while dp sorted out dd. He fed for a long time and then I put him back in his cot after. He then woke at six (dp left for work at 4) for another feed and then said in bed with me until dd came in at 6.30........ So all in all a great night and dp didn't have to help!!! Lets hope it isnt a one off..........

LBB i have tried ds with a cup but he just doesn't get it yet It sais from 4 months but he is not ready... And he turns his nose up at a bottle so that is going to be fun...

bumps Glad you had a better night. Fingers crossed that this is a natural turning point for him.
Re cup, I remember moving ds1 onto one or trying to just after 6 months and he struggled. With a harder teat, he just wanted to chew on it, free-flows he choked, it's all a bit of a nightmare isn't it?
At one stage, I was giving ds1 water with a spoon!
Like dinky says though, Luke's prob getting water from purees (when he eats them, not often with home cooked), plus they are a bit thick so I have been adding cooled boiled water to thin them out a bit. I have been following the same recipes as with ds1, but he was much better with food than Luke. Luke is fine with jars and things, but won't stand for home pureed. Git.

Bumps - you could try an open cup with DS - BF babies like lapping drinks up so often do well with open cups like doidy cups. You will have to hold it for him for a bit though. DS1 liked his doidy cup and tommee tippee free flow ones - was useless with all other types of cup though. Hurrah for you having a much better night though - long may it last. Danny was a monkey last night - had me up 4 times as he was rolling all around his cot and getting stuck in v uncomfortable positions. Rather looking forward to him getting bored of the rolling trick.....

morning all, just quickly catching up before i get the train to london to meet a friend who is in the UK for one day between flying from USA to Saudi. She was flying into Heathrow and has until 6pm so we said we'd meet her and show her the sights.

Hope all ok with DS LBB. Ref juices, I've started H on the boots baby fruit juices the last few days but watered down with cooled boiled water. He loves them.

Right, got to dash, friend has just landed so need to whizz to see her.

Hope you had a nice day mos. That's what I may do with juices, water them down.

Luke has just eaten home cooked carrot and peas!!!!! yay. He had lots too.

Morning all. Had a bad night but it wasn't ds it was dd. She is really poorly. I am praying that it isn't swine flu although at the moment I dont think it is. She is full (and I mean full yuck) of a cold, last night she couldn't breath properly. She has a temperature of 37.9, calpol did bring it down last night but it is back up this morning. She says her head hurts but she feels ok. So dont know what to make of it...

I have told her not to kiss ds but how can i stop her??? ANd also although she remembers some times she quiet often forgets to put her hand over her mouth when she coughs (she is only 2) so guess he may come down with it soon as well!!!!!!!!

Hope you are all ok....

Oh bumps poor you and dd. O might be ok, Luke hasn't caught Jacob's colds every time. I've noticed it's more with dummy sharing really that the cross contamination happens here. Might be a good time to get in the habit of getting her to wash her hands often and encourage her to use tissues to wipe her face and nose if you haven't already. Jacob is a bit hit and miss with it, but mostly enjoys washing his hands and will get any bit of cloth laying around to wipe his nose Trying to stop him pulling his top up to use that though!

Just put together the party bags for Jacob's bday next week, just need to get one other little toy to put in the girls bags and then I can crack on with the food etc.
I am going to make play-doh and get the cookie cutters out for the lo's too, have lots of balloons that'll just be on the floor to play with, animal face masks, bubbles and streamers, colouring, obviously Jacob's toys too. That sounds ok doesn't it? Not planned any games or anything as they are all between 3 months and 3 years, hoping it'll be a nice day so I can chuck everyone out to the park after they've had a bit of food

Hope DD is feeling a little better Bumps? LBB I think DS1's party will be great fun - at that age I don't think they can cope with organised games etc - they just want to play and eat crisps and cakes . Hope the weather is good to you and lets you all get down to the park. How is DS1's head? What a horrible shock for you both, but a stroke of luck being so near a clinic.

Dinky - I've been feeling a bit of all the rolling babies, but after reading about Danny's nighttime antics, am quite glad Sam's still pretty stationary!

MOS I hope you had a lovely day yesterday up in London with your friend? That's often how I would get to see my Dad - he would be stopping at LHR on the way somewhere. I know the restaurant in the Hilton quite well but never got the chance to get into Central London with him.

Coco - hope you are all feeling better after your dose of SF.

After seeing the dietician on Weds we've just started weaning here. So far Sam has enjoyed carrot and pear, but will not touch baby rice on its own!! Screamed the place down when he tasted it! We're going dairy-free and egg-free until 12 months, and avoiding wheat until around 10 months. It's going to be a bit of a pain and require a bit of thought, but I'm hoping it'll be worth it to help him avoid intolerances...

At the moment he's rocking around in his activity centre chatting to himself in the mirror!

Tomorrow we have a big, joint party for all the NCT babies turning 2, so I'm really hoping for sunshine in the afternoon - well, anything but wind and rain. As I was pregnant at the party last year, I intend to have a few glasses of wine. DH doesn't know yet and has bought loads of beer to take, so I'll have to down a few glasses as soon as we get there so I can't possibly drive home .

Right, off to puree some sweet potato now....

Hope everyone okay xxx

Hi STW Ds's head is fine, looks a bit pathetic now, looked really bad when he did it, and now would look nothing more than a paper cut if it wasn't for the sterile strip the nurse put on it.
I'm quite looking forward to Jacob's party. I made up all the party bags today (super organised me!) and I have a few bits of cakes/sweets/crisps in the cupboard which I have not eaten (yet...)
I also bought some new plastic mixing bowls today as planning to do pasta salads and things as well as sandwhiches, nuggets, and whatever party food I can afford to buy!

Re babyrice, Jacob wouldn't eat it either, so I didn't bother trying it with Luke, the stuff is foul. I know it's supposed to be bland so not much of a flavour change, but OMG does it taste awful!
Luke's really getting the hang of eating now. He has dropped 1 7oz feed, and has dropped 2/3oz out of other feeds. I'd say he's probably having 24oz of milk a day and 2 ice-cube worth of puree at each meal.

Dp has gone out for the evening. Luke is in bed and jacob is whinging. I knew I should have bought a bottle of wine earlier!
Going to put the little rat bag in the bath now and get him into bed so I can wash up, sterilise bottles, clean my kitchen, sweep and mop living room and think about doing the ironing.....but there is a box of maltesers in the cupboard so might just stuff my face instead!

Sounds like Jacob is going to have a great party LBB! I hope you get some nice weather for the big day so you can all go to the park. And some pasta salads sound good - we did sandwiches and crisps for the little ones and various salads and baguettes for grown ups and more adventurous little eaters for DS1's 2nd birthday party last year - and the obligatory jelly and icecream for all afterwards (DS1 is a big jelly fan) - and they were all a big hit all round.

Bumps - I hope your DD is better now.

STW - yes, I rather wish Danny was so into rolling at the moment. He's also trying to rock himself back on to his knees when on his front and getting very frustrated that he's not getting anywhere - makes for lots of shouting during the day times. He was up every 2 hours again last night - so at 4, when I was totally shattered, I sent DH in to settle him - cue an hour of screaming which suddenly stopped when DH took him into bed and snuggled up to him and he went back to sleep! His sleep was all over the place today and he fell asleep at 6.30 without taking a bedtime feed so I can tell its going to be another fun fun fun night tonight in the dinky household. Must remember mantra - its just a phase, its just a phase... Sounds like you're all sorted on the weaning front! DS1 hated baby rice too - though as have said before he love love loved butternut squash. Will be dragging the family off to IKEA at some point this weekend to get a highchair with tray for Danny and then we'll be all set to go - he's now trying to grab food (mostly cake or drinks that end up all down me!) so think he's getting to the wanting to eat stage.

DS is loving food as well but hates purees.... So we are BLW mostly but still trying to spoon feed bits so he gets used to eating off the spoon... He is having a couple of spoonfuls or sticks of food a day.He loves broccoli and sweet potato.... Going to try spinach and ready break tomorrow (not at the same time though..)

STW I am holding out on dairy until he is 9 months and gluten/wheat until he is 10 months just in case...

DD still has a temp but says she feels fine so i am not as worried now, if it was swine flu then i am sure it would have hit her by now...

bumps... hate to break it to you but ready brek is oats, oats are glutan and need to be avoided for a few months yet if theres an allergy risk

I can't make jelly . I follow the instructions, leave it in fridge overnight and in the morning, you still need a straw! So there will be no jelly at party

I thought oats were ok now... Mum is a celiac and has been told oats are ok!!!!!

Good job you told me pt as we are avoiding glutan and wheat until 10 months.... I couldn't have heard my mum properly.... What cereal can I use for ds that is high in iron but has no milk (or glutan) added?

I used various gluten free porridges from the health shop and rice krispies when we were at the no gluten stage with ds1... he wasn't a great fan of the porridges though, although that said he isn't hugely fond of oat porridge either so will still try aaron on them but won't expect too much. we mostly gave hime fruit for breakfast as that seemed to be the only thing he could have that he liked!

I've been wondering about breakfast too but then I suppose it doesn't matter if you give foods that we don't consider "breakfast" foods, such as potatoes or pieces of wheat free pasta or something, along with fruit. Gonna have to do a lot of improvising over the nxt few months - will also be a pain for the childminder.

LBB - why does jelly always do that?!?! Did you put any fruit in, because certain fruits are too watery. I've just spooned passion fruit over the baked cheesecake for this afternoon and might even be able to pass it off as homemade . Is it DS1's birthday today?

Have a lovely day everyone!