May 09 - weather and jabs = hot cross babies

[Momino]

hope i'm not duplicating

Just a quick messages to the hen keepers on here: our hens have got red mite! We noticed them not laying for the last 3 weeks and then DH discovered these little red bugs in the henhouse today. We looked it up and they show all the signs of redmite, poor things. Apparently they come out at night and attack the hens. That explains why they wont go in their henhouse recently, because they get bitten by these pests. We're cleaning and moving the henhouse today and getting some treatment too. Hopefully they'll start laying again soon.

Tummum thanks for the swine flu article. I must say I find the whole swine flu coverage in the media very confusing.

Hello everyone!

Just having a bit of a read of the posts and a catch up as haven't been on for ages.

Matthew&Bumpsmum So very very very sorry, have thought about you alot at this sad unbearable time.

Babysigning - I bought the Baby's first Signs book and me and DH have really got into it. We learn a new sign every day! We can have very basic conversations now - mostly about 'more biscuits please' and 'where's the cat'. My friend is fully trained in Makaton (the signing used in baby signing) as she works with learning disabled adults, so she's supporting us in our learning. We're hoping that as it becomes normal for us to use the signs then E will pick it up when she's a bit older as she will have seen us do it from a very early age. I think it's amazing for very young children to be able to communicate their needs easily before they can talk. Ooooh how timely just received this on an email about signing from my friend and thought I would share it with you guys:

"Tina?s friend (also a speechie) used makaton with her baby ? at first baby didn?t show much response to it, however must have understsood and learnt signs receptively. However at age 8 months, she started signing back e.g. toilet, drink? apparently she only ever cried very briefly to get mummy?s attention, then signed and made her needs known and didn?t cry any more. Fantastic!!! If you give human beings a mode of communication, it alleviates so much stress!!! That?s my philosophy! Apparently it was quite freaky though to see such a young child signing away?"

E is growing nicely and sticking rigidly to the 50th centile, but our HV team have a new rule that babies can only be weighed every 4 weeks - not sure what that's all about, but I like to know how much weight she's gaining on a more regular basis.

We've been attending a new mums group which is organised by our HV team. It's been lovely to meet new mums and meet again some of the mums who were on our antenatal group. Me and E held a little get together yesterday morning for a few of the mums and babes at our house. We're just a pair of social animals.

We've been swimming a few times and we're now thinking about doing a swimming course, but they are a bit pricey, need to convince DH it's a good idea!

Thank you for advice given ages ago about slings - We're now using a baby bjorn and E loves it. I use it alot especially when shopping as she's happy to sleep in it and happy to be awake in it (she gets bored when awake in the pram). DH loves it too and can be seen regularly walking around our town sporting a baby.

So all in all, it's all going rather well. We're still of course waking in the night (no such luck on the sleeping through front) and I do regularly have meltdowns due to no sleep, but the positives quickly make up for that.

My sympathy goes to those who are struggling with PND and other issues.

My amazement goes to those with more than one DC - I think it's tremendous how you're coping.

Will hopefully be on more often, depending on the social calendar of my daughter!!

Well done Dandy! Triumph is duly yours!

Oh well done dandy! I'm so, so pleased for you all. Isn't it great to hear some good news?

Fab news dandy so pleased for you

Well done Dandy- so happy for you and your DD.

Oh, wow, great news dandy. It must be such a relief for you. Now you can look forward to a relaxing summer holiday

Great news what a relief!!! Well done you for standing up for yourself and your DCs.

Great news, Dandy, well done!

Gert I skimmed your post and for a second thought you were having conversations about biscuits and the whereabouts of the cat with E!!

It sounds like it's not too uncommon to cut a tooth early. I hope H doesn't though. My friend fed her baby (14wks) some rusk yesterday because he was struggling to feed due to teething pain & apparently he loved it. Shows just how quickly our babes are growing up, though I think I'll wait out the 6 months with H. I'm wondering about baby led weaning. Have any of you tried it with your older DCs?

Gert, that was a lovely update post . you sound very at ease and organised (parenthood is a breeze isn't it ?).

Dandy, . marvellous news! you worked hard for it, you should feel proud.

allok here despite weather. have had a friend an her 3 year old for lunch which broke up the day and now we're having Quiet Time.

supposed to go to a friend's tomorrow for curry takeaway, putting children (8 amongst us!) to sleep in different rooms upon arrival. my friend rang today and her dd1has chick pox. my 3 haven't had it yet though older 2 exposed a few times. should we just chance it and go? wwyd?

tummum, forgot to say thanks for that article for reassurance - i'm getting a bit panicky about swine flu.

Dandy well done. Wow. Isn't it unheard of for an appeal to actually work?

Spangle I did BLW with both my dc. It's the lazy mother's dream. I get the impression though that subsequent dc have tended to be BLW for decades without really having a name to call it. As for waiting 6 months with heffalump babies. Ds is a lump, but couldn't sit up properly at 6 months and so I waited until 7.... He took to it fine. Dd1 (the eldest) didn't really get the hang of it until 9 months and too was fine on just milk. Aitch on here has a website devoted to BLW.

keep forgetting things i wanted to post. i'm ebaying just a few pairs of jeans so won't get too much £. i'm in awe of your ebay sales a couple ofweeks ago pula. did you have a lot of stuff to sell or did you get high bids for your items? well done you, i'd love to be half as successful.

Momino I'm not sure what I'd do. Dd1 has had them, Ds hasn't. I just think 2 months is a little young so would rather not risk it just yet.

Jennster, maybe 2 months is too young. my friend has a five month old dd2 who hasn't had them and another family who have decided to chance it have a 3 month old. would i be wimpy for staying away? my friend is understanding though so I wouldn't feel badly saying no.

chickenpox I think I wouldn't risk it with a very young baby either.

With eBay you sometimes have to get lucky that a bidding war ensues with an item. I've had it before where it didn't sell and when relisted it sold for more than expected. I've been doing OK so far. Only 3 of my items didn't sell after relisting. It was George stuff though, so I kind off expected it. Branded things sell much better.

My HotMilk stuff has arrived. I can't wait to try it on, but C has decided to be a bit grumpy today so I haven't managed to try it on yet. I can't complain about C really. It's the 1st day this week she's been like that.

well done dandy you're the first to win for a v long time if i remember right?! fantastic news and great that dd gets to stay with her pals as she should..

tummum happy 10th anniversary!hope you're having a great day.

belgian your poor hens.. hope they like their hen house in it's new spot.

short of time to name check all.. g's not settling. had to take her to doc today with an angry looking rash.. i knew it wasn't anything horrid as it disappeared when pressed. turns out it's infantile excema doc wasn't our normal one and not v helpful with preventative action and has prescribed an ointment and anti biotics anyone have any experience with excema? it's only on the areas that are not covered with clothes.. neck, elbow & face.

fi my ds had eczema (and still has but to a lesser extend) it also started around 6-8 weeks, which is apparently when it tends to start in babies. There's not all that much you can do except for moisturising G's skin religiously (with non-perfumed moisturiser) and keeping anything that's harsh on skin to a minimum: I wash with Fairy non-bio as I've discovered that any other detergent will make him worse, I don't use softener and after lots of experimenting I've finally discovered what sun screen works best for him, but I always make him wear a T-shirt in the sun so I can keep sunscreen use to a minimum. The same was the case with what moisturiser to use, because some made it worse (i.e. E45). If he has a bad flare up I use hydrocortisone 1% and that usually does the trick, but I do try to keep it to a minimum. here is what the NHS website has to say about it. It also contains a few good links to support groups that can give some more info too.

Hi all, I'm summoning namecheck amnesty as there have been waaaaay too many posts since my last one (Internet has been crook again).

Dandy Hurrah and Huzzah . That's bloody brilliant.

Tummum Caravan shops on your anniversary? I sniggered a lot at that.

DD1 has finished Primary School. There were lots of tears, as a few of the girls aren't going on to the Senior School here. It was the Leavers' Play last night and this morning. It was brilliant and my clever girl had the main part, she was great . She's at a party this evening for end of school, she's currently upstairs wiv her mate gerrin ready. The fug of perfume is drifting downstairs and choking me

Our holiday is booked, 2 weeks in France in August. Yay! But boo! to getting a letter from work advising that my expected return date is 31st August . They can shove that date up their.........

thanks belgian i was worried it was something I'd eaten transferring into my milk. the 1% cream and anti-b have made a big difference already after just one lot..

grumpy the lead part.. you're allowed to be smug proud!

been a bit of a stressful day today.. have fallen of the healthy food wagon and eaten way too many crisps, flakes and cola bottles

dandy - fantastic news! That must be such a relief for you all.

BLW - we did it it with DD1, and as Jennster says, it's ideal if you're a bit lazy as you don't need to puree anything, and in theory cook anything different (although in practice we did in the early dats). DD1 is not fussy and now eats like a small hungry horse - she usually eats more (quantity and variety) than my friend's 4 year old and she's 28 months old now. She only ate half-heartedly to begin with, but all of a sudden at 11 months it clicked.

tummum - happy anniversary!

grumpy - yay to your daughter's play and double yay to your holiday. We're looking forward to week staying with my parents in Wales .

Today, A has either been sleeping, feeding or vomiting, fab. Had to buy more muslins because I'd used every single one we had. I think it's all because of the injections yesterday, but I have been wondering about reflux for a while - she's sick a lot, both after and between feeds.

DD1 has been in a reasonable mood today whic makes things easier. Went to a soft play place this afternoon which she enjoyed and it completely wore her out so we didn't have any trouble getting her to sleep tonight. A is still awake, and DH has just gone out to pick up our chinese takeaway. Oh, and there's a very nice bottle of wine in the fridge!

tummum Happy anniversay, 10yrs is an accomplishment!

grumpy, can I come with you on holiday? we aren't planning one this year though I'll have to decide whether to go to Ohio with Harper to see my mum at least.

Fi, both dd1 and dd2 have eczema. dd1 had it very severe as a baby and had to be wet-wrapped through the very hot summer of 2006. we resorted to steroid cream (hydrocortizone) and daily baths with ointment (Aveeno oil). we also use Aveeno lotion generously.

DD2 doesn't have it nearly as bad as dd1 but we still need to use steroid cream sparingly as well as the Aveeno stuff. Hopefully Harper will be bypassed. At now 11 weeks tomorrow, I haven't seen any rash as yet .

fi Like Momi we use Aveeno too, both for ds and myself and it's brilliant stuff. The hydrocortisone should be just for bad flare ups.

I've put C in her crib upstairs, awake, but she appeared a bit sleepy and had been awake ages. I've got the baby monitor with me. Hopefully she'll go to sleep without any trouble up there on her own. I miss her down here funnily enough...

I'm a bit dissapointed at my Hotmilk purchases and I'm returning one of the 2 bras I've bought. I'm replacing it with a Freya bra. Freya seem to always fit me perfectly. I've even got a bikini from them to take away on holiday as I just know it'll fit.

I'll look for the aveeno.. we're back to the doc on tue to get it looked at again. hope they don't run over an hour late like today as it was a nightmare in the waiting room with ds climbing the walls after he'd eaten all the snacks and got bored with his stickers/colouring stuff. also don't like being in there so long with this swine flu. i've also been thinking about where g's rash is and what might have aggravated it. it's worst on all the areas that come into contact with my skin when bf & i changed bubble bath this week.. might be a coincidence but won't use it again just in case. all her clothed areas are rash free so not our washing liquid. just finishing last feed of the night so hopefully off to bed soon..