Dec 08 it's time for sippy, tippy and doidy cups (& wee sticks!?!)

[Veggiemummy]

sorry could think of much and these where discuss on last page.

.... I want Marcus to go too.... for the same reason! Or even just for that hairstyle alone... oddschecker confirms it

Flying visit to ask question - excuse rubbsh blackberry typing - how much do you guys pay babysitters if you've used one? Am shocked at how much someone has just asked for but perhaps that's the going rate these days??

hello hello - just posted some photos of the rfh meet on my profile. had no idea how to keep them private, so they're out there. if anyone wants me to, i'll delete them.
it was great to see people again, although i also didn't have enough time to speak to everyone enough. sorry.

dh had a shocker trying to put madam down last night - i went out (yeee haaa!) and even though we did a trial run earlier in the week which went perfectly, this time she screamed screamed screamed until even the neighbours asked if there was anything wrong. poor dh - he was truly shaken by the whole experience.

and tonight, for the first time she refused the boob - she looked at it, tried to bite, nibble, nip, but seemed like she had forgotten how to suck. it was dreadful. i cried, she didn't know what was going on - in the end, we got a bottle out, shoved some formula in it and tried that. she ended up teething on the teat more than drinking, but at least she drank some. and then more screaming, more crying from me and dh put her down. sob. anyone else had this experience? i mean, she drank fine this afternoon from the boob. i suspect she wasn't hungry, but this has never happened before.

KP, we haven't met I don't think, nice to see you here! Fwiw ds2 has had the same symptoms for teething, v sore bottom etc but no red cheeks!

Ladyt, BB? . But yes, if I was in the countryside no doubt I would have succumbed as well! Btw, I have a feeling Marcus is from my town! Is he the one with the sideburns, supposedly modelled on Wolverine?

Jump, yay for your 2 days!

ok this is scary. madam woke up at midnight (as per) and i went in to feed her, hoping she would feed again, and no, she has refused. she has screamed and screamed. we called nhs direct - she isn't ill - and now she is calmly playing on our bed. but it is 1.30am and we don't know how to get her to sleep if she is refusing to breastfeed.

will look on the feeding threads.

Snap wg DD has been screaming since 1 and won't even settle when held, is fighting us frantically.

Morning,

DS2 is awake again. This is starting to annoy me now. I think I am going to put my foot down and stop giving him a bottle if he wakes up.

Kiwi, I've added you to the FB group now.

Hope you are all well and asleep.

anyone there? we areat our wits end. any ideas who we can turn to?

wg, kp - sorry you've both had bad nights, no idea what could be going on though. Wg, what about a bf counsellor? They might have some ideas as to what madam is doing

Kayz, have you tried offering water if he wakes up?

I'm up early as well. Ds2 woke up, if I can get him out of the room quick enough then ds1 will stay asleep for another hour or so which is worth a 6am start for me!

wg does she take ebm from a bottle? Pumping will keep your supply up until this - crossed fingers - temporary strike is resolved. In meantime re sleep resort to newborn methods? Rocking, white noise etc? Am thinking of you. In a 1 hours sleep sort of dazed way...

yes, she will take from a bottle, but am trying to give a cup in the hope she will go back to the boob at some point. how are you doing? did this come out of the blue for you as it did for us? it isso upsetting, because she is so upset by it

Hi WG, Kiwi, did your babies go to sleep in the end ? I'm sorry, I have no help to offer. DS1 graduated from boob to formula at 9 months when I got flu, and I just let him go, he just bit me and cleary preferred formula. He was on bottles. DS2 has drunk water from a tommee tippee cup since 4 months and, after trying lots of different brands, drinks one carton of formula milk a day at nursery from the same cup. He doesnt have formula milk at home, this seems to work well. WG could it just be a reaction to a change in routine or something ?

Kiwi, do you have any other friends with babies/children, who can babysit for you ? I started a babysitting circle on MyNightOff.com, which works really well, and is free. It means we can go out twice a month, which is what we plan. Its very expensive to book a babysitter and the cost was putting me off, as we wanted to go out frequently.

Anyway, I may have my nights sorted now, but just was well, as the days are comically bad

DS1 has reached new hights of confidence and assertiveness and wants to do everything himself and frequently tells me if I am in his way of cooking, cleaning, or generally being man about the house. I have been attemoting to potty train (badly, I suspect) and he doesnt want to wear nappies anymore, wants to sit on the toilet every 5 mins, doing imaginary poos and wees, and then doing the real ones on the floor, etc. I think he has full control of everything, but in typical man fashion has no reason to put it into proper action. So we have decided to bribe, one malteser for a wee, and something brilliant for a poo (the important one)! I think we have cocked it up a bit, any tips ? Its hard to watch a pant-less child all the time, while dealing with another LO, and trying to cook dinner

pmk, I am enjoying a virtual glass of cheerfulness with you, heres to next month

Kayz, going back to work might seem a bit sad but will you enjoy the change of scene ? I miss my boys a lot, but then they are hard work at the moment so i would probably be tearing my hair out if I was with them all the time.

Thankyou to those who posted pictures, its nice to put a name to a face. And such lovely babies.....I like the one pingu posted of you and tuppence, WG...

njan what about a reward chart? I printed one from the supernanny website (so its free!) for ds1's eating. Tbh, it didn't work for ds1 but then I suspect he saw through the attempted bribery!

kayz when are you going back to work?

Does anyone want to do a Yorkshire meet up? If so, I'll start a thread

madam is at least calm. she slept from 2.15 to 6am, and i couldn't get her to sleep more, even though i took her out for a walk (view mad nutter mum walking her baby in a pram at 6.15am while tears run down her cheeks). we're watching baby tv as i have expressed (a whopping 9oz in about 20 mins), she is playing with a spoon and teething on it. she alternates absolutely fine with suddenly distressed, going for the boob, and then perplexed as to what to do with it. i wouldn't mind so much if she weren't so obviously distressed by it. and don't even want to think about geting her to sleep. ugh.

in an effort to distract myself, how do i get to see pingurocks' photos, which njan mentioned? i can't find it.

waiting until i can call LLL or other bf councillor person.

oh, and they say nursing strikes can precede a developmental leap. well, this lady has started being much more roly poly than before nad is turning onto her front lots. maybe that's it??? am feeling pretty desperate.

nice pics of everyone - except mine awful! don't have to make private as apparently it's difficult & haven't had a reply about how to do it anyway - besides I do need to stop posting such personal stuff in future anyway....

sorry for all having bad nights.

Kayz i think you added invisible not Kiwi

WG you poor love, really glad to hear she's finally had a bit of sleep, and hope you've had some help by now from a BF specialist. You have my greatest sympathy, I was there walking the streets with dd at 4.30 am a few months ago cursing the birds as they started to sing and she still wouldn't sleep

and KP hope you had some success as well. kayz too the early waking is a killer.

PD thank goodness some of your pics came back, no idea about the technical side but sounds like some good suggestions of things to try. My brother recommended this programme for when our drive seemed to have eaten those videos www.data-recovery-software.net/ you can get a free demo to try it out.

pmk to AF, good luck for next month, meanwhile lots of blue cheese and seafood etc [silver lining]

njan that website looks really useful, we haven't even thought about babysitters yet but makes sense to swap with people you know who know your baby.

Bit of TMI coming up. I had a blocked duct yesterday which finally resolved in the shower this morning. Dear Lord, I had no idea about the amount of gunk that could get stuck in a boob. All I had to do was press slightly on the sore area and a spray came out that went on for (I kid you not) 3 1/2 minutes. I kept checking the clock thinking will it ever end? I nearly called DH in to see the amazing sight but then thought, we're enough in the desert as it is this really won't help!

Oh and I'm finally off this afternoon to have a massage for which the gift voucher was a Mother's Day present! That it's taken this long to find the time is a sign that it's really needed...!

Have a lovely weekend ladies, big hugs to you all and especially WG and KP and madam and babyPanda.

We finally got BabyPanda to sleep at 5am.. then had to wake her at 7.30 to take her to the doctor. Ugh. I'd made appointment yesterday as i was a bit worried by the diarrhea but he said she seemed fine (and was suddenly on great form when she got there, flirting away with the doctor [blish]) Thank god for my lovely in-laws (there's a sentence that probably doesn't get written very often) who are coming round all the way from Luton just to take her out and let me sleep a bit, bless them (DH is at work today).

Doctor said pretty much must be teething as she's not ill, and even if she does have tummy bug it'll be viral and nothing we can do about it anyway. Sigh.

WG BabyPanda isn't really on nursing strike, just periodically (when the pain is at peak, I guess) but I really feel for you, must be so upsetting. I just spoke to my sister who said that when her DD was younger she had a similar few days to you and found that getting her DD in the bath with her (she loves baths) and all warm and relaxed got her feeding again. Worth a try?! Might even help you relax too.

PMK, I think I have yes. I just knew the name from the list. But then realised Kiwi isn't on the e-mail list.

Tilly, I am back on the 24th August. I will come to a meet up if I can. I am working Mon-Wed so I can do any other day. We've tried offering him water which he will drink for about 30 seconds. Then once he realises that it isn't milk he screams again.

Hi Everyone

We got back from our week in Wales last night but I have not caught-up yet. I couldn't even follow you guys on my phone as we were in The-Land-That-Phone-Reception-Forgot. I really missed all your witterings pearls of wisdom! The holiday was pretty shite really. Wish we stayed at home and come to the meet-up. We were in a small cottage with the outlaws. The walls were paper thin and DD2 took to waking everyone up every few hours to scream about the acquisition of two new teeth. She really suffered and was very unsettled. In fact her whole personality changed and I could hardly put her down for a second. On day two DH got Swine Flu and was bedridden for the rest of the holiday. That meant I had a clingy baby and an overexcited toddler all to myself. I also had the outlaws all to myself. MiL was actually very helpful and brilliant with DD1 so I can't know her (although she did tell me she hated DD2's name ). FiL was highly selfish, totally unhelpful and thoroughly irritating throughout.

So all in all I am pretty glad to be home. Of curse now that we are back DH is fine and DD2 is totally content and happy to sit and play for hours. So actually I am thrilled to me home.

Right, I am off to catch-up and do a proper post.

x

oops. that should say "i can't knock her"

well, thanks to LLL, strike has been (temporarily) averted. with some skin to skin and patience, she got the hang of it again, but boy that was scary and just so upsetting. it's been a bit of a wake up call and an insight into those who wanted to bf but had to stop - you poor poor things. but i am taking things very slowly, and realise we have to do something about how she gets to sleep, as if it happens again, and as and when bf does stop, we must have another plan in place.

i realise i've also had some family and friends' voices running in my head which may have contributed in some psychosomatic way: "so when are you going to stop breastfeeding her? i mean, you don't want to be one of those women, do you?" tbh before having madam, i was always slightly grossed out by women who bf toddlers, but now i've got a baby and know what bf means to me and our relationship, i may well consider bf until she is maybe 18 months like a couple of my friends (only morning and evening), but then again, maybe i won't. but frankly, it is no one else's business, and i really resent people prying on my bf "plans" - i don't have any plans. at some point it will seem right to stop, or i suppose it will become obvious to me that it isn't benefitting her any more, or it will become unfeasible.

Evening...DS very poorly today running a high temp, and has done nothing but sleep. Not at all like DS! I'm hoping that its this chest infection and that the Ab's have something to do with it. I hate seeing my little man out of sorts

Wg Glad madam has stopped her strike. You are so right about when and how long you bf for. I only did till 6 mths but the amount of people who asked 'So how long are you going to do this for?' It really annoyed me, no-one asks how long you are planning on giving them a bottle for do they? Only you and madam will know when the time is right to stop and until then enjoy.

Right off for some supper. Early night for me as I went out last night with my friends and had a rather late night. But I did get 'chatted up' by a rather young 20ish manboy. Such an ego boost, I felt old enough to be his mother though. But nice to know someone still finds me attractive

hello
I'm back from my hols! We had a lovely time - much better than I was expecting. I'm not really a holiday person but I actually enjoyed it and wasn't even counting down the days (which I usually do on hols!). We stayed in Statford and had a lovely day doing touristy things there - open top bus, motor boat down the river, sitting eating ice creams... and we visited Broadway and Chipping Camden and Evesham and went to the Cotswolds farm park which was ace, and to Cadbury's world - and basically enjoyed being with each other. It was a bit awkward in the evenings as we were all in one room, so once the girls were in bed it was whispers only for us, but actually very relaxing to sit in the quiet for a couple of hours each night! Phoebe SLEPT THROUGH on our first night there - it was a one off but a very welcome one! We went to Sherwood forest on our way home which was fun too - so all in all a nice time Unfortunately P has a high temp tonight so is not a happy soul...and DH managed to let her dive off the bed in the hotel room this morning on to the tiled floor, so she has a graze and little bump on her head . Lucy has flitted between being a delight and being a complete whinge-pot, but I think that's par for the course when you're 5!
Anyway, nuff about me.
JJ well done on the big sleeps
DD your poor ds. Keep an eye on his fluid intake and if he's looking dark around the eyes or stops having as many wet nappies as usual, then get him checked out again. He sounds quite poorly and they can dehydrate quite quickly. On the plus side, once they're feeling better they perk up quickly too.
wg no advice. Lots of hugs and sympathy though. Hope madam has ended her strike.
tilly yes yes! Yorkshire meet-up! Any day fine by me
ZJ boo to your mum. Your chocolate bar idea was very sweet and gracious.
arti sorry about your naff holiday. Grrr. Glad you're back to normality now.
pmk you look lovely, not awful in your pics!
I loved all the meet up pictures although I am once again rather freaked out by having real faces which will have to replace the mental images in my head!
ladyT am very impressed with the sky diving! Do you ever run out of va va voom?!
kayz hope the driving lesson went well.
kiwi hope LO's tummy is feeling better. I think Calprofen can irritate the tummy if it's given on an empty tum.

Update on P...she can crawl but still no desire to weight bare at all. No teeth. And the most shocking...she's started making sounds! In fact in the space of a week she has gone from virtually mute to quite the little chatterbox. She says "ada" which dh thinks is "daddy" and makes cute sounds

anyway...must get myself to bed.
good night ladies and babies - sleep well xxx