May '09 - We've had our first tooth!!

[Grumpyoldcaaaaaaaa]

Here we are, in honour of baby O and the first tooth through.

jennster he's not irish. Just incredibly posh. its as though they cannot say No Wah. So its blended into Noooor.

Right it is fast approaching 6pm. Atten-shun. Operation bathtime and bedtime ready to roll!!!

Gert I've been chanting the same thing - had H weighed today, he's 14lb and dropped a bit further down the chart, hovering above the 9th centile. I know I don't need to worry: H is a very happy, chirpy baby and his only problem with feeding seems to be getting distracted. But I couldn't help feeling a bit down about it, like I'm failing H in some way. Stupid, I know! The HVs are good here and weren't concerned, saying I was doing everything I could & the rest is up to H.

I gave in to curiosity yesterday and tried H with some food (he's 25w tomorrow). He wasn't too impressed with spoon feeding... well, he didn't push it away, but looked very confused by the whole experience (guess he would get used to it tho?). I've also let him have a bit of pear, a rice cake and a munch on my apple, all of which he thoroughly enjoyed, even though he didn't really eat anything, so it's definitely BLW for us. H couldn't hold the pear or the apple properly but pulled it to his mouth while I was holding it and had a good old chomp. The rice cake he could just about manage to hold & bring to his mouth he was intent on pushing as much in his mouth as possible causing me to panic about choking but he spat out any bits he managed to break off. Phew.

I'll include H in meals from next week but TBH I don't think he'll be ready. I'm sure he won't actually eat anything for ages but I think he'll have fun trying

spangle- I think i started my DD and DS1 around 5 and a half months, just on baby rice at first, but from what i've heard/read, the main thing is to wait until after 17 weeks.

I am planning on taking DS2 to be weighed tomorrow as he is looking quite skinny, and he has a tiny head. Again, he doesn't feed great in the day but makes up for it at night

Made it back .

MOMINO don't worry - rl really isn't that exciting. My days consist of an awful lot of walking (I like getting out) and chatting to B. On a couple of days I meet up with other mums. Evenings I'm too knackered to do much, but my weekends have been busy. It seems party season is here as dd has been invited to four 3rd birthday parties in the past three weeks. It's all new to me these parties. Had lots of visits to relatives to squeeze in, and dh been away a bit leaving me to struggle with dd and ds.
Pmsl at 'winge' training . We also go deaf during winges.
BTW, birthday cake for dog .

PULA I shouted at a lady from Bounty who rang up when ds was v young and I'd finally managed to get him off to sleep and was about to hav a nap myself. Needless to say the phone woke him up and I was sleep deprived so let rip .
However, my favourite time dealing with a cold caller was very recently when I just handed the phone to dd (age 2.9) and told her to say hello to the nice man on the phone . They were chatting for a while before I think he realised I wasn't coming back .

SPANGLE have just signed up to a massage class starting next month. Is it good? I've no idea what to expect, particularly as I'm antisocial not a class-type person and it's the first one I've ever done. Poor dd didn't get any. But, unlike dd, it appears that B gets bored of just having me to talk to most days and prefers getting out.

REEBEE well done to dh, and hope your lunch went well.

Hello everyone else. Sorry for no more name checking - there really is too much for me to catch up on .

All not so bad here. B 5 months old tomorrow and improving every month. He still has tummy troubles but nowhere near as bad, and we've almost cracked the daytime sleeping. He wakes up at 6-7am, and provided he's been up for 2 hours, he needs a nap (of vrying length depending on his mood!). He's in bed by 6pm, has a 10pmish dream feed and then it's 6am again . He is between 50-75 percentile, but would love to know his length. He's recently grown out of his 3-6 mth clothes and fits perfectly in 6-9 mth clothes. His bottom teeth are nearly through, but he's had so much bother with them, poor love. Haven't given much thought to weaning but only cos I'm lazy .

Right, enough of me and mine. Will try to keep up.

Amusingly, I am watching the Eurovision Song Contest. I recorded it back in May (was no way I could stay up to wtch it with a 3 week old) and have only just got round to watching it tonight!.

Evening everyone,

flippin Well done on remembering the cocktails . I can't believe we'd forgotten the opening cocktails! Nachos sounded lovely too. A shame I missed it all.

cold callers There's some brilliant tips on there: the why method and a particularly liked the 'toddler' method. DH has been known to start talking to them about the weather in India. I have shouted at one once when dd1 was a baby as ds was having a tantrum while dd1 was crying.

wind No suggestions, really. Tummy massage helped ds, leg movements too. C doesn't particularly have any problems with it. She farts a lot, but it doesn't bother her

ladyH C went through a "pooing at night and then leaking and me having to change her clothes and grobag" stage too once and she grew out of it after a week or 2. Annoyingly she did it on holiday.

jael I would like to say that when it comes to weaning, you know the guidelines and I'm sure you understand why they have set them. However, they are guidelines and not law. So if you feel that you want to wean your baby earlier, than that's your choice and from reading your posts, I have this feeling that deep down you do want to start weaning J now. I know J takes 2 bottles at night and really it is very normal for babies that are 4m to still take night time feeds. It is very unlikely that weaning him will help him sleep through. I weaned ds at 16 weeks for that reason (he's 7, nearly 8, and back then it was OK) and it didn't make any difference in his need for night time feeds. I also would like to point out that the 6m guideline has been in place for at least 5 y now, as they were definitely in place when my dd1, who'll turn 6 in December, was a baby. It is something that has been bothering me when you say that when your dd1 was a baby, the guidelines were still 16 weeks, so I just wanted to point this out to you. I hope you don't mind me doing this. If your HV back when your dd1 was a baby told you this, then she was very wrong.

Momino Definitely ignore tantrums. It really really works. I did it with ds (dd1 wasn't a tantrummy child) and it worked. I always made sure he got plenty of attention when his tantrum was finished. You have to be patient though and be able to block it out. I remember ds going on for a good hour once. DH couldn't do it and so for a long time ds was really easy for me, but would throw tantrums whenever dh was home as soon as he didn't get what he wanted.

spangle gert Keep chanting. Your los are doing well. I'm still impressed with H's rolling skills. C doesn't go further than her side.

Come to think of it. I presume it's because C's no3, but she's often just left on the floor with the baby gym or even with nothing if DH is looking after her. She gets much less challenging play than the other 2 did. I do spend much more time cuddling and tickling her, when I would have probably done something a little more educational with the other 2

Well, I tried to get C to sleep in her cot today. After 45min of stroking and kissing she finally went to sleep for 45min . I hope it gets better. I've also discovered a problem with teaching her and I think it's probably the reason why I've got the problem in the 1st place. The problem is called the school run. This afternoon I put her to bed at 2 and she didn't go to sleep until 2.45. If it weren't for DH being home, I would have had to get her out of her cot again almost straight away and she would have woken again.

My dd1 made me laugh today. She really is my daughter. I can imagine me having done something like it when I was little. Ds complained that dd1 had sandwiches today and he didn't. I went . I didn't make any sandwiches for her at all. Turns out she had forgotten her lunch bag at school yesterday and so she took that. So obviously she complained that I hadn't put any sandwiches or drinks in her lunch bag. Just a "school bar"

Ooh, mamoth post or what

belgian- I really have to plan ahead with DS2's naps (and feeds) when I have the school run. But it is hard- today I had DS2 screaming on the way home both in the morning and evening as he was fed up and tired . I do have days when timing isn't so critical as DD goes to after-school club one or two nights a week, and my FIL picked her up tonight and gave her tea .

It's so difficult with the school run, isn't it? I can't really get her to sleep when she's not tired and then at 2 I thought that was still far enough away from school run time, but then she took so long to go to sleep. All in all C only had 1.5h sleep today and it just makes her a little grumpy, but mainly just noticeably tired and lacking energy to do much more than sitting and being cuddled. Poor thing. I do hope we get it sorted soon. She'd be so much happier.

It's a bit quiet on here tonight...

Belgian I meant to say earlier, H had a phase of probably 6 weeks (sorry) when it was such hard work to get him off for a nap, and he needed 4 or 5 a day as he wouldn't nap for long, but nor could he stay awake for very long either. I felt like I was up and down the stairs all day. I don't really have any good advice, I'm afraid. Unfortunately H wouldn't let me cuddle or feed him to sleep, so I just had to sit with him shushing/patting him, stroking his face or just sitting there until he dropped off. Sometimes I sat there for an hour and wished we hadn't bothered! Sorry I can't add anything more constructive, but it was a phase and he is much better now.

Having said that, H has had a nightmare day today where he wouldn't nap at all and kept waking up and screaming every time he tried to sleep or I tried to put him down. Eventually I lost patience and said to him 'Right. Mummy can't seem to please you and she has things to do, so you're jolly well going to sit in your bouncy chair while I do what I need to do.' And he was fine. Sat there giggling at me and everything He finally went to sleep at 7pm and is still there on the sofa in his jeans & cardi etc, so at some point we have to get him changed/do nappy etc. Hoping I don't need to feed him as I've had a rather large glass of wine

Reggiee the baby massage classes seem quite good, better than I thought. The sessions formally last for an hour and a half, but the massage bit is only half an hour or so, the rest of the time is describing the theory & discussion, as well as time for the babies to acclimatise (didn't stop H spending the whole time 'talking' to the other babies & generally thrashing about though!)

Bonsoir a tous! After my 3 weeks or so off gadding about in France on holiday, I am very pleased to see there's been so much Franglais thrown around while I was away! But I must admit though that I have totally failed to catch up on the old thread properly and am just starting again here . I hope everyone's doing ok - I can't believe we're discussing teeth, rolling and BLW already! Cocktails all round indeed - and I've brought back some very nice cognac and pineau des charentes if anyone feels like joining me in an after-dinner digestif.

Well I'll be quick anyway - I feel like I have loads to catch up on, but it's actually been so nice to be completely offline for a while, I'm aiming to spend less time in front of the computer. So I may not be around so much but will be following and dropping in from time to time - won't start namechecking now as there's so much news, but it's nice to see everyone still here! Will do some proper catching up over the next few days and then some proper 'greeting' afterwards!

A bientot...

As an ice breaker at the baby massage classes we had to say why we chose our babies' names. I said H was named after a James Stewart film, but no-one had the slightest idea who James Stewart was, even when I said he starred in many of Hitchcock's best films. Mind you, you could ask me about modern films and I wouldn't have much clue.

Where is Grumpy with her ranting post????

Oh, forgot to say that I met someone today who had a similar problem with her car seat as I had with mine. She had help from consumer direct and made a claim against Mothercare. She ended up getting a full refund for her car seat, the travel system and money towards half the price of a new car seat. I think I might just get in touch with them myself and see what my own options are.

Oooh bonsoir euromum I just took a peek at your pictures on FB. Looks like a lovely holiday and T is a real cutie

Euromum Pineau is local to me, there are several old boys who make it round here

My internet keeps dropping, hence small posts.

I went to Parents' Evening tonight, managed most of it but my brain gave up near the end and refused to translate for me

Please let S sleep tonight, I am a zombie.

Bonjour!

Just a quick one from me as I've just got back from Cardiff. I visited my friend who is 37 weeks pregnant and I am now completely cured of my broodiness! I sooooooooooooo do not miss being preggers.

G was wonderful on the way down but the way back was a nightmare. Between Cardiff and Newport he cried all the way and in rush hour, drizzle and near-dark it was hell. In the end I stopped at Newport Macdonalds to try and calm him down but felt very vulnerable on my own. I nearly checked into the Celtic Manor Hotel (£££££££££s) as I was so stressed! I think he was overtired and eventually stopped crying just before Monmouth much to my relief. I'm not sure I'll take him on a long car journey on my own again! Poor little thing.

I did manage to offload all of my 0-3 baby clothes, with the exception of one or two sleepsuits that have special memories. I did feel a bit emotional about it but feel very happy that my friend's baby will wear them. We've been friends for just under 30 years since we met at primary school.

Euromom I loved your holiday photos! Where did you go?

spangle You named your pfb after a 6foot white rabbit imagined by a drunk

On of my favourite films

Rant coming soon I promise.

Pass us some veeeeeeno Spangle

need to learn to click refresh before posting.

Hi euromum sounds like you had a wonderful time.

spangle Thanks for that. I do hope that C will grow out of it in the end.

And, yes, grumpy I've been looking forward to a good ranty post and it's not coming. Where have you and your post gone? I hope she's busy strangling her mum.

evening all.
belgian/Spangle, Harper didn't sleep well today either, about 1.5 hours. her feeds weren't great either: she keptcrying whilst feeding so I'd take her off but then she'd yell louder, do that pecking thing with her head (rooting), etc. I just think she was overtired.

dd1&2 were very good today but we all got on each other's nerves. they just don't listen at age 2 and 3. how many times can i tell them not to do this and that? whingeing - i ignored and ignored and they eventually stopped but it didn't stop them doing it again. how long do you think it will take? years?

if there's none left for me, you'd better certainly open the other bottle !

My mum's been better today.

She called one of the girls a 'silly bitch'. She keeps going on about DD1's developing bosom very loudly. She is siding with DD1 over everything and being awful about DD2.

She is fucking useless. She can't fathom out taking out adaptor plug to plug in kettle. She can't work out coffee machine (fill with water, fill filter with coffee), she can't fathom out putting 1Euro in to get a trolley, she can't fathom putting ticket in ticket machine. She washes up using tepid water and just dips the pots in, so I have to redo as everything still has bits of food on.

She refers to the pushchair as a 'pram' (really petty I know but this winds me up nearly the most), she refers to S as 'the baby'. She takes the piss out of DD2's accent.

She says she's here to help but doesn't really. She tells me she's been laying awake all night worrying about whether I'm happy . She guilts me about my granddad missing me "well, of course he is so old now, he probably thinks he won't see you again"

She called DH a stupid twat for not being able to get here yet, due to vet not having had blood results back.

She talks to other English mum here (who I've developed a really good friendship with)in a really patronising carefully. enunciated. voice. as. other. mum. has. a. regional. accent. so. must. be. really. thick.

All petty I know and not really worth the wait.

BUT SHE'S REALLY FUCKED ME OFF

aaah, Momino, you've twisted my arm!

Just a quick post before bed...

Belgian Yes, I know they changed the "guidelines" in 2003, I've had enough things child related thrown at me from my BTEC in Early Years lol, I'm just a-bit rusty/tired/forgetful most of the time now, what I probably meant, and it's much easier to say face to face, as I'm never good with words!!lol is, at the start of 2006, when I had just turned 19, and had my DD, it was deamed perfectly fine to wean her at 4 months, she wasn't losing weight etc, she was just a v.big baby, I was excited to wean, I could have held off, but the HV's where we lived then said it was perfectly fine...I've also noticed from looking in the supermarkets that there isn't so much food on offer for 4+ month babies, whereas when I had my DD there was tons and tons of jars, not that we gave her those, we pureed everything ourselves, and will do again. Apparently they just havn't got round to changing all of the baby food jards to 6+ month's, I don't know how true that is though.