May 09 - Pumpkin (or champagne) anyone? We're doing the Monster Mash!

[ScarySpangleMaker]

In honour of sausage's forthcoming nuptials, with a nod to imminent weaning.

Sorry. Didn't mean to repeat myself!

Hi all
Sorry to those feeling tired, snotty or stresses. I guess that's all of us then!!

I went to a BF group at my local chidren's centre today for the first time and it was really good so I'll go again. They also do messy play so hopefully we can go next week.

be back later R needs a feed.

Headless - lol at feeling 18!!

Llare - hope he's ok. Sounds logical that it could be a tight foreskin.

Fi - thanks. I am a bit worried he's coming down with something, especially with our trip.

Having said that, O is definitely having a bad gums day. I can see a different texture on his top gum where one of his top teeth will come. His cry is really angry and the chomping is non stop. Fortunately he's just fallen asleep.

belgian i would have freaked out at the what ifs too.. all the while trying to keep a calm looking composure.

back in a bit.. poo explosion!

afternoon all

haven't been on mn for a few days so am frantically trying to catch up

M still only sleeps during the day if we go for a long walk (walked for an hour yesterday to go and see my great aunt - M slept for 35mins), or on my lap during/after bf (she's currently asleep on me now - 25mins so far)

grotty grey day here so have had a sofa day, a friend popped round earlier for coffee with her 3yr old boy and girl who's a week older than M. She's stopped BF now as she's back at work and didn't want to faff about expressing so I've been given almost a full box of breast pads .

went shopping with DSD at the weekend so we both now have wigs for halloween

must dig out my polythene craft bags to make up trick or treat bags and hide DH werewolf mask in case he decides to answer the door to children whilst wearing it

Just skimmed and seen this
Llare am v interested to hear what your GP says. I mentioned to dh that B's willie seem to swell just before he weed, and wasn't sure if it was normal for this to happen to young babies. Then I forgot about it as I haven't seen him wee again since

Reggiee the Dr hasn't seen G but we chatted over the phone. She asked me what his wee looks like. Does he have a powerful flow or a spray? DS has the former so she isn't concerned, but told me to watch out for a spray type flow. She told me that sometimes in young babies the foreskin can be too tight but they don't like to rush to circumcise as it often cures itself. She also said that having a foreskin that is too tight can lead to UTIs so I've got to keep the area as clean as possible and keep an eye out for infection.

He doesn't seem to be in any pain, but it is weird to see. DS1 doesn't do it so it isn't normal, but she didn't seem concerned at all. I'm sure once he starts fiddling he'll correct it himself.

llare hope chat/visit to the doctor went ok.

ladyh re your builder.. hope he's done as good job as his looks.

x post llare glad it's nothing serious

reggie ds's whole willy always enlarges slightly when he's about to wee sometimes with a slight rise too.. useful imminent pee early warning!

Hi everyone,

fi I'm a little bit confused at what those what ifs are that you are talking about. Was it about DS carrying C down the stairs?

llare Glad to hear the gp isn't too worried about your ds's little willy. I do know that foreskins can be a bit tight with babies and little boys and that it does tend to correct itself. Ds also used to do the enlarge + rise before a wee. Great early warning system that sadly doesn't exist with little baby girls

ladyH Ooh if you lived closer you'd have a whole load of mn'ers visiting your house to check out your builder, lol.

Thought I'd make a pie tonight, but I've started it way way too late I've now noticed. I misread to instructions, so I'm going to have to think of something else for dinner tonight Pasta maybe.

C has learnt a new trick this week. She's sitting unsupported for longer than a second! I've also discovered that she can start swimming lessons here after all, so we're going on Thursday to try it out. You get the 1st session sort of free to see if baby likes it and then pay after if she does.

Anyway, back to the kitchen to make some food. (I'd quickly popped onto mn to check the food section!)

Willies thanks all especially Llare for that. PMSL at 'fiddling'. Glad we don't have to go on willie watch . B has a decent flow rather than spray so it's most reassuring. Enlarge and rise is the way of the boys!

Headless we have scaffolding up and builders starting next week on big loft conversion. Am hoping for a bit of eye candy to distract me from the dustand noise .

Ses have a great time in Ireland. No doubt O will be spoilt .

Fi 3 days to go.....

Went to work today with B which was nice. Although I was reminded quite a lot that it isn't long before I return. Early Feb is still a little way away in my eyes but I'm aware how quickly time will fly.

Hi all, going to have to claim a name check amnesty I'm afraid, apart from to say blotted - lovely to see you back.

I took H to be weighed today... not sure why I torture myself really, but wanted to chat to the HV and get a pep talk on BLW (they are really into it here). Anyway he's just below the 9th centile now, having started on the 50th. HV not concerned though. She suggested I could try breast compressions to see H is getting as much milk as possible during a feed. Not entirely sure how to do them but I think it's a bit like expressing.

Overheard a conversation today at the clinic:
Mum: He [baby] is nearly ready for solids
HV: You've not started yet though? The advice is 26 weeks, because of allergies etc
Mum: Really? Well, if they're going to get an allergy, they're going to get one. We won't start yet though, we'll hold out until 3 months.
HV: How old is your baby now?
Mum: 7 weeks.

Willies H has found his and is very proud of the fact - he grabs his bits (quite hard, ouch!) then looks up at me with a grin

belgian sorry yes it was ds carrying c down the stairs on his own.

yay 1/2 way through my dh less wk and very chuffed as so far none of us have been in tears at bedtime! i came close on day one though . feeding G atm and then off to get a cuppa & boot up the laptop

You see, that's what I don't understand about BLW. I've read the book and get the whole philosophy about letting them eat as much or as little as they want to prevent obesity etc, but then that just doesn't gel with the monitoring of the centiles, does it? Or am I missing something? Surely a baby is born on x centile and then will find his own natural weight? DS was born on the 100th centile and is now somewhere between the 9th and the bottom. I think either the HV need to embrace the BLW thing and relax about the centile monitoring or not, really.

I've decided I'm not BLW. As I said, I get the theory but I'm too chicken to give him some finger food. We're on the puree at the moment and I generally sit there with two spoons, with puree on each, and watch him poke himself in the eye/nose/mouth. He is managing to feed himself and obviously I help. I'm still concerned about his tongue tie preventing him from eating so until I know what he can do it is puree for us. He wolfed down some baby rice and some carrot earlier so I'm going to have to rethink the portion sizes.

Oooh! And my best friend had her baby today so I'm very happy. Can't wait to meet him.

spangle at the woman in baby clinic. I really thought people were a bit more up to date nowadays. If H is happy than I suppose there's not too much to worry about. From the BLW book I remember that when you start weaning babies do loose weight a little sometimes too.Breast compressions. At the bottom of this page it tells you how to do it. It's a bit different from expressing + it seems that timing is important too.

llare Yay for your best friend having her baby

llare I possibly didn't explain myself very well. The HV isn't bothered about the centiles - I'm more bothered about it than she is! She told me I'm doing everything right, letting him bf on demand and BLW, the rest is up to him. In H's case I don't think weaning is relevant in his (lack of) weight gain as he isn't actually eating anything yet. Milk is going to be the main source of his calories and nutrition for a good few months yet, any solids will be an added bonus! In fact, it's convinced me to stick with BLW as I don't want to fill H up on low calorie foods when he seems to need as much milk as he will drink.

llare congrats to your friend I had a text from a friend from work yesterday - his wife gave birth to a baby boy on Friday after lots of IVF attempts and a dreadful pregancy. I'm very happy for them.

Salem thanks for the breast compressions link. I'll have a look this evening.

spangle i was considering taking g to clinic this week... but with ds being ill i had an excuse couldn't go. I was a little worried

I think you do need a bit of nerve with the finger foods. H has got this habit of throwing his head back when he gets something in his mouth he can't move which terrifies me about choking. TBH until his chewing skills have developed further I'm only offering him softish stuff like banana, broccoli, bread etc [not just things beginning with 'b' though!]. He can't really eat yet... the only food that has gone through are things that disintegrate in his mouth. He also needs help picking things up - not sure if this is cheating or not? I had a pep talk from the HV because I just wanted some reassurance H will start actually eating food when he is ready, which she assured me he will.

Sorry I'm wittering now.... better go find some food for me. Leftover lasagne is sounding good.

Oh dear. I'm so sorry. Name check amnesty here....although from memory all those facing pnd I hope you all feel much better soon. I guess it's reassuring to hear from other mums with it who are getting better.

Ds has D&V, but I noticed spots on his chest this evening, so am wondering if he has chickenpox. We will know in the morning. I am not looking forward to the prospect of a week stuck at home. Our 'broken' television was 'fixed' today and he watched the Life program with the chameleons and komodo dragons. He was fascinated God bless him. Anyway potty training has come to a halt and I think we'll leave it for a month or so.

I had a fantastic Saturday night thanks all who asked. I really enjoyed it. We set a date for next month too There were 6 of us at the table and we had 9 children between us. Actually we had 9 children between 4 of us.

I need some pudding so am going to search for the superquick chocolate cake recipe on here I've read. Make it in the microwave and eat it hot with icecream.....and I wonder why I've lost no weight.

Llare BLW worked really well for me with #2 but we had to delay solids with #3 and start her very carefully so she had to go by puree first and that lasted all of a week before she was eating solid chunks too!

When I had DS1 the guidance was to start solids at 16 weeks. I know that's changed now but I'm just not convinced by the constantly changing ideas (also - I'm not looking for an argument here, I have read the guidance and backing research but I'm a big believer in reading your children) so I gauged it by when I thought our kids were ready. #2 started around 19 weeks because he was following every damn mouthful of food we were taking. #3 was nine months before we started her because of her failure to thrive issues. G is just over 22 weeks now and she has been on solids for a couple of weeks because she started waking up during the night again and wasn't for settling on boob alone. The first time we offered her solids she pushed it all back again so we waited a week and tried again.

I do make all of my baby food though because my God, jars and packets work out so expensive and there's SO MUCH WASTE from the packaging! I made a whole load of food for her the other night - sweet potato, broccoli, carrot, leek, potato for savoury and strawberry & banana for sweet. I should probably think about putting meat in the next load

blotted IKWYM about the jars and packets. I bought some to try out but can't imagine using them full time because of what you said. Having said that I'm quite into some of the fruit purees with yoghurt or mixed with porridge. I've been finishing what H doesn't want!

I think the when-to-start business is all about risk and we take risks all the time, this is just another thing to balance out. We let H try tasting things from about 5m because he was interested and I didn't see it doing any real harm. Thinking a baby is ready at 7 weeks though