November 09 babies are growing up quick, and mummy's getting used to getting covered in sick!

[PreggoK8]

Hope this has worked...

there is really a lot of conflicting advice about weaning. I did not see that coming, thought I would have another 6 weeks or so before starting to read everything but apparently you can start much earlier so I should already know everything .
pav, I normally like "trust your instincts" as you suggested (I was just trying very hard to summarise as shortly as I could ) but re weaning I find it really hard as there could be lots of strong consequences such as food allergies... Well, I guess I still have a couple of weeks. Paula is definitely already interested in what I eat (have to stop on biscuits I suppose) but she still gets enough with the milk as it seems.

Broodzilla, I think we have really similar problems. Your nighttime schedule could be mine. I just gave up even looking at my watch (well after the third time). I have to feed often but not always. And sometimes she is just wide awake for a while (feeding helps). Only taking her into my bed seems to help to let her sleep for a couple of hours without break. During the day is not much better. No nap is longer than 30 sometimes 40 minutes), today we had 4 of those.
Even in the pram she wakes up after half an hour (and I really try to time it with her normal nap time - at least that seems to be really regular). Not just once I had to actually carry her home as she is only screaming. Usually I already pack the sling but not today. I do feel stupid carrying a child in my arms and pushing an empty pram. I guess it would help to change to the buggy style thingy but I think it is still too early for her and she should still lie flat. After all, that's why we bought the expensive Bugaboo, to make sure the carrycot would be big enough until 6 months.

At the moment I try to read "the no-cry sleep solution". I think there are a couple of things which might help me but I really hate the style. I suppose she could shorten it to 10 pages which I would really appreciate as I do not have the time or energy to read about 250 pages! After all this book is supposed to be written for parents with lack of sleep!

Well, I could comment on other things, read all your posts with lots of interest but I really need to get some food down before Paula is due to wake up for the first time [tired emoticon]

Hello everyone!
How I have missed you. I am sorry I dont have much time to post properly. Hope you are all well. I will try to read up what you have all been up to. Weaning and back to work on my mind. Stressing me soooooo much but I am sure you lovely ladies will have some wisdom for me!
Olivia is 4 months today. Incredible.
Love to all.
K

Ursi... and

Aaah, I'm not alone!! (Although sorry you're going through it too!) I have that book too, and the Baby Whisperer... I read both while pregnant, but I've forgotten everything already. OMG, I know... I keep carrying a screaming child and pushing an empty pram with people giving me funny looks, and I too wondered about swapping to a pushchair so that he could see what's going on, but I too decided that I got it so that he could lie flat for 6 months (ROLL ON END OF MARCH!!!) I must admit that these days I mostly take him out in a sling.

• BTW, to any slingers out there, I have just upgraded to a Kozy sling, and it's fantastic. Managed to tie it right away, so comfy, so easy to adjust. Lukas looked a bit for all of two minutes and then promptly fell asleep (ASLEEP!!! YES!!!) It's fab, and looks lovely too. -

Also, wanted to say thank you so much to whoever posted the link to the review of studies on weaning. I've just ploughed through it glass of wine in hand and think I may wean at the weekend. It seems that unless gluten is introduced at or after 7 months, there is a much greater risk of developing diabetes or coeliac's disease... and if I'd wait til bang on 24 weeks to even start with rice or something, I'd have no time to gradually introduce gluten, would I?

AAAAAAAAH.

I need sleep.

But you lot, you're lovely.

(ALSO, what is happening re Bristol meet-up? Have I missed a definite confirmation/cancellation or are we all to be found at the cafe at 1PM on Monday?)

GODDAMNIT. Sleep deprivation is bad. BAD. Just incase anyone is actually reading, what I meant to say that IF gluten is introduced at or later than 7 months, there is an increased risk of blabla.

also - managed to BF in the Kozy sling. a) it's a lifesaver as I seem to BF all the time and b) Lukas actually laughed out loud when he realized he was having a boob while in a sling ( and c) burping kind of just happens...)

"what I meant to say that IF" ??? .... .... ...

Back home after a week away.........aah.

Of course I managed to sneak in some MN time though! Brood thanks for your thoughts re sleeping arrangements. Rosa's slept really well (waking with boobs fit to burst) for the past couple of nights at my dad's so since I'm feeling fairly rested we've put her down in her cotbed (how gigantic it seems and how tiny she seems) tonight and I'll hopefully only have to get up once or twice, grabbing her and running for the warm of my bed each time! We'll see...

Good to hear everyone's news. Unfortunately unlike brood I'm not sat with a pen and pad so I'll just say thinking of you fairybex, hopeing the dreaded 'pox doesn't spread too far bbl, yay for further study pav (DH is in second term of a PhD and loving it) and interesting weaning discussion which I am following with interest scarlotti et al.

Right, off for an early night. Will watch OBEM tomorrow on iPlayer methinks. Night night! xx

Weaning nurse came today. She was okay, I guess, apart from making me feel bad for not being able to take Bryn out for a walk every day. Said that all babies should be going out for at least half an hour every day, regardless of weather. When I said sometimes I wasn't well enough, reminding her I have ME, she looked at me blankly and said, "Well a half hour walk wouldn't kill you."

Not a chance of making it to six months here, though going to try for 20 weeks. But he's gone from waking once and sometimes sleeping through the night to now waking three or four (even five, last night) times to eat, and these are full feeds. I'm shattered! Its like having a new born all over again shudders Several bibs full of dribble a day, and stuffing his hands so far into his mouth he often gags

Anyway, she said that there is no need to mix with milk, that from six months you can immediately give combination flavours, and that they need two portions of oily fish a week from that age too. I found that quite surprising, I must admit.

My HV, who is very down to earth, I rather like her, said that she reckons 5 months is more realistic, simply as they are expected to be on finger foods by eight months, and that if you only start to wean at six months thats a big jump very quickly.

Hope you're all okay.

Ooh all this weaning talk is making me feel nostalgic for the days when everyone else was giving birth and I was still hanging on into December - anyone else, raggie, claire, ninja? Hey, where are skorpion and sassmonkey these days? Anyway, it feels a long way off for me and well it should be - James will only be 3 months on Thursday.

Two portions of oily fish from 6 months?? I thought you started very gradually with cereals, fruit and veg and introduced meat and fish later?

BBL I remember being annoyed by the emotive language when I read the weaning guide too. 'No-one will shoot you at dawn but you're not doing your child any favours' is not a very balanced conclusion. I do quite often feel like the 'voice' of Mumsnet is some bossy public school prefect looking down on me.

What a sweet OBEM. Joy!

oh hi! Still living with my parents and keeping incredibly busy, considering we're unemployed! DH did find a job, part-time but better than nothing, so we're hoping to be in our own place by April 1. I haven't started looking yet, lalala, head in the sand...

Can't believe you're all talking about weaning already... slow down!

Must go do laundry - hope you're all well and I'll try to check back in again soon

laugs I know what you mean. Ethan isn't even rolling over yet, never mind sitting unaided with the ability to pick something up and put it in his mouth, so I guess we have a while yet. As I have absolutely no idea what his first 'meal' should be (bangers & mash? ) I think I should start preparing though!

I had a wee look at our baby list yesterday and was wondering myself about us latecomers, no sass is a shame as she was last over the finish line on dec 10th. Hope she is doing well.

Morning all

Loads to catch up on and can't remember specifics so am going to do a brain dump on topics I can remember!

ursi and brood think it was you two with bugaboo's and screaming babies? Imho, your babies are bored laying on their backs. Only say this as we had the same here and a friend had the same with hers. Bugaboo only say 6 months for the seat as the upright position isn't good until they can actually sit. We moved to the seat a month ago and Ioan is either flat or semi-upright. It's no different an angle to a car seat. He loves being able to see around and also see me.
If you do want to stay flat until 6 months, have you thought about attaching some toys to the bar/hood? You might have to angle the carrycot so they can see them, a bit like raising a moses basket for snuffles. Imagine the dullness of just looking at sky for 6 months...

Weaning glad the WHO study came in useful, I prefer to get the factual study info and base my decisions on that. I agree that MN can be quite militant in it's advice sometimes and quite lentil weavey .. all babies are different and so need to wean at different times. Don't forget that when Ninja and I had our pfb's the advice was 12 weeks.
HV gave me a little book yesterday called Baby Nosh, which is a great summary of the main info. You can get it from the Dairy Council on www.milk.co.uk if you don't get given one. At least 1 portion of meat/fish/egg is from 9 months so SirBoob I'd say your woman was talking rubbish personally.
Iron stores diminish from 6 months so babies need to be eating iron rich foods from then. Something to bear in mind if you wait until 6 months as then some of their first foods will be quite strong tastes.

Bristol meet-up Ikea at 1pm on Monday 8th I'll try and set up a fb event so let me know if you're planning to come.

London meet-up Can I start the ball rolling and suggest dates? How about the week of March 22nd? I will probably have to go back to work mid April, and I think it would be easier all round if we miss Easter hols which are the first 2 weeks of April. If we can't manage it that soon then I'll just duck out and leave you lovely ladies to it.

Well, last night he woke at 1:30 am - it's getting earlier which is adding to my weaning decision. He fed well, then was awake for about an hour with the snuffles. Took him in with me eventually as he then sleeps on his side and he went back off and slept for 3 hours!! Another good feed at 5 then more milk at 6 before rise and shine at 7!

Sorry if I've missed anyone's important news, brain cells are long gone with these sleepless nights. Lovely to see some old faces back though

Oh, and DWB Ioan isn't rolling either but can sit up well so these milestones don't always happen in the order they're supposed to! He hates tummy time too so I think he'll be a late crawler if he even bothers.

Morning all!
My night was great (compared to the other ones lately), after a rather difficult start at 8pm when it took three attempts to get her into her cot (usually very easy), I almost paniced but then it was ok. 8.45 as usual for a little snack, then she woke up again 10min later but then only at midnight, 2.30 and 5. I fed her each time but mainly because I was half asleep and not thinking. And she was even in her cot until 5 but then she seemed a little bit too alert to be on her own in the cot and I didn't want to spoil such a "perfect" night. And we both slept another 1.30 hours in my bed.
Broodzilla, how was your night?
Since a couple of days we spend some time during the day playing in the cot so that she knows the place as a nice and safe one. I wonder if this is already working as we only just have started with it.

scarlotti, I know it is boring to just lie in the carrycot but as we (used to) go for rather long walks I think it is still better even if she seems to have quite a strong back already. I hanged a toy in it a couple of weeks ago but she is not interested at all. I guess the long walks are over for the next couple of weks unless she learns again to sleep for longer than 45 min (which I would want anyway).

london-meetup, I think the week of 22nd should be fine. That's ten days before easter, isn't it? I am not on facebook. So if you decide anything there, please let me know.

Bristolmeet-up I have set up a fb event, but don't have you all added as friends to invite you! Let me know if you are coming along and then I will add then invite you

Oh, I have so had enough of broken nights! Please sleep through already! Anya's wakings are just becoming more and more frequent and its driving me up the wall. The thing is she only has about 3oz at each feed. If she would maybe have a bigger feed she might go longer. Should I switch to the ast flow teats or does she just have a tiny tum?

She's also grmpy and snuffly today and has her 3rd set of jabs later. Joy!

Anya isn't rolling over either at 15 weeks. But ds was a late roller and skipped crawling, straight to walking at 10 months so maybe she'll be the same.

With regards to weaning, its good to access info on it-you could read for hours on end about it but at the end of the day your own instinct and your baby will guide you on the process.

fairybex I am in Warrington (halfway between liv and manc) so only about 2 hours away from you!

Another sleepless night here. Me and DH have decided we're going to bed at 7.30pm tonight. If you can't beat em, join em!

I'm totally confused about weaning! Isaac is 22 weeks now, can't sit up by himself yet, and still has quite a strong tongue thrust (in fact this only seems to have developed in the last few weeks) so this indicates he's not ready I guess?
Also I'm not ready yet! must get DH to take me to Ikea to get a highchair and some cheap fabric to go under it.

broodzilla according to the mumsnet guide we should go by actual age (birthday) than corrected age and start weaning between 5-7 months. I think I'm going to do BLW as hopefully this will mean I'm not rushing and he'll tell me if he's ready.

No rolling here, or sitting up. HV did say that as he is so big we will be thinking of weaning soon (but she whispered it as she said there was a breastfeeding councilor about ). He sleeps 10hrs at night so I don't think he's hungry. Will hold off weaning until he wakes at night and his weight plataus (sp?)

Looking forward to Bristol meet up. Wish I could make London but I'm car-less as we sold ours to save money but really miss it.

This time last year I was pg but didn't know it

RATS!!!! I forgot to take Alfie for his jabs yesterday. Grrrr. Crap baby brain

london meet up that week is also fine for me , will have just got back from a visit up north!

laugsHow is the feeding going at the mo?

Re weaning I have decided to do as I please! I think it goes to show what good mothers we are ( or try to be) that we worry or think so much about what we want to do- as we really want the best for our lovely babies! I bet their are a lot of mothers out there who give their babies fizzy pop in their bottles!

Thanks very much for all the links to the info on weaning Me and DP have decided to try and hold out till 6 months as Pearl isn't showing much interest!She actually bust into tears when I showed her a banana!! Like everyone has been saying all babies are different so what is best for each one will be different.

If anyone gets any interfering-think they know best MW , MIL , GPS or anyone else questioning their weaning choices send them my way and I will sort them out!

I LOVE OBAM

ursi of course, I wasn't trying to suggest you were doing anything wrong, just sharing my experience Ioan just was so much happier once he could lay there and chat to me/look around.

When we weaned DS1, we bought some cheap lino and put that under the high chair and table - we cut out slots for the table legs to go through. Much easier than carpet/fabric as you can wipe clean

lemon he doesn't need to sit up unaided, just hold his head and top of his back whilst propped. Good for you both for deciding what's best for you

Morning all!
We've just got up!

Lukas went to bed at 7.30, woke up 8.15 and slept til 10 when I went to bed and tripped over a sleeping bag DH had taken out in readiness for his night-time exodus from the bedroom.

I fed Lukas and put him in his own bed, where he stayed til 1.30 so I actually got to sleep on my back, hooray! He had a feed and slept next to me until 3.30 when he was hungry again. I fed him and put him in his own bed, but he came crashing on top of me after 5 mins... No matter, he was farting so loudly that DH went to sleep in his room and left us in the double bed so we could stretch out. He fed again at some point, but I didn't bother looking at the time Ursi, that's a great tip, makes you less cross when you're not counting the hours...

Woke up at 6.30 but fell back asleep at 7.30AM and therefore, I am still in my PJs at this hour!

erm, we actually have people coming over in half an hour so best get the show on the road. Will catch up this evening after the weaning workshop and all.

Hope you all have a fabulous day!

PS> Sitting? Surely not on their own? When is that even meant to happen?

Is it poss to put the meet-ups in the fb group events? I can't find it!

Can't find the fb group either.

Anyone's baby's eyes changed yet?

Broodzilla, good to hear that your night was better, too.

scarlotti, don't worry. I just think Paula isn't ready yet. She doesn't spend much time in this half sitting position anyway. We do not have a carseat as no car and when she is in the bouncer I do not find that it looks healthy all the time as she sometimes moves into a strange position. And the buggy would actually be much bigger and less supported than carseats are.
But I am sure she would be much happier in the buggy. To be honest, yesterday I was close to change my mind whilst carrying her. There was something like "I can not stand this anymore, we will deal with any kind of postural problems later"