November 09 - rolling, laughing and cutting teeth ... but us mama's are still not getting sleep!!

[scarlotti]

New thread for us

Sorry hobnob another poo question!

Do you think, or did your HV say, that the prune juice + fruit would be more laxative than just breast milk, or, if not fully weaned, would it be better to just feed with milk as it seems to be the fruit that has caused the problem to start with?

good question laugs, I'm not sure. I think she said the prunes would help clear out the system. I've only ever bought the juice during pregnancy so don't know about the tins. So long as they're not in syrup I don't see a problem.

DWB also, if the formula isn't a goer don't panic. DD1 only took max 2-4oz of the stuff during the day when I went back to work properly at 8 months. She only started drinking significant quantities at nearly 12mths, just in time for Christmas so I could stop BF and eat cake and ice cream! You can get calcium and vitamin supplements prescribed if you're worried about things.

hope you're feeling better pav. I'm run down from 10pm & 2:30am wakings with squawking from 6am and DD1's incessant yapping. An example of a conversation we had on Saturday whilst climbing a mountain with DH went along the lines of:
DD1: Mum, don't walk too close to the stream you might fall in
Me: ok I won't
DD1: Why not?

Forgot to say laugs that I. had loads of banana initially and it did make its way through within a couple of days so I'm considering trying it again!

hobnob at your DD! Their little brains never cease to amaze me, what logic they use. DD says stuff to me like 'i missed Reuben when he was inside your tummy' or 'i missed you when you were a little girl and I did not know you'. It does not make sense but it sort of does too, and it makes me cry! She also said to me yesterday 'i love you in my family mama, i don't want you to go back to a little girl, i love you as you are now, stay as you are please' and I had visions of being an old woman. And that made me cry too.

laugs i think if they are eating food and are constipated, it is ok to give them just prune juice/water. I think you can buy it in health food shops? If not, get some tinned, then have prunes and custard for your pudding! Mmmm I love prunes and custard, so does DD.

I am feeling ok. I was freezing, absolutely freezing, you know like camping and it is cold and you haven't got enough layers type cold, my skin hurt with it. So i snuggled in the duvet, AND coverlet, and went to sleep while DH took the bear for a drive, and then i woke up boiling. Temp of 38.1, even though i have taken paracetamol, not that high but enough to think i boiled myself!

More success here - another small, sticky effort. I have to say I think the tactic of plonking her up against the sofa in her bumbo with cushions all around to support various toys/distractions at her level for extended periods is doing it. Perfect pooing position

Aw poor you Pavlov. There is nothing worse than a fever. If it helps, I will be channelling my inner Pavlov once again in a couple of hours (see below), so stay strong

Will try out the poo position Hobnob!

My constipation update: we've been to the clinic. According to my HV, when your mummy has to lube up her finger and prise out small lumps of poo, it's time to stop messing about with home remedies and get thee to a doctor. Apparently Lactulose is what is required, but they will try to fob me off with something else - I forget the name - first (hence the inner Pavlov). Poor James. I hope it's not him running for PM in 40 years' time. Imagine the press trawling through reams of this inane babble written by his darling mother.

Sorry, sorry TMI.

She has confused me a bit though. She says to wait until he passes a normal poo and then go back to weaning, but I don't have to do anything differently. She said no need to give water if you're breastfeeding. And no need to avoid baby rice etc. I just hope it won't happen again.

@ laugs

laugs dd had lactulose when she was little, constipation runs in our family sadly. The other thing you can try in the meantime is dissolve some brown sugar in warm water and give it to him, or also orange juice can do the trick. I used to use the brown sugar thing with dd when she was small - be prepared for a possible explosion.
I remember taking dd to the doc when she was little and the gp put his little finger up to check - poor little mite screamed the place down.
Fwiw - she is now fine, but we all eat porridge/weetabix/wholemeal bread and pasta to keep us all moving iyswim! I think she just grew out of it, and it eased up a little when I could give her more fibrous stuff.
Oh, and you can buy lactulose in the chemist too I'm sure ... just in case you're fobbed off for too long.

Laugs I hope you get what you need and it works quickly.

Pavlov I think your friend is barking silly spending that much on something she could make. Though saying that it must be quite frustrating for her.

Food storage wise - I have the 1oz pots full of different things in the freezer, and use three for a meal. For when we are going out, I use a Tommee Tippee pot as they are the right size to stack in the side of my changing bag; one for dummies, one for food. I have some bigger pots (which I think must be about 5oz, so are not full) in the freezer as well for days when I'm not feeling creative with flavours And I always have some empty pots in the cupboard if its a fruit day. Mango and banana is a current favourite

Am still chuckling at "channelling the inner Pavlov" Should have done that today with the idiot bus driver... grumbles WHY do I always attract idiots?!

However, I did get my eyelashes tinted for free Was lovely to relax for twenty minutes while (or should that be whilst? Brain fail.) someone else entertained Bryn. I do like my postnatal group - we're going for a picnic next week, and should be lovely as its my birthday and one of the members of staff too

Well I have been cooking all day it feels! I now have 36 pots in the freezer which are a combination of a lentil dish, 2 types of chicken and cauliflower cheese. Nigella, eat your heart out!

screamathon

hobnob poor I.

hobnob i hope everything is ok in the hobnob house? Poor little mite.

scarlotti I am impressed. That will sort you both out for a while! I want to do lentils for bear cub and DH says that it gives him tremendous farts so he is concerned about what it will do to bear cub 'he is my son after all' and is refusing! I shall wait til he is out .

We are increasing to include lunch time today. On account of him being extremely hungry during the day now and also when we eat lunch he does this tongue poking thing. Oh it is so cute! He has the most cheeky smile and does this smile when he pokes his tongue out, like saying 'if i am cute enough and hint enough, will you give me some?' so today is day 14 and he is doing great on it. He is having carrot and sweet potato - DH's choice. Get this - he sterilised some pots, and some spoons (we have a plastic spoon container for taking out and about, keep it in the fridge with spoons ready) and prepared breakfast for this morning, and lunch! How lovely, as i felt like poo yesterday.

Bear cub has become consistent with his 2am and around 5am waking now. Sometimes he wakes for a 11-12pm feed, sometimes not. I don't think he woke yesterday before DH came to bed and not for a long time afterwards. He has also put himself back to sleep a couple of nights on his own when waking up. And night before last he lay in bed with me before bed and after milk, and we both dozed off, without boob. It was lovely actually. So, its a start of something good sleep wise i think, although i will expect a few more night wakings yet.

I had a terrible night with fever, but think i have broken the back of it. I even dreamt I was lying in bed with a fever! The sheets were soaking and so was my t-shirt, had to take it off and I have just had the longest shower for a long time (water meter!) and washed myself several times. I now have a stinking stinking sore throat, post fever headache and sore muscles, swollen glands. But hopefully the fever feeling will stay away.

Thanks for the support ladies but I have to correct you on something: Ethan is sick regularly but he?s not suffering at all! I?d guess he is approaching 19lbs by now, at around 24weeks. The milk just occasionally seems to hit his belly and bounce right back out again. I remember googling it when he was younger and the Americans call them ?happy spitters? ? putting on weight well but regularly sick and the advice is not to worry, it?s more of a social & laundry problem than anything else!

The GP didn?t refer us for tests. The HV had suggested it but GP doesn?t think it?s necessary. I?m going back to work at 7.5 months so wanted to exclusively bf until 6 months then start to replace feeds during the day with formula. Given his drastic reaction to yoghurt, I was panicking with the prospect of a baby who couldn?t digest anything other than breastmilk! The GP said to avoid things like yoghurt until he is 1 as they have cows milk proteins which aren?t broken down at all but the formulas are broken down slightly for babies? tummies to cope with. So I?ve to start with a ?baby? baby milk, not this follow on stuff, and go back to the GP if it doesn?t go smoothly.

hobnob Am I right in thinking you?re still exclusively breastfeeding? When do you plan on introducing formula, if at all? I was going to ask about the dietician for weaning advice but the GP said just to go with fruit/veg etc until he is 1 and then gradually try things like egg/cheese/milk and see how we get on from there. Hopefully Ethan?s digestive system will learn to cope with it. I will have to look through my BLW book though as I'm a bit concerned about what I should feed him and what I should avoid. GP said not to feed him baby rice or porridge either. Can I get by with fruit/veg/meat until he's 1??

What happened with your eldest daughter that you knew there was an intolerance? I noticed what you said about being able to eat ice cream again, that?s something that makes Ethan sick if I eat it. If I have breakfast with milk or ice cream, he is very, very sick. Seems to cope ok with milk in my tea/coffee though. Hopefully this will improve with time!

Pav Hope you're feeling better. x

Hope you're all okay. Had a very good day here

Poor Gordon Brown I feel sad for the man. He wasn't a bad person, just a bad Prime Minister. DS1 said when I was listening to the speech on the radio 'Why is daddy coming through on the raido?' Strange as DH doesn't sound anything like Gordon Brown! I guess it is just a mature male voice thing.

Pav hope you start to feel better soon.

DWB good news on Ethan then, am sure he'll be fine with just fruit/veg/meat for the rest of the year. He'll just get his dairy from the milk that's all. Are you able to give cheese?

Good day here, work was productive and I'm still loving being back. DH and I have had a bit of a breakthrough and a good relate session so things are looking a lot more positive than they have for a long time.
Ioan still a bit under the weather though so not too much sleep happened last night!

scarlotti I think cheese comes under the same heading as yoghurt; it has proteins in their complete form which he seems to be struggling to digest at the moment. I got the impression from the gp that the only dairy he should have is breastmilk or formula milk. Taking cheese, yoghurt, baby rice and porridge out of our options for mealtimes leaves me a bit worried but I'll just have to see how it pans out.

Really glad to hear you might've had a breakthrough with DH. Hope Ioan feels better soon.

Pav Was it you who mentioned cooking saag or dhal? Any recipes to share?

I have an easy recipe for choc truffles if anyone would like it. Might add it to the fb page.

Just popping in to say hello! Had a lovely time at Center Parcs although it went so quickly! Now dh is in Mumbai so I've got my sis in law staying to keep me company.

I have gone back to basics with weaning and introduced Baby porridge to Millie which she seems to like. Then tried her with an Ella's kitchen puree as she doesn't seem to like my puree (pav I can so empathise with your friend!) but once she starts eating a bit more plan to go back to blw. She does love feeding herself but doesn't seem to be able to swallow big food yet so will keep going with the purees for a bit longer with the odd finger food thrown in!

scarlotti glad you and your dh are getting on better and hope you continue to do so.

Erika Sounds like you had a nice day, did you go to your mother and toddler group?

Pav hope you start to feel better soon...

Hobnob poor Isla, hope she does a big poo soon and starts to feel better! (never thought I'd ever type that sentence!)

DWB you're probably right - I was thinking about alternative cheeses (goats, sheeps etc.) but I think they are to be avoided until they are much older anyway.

DWB I find it odd that your GP suggested leaving it as long as 1 for trying dairy. Yoghurt and cheese have partially digested protein in them i.e. curds, so that is why they are often more tolerated than whole milk. Same for cooked dairy. It was DD1's reflux and colic that set us off on the dairy route, and I avoid all dairy including hidden things like whey powder and butterfat. Not sure to what gain at the moment as it's another bloated tummy screamathon here tonight . I had to bath her at 10pm last night just to calm her down! Tummy sleeping no longer works - she seems uncomfortable and rolls over onto her back now. I might try a GP this week and see what their tuppenceworth is...

Um, weaning. As I said, with DD1 we did introduce petits filous from 8 or 9 months, one spoonful a day initially. We used hypo. formula in cereal, to make custard, white sauce, etc. You can also use oat milk too which is nicer. There are leaflets about weaning dairy-free which is why a dietician referral is useful. I'm planning to (!) see if I. is ok to survive on BF morning and evening by mid-August. I have Neocate but I'm not organised nor motivated enough to start her on it. If you are, I'd definitely recommend starting the sooner the better as it takes them a while to come round to the new taste. I'm a bit about trying standard formula first when he's advocating avoiding dairy for a year, but I suppose it makes sense if he can tolerate your milk in tea/coffee, etc.

scarlotti good to hear you sounding upbeat. I hope it lasts

DWB yes I cooked a dhal. delia - replaced the ground ginger with fresh. Used paste rather than powder (not really a fan of powder!) Also, i used the tomatoes from a tin of tomatoes, and then added some juice as it was a bit dry, then, it was bloody lovely. Serve with yoghurt, chapatti and rice. Fresh coriander would also be nice with it. The other one was www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article6990097.ece Gordon]] looks good too but not tried yet.

For a saag i usually just cook waxy potatoes til almost cooked, fry off some dry spices (cardamon, cumin, curry leaves, pinch garam masala), add a teaspoon of curry paste and some water, cook potatoes in it til soft, then chuck in a ton of spinach til wilted, and a dollop of yogurt - Mmmmm. or you can buy a mix from someone like Swartz (i do that a lot!).

hobnob I really don't know very much about the dairy thing at all so may well have been easily fobbed off! I'll introduce a bottle of formula over the next week or two and see how we get on. I think this will confirm whether it's an intolerance or not. If formula goes ok I'll try cheese in a couple of months and yoghurt after that. If not, I'll be asking for a dietitian's referral because, as you can tell, it's a grey area for me!

Pav Thank you, sounds delicious so will be sure to try them out!

Those recipes sound yum Pav

Glad you had good days Scarlotti and Erika. Long may it last!

BBL I know, poor Gordon! His speech made me want to cry, he was so dignified. It makes me really cross how the media has totally vilified him. I wonder how they'll cope with a Tory government they have to suck up to. And The Guardian was pushing for the Lib Dems, so will be interesting to see what they make of everything.
Oh well, at least I can switch off the 24 hr news now, although it's become quite a habit. It's strangely soothing, knowing exactly nothing has happened in the world since the last report.

The DCs and I are off to my mum and dad's tomorrow, while DH goes on a stag do. Am hoping I might get a bit of time off, late lie-ins...early nights...long baths... especially as I need to read 3.5 books by Friday...