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

[scarlotti]

New thread for us

AHHHH has anyone else started getting NO sleep again? Bryn has been waking up every hour for food the past few nights. Am knackered. Going to pop in to the clinic this afternoon anyway, so will mention it

Sirboob Possibly a 6 month growth spurt. C was waking hourly a couple of weeks a go and turned 6 months at that time.

I won something on Mumsnet! A Sadie Frost Chrysanthemum bag with goodies (CAKE!!) inside. I would have liked the Florida holiday instead though

Hey congratulations fruit!

Welcome back helips, hope you had a lovely time! I got some baby rice for Roo today too so going to see how she likes that for 'brekkie' (after BF). She's not ready for much else at that time I think.. She's been chomping on slices of pepper today which she seems to like. Thik they are soothing her poor little gums. HV told me that their gums can feel 'itchy' when teething and I think I know exactly what she means. How frustrating...a bit like a scab you know shouldn't pick!? Hm, maybe not the best analogy...

Gordon brown was dignified wasn't he? My heart went out to him - and Sarah, thought they both seemed quite emotional, understandably. It's best for him I think...he's not cut out for these times with the media frenzy. Hope he can have a good relaaaaaax. But I guess the media situation means we'll have more of the slick dave style leaders now. Like david miliband. Somehting about him I can't bear...he's a bit like a petualnt, ranty schoolboy in some of the interviews I've seen, especially around the election, although I suppose he must have been pretty stressed out at that particular point.

laugs hope you're having a nice time at your parents. My mum is visiting this weekend so DH and I are having a date night on Friday. Hoping to go and see Four Lions. Anyone seen it yet?

Oh and exciting news! I have an interview!! For the five mornings a week job, working one-to-one with Y1/2 children on maths. Next Wednesday...

Fruit I saw that, congratulations!!! Was so of Pussin for getting the trip to Florida... What an amazing prize!! How long did the growth spurt last your end? Am going slowly mad.

Raggie ohh that's exciting Good luck (in case my brain forgets by next week! ).

Happy M.E. Awareness Day, everyone! Well, its M.E./Fibro/Lupus awareness week, but we're so ace we get our own day too

Evening all! I'm certainly going to forget a few people so I'm already apologising in advance.
Pavlov, are you already feeling better?
Fruit, congratulations! And Florida would certainly have been booooring anyway.
sirboob, well happy M.E. Awareness day to you too! And if it helps, we are having more difficult nights again too. I was too thinking or rather hoping for a growth spurt. Paula's new thing is to be wide awake or waking up every 2min for about an hour at some point at night. And usually it only ends when I take her into my bed.
raggie, exciting news, I'm sure you'll be brilliant.
digestion, I got a bit confused so just in general, I'm hoping that all issues like constipation or dairy intolerance will soon be cleared.

Nothing much to report from here, Paula is very active, I think she actually tries to sit down when she is on all 4. Funny as she is still very rubbish at sitting. Naping is a bit random but we get about 5 times a week a longish nap of an hour. We are still trying the "falling asleep in the cot with mummy's help", today we had party for about 20min but then she fell asleep and I was only sitting next to the cot not even touching her. So not bad I guess.

Ok, I hope everybody has a lovely evening!

jimmy won the florida trip? well, i am pleased for her though, she has had a tough year or so.

ursi yes, much better thank you. Not 100%, still have sore throat and swollen glands, and a funny voice. And I feel worse tonight than I did last night, but on the mend. I will be going to bed early tonight though!

Got bear cub's poorly toe checked, it is fine. There is an infection there but gp said a little infection is good, body needs to know how to fight infection and it was doing a good job at sustaining it, as the whole toe was not red and it had not spread down the whole toe. He said that the bearcub sucking it probably kept it clean .

Despite feeling not quite right, took the bear cub swimming, with DD (and DH) and they both had a great time. He really does like the water, although not entirely sure the water likes him. He has a mild rash on his torso a reaction to something but we have also washed some clothes in biological powder (DH did, to get rid of stains ). I was allergic to biological powder and used to come up with a rash like this so not sure if it was the chlorine or the powder. Either way, he had a bath when he got home, and clean clothes.

Meant to say also raggie good luck, you have got me thinking about my hours again and what I will want to ask for, now thinking 5 mornings might be quite nice! and fruit YEY! a bag! agree, florida would be pants

Not much time to post earlier. It's been a busy few days on here.

Sorry I forgot who asked for the porridge biscuits recipe. I pinched it from the weaning board. It didn't go down too well here with C. Basically, you make up porridge with water and a little butter (i used unsalted butter), mix in some dried fruit and warm through. Spoon the mix on a baking tray and cook until the biscuits are firm. It is a good idea without causing much mess!

Sirb the spurt lasted a few nights

I have a worry I would like to share please. Had C weighed today. The last time was 10 weeks a go. Basically in that time he's fallen from the 75th to just under 25th centile and has only gained 1lb . It wasn't my normal HV that was there today. She started off before she weighed C by saying, "what a big boy C was" and pointed out her concern after weighing him that he's weight gain wasn't what she expected. She didn't ask me to come back in X amount of weeks, or give me any idea if I should worry or not. I've left a message for my normal HV and hopefully will hear from her tomorrow. C is a lovely size and has chunky legs and looks very healthy. Just can't get my head around the lack of weight gain. He is 31 weeks and is 17lbs 6 oz (7.88 kg). Any thoughts? Always something to worry about!

raggie Good luck!!

fruit, if he is meeting his milestones, and is happy, producing wet nappies and you are not at all concerned about his weight gain (ie not noticed reduction in apetite etc) then he has probably just peetered out to his natural weight. But, maybe go back a couple of time over say a 6wk period, and see that he continues on that 25 centile, maybe that would reassure you? Many babies drop lots of centiles from birth, or go up several, as birthweight is not really an indicator of future weight/height. In a way, the use of the centiles is not a useful tool, as it is mostly all the HV does to assess how a baby is going, and failure to gain weight, or excessive weight gain causes unnecessary worry as so much emphasis is put on it, when it is only one measure of how well a baby is developing, and not always an accurate one at that. DD plummetted the charts, caused all sorts of worry and she was just finding her place weight wise. She has just moved in to 3-4 clothes at almost 4, and is taller than some, and shorter than some of her friends of the same age. She weighed 21lb at 19 months. A friend of mine, her baby was on 75th centile. Now she is off the charts. But friend was diabetic so likely to produce heavy baby. Her girl is tiny, she is 17lb at 19months! But perfectly healthy and bright.

I hope he is ok, and understand your worry. It is a shock to see them going downwards, and for you, so suddenly. We went straight to see our gp when we had concerns raised, as we did not feel our HV knew enough (or thought she knew too much) to give us the answers we needed. GP was fab and really reassuring.

Thanks Pav You have calmed me down. He is rolling, trying to lift himself off the floor and has power lifter legs! He is a little more preoccupied lately with other things whilst feeding, so I need to when home to go in a quiet room and keep DS1 busy whilst I'm feeding. This might up his calories a bit more. He is in 9-12 months clothes. DS1 is tall for his age, but very slim and takes after his Dad. I'm very petite and short, so I think there shouldn't be anything to worry about going by C's genes. I just need to get him concentrating on his milk feeds during the day so I can rule out that being a factor. MY HV is very good and I trust she'll be constuctive when I speak to her tomorrow. I've been lucky to have her with both DS' and not this other women I saw today!

And Yes. I will get him weighed again in a few weeks. I didn't have this worry with DS1. He was formula fed and weighed 4lbs heavier (at 6 months) than C.

fruit Good luck talking to her. If you trust her, it is worth talking to her for reassurance. I actually stopped seeing my HV over the issues with DD as she just was not constructive and we just went straight to gp if we ever had concerns. I also think the distraction when eating is normal at this age, I really don't think babies would starve themselves, unless there was something wrong, but then you would have other indicators, which you clearly don't. GP said to use, a hungry baby would not be happy. Not necessarily crying, but lethargic, grizzly, not smiling. Your boy sounds like he is doing great, and in 9-12month clothes!! Bear cub is just under the 50th centile, sort of wobbles about in there somewhere, up and down a bit but around there somewhere, and he is so so different to DD who was so tiny at this age, it is quite refreshing to not worry. About that at least

Bear cub just gagged and coughed and gagged and I went charging in, to find nothing wrong, so I reassured him, cuddled him and stroked him, although he was still asleep, then found the reason, as I walked off, he stuffed his fingers into his mouth and was asleep like that! I took them out, he put them in, i took them out...they are out, but how on earth do i keep them out?! Can he actually choke himself? I don't think he woke up with it, i am not sure he realised it was him doing it? !

It's such a shame pav that some mums have such terrible HV's to deal with. I got on ok with our HV with DS1 and had no complaints. This time around we're much more chatty and I've realised how lucky I am to have her at the end of the telephone. How is bear cub's breathing doing? We had a gagging incident the other night after a long feed. Hand in mouth, loads of vomit all over him and in the cot. Big clear up at 2am and DH grumpily helping me with the mess. The gagging reflex will stop them from choking. I'm sure they will learn quickly it's not such a good idea trying to put an entire fist in their mouth!

Fruit will second pav regards C's weight. I think he's just finding his own weight place. DS1 is 4.5, wears 3-4 t-shirts and only just gone into 2-3 trousers. He is stocky-ish and short. Ds2 is 6months, wears 6-9 clothes (although his head is getting too big for them ) and is just under the 75th centile. He is starting to go lower down the chart but at the moment doesn't move. As soon as he start to roll or something I'm sure he'll drop. DH is lean (or would be witthout his belly!) and 6'3", I am 5'2" and curvier (read stockier ) so the genes are a right old mix.

When DS1 was little he wasn't feeding properly, unbeknown to me as he was doing the sucking thing, just sucking his lip and not my nipple . Anyway, he got very sleepy and lethargic and that's how we spotted it. Moved to bottles and he perked right up. You would know something was wrong if he wasn't getting enough to eat.

Still got a cold here, but nowhere near as poorly as you Pav, hope you're better soon.

Dropped the dream feed last night! Not sure if he woke more to feed, or woke more due to the coughing and then was hungry iyswim, but did a full feed at 1:30 then another around 4:30 (I think!) It was odd to go to bed and just go to sleep! Am hoping that this might start the whole process of getting him through the night and into his own room. He certainly seemed more interested in breakfast this morning.
Off to our first swimming class today Looking forward to that. Managed to find a group nearby that are much cheaper then little dippers (thanks SirB ) and am so glad we can now have something to do together on my day off.

raggie good luck with your interview

scarlotti DD has short legs too! (but so do I, am short, and out of my shortness, have shorter legs, a model I am not!). She is 2-3 legs and probably will be for a while, dresses and tops 3-4 now!

Our washing machine is broken. Why does everything happen when we are on maternity leave?!! Now, we can spend £50 to fix it. Or possibly more. Depending what is wrong. So we might just go and get a secondhand one for £50 as a few things with this one are not really that right Oh well, a friend of mine has a huge lovely garden and the sun is shining, and I was going to visit her today anyway, so she said we can use her washing machine. I will give her a few quid for the water as she is on a meter.

Sorry to hear your HV story Fruit - they are such a mixed bag aren't they? I've had some lovely, some awful... Sounds like with all that C is up to, you needn't be worried, but why don't HV realise that the slightest thing they say can send us into mini-panics? Until we reach the sanctity and reason of MN that is Rosa is meandering around the 50th centile but now I probably won't get her weighed again unless I'm worried/I have to.

Thanks for the good wishes about the interview. They've just contacted me to say they want to change it to Monday afternoon instead of Wednesday and I have to teach two children as well as interview. I was a bit surprised at first that I wouldn't have to actually and I'd rather the interview was sooner rather than later, but that means I better get my skates on with prepping. And my mum's here this weekend which is good - I can do a bit of work while she looks after R, but bad as I want to spend time with her!

Right, I'm off to get on it while she's asleep... Hope everyone's having good days.

Ioan has been asleep now since 9:45! I know I said I wanted longer naps but I was expecting that around lunchtime!!

Now it's the 'to wake or not to wake' question!

not to wake. I just enjoy it when Annabelle has a longer sleep than normal.
My ds turned four yesterday so had a fairly good day. In-laws upset dh and I by leaving after just arriving when they had stated they were staying for ds's birthday meal which we were already cooking when they decided to go. tho personally I think it was because Bil and his gf decided to come along (Mil told them they could without asking first, but that's a whole diff story, unresolved conflicts etc) and then decided they wanted to go so mil had to drive home as Bil cant drive.. Also Bil phoned up the night before to talk to toby (ds) to tell him he has a cousin on the way. dh said he wasnt here as he was at my mum's, and that dh didn't want bil to tell ds, because last time they found out they were pregnant they told Everyone and then suddenly decided to terminate (2nd one in short amount of time for bil's gf), dh did not want to have to explain why to a four year old so only when they are really sure does he want them to tell ds. I have sooo many issues with Bil at the moment it is unbelievable and I just want to scream. also Annabelle has had conjunctivitis for the last couple of days so that's not been good at all.

sorry for the rant, was so cross about it all.

Can I go back on what I said about my HV?? She is still a nice lady, BUT I'm feeling even more stressed and now. She phoned me this morning after I left a message for her yesterday. We talked calculations re C's weight, she then proceeded to launch in to 'this is what I should be doing' talk 1)Give him 3 meals and 2 desserts a day 2)3 breast feeds a day 3)Shouldn't be waking in the night for feeds, so need to cut them out ASAP 4)Put him to bed awake and close the door. And hey presto a gaining weight baby and one that sleeps through the night!! After her tangent, I didn't dare throw in BLW to the equation. I don't want him to lose or stay at the same weight for weeks on end. So in a manic state of worry, I mushed up some avocado and banana and spooned it to him for lunch and he loved it. I'm thinking I'll do a combi of BLW and spoonfeeding. He is doing well with the concept of BLW so I don't want to throw all he has learnt out of the window. HV wants me to get him weighed in 3 weeks time. I'll see what happens then.

I will now read today's posts!

OK ladies. It's just jumped out of the page at me!! The blardy HV has added in his book an extra 4 weeks on to C's age!! I thought to myself that those 10 weeks of not seeing the HV had passed by very quickly, but nope it's been ONLY 6 weeks. So, he's not dropped hardly anything and remains happily on the 50th centile where he was hovering on the last weigh-in. Just phoned my HV up to tell her. I still got "he must be sleeping through the night now though" Oh how I wish. I'm just happy he's doing fine!!

Fruit, good news that the HV was just bad in counting.
And I told Paula that she was supposed to sleep through the night according to your HV and she has never laughed that much

Fruit Ioan is nowhere near sleeping through the night! And he has 3 meals a day with pudding after 2, yet he still manages to wake at least once in the night for a good old chow down!
We have dropped the dream feed from last night so am waiting a week or two to see how that settles things.

First swimming lesson went well today! He went underwater and didn't scream too much afterwards
Must make sure next week I go somewhere quiet at feeding time so he has enough milk before the pool! ended up a little hungry in there so we fed in the car after - classy!