Dec 09 - We've found our fingers, we've found our toes, what happens next nobody knows

[Claire236]

Starting new thread before we run out of room. Now to link from the old one. Could be interesting

Had a lovely day yesterday and today .

Not looking forward to weaning ds as I remember how much I hated all of the mess with dd and I think that dd will almost force feed him. THinking of buying the Anilop highchair from ikea rather than the nice but tricky to clean wooden one that we had for dd.

are those net things any good? dd had cauliflour cheese over dinner smooshed with a fork today, thought good to test her gag refexs, huh she just gummed down the lot, gagged a little spat the bigger lumps out and then fussed for more.

ds is beginning to love the net thing and is good as a put me on till the magical 6 month mark when i can relax about the fact that he loves his nosh!!! lol tried ds with a baby rice cake.... he sucked it soft then gummed the rest....well apart from the bits stuck to his clothes. we have the 10.99 highchair from ikea and ds loves it more than his padded fancy one!!!! he seems to be able to see more i think!!!! its handy to take out too as the legs just pop off!!!

ds sleeping in his travel cot tonight as a practise run for our hols!!!

Lee - facebook is a social networking site. Basically you sign up and then you find people you know and make them your 'friends' online. You can then share photos, videos, share messages etc... with them. If you are careful with your privacy settings you can make it so only people you have agreed can be your friends online can see stuff you put on (although always remember the internet is a public place - we always teach the children at school that if you wouldn't share it with yoru parents at the dinner table, you probably should think very carefully before posting it!). Then once you've got your head around that, there are applications you can sign up to - so for example you could play chess or other games with either people you know or others on facebook, or you can do silly quizzes and all sorts. You can set up groups (so we have a group for Dec 09 MN mums) - and again these can be set up so only those in the group can see the content, or they can be made public. Hope that sort of makes sense as a little introduction - if you decide to give it a go, or have any other question I'm happy to try and answer them for you... if you're happy posting here I would imagine you'll be fine, but it's definitely more useful if lots of your friends already use it.

I almost bought some rusk biscuits today as Imogen is 5 months today - but after reading the posts I did think they looked a little crumbly so I bought some of those biccypegs instead and let her hold and gnaw on one of them for about 20 minutes. I think it did help as she had been getting a bit grizzly and it certainly kept her occupied for a while working out how to hold it and get it into her mouth without dropping it! I also made more and slightly thicker baby rice tonight - I really could do without getting up 3 times a night to feed her every night now. Shes been asleep since 7 with only one quick resettling required earlier so hopefully it will help...

Oh dear. ds1 went out the back gate earlier on for the first time. It's usually shut but the gardener left it open. Anyway he got stung by some nettles & he's not a happy bunny now. Put some Savlon on the stings for him but he still keeps moaning about them & examining his legs every 5 mins.

ds2 still unsettled but not really ill as such. Not quite sure what's up with him really. He's managed to keep his food down today though which is an improvement. He had banana for the first time this morning mashed up with some formula to help it go down easier & he loved it. I've just rocked him to sleep in his bouncy chair & I'm not sure whether to leave him & risk ds1 waking him up or to put him in his cot & risk him waking up in the process. Having been up with him 3 times in the night I'm not feeling very decisive.

Lee36 - not sure how old your dd is but a friend of mine lets her dd use Facebook(she's 12) but only under certain conditions. Her mum is her friend so she can see what she's up to on it & she's only allowed to be friends with people she actually knows rather than random strangers.

The youngest anyone is supposed to be able to use facebook is 13, but this is in no way enforced by anybody. You will know your dd best obviously, but it may be that you could compromise and allow her on it, but so you know her username and password and can check it yourself so you know what she is doing, or you could ask her to show you every so often. Ultimately you want her to be able to use it herself knowing she is sensible and safe (eg in the same way you'd let her go swimming, knowing you have taught her how to swim and be safe around water). Some good websites for parents on e-safety which you might like to look at would be here and here - on the second one there are links at the bottom of the page - try KnowItAll in particular. I also have a page of Top Tips for Parents we send out to our parents at school, if you give me your e-mail address, or I can give you mine I can send it to you, and would be happy to answer any other questions you have if that helps at all, save doing it all on here!

Baby rice not yet kicked in with the sleeping but not sure how much to give her - I'm only giving her a teeny bit so maybe need to give her a bit more?

have my work one (it's on our school website anyway!) [email protected]

Had a weekend off the internet as my Mum and Brother visited. It's been nice

ABF - how scary with Elizabeth nearly choking!! I did a baby first aid course when Alex was born to learn about things like how to deal with choking babies but I'm sure I'd have paniced too. Catherine choked on some mucus on her first night home from hospital (apparently normal for section babies as they don't have it squeezed out of them) DH stood there in fear and somehow I managed to get her from him, tip her upside down and pat her on the back but was close to tears afterwards with fear!!

I'm not desperate for another Potter-inspired name but wouldn't mind.

Lee - if you end up on Facebook, you'l have to join our group on there too. Like hendo says, just make sure you have all your privacy settings sorted and you shoulnd't be able to go too wrong.

My nephew is 11 too. SIL has her PC locked down (DH did it for her) it's a good job as not so long ago we were all in stitches when we found that DN had been Googleing "how to kiss"

Elizabeth has just yummed up her breakfast of baby rice. I havent even tried doing any veggies yet for her. We are going to Devon this weekend so Im just going to carry on with the baby rice maybe some banana and then do it in earnest when we come home. I know I shouldnt wish it but I just want her to hurry up and be a bit older because I found it so tedious shovelling food into Jake when he was younger much easier to just leave him to it!

Biccy Pegs! I'd forgotten about those, Going to have to get some now!

Out of interest how much baby rice do you give and do you just do it once a day? We had a night of frequent feedings again last night and I am soooooooo tired today.

I bought some tiny little plastic weaning spoons from asda and just put 2 of those spoonfuls in the bowl. Probably about a teaspoon worth.

Probably a coincidence but I put her to bed at 7pm as usual and only "plugged" her dummy once until she woke at 6am for her morning bottle.
(now ive typed that she'll be up all night tonight! )

ds is a piggy so i cant really say how much.... he has 3 large spoonfuls of breakfast plus 3 cubes of fruit! He is starting to setlle himself at night nad not bother if the dummy falls out ....hoooorah!!!

Catherine's been feeding loads and loads this weekend and she's started waking about 8.30 for another feed when she used to go down at 7 until her midnight feed. I'm now thinking I might wean at 5 months anyway not just if she's not put on much weight at her next weigh in.

I am so torn between weaning now (Imogen is 5 months) and waiting a few more weeks as well. The thing that really frustrates me is that each night seems to be a complete lottery so the night before last she slept from 7 until midnight and then fed again at 4, then last night she was up at 10, 1.30, 4.45 and then didn't really settle back to sleep after that (I sent in dh in the end before work bless him!). I just have no idea when she might next feed every night which is frustrating.

I took ds to be weighed today and he is 23lb 2ozs....there is no way i could have waited to wean him. I told the HV and she agreed and said he looks fabulous. She asked how he has been and I said fine.....i did tell her that jars didnt agree with him and gave him the runs so i was only using them in emergencies but he did like the fruit pots. she said to experiment with tastes one day at a time so now we have established he is ok with fruit and veg start adding different things like a little cheese sauce and baby gravy or home made stock (which i have made buckets of by accident by over estimating how much i needed!!!!!!) She had a good look at him and measured his length and said he was spot on..... top line for both and looking really well!!!! I feel better now.... i know it was the right thing for him but feel under pressure a little and like i am doing something wrong. ds is having 90% home cooked food whereas dd had 50/50 home and jars and was fine. there is always something to worry about hey!!!!

I'm having a bad day today. Catherine has not napped once and I'm getting really worried about her. Surely she should sleep at least a little bit? It can't be good for her development to never nap!!

She fell asleep on the mat for 5 minutes so I tried moving her to her crib as DS was playing trains next to her head and I was scared he was going to stand on her but she woke straight up when I put her down and just now, she dropped off while feeding so I put her upstairs. Again, awake as soon as she touched the mattress.

Have covered the mattress with a muslin so it smells OK and she slept there last night too so it can't be that bad.

Am leaving her to cry it out at the moment but I feel terrible. I don't want her to feel alone but I need her to sleep for her own good and so I can have some time with Alex.

10 minutes of screaming and she's fallen asleep.

Part of me is relieved and part of me keeps remembering that article I read a few weeks ago about how leaving children to cry damages them for life

I hope so too Lee. Isn't it silly how loving caring parents can be made to feel so wretched when we're just trying to do our best.