New, bright and shiny MARCH 2005 thread

[ZoeC]

Thought this was about due, hope that's okay

Well, no solids here (forget who asked that, sorry) - except she licked my finger when I was pureeing some apple but I don't think that really counts ). I have icecubes of carrot, apple and pear ready in the freezer though but really she's fine on milk and I'm in no rush.

She's now all formula fed though - we did mix feed for a bit but she quickly forgot how to draw the hind milk so was getting less and less from me, plus we got thrush again so I really wasn't sorry to finish to be honest. I much prefer the routine we can have now and am just pleased she got 4 months of breast first. It really was as much as I could do and stay sane.

She is such a smiley baby it's untrue - you only have to glance her way and she beams, it's so nice to see. She naps better too - 2/3 hours in the afternoon plus a small nap in the morning - and that helps her be happier I'm sure. She was 15lb a couple of weeks ago by the way.

She's 4 months, 1 week and 3 days old today.

Cristina well done and good luck misdee with the driving.

I keep meaning to take rebecca swimming as I'm sure she'd love it but I haven't figured out how I'd manage two of them in the pool and changing room yet, maybe I'll talk dh into going with us at the weekend - that'd help. Dd1 is so lively and into everything I'd probably lose her while looking after dd2.

[moresleepplease]

Sorry to hear your news JOPG. It's a truly terriable thing to happen.

jambot laurens not the only one who has bad dreams. Freya has bad dreams too. she will sometimes cry out in her sleep. Sometimes she also wimpers in her sleep though I think the last one is more a teething thing.

[Sproutfeet]

JoPG, sorry about your news, it must have been awfull. Tell your lovely neighbours that if they don't stop saying that then you will send a burglar round to them so they can experience it 1st hand.

As far as bad dreams go, that might explain wht Adam screams for about half a minute then all silent and goes back to sleep. Hadn't thought about dreams. Gosh, what happens in a babies litle life that they can have bad dreams at this age! Think the teething trouble has hit our house too, up at 3.30 and then every hour till 7! You don't get much sleep when it takes you 20 mins to console a small person then they wake again. Isn't it amazing how DH's can sleep through all this. We however did have milk this morning but I think I would have resorted to killing someone if we didn't so my sympathies busywizzy.

Thanks JoPG and bonym for the swim nappy links and help. The little swimmers smallest pairs start at 16lb so would be a touch on the big side BUT the link of nappies-which swim took me to a site called PHP a catalogue site for babies/children which had some fab reusable ones 3-6kg small, they have velcro fastenings so can be adjusted for size and also ties! They are so very cute I just had to get some!! Adam will look fab.

[3mummy]

Morning all, gosh I feel like a newcomer I post so very rarely these days! Sorry about that, I do pop on here and check up on everyone most days, I just never seem to have enough time to post!! . Maybe when DDs 1 + 2 go to school in a few weeks I'll be able to post more while Faith sleeps!!

Hi Norash - nice to see you back again too!

JoPG - How awful for you! We do the same with our photos, I keep telling DH to back them up somehow but he's the eternal optimist, "it'll never happen to us" - Fortunately he's never in his life had the experience of being burgled, but I have, and it's dreadful! I'm thinking of you and hoping you regain some peace of mind .

Jambot - re the night terrors, my DD2 suffere4d with them as a small baby and toddler, she's now 4 and hasn't suffered for just over a year now. I took her to the docs about it as they were so severe. On one occasion she looked so terrified over my shoulder as I held her (I'd gone into her room as she'd been screaming, and picked her up) I was convinced she could see someone! She actually frightened me .

Anyway, the doc said even if they have their eyes open when this happens, they are asleep, and the best way to stop the terror is to put a gentle light on and wake them or rouse (sp?) them and the terror stops. It worked a treat with my little girl, and she's grown out of them .

Ok I'm gonna make you all now - Faith has gone to bed at 9pm and woken at 8am for the last two nights .... no doubt she's just making up for the rotten all nighters she had me up for last week and she'll be back to waking at 4am tonight, but it's been so nice to get some sleep - I almost feel human again !

Faith is now having 3 "meals" a day and one bottle about 8pm. She breastfeeds the rest of the time - still has and enjoys plenty of mummys "udders" - as DD 2 calls them!! LOL

DH got back from work this morning, and is in bed. He is them off to play golf for the rest of the day! Anyone else see the thread about SAHMs having a "day off"? Ha, what a laugh!! Nah, only kidding, love him to bits, he's a great daddy and husband, and he says when I'm not BF anymore I can have time for myself - so only 7mths to go them!! Hee hee.

[busywizzy]

Morning everyone, feeling much better today as DS was an angel yesterday and then slept from 7.00pm through to 5.00am, had a feed and went back to sleep until 8.00am. Clearly teeth are going to be every bit as difficult for Harrison as they were for DD.

Can someone tell me a bit more about reuseable nappies. I've seen lots of discussions about this but I'm not sure how it all works. How do you clean them is probably the main thing I'm interested in and if you send them away, how much does this cost. Also how many nappies do you need to buy, do they work at night etc.

Never thought about cloth nappies before but you've made me feel that I need to be more environmentally concious.

[Cristina7]

Busywizzy - we have 8 cloth nappies for this stage, the TotsBots, very easy to use. I "cheat" and have DD in disposables overnight, though. It works out rather expensive, at £6-7 each nappy, plus wraps again £6-7 each (I have 8 of those too, far too many). I read that you can sell them well but the initial investment still has to be made. I honestly don't know whether to bother buying cloth for the next stage up. We are quite green in this household, but the washing machine needs to go on everyday for the nappies as I wouldn't fancy spending even more money to have more nappies to wash every 2 days. They aren't as asborbant, need changing every 2-3 hours, which is why I don't use them at night. Also DD and DS have never had a nappy rash in disposables, tough skinned! So all in all I really still need convincing.

Good idea about a Christmas meet-up. I've met a few mums from MN already and one of them in particular is lovely and I can see us becoming friends.

Last evening I was watching TV for the first time in ages. I was breastfeeding Sylvia, I fell asleep and woke up to a thud and Sylvia on the floor. She's OK but I was kicking myself for being so stupid. DH is away to see the cricket in Manchester. Sylvia was quite sleepy today but I know it's not from the fall, just one of her sleepy days.

No teeth here yet. Sylvia also has episodes of screaming, particularly if you take something from her hand. Hmmm, I can imagine her at 2.

[popsycal]

Quick update.

Harry is becoming a nightmare again at night.....
he say up for about 15 seconds by himself today
we are going to start weaning in the next 1-2 weeks....

he is 23 weeks old today
and was 17lbs and 8oz on friday

[Cristina7]

Poor you, Popsy. You will eventually get an uninterrupted night's sleep. (Say, when Harry goes to Uni?)

We are off on holiday tomorrow, back on 5th September. There'll be a lot of catching up to do then.

In case I don't get back on the computer before we go, have a nice summer and take care of yourselves and babes.

[busywizzy]

3mummy, could you tell me a bit more about the night terrors your DD2 suffered from. What age was she when they started, how often did she get them, did anything appear to trigger them etc. The reason I ask is that in the past few weeks Harrison has three times woken in the night screaming his head off like he is absolutely terrified of something but he appears to be fast asleep. This usually happens within a few hours of him going to bed. He screams for 2-3 minutes, even when I pick him up then all of a sudden he appears to wake up (he opens his eyes and looks around startled). Only then can I start to calm him down and rock him back to sleep.

I thought at first it was to do with his teeth but he really does seem petrified and screams so much that I think the whole street can hear him. It's very distressing to see him like this and I'm trying to understand if there is anything more I can do to help him. A book I have on sleep says night terrors usually happen in children between the ages of 4-12 so I was interested to read what you had to say.

Look forward to hearing from you.

[moresleepplease]

Hi

Mentioned this befor but Freya has Reuseable nappies. I find they work really well, except at night when i cheat. We shelled out and got all the bits we need from birth to potty training (except the sanitiser and liners that wrap around the nappy), cost about £220. I know that sounds a lot but if you work out what you spend on disposables every month, it's not bad. You can also save them and use them for you next (if you want any more ) which will then mean a huge saving.

[Norash]

Moresleep please I think you are a brave woman. Do you wash the nappys yourself or do you have that service that does it for you?

[Norash]

Hi Popsy, sorry that you are having a hard time. You are not alone though because Kieran is still waking up at between 2-3 and then again at 6.

He is holding his bottle now so I just throw a bottle in the general direction of his mouth and run back to my bed

[moresleepplease]

Hi,

I wash the nappies at home. Clean off any..bits and the put them in a bucket and was them every day or two. They sound a lot harder than they are.

Question:
Freya has developed a new and slightly annoying habit of trying to crawl in her sleep!!!
She will roll over, lift her head, get her legs under her bum and move her arms while still fast asleep. When you roll her over she will mumble and then be fine for a while.

Any of your little ones doing strange things???

[jambot]

Just back from a lovely long weekend at the river. Lauren loved all the attention and spent the whole time gawking at everything and everyone. Only thing she didn't like was her 8 year old cousin who insisted on picking her up all the time. I eventually got fed up as it was upsetting Lauren and had to tell the little cousin she wasn't a doll. The drive to the river takes about 3 hours and after about 2 Lauren was really getting fed up of being in her seat. She is getting so big for it now that I can't extend the straps any further. Even though she is supposed to be 9kgs before we move up to the big girl's forward facing seat, I think we'll have to look into it this week.
Her latest thing is banging of everything she gets her hands on. She waves things around so wildly that she actually hit herself on the head and screamed the place down. Sitting only for about 5 seconds and still hates 'tummy time'.
Having her weighed on Friday. Hate to think how much she's put on since she's been on solids, as she has suddenly gotten quite chubby. Loves her carrots - her poos are now bright orange!

[moresleepplease]

Glad you had a good Hol.

Freya's cousin is just as bad and she is 2 1/2. Have to keep telling to give her some space, not to pull her arm, and so on.

[misdee]

havent read everyones threads, sorry. Serena is lovely and gorgeous as always. is sleeping well (sorry pops) and now has 2-3meals a day as well as breastfeeds. i cant think about not feeding her, it is all easy this time round. does mean a bit of bother if i have to leave her as i have to make sure i have enough milk expressed for her.

[Norash]

MSP, Kieran does the exact same thing in his sleep, it's a nightmare sometimes because I get up from him noises and stay awake for a while thinking that he might wake up, then he goes right back to sleep.

His room is adjacent to ours and I hear everything he does, thinking of changing rooms when he is 8 months .

Jambot, glad you had a good time. I know what you guys mean about older kids wanting to always play with babies.

Kieran decided that he had had enough sleep at 4.30am and went back to sleep at 7.30 . I am running on auto-pilot and I have a full day of studying ahead of me.

[jambot]

You must be feeling pretty bushed Norash.
For some reason Lauren has wanted to sleep for hours today. She's on her third snooze of the day. It's now 5:00pm. Will wake her at 5:15 or she'll not want to go to bed. It's really cold here today and maybe she just wants to be where we'd all like to be when it's cold and rainy - snuggled up snoozing in a warm bed. I wish. Is there such thing as a 5 month growth spurt?
Tried some avocado for her lunch - much to her disgust. Didn't go down at all well and she made a major face and spat it straight out. Will try again at a later stage.

[Norash]

Hey Jambot, good luck with the Avocado next time. I am exhausted, I still have stay up tonight as I have to hand in my course work tomorrow.

I'll be alright though .

[carve123]

Gosh, didn't realise how often people post - taken me ages to read the messages from the last week but very glad I did.
Swimming - we go twice a week, we did a little dippers intensive weekend (3x half hours sessions) and then practiced on our own. I now take Harry under water and let go and he swims to the top - it's a natural instinct for them, the course was more to make me brave enough to let go !
Christina7 - whereabouts in wimbledon are you ? I used to live in southfields : ). ALso I just pureed some courgettes but they were from my father in law's allotment - i am too knackered to even think about growing veg !
JOPG - sorry to hear about your photos : (
By the way, on the crawling in their sleep - harry started doing it, but waking up face down and shouting the place down until I turned him over so I started wedging his growbag in at the bottom of his cot. This worked a treat until the really hot spell, when i was worried about overheating so my health visitor suggested i safety pin him into a pillowcase instead - it cracks me up getting him ready for bed as i pin him in, hubby says thats fine as long as I don't make him sleep in a drawer ! Will check in more often now i know - CARVE

[Norash]

Hi Carve,

Don't think we've met, LOL at the sleeping in the drawer. Giving me ideas

[shalaa]

Carve, Caleb also rolls on to his front and shouts till I flip him over.

JOPG so sorry to hear about your photos, must be heart breaking for you

Caleb is giving DP a hard at the moment, he's very much a mummy's boy and cries if I leave the room. Just given him mango and carrot puree which has gone down very well! Will now spend tomorrow scraping carrot out his nose.

[Leogaela]

JoPG - same from me, I'm really sorry to hear about you losing the photos. Its really terrible, don't understand how people could be so cruel.

Great to have you back Norash! I hope you get more sleep tonight. If Niklas wakes up at a stupid hour he comes into bed we me and dh. We put him in the middle and he will play for a while then will snuggle up to one of us and go back to sleep.

Niklas is doing great, he had his 6 month check today and injections (which wasn't bad at all). He is 65.5cm and 8.4Kg (that's 18.5 lb)!

Niklas still has a problem going off to sleep, we have good days and bad days, I have worked out though that quite often he falls asleep more easily on his front, so i let him fall asleep like that then turn him over (too nervous to leave him).

Wow Carve! Well done for putting Harry underwater! I take Niklas swimming a lot, and dared to put him under once but panicked and pulled him straight out again. How old are they before they lose the instinct?

[Leogaela]

And I forgot to mention, Niklas's first tooth has just cut through his gum! !

[charlie95]

jambot, holly has become too big for the 1st stage car saet. already put her into the next one just turned 5 mths old but at least 21lbs! they say to go by weight mainly . and outrs is reclinable seat too, so i got it on as far as it will recline. probably need a new one thought fo rour other car - keep forgetting to swap them this week - bit of hassle really.

[Leogaela]

About car seats - a friend of mine from Sweden says that in Sweden you can buy the second stage car seat that can be faced in either forward or rear. It seems that in Switzerland you can only buy the forward facing ones. Is it also possible to get the reversible ones in the UK?

Anyone got any tips on how to clean a baby's teeth ! I guess I just use a brush with water no toothpaste?