Issy's graduates (Bella, Blue, Head, Jumping, Irish, Wasabi, Girl, Sunny) here to give advice and swap tips

[bluesatinsash]

Ta da!

Hope this shakes a few of us out of where we're languishing these days .

Let this be the one-stop shop into everything that is the crazy, wonderful, sleep and sanity deprived world of bringing up baby

HURRAH

been meaning to post all day but not had time, and i have a mammoth post inside me. Hope everyone finds us. I need LOTS of advice please
And general catch up

and gin. mmmmm god when was the last time i had a g & t with loads of squeezed lemon and loads of ice?
a long bloody time ago i can tell you!

Well lets get this party started! Hope the others find us soon.

irish you must be blooming and sporting a gorgeous, chic bump right now. girl are you still around? head and sunny and jumping and Wasabs and miss blue I am looking forwards to hearing all your pearls of wisdom as well as how you are getting on and any ishoos you may have.

I am home alone and too tired to go back downstairs so will give you anessay-- a run down on what life has been like in the balloon household. Please only read this if you are either suffer from insomnia or really really bored.

The first 6 weeks I totally loved. I was absolutely showered with cards and gifts and flowers and was like a pig in poo. Never before have I felt so special. I felt like I had given birth to the messiah. Everyone had said that you can't make any rods for your own back really to begin with so I mostly just totally went with the flow. Miraculously the littly latched on like he'd done it loads of times before and so I never had any problems in that department although I did find that i had one superboob and that did used to spray and soak us both. I am pretty sure now that the advice that I had given to just whack him on the boob led to me feeding him every time he was tired too and perhaps overfeeding him. He got terrible wind. Again, seeing a moses basket shake from side to side with grunting followed by HUGE farts is quite hilarious.

Then at 6 weeks he suddenly totally woke up and then I got totally wound up by how to get him off to sleep. UP to that point I hadn't ever really tried. He just sucked my finger or a dummy and fell fast asleep. I also got confused about naps and it took me a while to realise that like all babies that age he was now sleeping much more lightly to begin therefore I couldn't shout standing right next to him. In fact I couldn't even turn on my computer without waking him up and so there were a few days lost to overtiredness as i didn't think to put him straight back down when he woke too soon. I also got myself in a right state even then by the fact that he wasn't walking upstairs brushing his gums and putting himself to bed. I honestly had no idea before i had him that you had to teach a baby how to sleep

Anyhooooooooo if anyone is STILL with me He is basically the most gorgeous amazing perfect little thing in the whole world. He smiles and giggles and coos alot and plays happily under the baby gym for ages.

Nonetheless sleep has not been his forte. He is a stubborn catnapper. I can only get him to go onto the next sleep cycle if I jiggle his pram at just the right moment...which i have only achieved once! so i am putting him down for naps 4 - 5 times a day which is quite a pain as it makes it very hard to get anything else done. Fortunately it is getting easier. It has taken me about 8 weeks to hone the timing. I was doing it way too early at first. Baby Whisperer says act on first yawn so I was pretty much scooping him up and then trying to make him be asleep within about 2 minutes. no wonder he got cross with me

The length of awake time now is between 1:30 - 2hrs but it's never exactly the same every day which keeps me on my toes.

Night times are never the same either. I got one 7 hour stretch out of him but I was awake the whole time looking at my phone checking the time in amazement. A normal/good night now is 7 - 10:30 quick feed til 2, bigger feed then down til 7. He sometimes sleeps through the 10:30 which is when we get a long stretch. He also stirs at 5 but i shh from my bed and he doesn't really wake properly I don't think. He often wakes at 12 but I resettle him then with a bit of a jiggle. I am really tired now though. The adrenaline and fuzzy crazy amazing hormones from the early days have subsided and suddenly I now find myself salivating over the thought of a stretch of 5 or 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

How are you guys getting on? Have you scheduled naps and feeds or are you going with the flow? Is two totally overwhelming or does it seem much easier having done it all once before? Do you find DC2/3 easier than DC1?
Is everyone happy and healthy? Really hope so.

please fill me us in soon.

sorry i really did mean to press preview not post apolos for all the mistakes

I have loads of questions for you all but have taken up enough space already and don't want to scare you all off more than I may have done already with my unproofed war and peace post!

Bella honey - lovely to see you and read your exploits with your srumptious DS .

Will be back on tomorrow but promised DH some 'couch' time tonight so no PC for me (PC is up in our guest room and I spend too many hours squirelled away up here),

You sound like you are doing a stellar job so big pat on back. Know only too well how hard it is trying to get them to sleep - man I nearly drove myself to the brink with DS1.

I could talk about routines and naps and cycles for hours, I've bored many a friend over it and caused eyes to glaze over when I launch into DS's nap cycle

So we can obsess together

Back tomorrow. Hope the others find us now bank holiday is over. May have to do a search and rescue for Head she's been MIA for too long...

Just posting quickly to get this added to my Threads I'm On!

bella it sounds like you are doing a fantastic job with your DS (who sounds unbelievably scrumptious by the way!). The way you write reminds me so much of how I was with DS too- I remember spending hours trying to get him to nap, and it really wore me down. Then came DC2 and now DC3, and there's no time to spend settling them anymore- and you know what? They are both better nappers than DS! Saying that, they are constantly amused by the older DCs which I think helps exhaust them, and also I have to do quite a bit of car runs (school run, docs, walking dogs, afterschool activities etc. etc.) so Ffion has often been conveniently "set over" by the car trip... (though I don't like leaving her in her car seat and sometimes shifting her into her crib's enough to wake her). But by about 12-14 weeks old Ffion learnt to suck her fingers/thumb and became quite good at settling herself- if she's was well fed and sleepy I now pop her upstairs in a darkened room and she drifts off quite easily- sometimes the odd whimper at first but usually just as I'm about to lift her I find she's conked out. BUT saying all that she is in no means in a proper routine. Usually she has one long nap late morning, and then has tiny naps in the afternoon until bed around 9, then wakes around 1.30am and then again at 6am- and starts her day (still...can't seem to get her to sleep longer stretches). But I am still very much demand feeding and find she changes her feed pattern a lot (especially as we've had a bout of nasty colds). She also went through a growth spurt and sleep regression at 4 months old and we had a few very hard weeks with very frequent feeding (and ended up cosleeping most nights again after a few weeks of getting her to sleep in the crib), but she seems to be going longer stretches between feeds again now thankfully!

My advice is to try to keep chilled about it all (far easier said than done)- their "routines" change very frequently at this stage, and it's easy to spend a large proportion of your day trying to get them to nap etc. when I think it can be effort wasted (though I know too well the horror of the overtired baby). The only "rules" I stick to is trying to get at least half an hour of fresh air every day (unless blowing a gale) and trying to feed in a peaceful quiet environment (which is what I struggle with- DD2 is v distractable but v hard when other DCs always with us).

Rant over. Sorry!

Have been trying F with solids past couple of weeks but no joy yet. Trying to hold off until 6 months but when she was feeding so frequently I really began to think she was ready for more than my milk...but even very wet purees are booted out by the tongue flick, though she'll happily suck on a juicy pear if I hold it for her. Want to try baby led weaning this time (couldn't with the others for various medical reasons)- anyone else thinking of the same?

Lots of love to all- and thank you blue for setting this thread going!

sorry for all the typos and poor grammer...must preview!

Hello everyone
Bella so lovely to hear from you and hear of your exploits.

I am told I have a neat little bump (its quite the envy of the other pg ladies in work)

I had the MIL and her partner at the weekend - she bought us the travel system, a cot mobile and a bouncer that vibrates and plays music. She also bought me a Radley changing bag! Good weekend in all.

I now have a stinking cold - flu type thing. Not too much of a flu though because I managed to get into work today only to turn around 2 hours later to go home again .DH is fab though and has made me hot squash with lemon and honey. Am also going to have one paracetamol because it's not getting better and has been going on now for 2 days.

Jumping I now have a craving for a nice juicy pear - poor DH is going to have to go anf get me one.

Blue hope the couch time was good and talk to you soon. I may be on again tomorrow to see how you all are if I'm stuck under the duvet again

Also have the most annoying pains in my ribs these days - I figure the baby is just growing up and not out so is taking more room than normal .

Talk to you all tomorrow - thanks for the thread Blue

I saw a thread from Head about a week ago - apparently Kerry Katona moved in next door to her (Head's ) parents. - I'll see if she's still around there and point her in this direction

Irish hope you feel much better soon- it's hard when you have a really rough cold and you can't take many meds for it! Can't beat honey & lemon though, and warm (not too hot!) baths with a drop of olbas oil. There are so many nasty bugs around still it seems, we seem inundated with snot yet again!

I ghad rib pain ("rib flare" I think the midwife called it) a lot with my past 2 pregnancies, from mid second trimester right through- for me it was a lot worse after working for a while at my desk too- I used to have to get up and stretch my hands high up every ten mins or so some days or the pain got quite excruciating. The joys of littlies pushing up and stretching ligaments that don't normally move that way! Glad your MIL's visit was so good- sounds like you're getting well prepared with the gear!

DS has his tonsils & adenoids out on Thurs, getting quite nervous for him. DH will be staying with him in hospital as I can't really leave Ffion for too long as still b'feeding...and I think also DH is still a little nervous of being left with DD2 bless him. But I feel awful not being with my wee boy though I know DH will be wonderful with him....

Should be in bed...F had an ear infection so past couple of nights been really bad on sleep front...she's just zonked out so done the online grocery shop and popped on here...oh how easily my MN addiction could be rekindled!!

Love to all xxx

PS. Hope the others find us soon! xx

Ciao tutti!

So nice to hear from you all Thanks for your kind words.

Irish second what jumping says about no lemsip. Gutting. I was so pleased when the midwife told me that I could have anything i wanted in the painkiller department whilst breastfeeding. Bloomin needed it in those first couple of weeks after pushing out Mr Whopper. Have you thought about how you want little irish to come into the world or are you just going to go with the flow? I didn't get the rib pain - sounds horrid. I just got really really really tired. And whinged on and on to anyone who would listen, or look like they were listening.

All good here. after a really awful monday night (up every 3 hrs then 2 then one i thought i had to try something new so I tried going a bit longer between feeds as they were a bit all over the place and sometimes only two hours. Anyway to my huge surprise after a shortish grizzle at the usual point at which I would feed he went almost another hour so i fed at 3hr 20 for the rest of the day and then he slept for 8hrs obviously I was awake the whole time. Today I have been unable to squeeze a long nap out of him and because he can stay awake for so much longer now it means that his bed time is going to be an hour later tonight routines are like well tricky, man. Anyhooooo fingers crossed for another good night tonight. Now i know he can do it...

Could you give me your twopenneth on what I should be trying to do with the whole self settling project? Currently for naps he goes down very very quickly in the pram. Not too bad with a bit of a slow dance in his cot (although never without a few tears) and at night a bit of a sing and a dance and then a shhh and a pat in the cot to get him properly off. I'm kind of stuck at this point. He is awake when he's in the cot but needs more intervention from me to seal the deal. Should I wait for him to get better at it or should I start leaving him to whine a little bit? or doing proper shush pat? THing is he gets wound up pretty quickly when left so deffo not a tension releasing type of child...i can tell when it's that kind of cry anyway because he sounds like a cat who's just lost a fight but can't quite walk away...if that makes sense

BLUE so pleased I am not the only one who is obsessed interested in this whole sleep issue. I find it's best to rotate with friends cos they all find it hard to disguise how little they care when I go off on one bring it up

Is DS2 doing well in that dept? i bet he is.
And jumping I am sure you are completely right that if you just forget about it and get on with things they quickly fall into step. I think i have paid way too much attention and probably created problems - real or imagined - totally unnecessarily! ah well. s'all part of the fun.

rofl at Head popping up on a Kerry Katona thread! where is that anyway? might search it. I think i saw her around somewhere too. And what about wasabs? Hope she comes as looks for us too. Sunny was deffo around too.
COOOOEEEEEE where ARE YOU????

Did a search and Head (our local celebrity ) started a thread as KK has moved in next door to her parents!!! Head - you must come on here and give us an update - oh and dying to know how gorgeous Franscesca is too xx

Evening everyone, Irish so glad you came over too . I've seen sunny and wasabi too - may have to hijack them over here although I did leave link on a thread wasabi was on a few days ago..

Anyhoo down to business (Blue gets comfy in chair).

Bella - I take my hat off to you girl, a nearly self soothing DS at not yet 4 months - fantastic! Neither of my boys ever self soothed to sleep whether it be for nap or night time sleep. I try and put Ben in his cot for most naps (he has three a day) and night time (obviously - doh!). I do try and have him sleep in his pram for one day time nap as its good to get him out in fresh air and I'm lucky that I get two 'Ben only' days when DS1 is at Grannies and nursery so have the luxury of going for long walks.

Never wanted to be reliant on pram pushing to send baby off to sleep so other naps and night time I sit on rocking chair and sing him to sleep. I rock myself but hold him very still and tight into chest. He cries at first but soon it turns into lazy machine gun fire and that's when I know he is about to nod off.

Personally I wouldn;t stress too much about him not being 'able' to drop off on his own. The fact that he naps at all is fantastic as so many of my friend's lo's just "don't do naps".

As DS1 got older I used to give him big kiss and hug and leave the room but this wasn't until he was at least 18 months old. Sang him to sleep up until then and never had a problem with night waking.

Total fan of baby whisperer too, read it three times before having DS1 and DH read it too so he knew the do's and don'ts and props v comforters etc. Ben is a thumb sucker like me and really hope in the months to come when he wakes he has a quick sook sook and falls back asleep.

Feed wise we are nowhere as good as you. He is still up twice per night. Didn't do dream feed this time round but he normally wakes around 10.30pm for feed anyway. Last night it was 10.30/12.30am then 5.30am. His feeding was very fraught for weeks and he was a colicky/windy/not coping with my fast flow baby who preferred to feed at night as my flow was slower and he was much more relaxed. Think he still has a bit of that in him although his day feeds are a dream now compared to earlier. Felt we turned at corner at 16 weeks

I've been much more relaxed in so many ways this time around i.e. DS2 co-clept with me until he was 3 months old and transferred to his own room no problem at all whereas we shoosh-patted DS1 into his own carrycot from 5 weeks old .

In summary for now you have great instincts and your DS is oviously thriving on them. Keep in tune with him, take things one step at a time and enjoy him

Phew!

Jumping - your poor DS and poor you too!! I've (touch wood) not had to go through anything like that yet but the thought of either of my boys on a hospital bed just makes me so . Hope little F's ears are getting better too. I'm also going to try BLW this time around . I'm definately going to EBF Ben until he is 6 months (23rd June) and then take it from there. We were discussing it at the breast feeding support group yesterday as I've heard ancecdotal stories but not much more. HV was all for it but also recommended a mixture of finger foods and mushy purees. You don't have to puree them to oblivion at 6 months as they are much more ready to take it on. I am surprised at myself for waiting as Ben is a chunky monkey but as I read somewhere a tummy full of breast milk is much better and more filling than a tummy full of pureed carrot . Keep me updated and pass me tips on your progress.

And finally our mother to be Irish. That sounded like a great bag of swag you got from your MIL - a Radley changing bag no less Sorry to hear you have the flu - plenty fluids and rest my dear x Any inkling of flavour. I'm thinking a boy but have been proved wrong before (me, Head, wasabi!).

Sunny - how are you???!! Come over and tell us how your DD2 is doing?

wasabi - how's your DD feeding doing now?

Signing off now, there is a cup of tea and chocolate with my name on it TTFN x

p.s. have a couple of recent photos of Ben on profile - one inhis christening robes looking very regal

Hello everyone, thanks for sending me over Blue It's lovely to catch up with everyone!

Blue Ben looks so cute, and wow that Christening robe is impressive!

Bella I wish I could offer some fantastic words of advice about settling for naps but I'm afraid I'm the worst mother in the world for things like that. I take the easy route every time. I feed Francesca to sleep for pretty much everything. I pretty much did the same for ds and he's a brilliant sleeper so I figured. Ha! Famous last words eh? I'll still be on here in 16 years time asking for advice on how to get her to sleep

Anyway, I have discovered that unlike ds she really isn't ready to self settle yet. Bizarrely when she's tired she will scream like she's being murdered. Initially I thought when she went in to one of her meltdowns that she was in some kind of pain, I thought, not unreasonably, that a really really tired baby would surely not have the energy for that amount of screaming but after a few weeks I realised when she's tired she goes bonkers. As an experiment once I tried the whole shhhing and patting and walking out while she's awake and she went bonkers and I was up and down the stairs all night. I ended up having toast at 11pm as I'd had no dinner and was shattered, and fed her to sleep.

Now for naps I usually feed her one side and pop a dummy in and she'll go straight to sleep. She really only sleeps about 30 mins twice a day. That would have killed me with ds, but as I'm not able to sleep during the day anyway, I'm not so bothered Anyway.... usually in the evening, I make sure she doesn't sleep after 4pm. She has her bath with ds which she loves and I'm sure exhausts her because she goes bonkers splashing and laughing. After that, while ds is having his cup of milk I feed Francesca and she usually falls asleep and I put her in her cot and then go and read ds his bedtime story. If she wakes up in the evening, usually I can just go and hold her hand for a few minutes and she'll drift off again. She's been pretty good tonight, woke up at about 8pm and I just went in, held her hand and stroked her face and she went straight off again.

If she doesn't fall asleep during her bedtime feed, I put her in her cot with the mobile playing, hoping one day a miracle will happen and she'll drift off to sleep, but what actually happens is she screams the house down while I go and read ds his bedtime story. Sadly dh isn't usually home in time to help with bedtime or I'd rope him in to help, so poor Francesca has to scream for ten mins while I get ds settled. If I did it the other way round ds would end up going to bed soooo late, plus it gives me an reason to not read more stories to him "Mummy's got to go and settle Frankie sweetie, you look at the pictures in your book and I'll be back soon" (he's usually fallen asleep by the time I get back - result!

Phew! Anyway, as you can seen I'm no paragon of virtue when it comes to sleeping, but I reckon they all get there in the end. Like I said i pretty much did the same with ds, and eventually it became such a set routine that he'd do the whole falling asleep thing with no intervention from me, hence I can leave him flicking through a book at bedtime and know he'll fall asleep on his own.

Jumping it sounds like you have a very similar approach to me. I don't kill myself crowbaring Francesca in to a routine because eventually they all find their own routine in my book. I haven't started any kind of weaning yet as I think Francesca's still too young and not showing any signs of being ready. I struggle to get even gripe water down her (though it's not hard to work out why, it smells vile!) she's always spitting it out. She spits out anything that's put in her mouth and isn't boob milk! I'm going to hold out for another couple of months. I think I'm going to go for a combo of finger foods and purees... we'll see, she may hate finger foods. DS was so lazy about putting food in his mouth, he just used to sit there with his mouth open like a baby bird waiting for me to put it in. He's still like that now!

Irish I hope your cold is better. It's frustrating when you can't take anything with any oomph and midwives waffle on about sniffing some blooming menthol rubbish when what you want is total sensory deprivation with back up drugs! Oh how I remember those rib aches. When I was pg with ds, because he was breech and his head was stuck under my ribs, I couldn't sit straight at all, I had to eat all my meals reclined on the sofa, Roman emperor stylee. Horrible.

Well, what's my news? Irish is right, Kerry Katona has indeed moved next door to my parents! I have to dodge the paps every time I visit them! She has apparently got a child who's the same age as ds, so my mum says we should go over and introduce ourselves and let them have a play date Erm, no thanks mum!

Actually that's about the most exciting thing that's happened to us. My childminder is having to stop work because she's got a heart condition so I'm going to lose my two days per week when I've only had Francesca. Such a shame because I used to get so much done! We've decided to use some of the money we'll be saving to get a cleaner, so I won't have to do any domestic crap, and just look after ds and Francesca. Marvellous! I'm going to start the hunt for a nanny pretty soon, to start in October time for when I go back to work.

Francesca is doing really well, ds absolutely loves her. He's always cuddling and kissing her. Sometimes he can be a bit too much with her, he tried to sit on her in the bath tonight! But she adores him, she saves her biggest smiles for him and when I have a shower in the morning, I put her in her cot (which she usually complains about loudly) and ds climbs in with her and "reads" her a story. Makes me weep its so sweet!

Night times are getting better. I'm fairly sure ds was doing feeds at 6pm, 10pm, 5am and 10am by this stage, but Francesca is a bit hungrier, she'll do her bedtime feed at 7pm, then I'll do her dream feed at 10.30pm and she'll go through to 3.30am approx and then if she's stirring around 6am I'll give her a quick one boob and she'll fall asleep on me in bed and I'll snooze until it's time to get up. Luckily she's a really fast feeder, done in about 20 mins tops. DS used to take a minimum of an hour and a half. It used to kill me! I used to get up and watch a film in the time it took for him to feed

As I said, she's not much of a day time sleeper, she'll do half an hour at about 11am, and then she'll do maybe an hour from 3pm. But not always. She's been a bit all over the place this week because she's had an upset tummy, partly caused because I think she's starting to teethe. DS got his first tooth at 5 months, but he started showing signs at 3 months, Francesca is the same. Constant drooling, hands always in the mouth, chewing everything frantically, and with a really unsettled stomach and terrible nappy rash.

Gosh I'm rambling now... I'll shut up!

Lovely to hear from everyone xxx

forgot to say... there's a few new pics on my profile too!

oh my god. awesome posts.

The family reunion is nearly complete. GROUP HUG
So nice to realise basically that I really should just chill out and just enjoy it. I am REALLY enjoying it but i do worry too much too. but now i will stop. And maybe I will also step away from the books once and for all. Thank you for not taking the mickey out of me for being so first time mum

I feel very bad that my post was so me me me...

so now I will tell you more about me!

but first jumping i am so sorry i can't believe I forgot to wish your DS well. Are you going to spoil him with lots of ice cream and lollies when he gets home? i used to love being poorly as a child perverse though that sounds. I always got comics and nice drinks and treats and forehead strokes...i hope he does a bit too and doesn't have too much of a sore throat afterwards. Hope it's not too knackering for you being at home without 2 dds and no DH

The whole weaning thing has my head a-spinning. I like the thought of combining finger foods and purees when the time comes but bejeez it looks so confusing. I think I will be better at going with the flow with that one than th sleep thing. BLW appeals for that reason, tho I have no idea how they don't choke...look forwards to hearing all about how you get on with that goes. the BLW rather than the choking obviously.

oh by the way DS is actually called George! we changed it. Will look at the new photos in a minute and upload some too.

Blue - lol at our feeding going well! I feel like until the beginning of this week I was whacking him on the boob the whole time. I have now realised that to feed well I have to be somewhere quiet. He wants to be part of the conversation otherwise and doesn't take proper sucks. I really really enjoy it though and will find stopping very hard. i can see how people who intend to stop at 6 months keep going.

Jealous of the amount of co sleeping going on. I found that just about the cosiest thing in the world but little g treats it like it's open bar so i don't end up getting any sleep. still comes in from 5/6 though. gorgeous.

head so so so lovely to get your update too. everything sounds fantastic in the fairy house. So sweet picturing bathtime with both los. Also, loving the nickname Frankie.

Pmsl at the thought of playdates with KK's DS. Please do it. For us?
poor Frankie with her funny tummy. hope the tooth is not too sore. thought DS might be teething but i think he is just a drooler. nice!
Anyway am suddenly fast becoming re-addicted to MN and must get some sleep. I am praying little G can do it again! I had nearly a week of every 2/3 hours so an 8 hour one out of the blue seems too good to be true. we shall see...2 wake ups are fine. 6 is a piss take frankly!was partly my fault though since he actually was hungry. I was resttling him first tho thinking that he couldn't possibly be but was clearly a snacker. Blimey I have become SUCH a baby bore. Thank you all so much for letting me share. I feel like I have got it all off my chest now. it's like an AA meeting for me.

wishing you all long uninterrupted sleeps. xxxxx

irish as blue said, that is some uber booty! lucky you. Hope you're feeling better

Bella step away from the baby books! I clearly remember attempting to read the baby whisperer at 3 in the morning one night when Luca was screaming, trying to work out how to stop him... I rang my mum in tears and she just said "feed him you silly girl!" and hey presto, quiet baby Like dur! From then on I just fed him continuously

Actually I was thinking about you last night and about the whole settling babies thing. There's so much pressure for us to get babies to self soothe from the get go, and actually I've found it much easier to go in to their room at first whimper and settle them before they get really ramped up. It's much easier to settle a baby that's only just woken up, as opposed to one that's been screaming for 20 minutes.

Don't fret about weaning either... I started off with a bit of pureed apple, moved up to mashed banana, when Luca was happy with that we added in some veggies, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, whatever is around. After about a month I started adding in some protein, cheese and butter at first, then about a month later some chicken and fish. Mashed potatoes with a bit of steamed salmon and lots of butter was one of Luca's faves. In between I'd give him something like a slice of apple to gum, or a dried apricot, a chunk of French bread. Something like that. Nothing too adventurous, like I said, Luca was really lazy about eating. With the pureed stuff you can gradually make things less liquid. Instead of putting it in a blender, just mash with a fork.

Don't worry too much about choking, all babies do rather dramatic choking, it's all part of learning how to control food in their mouths. It's a bit worrying to see, but it's quite normal. It's more like gagging than choking but they get better at eating solids and the more they do it, the better they get. The important thing is to vary textures and don't be afraid of strong flavours, Luca loved my lentil stew with tons of garlic in, but oh my goodness the nappies were awful

Really am posting quickly this time (hmmm)

• Head so lovely to "see" you! You are very, very similar to me in how you manage the whole self-settling (or not) issue, naps, feeds etc. You describe it all beautifully! I basically feed at any sign of slight distress, have always found feeding soothes overtiredness better than anything else!- and have been told DD2 probably uses me like a dummy at times, but I don't really mind- she is also a faster feeder than the other 2, but still sporadic, and does seem to feed every 2 hours at the moment again between 1am and 7am...yuck! But she's a very happy, contented wee thing, and fits around all the madness here so well!

Was asked today by MIL if I'm going to start cutting down BFs, and in a way I should as may have to work one full day a week in addition to 3 mornings, but I'm so reluctant to as Ffion is a lovely feeder... And maybe there's something of knowing she's my last... Tried carrot puree yest, v runny, but still a no go. She'll be 6 months on 20th May so not long but don't think she's there yet.

DS is doing well after his op- thanks for the good wishes all- he had it first thing but they want to keep him overnight due to his history (prematurity) but so far so good- eating toast, ice cream and drinking lots. Finding it hard personally as haven't seen him- hospital is an hour away and we only have one car, which DH took him in, so am trapped at home in middle of nowhere with the DDs. DH doing a stirling job though, had DS asleep on him at the mo bless.

Right, wasn't a short message at all...
Bella agree with Head- step away from the baby books! Only one I ever really used in a sense was Libby Purves brilliant "How not to be a perfect mother"! And believe me I read a tonne of them with DS... You're doing great, keep trusting those instincts!

Love to all xxx

PS. Put some updated pics on my profile too!
Loving the Christening ones Blue- you sure have a pair of handsome boys! And Head- Frankie is just gorgeous- can't believe how much she's grown up already! x

Hi Head. Thanks for your lovely post. Yes, I had the same thing with a crying 7 week old George. He had got hysterical one afternoon because he was so tired and I got my knickers in a right twist thinking that if I fed him to sleep then i would regret it for the rest of my life. So stupid when it calms them so quickly. We have magic boobs for a very good reason. Having said that my best friend is locked in a vicious cycle of having to offer night boob to her DD who is now 9 months old and if I can avoid that without having to do any crying type training then I would be very pleased. What happened with your DS? Did he just work it out himself? Did you have to deny him his midnight munchies at some point?

Having never been at the next step yet I don't know what things I will regret doing or not doing. I already want another one so that I can do it without the worry of cocking it all up. Not sure DP would be up for 2 under 1 though

I'm sure weaning will be fine. I'm actually looking forwards to it. It sounds fun, though the gagging bit sounds a bit scary...

blue lovely hope all good with you. I imagine you having a lovely clear pure scottish folky sort of voice. Sadly I think DS is the only person who will ever enjoy listening to mine . PLeased the feeding has settled down for you now.That must have been a bit stressful. I have really notice that the frequency of my day feeds dictates what kind of a nights sleep last night. I did a couple of 2 hrs ones yesterday and had another every 2 hours waking party last night so a bit frazzled this morning. will really try extra hard to get all cues right today. i reeeeeeally need some kip. ugh.

hope you're all pleased with the MP you got. I'm not

ooo x posts with jumping - thanks - well you two obviously have very happy progeny. I am going to chillax now. I feel more confident too now. Having said that much as i love co sleeping and breastfeeding I don't function well on no sleep so even if I could get the odd night with a good stretch that would be an impovement. Jumping you are hardcore. 3 kids, a job and no sleep and no moaning. I bow down before you keep us posted with the tales of weaning x

And just checked out the photos. GORGEOUS!!! wow how fast they grow. must add a couple to mine too. as you can imagine i have only taken a thousand a few

Afternon ladies, Ben is chilling beside me (let's see how long that lasts!) and DS1 is at nursery...

Head - glad you found us and isn't Frankie just gorgeous . Jumping as is Ffion - they are like little girls now rather than 24/7 babygrow babies - sob!

Bella - sorry you feel today. I had tirednight too was up at 12.45am and 2.45am but he then slept until 7am with a little stir at 5.30am.. You sound like me insomuch as you are someone who likes nae requires some sleep. My sister never needed much sleep and was very easy osey, babies slept with her until they were over a year etc. she had no reoutine and it totally worked for her BUT I am a totally different kettle of fish and needed to refer to books to have some guidance as I needed to feel like I had some structure and point of reference. I had major argument with sister (one of many we have had!) about her style v my style. I have never and wouldnever comment on her laissez faire approach but had to put up with her "babies don't run to schedule you know" comments from here all the time. And yet DS1 was a happy, contented well rested little boy!

Basically what I'm trying to say is don't throw the baby out with the bathwater in terms of referring to the 'books'. BW has very good points and not nearly as strict as Gina Arena (expresing at 6.545am - I don't frigging think so..) but take bits that you feel you can adapt and ignore the bits that you can't.

I am a big supporter of getting good day time naps as one day little George won't need fed during the night (that day will come ) and if you rely on your boob to drop him off then how do you do it during the night when he is no longer needing it? That's what has happened to many of my friends who still feed their lo's during the night at over a year as that's the only way they know how to get them back to sleep. Of course its not the case for everyone as Head has demonstrated but I wouldn't be so lucky I can just feel it...

oh blast, Ben is bored, better go.

Sorry for ramble

not a ramble at all! no you're right, the BW book has been helpful for sure - it's a question of having the confidence to know which bits to take and which bits to leave.And yes I do find that if i don't keep my eye on what time it is things quickly go up and I forget whether it's nap time or food time or both and then we both get in a bit of a state.

I did laugh when I read what Gina suggested for the 1st few days. Mental! in fact I couldn't even read it.

Ah well the main thing is that we're all just doing are best eh? And so long as I am getting lots of gummy smiles and giggles I'm happy . In fact i spend most of the day exchanging looks of adoration and appreciation. It must be nice being a PFB!
George never sleeps that well between 5:30 and 7am. last night i ended up bringing him into bed with me but he nibbled away the whole time like a little baby fish on coral. quite annoying! So I think I only slept for about 4 hours. And I am off out tonight (to the pub which is about 2 cm from my house. quite exciting as will be the first time I have been without G for more than about 20 minutes. Hope I can style it out and don't check my phone too often....eek.
Hope you all have lovely weekends ladeez xx
pray to the sleep god for me

Hello ladies,

I've just managed to feel human again after the last few days- you know you're sick when you can't even go online don't you? My cold/flu has now gone into my chest but was at doc's today and she checked everything and gave me an anti-biotic for if it gets better. feel much btter after the past few days of rest though.

Love all of the pics - htey are brilliant and OMG your Little ones are all getting so grown up. I can't wait for mine to come along.

I have not put on any weight yet (25 weeks tomorrow) but my bump is growing so the doc is happy enough with me. Shesaid there are so many women who'd love to be in my boat.

Bella I am so glad you are asking all of these questions 0 I'm sure I'l be on here at 3 a.m. some morning in October looking back at the answers given. Hope you have a good night out.

Am very impressed with you ladies who have managed to be pg with a LO already at home. Not sure how I would have coped this week with one to look after as well but I presume you jsut get on with it. My sister keeps telling me "Mammy" doesn't have time to be sick.

Heading out to dinner tomorrow night for my sister's birthday but have told them I am going to be home by ten - it seems to be the time that all of my energy deserts me these days.

I will check back on Sunday and see how you all are.

Hey Irish - glad you are on th emend . Enjoy your sister's (which one out of your 8 siblings ?) b'day.

And yes its bloody hard having a lo whilst pg especially if you thorw up every day like I did . You just get through and thankfully I could hide out at work 3 days a week.

Bella - LOL at the pub being 2cm away from house. Enjoy your first George-free venture, your boobs will be tingling but not in that way. Hope you've got your breast pads in .

Off downstairs for my allocated one glass of red per week x

Bella Luca pretty much stuck to the same feeding pattern (6pm, 10.30pm dream feed, 5am etc) until he was well down the weaning road, about 8 months I think. That 5am feed became 5.30, then 6am, then 6.30 until he finally settled on about 7am. He started having more protein in his diet and I think that helped. I remember it was just before I went back to work which was a God send!

I guess if I'd been more disciplined I might have tried to wean him off those 5am feeds, some in my ante natal group were giving water only during the night, but I didn't mind. I always went back to bed after the 5am feed and slept until the next feed (around 9am) so I didn't feel too sleep deprived.

One of the biggest things that influenced me I think was reading something by Tanya Byron (I think she's a clinical psychologist specialising in children) about sleep training and controlled crying etc etc and she said there was some evidence to show that if babies are left to cry before the age of 18 months it results in higher levels of stress hormones, which can actually affect brain development at that age, and make the child less able to cope with stress in later life.

I don't know if that's true, but it struck a chord with me. Their brains are clean slates at that age, and it made sense to me that keeping them as happy as possible for as long as possible makes a happier child in the long run. Hence today I spent most of the afternoon with Francesca in a sling while Luca created a total mess did some painting, as that was the only place she was happy.

Enjoy your night at the pub... it's very liberating the first time you go out, but also wierd, I always felt I had a nagging feeling I'd left something behind like my keys or something

Irish glad you're feeling better. I'm quite of you not putting on any weight, well done! I put on 5 stone with Francesca . I did pee about a stone away after she was born, but I was still left with four to lose. I've lost a stone since Easter so I'm hopeful, but it's a hard slog! I hope you enjoy your sister's birthday. She's right you know... when you're a mother you're never ill because you just don't have time!

Jumping I'm glad ds is on the mend, they recover so quickly at that age. I had my tonsils out when I was 22, and it was a three week slog of a quarantine and so painful! Your pics are gorgeous, I can't believe how much hair Ffion has. It's so sweet!

Righty, that's yer lot from me... eyes are drooping. I was up late last night watching the election feeding Francesca But it's the weekend, so I get a lie in tomorrow when dh looks after Luca! YAY!

TTFN x

not really here but
all doing 'are' best. night out so much fun. home now and so want to sleep.bet he wakes up the whole bloody night aggghhhgghghhhgh fingers crossed...