FEB 2010 No longer newborns!!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Three months and counting, everyone! Our babies are gradually getting the hang of the world...and we are gradually getting the hang of them...

sorry, haven't had chance to read everything - just coming on to say aaaaaaaaargh got my interview at10 this morning? have got my 10 minute presentation down to 11 minutes!! erk

CC some of the things that have worked for us: face cloth wet and wrung out, folded into triangle and frozen for them to chew on, Anbesol to rub on gums, once you've started weaning onto solids, chunks of banana frozen are good to chew on too - you might find grotty nappies and a temp come along too, and DS seems to have developed appalling wind which DD never did? hope that might help!

more later - hope everyone's well x

Pattern (not clearly a routine, yet), up 5/6 am bottle (5 oz), play, bath, roughly 1h nap 8/9, bottle (5 oz), park/shopping..., play, 12h lunch puree + 2/3/4 oz of milk, play, nap from 1/2pm till 3/4 pm, bottle (5 oz), play, park, diner 6 pm puree + 2/3/4 oz, play, changing in pijamas, sister bedtime story, sometime another 5 oz bottle around 8.30 pm, bedtime between 7 and 9pm. I plan to increase the purees soon as she is really upset when it is over (hence the milk top up).
the rules for food is to reheat untill pipping hot through, let cool down. I just reheat till room temp with microwave and add milk or water to diluted and cool down if necessary. always taste on your lips 1st though.
I have rarely ever heated a bottle though, room temperature bottled water is fine. The boiled tap water in the UK gave DD1 eczema, it stops the day I decided to follow the french old guidelines and give her evian, she still has eczema flares when we visit her grand parents and they give her tap water (UK and France, but the doctors are still ). Wouldn't trust the tap water here, all children are on bottled water (spring water or very low in mineral). have to go play with DD2 (2 months holidays, I am already going insane , nobody to help either!) have a nice day.

Good luck Stoof!

CC, Anbesol is definitely the best thing to rub on - in the US look for liquids (not gels) that contain lidocaine. It's a local anaesthetic and the liquid formulation means it sinks straight in, whereas gel formulations tend to swill around and get spat out before the active ingredient gets absorbed.

Our routine goes something like:

6am: bottle (5-6oz), then back to bed
8:30am: wake up, get dressed, play
9:30am: bottle (5oz) then play (assume from here on that play is the order of the day unless stated otherwise)
10:30am: sleep (anything from 20 mins to 2 hours)
12noon: puree
1pm: bottle (5oz)
2pm: sleep (usully around 30 mins)
4pm: bottle
6pm: puree
6:45pm: bare bottom time and bath
7pm: bottle (5oz)
7:15pm: bed

It can be a bit of a trauma getting through from the early afternoon sleep to bedtime - sometimes she has another little sleep (20mins) around 5 or 6pm, otherwise we power on through.

Know what you mean mamaloco about impending holidays. Dd finishes nursery, swimming and ballet lessons in the next 3 weeks and then I have them both for 2 months. Eek. Am planning long visits to sister and parents to ease the workload.

I am very impressed that some of you have nice routines already. I am trying to avoid ds getting into one until September when dd starts school. I suspect ds routine will have to be moulded to fit round the school run. My priority when dd starts school is to get ds to self settle and have all his naps in the cot. He has self settled a few times in the last week or two which gives me hope. I must admit that he always goes off to sleep really quickly, either by feeding or pushing in the pram. The part he struggles with is going from one sleep cycle to the next, so all naps are 45 minutes unless I am on hand to settle him back down before he wakes too much. Evenings are pretty bad too and he wakes every 45 minutes until I go to bed and bring him in bed with me, then he sleeps much better. Maybe he just needs his mummy and is going to be a real mummy's boy. Does that mean I get to be the mother in law from hell when he grows up?!

I feel like a proper 'lady who lunches' at the moment, as my cleaner is currently doing my hoovering while I mumsnet. I could seriously get used to this.

Good luck with your interview stoof

Good luck with your interview stoof! Let us know how it goes.

I'm very impressed at your routines. We don't have a routine . We are still in the feed, nappy, play, sleep cycle so she has lots of little naps throughout the day. She sometimes drops a nap and goes straight into the next feed cycle. It depends on whether she seems fussy and tired, or what we're doing too, as being out and about can cause her to miss a nap or have an extra one in her buggy.

She has started to think that Daddy's wake up time of 6.30 is morning though . It most definitely is not in my book. I bring her into bed and try to feed her back to sleep for a couple of hours. I've been feeling very, very tired the past few days. I guess I need to get to bed earlier if we're waking at 6.30. Ugh.

I am almost at pre-pregnancy weight but I look totally different. I have a soft, round tummy and my hips are much wider than before. I guess I can't do much about the hips, but I could do sit-ups etc for the tummy. (Oh yeah and there is the small matter of the chocolate and cake habit...) I keep telling myself I'll do something about it in time for the wedding. But really, I can't be bothered!

chinook I drew blood cutting DD's nails last week too .

BG how old is your LO? She can stand up holding on? Wow. DD (19w) thinks she can stand, and loves it, but can't yet! Nor can she roll over which I'm still grateful for, but getting a little bit neurotic-first-time-mum over.

Also can't get over how many of your are feeding your LOs solids, wondering if I should jump on board or just wait til 6m as I planned.

fizi she's 22 weeks and can't roll yet either but is quite sturdy. She sits really well and wants to stand and bounce up and down.. Good for toning arm muscles but no good for my flabby tummy which she thinks is a trampoline

stoof hope it went well!

As for food/milk temperature, dd2 likes her milk quite warm. Probably a bit of a mistake I made because I've had the odd incident of her refusing to drink her milk when it had cooled a bit. She's pretty okay with it now and will take it at room temperature if I'm out and about etc. At home I prepare her bottles in advance and store in the fridge, then boil the kettle and put the bottle into a jug with hot water to warm up.
If giving frozen I defrost her food in the fridge overnight, then put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, stir it and let it stand. It's usually barely warm and I do check with a spare spoon. She seems to prefer it at least a little bit warm. But again, if out and about she will eat her lunch at room temperature.

mamaloco chinook I'm also dreading the long summer holidays even though dd1 has only gone to playgroup two sessions a week since January and I've had her home the rest of the time . She starts nursery for three full days a week in September and I am already looking forward to it (so is she) but I think the baby will really miss her .

These 7pm-7am babies!!!

T'was all going well last night - wake-ups 3-hourly (good for DD) until 04.00 when she decided it was play time. Couldn't put her down no matter how drowsy she got feeding, so gave up and put her beside me for proper co-sleeping. She snoozed and suckled until 07.30, but I'm a rubbish co-sleeper as I get uncomfortable, thirsty and paranoid about moving because it wakes up DD...so bang went the rest of my Zs. I grabbed half an hour during DD's first nap, but that was it.

[eye-bag emoticon]

Spent much of today packing because we're off to the UK and France for six weeks or so to see friends and family and escape the Madrid oven for a bit. Posts will become a bit more sporadic, I expect. We're taking the long ferry ride from Santander to Plymouth - first time on a boat for DD, could be interesting!

Fingers crossed for you, stoof!

Re weaning. DD's still only tasting things (cherry appears to be her fave so far, although she enjoyed licking at a bit of banana too) and only has a passing interest in solid food, but I'll keep offering her new taste sensations. Once we land in the UK, I'll try her with some porridge (we'll be staying with my sister who has 4 LOs and loads of experience...and a high chair!)

Hasta Luego

IC good luck with the journey and have a great time over here!

CC here's an incentive for the jogging... imagine running it next year

stoof hope interview went well!

IC Some hope on the sleeping front when weaning happens... DD started sleeping a bit more of the 5 hour "core" nights (7-12 ish). Still waking up for feeds at 2 and 5am though but solids seem to have filled her for a bit longer so looking forward to what happens next. Enjoy your holiday!

It's great to read everyone's progress
Hope it went well this morning Stoof
Safe journey IC fingers crossed the ferry will lull your LO to sleep.

I don't have scales but I still have a huge arse some pregnancy weight to loose from the hips and thighs. Project fitness has started now that I've been brave enough to put the wee man into the crèche at the Sports centre. My muscles hurt after yesterday's class so I'm doing something right!

We are also routineless here. Naps are just as and when, though recently DS has started to got to sleep for the night between 7 and 8pm sometimes. Before that it was 10pm ish so the free evenings have been a revelation. Lots of time with DH and even a chance to do some crafting! Wake ups range from twice per night (ideal) to hourly lots more(knackered emoticon). Still he does settle quickly and at least I'm bfing so don't have to prepare anything. I'm planning on waiting til 6m for solids on the same low maintenance approach

Rolling over is second nature to DS now but a week ago it was the most impossible and frustrating thing for him. Yesterday he also managed 6 inches of forward movement in 10 minutes, in a caterpillar/ breakdancing style move! eek he'll be in everything soon

Sunny x

sort of routine for the past 2 days since she took to solids which seem to be working for now:

6.30-8am wake up
1-1.5 hours after wake up: nap of 30 mins to 1.5 hours
10-10.30 am some kind of solids for breakfast (recently have been banana chunks and blueberries quarters)
11-12pm Nap of 30 mins - 2 hours
12.30-2pm some kind of solids for lunch (tried pancake today)
2.30-3.30pm 30 min Nap
4.30-5.30pm some kind of solids for tea (steamed mashed sweet potato today)
6-6.30pm bath
7-8pm sleep

(right before naps and sleep DD gets fed to sleep on the one hand it's an inconvenient sleep association, on the other it's great to ensure she gets enough breastmilk feeds)

Routine here too, based roughly on baby whisperer EASY approach:
6:30a.m -7a.m. wake and feed
play when finished
8:30a.m sleep for approx 30 mins
9a.m more playing
11a.m feed (and scream/sick etc... )
play after
12p.m. sleep for two hours - bliss and usually conincides for an hour with DS1 sleeping too, so in I jump!
2p.m. play
3p.m feed then play
5:30p.m. sleep for upto 30 mins then rudely awakened!
6p.m play
6:30p.m bath and dress
7p.m feed and story
Sleep once the reflux has settled (usually about 8pm)
up at 10:30p.m for a burp/fart - we have recently found this reduces our night-time turning sessions by at least half.

Still haven't started solids as can't face the pureeing and multi-coloured sick!

DS1 will still go to child minder during the holidays for 2 days a week but this week he's got conjunctivitis again and I've suddenly found myself having him all week unplanned - gutted!!

Hope the interview has gone well Stoof and that the journey goes well IC.

DS2 can now shuffle backwards and virtually sit up (and likes to think he can sit from lying but just looks llike he's doing a sit up!!) I'm still thinking that it would be better if he stayed still for a lot longer though!

Just marking my place here as it's fallen off my threads i'm on list. haven't managed to read everything

fizi - we are not weaning yet. ds is 18weeks and shows no interest yet, so we will wait til 26 weeks.

No routine here at all. ds2 fits in with whatever we are doing. He still sleeps in the sling a lot, so it's easy for him to sleep on the go.

Thanks for all the advice, stoof your description is spot on, she's farting with the best of them. We've returned to daily washing of the nappies as she has an uncanny ability to do a big poo 10mins after the last nappy change.

Warning ladies, my period has arrived 1 week early and the pain is nearly back to pre-pregnancy . So now have hormones chucked in with everything else.

That last pic was gorgeous (sorry can't remember whose it was). Ours is not near supporting her own body weight. Though she is a fan of rolling onto her front in her sleep and then waking because she hates being on her front. She's also now discovered her feet.

Weight is still just under the 2nd percentile at 4.9kg so that's good.

Its good to see the variety in the routines. I've also lost count of the number of times I've drawn blood (use to be about once every time). Now her nails have firmed up, it's not a problem.

We've started giving her bits of fruit to hold, but it's the about the only thing she doesn't put in her mouth. Not that we really want to wean her just yet.

Regarding poos after nappy change, it seems to happen quite often. DD also does this and a friend with 2 kids have mentioned this too! Wonder if it's something to do with the tummy compression that occurs during the 1st nappy change that moves the poo down?

Have decided to slow down on the solids today as a bit at how much DD is taking in. She has been going for everything we give her so far, no spitting, no fuss, just some frowning when it's a new taste. In typical new mum fashion am now worried about whether it's doing non-optimal things to her stomach. Probably also doing BLW wrong as DD is not interested in holding the food but rather prefers me to hold it for her while she leans forward and chews on it. And been placing small pieces of soft food to the tip of her mouth so she can practice moving the bits to the back of her mouth and chewing so not sure if that's a choking risk. On the positive side, poos the last 2 days have been black and firm due to blueberries! And quite importantly not stinky.

fizzy IC don't worry we don't have a routine either, she has just falling into a "pattern" which is probably going to get thrown out of the window in september when I have to resume the school runs.
stoof Ihope your job went well.
IC have a good trip.

DD2 finally has tooth number 2, hope she gets a bit less grumpy now...

Hmm, wondering about poos... (as you do .
dd2 always waits until I give her a clean dry nappy after her lunchtime sleep and then does her poo. I thought she just preferred a dry nappy for it
I also may have overdone my 'delight' at being presented with a wet/dirty nappy... dd2 now absolutely beams with pride when I change her nappy and is particularly happy and giggly when she's done a poo and I tell her how stinky it is

Now that we've moved clearly onto the subject of poos (thanks BG ), I feel empowered to report the latest:

DD was unusually reluctant to sleep tonight despite being up since 3pm (normally she'll sleep easily if she's up for 4 hours). So post bath (with new nappy) and after an hour of not sleeping she produced a nice firm poo. Off we go for nappy change... then as soon as she stood up I heard more suspicious grunting noises and mild straining... what do you know! A HUGE firm poo followed by something a bit more gooey. 3 nappy changes in a space of 1 hour

thanks for all the good wishes! haven't heard anything yet after the interview, so am assuming I haven't got it? gah? will ring them tomorrow lunch time if i've still not heard?

CC your DD may have discovered her feet - my DS2 has discovered his willy . I guess it's on the way down to his toes?!

Got in the swimming pool for 22 mins after 9pm tonight and swam 800m. I can even walk afterwards so my pelvis must be mending!! Feel like a superhero and must make the most of these incredibly rare moments! DS2 scewaming through all feeds again at the mo so the days are hard and so nice to get out for my weekly recharge/escape hour.

bethylou about the willy and hope the pelvis continues to mend. about the feeds. I found screaming through the feeds soul destroying so hope your OK (if she gets fussy again, I'm seriously contemplating switching to fully pumping as it seems the easier option).

Funnily enough, since she's been on bottles in the days all feeds have been without incident. Although it seems likes shes getting too distracted (she only took 7oz in the day). The last few nights she's not been getting to sleep till 10ish (was 7ish) which we've attributed to teething.

Weighed myself, down to 61kg (with hoodie, jeans and shoes). Yes I am short (to the tall person out there bg?) and even at 55 I'm always near the 25 end on the bmi. I'm attributing my boobs as a kilo each. With the expressing I've found my right boob consistently gives double than the left, so going to work in a few extra pumps for that one. No run tonight, hopefully tomorrow my cold and period pain will both be better.