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November 09 - solids and crawling underway but sleepless nights still here to stay!!

999 replies

scarlotti · 27/05/2010 20:44

New and shiny thread

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
turtle23 · 29/07/2010 06:24

Am amazed at what difference a few days makes. In past 2 days we've got crawling, lying to sitting, clapping, waving and WILL NOT sit down now...must stand nonstop as opposed to only 50% of time last week. Make it stop! I want my baby back!

Fruitpastels · 29/07/2010 07:07

We've had some very unsettled nights here. Last night was truly awful. C is teething but we've only had 1 or 2 bad days. We've had no bad nappies or dribbling, but he is off his food and tires very easily. He has the sniffles, but doesn't seem to be a cold. I think it's connected to the teeth.

We have rolling as a form of crawling here. He will roll across the room to get to me. I've been a little concerned that he's not weight bearing on his legs. His hips were checked at 6 weeks due to being breech for 36 weeks and we got the all clear. He has powerful legs and kicks really hard and will stand in his walker and sits unaided. He isn't interested if DH and I try and stand him on our lap. HV spotted this and wants to review him at 1 yr. I'm swinging from worrying to thinking he's lazy and he'll do it in his own time!

SB You've done nothing wrong with trying raw fruit/veg on B. If he chomps happily then not a problem.

C will finish off a ripe pear and will ask for more! We are still very hit and miss on meat. I've not tried him for a while. Lemon We have the same problem with spitting out food off the spoon. Teething possibly/independence? Nice to see you back. Happy Anniversary!

Pav sorry you're having bad nights. I'm thinking of doing a formula top up again late evening. My sleep can't continue like this either, especially going back to work in Sept.

Sorry if I've missed anyone. You've been a chatty bunch

Thank you for my birthday wishes. Had a lovely day.

tigger32 · 29/07/2010 08:03

Hi all,

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who is suffering with lack of sleep, Hen wakes every 2 hours every night for milk and I'm shattered! I really need to get tough now I know.

Congratulation ninja on booking your wedding

turtle its sad how they seem to go from tiny baby to almost toddler over night isn't it. Hen seem to do it all at once, he is almost walking pushing his walker now! Ds1 was still just sitting still at this age so it's all bit odd to me. (plus I was hoping as my last baby ds3 would take things slowly and be a baby for longer)

I have my Dsil her this week and she is amazing, its like having a nanny, I'll miss her next week.

It's my Peer Supporter graduation on Sunday, I'm really looking forward to it.

Right off to pack a picnic.

tigger32 · 29/07/2010 08:04

Oh fruits sorry I missed your birthday, glad you had a great day xx

Laugs · 29/07/2010 08:05

Wow, James fed ONCE last night! Woo hoo! I will definitely be trying a snack before bed again. Maybe the poor boy was starving? (Of course it's not possible this is a one-off )

SirB Sorry if I made you feel bad with all my questions about raw apples! You haven't done anything wrong of course and it's brilliant Bryn can manage them. I think perhaps I'd be more confident if James didn't have any teeth, as I'd know he would be chomping down on things until they are soft with his gums, rather than actually biting. It's because he has so many front teeth and I know he can bite off chunks that is putting me off hard food. I don't remember this (il)logic being described in the BLW book by the way! But you just do what you're comfortable with don't you?

Fruit I meant to ask about your birthday and offer my belated best wishes!

Oh and DWB I haven't had a proper period yet either. I've had a bit of spotting twice. I remember that feeling when I was BF DD and kept thinking it was possible I was pregnant. I really talked myself into it and could feel all kinds of symptoms. This time around I am mostly sharing a bed with two children while DH sleeps on the sofa... the likelihood of me getting pregnant is very slim!

scarlotti · 29/07/2010 09:24

SirB don't worry about the apples at all - you've done nothing wrong! They are able to have anything they can manage and as long as you're nearby to intervene if he gets distracted and forgets to chew you're fine

Fruit there's no weight being born on the legs here either so I really wouldn't worry. If I try and stand him up after about a second his legs bend and give way. They are very chubby, strong legs so in theory they shouldn't but they do!! I have come to the conclusion that he's just happy staying put at the moment. Oh, and I still do a formula top up at 10:30 - I did stop it once on the advice of a hv and the night feed just kept getting earlier. Not dropping it now until he's well and truly settled at night.

Fruit - I tend to chop it up and pop in a square at a time. He gets frustrated if the food doesn't go in quick enough, and so feeding himself isn't always the best idea. Once he's had a bit to take off the hunger, he is happier to shovel it in himself.

Nappies and teething - I think it's to do with the amount of dribble they swallow. Nappies can become really loose (and stinky ) and for some reason seem to irritate the skin more. Don't know why, but 3 dc's is proof enough even though medical people will tell you it's not related!

We've moved on to sandwiches now for lunch too - so handy for work days. He's had cheese spread, tuna mayo, cheese panini I think in my head now I've made the transition to 'adult food' and some of the stress of feeding him has gone.

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Fruitpastels · 29/07/2010 09:49

Thanks Scarlotti you have put my mind at rest. It really has helped. The babies I know in RL all stand and have done from an early age. DS1 was early with everything. To look at C you would think he would stand. He has power lifter legs and has a very strong kick. We have tidal waves in the bath from his kicking! I still shock myself that I give birth to strong, big boned boys; if you met me in RL it wouldn't seem possible! The HV didn't seem worried. She wants to check him at 1 yr because of the breech factor. Obviously he may be walking by then!!

I will tell DH he is giving C a formula bottle tonight when C wakes at 10.30. This was a feed he had dropped the last couple of months and started up again.

Waiting for my new mobile to be delivered. I had a new replacement last week but I can't get on with it. I like a keypad and not these touch screen phones. Can't teach an old dog new tricks!

That's great Laugs!

skorpion · 29/07/2010 09:52

Thanks for the nappy - teething info. None of that here, no dribbling. She didn't dribble at the first tooth, either.

We have quite the opposite at the moment - difficult and laborious poos (am I becoming obsessed with poo do you think?). I'm going to give her more water with food.

Fruitpastels · 29/07/2010 10:58

There are lots of us with teething babies at the moment. C was beside himself this morning when the medicine had worn off. I'm having to give him calpol and nurofen every 4 hours since last night. Please, please let there be a tooth soon.

Skorpion Hope the extra water helps. Maybe some more fruit would help too. So many babies seem to suffer with this problem. My friend has had to give her baby a laxative from the GP. It got so bad that he would scream the house down each time he tried to go.

lemontop · 29/07/2010 11:32

skorpion I find a nectarine the most effective way of helping to relieve things!

sirboob it's great that Bryn can manage raw food! I'm just avoiding giving Isaac any as one time, as I was telling my friend how wonderful BLW was, Isaac choked on a piece of apple she gave him .

Isaac fed himself Weetabix this morning so thanks very much for that idea.

ursigurke · 29/07/2010 11:58

skorpion, I think water is a good idea, in our case the poo really depends on how much water she had the day before. I also read that pear makes it easier

jemjabella · 29/07/2010 12:02

SirBoob - we do lots of raw fruit here too

I think we have tooth #5 coming through. DD was so miserable with it yesterday; makes me feel useless.

We might be going camping this weekend - anyone got any tips to keep me sane?

SirBoobAlot · 29/07/2010 12:07

Okay thank you for the reassurances I guess there isn't really a way to get parenting "right" is there?

Lemontop Ohh are nectarines good for digestion? I didn't know that... Might have to start buying them more often!! Did he have bitesize ones? I haven't tried Weetabix yet with B.

Fruit I feel your pain Have you tried oil of clove, and / or Ashton & Parsons teething powders? Oh, and WRT the mobile; I dislike touch screens too, I think I am the only one of my (similar aged) friends who doesn't have one!

Laugs yey for only one feed

Bryn walked up the stairs this morning I normally bounce him up and he walks from the landing, but I put him on the first step, and he did a really big step, and got onto the next one! Am very proud of him And (this will sound very silly) am relieved. Stupid as it sounds, part of me was worried he would "catch" M.E. from me, and seeing him so keen to get moving has set my mind at rest

JuicyLips · 29/07/2010 12:15

Hi all,
Hectic time here, Trying to organise everything for Annabelle's christening on sunday but nothing seems to be ready. Plus Annabelle is teething like mad but still no teeth through yet. She has had a sore bum and really bad nappies. Her nappy completely leaked in town the other day, poo every where, all over her pram. Mil and I had to change her in the boot of the car (Mil holding her whilst I did the wiping) whilst Dh cleaned out her pram, as Dorchester is so baby unfriendly there was nowhere else to change her.

SirB Annabelle loves sucking on an Apple!

fruit DH bought be a touch-screen phone for my birthday last year and I still hate it! as soon as I can go back to keypad I will.

Laugs · 29/07/2010 13:27

SirB you should be proud, it sounds like he's coming on in leaps and bounds - literally.

Juicy Poor Annabelle, I hope he teething is over by Sunday. I'm sure you'll get everything sorted, it's just bringing it all together at the last minute. Hope you have a lovely day

What proper meals does everyone's babies (and the rest of family) enjoy? We had stir fry veg with rice and a piece of cod last night. James liked it (blended), DH and I liked it. DD said 'This dinner is really really really really really really bad. This is the worst dinner I have ever eaten' I should have told her off for being so cheeky but I had already laughed. She did have the bland version I gave to James though. Any inspiration anyone? We are eating way too much pasta as it is so easy, quick, cheap etc

scarlotti · 29/07/2010 13:45

Laugs your DD has just made me laugh!! At the nursery parents eve last night we looked at DS1's book - in it was the following observation around feelings:
"Callum said that he feels grumpy when he looks at food he's not allowed to have" Do you think it's obvious we're a bunch of foodies?!!
We have a lot of chicken dinners (stir fry although DC's not overly impressed), one pot with rice, sapg bol (firm favourite of dc's), shepherds pie, pasta bakes. Ioan eats them all now as long as they're chopped up. I don't add salt when cooking but do give him gravy or use stock cubes now. The amount of salt that will go through to the small portion he has is neglible.

Fruit I think we should just relax and enjoy the fact we can plonk our sons down and they are still in the same place 5 mins later - handy for making a coffee!

Juicy well done on your changing improv!

skorpion we're the same here. Ioan got to the point where he'd not poo for 3 days, then would scream when it came as he struggled so much and it was a lot. Doc has given us lactulose as this helps retain water in the bowel - the body 'steals' the water from there if it needs more than they take in. Ioan is dreadful at drinking water no matter how often I offer. He has fresh fruit every day - a normal day is probably say 2 plums and a peach or pear, so it's not dietary as such.
Ours is a family trait - sluggish bowel - but has righted itself in my older dc's.

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JuicyLips · 29/07/2010 14:10

your right Laugs also I think I made too many plans and didnt give myself enough time to do them all! might have to give a few jobs to family members! and get rid of ds for an afternoon. Annabelle love spag bol and anything meaty.

Tamlin · 29/07/2010 14:54

Hello, everyone - I know I haven't been here for a while, and I'm not even going to try to catch up with the past threads! We emigrated at the end of April, and my PC from England (along with our shipment of furniture, toys and clothes) only arrived this last week. (!!!) Have not enjoyed living out of three suitcases for all that time - also, am SO glad that Arthur's highchair is finally here as now I have somewhere to put him during dinner. He's been roaming around his brother's chair, begging for scraps, and his brother keeps obligingly tossing down ham sandwiches and the like which Arthur wolfs down when I'm not looking.

Best of all, we're finally not sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. Hallelujah.

Reading back, everybody's babies seem to be teething..?! Mine is over nine months old now, and still none in sight. He's cruising fairly confidently, and can stand without support for a bit, but when he tries to take a step, he promptly falls over and starts shouting his head off. Can also zoom up the stairs but not go down them safely, which is fun, and the toddler keeps obligingly opening all the childgates.

Foods for everyone: we're eating a lot of rice, green risotto etc. I tried doing something clever with butternut squash and feta and caramelized onions, and while the baby wolfed it down, the toddler wasn't keen at all.

As for weight - am not even going to talk about that. It has been horrendously, unspeakably hot over here - 38 degrees most days, and I've been reading accounts of the English 'heatwave' of 31 degrees with longing. Most days I can't take the children outside except in the early mornings or evenings, and my old treks around the village are a thing of the past. Can easily see why Americans get overweight as you have to drive everywhere, it's v. depressing. Have put on ten pounds since we got here, am nowhere close to pre-pregnancy weight. They say nine months on, nine months off, but I think it's going to take longer.

longwayaway · 29/07/2010 20:10

Welcome back, Tamlin ! Glad to hear you finally got your stuff from England. International moves are a pain, I know. Sorry to hear you're in a place where you have to drive everywhere, though - that's the worst

SirBoob Obviously Bryn is excelling beyond his peers at the getting around bit, you must be so reassured

scarlotti I'm with you - I can still get lots of things done while LO sits and plays on the floor! and we haven't had to buy a baby gate yet.

tigger enjoy your graduation! Well-earned I'm sure.

jemjabella You're very brave! I hope you'll report back on the camping experience.

PavlovtheCat · 29/07/2010 21:29

Thanks for all the supportive messages, skorpion i hope he sleeps well too. Have been camping twice with him now and both times he was fine, in fact slept pretty well, or, rather would have if not for being woken by DD having night terrors. Although, the whole campsite was woken so likelihood of bear cub sleeping through is not high . sirb not likely that family will be hugely helpful - my brother is a military man, and he runs a tight ship with his family too, and has 3 children, age 6/4/2, so will have his hands full, while i desperately attempt to have some vague grasp on parenting two!

Looking forward to seeing the family though, this is the only family I have who I am in contact with, the rest are my ILs, and love them as I do, they are not my own longstanding blood relatives. I have not especially been close to my brother but we are getting closer over the years since mum died, neither of us are in touch with our other brother or our sister, so its just us two. We are more similar than we realised I think. He is going to Afghanistan (for the second time) in September and I am worried more this time, so need to see him.

tamlin yey! you are back! and with your belongings now, oh how hard to go so long without a bed! I love the image of DS crawling around the floor begging for food

Food - bear cub loves bananas! He also loves boiled egg. Can't remember the 'rules' on egg, but whatever they are, he loves it anyway, along with prawn crackers, which I am pretty sure he should not have, but stole from my plate yesterday someone asked about food for family, think it was laugs? We cook stuff like pasta/cheese sauce, fish pie and veg, jacket potatoes (skin great for baby gums) with chilli (mild version for DD, just cheese for DS), also Dhal and rice (that is a current fave with both children), chicken pie (scoop out filling and mash/chop for DS, give him some pastry to suck on), omelette, scrambled egg/toast, risotto (fish/chicken) spag bol/lasagne/cottage pie (not for ds, he has not had red meat yet).
teeth - there is definitely a second on the way, and it is not being kind I don't think. He is really unhappy with it, and I can see it almost ready to break the skin but not quite that grey/blue yet. Poor boy.

Jem did i say hello? if not, very rude of me sorry. Been tired and absent. Camping - we are going on tuesday for a few days. To the Cotswolds. My biggest suggestion is take some jars/pouches of food, do not try to be clever and cook/take it all freshly made from home, its a bit stressful! a few days won't hurt, unless you are doing full BLW. We will give him bits of our food supplemented with pouches! Also, try to keep some semblence of bedtime routine, to help reduce the chances of nighttime waking. Take a first aid kit with baby related stuff (sachets of infant nurofen/ paracetamol), take jumper/cardigan with a hood on and put that on at night, along with sleepsuits with scratchmits and use the mits to keep hands warm, take extra blankets and a night light. also the best thing - i took the travel cot, which is a bit cumbersome, but meant I could put DS outside in the shade while we prepared food/cooked/washed up/relaxed etc and he did not escape! Not sure how long that will work for this time as he wants to be moving. And, one more thing, do not stay up late drinking rum if you want to have any chance of a sleep, as it is guaranteed that will be the night your child will chose to wake at 4am .

Fruitpastels · 29/07/2010 22:03

Pav Could you share with me your dhal recipe? I think you have put it on a past thread but I never got chance to write it down. Thank you Have a lovely time with your family!

SB Wow! what a clever boy you have! We have tried the powders and they seemed to help in the early days of teething, but not doing much this time around. He had a raised temperature last night - bless him. He's hardly eaten today and my boobs are engorged so had to pump tonight. More stocks for the freezer.

Welcome back Tamlin Good to hear from you.

Tigger Enjoy Sunday! Well done

PavlovtheCat · 29/07/2010 22:10

fruit it is not mine, it is Delia's .

I changed the following

replaced ground ginger with the same amount of fresh ginger

Added teaspoon of ground coriander to the lentil water.

Replaced the powdered Madras Powder with Curry Paste. TBH, Madras is fine, but can also use any other paste, seems to work fine. (i am not really a huge fan of curry powder).

Replaced the fresh tomatoes with tinned tomatoes, reserved some of the juice and added later as needed so not too wet).

Added huge handful of fresh coriander at the end

PavlovtheCat · 29/07/2010 22:16

fruit just realised you might want the children's recipe, not the adult recipe!

TBH, the kids like it the same but minus the curry paste, and I don't add salt to my cooking anyway, however, another plain dhal I do for the children only is:

boil lentils in water (3/4 water, 4oz lentils) with turmeric and cumin, chop up a sweet potato and add. Fry onion and red pepper, chopped up really fine, then mix together, loosen with milk/water if needed If for the baby and you want it more pureed, whizz up, if not, its got good texture. Its really really easy. You can always add the onion to the water and not bother frying if you want to be really lazy/quick. It freezes very well.

Fruitpastels · 29/07/2010 22:22

Thank you Pav! You are super efficient! I will give both of them a go.

scarlotti · 29/07/2010 23:06

Hi all

Had a friend around this evening for a catch up and wine - feeling quite sozzled but had such a nice time

Tamlin was just thinking of you the other day and wondering how you were getting on. Lovely to hear from you, although not so lovely to hear about your belongings!

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