March 2010- Group Therapy on the cheap

[ValiumtheConqueror]

And cupcakes

Hi everyone,

just a quick post

iwcas thinking of you. Also sending you good vibes and hoping you baby will sleep better.

Pixie how exciting!

Hope everyone is well.
night night.
x

IWCAS How do you do the whole sentence font thing?

you just use one hat at the beginning and end

or a star at the beginning and end

they haven't done the strike out yet though

Although I'd completely forgotten that strike out is two hyphens so perhaps not.

Manda. I'm sure there is a proper word for the 'hat' sign but I can barely spell these days nevermind remember intelligent things

Smac announces a one week absence from Mumsnet we are off to Cornwall for a week and I'm not very enthusiastic but hey ho next trip will be back to Scotland

Manda I would love to go on a Mark Warner holiday but haven't been so can't advise. It seems like there are lots of activities on offer which has always appealed to me.

big baby was weighed today and is now 18lb 12oz!!!

I tried her in the front carrier today so that I could walk the dog (but I haven't used it for a month as I try and get out the house on my own occasionally) and she is too big for it now. The carrier says suitable for 19lb 12 so another pound away but she just didn't fit in it properly. We started walking but it was so uncomfortable for both of us. She had no head support so I was holding her head with one hand and had another hand under her bottom, my shoulders were killing me after a few steps, she was squawking and it was not good. We have a lovely bushbaby back carrier but she isn't strong enough for that I don't think. I'm borrowing a sling to take away with us so will see how I get on with that having never used a sling before I need some convincing

heckle I need to pick your brains about getting DD2 to take a bottle - you've recently had success, yes?
DD1 took a bottle no problem but I did express fairly regularly. DD2 was offered a bottle and accepted it, this happened a handful of times and I thought great we don't have an issue with bottles but now we do seem to have an issue - well complete hysteria TBH. HV said just keep persisting!
I need tips! We've tried Daddy, both grannies and mummy and all refused. I tried a sippy cup as well - no go, 2 different speed of teat and various temps. All rejected.
Right I really should be in bed.
Sorry no time for more shout outs, sleepy vibes all round.

oh okay just one more shout out for mummyelk I'm sorry to hear that Elk is biting DD2 . We've not had any biting (so far) but I did mention the kicking when nappy changing a couple of weeks ago. We haven't had any repeats for a week though so I hope we are over it. I just remove DD1 from DD2 and put her in the corner, (she generally gets hysterical) and leave her there for approx 2 minutes. For me the naughty step just isn't practical if I have to keep an eye on DD2 at the same time (and stop her rolling around in poo if it is at nappy time which it invariably is).
Anyway spoke to another Mum at toddler group who had problems with toddler and baby and hitting and she said that they had a 'talk' about feelings and explained it's okay to feel angry about things but it's not okay to hit/bite/kick etc so anytime she started to hit Mummy would ask her what was making her angry? Just an idea.
I put DD1 in the corner of the room and then once the 2 mins are up make her come over and say sorry to DD2 and give her a kiss, then we have a 'talk' about kicking not being nice and DD2 being very precious and we only kick footballs in this house....and definitely not little sisters.

We've had biting once and I told DD in no uncertain terms that if she bit me I would bite her back. Think I might have been channeling my nan, who did the same with me [starts grumbling the classic cliche "never did me any harm"...]

She has also once hit babyV and I put her on the naughty step.

V exciting about period Pixie.....that should make an Easter baby [where are the bunny ears when you need them] I agree with IWCAS- your baby is ours mwahahahahahahaha.

Sure I had other things to say but DH appears to be AWOL (off to Newcastle this evening-eek!) and I have two little girls to feed.

BTW- any thoughts on this?

Smac isn't the ^ a circumflex?

Valium my kids do the aunty/uncle thing with godparents but just first names with my other friends. I don't regard it as unfair to their REAL As and Us - they have a different & closer relationship with them. We use Mr & Mrs XXXX with people who I'd call Mr & Mrs XXXX usually... ie OLD people who Look. Like. They. Expect. It. Good question though

Smac you and i can help save the world judging by my plughole today.. or maybe dress the world?

IWCAS how was your night?

Valium Good question. Back home we use aunty/uncle to family and very close friends. We call Mr. and Mrs to older people and everyone else by their first name, however we use the formal mode (like the french Vous and not Tu).
I don't know what I will do here in The U.K., but probably Mr and Mrs and aunty/uncle to very very close friends.

Smac enjoy your holiday! The weather in Scotland stills is crap. I think summer is gone. And at your baby's weight! Well done

I have a very grumpy baby who decided he doesn't want to feed on my breast, he prefers the bottle...
So here I'm expressing the milk. But I love my electric pump.
Gave him some diluted fresh orange juice to see if his bowels start to move again without a suppository. His face was hilarious ! But I think he enjoyed it.

Hope everyone is well
x

just as I thought, the hv has been and since he was weighed at 6 weeks he has gone from just above the 9th centime to just above the 2nd. That means since birth he has dropped 1 and 1/2 centiles. Hv says she's not overly worried but to get him weighed in a month to make sure he hasn't dropped down any more.

I am worried, I don't want to go through this slow weight gain hell again, it was bad enough last time and I ended up with pnd.

I am feeding him on demand and at least twice in the night (which she said should be down to once by now, well it's not!). She said after she weighed him that maybe it was good he's feeding twice in the night if he's dropped down a bit.

Oh I don't know what to do, part of me feels like just putting him on bottles then all the responsibility won't be on me and my body. Trouble is though putting ds1 made no difference to his weight anyway.

oh Dalrymps don't worry too much. My DS is also dropping centiles. Not all the babies have to heavy and on top of the scale. As long as he's healthy that is all it matters. And please don't blame yourself. it's not your fault!!
I'm sure he will catch up. How is your ds1 doing now?

x

Dd1 is fine but it hasn't been easy. He has had high calorie milk, powder and diet and I had appointments with dieticians slt's and paediatricians coming out of my ears for ages. All that and he's fine, still on bottom centile but eats fine and full of energy. I don't want to be forced down that medicalised route again, trying to fatten him up when he's not supposed to be, it didn't work anyway, just caused a lot of unnecessary worry which made being a mum less enjoyable.

dalrymps do you think that because DS1 had similar that maybe they will accept this time that is how you make them? If DS1 is fine and followed a similar pattern surely DS2 will turn out the same ish? Dont let them make you feel bad - it seems obvious that both DS's are are just made this way? (and extremely cute they are too!)

Morning all

dalrymps Try not to worry. As you now have two the same ( i.e small and perfectly formed) surely they will be less concerned - surely it's just the way you make em!

SMAC just a quick thought on the bottle front - every now and again DS fusses ALOT with his bottle and refuses. If I give him infacol (which is very sweet!) he then takes the bottle. I know it's not great to encourage the sweet connection but it's not very often. Might be worth a quick try - it could be the tast of the plastic teat which would then be masked by the nice sweet taste.

IWCAS Sooo pleased you finally got some sleep last night. Hope it was lengthy. If tinfoil works - go buy the baa baa black out blinds (30 quid) as you then take them everywhere ( like grandmas!) rather than tinfoil.

I don't know, I said to the health visitor I think I just make em small and highly efficient and she just kinda said hmm as if I didn't know what I was on about. Dh says we're not having any more hv apps unless he's there to see what they're saying.

dairymps i'm still feeding at LEAST twice a night?!! what is your HV going on about?! I don't know a breastfed baby who reads these manuals on what they should and shouldn't be doing - I thought one of the wonderful things about Mother Nature is that she's inconsistent?! To give you a couple of examples - I know of two babies who are excl BF and are already sleeping through the night - not particularly heavy babies or whathaveyou but there you go. On the flip side they are proving a bugger to wean. As did their siblings. I also know of FF babies who AREN'T sleeping through.
My DD1 is petite. She always has been - as demonstrated by her wearing an outfit yesterday sized for a 12 month old (she's 2.5). I'm sure if I got her weighed she'd be underweight. But as with your DS1, she's full of energy and runs around like a loon.
I'm just not bothering with weighing DD2 - in fairness she's a chubby little bugger but I just don't want to know. i know that she's fine she's feeding well and she's reacting and developing well.
What will happen if you don't bother taking him to be weighed in a month?
Hard once the doubts set in, I know, but try to keep positive. His pics on fbk are lush and he looks like a lovely baby- you are doing a great job.

Today I Feel Terrible. Not sure why, but either way i need to be in bed and staying there. I hope to be up for my girly night out by this evening but at the moment it's in the balance. I'm sure I'm not...but it's like those first few sicky weeks of being pg. Absolutely not wanting to jump on the Rebeccacad/Pixie bandwagon though, i'm more describing how i feel!!

Oh dairy that HV has made me . what on earth was she going on about. Once in a night feeds indeed. hmpf

also.. smac and others who offered me wise words re DD1 etc - thank you. Have been reading around it a bit and decided that as much as I'm trying to spend some special time with her, she needs more - so that's what we're doing! Plus I'm picking my battles - i think i have been trying to get her to be the Perfect Child every minute of the day - so we are letting some bad behaviour go aside (like not finishing food) and praising every tiny bit of good behaviour.
She is very good at saying sorry to DD2, and i think you are right, she's angry. So whilst she doesn't seem able to explain WHY, we are being Very Supportive.
anyway - thank you all - support and advice gratefully received

I know, I'm not even bothered what she said about sleeping through cause it's a load of old tosh. I knew ds1 was ok all along but they went on at me so much that I started to doubt myself in the end, that's what I'm worried about this time too, that they'll make me doubt what I know- that he's ok. I feel I have to go and get him weighed because I'll look neglectful if I don't but I'm gonna still try get him weighed as little as poss for eg not go back for 2 months after this next time etc

By the way Melk, could you be pg??? Is there a chance???

PG alert MummyElk?! Do a test! Would that be happy news...?

Feel for the slow weight gainers as used to have one... But if the child is eating/drinking ok and seems fine I wouldn't worry too much. Especially after reading Dalrymps story about trying to fatten child up!

DD1 is bang on average these days but wears clothes in 1 or 2 sizes too small for her age, especially from Next and Tesco. 12-18 months jeans for a 2 year old? Weird...

DD2 is on the 75th centile and weighs 15 pounds. People say she looks "HEALTHY" which I know is a nicer word for fat.

She still has blue eyes so I guess they will stay that way. Used to have thick dark hair, now has thinning lighter hair.

Can anyone picture what their baby will look like when older, like a "proper child"? We're trying to but it's quite hard.

annamama Since birth Simeon has looked the SPITTING image of his big brother. I imagine him to look very very similar later on. But who knows? Maybe he'll have straight dark hair!