Due May 2024? Part 3

[Sa11yCinnamon]

Just kicking off a new thread, hoping no one else does it at the same time!

@Athena1984 hope all is ok, keep us posted xx

@PeppedUp Wait... you were given priority boarding but not the rest of your family? What crappy airline was this? 🤦🏻‍♀️ I'm so cross on your behalf.

@TheBirdintheCave it was Vueling and, yes, it ended up being the opposite of helpful. If anyone knows good airlines to fly with kids let me know!

Wow! I am surprised. We booked the family ticket with Vueling and speedy boarding was given to the whole party!

BA and easyJet are our go-to airlines for short haul 👍🏻

Our sleeping is still a challenge, it is so hit & miss. She is teething though, so not sure if that has something to do with it.

I'm back to trying to nap when she does.
We've cracked morning naps in her cot, the others just tend to be either on the sofa or car/pushchair while out & about.

We are about to start her weaning journey, has anyone else started yet?

@PeppedUp my little one hasn't tried that yet. I thought so long as they are ok to move there head, I.e their noses aren't face down, it was ok to front sleep (I could be totally wrong with this)
Well Done on surviving the flight. Have a nice holiday.

Hi everyone, I’ve been quiet for a while but good to read everyone’s updates and see that a lot is going well. I’m another one loving maternity leave and can’t believe how quickly time is slipping by, I haven’t decided what I’m doing about returning to work yet or sorted childcare.
We were discharged from the infant feeding team at the end of August and I’m no longer doing formula top ups. Weighed little man today and he’s dropped from 25th to 9th percentile - I’m not worried but as we’ve had intervention previously I will really focus on feeding now, maybe do some pumping and add in a few bottles again. He seems to be having a growth spurt and is cluster feeding in the evening so that might lead to more weight gain but honestly he moves so much all the time he must be burning serious calories. He also falls asleep on the boob a lot so I need to encourage him to have more when he wakes up I think.
He’s a very happy, active baby, I am really enjoying his enthusiasm for life and us at this stage and seeing all the little developments. We are getting out and about more and more and got some new classes/activities coming up.
Got some guidance from the physio about reducing discomfort during sex as it has been difficult for me lately (I had a third degree tear but everything seems back to normal apart from that). It doesn’t help that there isn’t a lot of time to warm up with baby around! I was also advised that breastfeeding consumes a lot of your intimacy-related hormones so that might explain why my sex drive isn’t as high as it used to be too.
Are any other FTMs finding that they’re missing what they used to do pre-baby? I am loving being a Mum and knew that there would be a lot of adaptation and sacrifice, but it’s started to bother me declining invitations to various things knowing that it wouldn’t be practical for us, and finding that even a tiny bit of me time is very difficult some days.
Apologies for the long update post!

@TheBirdintheCave we had a much better experience on the return flight with no groups etc and everyone just boarding the plane as they arrived. We have flown on their family ticket before but I couldn’t find it this time when we booked so maybe they don’t do it anymore??

@Clarkey34 we are still having challenging sleep too, although we have been away for three weeks and he was also on antibiotics so I’ll be interested to see if things improve over the next week or so. We get just one wake up a night if we cosleep but I would prefer he was in his crib. He used to sleep so deeply and transfer so easily and I was hoping it would last but sadly not!

@Yourowgirl the lack of me time is so tough. I’m finding it a bit easier second time around because I’m just used to it but I’d still love more time to do things for me. I’ve found postnatal exercise classes quite good as my son is quite entertained by watching everything going on and I don’t have to think about him too much.

How are everyone’s babies going otherwise? Ours has quite a social and smiley temperament but he is now more grumpy and easily frustrated compared to what he used to be. Maybe the poor sleep is contributing and I think he also wants to move/grab things better etc. Fingers crossed being back at home and off medication improves things.

@PeppedUp Glad you had a better time! :D And yes it does seem to have vanished. I couldn't find it when I looked a few weeks ago.

Hey everyone, lovely to read all of the updates on here!

My wee one is 4.5 months now, it's so lovely to see his personality coming through and him interacting more and more. Sleep wise we hit a bit of a regression with earlier wakes at night but he's still pretty good then, day naps are a disaster though 🫠

I'm struggling a bit with the mental load, general exhaustion and a bit of missing my old life - then feeling so guilty because of course I love him so much. Have a weekend away in a few weeks which I'm beyond excited for!

@Sa11yCinnamon Ooh a weekend away sounds fun! Where are you going? :)

I'm finding laundry tough to keep up with. We always end up with an unsorted basket of something and things rarely see an iron ☹️

@TheBirdintheCave Newcastle with girlfriends!

I'm just about on top of laundry, helped by buying a heated airer and never ironing a thing 😅

Has anyone found any good sites or books to help with baby led weaning at all, please? I'm struggling for meal ideas. We've done veg, eggs, and oat fingers.

I didn't plan on doing baby led but my child doesn't like me feeding her 🤣 Purees would be so much easier, haha.

@Clarkey34 Once we got to the finger food stage with my son we used the NHS weaning recipes:

www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/recipes-and-meal-ideas/

@TheBirdintheCave Thank you so much. That's given me lots of other ideas to what we've already done.

Who knew planning baby meals would be so hard lol

@Clarkey34 No worries! It saved my bacon too.

Ooh gosh as if we have 6 month old babies (nearly!!). Where has the time gone?

does anyone have any weaning essential recommendations? We have nothing yet! Do you guys think I need a handheld blender or is a nutri bullet sufficient? What steamers do you have? Which utensils and pots etc? Any recommendations welcome!

Bibs, bibs & more bibs 😂😂 @LondonGirl1992

I can't help about the nutri bullet, as weve just used a hand blender, but so long as it blends I would have thought it would be ok.

I've not used a steamer, but would just use my normal pan steamer if I was to use it.

I recommend a suction bowl/plate, mine LO likes to throw her bowl on the floor.
Spoons we've just used munchkin (think that's the brand) ones. I also got an ice cube tray & some little pots to put extra food in to freeze/fridge. We also use a free flow cup with 2 handles for LO to drink water from.

Ella kitchen purple book has helped me in regards to what veg/fruit to try LO with.

I hope some of that helps. Good luck with your weaning journey. I'm really enjoying ours, but takes a bit of planning.

@Clarkey34 that’s given me the thought to repurpose my milk containers for pureed/mashed food - thanks! I was thinking I’d have to buy more ice cube trays. Glad you’re enjoying the weaning, we are just getting ready for it. Little one is so interested every time we are eating. We set his high chair up this week and he seems to love being on our Ievel

How is everyone? Can’t believe how quickly time has gone. 8 months old now and such a beautiful personality. She is so patient and happy, I’m very lucky so far, but then I have got two boisterous boys 😂
How are all the babies developing? She isn’t sitting yet although is getting better and no signs of crawling or anything. All of mine have been lazy when it comes to the physical side of things though. Loves food and sleep has improved massively. Hope all is ok with everyone 😀

I went back to work this week ☹️ my daughter is being looked after by my parents though so I feel that’s a bit easier on me that putting her to nursery at the moment. She’s sitting really well and has been for a couple of months but also no sign of crawling and she can’t be bothered to fully roll over 😂 just on to her side then reaches around for what she wants to get, she’s so funny. She babbles away which is really fun. Not having the best weaning journey but we’re slowly getting there. We’d like to have another one soon 🙈

I went back to work this week ☹️ my daughter is being looked after by my parents though so I feel that’s a bit easier on me that putting her to nursery at the moment. She’s sitting really well and has been for a couple of months but also no sign of crawling and she can’t be bothered to fully roll over 😂 just on to her side then reaches around for what she wants to get, she’s so funny. She babbles away which is really fun. Not having the best weaning journey but we’re slowly getting there. We’d like to have another one soon 🙈

She sounds exactly like my daughter 😂 Won't crawl or roll properly or eat but sits brilliantly and is so grabby and chatty 🙄😂

I'm back at work now too.

So nice to hear how everyone is going!

Our son is really sweet and happy and has been crawling for a couple of months. I’m back to work at the end of March which I’m dreading already- I really feel for those of you who are back at work before you want to be. Sleep has been terrible for the last couple of months eg awake every couple of hours - it started to get better for a couple of days and then he got sick and it has been terrible again.

We’ve also been in the process of buying a new home since August. Sadly I don’t think we’ll be in until the very end of my mat leave, which is a shame as we have far ingrown our current flat and I’m feeling unsettled here at the moment knowing we’re moving on to somewhere else.

Our three year old has been up and down when it comes to his baby brother. As hard as I try to give him attention and one on one time, I think he’s jealous a lot of the time. They do still have lovely moments together but a lot of energy goes into trying to help him navigate his feelings. I feel bad when either of us get short tempered with him because neither of us are like that with his baby brother and I’m sure that must be really hard for him 🙁 I’m going to take one day off a week with him after his brother starts nursery so maybe that will help.

Apart from that I’ve found second time around a lot easier and I’m really grateful to have found this mat leave so joyful 🙂

Aw I just spotted these updates, so lovely to see!

The 8 month sleep regression has hit us HARD. Any tips or just reassurance that it will get better are very welcome! He's sitting, crawling and doing his best to stand but has no interest at all in food yet - it's funny how different they all are.

We are also starting the process of moving house, whole new levels of stress and logistics to negotiate 🫠

It definitely will. We experienced it a bit with M when she was teething. She's back to her normal sleep schedule now thankfully!

So lovely to read the updates! My little boy was 9 months this weekend. I’m off for another 2 months but wow… best time of my life. He is such a joy- the loveliest most content little boy. Still not crawling but I’m enjoying the freedom that brings.

I feel so so lucky!