September 2024 - Thread 11

[luckyfaith]

New thread 😊

Thankfully no, I don't live with her - but she's had some serious health issues the year or so prior to wee one being born and I'm kind of in a situation where she just messages a lot, comes over without notice etc and can be quite overbearing and very critical of me - the way that she speaks to me has a lot to do with permanent side effects of her health stuff, or at least I hope thats what it is, so I feel kind of stuck with just having to deal with it to be completely honest 😅

I feel this to my core - Bear will only contact nap so I'm very much the same as you!
A small part of me if hoping the sleep thing is weaning related however daft that theory may be hahahaha, it does seem to have coincided exactly though, god only knows!

@PinkWatermelon88 how is your week going with the two smallies?

@SpicyMoth that sounds so rough! Processing stuff like that is so hard too when postpartum is one wild ride of hormones and sleep deprivation and finding your feet as a mum. I wouldn't feel guilty if you have to protect your peace a little though, if at all possible. You & your enjoyment of your motherhood journey matter too! And your mum if she was well would probably be the first to tell you that. I'm biased though because I had so much family drama with DS1 that I probably protected my peace a little too well. 😅

@HuggingAnIcePack887 , @sorchanim and those of you back at work, how are you finding it? I'm back at the end of summer and trying to organise childcare at the moment The nursery we were signed up too closed, and everywhere has a two year wait list.

@PinkWatermelon88 how is your week going? It must be so difficult when your used to having support. I can't imagine how hard it must be having a baby and toddler who both don't sleep well 😵‍💫

How's everyones babas doing with their eating? Esme is 7 months on Monday and she is absolutely LOVING her food. She is on 3 meals a day, still has 4 bottles a day. I almost think wow is she eating too much? But there's no stopping her! She loves porridge oats with either banana or blueberries. Loves all fruits, and most veg other than cauliflower (think I'll try it again with cheese soon tho!) I haven't tried her on any meat fish or rice yet but I suppose I can now from 7 months?

She's just started getting better with textures and chunks aswell and actually just had a banana chomping on it this morning (she's not been great with "finger foods" up to now.) Likes being fed off the spoon.

I don't know if it's because she is eating so well and so full and content....but she has two naps one late morning and one in the afternoon, and then she is still sleeping 11 hours at night in her bedroom! I feel really bad because everyone else is struggling but I do think it's because she's eating so much now and not so bothered about bottles or waking for feeds? She is also really quite active, always on the floor rolling and moving around and also in her bouncer bouncing off energy!

I hope you all get some better sleep soon! 🙏

@kc92 thanks for checking in! if I wasn't still breastfeeding, going back to work wouldn't be so bad. My office is 10 minutes away and I wfh 3 days a week so I do see my baby loads, which is lucky. Pumping milk at work is incredibly hard work and very disruptive to my day. Plus my baby sort of only has enough milk to satisfy his immediate thirst in the day and waits for me to come home so he is glued to me from the second I walk in until he goes to sleep and same in the morning. I then have to log back in to work after he goes to sleep so I feel I have zero time to myself. He's cut 5 (FIVE) teeth in the last 3 weeks so he's been super unsettled too which doesn't help!

If I had 12 months like in the UK, it would be so much better, so I could finish BF and most of the teething.

But his nanny is lovely and he LOVES her which is nice. And it is kind of nice to go to work and socialize a bit. There's a few parents of young children around so we all commiserate about how little time or sleep we get 😅

@TripleESept24 mines had meat and fish since we started, I didn't see a reason to wait! He's allergic to dairy and egg so meat and fish was really needed from the start to give him some protein and fats. I read they really need the iron as well as their stores of iron from birth start to get depleted around 6 months. I know there is stuff like coconut yogurt etc but they're so processed, I figured some chicken would be better.

Salmon and pork chops are firm favourites 😋

He hasn't dropped any milk feeds either and my midwife (i had to see her because of mastitis recently) said he likely won't drop any milk until he's closer to 11 months and on 3 meals and 2 snacks at least.

I'm going to try her on some meat over the Easter weekend!! 😃

@TripleESept24 my baby also loves spices and herbs BTW. I was really nervous about spices but we gave him some curry (mild, when I say spices I mean cumin, turmeric, sweet paprika etc) and he went WILD for it. Also gave him rice with salmon, basil and fennel and omg I thought he would be sick he ate it so fast 😅 we do chunky purees and try to offer something to chew on at the same time.

@HuggingAnIcePack887 glad you're enjoying being back, but I can only imagine how hard all the pumping is! I hate it so much tbh, I don't know if I could do what you're doing. Fair play to you for still going with it!

I'm starting to really look forward to being back. I miss people!! I have a client facing job so lots of chat day to day, and even with playdates and baby groups mat leave can feel a little lonely in comparison. Think that's why I'm on mumsnet too much. 🙈

Can I ask does anyone have any good baby recipes? Mine is getting a lot of boring meals!! I blend what we're having when I can, but the rest of the time he's getting plain veg & protein.

And happy first Easter all!

Hi all I hope everyone had a lovely Easter!

I'm in work tomorrow, and then back part time from 2nd May 😭 kind of looking forward to some normality tho!

Esme has started refusing food off a spoon now 😬 she just wants to gnaw on things and have chunks.

Lunch or dinner ideas?! Do they not get bored of just having cut up chunks of veg and fruit? She definitely doesn't want purees or to be fed off the spoon anymore tho!

@TripleESept24 interesting, I think we may be heading in the same direction. It's hard because with the chunky stuff not enough goes in so it's more play than nutrition lol. Mine's got dairy AND egg allergy here too so quite restricted.

I have made pancakes a few times and serve them with coconut yogurt. They keep in the fridge for a few days which is nice.

Meatballs are great and soft enough too.

If your baby can have egg, then you can do all kinds of fritters (I tried it with egg replacement ideas but they don't work at all, nothing binds as well as egg, they either turn rock hard or fall apart)

Fritters is a good idea thanks!

She won't eat boiled egg but she's had eggy bread.

Surprisingly she is still taking in quite a lot especially if I assist her... Here's what was left of her avo toast this morning 🤣 just the crusts basically

@TripleESept24 mine REFUSES toast. Flat out. Tried it soft, toasted, sourdough, plain. Also hates banana, go figure. Strange creatures.

Oh wow! Haha she absolutely loves banana!!

I need a bit of motivation for the weaning. I was fine with my eldest and got him to try soo many things

For some reason I’m more nervous this time round and been bit lazy doing pouches (but my eldest is only 23 months old tbf so I’m extremely tired)

only actual foods have been avocado on toast (sucked it all off then tried to spaghetti the soggy toast and I had to pull it out) and a strawberry (which he chipmunk into his cheeks)

We didn’t want to sleep train but we did a v.soft Ferber method on and off and eventually he’s happy to read a book, says night and looks for his dad to rock him to sleep / lie down with him

went from an awful sleeper to a quite good one
I realised it didn’t need to be an all or nothing. I could’ve just done the odd bit here and there and it seemed to work

Still having tantrums throughout the day, though

Friends I didn’t think it could get worse… until it got worse 💔 My Dads on his holidays and baby has basically not slept, and now the toddler is up at 5am. So I’m on around 60 min sleep a night, my partner found me sobbing in the bathroom today and called sick to work so he could help. I posted a “help me!!” Post on a sleep training forum on Reddit and was told to just let her cry but if we room share it’ll never work…. And so I’m no wiser. I’m so caught. We abandoned potty training with my toddler, day 4 no joy so maybe she’s not ready yet.
@TripleESept24 i followed moon and rue on TikTok for recipes with my first. She does BLW and has fab ideas, her second baby is around the same age as our smallies.
@MommaSmith thia gives me hope!!!! Did you breast or bottle feed? She’s so used to my nipple in her mouth that’s half my problem.
oh and I’ve gotten mastitis 💔💔💔💔💔

@MommaSmith Dh and I were actually joking the other day about what wonderful food DS is getting while baby no.2 will probably get weetabix all day every day 🤣 the 2 year old zaps all your energy, I bet. Can you just puree leftovers? We started from the get go with just mashing up curry and bolognese and risottos, whatever we are eating. We cook a lot in our house anyway. I did try to do the traditional veg purees etc but gave up after a week as it was SO MUCH work.

I have breastfed both
Did the whole falling asleep to the boob as well, but I replaced that with a bottle of milk or water at night time With my First

this time round, I give a last feed at a time I know that he’s more sleepy then even my partner will hold him till he falls asleep or when he’s closing his eyes I take him off and just lay him on the bed on his stomach because no matter what I do he turns into that position anyway and pat his bum

I found that if there was a lot of crying when it was bedtime even after we’ve done everything it was just down to him being overtired and he started to learn when he needs to go down for a nap and to close his eyes he actually asks us to go to bed or have a nap now

I think I might need to just try putter all our food, but then I want him to get used to textures so he doesn’t get an aversion like my partner did as a kid because my mother-in-law has an obsession with not giving kids actual solid food until they’re three or four

I nearly gave her a heart attack, giving my First avocado on toast or slices of chicken 🤪

@MommaSmith I say I "puree" his stuff but I actually leave them quite chunky (he's 8 months now, but I didn't puree stuff very smooth after the first week). Think almost risotto consistency. And I also give him something to munch on, orange segments and broccoli have been the biggest hits. So I don't think it's all or nothing! Not giving them anything other than puree until the age of 3 is a totally different scale!

Fully contact napping, co-sleeping and breastfeeding here too @PinkWatermelon88 so I completely get you on the feeling ‘trapped’ front. I tried once again to transfer him yesterday morning and his eyes pinged open before I’d even got my arm out from under him.

We’ve had a terrible time with weaning and constipation so he’s not really having any food at the moment and hasn’t been for a few weeks. When we do start again it’ll just be mushy veg and purées.

Yet another thing that I didn’t realise could be an issue…

I did manage to sell the Snuzpod in an ‘as new condition’ on FB marketplace though - never slept in!

The silver lining right Decaffe haha! Hope you got a good price for it! It's just relentless isn't it - and I know its a phase and that it will pass, but in the thick of it itt just feels never ending all consuming, doesn't it. The poor mite and his little belly, they go through so much in the first number of months don't they. Hopefully he takes to it better the next time, has your PHN/Dr given helpful advice? Soloidarity friend x

So I know it’s not NHS approved (mainly because they don’t want to have a liability sue) but if your baby has good head control I’d recommend letting them tummy sleep after a feed

I was super panicked when my first did it. Second he learnt to fully roll over he did it every nap and sleep. I kept turning and waking him until I just let him sleep on tummy on the sofa and watched him

I realised if he was uncomfortable he moved, he’d automatically turn his head to the side. The few times he put his face forward he started thrusting as to get energy out and then he relaxed and moved his head again

my second is exactly the same and I used to wake up to check on him and he did the same as my first

Now I will feed him laying down in the bed and then when he’s done, he just pings off and then rolls onto his front and sleeps

@TripleESept24 Esme looks so grown! And the toast looks delish. My eldest hated spoons too - think you're going to have an independent one on your hands if they're anything alike. 😂

@HuggingAnIcePack887 need to ramp up my finger food offerings, those all sound so good.

@Decaffe I was trying like mad to figure out who the other thread was!! Guessing it was you?

@FuppinNora I was thinking of you the other day! Did your little ones tummy problems ever resolve? (At least I hope I have the right poster in my head!) My boy is so constipated at the moment & nothing has helped so far - if you've figured out any cures I will gladly take all the advise.

@PinkWatermelon88 gah I have no words for how horrific that sleep situation sounds. Really glad your DP took a day off work. I know you mentioned before he does long shifts, but would it be possible at all for him to split the night with you?

@MommaSmith I'm doing the same with tummy sleep at the moment. He gets wind up so much easier on his tummy - it does panic me for reflux but he seems able to manage it.