October 2013 Babies Club

Roesy

Sorry to hear that nikpmup.

For the first time in my life I have regular periods. They are even heavier than before now though.

Do any of ye use the wonder weeks app/book? I was slightly sceptical but so far they have been fairly accurate with Olivia. We're supposedly heading into the 5th 'leap' now.

Little fairy is back to keeping me guessing with her naps. I put her down in her cot for all of her naps and she went to sleep by herself with no walking or rocking and just a little grumble for about 2 out of 3 of each day...until today. It was back to business as usual, crying and fighting even though she was wrecked. She was very funny this evening though. My phone rang while I was feeding her. Was expecting a call that I had to take and by the time I had picked it up and turned back to her she had grabbed the spoon and shoved it in her gob sending sweet potato and swede flying. She also managed to grab the empty bowl and try to get that in her mouth too

nikpmup

Roesy wrote: »

Sorry to hear that nikpmup.

For the first time in my life I have regular periods. They are even heavier than before now though.

Do any of ye use the wonder weeks app/book? I was slightly sceptical but so far they have been fairly accurate with Olivia. We're supposedly heading into the 5th 'leap' now.

Little fairy is back to keeping me guessing with her naps. I put her down in her cot for all of her naps and she went to sleep by herself with no walking or rocking and just a little grumble for about 2 out of 3 of each day...until today. It was back to business as usual, crying and fighting even though she was wrecked. She was very funny this evening though. My phone rang while I was feeding her. Was expecting a call that I had to take and by the time I had picked it up and turned back to her she had grabbed the spoon and shoved it in her gob sending sweet potato and swede flying. She also managed to grab the empty bowl and try to get that in her mouth too

It's not wonder weeks. It's our kids in sync again. If we don't end up as in-laws to each other there's something wrong with the order of the universe!!

nikpmup

My heart is breaking for Peaches Geldof's kids this morning, the thought of them crying for their Mama last night nearly killed me

lolademmers

Me too. I seen photos of her with them and the kids always looked so happy with her. She had really turned her life around and was all about those boys.

Roesy

It's terribly sad. That family have been through a lot!

My poor little mite has got her first proper cold. Up until now she's had the odd sniffle here and there and coincidence or not I'd put a quartered onion in her room and it wouldn't go any further. This time I had no onions the first night and forgot to put them in the next night. She's all snotty sounding and getting tired far more quickly, she's waking loads during the night too with the blocked nose. She's finding the bottles tough going and is spitting up a lot more. Her little eyes are watery too. She hates seeing me coming with the snot sucker and saline and besides a little Olbas Junior on a tissue in her room the chemist told me there's nothing else we can do for her My cousin mentioned something called snuffle babe but the chemist didn't mention and I didn't see it there. Anyone used it before?

nikpmup

I have snuffle babe, it's basically Vicks vaporub for babies, much milder than Vicks. I put it on his chest and feet. A humidifier in the room can help Roesy, if you can get a hold of one, if not, a big bowl of hot water on the radiator. Don't forget you can give calpol and neurofen, alternate them if her symptoms are bad. I used to give the neurofen at night as it helped him get to sleep. Poor little thing, I hope she gets better soon.

Edit - I got the snufflebabe in McCabes pharmacy, in case there's one near you.
Edit#2 : there ya go! http://www.mccabespharmacy.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Snufflebabe

On a totally different note, my sister gave me a recipe for the easiest, low GI bread ever, and it's gorgeous. I managed to make a loaf this morning already, very proud of me. My mam's been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes so we're all trying to avoid sugar & carbs!

Das Kitty

We found neurofen the best for colds too.

A little tip we were given was to have the suppositories in the press. They work quicker. This is useful for a quickly spiking temperature, to put a stop to it.

nikpmup

Das Kitty wrote: »

We found neurofen the best for colds too.

A little tip we were given was to have the suppositories in the press. They work quicker. This is useful for a quickly spiking temperature, to put a stop to it.

Is that the paralink suppositories or can you get neurofen ones?

Das Kitty

nikpmup wrote: »

Is that the paralink suppositories or can you get neurofen ones?

You can get neurofen, and unlike the paralink, one suppository is one dose, unlike the paralink which you have to chop in half.

nikpmup

Must get some in, nothing scarier than a high temp

Das Kitty

It's just when it rises quickly really. It happened a few times here. Luckily we never had any febrile convulsions.

Wooha

We'd take ds into the bathroom while having a shower. The steam really helped him with the stuffy noise.

Roesy

Got some Snufflebabe and a humidifier. Just using the humidifier this evening as she was dressed for bed when the OH came home with the Snufflebabe. Hopefully that'll help, along with the saline and snot sucker(what's the proper name for that again??) Couldn't remember what it was called and nearly referred to as a snot sucker while talking to my husbands friends wife who is ever so proper!

groucho marx

Hope your little pet is feeling better soon Roesy. I hate when our LO is sick, so hard to see her off form.
The teeth have our one drove crazy, we are well into the calpol now, shes inconsolable at stages in the day now, have to say its tough going for mammy and baby. We have jabs next week too, generally is beyond unpleasant as she absolutely hates jabs.

nikpmup

Aw, I've jabs thursday Must dig out the neurofen.

Das Kitty

3 jabs on the six monther.

One of them got quite swollen for Rory.

nikpmup

Poor lad, he's not gonna like me I hate doing it to him.

nikpmup

Hugo is having an existential crisis. He can roll back to front pretty well, but he seems to have forgotten how to roll front to back. He hates being on his front, but keeps rolling onto it, just because he can. He gets on his front, then wails because he doesn't like it and he can't move. I put him back on his back. He rolls to his front again. He's chewing his toes now, because he can't deal with the enormity of it all. I need a lie down!

knock13

Ha ha Nikpmump I had to laugh at your post as I'm just here waiting for the next yell to help him up. He won't stay lying under his play gym anymore just keeps rolling up onto his chest and every now and then forgets how to get back down! It is bloody exhausting, obviously great they are developing n learning new skills n movement but god it's tiring!! I suppose the real fun will start when they start pulling themselves up onto furniture n crawling places! That's when need to buy a playpen!

I used the snuffle babe on his feet and en put on socks over it at night and it seemed to help. Have any of you heard of or used calgel for teething. Heard someone raving about it but it's not in a lot of chemists, keep trying to find it. He isn't suffering too badly with them yet and just using teetha but I know the time will come for something else.

nikpmup

How bad is it that when I went to test Hugo's dinner for temp/texture, I thought "Mmmmmm!" and helped myself to another little spoonful!

groucho marx

Im so behind with the spoon feeding, dribs and drabs here and there.
Are ye reducing the bottles or same amount and just experimenting with tastes on the solids? PHN wont be best pleased with our progress I would think.

nikpmup

We're still on 4 bottles, but I've reduced the volume. His day goes somewhat like this:
7am(ish) - 7oz bottle
9.30/10am - breakfast; usually baby porridge with some fruit mixed in
11.30am - 6oz bottle
1.30/2pm - lunch - today, it was chicken puree, mashed avodado and some pear puree to sweeten the deal!
4.30/5pm - dinner - today, cauliflower and lentil puree with grated cheese, followed by 5/6oz bottle
7.30pm - small yogurt & fruit puree or small amt porridge with fruit, followed by 6/7oz bottle.

Meal sizes are about 3 tablespoons. It sounds/looks like a lot, but he's hoovering it all up and after the week before last when he was vomiting three/four times a day and lost weight I'm just happy he's eating and keeping it down - he obviously needs it! Gonna try him with fish and eggs over the coming few weeks. He seems to be tolerating cheese and yogurt okay. I didn't bother with petit filous or any kind of baby yogurt, they're all full of sugar, just natural yogurt with a bit of fruit puree mixed in. Once I'm happy that he's eating everything, I'll make it all a bit lumpier.

groucho marx

Wow nikpmup your doing great with all the flavours.well done,thanks for writing it up im grateful to see what a baby around the same age gets.
Did you start with packet say heinz ellas kitchen etc or make it all from scratch from day one? I have a fear of making it incase I do something wrong and make her sick.

nikpmup

I started with cooking it myself, just one thing at a time, so carrot one day, sweet potato or pear the next etc. A week or so of introducing new things every day. Then I started to combine, and started giving the odd Ella's pouch while out and about. I waited till he was well established on these before giving meat or dairy (and until after he turned 22/23 weeks) He had a tummy bug two weeks ago, and his reflux made a resurgence so I stuck to plain stuff, now he's over it though he's flying, eating anything I give him. If he's not keen on the flavour of something savoury, the addition of a spoonful of apple or pear puree usually works!

I bought organic stewing steak and organic chicken thighs in M&S, slowly stewed them and then pureed them in the stock I cooked them in, then froze them in ice cube trays. Same with the fruit & veg, steamed them gently then pureed them in a little of the liquid I used to cook them in. I'm careful to wash everything well, cool it quickly and freeze straight away. Banana and avocado I just mash well with a fork, mango gets pureed and frozen but I don't cook it. Apples and pears I peel, core and steam gently, then puree and freeze. Lentils I simmer until tender, then puree in a little of the cooking liquid. I try to buy organic where possible, but I don't sweat it if I can't. Dunnes, Lidl and Aldi all have organic fruit and veg at fairly reasonable prices.
As for making him sick, well, the tummy bug he had might have been my cooking or it might have been something he caught from someone else, but he's gonna have to eat my food at some stage so I figure I should get him used to it from the get-go! I took it fairly slowly, didn't give him too much at once and not too much quantity-wise, he was still getting all he needed from his milk. As he got better at eating I took my cues from him - if he finished a bowl and whinged and got fussy, it meant he wanted more, if he started to spit out the food or not be interested I took it to mean he was full.
I'm happy enough to give him a jar or packet from time to time (except ones that are full of sugar, Heinz jars seem to be the worst offender there!) I've given him Ellas pouches, boots own brand organic pouches and I'm going to try him on Hipp organic as well. As for introducing finger food, I might hold off another couple of weeks, my mother has passed her irrational fear of him choking onto me despite me trying not to pay any heed to her

groucho marx

Thats really helpful,thanks a mil:-)
Today I have sweet potato ready to go. And ive the vital baby press n pop pots ready so the cook freeze eat journey starts:-)

nikpmup

It sounds like a lot of work, but it's not too bad - for instance, the other evening while I was cooking our dinner, I steamed a head of cauliflower, then pureed it and froze it. The next day I popped out the cubes and put them in a freezer bag; there's enough there to last a couple of weeks I reckon. I've broccoli and carrots there that I'll cook & freeze tonight. I've got loads of bags in the freezer now, at meal times I just grab a cube or two out of them, meat, veg, fruit or whatever. Throw it in the microwave for a minute and it's good to go. I'd sometimes grate a bit of cheese into it; if I'm cooking spuds for our dinner I'll take a quarter of one out and put it in the fridge, the next day I'll mash it with a little formula and add meat & veg. Butternut squash is easy, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, bung in the oven. When it's tender, scoop out the flesh & puree. If you have a good hand blender it helps, and I bought two mini silicone spatulas, and some silicone ice cube trays - makes life a lot easier!

nikpmup

Meant to say as well, I started with just one ''meal'' a day - once he seemed happy with that, I upped it to two, again, once he was happy with that I added a third meal. I only recently added the evening yogurt/porridge as he was waking in the night so I thought it might be hunger. Seems to be working, last night and the night before he slept until 5.30/6am. It was a lot of trial and error to fit in the meals with the bottles, and to rejig his routine, but it seems to be settling into a new pattern now that works.

Roesy

nikpmup wrote: »

Hugo is having an existential crisis. He can roll back to front pretty well, but he seems to have forgotten how to roll front to back. He hates being on his front, but keeps rolling onto it, just because he can. He gets on his front, then wails because he doesn't like it and he can't move. I put him back on his back. He rolls to his front again. He's chewing his toes now, because he can't deal with the enormity of it all. I need a lie down!

Olivia rolled from front to back a few times in a row back in February then promptly forgot about it. She's done it a couple of times since but until this morning I think it was more gravity than anything She's mad doing little baby crunches at the moment. She's practically getting from reclined to sitting up and then flopping back down. Needs to join mammy in pilates to work on her core I'd say!!!

groucho marx wrote: »

Wow nikpmup your doing great with all the flavours.well done,thanks for writing it up im grateful to see what a baby around the same age gets.
Did you start with packet say heinz ellas kitchen etc or make it all from scratch from day one? I have a fear of making it incase I do something wrong and make her sick.

Groucho, I wouldn't worry about making her sick. Once you take the usual food prep precautions you'll be fine. I'm in my second full week of purees now and am still only doing one little 'meal' a day. Up until today this was plenty for her but she's back to chewing along and looking enviously at me when I put anything near my mouth so I'm going to introduce a little breakfast tomorrow. I wasn't going to bother with cereal but she's too young for dairy, wheat etc so I'm going to give a little porridge tomorrow and little fruit puree with it after that. Once you get your head around it it's grand. Yesterday I was making some butternut squash, sweet potato and parsnip soup so I peeled some extra and just pureed and froze them in little ice cube trays for her. I've also got some swede, carrot, pears and apples made and frozen so I can mix and match. I've also given her banana and avocado which I do as I need them. Must get around to making a batch of mango as she loved the little pouch of Ella's mango we gave her. She is so enthusiastic when we sit down to eat and LOVES sitting at the table eating with us. It's so funny when she gets her hands on the spoon.

Roesy

Why am I always suspicious when she sleeps longer than 40 minutes!!

nikpmup

Roesy wrote: »

Olivia rolled from front to back a few times in a row back in February then promptly forgot about it. She's done it a couple of times since but until this morning I think it was more gravity than anything She's mad doing little baby crunches at the moment. She's practically getting from reclined to sitting up and then flopping back down. Needs to join mammy in pilates to work on her core I'd say!!!



Groucho, I wouldn't worry about making her sick. Once you take the usual food prep precautions you'll be fine. I'm in my second full week of purees now and am still only doing one little 'meal' a day. Up until today this was plenty for her but she's back to chewing along and looking enviously at me when I put anything near my mouth so I'm going to introduce a little breakfast tomorrow. I wasn't going to bother with cereal but she's too young for dairy, wheat etc so I'm going to give a little porridge tomorrow and little fruit puree with it after that. Once you get your head around it it's grand. Yesterday I was making some butternut squash, sweet potato and parsnip soup so I peeled some extra and just pureed and froze them in little ice cube trays for her. I've also got some swede, carrot, pears and apples made and frozen so I can mix and match. I've also given her banana and avocado which I do as I need them. Must get around to making a batch of mango as she loved the little pouch of Ella's mango we gave her. She is so enthusiastic when we sit down to eat and LOVES sitting at the table eating with us. It's so funny when she gets her hands on the spoon.

Mango is great to have in the freezer, I've found that you can add a little banana and it freezes well - one kid size banana to two mangos approx (I leave the mangoes in the bowl with the bananas to ripen!) If I'm giving Hugo avocado, I share one with him - I have half on a sandwich with turkey and he has the other half mashed! Lentils are good too, with a little grated cheese