May 2016 Babies Club

Lucuma

Teggers gr8 to hear from you! Hope you start getting more sleep soon. Very hard working as a nanny while being a First Time Mum or FTM as it's known I'd say. You've had a hard time with the TT and then reflux. Hope it gets easier once baby settles.
Wuffly you really have the night sleeping nailed! Omg green with envy here. But weird re the naps. My lo is literally exact opposite: day time angel and night time devil! She's grand for naps and sometimes even falls asleep on her own in her bed. I took some comfort from what u said re that if she does sporadic 6 hr stretch at least it shows she's capable of it and gives hope for future!
Kathy sorry to hear of little man's virus. Hope he feels better soon. Isn't it amazing you are one of the generation who never knew what it was to pay for your under 6 to go to the GP. Really amazing that it's free now

Kathy22

Yep its great Lucuma, one of the few good things our government offers.

We are in the middle of the 4 month sleep regression, I miss my sleep. Little guy woke every hour and a half last night wanting a feed. My husband managed to get him to take 60 mls from a bottle last night as I had gone to a meeting but he stayed awake until I got home at 10pm for a feed and then went to sleep :eek: Then proceeded to wake at 1, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30 and 6am. I desperately tried to grab some sleep this morning but he was awake for the day and kept kicking around so had to get up. Two coffees later I feel a little bit more human

I think the tongue tie has helped a lot with day time feeding, he doesn't feed as often and is less pukey and we don't have any of those horrible trapped burps followed by projectile pukes. How is your little girls reflux now Lucuma?

His cold is clearing up, less coughing and his congestion is clearing, I had a script for an antibiotic but held off giving it to him as no temp and he seems to be shifting it. I'd like to avoid antibiotics. Has anyone noticed their little ones get a rash on their neck, seems to be from dribbling and spit up. I've tried a few creams like bepanthen and silcocks base but still not shifting.

Any teeth showing? We had a horrible week of teething last week and mixed with the cold I ended up giving him Calpol and nurofen but alas no teeth have shown up yet. Wonder how it will impact on eating when we start solids.

wuffly

In the middle of our first nursery illness:'( hand foot and mouth, was a bit off form last week but no temp etc... so thought it was just teething. Temp spike over the weekend and the dr spotted blisters in his throat, the poor little thing. Hopefully over the worst of it. Up every hour the last few nights, temp is down thankfully but his throat still seems quiet sore, so keeping up the calpol to try and soothe him.

Kathy how is his sleep now? any improvement? Our guys naps were slowly starting to improve, so hoping all isn't lost after being sick. Great his feeding is so much better, must be such a relief. Re the rash, we are still just using coconut oil. I thought it wasn't working as he was getting dry patches on his arms and one thigh, at his 4 month vaccines the GP said to lather him up in coconut oil about an hour before his bath let him roll around on his mat, wash off in the bath and apply a little again, as usual during his massage afterwards. She said to do it regularly but haven't had to do it since, cleared up completely. Also we didn't do it nappy free as he'd pee everywhere!

Lucuma, any more long stretches from your little lady? I got great hope the first night our guy slept through, felt like it was possible and hopefully only a matter of time. Hopefully its the same for you. Did you get to your family wedding?
Little man is non stop rolling now, can't turn your back for a second or he'll do a few rolls and be off the foam mats (which take up most of the floor!) He's also lifting his bum and getting on his knees and trying to move but not getting the hand part so just gets frustrated and flops back down, Think we will need baby jail (playpen) soon. Not sure about teeth, we thought hfm was teething so not a very good judge of whats going on! He has two of those Sophie things (different shapes) and cooler teething ring zero interest in either, but all else will get dragged to his mouth, loves chewing a muslin!

Kathy re teeth and blw a friend of mine said it was quiet helpful to soothe the gums chewing on soft carrots etc... and her little one was eating everything by the time she was one. Need to order that Gill rapley book, tried a few shops here and can only find annabel karmel a friend lent me one of hers. Thinking of doing a mix as it seems to have worked well for a few people i know.

Does anyone use amber teething necklaces? I see them on a lot of kids but then i see the odd article about them getting caught and causing a choking hazard, i know they are individually knotted so if they break only one bead comes loose. Must do some more reading.
High chairs? any recommendations? I love the look of the stokke and looks easy to clean compared to most, but unless i find a 2nd hand one i think its out of the question! Or else the super cheap ikea one which gets rave reviews. Don't want to do the same as with the buggy and get something awkward in the long run Also looking a lightweight stroller thank god we used the bugaboo so much for sleep in Ireland or OH might kill me! Still use the carrier loads but something easier for other times would be handy! especially for going home at Christmas.... which i haven't cleared with work yet!

Lucuma

Wuffly when you say you're working part time - is it a 3 or 4 day week or what? How's your hubby's business/work going? With the swimming lessons I know water babies takes place in pools that are heated to higher than normal temps, they should be really for small babies. So funny your little fella fell asleep during swimming haha.

It is frustrating when childcare won't follow your routine I know. That's probably the hardest thing about handing your child over to others I think. Because they have several children to mind invariably your child will take shorter naps (other kids wake them up) and eat things you don't want them to eat. To a certain degree you have to relinquish control but then again you're paying them so they should try to respect your wishes. I told our CM I don't want dd1 eating cr@p and not to give her juice only water etc but of course I don't know what goes on when I'm not there -no app to keep me informed!

The wedding went ok. Brought babs to the church, missed the entire drinks reception as was meeting the babysitter, making bottles and showing her the ropes etc. Had a great night, drank too much of course coz i'm not used to the freedom (!) made the resident's bar (briefly) and when I got back to my accommodation I fell sound asleep (babysitter was booked for overnight) and woke up the next morning with milk EVERYWHERE. My boobs didnt' feel right for more than a week afterwards but are ok again now. Ooops.

I've another wedding now in a fortnight's time. This time I'll be leaving the kids with hubby in Europe adn I'll fly home for the wedding. No way to avoid being gone for 3 nights (can't fly over on day of wedding in case I miss it if flight is delayed etc and if I know I have to fly the day after the wedding I won't enjoy the wedding) it's a long time to be apart from bubs and will have to be very disciplined about pumping to keep up my supply. My aim was 6 months exclusive, I got to 2 months exclusive and will make 6 months combination so whatever happens now I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm not going to start introducing a bottle at night at this stage as that would be a major backward step in the old sleeping front so I'll keep giving her breastfeed at night til she's not having night feed anymore (hopefully around 7-8 months?) We'll see how hubby gets on with her for the 3 nights!!

Kathy the sleeping sounds like really tough going, great that babs took milk from hubby in a bottle though! Keep building on that now to give yourself a break. Re the reflux my little one has really improved. She still throws up the breastmilk sometimes but she does keep it down 75% of the time now whereas before she would always throw it up. Not jiggling her around after a feed is crucial. I didn't change my diet at all still guzzling caffeine to beat the band so I think her digestive system is just maturing. I'm still doing my 2 scoops reflux formula 4 scoops normal formula in the bottles. Sometimes her dirty nappies are weird - kind of clumpy. And then they go back to normal again. Still get leaks sometimes and everything has to be changed but no real huge poo explosions anymore. Their digestive systems are a mystery at the best of times!

Fair play to you not giving the antibiotic Kathy. I would be of the same opinion try to avoid giving them. My 2 year old has never had an antibiotic (or a prescription drug/cream etc of any kind). Could be because we don't live in Ireland maybe (the docs where we live wouldn't give you an antibiotic if your leg was hanging off) and also the fact she goes to a childminder and not a creche has to have had a big influence as well. As for the red raw fold on the neck, I have avoided that on this baby by digging in with a sponge/cloth during baths and giving a good clean in there, even though it makes her cry to do this. My first baby got that red raw thing so I was more careful to avoid it on this baby. I also put a bit of cream in there if I think it's getting a bit red. They say powder is good? Maybe caldescene as that can be got in powder form?

No teeth. I'm constantly watching out for them though.They can be teething for months before any actual teeth appear though. We'll be starting solids here next week, exciting! Well kind of. It's so handy when they only need milk, things get way more complicated once that's gone. And I absolutely LOVE that I don't have share any of my own food with the baby, the novelty! I have given her a few first tastes on the tip of the back of a spoon or on the tip of my finger. Only non-allergens like potato, cauli-flower, sweet potato and baby rice. Each and every one came straight back out so the gag reflux is still there. Hope it's gone by this time next week! This is from HSE website about how to know baby is ready:
How do I know my baby is ready?

The signs that your baby is ready for solid food include:

•Have good head control

•Show interest in foods; your baby may look at food eagerly, watch when you eat and chew their hands

•Able to sit up with support

•Start to look for milk feeds more frequently over more than a week

She's definitely horsing into more milk feeds for over a week and she can sit up with support (e.g. in a Bumbo) she's been looking at food for a while but that's not enough of a sign on its own coz the gag reflux was still there even though she was looking at us eating. Also she looks at everything that's going on, not just people eating so it's hard to know if that's anything to do with it. The womanly art of breastfeeding said you know if your baby is ready if they grab food and put it into their mouth. I gave her a piece of broccoli and she didn't even put it into her mouth, that was 2 weeks ago though. I treated myself to the Annabel Karmel book, have always wanted one. I think it'd be great for simple family meals that can be prepared quickly after coming home from work instead of the complicated recipes I usually gravitate towards (much to my husband's chagrin). I didn't do blw on dd1 and she was grand apart from the fact she still is a really messy eater and seemed to stay a very messy eater (not good at mastering the fork/spoon etc) for a lot longer than her cousin who did a mix of blw and purees so I might try more finger food this time. Have to be careful not to just end up giving them a load of bread though as it's an easy one for blw. If they get too much bread and fruit that's all they'll eat after a while. So that would be my fear about blw. easier to get loads of veggies into them with the purees.

HF+M sounds awful Wuffly, you poor thing. Up every hour! You must have been like a zombie at work. Can you get calpol and neurofen over there? Wow your little man is lifting his bum! That's brilliant. My little woman is rolling a bit as well adn turning 360 on the playmat on her back. The daily tummy time now consists of putting her on her tummy, she rolls onto her back, put her back on her tummy, she rolls onto her back, back on her tummy one more time and she rolls onto her back. I leave it then. Hoping to see some signs of crawling soon.

Attached is the high chair we used for dd1. It has now been broken down into a small chair adn a small table which she absolutely loves. It was ok as a highchair, her legs used to get stuck in it when taking her out for the last 6 months before we broke it down. So not sure what to get for the new babs as obviously that one is now being used by dd1 for meals. The one you got is cool Kathy, never seen that one. I've often seen the cheap as chips plastic one from Ikea which, once you get the support cushion, is meant to be great as well but coz the legs spread out in 4 directions I think not suitable for us as we're seriously caught for space so we need one with legs that go directly down and not splayed out. The support cushions are great actually, we used towels to support dd1 for way too long so just get the support cushion now and make your life easier!

The amber necklace are meant to be great for stopping drooling. I think that's all they do from what I've read on forums. But for some peopel that's a big thing if the baby was drooling excessively and going around with a wet chest all the time (although you could also put a plastic backed dribbler the wrong way around under their clothes to keep their chest dry) You can also get amber anklet if you're worried about choking?

Had to smile at your comment about the buggy. When ye were buying yeer travel systems I remember mentioning here that as soon as baby is older you'll be ditching the big buggy for the lightest lightweight stroller you can find so don't waste too much money on travel systems but you have to experience these things yourself to realise. At least you didnt' buy it new !!!!
Also I think the newborn phase is so hard that anything that makes it a little easier is worth the money even if you only use it for a few months. Lightweight stroller all the way for flights, only thing is it then means you can't bring the car seat which you will probably still need at Xmas unless of course your little fella outgrows it. I got to beyond 1 year in the infant car seat (maxi cosi) with dd1.

Baby is making a lot of happy noise these days, it's like she's just discovered her voice! As I type she's keeping up a serious cacophony of screeching! Very cute. She's happy out and going from strength to strength on teh sleeping front, thank god!! I feel I can say this now coz it's happened the last FOUR nights in a row, but she appears to be cured !!! She's going to bed around 8pm, waking for her breastfeed in the middle of the night and ....wait for it.....is then sleeping til it's time to get up! No more waking continuously from 1am to 7am. I can't believe it's finally stopped. I have to admit that I had to resort to using CIO as I reached teh end of my tether and needed to get a stretch of sleep between 1am and 7am so maybe that's what changed her behaviour I don't know. They say it works in 7 days but I only did max 3 nights in a row, then a night of constant dodie reinsertion, then CIO again and so on. Not sure if it's that or is it just her age and she finally just changed but man it's heaven. Only thing is she's now waking at 6:30am (and 6am this morning) and that's it then she's up for the day. It's a big adjustement and although I'm not a morning person (dd1 doesnt' get up til 8am) I have gone through so much sleep deprivation on this baby and being a mombie for months that I will take her only waking once per night in whatever package it comes, even if it means up at 6am!

I'm still looking for a job so getting a longer than planned maternity leave. Need to get back to work alright money-wise so hopefully something comes up soon.

Lucuma

Well might have been a false dawn here re the sleeping. She has certainly stopped her previous behaviour but it has been replaced with 1 night waking/feed and then a ridiculously early start. First few days it was 6:30, then 05:45 and today 05:00 ! Ah here!!
She's 4 days off 6mo so started solids 'early' yesterday with baby rice. She swallowed some for 1st time! Bit of choking/coughing alright. Then a bit of avocado this morning (6am). Same she swallowed some and coughed & choked a bit. And we're off!!!

wuffly

Think we are on the same routine at the moment Lucuma, since HFM we are back to one night waking (after the dream feed) we seem to get a good run then loose it again, although he pushed out until 4am this morning so hoping we get back to 6/6:30. Also he's started to roll on his side, sometimes his tummy to sleep(freaks me out!) and when he rolls back on his back he wakes up and goes nuts if he can't roll back on his side.. hoping as he gets better at it/more used to it, he wont wake.
With getting up and out for nursery 6:30 is good for us. He's back to nursery this week so thinking the excitement and less sleep (doesn't like to nap there, major FOMO) will have him tired enough to sleep better. We were zombies going back to the hourly waking's, his feeds aren't back to normal and he has no mind to finish his bottles which I think is part of why he wakes at night, he's feeding regularly though so at least he's not getting dehydrated. HFM was awful wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Kathy how is the sleep going? Hope his cold is all better.

I do remember you saying about the light weight stroller Lucuma, friends of ours are on their 3rd (pram/buggy) :eek: looking at something like a yoyo or mountain buggy nano(takes a car seat so would be handy on that front), but no budget at the moment. Using the carrier a lot again, now he's out of the new born insert its very easy, plus it has to burn more calories than pushing a buggy right?!:D Weather has finally started to come down so we are getting out in the afternoons around 4 for a walk.

Re work, i'm doing 5 half days which is great for me and little guy, they let me choose, thought it would be better for LO to be in nursery everyday for a few hours rather than a few long days and boss thought it would be easier so work doesn't get too backed up. finanically its $hite... but lucky to come back to work at all, a lot of lay offs during my mat leave (including me but managed to wangle my way back in), hopefully go back full time in the new year if not I will need to start looking, which I am really not arsed to do. OH's business is going well but needs everything its making to go back in at the minute. Waiting on payment from a few consulting jobs but they are being very slow. Had hoped consulting would be enough to manage on but its not steady/secure enough. So getting a paying job is necessary. One fell through but hoping the other options come through. Otherwise we need to make the decision to move home or move to a cheaper place. Our home is the biggest draw for me at the moment (garden, walking distance to friends, shop, pool, etc..) its amazing value for what we get, but its still too much of a cost with half a salary and saving is a thing of the past. . Big reassessment by Christmas if things don't change. How is your job hunt going? any propects? hopefully something turns up.

Glad you got to enjoyed the wedding a bit Lucuma, hope the next one goes well.

Trying baby sensory today with friend while she's still on mat leave, although at 27 euros a pop it will be a one off... seriously anything baby related is a licence to print money!! :mad: He loved swimming this week, lots of splashing, making bath time a bit of mare:P water everywhere.

Going through so many dribblers soaked through everyday so might look into the amber necklace and see. He's taking an interest in sophie to chew on now so i guess its definitely teething, no sign of teeth though. Given him those teething granules few times when he's very cranky but not sure if they do anything. He seems to get more of a jolt of pain than anything and then is fine again. Guess we will figure it out. He's totally mesmerised by food, but think we will hold off until the 6 months need to check that tongue thrust reflex as well and he's not upping his milk volumes at all. Borrowed a bumbo, he's not a fan, looks a bit like a drunken pirate in it at the moment. Looking at the same high chair Kathy, will need a cushion as i think our guy will whack his head off the back, not sure if the ikea cushion goes high enough. Have you tried it out yet kathy?

How are the solids going Lucuma? did you do the avocado as finger food? If your caught for space would you use one of those table attachment chairs? http://www.bellababy.ie/mountain-buggy-pod---flint-p-4652.html we can't use one on our table as its too thick. Sis inl aw has one and its seems great, not sure how well the need to sit up to use it though.

Kathy22

His cold is all better and i didnt need to use the antibiotics so happy with that. He is such a happy little guy these days and has definitely found his voice, constantly babbling and screeching. Loves when Daddy comes home from work and gives a big smile and giggle. Its very cute.

Lucuma I have been thinking about his readiness to start weaning soon and most websites seem to say they should be able to sit up without support for example here. Notice the without is emphasised which i was surprised by as our guy definately needs support, he can comfortably sit in the high chair and a bumbo but would fall flat on his face without support. I don't recall many babies sitting at 6 months? Your info Lucuma seems to suggest its ok once they can sit with support. One thing I am going to start doing this week is giving him some expressed frozen milk as crushed ice and let him play with that on a plate with a spoon.

Wuffly he sits comfortably in the ikea chair with the blow up cushion. I find it great as well because with the cushion and bar in front there isnt a hope of him falling forward or slipping out of it. A lot of people in the BLW group recommend this one in ikea as its easy to clean and some people have said you can even throw it in the shower to clean it. I liked the look of the red one so went for that one.

Lucuma totally LOL'd at your post re the wedding. I had a wedding on Friday, drank a little too much vino (champagne and gin and tonic ), skipped the residence bar with the small ounce of sense i had left before bed but fell asleep and woke at 7.30am with rock solid and sore boobs. Was wrecked yesterday so collected baba and took him into bed with me for 2 hours!! He stayed with my parents and my poor mother did not have an easy night. He has point blank refused to drink milk from a bottle, sticks his tongue out, turns his head, pushes them away and if we keep going he looses the plot and cries like a lunatic so we tried a sippy cup, found one which lets small amounts of milk out and he swallows it. He wont allow anyone but me put him in the nursing position or he goes mad. Anyway long story short my mam ended up feeding him expressed milk with a spoon :eek: He would not go to bed for her and stayed up till 3am chatting away. Going to keep trying with the bottles as I would like to be able to get out every now and then. :eek: He was wrecked yesterday so slept a lot but could barely get him off the boob last night, he woke every 2 hours, hoping it is just because he missed me the night before. Sleeping is still not great, he gets a feed at 11pm then wakes at 2.30am and then 4.30am and then he is awake for the day at 7am. Hopefully solids and age will improve this.

Wuffly our guy is the same, loves eating muslin cloths :rolleyes: Everything and anything goes in the mouth including the face cloth at bath time. He is like velcro, grabs everything including my nose, mouth, skin, hair during feeds! He is teething like mad and i can see his top 2 teeth under his gums so obviously that is what has been bothering him.

He is growing so fast, 6-9 month clothes are still a little big but he is def rather snug in the 3-6 month clothes. Got him weighed this week and he is now over 18lbs and up in the 91st centile so flying it. Glad to hear though other babas are not sitting without support as I was worrying this is what he should be doing. He is rolling over and sleeping on his side now, still hates tummy time. He never really rolls over from his back to his tummy and still flails a little rolling from his tummy to his back although i know he can do it as a few times he has tried reaching for a toy behind him and ended up on his tummy or when i turn my back when he is on the mat he will end up on his tummy.

Hopefully you enjoy the next wedding Lucuma and get a few good nights sleep in the process LOL! Best of luck on the job hunt.

Wuffly hope your little guy is doing better now since the HF&M, poor little guy. So hard seeing them sick .

Edited to add that you can order the Gill Rapley books with free delivery from book depository. Like this one or this cookbook.

Lucuma

Wow wuffly I never knew there were lightweight strollers that took car seats! So handy. I'm familiar with the Yo yo alright it's popular with people living in high rise apartments without lifts (where we are in europe where buildings are from the 1930s mostly).
That's great your back isn't at you too much anymore if you can use the carrier. Did you go for a massage in the place near work you were talking about? So important ladies to mind your backs, they can get fecked from this baby malarky. I go for a deep tissue massage about once every 2 months or so. Best are the asian places where they don't speak english and shout at you ;o)
I was glad to kiss the newborn insert goodbye out of the Ergo as well (though it's necessary obviously when they are newborn) but she seems much happier in it now, and there was that awkward stage where she seemed to big for it but too small to put her legs in the 'W' position splayed out the side. But now that she's holding her head up she's quite happy in the Ergo. I wouldn't use mine a whole lot but for the few occasions I need it (on planes after I've left the buggy at the gate, climbing 3 floors of stairs to the childminder) it's essential. I forgot it on a flight there recently, total disaster!
5 half days! Cool, never heard of anyone doing that before. You're a wise woman putting baby in nursery for 5 days. Much easier for them to settle. I have a friend a SAHM and started putting her 1 yo in a creche 1 day a week to give her a break....diaster, child hated it and cried the whole time. They need to be going a few days a week to settle there. Your house sounds gorgeous, a pool and all! And the weather to swim in. When your little one is older that'll be amazing for them. Hopefully your OH gets a job soon and/or you get made fulltime again. I have a 2nd round interview next week so fingers crossed. It's the only sniff of a job where we are in europe so if I don't get it we'll be having a major reassessment as well! Would love if the irish gov brought in that tax break for returning expats that was flouted recently!
Wow 27 for drop in baby sensory!! I went to baby sensory in Amsterdam. It's 10 euro for a trial class (your first class) and after that it's 20 euro for a 'drop in' class (cheaper if you sign up for the whole term). I thought that was bad! Did you like it? I thought it was good to focus on baby for an hour, at home you'd usually be running around trying to do stuff or on the phone/computer.
I find it weird that Kellymom website says they have to be sitting up without support Kathy! I checked dd1's baby book there and she sat up without support at 8 months (baby book for this baby didn't even get taken out of its box!). Dont' think 6 month olds ever do, or at least it's not normal. Holding their head up independently is the milestone I understood was required to start solids. Bubs sits up grand in a Bumbo, put her in one sometimes she'll stay about 10 minutes before starting to give out. Not much drooling here! Must be a good bit off teething. Don't even need to use a drool bib most of the time. Still spews a bit though so need a bib for that more than anything. I tried giving the avocado as finger food but was too messy and she doesn't have the co-ordination. Anyway despite avocado being listed as a good first food, it wasn't a good first food for her. Farting all day after it and 2 dirty nappies before lunchtime. She's a strict one-dirty-nappy-a-day girl . My sister said her baby was the same just before she started solids, was down to 1 dirty nappy a day. So I better enjoy that while it still lasts! Our table is also too thick for the clamp on chair, good idea though! We have a big antique table in the apartment as well as fabric covered antique dining chairs, disaster with little ones. I'd rather keep kids away from the table and chairs as we'll have enough probs getting the deposit back when we leave here as it is! So no high chairs that go anywhere near the table need apply, only stand alone ones.
6 month birthday here today! And I've felt every day of it, haha. Whoever said time with a newborn flies was a damned liar ;o)At the same time am trying to cherish it more than I did on dd. I know now that soon enough I'll have a big toddler lying there on the nappy change table trying to kick me and shouting 'Nooooo' in my face so I do take time every day to be mindful and appreciate the feeling of feathery little fingers trying to grab my face and the new baby smell and general squishiness of her :-) I think now is the best phase actually they are still baby babies, not talking or crawling but they are old enough to be very interactive. Same here re being happy Kathy she is such a happy, smiley, giggly baby and smiles for everyone out and about!
Does Ikea chair come witha blow up cushion Kathy? Never heard of one of them before for high chair, sounds like a good idea. That antilop Ikea chair is so popular and such a bargain! I've often used them in cafes and restaurants.
Mad you can see his top two teeth Kathy as it's the bottom 2 that come first. So on the weaning anyway we're on day 4 or 5 now. I am just giving baby rice now after that funny reaction she had to the avocado (I mean just lots of farts really) I did give her some sweet potato as well, needed to mix it a good bit with milk to get her to take it. She's improved a lot though is swallowing a good bit now. Only gave 1-2 teaspoons per day so far, no rhyme or reason to it yet. Gave it at lunchtime the first few days and just before bed last night coz I forgot about it! Gonna make some veg purees now this week while I'm still unemployed and freeze them. Probably sweet potato or butternut squash with maybe a bit of pureed green beans or peas or parsnip mixed in. Ice cube size for now I'd say. I'll just use the ice cube thingy I have as not gonna be putting ice in my drinks anymore this time of year!
My one can't roll from her back to her tummy yet, only the other way around. We have a sleephead pillow so no rolling around the bed, wouldn't be able for it, have enough problems with sleeping! She is kind of 2 steps forward one step back. She now does 8pm to 1am consistently every night so that is great in fairness. It also means can leave her with a babysitter the odd time as she will be asleep for the bit that they are there. Kathy your Mum had a rough night with the baby! Isn't she great to do it! My Mam helps me out all the time with babysitting but it has to be fairly low-maintenance for her to agree to do it. Up til 3am feeding a baby milk with a spoon would be out I'd say!

wuffly

I didn't know about the carseat going in a light weight stroller either, think it sort of straps in, a friend of mine has one she's on baby no 2 and she has gone through the bugaboo bee and the yoyo and finds the mountain buggy nano the best, she has a scooter attachment for her 2yr old, not seen it in action but she said its great. its about half the price of a yoyo and she said she can pop it up and down one handed. Must get a demo from her. Seen a few other cheaper options as well so will check them out as well.
Re my back obviously i cursed my self be mentioning i was using the carrier a lot. My back had been a load better since getting back and using a proper height changing table, but the other day what ever way i put the carrier on it just wasn't right and I went for a stupidly long walk and was in agony after it. plenty of heat and volteran and its not too bad again. Have a voucher for massage that i still haven't used need to use if before it expires!

Bought the highchair yesterday, little dude was like a briar in ikea so he hated both chairs:eek: went with the blames one as i just like the look of it better hope i don't regret it! least its still not too expensive. Gil Rapley booke arrived this morning so will have a read and see.

Possibly over sold our house:o, walking distance to the pool, there is club here with a pool, gym and a bar, the bar is fairly unusual as all bars should be connected to a hotel, but we live on the edge of the city and years ago would have been miles out so it has a random licence. We also have nice mall close by, its just kinda perfect. I thought I was super ready to move home until I spent the summer there and really realised how good we have it here. In the next year there will be a legoland and a few other theme parks down the road and a Louvre in Abu Dhabi. We are close to the beach and they've built a couple of km of walk way so its easy to take him for a stroll in the buggy. The weather is finally nice enough to get out and about.

Re work I think it suits everyone if i am in everyday, otherwise i know there would be messing about swapping days to suit whatever is going on. And definitely suits the little fella. 2 friends are using the same nursery one kid is loving it, the other refuses to eat there, glad not to be in that boat, although she was bf until a few weeks ago so it just getting used to bottles is starting solids and starting nursery so its a lot of change for her. I don't find it too bad having him in there, as he's always smiling heading in with the girls. Its nice to have a hot coffee and go to the toilet when i want lol!

He is over HFM thankfully but still has a seriously snotty nose and bit of cough, woke him up in the middle of the night last night was shocked at how much stuff came out of his nose using the sucky thing (nasal aspirator) using the saline solution as well. He has no temp so hoping it clears up itself apparently it can take 21 days to run its course. He's very happy chap these days although he gets frustrated trying move. He rolls to the left so he just keeps going when he starts and can get off the mats very quickly if he's in the mood to go. Looked at baby jails yesterday but they all look tiny and flimsy. he's never out of sight for long but can't see his play space from the kitchen which is a pain so in and out all the time.

Baby sensory was nice and it was lovely to do with him, it was a pre booked class but it is cheaper to book a bunch of classes. maybe about 20e. I know they do this kind of stuff with him in nursery so don't feel too bad. might do the odd one with him.

Kathy22

Lucuma it doesnt come with the chair but you can buy it separately. Link to the cushion here. Wuffly we have the same high chair. I quite like the design of it and it is such a bargain. Thinking of getting one of the Antilop ones for my mams house as would be handy to have somewhere to put him when we go over there.

Im looking forward to starting the baby led weaning but hope my heart is able for it, i was eating a banana today and gave him a small bit for a lick and he sucked it into his mouth, gave me a heart attack. Grabbed it back as was terrified he would choke on it. Little over a week until he is 6 months so I wanted to test the waters with a few things, might try some carrot tomorrow.

I know everyone says its the bottom two they get but after a bit of research they can apparently get them in any order. His top 2 are def on the way first. No sign of anything below.

Have to say am so grateful my mam stuck it out and was able to feed him as was so much fun having a night out, my last night out for dinner with the girls ended with my husband arriving at the restaurant at 10pm as little guy was hungry and refused to eat anything. At least now we know a spoon will work. I was at a breastfeeding group today and one of the girls recommended a doidy cup. I might try to get one of them and see if it works. I also bought a munchkin 360 cup today as have heard a lot of people mention them. Anyway this guy has enough plates, bowls, cups and cutlery to last a lifetime...LOL!!

I find when I am off I tend to go to the shopping centre and never come home without something. Im terrible. Will be on unpaid leave now from next month so better curb the spending.

Its funny he wasn't too mad on rolling the last few weeks and now he wont stop. I definitely think they do things in their own time. I took my eye off him for a minute yesterday and he rolled off his mat onto the wooden floor and obv hit his head and started crying. Think he got a fright more than anything else. He knows how to roll from his back to his front as he does it when it suits him but sometimes he appears to get stuck and goes mental. Not sure if its just a ply to get up as when i roll him back over he does it 2 seconds later. Was at a breastfeeding group today and 3 or 4 other babies his age, interesting to see all the different stages they are at. One baby 2 weeks older had just started sitting unaided and another baby same age wasn't even rolling so they definitely do things in their own time.

We have got great use out of the bugaboo. I think because we are not really in the city. I bring him for a walk in it everyday. He is also finally loving the baby carrier which is so handy for when we go shopping. Hate having to get the buggy out when i just want to run in for a few bits.

Glad to hear the little guy is on the mend Wuffly

Starting water babies next month which should be fun!

wuffly

Kathy how long did your little guy have the cold/cough for? Our little fella is still coughing a lot and quiet bunged up. He had a temp of 38 the other night and it came straight down with one dose calpol, I thought it was teething but last night his temp dropped below 35, which I didn't know is technically hypothermia(google is dangerous!), taking him to the Dr today. The normal temp range is so tiny! He's waking a lot again at night, with a howl like he is in pain so might be teeth but no sign in his gums, he takes a small feed and goes back to sleep for an hour or so. Not sure what's going on but we are like the walking dead again... He's generally in good form during the day but gets like a weasel about half an hour before his bath even with good naps. I don't think its readiness for solids as he is grazing his bottles and not finishing them He will sleep for a few hours at the start of the night then we are up and down for the night, he rolls on his tummy, lifts his head tries to roll and ends up hitting his head off the side of the cot. Seriously considering moving him into his own room as he seems to sleep fine until we go to bed...

Hope your little fella enjoys swimming Kathy, our guy loves it now, loves to splash! Would move him to the bigger bath but i don't think my back can take the bending over at the moment, if i can find a cheap seat to go in the bath so he's bit more secure i might do it.

No sitting up here anyway, lots of rolling, his 6.5 & 7.5 month old buddies are just starting to sit up unaided but fairly wobbly. Sat him in the highchair with the cushion totally loved it, hates the bumbo tho. Will start him sitting with us at breakfast etc... in next few weeks.

Well done to your Mam for sticking it out Kathy, at least you know he will eat, hopefully he takes the bottle or the doidy cup so its less stressful on him and your mam. We have a night out planned in Dec which we have done nothing about getting a baby sitter for even for a trial run. Feels like ages away but then again its Nov this week. We haven't really gone out together for more than an hour and both times he was asleep and was with my mam in the same hotel or 5 mins away. I think we will go with someone from our nursery at least he will know them if he does wake up and they seem to be mad about him.

Re shopping I'm worse when I am home and on the internet, although the shopping centres give me ideas! lol

Happy 6 months to your little one Lucuma, how are solids going? Glad her sleep is improving and settling a bit, hopefully she stays on track! Any luck on the job front?

Lucuma

Solids were a very slow start here. Gag/tongue thrust reflex alive and well here even after she passed the 6 month mark so she jsut keeps spitting everything out. She's been going to the childminder every day this week and she had the same problem as me but she said she got some success yesterday with carrot, she said I have to make it really really fine to get her to swallow it, I think I was making it too thick/chunky. She has only taken 1-2 teaspoons a day for me so far but the CM seems to be getting 5-6 teaspoons into her, out-parented by her yet again! (our CM is unreal.......)
Wuffly we still bathe the 2 year old in the baby bath on a stand! So much better than stooping over a big bath. Get away with it for as long as you can. The only reason to move to the big bath is when you want to wash 2 kids together I think (us now!). I can't think of any other reason you couldn't continue using the baby bath.
No job yet.....hopefully something comes up soon.
Kathy I was familiar with those IKEA cushion for the high chair but had no idea they were inflatable! You can't really see that on the photos on the web either! What a great idea having a blow up one so you can adjust it to the stage your LO is at. Still no highchair here. I have a wedding in Ireland this weekend so will retrieve the Bumbo (which is currently in Ireland) and use that sat on the table in front of me for spoon feeding next week. I made my purees last weekend anyway so have a freezer drawer full now, enough to get us through the next few weeks while she's still not eating much, have upped the bottles from 6oz to 7oz each (so she's drinking four 7oz bottles per 24 hours) as she is definitely hungrier but just not mastering the whole swallowing of solids thing. The CM said not to worry, they all eat at their own pace.
I am keen for her to get established on solids though so I can stop the night feed! I'm always afraid to say when her sleeping is getting better coz then it always regresses again! But she has been stretching to 03:30 before waking up for her feed this week (usually it was 1am) so green shoots? Maybe.....but I'll believe it when I see it for a few weeks in a row!

Kathy22

It actually dragged on for some time. I used to have to use the baby vac and clear out his nose twice a day, went on for about 2 weeks. Although towards the end it was mainly just snot. How is he doing now Wuffly, what did the doctor say?

I feel your pain on the sleep front Wuffly. Our guy goes down fine between 2.30-8.30 and will sleep till 2am but bangs around and wakes hourly from then on in. I am really at my wits end and so bloody tired yet have no idea where to start even trying to improve things. Im not interested in sleep training or anything, I just want to try transition him out of my bed because I cannot sleep with him tossing and turning beside me yet when he is put in the co-sleeper he just cries and cries and then rolls over into our bed...damn rolling!!!! We have started to put him up for naps and when he falls asleep at night into his own cot in his room but due to me still feeding him I keep him in our room from when he wakes but he seems to want to feed hourly at this stage and kicks around trying to get on the boob which wakes us all.

He has so much energy, currently sitting in front of me in his bouncer kicking his legs screeching away. No idea where he gets his energy from.

Hopefully you get a night out Wuffly, we have another wedding in December and my sister in law is having a birthday bash as my little brother and his gf are home for Christmas so 2 nights out for me. Oh how different life is!

Lucuma they are handy alright and i love how secure the chair feels, have to say IKEA has been a great addition to the country, and they are so cheap. I heard solids are very slow at the start so hopefully she starts lapping it up soon.

Lucuma I am the same as you, our guy slept from 7pm to 3am yesterday without even waking when we moved him from downstairs to hsi room. However I wont hold my breath on it being the sign of things to come. He woke hourly kicking around for the boob from 4am. Ugh I am very tired and cranky today, coffee is my friend, might ask my mam to come over and watch him for an hour whilst I nap. LOL!

wuffly

Turns out it was a bronchial virus, so had another week in daddy day care, thank god OH works from home and I'm part time that's 2 out of 5 weeks of nursery he has been at home. Poor kid, Dr prescribed an inhaler, keeping using the saline spray and snot sucker. Inhaler helped massively although he hates it. Seems like every other kid is down with it at the moment. He's gone from sounding like a seasoned smoker to just a little cough. Really hope he's over these nursery bugs. Solids in a few weeks!!

We are back to down to just waking at 3am for a feed, fingers crossed he goes back to sleep through, last night he thought it was party o'clock. He's a mare to feed takes about about hr+ to get his bottle into him during the day. He was never great but this is painful! Hopefully its just a side effect of him being sick and it will improve. He has been a trooper in fairness.

Kathy hope you got a nap the other day. I had lovely one yesterday completely undone by being awake from 3am this morning

Starting putting him the highchair once or twice a day, he likes for a little bit but gets frustrated when he doesn't get any food. We've putting him sitting up a bit when we are playing with him on the floor and he actually will do it for a very short time quiet wobbly but we were surprised he stayed up at all.

Lucuma you're probably right on the bath front, he just splashes like a total (but very cute) maniac in it, water everywhere. Flaming swimming lessons lol!

Hope the solids are improving for your little one Lucuma, once she gets going she'll probably take off!

Kathy22

Oh wuffly your poor little guy, how is he doing now? Think we have another cold coming on, lots of sneezing and a very snotty nose.Hoping it doesnt progress too much, just trying to wrap him up warm, damn winter.

His sleeping has slightly improved in the last few days, he is going down @ 8pm and sleeping until 3-4am and then awake again at 6am and then awake for the day @ 7am. Its still not perfect but damn I will take it over the hourly waking, I was starting to get so cranky and tired.

How quick is time going?!! Cannot believe he will be six months later this month. Have my back to work date now so I need to up my game and focus on trying to fit into my pre pregnancy wardrobe as I cant be buying a whole new work wardrobe ... eek!!

Wuffly we are the same,he can sit slightly for a couple of seconds before he starts to wobble. He is mad to get going and gets very frustrated when he cant reach a toy. Fun times ahead.

How is everyone else, very quiet in here?

wuffly

I feel your pain Kathy, little man got the all clear to go back to nursery and within two days he's gotten another bronchial infection, we were hoping it wouldn't be too bad, but he is pretty miserable. So snotty with an awful cough. I'm full time this week for cover so rubbish timing. We can't even blame the winter, Dr said she's never been so busy with small ones... all viruses so nothing to do but wait it out, we do have an inhaler to help ease the wheezing. Feel so bad he's gotten so sick. I was expecting him to pick up things but so much so soon.... hope to god he gets a break after this. Keeping him home until he is 110% Dr is worried he'll get pneumonia if he gets another infection when he is already sick. He just started sleeping through again... we will get there. Great that you are down to one night waking Kathy, almost there!
Re work wardrobe, my shape seems to have changed even though my weight has gone down, need to lose about 10kg but that was from pre baby. Boobs have not gone back down despite me no longer breastfeeding, thighs are huge but waist has gotten smaller! Got a few new tops as my shirts just don't fit. Was supposed to get back to the gym last week but won't be happening until we get some sort of decent sleep! Walking about 2.5 km with him in the carrier but doesn't seem to be making much of a dent.
Sitting up is getting steadier, think its from the highchair/bumbo time doesn't try to sit up self but will stay for a bit before he speed wobbles over! Gets cranky when he can't reach stuff, not crawling but well able to get around rolling and spinning himself around in the one spot to get what he wants, i think he will be arm crawling when he gets going, seems to have lost interest in lifting his bum etc... not he has found a way around it.
Need to book his 6 month vaccinations when he is better. Going to hold off solids until this cough his gone another week before the 6 month mark anyway. Which Gil Rapley book did you go for Kathy? I got the cook book, looks great but i was hoping there would be a bit of a schedule, not like annabel karmel, just a rough out line. Need to do a bit more research to see what to start with.

Kathy22

oh Wuffly you poor thing that sounds so stressful, how is he doing now? Its so hard to see them sick when they are so small. Still have a snotty nose here but it hasn't manifested into anything worse and no cough like last time.

I go the cookbook as well Wuffly which has some good info in the intro section and then i also bought the baby led weaning help your baby love good food. It more so focuses on babies diet, what type of foods to start with, unsuitable foods, dropping milk feeds etc. I also looked for schedules but I think that applies more to purees, with baby led weaning it seems that you should put some finger food on the tray in front of them at meal times and see how they get on in the early weeks. The book mentions to give them time and make it fun with no pressure on baby to eat. I have been bringing him to the table at meal times and also let him gum some foods. He has tried organic porridge which i made with breastmilk which he showed little interest in and then tonight i have him a little avocado which he loved. Ill continue just trying a few foods for a few weeks before we get serious with it. There is a little bit of advice on ellas kitchens website altho it is more so for purees, link here to their guide. They have a planner on page 7. It gives an indication of foods to start with but rather than purees you could make finger portions for your little guy to try. A lot of people recommend ready brek for breakfast or organic porridge. I was having a look at some of the baby cereals at the weekend and they have a lot of additives including sugar so will be avoiding those, then maybe try finger foods of veg, pasta etc. for lunch and dinner? Im still very much trying to learn before we start doing it properly.

gumbo1

Hi ladies, been a long time since I posted but have been dropping in on the thread from time to time. I hope you are all doing alright and your little one are keeping well. I see some of them haven't been in the best health recently but I'm sure that they will be right as rain in no time and back to their happy selves soon.

My little man, Brody, is flying it in some departments but um not so sure about others. He has the appetite of a small horse and loves his grub. He started to crawl Friday 2 weeks ago so that's been "fun". Where I fear he is falling behind is sitting up unaided. When we prop him up he falls to the side or goes forward when reaching for something to the point where his face is nearly on the ground. Should he be able to sit up by himself by this stage?

How are yours doing in this department?

Kathy22

gumbo1 wrote: »

Hi ladies, been a long time since I posted but have been dropping in on the thread from time to time. I hope you are all doing alright and your little one are keeping well. I see some of them haven't been in the best health recently but I'm sure that they will be right as rain in no time and back to their happy selves soon.

My little man, Brody, is flying it in some departments but um not so sure about others. He has the appetite of a small horse and loves his grub. He started to crawl Friday 2 weeks ago so that's been "fun". Where I fear he is falling behind is sitting up unaided. When we prop him up he falls to the side or goes forward when reaching for something to the point where his face is nearly on the ground. Should he be able to sit up by himself by this stage?

How are yours doing in this department?

How old is he now gumbo? My little guy can sit unaided but only for less than a minute before he starts swaying and getting tired. I am sitting him in his bumbo and trying to get in some practice during the day. He is not 6 months until next Friday. A girl in my breastfeeding class mentioned her little guy just started sitting up at exactly 6 months and others sat up a few weeks after 6 months. I wouldnt worry too much about it, babies like adults excel in some things and take longer with others.

gumbo1

Thanks Kathy. He's just 6 an a half months by date, lost track of the weeks. The reason I was curious is that a friend of ours who has a little girl 10 days younger than my lad is sitting up unaided a few weeks now and a couple of other kids in claphandies around the same age are also sitting up. Now, Brody is a big baby, he is just slightly over 20lb and is long too so that may have something to do with the balance.

wuffly

Congrats on your little man gumbo! No crawling here yet, although he can get around pretty quick anyway! just 6 months this week. He doesn't sit up himself but he will stay sitting up on his own for a few minutes, he falls back when he's playing/gets excited so i put my bf pillow around/behind him, he's good to put out his hands and steady himself if he goes forward. Think they all get to things in their own time. My brother didn't walk until 21 months and I walked at 11 months! No difference in the long run!

How are solids going Kathy? we've started with carrots and porridge sticks, so far he just licks them, makes a face and drops them on the floor! He's still getting over the last virus and his milk feeds are down but hoping they will come back up now he's on the mend. Although now OH & I are both sick, going for our small hospital status soon! :eek:

Kathy22

gumbo1 wrote: »

Thanks Kathy. He's just 6 an a half months by date, lost track of the weeks. The reason I was curious is that a friend of ours who has a little girl 10 days younger than my lad is sitting up unaided a few weeks now and a couple of other kids in claphandies around the same age are also sitting up. Now, Brody is a big baby, he is just slightly over 20lb and is long too so that may have something to do with the balance.

I wouldnt worry too much as babies reach different milestones at different times. I usually refer to this chart, you will notice it says at 6 months sitting up is an emerging skill (half of babies can do). My little guy can now sit for a couple of minutes but eventually gets tired and starts leaning forward.

Kathy22

wuffly wrote: »

Congrats on your little man gumbo! No crawling here yet, although he can get around pretty quick anyway! just 6 months this week. He doesn't sit up himself but he will stay sitting up on his own for a few minutes, he falls back when he's playing/gets excited so i put my bf pillow around/behind him, he's good to put out his hands and steady himself if he goes forward. Think they all get to things in their own time. My brother didn't walk until 21 months and I walked at 11 months! No difference in the long run!

How are solids going Kathy? we've started with carrots and porridge sticks, so far he just licks them, makes a face and drops them on the floor! He's still getting over the last virus and his milk feeds are down but hoping they will come back up now he's on the mend. Although now OH & I are both sick, going for our small hospital status soon! :eek:

I kind of gave up on solids. I had the weeks mixed up, he is only 6 months at the end of this week so I am just getting prepared and reading as much as I can. I have given him a little Avocado which he loved and also some bread dipped in homemade vegetable soup which he enjoyed. I think I will start with readybrek for breakfast and then some butternut squash from next week. I think he is ready for it as he is definately going for the food. How are you feeling Wuffly, you poor things sounds like you have had a rough time of it lately. My guy seems to have got over the snotty nose and it didnt manifest into much. Lately he has been doing this random screeching thing when in his cot or bouncer, its so loud, maybe he has found his voice?

Lucuma hope all is good with you?

Lucuma

Hi Ladies, been so busy lately it's insane. Sorry to hear of the colds and coughs, maybe my lack of going for walks has protected my little one to some degree! Regarding the body shape yes it's a shock to the system alright after your first child. I always credit my MIL, she was the only one that was honest with me when I was pregnant with no.1 she said to me re having a baby 'And your body is never the same'. I thought god she's being so negative but nope, she was the only one that told me the truth! So at least now on no2 I don't have that realisation, there's no change after 2 kids compared the massive change there was from pre-baby to post baby no1! I had to throw out all my old work clothes (and all my old clothes actually) I did it one day in one fell swoop, brought them all the the charity bin. The width of my torso moved or something, like that none of my old shirts would tie so they had to go. Also all my occasion wear that I had built up over the years - some lovely pieces worn only once or twice to weddings - all gone!
I'm not pushed about losing weight now, although I have a tonne to lose, but a) you need fat to keep warm in winter, b) I can hide my flabby body so much easier this time of year c) I'm still not getting as much sleep as I need and am very very stressed so I'm not going to deny myself my little pleasures. It was different after no.1 I had a wedding (I was the bride!) to slim down for but what would motivate me now? I already have the full wardrobe of fat clothes ready to go since no.1 including fat work clothes, fat occasion wear, fat everyday clothes so there really is no motivation! :-D

Solids still going slowly here. It's interesting what you said there wuffly about how you were hoping to find more of a schedule. I was the same and I re-read my old bible from no.1 'What to expect the first year' which I followed for solids last time. They list off all the different food types baby shoudl try: veggies, carbs, protein, etc and then they state that there is no guideline for how much or how often you shoudl give these foods the only thing to make sure of is that you're giving a little of each so they're hitting all the food groups that they need to and other than that it's a case of 'food before one is just for fun'.
It's hard to get your head around it but contrary to Annabel Karmel (which I think is not the right guide to be following anyone else think that? she basically says in the into that 'officially you shouldn't start til 6 months but loads of people do'. I was thinking at the end of the day she has a product to sell which is purees and that, and the earlier people start and the more often they feed, the more demand for her book? I dunno maybe I'm reading too much into it!
But I just think a non-biased source of info woudl be better. Anyway I've had to remind myself of the whole food before one is just for fun thing coz I think I was automatically starting to give baby 3 meals a day coz of course that's what I'm accustomed to from the toddler! But really the baby only needs to get bits and pieces here and there, if you miss a meal no big deal. (that could be another little jingle to go with food before one is just for fun ;-) I think I've been forcing food into her to be honest......so now I'm pulling back.
I've also had to space out the bottles more to get her to take any solids at all so I try giving her solids when she's hungry to get her to eat more.
She had no interest in porridge made with water, I think we can't use cows milk to make it yet? Not sure though. So I am now giving her the Milupa creamed porridge. I'll try and switch her to the normal porridge in another month or so. I didn't revisit avocado since he gave her those smelly farts at the start. She's 7 months this weekend now. I give her milupa for breakfast and then sweet potato, a bit of mince or other pureed veg and mashed banana. She still spits a fair bit out and I have to put it back in but hard to know is that a sign of not being ready or just her figuring out how to swallow? Which seems to be taking her a good while to figure out although she is improving slowly.

Oh yeah since we started solids she's had diarrhoea. So that's over 3 weeks she's had it now :-o We're goign through several outfit changes a day and night and all bedding etc having to be washed most days. It's back to the liquid poos and I've upped the amount of reflux formula in the bottles to no avail. She has cut her first tooth on the bottom so her childminder thinks the diarrhoea is from that. She is a bit crankier than usual but only given her calpol once.

Kathy in your latest post about sleeping there you said your little guy is going down at 8, waking around 3/4 and then again at 6 and up for the day at 7, SNAP !!! I'm so glad the phase of him hourly waking has stopped. As you know I've had that since baby was born and that's what I was such a wreck for the first few months (although a happy wreck it has to be said). It's an absolute killer so thank god that was a short phase for you! Well she's definitely not as bad as that anymore but now that she's almost 7 months I have this feeling like I've done my time and now I should be getting a full night's sleep, i feel entitled to it !! Haha....doesn't help that no.1 slept through from 16 weeks so we were spoiled. But yeah she's still doing her good stretch at the start of the night, waking for a feed and then after that she can wake once or twice for dodie. She has good nights and bad nights. I've always done a breastfeed for the night feed and still am, but since I was separated from her for 4 nights there at the start of the month for my cousin's wedding (4 days and nights of extreme engorged uncomfortableness) my supply has dropped way off and there's not much left I think, it's sometimes not putting her back to sleep anymore at night now. I'd like to just kill the night feed but my mother keeps arguing with me about it, saying she obviously still needs a feed and I shoudl give her a bottle. To me a bottle feels like such a backward step to be giving a baby that never had a bottle in the middle of the night and then start giving her one at 7 months? But she keeps arguing and arguing with me about it so I'm going to give it a go starting tonight.....If she would just wake once, have a bottle and then back to sleep til the morning I'd be over the fecking moon but I have no faith that's going to happen! People think bottles are the answer to everything but some kids are just bad sleepers I think.......anyway I'm going to do it apart from anything else to shut my mother up!

Another random thought but I find it really annoying that you can't take the cover off a maxi cosi to wash it, my one is very dirty now as I'm using it on the 2nd child and it was 2nd hand to begin with (although to be fair it was spotless when I bought it off my friend) but I tried to take the cover off there a while back and you can't, what kind of a stupid design is that! I shoudl ahve bought a cover for it of course but nearly too late now it's so wrecked!

Oh yeah on the sitting up, 7 month old here and nowhwere near sitting up, I'm not worried about that at all though coz no.1 didn't sit up til 8 months. Just make sure to do plenty of tummy time with them gumbo coz you don't want a baby that doesn't crawl, can cause problems later

Anne_cordelia

Cows milk is fine in cereal and food from 6 months. It just shouldn't be their main drink until 12 months

otwb1

Lucuma wrote:

Another random thought but I find it really annoying that you can't take the cover off a maxi cosi to wash it, my one is very dirty now as I'm using it on the 2nd child and it was 2nd hand to begin with (although to be fair it was spotless when I bought it off my friend) but I tried to take the cover off there a while back and you can't, what kind of a stupid design is that! I shoudl ahve bought a cover for it of course but nearly too late now it's so wrecked!

The cover does come off and you can chuck it into the washing machine. There are a couple of elastic bits around a point on each side near the handles and the rest just comes off over the various knobs and edges. I'm sure there must be something on youtube.

Good luck with the sleeping.

Lucuma

otwb1 wrote: »

The cover does come off and you can chuck it into the washing machine. There are a couple of elastic bits around a point on each side near the handles and the rest just comes off over the various knobs and edges. I'm sure there must be something on youtube.

Good luck with the sleeping.

What year is yours from? I really, really tried and it doesn't.
My sister also agreed it doesn't......both of ours are a couple of years old.
I'd imagine they would have improved the design in recent years

scarepanda

Lucuma wrote:

What year is yours from? I really, really tried and it doesn't. My sister also agreed it doesn't......both of ours are a couple of years old. I'd imagine they would have improved the design in recent years

Iv borrowed one off a friend who bought it in 2012/13 and the cover can definately come off. It's well fitted though so does take some prying. I think it's around the handle area that's the hardest and there's some elastic that extends around some of the main seat that needs to be taken off as well.

otwb1

Mine is 2014 and I have a spare older one that a friend gave me. Both of them can have the covers washed.

It won't let me post a link, but if you Google 'taking maxi cosi cover off' then the first video is what I do anyway!

Lucuma

The child mine was originally bought for (friend's child) started school this year so mine is 2011.
My buggy (Phil n Teds double) was bought for a child who's now 9 so that is truly vintage :-)
Thanks ladies I shall try again when I get some spare time.....

wuffly

Lucuma could you buy a summer cover or something to cover your seat? Mine (2nd hand) came with one, really handy for covering it up and easy to take off and wash. they are pricey new but id say you'd pick up a 2nd one quiet cheap. With the heat here its handy to be able to wash straight away and avoid bad smells getting worse. It was a life saver at the start when he was more inclined to spew. Although if you get the cover off you probably don't need to.

Re solids I looked at the blw cookbook properly and there is a bit of a time line which is handy enough, he's taking more of an interest the last few days, seems to like broccoli and porridge fingers. Not that he has eaten much, his appetite has finally come back so his milk feeds are back on track somewhat. I've been using cows milk for the porridge fingers, read on one of the blw groups that its fine just shouldn't be used as a sub for bm or formula until 1yr.

Little guy seems to be over the worst of the viruses. Still has a little cough and snotty but i think it may finally be teething. He's fine one minute then roaring the next and making faces like he's in pain. Can feel a bit of a bump on his bottom gum. Who knows?! I guess we will know when some teeth finally appear. In general he's a fierce happy little fella, so the roaring and crying is out of the ordinary. Even nursery have said he's dead easy, he's either hungry or tired. He's a million miles from the terror he was for the first few months.
Congrats on your little one getting her first tooth Lucuma! Nappies have also been pretty bad here, so maybe he is getting a tooth soon. We've cut back on the constipation/colic formula, down to one scoop but may cut it out altogether as we've had a few explosions in the past few days.

Re clothes I went through a mad spring clean when i was pregnant and got rid of a ton of stuff. some of it needed to go but some stuff i should really have held on to, got rid of a ton of dresses that i had built up over the years, which I am regretting, but anyway. All I need is work clothes, otherwise its harem pants or similiar and string tops. Odd pair of jeans. Back to the gym tomorrow, have a bunch of unused sessions, that have expired but my trainer has agreed to do a few before the end of the year.

Bottles are so not the answer to everything, babies feed how the feed, our guy's feeding didn't settle that much on formula, it gradually improved but i think that was more to do with his age. To me i think he still feeds like a bf baby as in he grazes quiet a bit. especially when he is sick. If he's not hungry he will not feed for anything or anyone. No danger of him over feeding. We've had a few full nights sleep again but not holding my breath just yet, I know he can do it but we just don't seem to get a good run, although to be fair when he woke a few times last night it was before 11.

Not sure when to move him into his own room, was holding out until 6 months, and hoping he would be more settled at night so will see, although with teething and nursery bugs I doubt we will have regular nights for a long time! Need to sort out his room properly and also sort out a better play space for him in the living area. I know his stuff will be everywhere but at least something/somewhere i can put things in at night. Trip to ikea on the cards!

Hope everyone is well!

Kathy22

Ha Lucuma I love your motto - you need fat to keep warm in winter!! Its nice alroght to hide the tummy behind big winter jumpers and scarves. I have managed to shift a good bit the last few months. I finally cut out the bad crap, although I am still not as good as pre pregnancy with snacking I am hoping I will get there. I find being at home more during the day and tiredness the biggest killers. Lucuma that is so hard to give up nice occasion wear. I did a massive clearout at the weekend but didnt go near my lovely dresses just yet. I live in hope I will squeeze into them again in the near future, my main problem is my boobs grew massive in pregnancy and still are. I guess will be until I finish breastfeeding.

Wuffly regarding a schedule, my neighbour gave me a lend of the Nevin Maguire cookbook at the weekend. It is this one. He did stage 1 and stage 2 weaning. There was a schedule with each of them at the beginning of the chapter. I have attached a picture of stage 1. I haven't really followed it as am just kind of winging it this week and last giving him bits to try. He so far loves blueberries, natural yogurt, porridge fingers and avocado. Readybrek didn't go down too well and he also didn't like when I did a puree of sweet potato and another with broccoli and carrot. He literally made a belugh face then spat it out LOL!!! Tried him with porridge and blueberries this morning and he would not eat it, kept sticking his tongue out and blocking the spoon and anything that went in he spat out. I gave up after about 30 minutes as was getting nowhere. He prefers to play with food and lick it rather and didn't take to purees so maybe i should just stick to baby led weaning. Its so messy though, he gets crap all over himself and I nearly need to bath him after. I thought he would love it more so trying not to stress to much and think its early days and he will get the hang of it. Sleeping has slightly improved at night but now his naps during the day have gone awry, he is only sleeping for 30-40 minutes at a time whereas he would usually 2 a 2 hour nap in the morning.

Lucuma you can use cows milk, just as long as breast and/or formula remain her main source of milk. Are you guys using regular water? We have hard water in my area so I'm afraid to use it, tend to boil it and let it cool.

Thanks god he is still not doing the hourly waking anymore. I'm almost afraid to type it in case he reverts back to it! Lucuma sorry to hear about the drop in supply, that sucks and agree it would be hard giving her boob to having to get up and make a bottle, did you try oats or fennel tea? I've also heard of people use fenugreek for milk supply although never tried it myself.

Wuffly glad to hear your little guy is over the bug. Re sleeping we still have him in our room. Well he goes to sleep around 7.30/8 after a feed and I put him in the cot in his own room, then when he wakes at 2.3/3 he comes into our room and sometimes (rarely) stays in the co-sleeper or sleeps in our bed beside me with the co-sleeper beside him to prevent him falling out, so if anything it has become a good bed rail :rolleyes:

Kathy22

My image didnt attach and i can't seem to add it when editing. This is the stage 1 schedule from the Nevin Maguire book.

wuffly

Makes me miss the winter! lol! no need for wrapping up here, which is nice but not in a fit state for summer clothes either :eek:
I completely forgot about my training session this week, long night of waking and it was the last thing on my mind. next week! lol!

Sleep is all over the shop, it could be his cough, teething or 6 month sleep regression, whatever it is we had two good nights now its all over the place again Seems to be a bit crankier the last few days so thinking it must be teething. I really wish it would come up and give us all a break!

He wants to sit up all the time now, only happy rolling in the mornings.

Re food we are still trying the blw, honestly don't think he has swallowed anything. he has started to chew things but spits them out rather than swallowing them. Will try it for a while longer but a bit worried he needs to be getting some food in. I have the anabel karmel book, will take a look at that at the weekend.

Kathy22

Wuffly our guy is the same, not sure a whole lot goes in, although some blueberries made it into his nappy the other day so they must have gone down LOL. Had his 6 month vaccinations today and so far he seems fine. I noticed he has been getting a little rash around his mouth when he eats certain food, and his skin is a little dry, after keeping track of it I think its from dairy, spoke to the nurse and it seems to be a dairy intolerance, only tried him with some cows milk in his ready brek this morning but he reacted to it and also to unsalted butter and natural yogurt even though he seemed to love that. I'm doing a little research at the moment on non-dairy and alternative dairy ... fun times. Definitely not going to try him on eggs given my allergies as a child to them, nurse reckons its very likely he would react.

Sorry to hear about the lack of sleep, if its any consolation we are in the same boat, last night was a disaster.

Are you ladies coming home for Christmas, think im the biggest child in the house, dying to put up our tree

Lucuma

Yes I'm in Dublin for Xmas with the in-laws this year. We'll all be crammed into a tiny house and I'll have to share a room with my 2 babies but there's only room for 1 travel cot in there so god knows where the baby is going to sleep, I'm not expecting to get any sleep for the duration of the visit as my bad sleeper is going to keep waking up my good sleeper. But I'll just put the head down and survive it. That's what Xmas is all about, get out the other side of it as quickly as possible, bah humbug here ;-)
Ye both are having the same experience as me with the solids it seems so just goes to show it's normal. I think 6 months is a bit early for solids to be honest based on the experience we all are having. Maybe that kellymom article was right Kathy! My lo is 7 months now and has gradually gotten better with the solids. She's swallowing now alright and do I have the nappies to prove it! Most things seem to pass through undigested, I assume that is just her age.
I find rusks good to let her sit in the high chair with her sleeves rolled up and eat herself. Practice for the hand-eye co-ordination and keeps her happy. Funny you mention that Kathy about the rash, my lo has had a bad rash on her face for the past week. I never made any connection to allergies, I assumed it was from drool. We don't have allergies in the family though, they seem to really run in families! In fairness you did the best thing you coudl by exclusive breast feeding if there is allergies in the family as it should reduce the liklihood of him getting them. Even if he seems to have a bit of a dairy allergy now though, most grow out of it by 2 years of age I've read.
Wonder if her rash is an allergy then? She's only had a limited amount of food so far although quite a few bananas to try and dry up the diarrohea. I was only focusing on reactions to foods being of the gastric type like diarrhoea or wind.
I have officially finished the breastfeeding! Gave the 'last supper' there during the week. No engorgement or anything as I think irrevocable dcamage was done when I went to the 2nd wedding and left hubby babysit her in europe and was away from her for a few nights. It had gone down to nothing since then really, didn't even need breast pads anymore which was unheard of as I've needed them constantly since the start. I really miss it at night time. I now have to give bottles and she's getting 1 or 2 bottles every night now, disaster. It's just easier to reach for a feed for her then be up half the night trying to get hre back to sleep though.
Her 2nd tooth is up now as well, I can just feel it sticking up. Picture attached of her first tooth on the rhs and the 2nd one coming up next to it.
I realised last night that I have only been giving 2.5ml calpol when I could have been giving 5ml for a whole month! It changes at 6 months. She went off fully dosed up last night and tonight, hopefully might make some difference.

Kathy22

Oh Lucuma hopefully your visit to the inlaws goes ok even in the cramped little room, must be hard coming back for Chritmas and not having your own base. I know I would start to crack up without my own space to run to.

We are the same with undigested food, blueberries definitely come out the other end undigested and from what i can see not many go in to start with. His rash comes up when he eats anything dairy and then dies down a short while later, from research it seems like a mild enough reaction but I will keep him off it for the next 4 weeks and then try him again. I find i have to pick the right moment for him to eat solids, when he is not in any way tired and when he is somewhat hungry but not really hungry otherwise I am met with a closed mouth. He makes it known when he is done as he starts getting irritated and throws food on the floor. I also noticed he now drops things and cries (more whinges) to get it back or if i take something off him he will get annoyed. He is quite a stubborn little guy as well, personality is definitely starting to shine through!

Lucuma what type of rash is it, like always there or there a short while after eating something? I know my neighbours little boy had a rash when he was teething, tbh its so hard to know with babies what causes things. Sorry to hear you have to make up bottles now Lucuma, I would find that so hard am used to rolling over half asleep and falling asleep once he is latched on. Fingers crossed as she gets more solids into her she wont need to many feeds at night.

How is she when teething Lucuma, does she get cranky? We had a terrible week last week, he was awake almost hourly from Tuesday night until Saturday, I was like a zombie and feeling very sorry for myself. Anyway i can see his two bottom teeth creeping up under his gums. I was convinced his top two would come down as have seen them beneath his gums for months now but nothing happened them.

Did swimming again on Saturday and he only cried for the first few minutes then seemed to enjoy it. Slept till 5.30am on Saturday night from 8pm. Didn't know myself, longest sleep he has had since he was born. Didn't repeat it again last night though Lol!!!

Good to know on the Calpol Lucuma, didnt know that myself. I heard Calgel is great but only available in the UK or online from Amazon, have a friend lined up to bring some home to see us through the rest of our teething journey!

wuffly

We're not heading home for Christmas, it had been the plan but decided against it. Just too much pressure at the moment and everyone I work with seems to be taking this year off even though they all had it last year.... but then I have had soooooo much time off this year I couldn't possibly expect to go home for my child's first christmas....:mad: Anyway I don't mind too much, will miss my own family but kinda happy to avoid my inlaws for a bit longer! They are lovely but I'm not in the mood to get hassle about blw...

We are making a bit of progress on the food front, definitely seems to be getting a bit of food in, the last few days, def some undigested carrot and broccoli made it through. Still doing bits of food just for him must look at some family recipes. We just do breakfast and early dinner with him.
Positive that the diary reaction is mild in your little guy Kathy, hopefully he grows out of it quickly.

Sleep has improved ever so slightly although hasn't slept a wink at nursery this week so he needs a massive nap when we get home, makes me kind of house bound in the afternoons, hoping he starts to take a little nap there so we can get out for a hour. Between his nap, food and some play time the afternoon is gone. Hoping his virus is finally clearing off, cough is hanging on but seems to be lessening. I'm dreading the January onslaught when all the kids that have been away bring back colds and flu's from all over

Still no real sign of teeth here, the waking up with pain seems to have stopped for now, so i think he may be taking a break from it.

In general he's really active and interested in everything and a total charmer with the girls at nursery. Mostly only cranky when he's tired. Seems to have had a growth spurt as well, one of the other babies that is nearly a kilo heavier than him looks tiny beside him, she's all chub and he is all length.

Great your little fella likes swimming Kathy, we got back to it last Saturday, he loves it now, loads of splashing! bath time is a mare :eek:

Lucuma I didn't notice that about the calpol either! Good to know! Well done on getting so far with breastfeeding! How is your sleep? How much milk is she having? We have started upping the last feed (not the dream feed) and first feed of the day. He had been having a large bottle at 6:30pm but that went out the window when he got sick. Made it to 5:30am this morning...
Hope your Christmas in Dublin goes well, I'm sure it will go really quickly. How's the job search going?

wuffly

Spoke too soon on the teething front! Hell hath no fury like a teething baby during the night! :'( the last few nights he has woken and stayed awake for 2-4hrs calpol and teetha granules don't seem to touch the pain and tooth doesn't seem to be an closer to breaking through... desperately looking for amber beads and teething bonjela both seem to be like fairy dust here. I have no idea if amber beads do anything but willing to try almost anything! 
Kathy any sign of your little man's teeth, if this is what the first ones are like im dreading the rest!
(TMI) His nappies have gone mental, he had been on one scoop of comfort in each bottle to keep him from getting constipated, we've dropped it and he's pooing a few times a day, may be teething or solids related but its going up his back if he's sitting up even though we've moved him up to the next size of nappies 
Seems to be getting into his food a bit, gave him some pizza toast yesterday he loved it, blw is messy but have to say its really lovely to see him feeding himself and reacting to the food. He's seems to be chubbing out at long last so not too worried about him getting enough for the moment. Hoping the mess etc.. will be worth it in the long run. He's already tried food I didn't have until i was in my 20's I was such a fussy eater! 
Finally put up our christmas tree yesterday, totally mesrmerised by it, think next year will be mental when he's walking :woot:
Hope everyone is well x

Kathy22

No sign of teeth here yet but he is definitely back teething, we were doing great with 8pm - 5.30am sleeps and this week we are back to 3am, 5am etc. waking. He seems to be whimpering in his sleep and has general teething symptoms. I got some Calgel off a friend home from the UK, I have heard good things about it so used it on him and definitely helped to sooth his gums. I notice they are red and inflamed. He gets great relief from cucumber and carrot sticks from the fridge. He can't obviously get into the carrot sticks but loves to gum them especially when cold.

Wuffly I have heard they get awful nappies when teething so that could be it. Very slow on solids here, I have been a bit lazy this week as we had visitors and a wedding so need to get back into it properly. He had some minced turkey with passata the other day and loved it and also really loved sea bass and butternut squash, just some dinner from our plates. He has a preference for real food over mush and veggie sticks!

He loves the swimming and is flying it in the class. Really enjoying seeing him take to it each week. Lovely to meet other parents there too. He is such an active and strong little guy, constantly wants to be on the move, rolling about the place, can push himself backwards and turn himself around on his hands and knees but still no sign of him figuring out the crawling business.

Wuffly maybe you could get calgel over there or delivered, I was going to get it on chemist.co.uk before i got my friend to get a few tubes. Enjoy Christmas with your little family. I hope you get to relax a bit.

Merry Christmas to all the other mammies. I feel rather nostalgic that we are coming to the end of the year, time is flying by so quickly! Soon they will be 1 :eek:

wuffly

Sounds like the exact same story one step forward a million back! Totally zombie-fied here! Thank god he's in such great form during the day or i'd lose the will to live! I know a few people traveling over Christmas so i'll ask for some of that calgel. Still no teeth... one of my friends was chatting to her cousin the other week and her little boy didn't get any teeth until 18months and then they all came in, in a matter of weeks! :'(  
Solids are up and down, didn't fancy his clumpy porridge this morning but don't blame him, tastes like cardboard, haven't given him anything sweet yet! The blw cookbook is very handy must do some of the bread and muffins. I got an blw cookbook app and so far seems a waste, i hate recipes where a key ingredient isn't made from scratch, a recipe for meatballs that starts with '24 meatballs' is not recipe!  Mostly seems to be curry as well and I'm still not loving indian food since being pregnant...although the slow cooker shredded tomato chicken was lovely and the little man devoured it! 
No crawling here yet either but he can get around rolling and swiveling on the spot, and he can get around very fast! He had started lifting his bum ages ago then forgot about it, but has been at it again this week, so maybe we are getting close. 
Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have great Christmas's!! xx (Here's hoping we all get some sleep! :woot:)

Lucuma

Hi ladies, Wuffly that's a shame you didn't get to go home for baby's first christmas. It is special even though they haven't an iota (or indeed the 2nd year they don't either). This is my older child's third Xmas and she's still not really pushed (Sept baby though so she's just 2). She is afraid of Santa so thankfully I didn't waste 50-100 euro on a Santa 'experience'. Kathy did ye take the little fella in to get the traditional Santie photo! I think they really should put the year in the photos, in my childhood Santa photos the year is always displayed in a holder or something, would be worth drawing it on a piece of card yourself and bringing it in. Hard to imagine now but one day in the distant future we won't be certain what year photos were taken!
Wuffly for travelling with the little fella in future you should look at the travel mate. It can be used like a hand luggage trolley and you wheel them inside their car seat through the airport, folds up then to take on board and either leave the seat at the gate or take seat on board the plane if you have a seat for it. https://www.amazon.com/GO-GO-TRAVELMATE-Travel-Stroller-Toddler/dp/B000JJK9EY
Wuffly I honestly don't know how much milk baby is taking in per day, I'm kind of feeding on demand with bottles, came from doing the combination feeding I think I didn't quantify or measure so am not in the habit of it. I'd say on some days she defo takes more than the recommended amount. But there's no limit on breastmilk in a 24 hour period so why would there be a limit on formula in a 24 hour period I suppose? She's certainly not fat anyway. It's handy now being able to use my supermarket vouchers for the stage 2 formula anyway!
My baby seems to have no interest in the mush either Kathy, and she turns her nose up at bland stuff like blitzed sweet potato or blitzed green beans or blitzed mince on its own. I blitzed some chicken tandoori (Jamie Oliver recipe) on the other hand and she wolfed it down! Seems she likes a bit of flavour in her grub, that's going to force me to make more effort, drat!

Well my BIL showed me how to take the cover off the maxi cosi, to my shame it doesn't even require tools! I swear I spent ages at it before but I misunderstood it. Anyway it's actually very easy to take off! So it got its first ever wash in 2 babies! I managed not to shrink it as well, which is more than can be said for the co-sleeper matress cover (Snuzpod). For some reason I have the tree-hugging matress cover made from organic cotton or something, and it shrank in the wash rendering the mattress unusable. I ordered a new one and must collect from over-sized Parcel motel depot tomorrow.

My one is still waking up a few times a night, no change really. I got a job (yay) starting 9th Jan so it's nice I still have 1 more week off after New years. Then I'm back 5 days a week for full days so it's going to be soooooome shock to the system. As both hubby and I will be working fulltime the only way we'll be able to cope is to sleep in the baby's room every 2nd night. In her room there's a cot and a single bed so it's literally going to be a case of 1 of us sleeping in the single bed every night and silencing her immediately so she doesnt' wake the other parent or the older child. Funny thing is this is going to be an improvement for me bigtime compared to mat leave where I had to all the night stuff, now I'll only have to do every 2nd night so that's going to be a major step up for me heehee. I went out and bought a fancy hippo that lights up and plays music. He projects a light show onto the ceiling and you can choose from 4 options - he reads stories, sings, white noise or a mixture of all the above! Cost me about 30-40 euro coz I went for the voice-activated one, if she cries in the middle of the night he automatically comes on. Hasn't made much of a difference so far but was worth a try......you'll try anything and throw any amount of money at the quest for precious sleep wont' you!

Wuffly awake for 2-4 hours? What a nightmare! I think the amber beads reduce drool quite effectively from what I've read but not sure what else they do. That might help the nappies though.

Have your periods come back ladies? I've had 2 or 3 now. It literally came back bam after the time I spent 4 nights away from her coz of the 2nd wedding I had (early Nov). Weird to think I coudl actually conceive again now, perish the thought!!

wuffly

I think not being home will hit when it actually comes around. At the moment I'm enjoying a quiet office and super quiet roads! 20mins off my morning commute!
Congrats on the job Lucuma! Nice to have something sorted and nice to have a bit more time off!

There was a free Santa in our local shopping Mall, he was really good, real beard and all, took photos ourselves/on the photo. There is a lovely one at the other end of town and you get a teddy with the year on it, its about 12e, so not pricey either,(strange for Dubai!) but he really needs his nap after nursery and don't fancy hitting it Christmas weekend so this one will do the job this year.

Thanks for the link for the travel mate thing my boss used to have one, must ask if he still does, would be handy in the future. Hoping he still fits in his stage one seat when we are next home as we still have one borrowed.

Same here on the little one liking flavour, he's definitely over his boring porridge fingers :pac: Had some shepards pie yesterday, went everywhere :rolleyes: but think he liked it. Its definitely easier to just feed him what we are having! I really need to broaden my food horizons! re bottles its more or less on demand as well, although i do measure as he feeding was so poor for so long. Making the bottles small at night to try and discourage the night waking at least. Back to waking and going back to sleep again thankfully, although its still knackering.
That hippo sounds good, we have the dream sheep which you need to click on, sometimes it works to get him back to sleep not at the moment tho.

Still no teeth! :mad: A friend has just recommended nurofen as its anti-inflammatory so possibly better than calpol.

He is such a happy dude during the day, all smiles and giggles!

My period was back about 3 days after i stopped bf but I think my supply was very low by the end. They are so much more painful now, they used to be this bad when I was a teenager.

Lucuma

Wuffly I didn't think they'd celebrate Christmas so much over there, is it a muslim festival as well? Did you get a day off for it or was it Sunday morning work as usual!?

Hope ye all enjoyed baby's first Christmas ladies! Well my little woman has come on a lot in the last 2 weeks - eating solids is way better. No more tongue thrust reflex, she's properly guzzling everything down now. The number of bottles has reduced to 4 every 24 hours (finally!!) and she's making up the difference with solids. There's been a corresponding huge change in her nappies. No longer is ever dirty nappy a full outfit change involving vest, babygro etc all having to be changed. TMI but poos are a lot more solid and contained. I assume that's coz of the ratio of milk feeds to solid feeds changing in favour of solid feeds! My washing machine is enjoying the break (still nearly need to do 1 load ever 2 days to keep on top of though). Also reduced the formula to 1 scoop reflux, 6 scoops normal but then she was throwing up a bit of milk so I put it back to 2 scoops reflux, 5 scoops normal today we'll see how that goes.
I am still too scarred from all the liquid poos so I just double nappy her now all the time. When I change her nappy I put the outer one on the inside and a fresh one on the outside. Anything to save having to take apart and wash a sleepy head pillow every day!

It's great to be down to making 4 bottles a day. She just turned 8 months there so only 4 months left til I can kiss bottles goodbye forever!! It can't come too soon. I killed them on my older kid the week she turned 1 as well (changed to the Avent sippy cup as it has a teat just like a bottle). I don't get why anyone keeps bottles on past 1 when you don't have to. The hassle of having to wash, sterilise and make them up. I know you can stop sterilising them and use cows milk from 12 months on but still, might as well get rid as soon as you can!
What I found with no.1 was that she drank the Avent sippy cup of cow's milk for a few weeks but it never held the same appeal as the bottle and she slowly just dropped it and replaced it with water. And at about 18 months she was just drinking water (still the same she'd ask for milk the very odd time) I do throw a bit of diluted orange in the water now for her only coz she sees me drinking it (I can easily drink a litre of water a day with a bit of dilute but I can't drink it if it's just water - possilby a mental block!) and I can hardly say I'm having diluted orange but no you're only allowed have water!
Baby's bottom 2 teeth are well up now, but still no sign of the top two which I think is weird. I had a dream last night that the top two were pushing down and I could also see the ones next to them breaking the skin :-D
Baby still has rashes around her neck folds, and now also has dry skin on her arms and face. I got Silcocks base moisturiser for her face and arms, and putting various creams on her neck. Just curious do ye wipe baby's face with wipes or a facecloth? I have always used a facecloth and water only. A friend of mine uses wipes though which I think must be bad for their face? I bought special baby facecloths so they won't be confused and used as dishcloths or any other type of cloth. This is particularly important when staying in my Mam's house coz she deals with dirty nappies old style with 'the cloth' - she doesn't believe in wipes!

wuffly

Hey ladies hope ye had a good Christmas! Ours was actually lovely, nice and chilled. I got the day off at the last minute. Its not a set thing, so each year we end up waiting to see if its off, which is annoying but nice to have it off when we do.
Lucuma Christmas isn't anything on the Muslim calendar but anything to encourage people to shop (the national past time, the annual shopping fest is just starting!) Plus the schools are off and most of the westerners head home so it gets quiet. Its more American in terms of 'happy holidays' or 'festive season' but there are Christmas trees, decorations, Santa's, markets and Christmas food everywhere. Its nicer in a lot of ways as the build up is shorter so you don't get as sick of it by the time it comes around. We went the to beach and a Christmas market picnic on Christmas eve. Our dude was awake a lot of Christmas eve night so we brought him to mass at 6am, which was lovely and he was very quiet. Hung out with friends for the morning and home for dinner in the afternoon. No family stress and skyped with them just before bed time. Honestly was kinda perfect, although looking forward to getting home next year.

How is your little ones sleep now? We are still all over the shop had a few full nights then back to 2 night wakings but we are hitting a leap (still not sure if i believe in them but seems kinda accurate this time) and one tooth FINALLY poked through yesterday!!! I am so fecking thrilled I thought the toothless teething would never end! We also have full on army crawling going on now, he gets off the foam mats regularly! :eek:

Nursery is very quiet this week and he is on at total charm offensive with all the staff, all telling me how smiley and giggly he is. Naps there have improved a little so hopefully he keeps it up when the place is full again.

Solids are going well enough here, doing two meals and he seems to be getting a nice bit in most days. he's taking about 800mls sometimes 900ml with the night feeds. Still a bit to go before he is getting enough to drop his milk feeds i think. Not getting much water into him, need to try a bit harder with it. He just wants to whack the cups, have a 360, an ikea cup and a doidy cup, only interested in them as toys...so water goes everywhere! must look for something else, will check out those avent ones. Can't wait to stop bottles!!

I use my trusty water wipes on his face, rationing them now though! They are available here now but at e7 a pack not fecking likely!! I think most people i know use wipes but i'd be the same thinking there are bit harsh on babies face.
Our dude had dry patches on his skin (arms and thighs) ages ago and our gp said to lather him up in coconut oil an hour before bath time and let him roll around on his mat or where ever then wash off and apply a thin layer again after. She said to do it regularly but i only needed to do it once and it cleared right up. Still just using water in the bath and quick rub with coconut oil afterwards and his skin is generally very clear. I find even if he has a bit of a rash from dribbling during the day the bath and coconut oil ease it straight away. I have a ton of unused mustela stuff, I'm sure I'll need it eventually.

Hope everyone has a good New Years! what ever ye are up to (Most likely in bed by 9pm here lol!)

Lucuma

Sounds like a great ex-pat Christmas - the beach! Although beach with a baby isn't that great - trying to stop them ingesting sand or getting it in their eyes! Got through Christmas - box ticked. Looking forward to 2017 and optimistic for it.

Wuffly my friend that uses wipes on her kid's faces one of them always has a rash on her face, I don't think wipes are suitable for use on the face at all? And I can't see why anyone would use them instead of a face cloth - much simpler and just rinse it out afterwards. I mean it's just food, milk etc that you're wiping off their face. But if you have to use wipes then I'd say the water wipes would be much better than any other wipes.

Army crawling, that's great! My baby is on the move bigtime as well. She's not crawling but she seems to magically get from where I put her down into the far corners of the room! It's actually hilarious the places i'm finding her now and I'm like how did you manage to get from there to here!!

Feck are we supposed to be giving them water? I'll add that to my to-do list, (or more likely at this stage just wait til I go back to work and let the childminder cross that bridge for me!)

Her sleeping is alright I suppose. Still wakes at night. I'd say the thing with your fella is that because he has shown that he can sleep through the night then you won't be happy til he does that every night. Whereas my little woman has never even come close to sleeping through the night so I have no expectation of same! One thing alright is that I think returning to work could be hard (week after next) coz at the moment I make up my sleep in the morning but that wont' be an option anymore once I go back 5 days a week. I think it'll be good in a way though coz it'll force us to be a lot more disciplined about her bedtime, which at the moment is different every night depending on what's happening/whether i've had a chance to make the bottles yet!

Kathy22

Happy new year ladies. As you can see I am having a wild one in

All going good here, solids are slightly improving, he still shows little interest in breakfast - porridge, weatabix or readybrek. He really has to be in the mood or point blank refuses to eat, mouth is firmly shut with nothing getting in and head shaking ensures its difficult to get near him, can be rather entertaining at times.

Moving all over the place now mainly via rolling, he can roll from one end of the room to the next with ease. He is making all the signs for crawling and even moved a tiny bit but then sank down and rolled over, looking over at his crazy parents shouting yes go on do it!!!

Teething something awful the last few days, I can feel one tooth peeking through, just a sharp edge on it but not out just yet. He has been waking loads and generally grouchy. Fun times. I feel like he has been teething forever and i can see the teeth under the gums for months just never made it up.

Lucuma we just use water wipes on his face or a muslin cloth, I never use regular wipes. Wuffly how the hell are they €7 there, that is crazy! He absolutely hates getting his face wiped after eating, starts winging and trashing around, kind of like trying to dress him when tired, not a fun task.

Glad you guys had a nice xmas, we enjoyed it too, although i ended up with Mastitis and was sick as a dog. On the mend now with a hefty dose of antibiotics.

Here's to a healthy and happy 2017 to us all. We have been talking of trying for number 2 in the next while, are we mad

Anne_cordelia

Kathy22 wrote: »

We have been talking of trying for number 2 in the next while, are we mad

Everyone is different but the amount of people that have said that trying for #2 seemed like a great idea with a quiet little 6 month old. Reality with 15/16 month old toddler and newborn is very different. There is a very tough leap around 16/17 months which is torture. Now everyone is different and loads of people have this age gap. The 15/16/17 month old is still a baby and I've seen people expect so much more from them (sleep, better behaviour) because they have a newborn also if that makes sense.

Kathy22

Anne_cordelia wrote: »

Everyone is different but the amount of people that have said that trying for #2 seemed like a great idea with a quiet little 6 month old. Reality with 15/16 month old toddler and newborn is very different. There is a very tough leap around 16/17 months which is torture. Now everyone is different and loads of people have this age gap. The 15/16/17 month old is still a baby and I've seen people expect so much more from them (sleep, better behaviour) because they have a newborn also if that makes sense.

Thanks Anne, I was doing a bit of research today and I think we will hold off until he is closer to 1. I'm afraid of my milk drying up during pregnancy and don't want to have to cut his bf journey short. I will be going back to work when he is 11 months so don't want to take away his main source of comfort.

wuffly

Kathy sorry to hear you had mastitis over the holidays, its a horrible dose, hope you are all better now. Hope you got to enjoy the holidays a bit? was your OH off for much of it?

We had that rolling and swiveling for a few weeks before the army crawling started, wont be long til he is full on, on the move. We really need to get in gear with the baby proofing. He's clever enough to roll very gently on the tiles so as not to hit his head but when he's on the foam mats he still rolls and bops his head. We got a him one of those ELC activity boxes (2nd hand lol) loves it but walloped himself in the head with it already :eek: We've bought him very little stuff but he seems to have accumulated loads already. What was working great before he was fully on the move was putting a bunch of toys in a soft basket in front of him (bf pillow behind him) and he'd pull them out and play away for ages. Ikea toys are fab, got him the stacking cups (2e) and he loves them! they have lots of lovely wooden bits most a bit too old for him for now.

Lucuma, at the moment we just go for walks on the beach with him in the carrier, probably should have taken more advantage of taking him there before he could move! I hate sand (great when you live in a desert! lol)

He is very moody the last few days putting it down to this leap and his 2nd tooth has made an appearance. Poor thing seems a bit demented.

Re water wipes one of the many rip off's here! Its a disgrace! But i guess some people are willing to pay it.

I think you're right on the sleep front Lucuma, its harder because we know he can do it! Going to move him into his own room next week, at this stage I think we are all just waking each other. The other night he gave a little cough every hour or so so we ended up being awake most of the night whereas he actually only woke once. We are creeping around when we go down to bed and if it doesn't wake it seems to disturb him. Sadly I'd love to be able to turn on the light and put away my clothes properly at night. Hopefully it helps a little, if not we'll bring him back in. Going to move some furniture around and possibly get a fold out/day bed for his room. I'm sure we'll need it anyway, when he's sick or teething etc down the line.

Re No 2 Kathy you are braver than I! lol! I think i'd like a 2 year gap ish, so i guess possibly start trying after he is 1. I was lucky to get pregnant quickly before but I also had 2 MC's so that makes me a bit anxious. Also I found being preggers hard going and with a small one there wouldn't be half as much rest! OH is mad for a lot of kids and I have to say he's been amazing with the little man and was fantastic through all sh*t with BF at the start, I wouldn't have lasted half as long with out him. So at least I know he's actually going to help! If i can get off to a better start next time, I might go to 3 and meet him half way lol! When i look back on those first few months I see what an arse we made of things (visitors, going home too soon and not staying in the one place, too many LC's with too many opinions, too many opinions in general!) The little man is amazing though and we've learned a ton!

Re new years as expected in bed by 9pm! Rock and roll!!
Hope ye all had a good one!