October 2018 Babies club

Cash_Q

shesty wrote:

Reduce the spice a bit in it CashQ.I thought this on my first too, but my second took to chilli like a duck to water and my 10 month old goes crazy for spicy things!!I just reduce the spice levels a bit and make sure there's no salt or anything.The more you expose them to early on the better because once they get to about 18 months/2, they become quite reluctant to try new things.(yes, I have made this mistake!!)

Wow really, I'm surprised to be honest! So like a curry with a mix of turmeric/chilli/paprika/cumin etc just use less spice? or an Asian stir fry with chilli sauce and soy sauce?! They'd be ok?

shesty

Are you doing BLW?Or would that stuff be easily pureed?

If you are putting the spices in yourself and not using a packet mix, then I would try making a small separate portion to yours and just bringing the spice levels way down for the baby, to try them out.Unless there is some medical reason that some of those spices shouldn't be eaten by babies (I haven't checked), then I don't see why not.I'd steer clear of giving them packet mixes like fajita seasoning etc because I wouldn't trust salt levels in them, or what else might be in them.My little man is ten months and I try to just feed him what we are having-he had homemade meatballs in homemade tomato sauce all mashed up with baby pasta at the weekend, complete with basil etc.He loves a homemade chicken korma that I do, sauce made from coconut milk, bit of turmeric, ground cumin etc (from the Baby Led Feeding cookbook).The only thing to really watch, since you are a vegetarian, is that your baby is getting the right proportions of vitamins/minerals/iron etc, if you are excluding meat from their diet (I don't know if you are), so if they aren't getting meat, they are getting enough iron etc. from another suitable source.Not so much of an issue now, but once they are over 1 it becomes a bigger issue I think.

There are loads of good books for inspiration, I use a combination of Annabel Karmel, The Baby Led Feeding cookbook (or website), and the HSE 's First 1000 days book.If you need ideas. :-)

catrionanic

I'm dreading weaning, to be honest. I still have my hands so full with the two of them full-time that I don't have much time to cook. I want to do baby-led weaning but I also feel that I don't have enough time to cook the variety of different things that I would like to expose him to, the way I did with my first.

He also has a suspected dairy and soya allergy, so I'm currently 4 weeks into an exclusion diet as he is breastfed. I'm so worried about discovering new allergies when we wean. His brother had an egg allergy, which I only discovered once we had began weaning.

He will be 5 months tomorrow so I only really have a month to get my arse in gear.

Cash_Q

Thanks for all that shesty, I actually have an Annabel Karmel book which has a lot of veggie based meals so I should really give it another look. I've been following Joe Wicks weanin15 and just forgot all about that book. Think it's just a bit of apprehension again, I was nervous to start the purees and now we're flying it. Nervous to change to finger foods too, and I'm sure they'll go fine, as will meals. It's just a lot of change all coming together quite quickly I think!

shesty

I was thinking about that afterwards (I'm sad!!) and thinking maybe not soy sauce because it can be salty, can't it?? But I'm sure there is nothing wrong with all the veggies and some spices thrown in:D Mind you, baby might have other ideas, but sure no harm in trying.


Caitriona, the thought of it is so much effort!! Once you are going it will be better, the biggest challenge is stopping no.1 from trying to share his food with no.2 before he can manage it - my first gave me several heart attacks, trying to feed my second cubes of cheese and the like when my back was turned. I found both my second and my third progressed much quicker onto general family food and loads of finger foods because I didn't have the time to puree as much stuff. But they are probably better eaters for it.

Cash_Q

Yeah thought that soy sauce might be a bit much for her. Onions and peppers just seem so spicy for a baby...She loves broccoli and root veg and some fruit so far but I definitely need to vary it more now, we're into week 3

bee06

Cash_Q wrote: »

Yeah thought that soy sauce might be a bit much for her. Onions and peppers just seem so spicy for a baby...She loves broccoli and root veg and some fruit so far but I definitely need to vary it more now, we're into week 3

My little boy loves peppers. He’s been eating them raw since about 8 month.

Cash_Q

bee06 wrote:

My little boy loves peppers. He’s been eating them raw since about 8 month.

I don't think I saw a pepper until I was 15, think I'm stuck in an old school mentality lol

kylith

We're doing well here. Started introducing foods about 2 weeks ago and so far she's loving everything, especially avocado, broccoli, and banana.

Bless her; she's picked up a lurgy, probably from her 1yo cousin at the weekend. She's awake several times a night for the last 2 nights because her nose is stuffed up. She's still in good form in herself at least, but I'm knackered.

bee06

Cash_Q wrote: »

I don't think I saw a pepper until I was 15, think I'm stuck in an old school mentality lol

I’d say I was 30 before I ate a pepper!

Cash_Q

bee06 wrote:

I’d say I was 30 before I ate a pepper!

Kids today don't know they have it so good with their peppers and whatnot lol

Orange369

Im doing puree a week now, so far tried broccoli cauliflower carrots green beans banana avocado and ready brek for first time this morn! She enjoyed the ready brek but in general doesnt seem to be loving the spoon feeds so I am taking it slow for now just 2 small meals per day. Breakfast about 8am and lunch at 12 or 1 depending on naps.. I have parsnips in the fridge so will try them tomorrow or Sat, its actually not as much effort as I was expecting yet

Panda18

We’re 2 weeks in with food now and doing well so far she’s had carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, apple, avocado, banana and spinach. Only problem is she’s pretty constipated and seems under pressure trying to poop. Has anyone any ideas to help her?

Also since she was about 2months she’s been sleeping 8-8 or 8-7 every night apart from around 4months. The past week or so she’s been waking at 5 looking for a bottle, any ideas how to get her back sleeping the whole night? I never knew how much I appreciated it until it stopped!!

catrionanic

Some prunes should sort her out, Panda! Ellas kitchen do prune pouches. Few spoonfuls of that will have her going in no time.

Do you mean that she sleeps right through until 5am? I would be delighted with that if I was you as that's excellent sleeping for her age.

shesty

Don't give her the bottle.
Made the mistake with my first!!!She was at the exact same thing as yours, it took us til she was well over two to break her of the habit of waking for the day at 4:30/5am.She still barely makes it til 6am.Everything I have read says treat any waking before 6am as a 'night waking", so resettle the baby.If they have a bottle then they get into a habit of it.It's actual hell for you for a while because you will lose that hour of sleep until the habit is gone, but think long term.Also make sure her room is dark enough etc, with the brighter mornings, they are all up.

As for the constipation, stewed cooking apples with a bit of brown sugar, or stewed rhubarb work a treat :-)

Cash_Q

Happy Mothers Day ladies, hope everyone had a great day. My first one, and I have to say I really appreciated my baby today and I was really looked after by the hubby, he surprised me with all he did to make today really lovely for me. Hope you all enjoyed it whatever way you spent it.

kylith

So, LO is now rolling over in her sleep. All well and good except she’s waking herself up, I’m really missing my full night’s sleep.

On the other hand, she’s really taken to food and weaning is going a treat

mirrorwall14

Ha, ditto here. Stuck in the bars. Upside down. Stuck in a corner you name it lol

catrionanic

Quick question, with the babas nearly grown out of their pram bassinets, what do you plan to use for downstairs naps? Or are all naps to be upstairs by six months? I can't remember what I did with my first.

Going to be totes emosh putting the pram away. I just love pushing the pram with the lovely big hood, so much more than the stroller!

mirrorwall14

He won’t sleep for me downstairs anymore so all naps are upstairs in the cot or in the buggy or the car seat if I’m on the move. We’ve also had to move out of the maxi cosi into the joie tilt because it was too heavy for me to lift and exacerbating his reflux

shesty

All naps upstairs for no.2 and 3.Too noisy downstairs!!!

Cash_Q

mirrorwall14 wrote:

He won’t sleep for me downstairs anymore so all naps are upstairs in the cot or in the buggy or the car seat if I’m on the move. We’ve also had to move out of the maxi cosi into the joie tilt because it was too heavy for me to lift and exacerbating his reflux

Same here with the naps. Introducing structured naps upstairs messed up her night sleep so badly, so I scrapped them.

Our bassinet converts to an upright pushchair so we'll get plenty more use out if it. It is big and bulky to take in the car with the bassinet part though, so once she outgrows the car seat which clips into the buggy, I'll pick up a light stroller for the car.

Panda18

8 months in now! How’s everyone doing? All going well here, no teeth or crawling yet but I’d say neither are far away How’s the eating going for everyone? My LO will eat but she’s not massively interested in food, the PHN said she’s still relying on bottles too much(4 7oz bottles a day)... has anyone any tips to drop one of them?

Cash_Q

Panda18 wrote:

8 months in now! How’s everyone doing? All going well here, no teeth or crawling yet but I’d say neither are far away How’s the eating going for everyone? My LO will eat but she’s not massively interested in food, the PHN said she’s still relying on bottles too much(4 7oz bottles a day)... has anyone any tips to drop one of them?

All great here! Two teeth up and third broke the gum today! Sitting up and great on her tummy but not crawling either. 8 month check next week and I'm not worried about it, I feel she's doing great!

She loves her food and is so disinterested in bottles now.. she drank about 6oz in the last 24 hours but usually would have 16-24oz so maybe the new tooth put her off.

I have no tips on dropping bottles as she just did it naturally herself but maybe check your feeding schedule and see that you're offering food before milk so she's hungry for the food? You may already be doing so though...

I offer milk first thing at 6am then wait an hour and give breakfast of Weetabix and fruit at 7am. Lunch of meat and veg at 11am followed by yoghurt or cheese. We offer milk at 2/3pm which she usually refuses then tea at 5pm which is fruit, veg, rice cakes and porridge, then bottle at 6.30pm in bedroom. She usually takes one or two bottles during the night just last night wasn't into it.

Panda18

That sounds like a really good schedule and meal ideas, I must try that out. I never thought of porridge before bed time! She did well today, I managed to get her to three bottles but it wasn’t much fun for a while!😄 she ate way more though so i’ll Try again tomorrow and hopefully it runs a bit smoother!

Ah brilliant, 3 teeth! Are they bottom and top teeth? It must be so cute seeing the teeth when she smiles 😄

We had the 8month check last week, she’s 71cm and just over 20lb so she’s taking after her dad so far 😄

Orange369

Ah nice to hear the updates! My girl will be 8 mths now on 12th, she is flying along. Sitting great, loves her walker and playing. No crawling forward only shuffling backwards. No teeth yet! Loves her food, eats everything I give. Still on 4 bottles but drinks 20-25 ozs some days less. Sleeping great thankfully, even better since she went into her own room. Back to work myself end of July now

Cash_Q

Panda18 wrote:

That sounds like a really good schedule and meal ideas, I must try that out. I never thought of porridge before bed time! She did well today, I managed to get her to three bottles but it wasn’t much fun for a while!😄 she ate way more though so i’ll Try again tomorrow and hopefully it runs a bit smoother!

Yeah she went off porridge in the mornings but will eat it at tea time lol, she has Weetabix for breakfast and maybe she should have a better meal in the evenings but it's suiting her now any way.

Panda18 wrote:

Ah brilliant, 3 teeth! Are they bottom and top teeth? It must be so cute seeing the teeth when she smiles 😄

Two bottom teeth they're so cute, and one little fang tooth at the top, I can't believe how excited I felt with each one! Luckily she's not teething badly at all, first two came up nearly 2 months ago!

Panda18 wrote:

We had the 8month check last week, she’s 71cm and just over 20lb so she’s taking after her dad so far 😄

Amazing sounds great!

Orange369 wrote:

Ah nice to hear the updates! My girl will be 8 mths now on 12th, she is flying along. Sitting great, loves her walker and playing. No crawling forward only shuffling backwards. No teeth yet! Loves her food, eats everything I give. Still on 4 bottles but drinks 20-25 ozs some days less. Sleeping great thankfully, even better since she went into her own room. Back to work myself end of July now

So lucky with the sleep, still waking every night 1/2/3 times here! She drank 20oz yesterday which was the most in a long time so happy with that. I've been back in work for two months now, I was SO miserable at the start but I'm actually fine now, I really make the most of the time I have with her in the evening and weekend. I'm off again for summer holidays in 3 weeks so I can't complain too much!

catrionanic

Good to hear everybody is doing so well! I can't believe how big theu are getting. My wee man is 7.5 months now and has four teeth (and one hell of a sharp bite).

If I'm honest, I've found this whole 7.5 months very challenging. He is a very different baby from my first. He has cows milk protein allergy and suffers badly with wind, which made the first four months pretty hell-ish until I cut dairy out of my diet (he's breastfed). The wind leaves him in pain a lot too so he spends a lot of time crying.

Sleep is woeful. My first was bad, but he is even worse. Awake 4-6 times a night every night. Then up for the day at 5. It's been very hard. Naps are poor too - never longer than 45 minutes and it is always a battle to get him down. So he gets overtired, is in very poor form, and that makes the naps even poorer. I can't nap in the day myself because I have my toddler full-time with me. I would say I have managed an average of 4.5 hours sleep on aggregate every night since he was born.

Trying really hard with the solids but he's not interested, which again is new to me. Any tips??? We were doing BLW alone for the first month but he was eating nothing at all, so I do try to do some spoon feeds but he hates the spoon and usually will clamp his jaws shut (poor child has been force-fed gripe water so many times that he is very wary of anything going into his mouth). In the last couple of weeks, he has started occasionally eating a little bit of finger foods but some days it's nothing at all and other times it's just a tiny bit. The most success we have is with the clever mama feeder filled with fruit (he has a sweet tooth). I'm wary of not introducing enough bitter veg etc though so trying really hard to offer a variety of different food 3 times a day, and lots of iron-rich stuff. Only once or twice have I ever seen food come through to his nappy though... a bit stressed about this to be honest.

He is just starting to sit up now - he can go about 15 seconds before he topples over - so I'm hoping he will be more content when he can sit up and play with toys better. I'm also working REALLY hard on naps at the minute, as well as another few sleep issues... the last 3 nights, he only woke 3 times which is a big improvement so fingers crossed we will make a little more progress there.

Exhausted!!!!!!

shesty

Ah caitriona that's rough.Will he eat purees for you at all?Try giving him the spoon with a fruit puree on it to play with and see if he is interested??It will end up in his mouth one way or the other and if he got a taste of it at least, he might like it again.Pretend you don't care and aren't watching ;-) if he has allergies like that he could be very wary of new textures, especially if he has done a lot of vomiting or has reflux.The 40min naps would break you, you don't get a second.No.2 here took nearly 9 months to start stretching naps.Her 'long ' nap was basically two 40 min stretches and I had to get in quick in the middle to hold her hand before she woke fully, so she would resettle.Nos 2 & 3 only nap in their beds, car seats, buggies etc never did the trick for them.It's such a pain, but it really doesn't last forever I guess-although it feels like it....

Do you have a sling?Three extremely windy babies here, and there was a lot of sling time.

mirrorwall14

Sounds like they are all growing up well!

Catrionanic I feel you though you are definitely having a worse time.

If I'm honest, we'd never have gone again if this had been my first. I love him to bits but God its been exhausting. Its been an ill wind that we had to keep our eldest in playschool/creche or risk losing his place. If i hadn't been able to nap when he napped in the mornings I'd never have survived tbh-Catrionanic I don't know how you are doing it. Between milk allergy (at least its bottles so I didn't have to change my diet) and illness after illness passed from one to the other and back to us its been a really really long winter. He's already had two bouts of antibiotic plus several virus's we had to ride out. Our eldest also had three really bad virus's this winter, he lost so much weight he dropped out of the weight range for his car seat running temps for 6-7 days straight.

Its really only in the last month or two I feel we are starting to become a bit more human again. We're down to one bottle a night plus the inevitable dodo pops now. My apple watch sleep monitoring is truly awful for the last year coz I sleep badly in pregnancy too lol. We just got the sleepytot teddy and I'm hoping he'll learn to put his own dodo back soon.

Having said all that he is honestly (in my biased opinion) the cutest child ever when he's happy and smiling and absolutely loves people. Grumpy baby? Get out of the house and I could just sit in the middle of a shopping centre and he'd watch everyone passing for an hour easily.

We had one dairy accident two weeks ago when there was milk in a pouch I didn't realise. Dietician gave the go ahead when we saw her to do the milk ladder at 10 months but we can wait if we like which after the "fun" following the pouch we're going to wait for 12 months. Can't be dealing with that, its not fair on him so we'll give him the extra time to hopefully out grow it

afkasurfjunkie

Lovely to hear all the updates and I’ll try to virtually send some baby-sleep dust to some of you! My ladeen is gone 8 months now and mostly he’s great. He doesn’t sleep as well as his brother who was and still is an amazing sleeper but he does nap during the day and goes down very easily between 7.30 and 8. After that is anyone’s guess, he usually goes til 12 or 4. He’s an early riser and I’m not, so finding that tricky. Especially with the bright mornings.
He loves his food. I’m doing a bit of blw and purées. He loves having something in his hand. But gobbles up porridge, roasted veg and broccoli too.
Two bottom teeth arrived out of nowhere but his 2 top ones are coming now and he’s a bit more disturbed this time. We got in a holiday to the canaries last month which was really nice.

He’s sitting up well now but only sat up himself for the 1st time yesterday. He’s pulling himself around on his belly for the last week-commando crawling. And basically finds spots to get stuck in. Under the table, chairs and any other small space.

Cash_Q

Wow catrionanic and Mirrorwall14 sounds like you've both had a tough run

Catrionanic the only suggestion I have about food could be to mix in some of your milk with the purees, as he'll then have a familiar taste, and gradually reduce the amount of milk you add in. Cognikids 'dip' spoon is great to encourage him to try to play around and get a bit more comfortable with food. My girl used hers as a chewie for ages at the very start and I'd have it pre loaded with a dense puree that would kind of cling to the spoon. She can bring an ordinary baby spoon to her mouth now too. I'd agree with shesty's suggestion there to kind of leave him to it so he doesn't think you're interested and he might get a bit more confident with it then.

greenttc

Ah caitriona,when I started reading your post I thought that clevamama fruit thing would be good so glad you have already tried it and had some success. Why not put things like cooked carrot and butternut squash into it now to get a few veg into him? I'd just keep offering food,he will take it eventually. And try and have him eat at the same time as you and his brother.
Our lad is honestly a dream baby,his brother cried lots for the first few months but this guy only cries when hungry or tired and spends the rest of the time laughing and smiling!
Sleep is perfect, we have a good routine going now so we get a one hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon and then twelve hours of straight sleep with not a peep out of him all night,ever. Even his brother wakes from time to time but not this guy.i have said it so so many times but I highly recommend the book "the baby sleep solution" I followed the recommendations in that book with both my boys to great success.
Eating is going well but probably could be better and that is my fault,I just feel like I am not putting the time into it properly. He eats all I give him really and we are doing a combination of blw and spoon. I am feeling guilty that I only do lunch and dinner, really need to start introducing breakfast for him. Just have to find the time to do it,mornings are so tight as it is! We will get there!
He is rolling all over the place and is into everything,again I feel awful as I haven't let him play on the floor as much as his brother did, it's just so busy and I feel like he spends far too much time in a buggy,the poor guy! Have really tried to focus on sitting up the past week or so though and he is doing well, lasts a good while before falling over. He mostly falls due to reaching for a toy or something and then just can't get back up of course. Need to give more attention to playing on the floor! I feel like he will start dragging himself around army style soon as he is doing lots of movements that are a bit like "the worm" etc so he knows where he wants to go and how but just hasn't figured it out yet.

Entropy7

My little man's 8 months now.

2 bottom teeth came through together at 7 months.

He is crawling like a pro, sometimes too fast, and it gives me a fright when he is across the other side of the room in no time. Yesterday he started pulling himself up onto his knees and today it's from there to standing. Very fast progress.

He has been sick for most of his life, with chest infections. My daughter gets the doses from preschool and shares it around with the whole family. Nothing too serious and now that he is 8 months old, he is much better able to deal with congestion and coughing. Building up a good immune system, probably. That's what I tell myself.

I gave up breast feeding when the teeth showed up, well, over 3 weeks, dropped a feed every 2 or 3 days, nice and slowly. Aptamil 2 seems to suit him well. He has probably 4 x 8oz bottles per day, throughout the day. We started to move onto the food with more bits in it, but we will probably go back to more pureed stuff (4 to 6 month pouches), as he is having trouble getting used to the bigger chunks. I find liga and biscotti help with teething pain.

My favourite thing is to watch my older kid entertaining the baby. It's pure joy.

catrionanic

Just rereading the posts from this time last year. It's amazing how much I had forgotten about! So precious to have these posts to reflect on.

Hope all the babas are doing well. First birthdays have now begun! So many fun times ahead.

Cash_Q

catrionanic wrote:

Just rereading the posts from this time last year. It's amazing how much I had forgotten about! So precious to have these posts to reflect on.

catrionanic wrote:

Hope all the babas are doing well. First birthdays have now begun! So many fun times ahead.

Yes my girl turned one last week! I was so addicted to this thread lol!

catrionanic

Cash_Q wrote: »

Yes my girl turned one last week! I was so addicted to this thread lol!

It was a great source of support during pregnancy. There were always so many questions to be answered!

How is C getting on? Did you do anything to celebrate her birthday? Is she still petite for her age?

mirrorwall14

First birthday on Saturday for us. Its mad to read back on it now. My little lad has been cruising for a while but took off this week and is taking a good 5 steps before sitting down suddenly this week. Its super funny to watch

kylith

I'm starting trying to organise a party for my little girl; birthday's on the 16th.

She's been cruising for what seems like ages and has taken steps, but has been getting serious about it in the last few days. Naw is the time to start worrying about accidents, I suppose; she properly wiped out the other day.

Cash_Q

catrionanic wrote:

How is C getting on? Did you do anything to celebrate her birthday? Is she still petite for her age?

She's great thanks, she was on 50th centiles at her 9 month check, had been on 2nd at birth! I see younger babies looking much chunkier than her but she doesn't seem petite to me anymore although she certainly was for a long time!

We both took the day off work and took her to Imaginosity, we had separate family get togethers the weekends before and after as we both have our parents, four siblings plus partners and no other babies, so all the adults altogether would have been a bit overwhelming for her. Both weekends were really lovely, she did make strange for the first time but got over it quickly!

How are your two boys? And life in your new home?

lunamoon

First birthday coming up and I've no idea what to do for it. I was thinking of having a few of his cousins over but they are very rough with him and the house isn't very spacious. Are those play places any use? I think he might be a bit too young for them, though.

catrionanic

lunamoon wrote: »

First birthday coming up and I've no idea what to do for it. I was thinking of having a few of his cousins over but they are very rough with him and the house isn't very spacious. Are those play places any use? I think he might be a bit too young for them, though.

My boy does enjoy the play places, but the baby sections are usually small and they can be mad on a weekend!

We are going to Newbridge farm with the family. For my first boy, we took him to the farm at Airfield estate for his first birthday and it was perfect. He enjoyed being outdoors, looking at the animals and getting walked and carried around by relatives! Then we had lunch in the cafe, home for a nap, and birthday cake in the house with close family. I'm planning the same thing this time around!

kylith

We're planning a family get together. It's going to be hectic because I've a big family, and if you invite the siblings you have to invite the partners and the kids.

To make it easier we're going for a pot luck, and I'm just doing some veggie stuff for Himself, and the cake.