Babies born~December 1st-15th 2009 #3

Hey everyone!

Willow - it does look like little red dry patches - The only thing I have fed her are carrots and a bit of banana and apple one time...I am not sure that is it, but I'll see...MIL told me that BIL had awfully dry skin (and still does) and DH has dry skin so I am blaming it on papa's genes...lol...I have to go to the paed next week to get a certificate of good health for her daycare anyway so I'll ask what I can do then.

Hey Tilda! Great to hear from you and hope the move goes smoothly! Can't wait to get an update.

Alison, hope you're feeling better soon - at least not tastin ganything and not eating should take some weight off :ROFL:

Hannah, hey, soory about the mother's day and Amelia getting unsettled again. Going to the osteo is amazing isn't it? It helped Eva a lot too. I hope her self entertaining will tire her more and help her sleep better.

Eva is 6 months old today!!!!!!!!!!!!! The time flies, doesn't it! She is the oldest in the group but that means that all of your bubbas are getting to the half year mark very soon! Isn't it crazy? On a worst note, after one week and 2 full days in daycare she has diahrrea today, so is staying home. I'll be running up and down between my apt and the office and MIL is trying to arrange her day to stay with her for a few hours this morning in order to let me get some work done. I was givin gher her bottle at 530am this morning when she let it out and I didn't think it was anything bad until I felt it run down my leg (ew TMI, I know!) - so at 530 AM, I woke up DH who ran her a bath, and changed her while I did a load of laundry, aired out her room, and got her dressed.

I hope it passes fast - she does not have a fever for the moment, and is eating really well (she even asked for more this morning so ate 60ml MORE that a full bottle, so I am sure she is replenishing her liquids...but we'll see. I just hope it passes fast.

Happy 6 month birthday to Eva :leap: and happy diarrhea for her mother :ROFL:

Have a gorgeous day girls!

Hi Hannah Sorry to hear your mum hasn't been going to well:hug: Hopefully they're on top of things now and she picks up so her body can do it's job with the new drug!

As for the solids, I'm pretty sure the ABA has a book, Baby- led- solids, I really need to get on to getting it myself, if I remember tomorrow, I'll let you know if I find it, I'll post in here and maybe drop a comment on your FB page, sometimes I find it quicker to jump on there than in here an a bad day.

Harry usually sleeps well the day of his chiro treatments, not 11hours though!!! Go Amelia!!! He also used to sleep longer at night when he was having his cranky time crying for a couple of hours at 8pm, I think he exhausted himself with the screaming, wow that seems like so long ago now, I don't miss the screaming, but the 3+ hours of sleep in a row would be nice!

I'm not a fan of these WWs, Harry just hasn't been the same after last one now we're into this one:wall: ...not to mention the teething:doh:

Alison Have you ever tried the nasal thing, oh now I won't be able to remember what it's called, I think it's called a Neti Pot, maybe, a lot of people swear by it, I think it's just warm water and it clears everything out, you tip it in one nostril and it clears it all out, sounds a bit gross though but sposed to be great.

Gotta go Harry's awake.

oh no NOt another WW coming up :O

i think mare is just starting to teeth the dribble oh my gosh i think we could fill an olympic sized swimming pool before lunch with th amount of dribble.

i had to give her panadol for the first time teh otehr day as she was so unsettled adn grumpy and a slight temp :( but she slept so well for teh next day :)

we are still going well over night but days sleeps what are they ???

willow: oh i hope harry starts settling longer than 3 hours for you. you poor thing i feel terrible saying maree does sleep well. :( hope once teh chiro gets it all sorted and he slows down growing a bit it settles.. and teething sucks :(

happy belated 6 months EVA :D:D your a big girl now

back to the sewing machine.
oh sorry someone asked what i was selling before
im making MCN's blankies, cloth pads, breast pads, wet bags,
mainly selling at local markets and on face book..
I have applied for MPM membership but havent heard back yet.. so oncei get that ill be getting all the details up :D

Alison - I think I'll start with lunch and see how we go. I'm still going to wait a couple more weeks though. I hope your cold clears up soon.

BS - Happy 6 month birthday Eva! It's a good sign that she's still eating. Perhaps its a reaction to something she's eaten. Whatever it is, I hope she gets over it quickly for you. Oh and well done on the return to work. I'm glad Eva is settling well into daycare.

willow - I didn't think to check the ABA website. I should make use of my subscription. Now you've got me all nostalgic for those screaming evenings early on lol. I don't miss the screaming either, but I'm sure I got more sleep back then. It does seem such a long time ago. I hope Harry settles down. Hopefully solids will help him space out his feeds once he starts. You're such a trooper for continuing to BF :clap: I think you're doing a fantastic job.

kawazuki - Goodluck with the new business.

Tilda - Great to hear from you. I hope you, DH and Matilda are settling well in Sydney. Wow, what a whirlwind few weeks you must have had.

AFM - I am so hurt and angry right now. I've had a whole 2.5 hours sleep...in 3 blocks, not all at once. Amelia woke me up at 7:10 after being put down at 6:40 (I'd been up with her since 3:40). She had a bit of wind and I thought she'd settle quickly after bringing it up so I brought her to bed with me. She was perfectly happy lying on my stomach, but I didn't want to fall asleep with her like that in case she rolled off me. I put her on her side next to me and she started screaming. I tried my best to settle her, and what does DH do? He gets up and goes straight to the spare room! :angry: I know he hasn't had a lot of sleep either since he stayed up with Amelia until 3:40 and that he has to work full time, but aren't we in this together? I'm so sick of feeling like he is doing me a favour everytime he takes Amelia off of my hands :crying:

Hi Girls, I had to cut it short last night I thought I'd get a full post in before Harry wanted his next feed but no, I'm sure he has a BB radar, as soon as I get on he wakes up!

Hi Hannah I would be upset about that too, I understand he's tired and wants some sleep, but just getting up and leaving like that makes you feel bad! Like you're an inconvenience or something, he could've at least given you a token "is there anything I can do or get you" before suggesting he might go and get some sleep in the other room grrrrr If you're going back to work in 6 weeks I hope he's more tactful then!
I'm not pinning much hope on solids helping with Harry's sleep, well I'm trying not to, it didn't help with DS1, but DS1 had other little tricks you could use to get him to sleep a bit more, Harry just wants to eat:o
I'm going to start expressing tomorrow while DH is home to amuse Harry, I haven't tried as yet, but I want to see if he'll take a bottle or a cup even so then maybe I'll get a break here and there, but as for the nights I really want see if I can get him to skip at least one feed to give a bigger chunk of sleep, I can distract him through the day if I need to but at night I just don't have the patience or energy so I just feed him.

Well like I said, Harry's BB radar must be working because he's awake, that was a great 10 min sleep, grrrr this is usually his best sleep of the day 2 hrs sometimes a little more and if he misses it he's a nightmare for the rest of the day. So I better go and see to him, I'll catch up with the rest of the personals later:hello:

Hi Girls!

Hi Tilda - have you moved to Sydney or Queensland? I can't keep up with you lol. Weren't you supposed to be coming to Perth in May for a wedding?

Hi Willow and Hannah - I hope your bubs sleep for you soon.......Hannah, I'd be upset with DH if he did that too, might be time for a sit down and a talk mate. Feel happy soon, we love you! xx

Hi Kawazuki - good luck with your ventures, are you on FB?

Hi Rose - how are you?

Hi Beany - you have a cold too now huh. How much does it suck! Hope you feel better soon. xx

Hi Everyone else - sorry for short persies today. I'm full of a head cold - my sinuses are burning and I feel like my head is going to explode. I'm sick of being sick, this is twice in 5 weeks I've had an illness - I didn't get sick once last year! grrrrr I hope I don't give it to Amelia, I will feel terrible if she gets this sh*tty blocked nose.

Talking of Amelia, I was sitting here yesterday reading a mag and looked down and Amelia was on her tummy and next time I looked she was on her back and then her tummy again! Finally she can roll from tummy to back! I thought she was close as on Tuesday she started going from tummy to side. Isn't it funny how within a day they have worked something out. Oh and I put some pear in her rice cereal this morning and she loved it!

Gotta go, dying for a shower and best do it while Amelia is having a nap. Yesterday afternoon in her late arvo nap she only had 30 mins, grrrr - hope that's not the start of something. She's also been waking up at 6.00 am instead of 7.00 am the last few days, I try and leave her to chatter and what not in her cot before I go get her. I much prefer the 7.00 am wake up, especially when I'm feeling like crap lol. But I won't complain as some of you have it MUCH worse, at least she goes down for at least an hour most day naps and she does sleep well at night - the last few nights I've had to get up a couple of times for the dummy but I think her nose is a bit yuk so hopefully she won't get my full blown cold. It's amazing how much harder it is to cope with a baby when you're not 100% yourself though huh.

Hello all!

Just a quick one...

Has anyone used a nasal aspirator on their baby? I've tried 3 times and each time it is an absolute nightmare...he screams his head off and writhes around so much that it keeps getting rammed up his nose (which obviously hurts), so really its not working and I"m not getting anything out. I can't believe they invented something like this which is just impossible to use!!!

:(

Will try adn get back on later for persies...

Hi Beany Sorry I'm no help with the aspirator, I remember trying to use one with DS1 a loooong time ago with the same result as you're getting! I think maybe Suzi might be more help, I think maybe she's used it with success, that's if my poor memory serves me correctly :redface:

Good luck hope you're both feeling better soon:goodluck:

Harry's not being very co operative today so I'll have to try to post again later...

Hi girls, Harry's happy for the moment and DP is cooking dinner so I'll try to get the rest of the persies done...

BS I hope Eva's over the diarrhoea! But happy 6 month b'day:p
Harry's had some skin issues again this week, red dry angry looking patches on his bum and general nappy area, and also on is cheeks, I'm putting it down to teething as he's started chewing everything again and drooling. My DP has skin issues too so if Harry gets anything like that I'll be blaming his dodgy genes too:lol:

Alison Yay Amelia with the rolling:clap: Hope the cold has stayed away from her too:crossfingers:

Hannah Did you get a chance to check out the ABA site today about BLS? I didn't I had a shocker.

Oh well my dinner is served! So I guess I'll try again later!:lol:

Hi Girls!

Hi Beany - is that the one that comes with the Fess Little Noses? I bought some for Amelia in case she gets my cold - I'm crossing everything she doesn't though, she already has small nasal passages so a blocked nose is going to be a killer for her. I have crappy sinuses myself and spent years shoving that stuff up my nose and it does hurt - I've been using the Fess the last couple of days and my sinuses are burning from squirting stuff up all the time. My friend's little boy had a cold last week and she said she used one of those machines that pushes out stuff (lol can't remember what it's called) - is it a humidifier or something? It's supposed to help with their breathing and clear their sinuses, I'll find out what its called as I think I'll get one, she swears by it and helps him sleep through the night with a cold!

Gotta run and have a shower while the goings good, I so can't wait to get rid of this nose, I swear my sinuses are going to fall out of my head soon!

Hi to Everyone! xx

Hey girls, Alison and Beany I used to use a humidifier (AKA vaporiser) all the time when the boys had a cold they are good., for the grown ups too. If you don't have one you can take them into the bathroom when you shower and the steam will help that way too, but the humidifiers are a good constant steam.

Cranky Harry gotta go...AGAIN!

Thanks Willow - vaporiser is the word I was looking for......I assume the baby shops sell them or chemists. Cheers!

Yep chemists sell them, maybe baby shops not sure.

Have a good night all.

Hello all,

Alison - Yes, its the one that came with the Fess. Not too impressed with it, it takes a bit of hand-strength to squeeze the bulb (well, does for me anyway!lol) and just seems awkward to use. I dunno. Vaporiser sounds good...I should look into getting one of those, I'm sure there are plenty more colds to come! I hope you feel better soon...everything is so much harder when you're sick, isn't it? Woudl be nice to just curl up in bed and sleep it off! I gave Michael a rusk for the first time today! He wasn't sure at first but got the hang of it eventually...I was thinking that perhaps by giving him a rusk it might get him used to having tastes/textures in his mouth which might help with the solids...we'll have to see! DH is on orders to buy that Rafferty's Garden stuff tonight :)

Willow - Yes, with the feeding with other ppl around, I even get the comments "I think he's had enough now"...ermmm...I'm his mum and I know when he's had enough! Grrr...gets my knickers in a knot, that does. I actually gave Michael a bit of raw carrot yesterday, he had a good suck on it and quite liked it (he even cried when I took it away!), but he started 'grating' bits off with his teeth and I was scared he was going to choke so had to take it off him. How is Harry going with his feeding lately? Still very often?

Suz - Yeah, his tongue kind of was pushing it back out. I just dont' think he's ready yet, which surprises me since he has such a big appetite! Yes, thats what I think. I was excrutiatingly shy when I was little, and I think more socialising early on might have helped with that - so hopefully childcare will help in that regard.

BS - Ohhh..is that the Closer to Nature range you use? Thats v popular in my Mothers Group, but when I tried using them I got heaps of leaks...dunno if it was me doing something wrong maybe. Michael's eczema is like dry red patches. The worst area is all over his back. He also has a patch on one elbow and some on his cheeks. My CHN told me apparently babies don't get eczema in the area's that children get them (ie, in creases), that they can get them anywhere. Thanks for the tips re what to look for in Child Care Centres...I did notice they all wore gloves when changing nappies/wiping noses, etc. So thats good. Sounds like everything is goign well with work/childcare for you, thats great! Poor little Eva, I hope she is over her diarrhoea , poor little munchkin.

Tilda - we miss you too! I hope you're all settled in & Matilda is going well.

Hannah - Sorry to hear you're back to very little sleep... I hope it passes soon for you :crossfingers: Glad your mum is feeling a bit better, sorry she went through a bit of a rough patch. Its awful when they have a reaction and the doctors dont' know whats causing it, we've had that a few times with DH mum. At least they know and they've got it sorted. I agree with Willow, your DH could have at least asked if you needed anything before walking out, i would have felt hurt too.

Kawazuki - Ooh, you're doing what I want to do! I awnt to sew all that sort of stuff too! So far I"ve managed 4 measley blankets (which is just hemming a big piece of fabric, so no big achievement!), I wanna make some bibs and a floor blanket next :) Finding it really hard to find decent boys pattern polycotton, grrr!

I hope I got to everyone! Hello to everyone else!

AFM - really starting to feel this cold taking over now, sore throat, sneezing, runny nose. I'd forgotten what its like to have a cold, I think its been at least 2 years since I've had one! Maybe even 3! Michael is going ok, he's happy as Larry during the day, usual self. But its just when he tries to sleep and he can't breathe properly thats when it bothers him. Honest to God, I was ready to throw that stupid aspirator across the room...how the hell are you meant to use one of those, its definitely a 2 person job and even then you can't stop him from moving, all the while he is absolutely screaming the same way he screams when he gets his needles. I was crying when I was trying to do it...just horrible and I'm not doing it again. My poor little darling :(

So yeah, just been stuck home mainly this week...been on a walk most days at least, I think I'd go mad if I had to stay inside all day.

Oh, I think Michael is starting with a bit of separation anxiety...he has a bit of a cry if I walk away now, that never used to bother him.

Ok, better go. Hope everyone has a lovely night xx

:

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Hello all!

Just a quick one...

Has anyone used a nasal aspirator on their baby? I've tried 3 times and each time it is an absolute nightmare...he screams his head off and writhes around so much that it keeps getting rammed up his nose (which obviously hurts), so really its not working and I"m not getting anything out. I can't believe they invented something like this which is just impossible to use!!!

:(

Will try adn get back on later for persies...

---

I use an electric one and Eva does not like it but it sucks everything out in 5 seconds on each side, so it is effective, and my good friend uses one where she sucks into a tube and it suctions the nose and says it is great - We both have tried the little ball shaped ones but agree they SUCK (but not literally :ROFL:) and don't egt anything out of there. Eva hated it too (remember she got really blocked up before we left for NYC?) so what I did was I would show it to her and talk her through it and she would generally let me get it in there then start complaining during the end of the suction - I am assuming that having an electric pump suctioning in your nostril can't be pleasant especially when the other side is all blocked up. My friend uses that tube one and it is slightly more gentle than the electric, but takes a few extra tries, and her daughter does not complain at all...So maybe try that type first (it is also a LOT cheaper)...I had her daughter sleep over last weekend and I suctioned her nose with the electric one and she was slightly more fussy than when her mother does it, but I am not sure if it was the pump that bothered her or the fact that I am not her mother...

In Europe they also encourage rinsing the nose with physiological serum - I hate doing this - but you put the baby on his side then squirt a tube of this liquid (it is like saline solution) up the nose and everything runs out of the other nostril - Eva sxreams bloody murder when I do this but it liquifies everything and clears out her nose then I suction right after and everything comes out easily. Get rid of that bulb - they suck. Get one where you suck into a tube or get an electric - it was save you a lot of stress and lots of trauma for Michael.

I do use closer to nature, the nipples are particular and you have to make sure they click into place, they are soft and resemble a breast so I started those - I did try avent and beaba bottle a few times and they gave her awful gas so I stopped.

Good luck - I know that sucks.

I really don't have time for anything else - but I am reading!

Eva has gastro! She was crying in her bed last night at midnight and I found her laying in a pool of her own vomit :cry: - I freaked out. DH walked in right when I was cleaning her up and he saw the state I was in and changed all her sheets, helped me with her pajamas etc....then we put her back to bed and she started vomiting violently again, so DH held her head while she finished and I almost died :( Needless to say she was exhausted afterwards so DH changed her sheets again and put her to bed, while I cleaned up the mess...I stayed awake until 1:30 stressed and checking up on her every ten minutes... and she was up at 5 for food, massive diahrrea, had to wak DH who also got in late the night before, we had to bathe her again, change everything, all the sheets, clothes, I had to run a load and air out her room since it smelled so bad, and we put her back down to sleep in our bed...DH slept in with her and was late to work, and I spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry, again. I am wiped out. Going to the doctor in an hour so I have to try to get some work done, since my return to work has obviously not been very productive what with me running bet house and office!

Alison, hope you feel better!

Be back on tom with more posts - sorry to the rest of you I did not respond to but I would like to take the time to do so properly tom

xoxo

Thanks Willow - I might go look for one tomorrow, probably a good investment really.

Hey Beany - yay with the rusks, Amelia likes the Raffertys Garden ones - it has banana in it hee hee. She wasn't as interested in her pumpkin at lunch yesterday but today she completely woofed it down. Maybe they don't feel like eating as much some days, who knows. Trial and error, but if he is pushing it back with his tongue he's not ready. Amelia was really staring and almost whinging at us when we were eating and trying to grab our forks and cups.....I wasn't going to try until 6 months but I figured 5.5 months is close enough. Good thing is she's been fine with the rusks which have wheat in them so looking good for not having my wheat intolerance so far, woo hoo! Not that I expected her to as it's not an allergy but the fact I obviously didn't eat it while pregnant meant her body hasn't been exposed at all so they nurses weren't sure what would happen. It's a relief though, I hate having it myself let alone a baby being in the same boat. Do you sew as well? You're so clever, I've been trying to think of something I could do from home to justify not going back to work (lol) but I can't sew for crap, I'm too impatient for stuff like that. My mums group friends reckon I should start a business in finding bargains for people as I'm always getting bargains via Ebay or online.......I'm the "go to" girl when they want something ha ha. How sad is that! Thanks for the tip on the Fess stuff, will avoid it then, Amelia sounds snotty too so she either has a bit of what I have or is getting it. I pray she doesn't get what I have as bad though. I've almost lost my voice tonight and my throat while not sore is very dry and feels thick kind of, if that makes sense - it's very raspy and my ears feel a bit blocked. It's all the sinuses though I think, sux huh, hope you feel better soon.

Anyway, best go, hope everyone has a lovely night also and will talk some more tomorrow.

xx

Hi girls!

Sorry I haven't been here for a few days - way behind on the thread, so sorry for not too many personal replies.

Alison - I second the use of a neti pot. I use one every day and find that it helps amazingly with not getting too many colds. It's kind of gross doing it while you're congested, but it feels so good afterwards.

I can't remember who was asking about baby led weaning books. I've only read one, which is considered to be the "bible" - Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley. I haven't actually started BLW properly yet with Liam, but will be doing so soon.

Liam's actually doing really well with solids - he's eager for them and manages to eat quite a bit of his rice cereal. I've been giving him the Rafferty's Garden stuff as well. Have some Farex, but haven't tried that yet, since I really prefer to give him as much organic food as possible. I tried him on avocado this week, but I don't think he liked it much! I'm following the guidelines of only introducing single foods every four days just to make sure that he doesn't have any reactions. I am doing some purees to begin with, and will start him on finger foods soon.

Since we started the solids and increased his reflux meds, he's been doing a lot better. He's still waking 2-3 times at night, but it's only to feed each time and he goes back to sleep well. He's even been napping a bit better - have managed hour-long naps the last two afternoons, which is awesome. I hope it continues. He's definitely been in a growth spurt, too - he gained 500g in a week! He's growing out of a bunch of his nappies and clothes.

Hello ladies!

BS - they do 'suck' don't they, those stupid bulb things. I won't be using mine again. Thanks for the suggestion re electronic sucker thing...I'll keep my eye out for one, they sound good. You're so good showing Eva what you're doing and everything..I feel bad now, I just grabbed the thing and shoved it up his nose...no wonder he was so upset :( I love those tommee tippee bottles - bit late for me to change now tho, spent a fortune on my avent collection! :rolleyes: Oh my goodness...I'm so sorry to hear Eva has gastro! Poor little darling! Is there anything you can do to help her?

Alison - Oooh, must look out for those rafferty's garden rusks, I don't remember seeing them last time, must look harder! I tried Michael with the Rafferty's garden rice cereal this morning...bingo!! While he didn't eat that much, he did swallow some so I'm hailing it a success! Thanks for the tip there :) I noticed that was about 99% rice, where as Farex was only 96%...wierd. Thats great Amelia loves her food! Cant wait for Michael to be like that too! Well, I don't 'sew' as such, I've just started. But I want to be able to sew, so I'm just starting on easyh things like blankets. Next up is a bib I think. I hope you feel better soon...these colds really are pesky.

Rose - Sounds like Liam is going great guns! 500g in a week! Phwoar! Are you feeling like you're getting more sleep too?

AFM - just bought a vaporiser, its plugged in now so I'll see what its like. Hopefully that will help my little munchkin to sleep.

Oh, forgot to ask....

Those of you feeding solids...when do you do it? Like, I know lunchtime is a good time, but do you do it before/after a feed? Or in between feeds?

Thanks! :)

Hi girls,

Hi Kawazuki I won't hold it against you for saying you have a good sleeper...even if I wanted to I wouldn't have the energy while we're doing 2 hourly feeds at night still:lol:
I wish I was clever like you too with the sewing, I'm going to buy a sewing machine and see how I go, I've never sewn before but am determined to learn! Any tips on what brand/model machines are good? Actually any idea too on machines to stay away from? I figure at least I can manage a few blankets at least and then be able to take up my own pants, being 5"2 it's a nightmare getting anything to fit and I hate either having to pay someone or ask a friend to do it for me.

BS Poor Eva:hug: gastro is the worst!! I hope it doesn't hang around too long and hope you and DH don't get it!

Beany Doesn't that drive you mad when people say things like that!!! Grrrrr!!! I love how other people think they know your baby better than you!!!
YAY with the blankets:clap::dance: I'm going to give in and get myself a machine soon and I'll be having a go too, that will be interesting:o
I hope Michael's feeling better soon and hope you have more success with the snot sucking:lol:
Harry was the same with the raw carrot, seemed to like the taste, but he doesn't have any teeth yet so no chance of him grating any off, I would've taken it off him too.

omg again Harry's BB radar awake again!:lol:

Hi Beany - I know people who do it differently to each other but I always feed Amelia her bottle first, I was told this is more important then their solids initially because they only have a small amount of solids until they get used to it. I give Amelia her first bottle at 7.00 am and then her rice cereal after that, usually 30 mins later by the time she feeds and I get it ready. Then at 11.00 am she has her next bottle and then I give it half an hour and give her pumpkin at 12.00 pm. Then her next two feeds are just milk. I don't give her 3 meals yet and I don't give her solids at dinner time because I don't want her to go to bed for the night on a full stomach - I've read this is best to avoid until their digestive system is used to it. Anyway, I know people doing it differently so I guess it's up to you but that's how I do it! Hope that helps. xx

Hi Girls!

Beany - I had the bulb-type snot sucker (aspirator) but I didn't think it was the Fess one. It did come with saline. I got a cold just before I had Craig, then he caught it off me at birth. We got a lot of practice putting in the saline drops and then sucking out the snot. The trick was to squeeze the sucker first, then insert it up his nose and let the bulb expand again. If the snot was all dried I would use a wet face cloth to try to soften up the crusty bits. I bought a vapouriser from the local chemist and would run it constantly when he was sick. The Vics Baby Balsalm is good too, so is a bath with eucalyptus oil or Vics added. Hope Michael's feeling better soon.

Maybe hold off for a week with the solids if he's pushing most of the food back out with his tongue? It could be a sign that he's not ready. But if you think he's getting some of it down, then maybe keep trying 'cause eventually he'll start to swallow it.

Willow - I have a Brother and it's been pretty reliable. Janome's are pretty good too. The only brands of sewing machine I'd be dubious about would be the real cheap ones at Spotlight, but maybe they'd be a good starter machine if you're not sure that you'll use it and don't want to spend lots of money. Another option worth thinking about if you want to do simple stuff like blankets and nappy covers is an overlocker. Is Harry feeding more than usual? Seems like the first 2 things that indicate a WW are feeding more frequently and change to sleep patterns.

Rose - Wow, 500g! That's good growth. Craig never liked avocado on it's own at first, but later on when you can mix 2 things together I think Baby Love suggested avocado mashed with banana and he loved that! Sounds weird, but he loved it and it was easy because no cooking involved. That's great that he's sleeping better, fingers crossed for you that he drops some of those night feeds soon.

BS - Hope Eva's gastro has cleared up! I'm so glad she survived daycare (and you survived sending her). Unfortunately I know of several bubs that got sick after their 1st week in childcare. Vomiting is so scary isn't it? Freaked me out the first time I saw Craig do a proper projectile hurl.

Alison - Yay Amelia for the rolling! Hope you feel better soon. I didn't get sick during pregnancy either and hated being sick when Craig was born. We had a few days curled up bed together watching TV. Touch wood, haven't been sick yet since Ryan was born.

Hannah - Great to hear from you! Hope the new meds are working for your Mum. Sorry your Mother's Day was a downer. Also sorry your DH was unsupportive and went off to sleep in the spare room. When you last posted he was being really helpful. I know my DH if he was in a bad mood would have done the same. I'm sure Amelia will be through this WW and sleeping again before you start work :crossfingers:

Tilda - Hope to see more of you soon when you're settled and have internet access set up. Lovely to hear from you, hope the move went well. Has Matilda been sick too? I can't remember what I've read about who on Facebook these days.

Kawazuki - Good to see you pop in again! Are you finished up work now and a SAHM? Can't read back far enough on the advanced reply to see. Hope you have time now to get the sewing machine cranking.


For anyone that's interested, here's a link to the booklet that ACT Health gave out to the New Parenting classes I attended with Craig: ACT Health - From Milk to More This version is later than the one I had. It has lots of tips about when to start and how. We started Craig at lunchtime, at least an hour after a BF.

Craig never liked the Farex, but happily ate Rafferty's, so I've bought Rafferty's for Ryan. He's busy grabbing at everything when I'm eating. In fact, if I'm eating and I don't offer him some he actually starts to cry! He eats the Rafferty's rusks (with the banana), wholemeal toast with a tiny bit of vegemite, pieces of banana and watermelon. I have thing like a netted bag with a handle on it that you can put the food in and they can suck and chew away without choking on any big bits that might break off. Craig hated it but Ryan loves it.

My 12 Week Challenge is going well so far. One month down and over 5kg lost. I bought new jeans a size smaller and they're already getting big. Tomorrow I'm off to train with my Mother's Group and their personal trainer. I'd better get off to bed so I can get up and out in time!

Hi Suz - can I just say you are doing so well in this 12 week challenge, I keep hitting hurdles which are just bad excuses really - I've not done much exercise this week because I'm full of a head cold but that shouldn't give me reason to eat chocolate every night should it! Grrrr. And to top it all off today AF arrived so no wonder I've been craving chocolate........so my weigh in is going to suck big time - no chance of losing any, I always weigh more with AF let alone not exercising much on top of it, have only been for 2 walks this week. I've been so cranky pants today, DH ordered pizza for tea and was meant to get me a gluten free one of course but then he came home and I opened it and it wasn't gluten free. I got so angry at him for not checking it.....cracked the poops and had vegemite on toast for tea. He did offer to take it back but I was too annoyed ha ha - PMT much! I went into the other room and did some scrapbooking instead.....figured it would stop me from biting his head off about something else ridiculous. Funny thing is, now I'm kind of glad because it means I didn't eat something else fattening and naughty! Meant to be perhaps......

Well, off to bed for me, if I can shake this cold I reckon I'd get a decent night's sleep, Amelia has been fussing a bit the past couple of nights, I think she has a bit of my cold as her nose sounds a bit snuffly. I actually bought some of that Baby Balsam and put it on her before bed tonight so hopefully that will help. My Little Noses Fess aspirator is easy to squeeze, although I haven't tried it - maybe you got a dud Beany? I haven't used the Fess on Amelia yet, she doesn't seem too bad so I'll leave it until I think she needs it, truth be known I'm not keen to shove it up her nose, I hate spraying it up mine and she was watching me today use the big persons Fess with a look on her face like, what the hell are you doing mum ha ha. Oh and just to finish off I love how DH gets up to Amelia at night when needed while I have a cold - not. LOL. I'm on fire tonight girls! xx

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Hi Kawazuki I won't hold it against you for saying you have a good sleeper...even if I wanted to I wouldn't have the energy while we're doing 2 hourly feeds at night still:lol:
I wish I was clever like you too with the sewing, I'm going to buy a sewing machine and see how I go, I've never sewn before but am determined to learn! Any tips on what brand/model machines are good? Actually any idea too on machines to stay away from? I figure at least I can manage a few blankets at least and then be able to take up my own pants, being 5"2 it's a nightmare getting anything to fit and I hate either having to pay someone or ask a friend to do it for me.

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i love brother sewing machines.. i have a middle of the range one with automatic button hole. only has 16 stitches, but its all i need dont need fancy ones.
it does everything i need it to sews through 3 layers of bamboo easily and dosen't blink at fulffy tuff either..

good luck with it you will be addicted once you start

Hi girls, just quickly we're off to soccer...

Hi Kawa thanks for the info re sewing machines, that was a good tip with the bamboo and fluffy tough too, one other thing I thought I could manage was some pre folds, we like them but the sizes you can buy seem too big or too small...for chubby, chubby legs anyway! Might give some a go might be ok for us to use at home at least, and I'm guessing your machine wouldn't have dramas with denim either then?

Hi Suzi 5kgs! Well done!:dance::dance: Thanks also for machine advice, I am considering an overlocker too, they're good for like taking up jeans, yes? Maybe??? As you can tell I really have no idea:ROFL: Are they very expensive? ...overlockers, not jeans LOL
Harry's night feeds have been more frequent a few more nights of hourly. which is taking it's toll! So yep I'm thinking WW

Hi Rose Hope all's well with you, thanks for the info re BL weaning book I'm on the hunt for a copy now. ...And go Liam 500g! What size Ittis has he grown out of? Are they not doing up or leaking? I've been getting leaks and I'm trying to work out if it's a washing issue, a bigger weeing volume issue or if maybe he needs a bigger size. I'm hoping I just need to get some more boosters much as I love buying nappies, the budget is tight and I thought the ones we had would do a fair while yet.

Better go and get organised for soccer, see you all later:hello:

Hi Girls,

Hope you all had lovely weekends.

Hi Beany - how's Michael's cold? I have the same issue now (see below)!

A very quick one from me, Amelia now has my cold, yukky nose - was up with her at 3.00 am for an hour, she was so upset and sounded like she was struggling to breathe through her nose. Used Fess and baby balsam and it helped. Also took me over an hour to get her to settle for her morning nap, just when I had it down pat!!!!! Now she's rolling from tummy to back as well she rolls all over the cot when I put her down so takes her twice as long to settle. Any suggestions on that? I'm going to buy a humidifier today, hope that helps her sleep better, honestly, gastro and now a cold, she can't take a trick poor petal!

xx

Hi Alison Harry's joining in with the colds now too:cry: he was up at 3 as well all snotty and hard to breathe. I got him back to sleep upright on me. We got a new vaporiser this morning too.
Poor Amelia that's really not fair right after the gastro!
The swing was great for his sleep this morning, I could put it on the upright setting so he pretty much slept sitting up but all comfy in the swing so that helped his nose a bit.

Beany Hows Michael going? Any luck with the snot sucking yet? Might have to give it a go myself:o not looking forward to that.

It's amazing how it all came straight back to me when he woke up at 3am that horrible helpless, freak out feeling you get with a sick baby:cry: YUCK!
Here's hoping they all get better really soon!

Hope everyone else is well:hello:

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Hi Kawa thanks for the info re sewing machines, that was a good tip with the bamboo and fluffy tough too, one other thing I thought I could manage was some pre folds, we like them but the sizes you can buy seem too big or too small...for chubby, chubby legs anyway! Might give some a go might be ok for us to use at home at least, and I'm guessing your machine wouldn't have dramas with denim either then?

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havent tried denim, but have givven it a good go with some cord ;) it worked fine
as long as you use teh correct needles it wont eb an issue.

sorry i havent been on much, to busy sewing up a storm.
got a market on saturday which is one of teh bigger ones in teh southern highlands.. very excited.

i am finding the way im making my napies tehy are alsting Maree 5-7 hours at a go :) less nappy changes fdor me :D:D:D
and they are fitting her chubby thighs an issue i am having with a few nappies i have bought.

Hi Kawa Thanks for that.
Sounds like you're making some great nappies there!:D Good luck at the markets on Saturday:goodluck:

Hi girls :)

All the poor bubs with their colds! Hope they're all feeling better - it's horrible when you can hear them struggling to breathe through the congestion, isn't it?

willow - Liam grew out of his small ittis a while back, has been in mediums for a good while now. He's just grown out of the size smalls in Baby Beehinds. With both, he outgrew the rise (being long and lean) while everything else still fit him - we discovered this the hard way, since he kept weeing out of the top of his nappy.

AFM - Still going along and just trying to stay sane while being sleep deprived. Liam's sleep has gotten better than it was recently - he's now getting at least one 4-hour block of sleep a night, which is good. Though he's been up at 6am the last three days *yawn*. I'm really hoping that we can go back to only one or two wakings at night again soon. I think we'll try moving him into his own room soon and see how he goes. Hopefully he won't be up all night, since his room is on the other side of the house.

Hello ladies!

Willow - Oh no, sorry to hear little Harry has a cold too! Gosh, everyone is sick! :( Michael has been much the same for the past few days, very blocked, not much snot coming out tho. I actually had a mildly successful attempt at snot-sucking before, I managed to distract him by sitting him up in front of this musical toy thing, so I could quickly zip in and spray and suck a little bit. Hopefully it helped.

Alison - Oh poor little Amelia too...but, I guess looking at the positives, she's really building up her immune system! Another tip that might be worth doing, I put a rolled up towel under the head of the mattress, to try and keep him inclined during his sleep. Not sure if its made much of a difference, and he seems to move around a lot more - ended up with his feet at the top of the bed and head at the bottom yesterday! Um...what else do I do? Yeah, baby balsam on his chest and dab a bit on his clothes (soemwhere that he can't get into his mouth). I have the Vicks Warm Steam Vaporiser and put the vicks oil stuff in it so it gives off a eucalyptus-type smell. Thats really helped during the night, he even slept all night without a peep last night! But yeah, its horrible when its night time and they're crying and there really isn't a lot you can do to make them feel better :( Michael is the same with his naps too...takes up to 45 mins for him to go off. I'm hoping its just the cold. He was really good right before he got sick, doh! I don't have any suggestions tho, nothing I do seems to help with that :(

Suz - Thanks for those tips, I really dont' know what I'm doing wrong with the aspirator. He just moves so much when I try and do it that it pokes up his nose and hurts him :( Ooh, so what kind of things do you put in that little net bag thing? wE have one too, but I haven't used it yet. Thanks v much for that link too!

Rose - I'm glad Liam's sleep is slowly improving. Is he waking for feeds during the night, or waking and thinking its play time? Michael often wakes around 3am and thinks its morning and starts messing around, but *touch wood* he usually goes off again after an hour or so. How is he going with his solids?

Hello to everyone else!

AFM - not much to report...Michael still has his cold, its been a week now :( I wish I could just get all that snot out for him, apart from the blocked nose he seems fine. I've had it and am now over it, it was very mild, just a blocked nose and a bit of an irritated throat. But DH now has it too...and with his mum being sick none of us can see her so she hasn't seen Michael for over a week and prolly wont' till at least the weekend.

Tried rice cereal again, but with no luck...that time he swallowed some must have been a one-off. Not sure if I should be worried since he will be 6 months on Saturday and showing no signs of wanting solids :(

Thats about it really! I hope all the sick bubbas get well really really quickly :crossfingers:

Hi Beany Don't worry too much about solids while he's still feeling crap he's probably not going to be too keen on eating, when he feels better he might want more, or maybe he just doesn't like the cereal? Neither of my boys would eat it when they were babies I put them onto oats/porridge..although I don't know what the protocol is on that these days, but I would've thought oats are a so called super food so might be ok??

Hi Rose We don't have the long lean problem, we have the short chunky problem:p, Harry's been in medium Ittis since he was about 2months old due to his chubbiness:p they still fit him but the leaks are round the legs, we have a couple of large which we use too, they last a bit longer before leaking but still seem to leak round the legs, so I'm a bit puzzled. We use BBH at night I stuff them with an Ishfly pre fold and 1 or 2 of the BBH boosters, the long oblongy/oval ones that come with each one, and they were working well until the last 10 days or so too now they're starting to leak, same place at the leg and up the side so maybe he's just weeing more, I might get some more Itti boosters and see how they go.
Hope you get some decent sleep soon, I know that creeping feeling of insanity, but it does get better!

Hi girls,

Alison and Beany The vaporiser seemed to really help my little snuffalufugus last night, Alison said on FB hers helped too, BUT, I've always used one since DS1&2 were babies and never have I had to wipe down the walls and ceiling in the morning!:o We bought a new one yesterday because I couldn't find the old one in all the chaos with the extension, we got the Vicks one, same as you Beany and omg the ceiling and walls were dripping and the carpet was damp!! Did you guys have this problem? Harry's having a sleep now with it on, I dried everything and opened the window to air it out before he went down, now I've left the window open a crack to see if that helps. It was a warm night here last night, well when I say warm I mean it was 6ºC instead of 0ºC or -1ºC and it rained so maybe that made everything even more humid.

How are Amelia and Michael today?

Harry has a flemmy cough today, not sure if it's his chest or just all the crap from his nose in his throat, I guess time will tell.

BS I hope Eva is better?? You've been a bit quiet hope it's all good!

Hope everyone else is going ok, I best go and see if I can do a few things while Harry's asleep, never know how long I'll get, catch up later:D

Hi Willow - oh wow, no my walls and carpets are fine so far.........do you have a small room? Our rooms are quite a decent size so maybe that helps. I had another bad night, Amelia woke at 4am crying inconsolably so I had to pick her up and cuddle her back to sleep, took me half an hour but then I couldn't get back to sleep and she woke again at 6.30 am - I feel knackered today. See my note below!!!! I hope Harry is feeling better soon, this one looks like it's going to linger - my friend's baby has the yukky cough too (so far Amelia has avoided that part) and she's been sick for 3 weeks, the doctor told her it's best to let them fight it themselves so as to build up immunity - also, he told her that they can have a cold for up to 10 weeks and it's normal for a baby to have up to 10 colds in the first 12 months! Interestingly as well apparently it also helps to fight things like leukemia so having a cold sounds like not such a bad thing after all! Weird huh.

I have a question........does anyone have a fussy baby at the moment? I'm not sure if it's a Wonder Week, Amelia's cold or teething or all 3 but Amelia has been waking at night more than usual, last night I had to pick her up and cuddle her back to sleep as she was so upset - normally if she cries it's a little whinge in her sleep but she was actually awake. Also, I'm finding since I started solids last week she's not finishing her milk and actually feeding is a nightmare, she keeps stopping and not wanting it, then wanting it.....is that due to her nose being blocked perhaps or is it an age thing...or anything else? It's actually driving me nuts, I'm lucky if I can get her to drink 3/4 of the amount and that's if I kind of perservere/force her to have that much. The only other thing I'm wondering is if the solids are filling her up so she doesn't want it? The morning bottle gets finished no problems, it's just the rest of the day. Any suggestions/advice would be very much appreciated! Also, has anyone's bubs had their 6 month needles yet? Amelia is having hers next Monday, I'm wondering if they'll still do it if she's had a bit of a cold......I'm dreading it, she is so aware of whats going on now it's going to break my heart if she cries.

Hello!

Alison - Michael is the same at night. He's been like that for a while (except for the fluke night the other night I mentioned when he slept right through). Thsi morning for example he was up at 3.30am and then waking every 40 mins or so after that. He has also woken as early as 10pm, 11pm crying. I'm putting it down to his cold, but then I guess actually it could be the WW, I'd forgotten about that! So far his feeds have been fine, apart from stopping to breathe through his mouth, he's fine. But he went through a major fussy feeding period during the last WW if you remember, sounds like Amelia is almost exactly the same as that. I actually rang Health Direct this morning since Michael doesn't seem to be getting any better, she asked a few questions and said he sounds ok and not to worry about seeing a doc, that baby colds can last between 10-14 days, he's on about day 9 atm, so they said to give him anothe couple of days and if he's no better to call back. Thats such a great service. Our needles are on 11th June :( Good luck with yours :crossfingers:

Willow - Hmm, we dont' get condensation on our walls, but on the window yes, and I think the carpet does feel slightly damp too. I think I read somewhere in the instructions that condensation may build up and to wipedown & air out the room regularly. So I think it must be normal. Michael is much the same, thanks for asking. He's just really blocked...no coughing really, thank goodness. He just has trouble breathing through his nose which affects sucking his dummy and bottle. How is Harry going? Yeah, I think I'll leave the solids till he's a bit better. I can imagine he can't taste much and swallow properly anyway with a blocked nose!

AFM - not much to report. OH! Excpet I'm going into work on Monday to sort out whats going to happen when I go back. Waaaaah! I dont' want to!! :(

Oh, I've been meaning to ask this. Its such a dumb question...we used to always bath Michael in the baby bath on the kitchen bench. But now he's making such a mess with splashing that we've now started bathing him in the baby bath, inside the big bath in the bathroom. But, I think I got so used to our routine the other way, that I'm finding it hard to know what to do with this new way of bathing him (not that its much different really, just in a different room). Like...how do you keep the baby warm? Atm we're bathing him (with a small heater in the bathroom), then wrapping him in a towel and carrying him through to his change table to dry him off and dress him. Is that what everyone else does?

Also, speaking of change tables...ours says should only be used for a max of 9kg...which he will be over by now for sure. What the heck are you meant to do when they get too big for the change table? it baffles me!

Mmm...making chicken cacciattore in the slow cooker today...this is my 4th attemp at making something in the slow cooker. Not sure if I like it. I'm finding that everything is just too....flavoury. Like, too strong for me. Anyway, we'll see how this one turns out.

How is everyone going?

HI girls,,

Alison Harry's room is small so that could be it.
Harry did all what you're saying in the last WW like Michael, it was a nightmare. But it could be her cold or the solids too, hard to tell when there's so much going on. I guess maybe you could ease off with the solids to see if that helps with the milk, she probly needs more fluids with the cold than the solids anyway.
As for the needles they would never do them for DS1&2 if they weren't 100% even a bit of a cold, it can overload their little system with things to fight and more likely to have adverse reaction, or have the original illness drag on and get worse I guess.

I like the sound of your friends doctor, sounds like good advice. Too many doctors are quick to give antibiotics these days when they're not really necessary then you've got a whole lot of other troubles. I just read the other day about how many colds babies will get in the first 2 years poor little things, but if it builds their systems and is even good for fighting stuff like leukaemia then the body's doing it job then. It's just horrible seeing the poor little bubbas sick:cry:

BeanyWe bath Harry in the bathroom in a baby bath on a stand, like a bassinet stand, so he's right under the tastic and we have both heat lights on and keep the door shut to keep it warm, those tastics throw out some heat! We wrap him in the towel too and carry him out to get dressed. I stopped using the change table a while ago because I'm too short:rolleyes: they're just the wrong height for me and it's hard to reach, and I get kicked in the boobs all the time :lol:, so I have a spare change mat, a big thick one same as on the change table that I put on the dining table now which is a better height for me, so you could try that or up on your kitchen bench maybe.
Harry's still congested and coughing but the humidifier really helps, even with the water damage :lol: Today he slept for 3 hours but wouldn't let me put him down so I had to sit in the chair with him, but it's when you sleep that you heal so hope he got some good healing done!
Chicken sounds yummy, I love slow cooker stuff! Good luck with sorting out work:cry::goodluck:

Hope every one else is going ok!:hello: gotta go cranky pants is calling :D

Hey girls, I'll try to respond to everyone but my brain is a bit fried between work and the second "first week" at daycare...Eva has to get used to it all over again, just when she started getting the hang of it...this morning was just awful - I passed her over to the girl who is responsible for her and she looked at me and started crying this sad awful cry...My heart broke in a hundred pieces. The girl said ok, now say goodbye to mommy so I kissed her and left - I wanted to grab her and run out with her but I know it won't help things, so I left and am going to have a mopey day - I am going to call in to check in later and see if she is ok. She got happy to be there last week but only went for two days then got sick and stayed home with me for the week and the weekend and we had monday off and it was warm so we spent so much time walking about, hanging out just the three of us and she had plenty nude and very lightly dressed time which she just loves...Then today the rain is back (so are the coats and sweaters), and I had to bring her back to daycare...Yesterday when I picked her up she looked so sullen and sad. She didn't even smile at me when I came to get her :( Once we were home though she was all over me and hugging me and wanting me with her. She was so exhausted, and fell asleep at 7 and slept through until 6...I feel so bad...God, please let this get better. On top of that my desk at work looks like a warzone and I have a pile of stuff to go through that is my height...Whatever, this is part of the daycare thing, right? :(

Beany, don't stress for the solids, Eva is still not taking anything, and hates it. But...if I am eating, she likes to take my cups and food out of my hand...I am starting to wonder if the spoon is not the problem. I was looking up some info on the issue this WE because I am worried about it too (she has been taking a lot more milk as well - this weekend 6 bottles a day instead of 4!!! I am not sure if it is because of the sickness so maybe she needed to refill, but I have a feeling she needs more...) - I found some mothers who said their kids just didn't like mushy foods, some said it is the spoons they don't like, one said she just puts little mushy bits on the bumbo tray for her baby and puts the bumbo on the dining room table, and the baby eat, but only on his own...so I have been eating a banana with Eva on my lap, and she does reach out for it and put it in her mouth....so I need to figure out a way to get her to feed herself. I might just go out and buy a bumbo now to try to put her on the table.

Alison, Eva has also been unsettled - I reckon it is teeth...She has been pouring out drool, but like triple the usual amount (you can see it in all her FB pictures!)....But her night sleeps have actualmly been less interuppted, it is during the day that she seems unsettled, and wants to be moved around and entertained constantly - by evening she is so wiped out she falls asleep and doesn't make a sound until 5 am then dummy then sleep until 6. But with daycare and all that, let's see how it goes - I think it is a pretty charged week for her since she was sick and is not going back to daycare...For the moving, My friend has the same problem with her baby and she puts the maternity pillow around the baby - on the bottom half of the body and it keeps her in place...Eva is still a belly sleeper, so she does not budge at night, so I don't have any other ideas about that. I hope she gets better very soon.

Willow, and beany - same to you guys. Sick babies are the worst...we just want them to be happy so it is awful when there is nothing to "fix" the problem.

Suz, thanks for that link - I downloaded it and will read it this WE once I have gotten through some work! And yay for the 5kg!!! :)

Hi to everyone else...!!! I have to get to work since I get out early now and can't stay in the office until ten if I am not being efficient! My whole body hurts...the training is up about 5 notches now...I am in pain!!!!!!!! But my ass should be looking better soon! :ROFL:

xoxo to you all and big hugs to the bubs

Hi girls :)

Apologies if any of this is muddled - I'm pretty sleep deprived today.

BS - I recommend reading the baby-led weaning book I recommended a while back in the thread. There's lots of tips for how to offer food to babies in it. You're right - some babies don't like purees or mushy food at all. But at this stage, it doesn't really matter, anyway - heaps of kids don't really start eating solids properly until they're 8 months or so. Right now it's just exposing them to tastes.

beany - We've always bathed Liam in his baby bath set in our big "bath" (which is the bottom of a roman bath thing). He gets transferred from the bath to his towel spread out on the floor (with an extra towel under for comfort) and wrapped up straight away. We do all of the dressing on the floor there as well since we have a heat lamp in the bathroom to keep him warm.

Alison - Liam's being fussy again (hence my tiredness) - he was awake every hour again last night. Sometimes he just wakes up and chats and wants to play (which takes ages to get him back to sleep) and sometimes he's hungry. I think part of it with him is him being generally overtired, too, and he can't settle well. His guts have been a bit upset with the introduction of solids, too - he's been extra windy, which I think is causing some of the issues.

AFM - Yeah, just trying to survive. Working on trying to get Liam to nap more during the day, which isn't working so well. His night-time sleep was improving, but it's gotten bad again. It's starting to drive me a bit crazy, to be honest.

Solids are still going pretty well with him - he's polishing off two serves of rice cereal a day now and still bfing a tonne, too. He ate some mashed banana for the first time today, as well. I've offered him other foods (sweet potato and avocado so far) but he's been less than impressed with them. He's growing like a weed, though - has grown out of a bunch of his clothes and is moving pretty solidly into 0s now.

I guess winter is well and truly on its way. I hope all the sick bubbas get well soon.

suz - Thanks for that link...will check it out when I get a chance. Woohoo on losing 5kgs so far.

willow - I've been having leaking issues with my BBH multifits. I've done a couple of stripwashes, but am still having issues. I think it's because Amelia is between settings at the moment. The smallest is too small, but the next one is a little too big still and we get gapes around her legs. I'm so glad I bought some itti bittis as well. I only bought a few to use under smaller clothing, but got some extra inserts so they are getting a fair workout now.

Alison - Glad the vaporiser helped. I hope she gets over it quickly. I'd say they'd put off her next lot of injections. You don't want to overload her immune system. As for her not finishing her bottles, it could be the solids. I think its normal for FFed babies to reduce the amount of formula they take when the start solids as formula is quite filling. And Amelia has been fussy for the last 3 weeks (starting right time at 22.5 weeks). I think she's also having her 6 month growth spurt. Saturday night she was feeding hourly from midnight until 6am!

kawazuki - 5-7 hours in a nappy. Wow! I hope the markets go well for you on Saturday.

Rose - Sorry that Liam's sleeping poorly again. At least you know that he CAN do it when all is well (ie no teething, wonder weeks or illness). Remember, you are doing a fantastic job. Thanks for the info on the BLW book. I've ordered it through the ABA as well as their own booklet.

beany - I wouldn't be worried about starting solids right on 6 months. Between 6-8 months is the optimum time to introduce solids as its when they are most receptive to it. He won't become malnourished if starts a little later. Besides, it could just be his cold. It's hard trying new things when you're well let alone sick.

As for bathing, I've always bathed Amelia in her bath in our big bath. I have the heat lights on and a towel spread out on the floor. When I take her out, I'll wrap her right away and rub her down to dry her a bit (never fails to get a giggle out of her) then I'll take her into her room where I have the heater running, dry her more thoroughly and give her a massage if she's up for it.

BS - Glad Eva is feeling better this week. Be kind to yourself, it'll take both of you a while to adjust to you working. It sounds to me like she is doing beautifully. I'm not sure if this will make you feel better, but babies don't yet understand object permanence (I think they get this around 29/30 weeks). So for Eva while she's at daycare and you're at work, its very much a case of out of sight, out of mind. You're right to not prolong the goodbye when you drop her off.

AFM - I actually have time to post tonight. I think (:crossfingers:) Amelia has turned her days and nights the right way round again. She slept most of last night. I didn't get much sleep as I ended up with a blocked duct or two and by the time I put her down after her long 2:30am feed and expressed the blockage out she was up again. The blockage was due to her new habit of twisting her head while she's still attached (OUCH!). Not sure why she does it. I'm taking her to the osteo tomorrow so I'm hoping that will fix it.

Tonight she actually put herself to sleep in her bassinette! She woke up 20 mins after her 7:30pm feed and didn't seem to want to settle back down. I decided that I would just take her to bed with me. I put her in her bed while I went to brush my teeth and put my pyjamas on. She whinged a little and I heard one real wail, but she never started a full cry. By the time I went back in, she was sound asleep and has been for over an hour now.

This WW, I've been determined to just follow her and give her everything she needs. It's resulted in major sleep deprivation for me, but she is so much happier. I'm hoping she's turned the corner (which will be great since the in-laws are visiting next week). DH has lifted his game. We never actually spoke about the morning he walked out, but we've gotten better at tag-teaming at night.

I was in a pretty terrible place last week. My mum has now been in hospital for 2 weeks (but should be going home this friday). My grandmother has also handed in her licence (she'll be 81 next month) so I get to be the one to run her errands with her. She has her taxi vouchers now so will hopefully be a less dependent on me. I'm so overwhelmed now that I'm really not looking forward to going back to work. I wish I'd planned 12 months off, but I don't think we can afford it (especially not if we want to rebuild our house next year).

Hugs to all the mums and bubs xxx

Hi Girls!

Hannah - That's great that Amelia's got her days and nights around the right way again. So sorry to hear about your Mum and your Grandmother, sounds like things should get easier for you soon with your family. Great that you and DH are doing better with the parenting teamwork. I like your approach to the WW to just give her everything she needs. It's extra effort for you, but probably less stress in the long run and maybe the WW will be shorter.

Rose - Liam is going great guns! I'll have to get on to that baby-lead weaning book, I think Hannah said she ordered it through the ABA... Hope this fussy period ends for you soon and you get a longer stretch before the next one. How are you going/feeling? You're doing a great job :)

Brussels - Sounds like Eva is like Ryan. He cries if I'm eating and wants some, even stealing things off my plate. Maybe try her with finger foods like rusks, banana, toast soldiers, sticks of cooked carrot? Ryan loves those but wasn't keen on the runny rice cereal. Craig hated it too and preferred porridge (oatmeal?). You sound like me when I first went back to work :hug: it does get better.

Kawazuki - Everytime I read your posts I think about you sewing up a storm and it makes me think about all the sewing jobs I have sitting there undone. Did you post in the 12 wk challenge thread that your 2YO broke your scales? It sounds like there would be a funny story behind that :D

Willow - I get the condensation too, even with the door open. I find I can't run the vaporiser non-stop, else the walls are dripping so I tried to only run it when Craig was sleeping. Haven't needed it yet with Ryan. How's the renovating going?

Beany - We put the baby bath in the big bath straight away this time, then I got sick of doing two baths and now I just bath both boys together in the big bath. I bought a bath seat yesterday because Ryan keeps trying to grab all the bath toys and I thought a bath seat would make him a little easier to hold on to. We have the heat lamps on in the bathroom and I wrap him in a towel and dress him in his room (central heating). I didn't think our change table had a weight restriction on it, once Craig got too heavy to lift up I just put his change mat on the floor. Hope Michael's feeling better soon.

Alison - Hope you and Amelia are feeling better soon. Ryan is really fussy with his feeds too ATM and we're not really doing solids yet. I'd say it's more likely a WW than the solids. With my experience Craig dropped the milk feed closest to the meal, but still wanted the others. Based on that I wouldn't think that one meal of solids won't ruin her appetite for FF for the rest of the day.

AFM - Ryan is 6 months old today! To celebrate, my Mum's coming over to mind the boys and I'm off to get a haircut for the first time since I was pregnant.

We've successfully tried various finger foods over the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd try rice cereal on Sunday. It was no good, he kept pushing it out with his tongue, as if he was trying to lick the food off the spoon. He loved the spoon, but just wanted to chew on it. So we'll have another go today, but I think Ryan might be a 'baby-lead' weaner rather than the traditional way like Craig.

Loads of other stuff going on here, but will have to post more later as Ryan has done a big poo and Craig is crashing around in the bathroom (probably needs help with the potty). Hopefully BBL.