Babies born~July 1st-15th 2010 #1

I'm back! When it rains it pours, lol.

Just eating dinner and have stolen DH's laptop. I prepared and he cooked. Yay teamwork.

Delph - I was confused about whether you needed to put anything under the swim nappy. Trav has been in 00 clothes for quite a while now but I bought both 00 and 000 swim nappies just in case. I couldn't believe it, even the 000 was way too big! I called the swim school and they confirmed you aren't supposed to need to put anything underneath. Must be a skinny boy thing again, lol. So at the moment I'm using the smallest huggies disposable swim nappies and hoping T will grow into his togs.

I hope gumnut gets happier during the day for you soon. I used to have lots of trouble with T, and he's still hit and miss, but he's been heaps better since I stopped caring so much about how long he sleeps. Just like OP was suggesting to Dr Tal, I wait for his tired signs and I don't worry if he only has a short nap. How about you?

Sal - fantastic news about your DH! I hope his lymph results come back with the all clear.

OP - T hasn't been sleeping very well overnight for quite a while now. For a while there he was only waking up once or twice, with a lovely stretch of 7 hours or sometimes longer. Lately though he can wake up up to 4 times a night and hasn't slept more than 4 hours at a stretch for ages. Except one night where he slept 10 hours straight! Random. I naturally hoped it was the start of things to come but no such luck. I'm coping fairly well with the sleep deprivation, maybe because lie down to feed him during the day more frequently, so I don't want to think about controlled crying just yet.

How about X? I remember you writing that he was having trouble overnight too, I think. Have things improved? Gosh, he's a long boy isn't he!? 4cm in 3 weeks is crazy!

Dr T - I hope B gets back to his long sleeps overnight soon.

Dr T & OP (& anyone else using cloth nappies) - just wondering if you use cloth exclusively? We put T in a disposable overnight because he rarely poos overnight but in the early hours of the morning must do lots of wees. And I was wondering if you'd heard anything about wearing nappies in the car? The car seat we bought says your baby should only have one nappy on (not sure what kind they mean) to support baby's spine if there's a crash! We often use a sposie when we go out anyway, but not always and now I'm wondering if I should cos his cloth nappies are so much thicker and can be a bit uneven at the back IYKWIM?

Well better go to bed or I won't get any sleep. Unless T does another 10 hour sleep. Oh please please please!

Hi to everyone else, and if there are any Qld'ers reading I noticed that playgroup qld has free membership for new parents whose baby is under 9 months until the end of the year. Usually only $35 but still...

Quick question - does anyone know whether we can still read our old belly buddies posts and if so where they've got to? Oh, and what does "Sticky" mean at the start of a forum name?

Sal - said it before, will say it again, great news. Any good news is great news in my book :D I know still a way to go but hey!

Delph - no good about Gumnut being unsettled during the day. I know what you mean about DH arriving home and throwing the baby at him... I do it with mine all the time and there are two of them!!! Poor DH, sometimes he is so filthy from crawling through rooves at work (he's an electrician) and he walks in just wanting a shower and some clean clothes and here's me going nutso! She will get better hun :hug: And your DH sounds pretty awesome :D

As for us TTC, probably not as small an age gap as between DD and DS... it is pretty full on with the two of them and if we buy a new house we will need me to be back at work for longer than the 5mths I managed this time :lol:

TBH I have days where I think I won't cope with a third bundle... but I just feel in my heart that I'm not done yet, that there's another bub in my future.

Hey again EJ!! Twice in one day, woo!

I was wondering the same thing about our BB threads... I think they are archived somewhere. Maybe post in the help section of the forum, one of the mods should be able to help you out.

"Sticky" means that it stays at the top of the list of threads, all the time. So no matter if someone posts or not, it'll always be at the top. Normal threads get bumped up and down the list depending on when people reply. Does that make sense? Mods will "sticky" something if they want people to see it. Oh and the most recent belly buddy groups are stickies, likewise the newest baby buddy groups.

WRT cloth - we're in cloth full time, I have a different nappy that I use overnight for my two. During the day they'll be in a cotton/microfibre nappy, its a slimmer, less absorbent, more trim nappy because we change more frequently. Overnight, I use a big chunky bamboo nappy with booster of some variety. My DD uses a terry flat folded up as her booster, it is massively chunky but anything else she just wets through. She also wears a silk liner in her night nappy as it helps prevent nappy rash being in the cloth for 12ish hours.

X, I have just started putting him into a "night nappy" and not changing him overnight. I still use a bamboo nappy, similar to DD, but he doesn't need as a big a booster - he gets a bamboo trifold, basically a rectangle of bamboo that I fold in three and it sits in the nappy. That absorbs all his overnight wees! I use a liner for him too, but it is microfleece, which wicks the moisture away from his skin and makes him feel drier overnight.

I've found cloth a bit trial and error overnight, with DD I really had to try out a few different nappy/booster combos to find one that was absorbent enough for her. She just wees heaps! We use a PUL cover, which doesn't breathe as much as a wool or fleece cover on the nappy, because anything other than PUL and she wakes up wet. So to combat the PUL cover we use the silk liner. Took us ages to find the best solution for her!

As for cloth in the car, I haven't heard anything about that sorry!


Sooo ladies, Delph's question about TTC has got me thinking, I've been meaning to ask - what is everyone doing about contraception? If you don't mind sharing?

Sal - That's fantastic news about your DH :dance: You must be really relieved. And I'm sure his biopsy isgoing to come back fine and then you'll not need to worry anymore :hug:

And don't worry about the 'selfish' post. I think you're definitely entitled to one, and I can't say it was all that selfish as I know I really wanted to know how things were with your DH and I'm sure I wasn't the only one!

OP - Contraception. I'm on the mini pill, but I've been absolutely hopeless in remembering to take it. I guess we were TTC for so long and then I was pregnant and didn't need to worry about it that I've really gotten out of the habit of taking them. So DH has been using condomns as well.

Giving Brock solids. My mummy instincts are telling me it's too early. The more I think about it....and what that particular midwife said...the more I'm convinced that I'll be waiting. The reason I say 'that particular midwife' is because she's not the usual one I see when I go to clinic. There are two of them there and older one and a younger one, and just luck of the draw MOST of the time I get the younger one. But this last time I got the older one. Now the younger one has never once said anything about thinking about starting solids for B or starting them when he's 4 months or anything and she's seen his development all along and knows about him rolling, as in rolling places, for quite a while. She never seemed to take this as a sign he was ready for solids. She did tell me to start watching for queus and gave me a couple pamphlets to read, but wasn't in any hurry for me to start. The older one I saw last week, I almost got the impresssion it was more of a 'right he's 4 months old...time for solids ready or not' The more I think about some of the reasons she gave as to why I shoudl start him, the less sense they make to me.

As for B's sleeping. Maybe I've been too laid back (or perhaps I've been laid back just enough after reading some of your posts) but I've never been caught up with him needing to sleep for so long, or only being awake for so long or needing naps at set times. I've always just let him sleep when he sleeps and wake up when he wakes up. That having been said he has been fighting his day naps for a bit now so I do watch for tired signs...his eyes get red rimmed, if he's on the floor he'll start curling up on his side and he makes a droning sort of humming sound. He'll usually just be talking, but then it will get more slurred (if that makes sense) then it becomes less baby words/sounds and more just a constant sound/hum. So then I'll pick him up and rock him to sleep. I keep track of when he sleeps and for how long but I don't try to make him sleep at set times if he's not showing his tired signs. And when he wakes up, I will try to sooth him back if I can, but if I can't, then I'll get him up and not worry too much about it. His night time sleeps. I remember you saying that X wasn't sleeping through the night very well lately and that you thought it was because of a growth spurt, so when B started sleeping not so well I just assumed it was probably a growth spurt as well. I'm not concerened abut it apart from me just not getting as much sleep as I was before.

His feeding...he does seem content after a feed. I've never felt that he's not getting enough. I guess all that combined with the fact that I have the baby rice cereal, but just can't bring myself to make it for B, points to me not thinking he's ready yet. Just a very long winded way of getting around to it :doh:

EJ - I have B in nappies 24/7 now. At first I didn't have enough cloth, so I did have to use disposables from time to time, but now my stash is big enough that he's in them full time. Even when we go out I don't put him in disposables, he just gets really nasty nappy rash from them. So I've gotten a MASSIVE diaper bag (DH bought a kids saddle bag as a nappy bag) so when we go out I stock it up with 9 or so washables and away we go. Can't say I've heard the car seat thing either.

I do have what I consider his night nappies. I've got a combination of PUL lined ones and wind pro fleece. He has to have a PUL one on at night or it will leak. So far I've not needed an extra booster for him at night though. I know it took me a while to get the hang of how tight/loose the diaper needed to be to contain all his poos and pees. If they are too loose they escape, but I've also noticed that if they are too tight they escape too..funnily enough.

Almost forgot WOOHOOO for T rolling :D

Delph - It seems there will always be people to tell you that you're not raising your child right. Which really just means you aren't doing it how they did it. Most of the time I just ignore it, but it does get to me once in a while. And of course MIL and SIL are the worst for it :wall: The most recent one is they think we're being too overprotective of B. The story behind this one is:

Nephew is sick....again. The last time he was sick...just a runny nose, he gave B that Adeno virus thing and he ended up with a fever, rash, runny nose etc... This time he has tonsilitis, a chest infection AND a throat infection. When I found this out I wouldn't let nephew give B hugs and kisses (which generally end with snot being smeared and lots of open mouth slobbery kisses and grimy snot and slobber covered hands in the face...typical not quite 2 cuddles). Well it was on. "What are you trying to keep him from ever getting sick" "you know when you take him to the shops there are sick people there he'll catch things off" "you can't keep him in a bubble his whole life" and ON AND ON it went. It's not that I never want him to get sick. I know he will and it doesn't particularly bother me...when he's a bit older. At the moment he's only 4 months old, and not really that big. He's not a very chubby baby, so if he gets really sick and stops eating or gets vomiting or diarhea or something he's not got that much weight to loose IYKWIM. And after the episode with the Adeno virus, I've also learned that what's not an issue for a 2 year old, turns into a much bigger issue with a 4 month old. Then the whole shop thing was just stupidity. I don't let randoms with colds walk up to him in the shop and smear snot on him and give him slobbery open mouthed kisses IYKWIM. And it's not like nephew has a simple cold. He's got tonsilitis AND a chest infection AND a throat infection AND he's already been hospitilised over night due to breathing dificulties caused by the chest infection! So forgive me if I'd rather him not be sharing his germs with my baby!! :o GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR They are SO..........STUPID (probably the nicest thing I could say about either of them at this point!)

AFU - I was going to be giving B a swim lesson (read this as pour water over his head while sitting on the edge of the spa) this afternoon but it's just pouring rain out and it's quite chilly (well for Nth QLD at any rate). So I think I'm going to have to put it off until next weekend....unfortunately.

A tmi :tmi: question for everyone. Have any of you gotten AF back yet? And if you have when? Or if no one has yet, for those of you who have already had babies when did you get her back? Not that I'm hanging out for her to come or anything, would just like to be prepared.

Another question for you all as well. Something I've been thinking about a lot lately since the midwife said I shoudl start B on solids. Even though I've decided I'm not starting him yet and that I likely won't till after he's at least 5 months, what are you all going to be doing in regards to solids. Cause it's really not that far off now :o Or what did you do with your other children. As in after the rice cereal (or did you even start with rice cereal or did you start with something else?), what was the first food you introduced and why did you choose that particular food? I had thought I might do mushed apple in the rice cereal, but I had someone say I shoudl to savoury before sweet, but I don't really know what is classified as savoury vs sweet. Would an apple be sweet? vs maybe pumpkin or avocado which could be classed as savoury? Are you planing on doing purees or baby led solids? I've read a bit about baby led solids, and think I might like to try that, but I'm really entirely sure how to do it if that makes sense? I do know that I want to make my own food for him as opposed to store bought. Just thinking

Now that I've written a novel I probably should go and try to get some housework done while B is still asleep.

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Now that I've written a novel I probably should go and try to get some housework done while B is still asleep.

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:rofl:

Dr T - so many replies to your questions, so can't be bothered on the iPhone. Will get onto computer and get back to you!

OOOO...one more question I forgot to ask.....

Is anyone else's baby giving themselves hickies from sucking on their own arms too much?? :o :o :o

Just a quickie- totally exhausted!

Dr T- AF has visited me every month since I had gumnut :protest: I spose I'm one of the unlucky ones :o

As for contraception- just hoping on luck- (not to get UTD.. LOL)

I thought I would just jump in here and join in rather than trying to catch up on all the other stuff, I will try and remember what people were asking/saying and who said it lol.

Dr Tal - Solids, I got so confused with DD there is so much info out there some say 4 months some say 6 months so I tried at 5 months lol, I never stressed about it though, DD was breastfed and was getting everything from that, she never really showed much interest in food till much older, she hated pureed food except for cereal and yohgurt, I had a huuuuuuge cook up, pureed everything froze it in ice cube trays, tranfered it to zip lock bags and she hated it all and never ate so it was a huge waste of time and food for us. I just ended up giving her finger foods, soft fruit, and steamed vegies etc, the rule with doing this I was told was to only give them finger food they couldf squish between their tongue and roof of mouth. So DD has never really had puree, she just had bits of finger food. Now she eats everything, there really isnt anything she doesnt eat, she can eat a whole chicken snitzel and sides she is a great eater, people are shocked when they see how much she eats, and she is so little, was still just over 9kg at 12months. She is only 11kg now at 22months. I am hoping DS will be the same. I have been thinking about giving DS some rice cereal, only because he has started waking up every 3 hours over night and feeding every 2-3 hours during the day. I dont know if this is a growth spurt or not, so I might wait a couple of weeks and see if this improves. Biggest thing though is to not stress about it, they wont starve and they will eat when they want to.

Whoever asked about AF making a return, I think it might have been you Dr Tal, mine came back when E was 9 weeks old, was the same with my DD too, I am just unlucky. So this leads me to OP's question I think about contraception, we just use condoms, the pill doesnt agree with me so thats what we have always used.

Dr T - back to you again, glad you are happy with the singlet, I love that colour too.

OP - exciting about house hunting, I love looking through houses, we built our house 5 years ago so I loved looking through display homes. Good luck with your search.

AFU - E has rolled a couple of times both ways but he is so lazy loves to just laze about. I know many will probably think I am terrible but we had him circumcised last week, its obviously a personal choice and one we dont tell anyone really because we are so judged on it. Getting him weighed etc next week and needles too god I hate that part, sounds funny saying that after I had him circumcised doesnt it.

Also trying to get ready for as market here in Shepparton at the end of the month, should be fun.

Talk soon I got to run.
xoxo

:hello: all.

Sal- No judgments about circumscion here- your baby, your choice hun :) I am definitely no expert on solids- the whole thing seems so complicated to me. Seems like you had the right idea with DD so you have it all down pat for E. I don't use the pill either as it never agreed with me. I think its cruel that AF came back to me soo quickly..LOL..AND my period pain is soo much worse than it used to be...sucks! ;)

Gumnut was stirring (not fully waking) every couple of hours over the past week. I would be getting up and rewrapping her and pop her dummy in only to have to get up an hour or two later and do it again. In the end I decided not to wrap her anymore as she spends so much sleep time getting out of the wrap. So she is now back to sleeping through- spread out like a starfish- the darling girl!

I was telling DH the other night that I think we have a ghost in the house. A couple of months ago we moved DD cot into our bedroom because she just would not settle in her room. She would scream and scream. Up until recently we thought it was because she wanted to be close to us. Anyway- over the past couple of weeks I have been feeling this presence around and when I go into her room (to put her clothes away or whatever) I feel like there is someone standing behind me. Anyway I was telling DH how one day I was sitting in the loungeroom and DD was in our room having a nap. I could hear noises so I figured DD was up. Just before I got into our bedroom I heard the noise in DD bedroom. I walked in and one of the toys was talking (a bear that you have to press its toe to talk) and a mobile hanging from the roof was swinging. Then I felt someone behind me- I flipped around but ofcourse no-one was there. TOTALLY SPOOKED OUT...LOL

Anyway DH said he had felt afew things to and the other day he was walking past DD;s room and noticed the mobile was swinging- (no there were no windows open or any breezes). He said he often feels a presence in the house. Anyway- at 5am this morning I was cleaning out the fridge (see my "I'm fat and disgusting" thread) and the toy in DDs room started going "I love you, I love you, give me a hug"...I dived back into bed with DH and told him that toys is going in the bin tomorrow :rofl: Sorry abit of a long story there...oops...LOL..catch ya all later xx

Delph - That would freak me out. You need t have your house clensed. I have a friend that could do it for you, but unfortunatly they live here where I do, not there where you do :D He cleansed our house when we moved in. His wife can 'sense' things. Really hard to describe. She said we didn't ahvce any ghosts in our house, but it was very 'noisy'. She said a noisy house is often cuased when a house is old (ours was built in the 40's) or if it's had a lot of different owners. You can have 3 main types of ghosts, benign most of the time you won't even know they are there, mean/evil think that one goes wiyhout saying, and mischievous which is what yours sounds like. To get rid of it you can have a priest/minister come in and bless your house, so sprinkle holy water around and about all the rooms, or you can have someone like my friend come in. Not sure what he's called, but he's maori and apparenlty all the men in his family have had this 'gift' and can clense ITMS.

That sucks about AF.

Also I meant to comment on this ages back but keep forgetting. That must be so CUTE watching gumnut play with her feet :lol: B only just noticed his yesterday for the first time. It was kinda funny. But as far as catching them an playeing with them, so far they've evaded his grasp. He has a habit of kicking them every time he gets near them with his hands. SO FUNNY!

Sal - So AF has made an appearance with you too huh? Guess I moght need to go to the store and get some supplies JIC.

That must have been so frustrating that DD didn't eat the pureed stuff you'd made :doh: S soft foods...like boiled pumpkin and potato? that sort of thing?

AFU- I don't want to get too hopeful too soon but B seems to be back to his 'normal' sleeping patterns :leap: the last three nights he only woke up once and he had 3 nearl 2 hour naps yesterday and he just woke up from his second nearly 2 hour nap today :dance:

Thanks Dr T- DH did mention the other night we should get someone in to bless the place. DH would prefer a priest but I'm thinking more alternative than that IYGWIM ;) I have a lady in mind so I might get her to come when DH is at work- naughty arn't I. :dance: that B is back to normal sleep patterns...it sure does take alot out of you when your up a couple of times a night. :crossfingers: it stays like that!

Gumnut is travelling nicely except she has developed abit of a cough. Only at night and its a dry cough. She doesn't have a temp or anything. I have realised I am one of those worry wart mothers which I never thought I would be :o I stayed awake cause I was scared she had whopping cough :wall: Just bizarre of me to be soo anxious considering I'm a nurse!!!

My emotions are abit down lately- I have started the countdown to going back to work (sorry girls-still talking about it :redface:) Gosh I am going to miss gumnut- I know she will be fine with DH, I just hope she doesn't miss me as much as I am going to miss her :cry: My wonderful SIL is going to go out with me on the weekend and try and keep me out the whole day so gumnut gets used to being away from me (or is it vice versa??). The longest I have been away from her is 2 hours and I went nuts!

Ok, wil try not to harp on it any further- sorry :doh:

Delph - Don't worry about talking about going back to work :hug: I know how hard it is going to be :comfort: I don't talk about having to start work again in Jan, like not talking about it means it's not relly going to happen :wall: But I am going to miss B so much, and I'm going to have to put him in day care and I constantly think of how much of his growing up I'm going to miss. Thankfully I'm only going back 3 days a week until he's a year old, but then I dread him turning one too IYKWIM. It's so hard.

Hi Girls, here i go again with another post about me. Some of you may have seen my post about E not having any wet nappies and very little wet nappies for about a month, well I went to the doctor and he said E wasnt getting enough fluids and asked how often I had been feeding him, I told him I thought my milk was going so I had been feeding him every 2 hours during the day and he was waking every 3 hours during the night for a feed. He told me I needed to top him up with formula, so I gave him a breastfeed before bed he took both sides then I gave him a bottle and he skulled 70ml. He woke up during the night and had weed through everything.

I went to the health nurse today for e's 4mth check, I burst into tears as soon as I started talking to the health nurse, she made me do the Post natal depression questionaire and it came back with a score of 13, she doesnt think I have PND but agrees I have some depression and/or anxiety because of everything that is going on and this most certainly will be affecting my milk and then making everything worse. Just so you girls know this hasnt just come out of the blue, just after E was born I could not shake the feeling that there was something wrong with me healthwise and when my DH found out about his melanoma i thought maybe thats it maybe thats what I have been sensing but since then the feeling is still there and I dont know if its because of whats happened to my DH or if its more. I have a huge fear of cancer, my MIL passed away from a brain tumour 3 years ago and my mum is in remission at the moment, they both had cancer at the same time. Now my DH.

I have an appointment on the 6th of December with my Dr - I cant get in before then as he is away and I dont want to see anyone else as he knows my family history.

To make things worse E was weighed and he has lost nearly 700grams, so I have pretty much been starving him by trying to persist with my BF. I am devastated that I cannot fully breastfeed him as I fed my DD for 13mths. Its not that I am against formula I am just upset that all this has happened and it has affected E. Last night before bed I gave him a 200ml bottle and he drank 3/4 of it (after a breastfeed) went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 3am, I gave him another bottle and he slept until 7:30, he is so much better on formula.

I dont really know what else to say and I never ever thought this would happen to me, I have so many good family and friends around me and a amazing husband who helps me so much, why the hell would I be depressed.

Thanks for listening I am so sorry to come in here whinging all the time, but I dont do mothers group and you girls are the closest I get to a mothers group.

I hope everyone else is well.
xoxo

:hug: Sal- why else on earth are belly buddies for hun!! :hug:

You have had an enormous time these past couple of months- It is bound to take its toll on you sometime.

I completely understand your concern about the whole breastfeeding thing. Its heartbreaking to want to breastfed and not being able to...its hard to accept isn't it. Have you heard about motillium- thats what I'm on to keep up supply and it works ok.

And please Sal- don't beat yourself up about E- we can't be perfect all the time but atleast we try hey! You love your kids and even I can 'see' that from this far away :hug: Atleast now you know whats going on and can go about fixing it.

Be kind to yourself hun- take time to just be...concentrate on your breathing when your really stressed or anxious..breath in for 3 counts and out for 3 counts and keep doing it for as long as you need to- It works! and cry when you need to.

Wish we lived close by cause I would come and give you a big BIG hug :comfort:

PS- we are your mother group hun!! :grouphug:

Delph - thanks for your sweet words, I am glad I have you girls.

Hi all,

I was wondering if i could join in here, my little one was born on the 13th july, i am in the other july group but my little one is older than everyone elses by a bit.
I'm Jo, i live on the nsw/vic border and this is bub number 7 for me (5 here with us & 2 angels in heaven)

Jlk - Of course you can join us! Welcome. I really look forward to getting to know you better.

Sal - HUGE :hug: and PLEASE don't feel bad about coming in here an offloading. You need to talk about it to someone and as Delph said, what else are baby buddies there for if not to talk about baby things....and unfortunately, not ALL baby things are good as much as we wish they could be.

And don't beat yourself up about E's weightloss. We all kknow you were doing your best and that you were not purposely not giving him enough to drink. The imnportant thing is that you know now and that you are able to give him formula to fix it.

Please feel free to come in and unload ANY time you need to :hug:

Hi ladies, thought I'd pop in and say hi.

Sal, big hugs from me too. Don't ever worry that you're having a "selfish" post! We are here to support each other after all. That must have been a scary shock to hear about E's weight loss. I've been a little worried about whether T has been getting enough to drink, so if you do read this, would you mind telling me a little more about your experience? PM me if you prefer. Just wondering about the number of wet nappies, do you mean there were days where he had none at all? Was he much of a chucker? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it any more of course...

Dr Tal - I'm just noticing your ticker for the first time! Brock is soo cute. Wow, he has lots of hair! And such a gorgeous smile. :)

Jlk - welcome to our group. With 4 kids already, you must have some great words of wisdom for us! :)

Hi Delph, OP and anyone else I've missed, gotta run...

Bit of a poor-me post I'm afraid...

Before Travis was born I had these beautiful visions of domestic bliss where I'd be a great mum when bub was awake, then when he slept I'd be all organized around the house, make interesting new stuff for dinner and even make extra stuff for DH's lunches. In reality, he's such a bad sleeper that I have no time to do anything so the house is constantly a total mess and I rarely know what's for dinner until DH is already home from work. DH had the flu this week and he's not completely recovered, but I just couldn't deal with the lack of sleep last night and he looked after bub for a couple of hours in the early morning and again before lunch.

I'm still feeding T to sleep and not sure how we'll ever break the habit. Was just reading the australian baby whisperer's website and am thinking we'll have to utilize her services when T is 6 months old. I better get on the waiting list now. Tonight we tried putting him in the bassinet when he was tired and leaving him to cry a little before going back in, but he was even worse than usual and got so upset when DH picked him up. I tried cuddling him too, but even the usual colic hold or walk and rock wouldn't soothe him. I'd tried feeding him on the couch before we put him in the bassinet, but he wasn't interested. After a while of trying unsuccessfully to calm him, he was eager to feed on the bed, to sleep.

Oh yeah, you may have noticed we're still using a bassinet which sucks. DH's dad told us he was making a cot for us well before T was born, but it took him ages to finish it and then ages to paint it. We'd been telling him for ages that T was growing too big for the bassinet, but obviously it was too subtle, cos when DH told him we really needed the cot he finally painted it and brought it over last weekend. But the paint smell was too strong still so we haven't put T in it yet. Plus we decided to swap rooms and strip wallpaper and paint the new nursery before we moved him into it. So at the moment T is sleeping in the bassinet in our room and I wake up every time he stirs in his sleep, which is once an hour. So I am so tired at the moment.

To top things off there is a guy next door who gets drunk every Friday and Saturday night and yells abusive language at the TV till all hours. :(

Sorry about the whinging. There were some other things I wanted to comment on from previous posts but now I've forgotten them all. Oh, except the contraception question. We're using a combination of abstinence and the withdrawal method, lol. That's another thing to whinge about! Too tired for DTD! It still hurts too, but not as much. Actually I've had a couple of dreams recently where I realize I'm pregnant again already because I can feel the baby already. More like nightmares! I want to appreciate T while he's little without having the awkwardness of a pregnant belly! And as much as I enjoyed being pregnant the first time, I want to get back into shape before I do it again!

Crap bub is awake. Or hopefully it was just a sleep cry. Anyway, reminds me I should go to bed!

Thanks Dr Tal - B is so cute, just gorgeous

Hi Emma, I am happy to talk about E and his lack of wet nappies. Umm where to start, well it was probably over the space of a month , I noticed that they were never heavy, which also coincided with him waking up every 3 hours overnight, the waking didnt bother me too much as i thought maybe he was having the 4mth growth spurt. This was also at the same time as DH found the melanoma and we were waiting on tests to come back etc. I didnt act on the lack of wet nappies initially as I had so much on my plate, I was quickly changing his nappy then changing DD's nappy and just generally trying to get through the day and control myself emotionally with everything going on. I remember thinking gee he is doing little wees, because the nappies werent heavy but I could see a yellow tinge if I looked at them.

Anyway last sunday I thought right I am really going to watch these nappies and from the time he got up in the morning around 8am unitl 9am the next morning there were no wees at all. Then he did two poos in half an hour and then two tiny wees for the rest of the day as I had to catch them in a bag for the dr. The Dr said it was lack of fluids and to top him up with formula. I knew in my heart that I didnt have enough milk for him, I had been feeding him every two hours for two weeks and still no increase in supply.

Looking back now he must have been so drained and had no energy, he didnt smile at us hardly and he didnt want to be put down to play on the play mat. He wasnt crying etc just clingy but wasnt limp or anyhing. When i left the Dr's I went and brought some formula and bottles and when I put the bottle to his mouth he grabbed it with two hands and drank 70ml in a flash, i tried to take the bottle from him to slow him down and he went hysterical. He is fully formula fed now - something I never thought I would do let alone have to do. I breastfed my DD for 13 proud months, she never touched a drop of formula.

Now he has several very heavy wet nappies a day and is sooo smiley, everytime he sees me he smiles he coos he is happy to lay on his mat or sit in his chair and take in the world, he is a completely different baby, not that he was bad before its just that he feels a real part of it all now. And he sleeps either right through, or for good 6 hours blocks with a feed in between. I dont regret now that I have him on formula, its what he needs. I feel like I was starving him because I truly believed I could increase my milk.

If you want to know anything else, then feel free to ask, I didnt realise that was going to be so long. Oh and another thing, since putting him on formula my feelings of depression have lessened during the day, I still feel not right at night sometimes but once this stuff is finished with my DH and I visit the Dr hopefully I will feel better.

Dont worry about trying to be supermum, and having the house clean and new meals on the table (easy to say I know - I stress about it too), its still early days T is so little you will find as he gets older it will get easier and things seem to fall into place. As for him being in the bassinet in your room, could he sleep in the lounge area or something. E is still in our room in a bassinet but we will be moving him soon. With cleaning etc, something that helps me, if a checklist I write a checklist of things I need to get done that day and I try to tick them off, also I have set jobs for each day, so say bathrooms monday, bedrooms tuesday, vac wednesday you get the idea and I try to stick to them but if not too bad.

Hi to everyone else.

AFU - DH worked 16 hours straight from 2am thursday morning, they had a breakdown at his work and he had to go in, he was up for a total of 22 hours straight. Its 11:30pm here now and he got called in at 11pm for another breakdown, it takes 1/2 an hour to get there. Who knows when he will be home - feel like I havent seen him for 3 days. As i said above E is thriving on formula feels like he has put on 1kg in a couple of days lol. Its like he has just woken up, he is so beautiful.

My gosh that was a huge post.

Sal - Thanks....we think so too, but then again we might be a bit biased :p

It's nice to hear that E is doing so much better, and that you are as well. It must be so nice to have him smiling and interacting with you more now. And WOOHOO on the sleeps! :clap:

Your poor DH to have to work such long hours. Poor you too. I know I don't like it when my DH has to go out of town for work, and I can imagine having your DH working SO MANY hours it would basically be just like him working out of town.

Emma - I know before B was born I had these grand visions that I'd be getting much more done then I am now. I hardly do any house work at all at the moment. Bare minimum really, and tea doesn't even think about getting cooked until DH is home to either cook it himself or look after B while I cook it :doh: have my house work in two lists. Things that NEED to be done: B's washing, DH's work clothes washing, animal feeding, that sort of thing, and then things that should be done, but when there's time:vaccuuming, dish washing, etc...so when B's sleeping I do the things that NEED doing, then if there's time I'll try to do some of what should be done...if that makes sense. But I certainly wouldn't let yourself feel bad for not being Mrs. Sally homemaker. The most important thing is T and making sure he gets what he needs, including play time, and as long as he's happy and learning then you're being a fantastic mummy!

Also I still feed and/or rock B to sleep. I really think it only becomes a problem if he's still needing you to do it when he's 3 OR if you don't want to do it. I personally LOVE rocking B to sleep, so could really care less if he self settles IYKWIM.

And thanks! he does have HEAPS of hair. It was a lot darker when he was born, it's gotten quite light now, but still has heaps of it. I don't think he's lost any. It's a bit thinner at the sides, but I think it's more because the hair on top is longer and because his hair is so fine it's harder to see. I also just noticed that you have a pic of T on your ticker too. He looks like a right little cutie too. I can't beleive how quickly they are all growing up though :o

AFU - I've got clinic with B again tomorrow. I am going to have to make sure that I get the midwife I usually get, not the one I had last time, so I can see what her thoughts are about starting B on solids. I'm pretty sure I said it before but the more I think on what the other midwife was telling me the more it just doesn't sit right with me :shakehead: None of what she was saying really makes sense, and quite a bit of it goes against a lot of the most recent stuff I've read about feeding and when to start solids and whatnot.

Hey sorry i am such a slack poster- i keep meaning to pop in but it never happens!! We have anew computer now so i will have more BB time (with my old computer it took literally 5 mins for a page to load = very frustrated me and no patience to read or post!!!)

But i just wanted to say to Salad.. you know i was following your other post re: lack of wet nappies and i just wanted to say i am pretty much in the same boat.. DD is having two-three formula bottles a day now- i know how hard it would have been for you to buy that formula- it was for me- but i think we had a really similar thing happen for us at the same time- i started with the little popper thing of pre made formula coz i swore i would never go down that road- but like E.. K lapped it up and was ssooooooo content afterwards!! I am taking fenigreek capsules to hopefully not completely loose all of my supple- and she still feeds occassionally, but i know what i am giving her isnt what she wants.. so i dont think it will be long until she is full time FF. Very different to DS who was breast fed very happily for 16 months without a drop of formula..

I know you have come to terms with it, and i just wanted to say- please dont ever feel bad or that your not good enough, you are doing what E needs, and that makes you a terrific mummy. :hug: (talking to myself here too ;)) And dont feel bad either that you waited so long to do it- coz i did too... and i felt the same- like i was starving her and i felt bad.. but we both had such good bfeeding experiences that i thought there was no reason why she would be different, but she was. And i know K has forgiven me- (i think she forgave me the second the bottle touched her lips!!) and they will both be fine!!!!! We arnt supposed to know it all off the bat it took me having her weighed- and my lil chubba bubba who would put on kilo's in weeks had only gained 180grams in 6 weeks.. so i knew she had either gained and lost weight or she just wasnt getting what she needed xxoo

Ok, sorry about that!!! JUst felt the need to get that out!!! I will try to pop back in later for personals for everyone!!! xxxooo

Hi girls, sounds like we all need some big hugs ATM... :grouphug:

Lots of stress going around... I'll try and get on the computer today and write back properly... :hug:

Ok! On the computer with two kids asleep, woot woot. Now that I have written that, one or both of them will wake up... What's the bet??

So! Big catch ups required... will do my best...

SB - you are no more slack than me hun :D Two kids keeps ya pretty busy so no judgement from me! Its good that you've come to a decision re K's feeding. At the end of the day, happy baby = happy mummy = happiness all round. How you get there, well, that's up to you - and how stressed you get about that is also up to you. You are sounding very grounded about it all which is great :hug:

You are right, you are a terrific mummy!

Dr T - think you asked a while back about solids? Basically there are two schools of thoughts - BLS and puree/mash/rough chopping path. If you're doing purees to begin, you can start as early as four months, depending on when you decide to start. But if you want to do strictly BLS (finger foods) then baby really needs to be sitting up, holding his head up, so that the finger foods aren't a choking hazard.

There are lots of threads going round here about BLS, as well as a general BLS chatter thread I think so pop over there if you're interested in going down that path. I think we are going to do a mix - purees/rice ceral to begin during the day, then at night when we are having dinner as a family, if there's something finger food-ish I can give X then I'll give him some tidbits while we eat. Thinking things like carrot sticks, broccoli trees, pasta, etc. But he is nowhere near ready so I'm in no hurry.

How did you go at the clinic - did you get the other nurse?? What did she say about introducing solids?

I really love your attitude about B's sleeping too. Kudos to you for following your instincts and not getting caught up in the whole sleep debate.

Sal - massive hugs :hug: You have so much going on atm, like I said to SB above, good on you for making your decision and coming to terms with it so well. It sounds like E is really thriving now so that is fantastic. Seriously, with all that you have going on, it just sounds like you've figured out what's going to work for you and you're doing it. Well done :clap:

Emma - big hugs to you too :hug:

I think we all start out with those visions - I know I did! But it is so hard in the beginning as you adjust to life with a little being who is completely dependent on you for everything! Add to that a baby who needs a little more attention, it can do your head in. My DD was one of those babies - up til I don't even know what age, I had to rock her to sleep - she refused to feed to sleep (didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse!) and didn't like co-sleeping but just would not self-settle. We went through a brief period of self-settling but with the aid of a dummy - so that's not even self-settling really! Then she started pulling the dummy out and crying so we had to get rid of that... and it wasn't until maybe 6mths that she started self-settling. She began to sleep longer during the day and started self-settling in the cot at night.

But then of course something would change (teeth, sickness, moving her into her big bed) and she'd go back to being a rotten sleeper again.

Thankfully, now she is a great sleeper - once she is asleep. It is frustrating but you just have to roll with it.

The good news is - when she is awake, I can get stuff done around the house. She "helps" with the washing, with making the beds, doing dishes... even if helping is just sitting and playing at my feet while I do these things, at least she is amused, content and I can get stuff done! The only thing I struggle with now is the vacuuming - she hates the noise and I really need to have someone else here to distract her while I vacuum.

And you know what? In recent times, I have gone maybe a week, maybe longer without vacuuming. Everything else I can keep on top of but that eludes me. I just have to get over it and move on.

Sometimes DH comes home and I've managed to get dinner started, most times not. Its just the way it is. Motherhood is a busy and stressful job on the best days - throw in an unsettled baby and I think you're kicking goals if you've managed to have a shower and get out of your pyjamas!!!

Massive hugs :hug: It gets better - its just a phase - this too will pass!

Agh - two awake now! Better dash! Sorry that was so long! Will try and write more tonight...

Forgot to say a big WELCOME to jlk!!!!

Oh and I wanted to share this with Emma...

:

---

Cleaning and scrubbing will wait ’till tomorrow, but children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs! Dust go to sleep! I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep. – Ruth Hamilton

---

Print it out and stick it on your fridge :hugs:

OP - I think I might go the route of a combination of the two, as in BLS and puree/mash. But I guess in the end it will really all just depend on how B takes to it all anyway.

Yes, I did get to clinic today and saw the MW that I wanted to see. She weighed B and he'd put on nearly 250g in the past two weeks so was very happy with his weight gain. I asked her about solids and she said that between 4-6 months is the going 'trend' (she actually said trend) but that she likes to see them closer to the 6 month mark then the 4 month. She did say that it's very dependant on the baby and that SOME may be ready at the 4 month mark, but that most really aren't until at least 5 months. We talked about the signs and whatnot, and she was perfectly happy to let me wait and give him solids in our time. SO I feel a heap better for following my gut and not starting him two weeks ago when the other one said it was 'time'

SB - :hug: Sounds like you've been having your share of challenges as well. I'm with OP, you need to do whatever is best for both you and K and if that's a combination of BF and FF or even fully FF then that is what you need to do.

As for being slack with posting. I wouldn't call it that! I can't imagine how you ladies with two or more do it. :o

AFU - DH came up with an idea last night and I thought I'd give it a go. We were talking about when we start B on solids and he asked if there was any reason why we couldn't feed B some breast milk with a spoon. He thought that it might make it easier when we do decide to feed him solids as it won't be two new things. It won't be a new food AND a new way of feeding, just a new food IYGWIM. I thought why not, so we sat him in the bumbo and gave it a go. Well he took to it like a duck to water :o After a few spoonfuls he was getting the hang of swallowing, the first few all the milk just came right back out, but by the end he was getting most of it down. And tonight he was reaching for the spoon to 'help' (read this as helping me spill milk all over him, the bumbo, the floor, the dogs :lol: ) and he was opening his mouth wide and trying to shove the spoon in himself. Don't know if it will actually help with anything when it comes time to actually try solids, but he's certainly having fun in the meantime :D

Dr T - that will definitely help!! Part of the readiness for solids is the cessation of the "tongue thrust" reflex, which is when their tongue pushes anything that is not booby (or booby-like :lol: ) out of their mouth to help protect them from choking.

Sounds like B might be well on his way to starting solids! How exciting!

Don't forget that you can mix EBM with everything as they start, to help with the new tastes. Esp rice cereal (farex) - make it up with EBM instead of water.

OP -Thanks for that. Definitely makes sense. Will have to make sure I do that. I actually bought a rice cereal yesterday when I was at the grocery store. It's Raffertys Garden or something like that. Doesn't have any preservatives or anything in it, so I was really excited about that. DH and I were talking this morning and we think we might start B on solids next weekend. So not this one coming but the one after. When he's 5 months. Obviously we'll see how he's going when the day gets here, but that's what we're thinking.

How's X going? Still a growing machine? :lol:

Rafferty's Garden stuff is great - I bought all the different breakfast cereal ones for DD, she loved them. My sister has also started using the Rafferty's packets for my nephew (he's 10mths) for when they are out and about - with my niece (2.5yrs) sis was so good about making everything fresh, mashig veges and fruit and stuff herself... then when #2 came along, she realised she had better things to do with her time than mash veges, so she started buying the Rafferty's packets. They are really good! As natural as you can get with pre-made baby food...!

Very exciting about trying something next weekend!! Woo :bluecheer:

AFU, I didn't get to an update on us, did I?? X is still going (growing) well! His size zero suits are fitting snugly now... Bonds are too small but all other brands still ok, fine around the middle but getting tight in the length. He has a long torso and long long legs!

His head control is excellent and he is trying to pull himself up into sitting position, from lying flat on his back! Needs to grow some super strong muscles before managing that one - most kids go from their tummy and pull back through into a sitting position. Trust my baby to be a bit backwards!!! :lol:

He rolls from tummy to back... but we haven't succeeded in back to tummy yet. Not from want of trying - he flips this way and that but just can't get his arm out of the way to roll! But somehow he still on the move - he wriggles around on the floor and gets into all sort of positions. He just loves taking everything in, he lies on the floor on his mat watching everything, smiling and chattering away. His sister amuses him no end!!!

Better go check on the little man... the air cond is roaring making it a bit hard to hear him in his room! So hot here today!

Hi Girls hope all its well, just a quick one as I have lots on today getting things ready for DH's surgery in Melbourne tomorrow. E got weighed before and he has put oln 820g in 6 days so he is back on track now weighing 6.1kg's, looks like the formula is doing the trick.

Dr Tal - I just wanted to add my thoughts on you rocking/patting B to sleep, dont listen to people who tell you it will be a problem as its not, I BF DD to sleep until she was 12 months, she weaned at 13 months and she didnt have any problems going to sleep without the boobie. I rock E or pat him to sleep now, the way I see it if it works then do it, they grow way too fast and before you know it they are too big to rock or pat and then they are off to uni lol. Just savour every minute as I know you already do, feel him in your arms as he is such a little gift. Everyone is different and you know what works for you, just smile and nod to others that disagree with your ways.

Sal - Thanks :hug: It's nice to know that there are people out there who understand where I am coming from...as in not having issues with rocking my baby to sleep IYKWIM

I'll be thinking aboiut you and your DH tomorrow :pray: Everything is going to be fine!

That's really fantastic about E as well. You must be really stoked.

OP - Wow sounds like X is still growing fast...his 0's are getting tight lengthways!?! :o

So how do you know when your baby is trying to sit up? Is there anything you can do to help/encourage them? So many things I don't know! :doh:

AFU -

****

WARNING MASSIVE VENT TO FOLLOW****

So B is sick....again :shakehead: poor little tyke. He has no clue what is going on and is so miserable and out of sorts. He was basically up all night last night AND the night before, and consequently both of us are exhausted. He's only just fallen asleep for the first time in ages, I tried to lay down for a nap but just coulnd't sleep. Guess I am too worried about him. I took him to the doctor today and he has congestion on the chest. Apparently it's not quite a chest infection, but it could become one very easily. I'm worried that he's going to be like I was. I almost constantly had a chest infection or bronchitis or bronchialitis when I was little. Seemed like every time I turned around I was wheezing and coughing. I was told I need to keep a really close eye on him and if his breathing seems to get laboured at all I need to take him straight to the emergency room.

So you're wondering where the vent it. They just don't get it!!!!! They as in MIL, SIL and DH even although he's not even clost to being as bad as them....well I think he might get it now after last night and today at the doctor. You might remember I mentioned earlier that when nephew is sick they still let him snot and slobber all over B. DH even said he doesnt' really see the problem, but won't let it happen when I'm around because he knows I don't want it to. Well he's still sick...with guess what...a chest infection. He's wheezing and coughing and has been to the hospital 3 times that I know of, yet I still catch MIL and SIL letting him get his germs all over B. Worst is that nephew is on antibiotics, but SIL keeps forgetting to give them to him. He was suppose to have finished giving them to him about 2 weeks ago, but she still is giving them to him, I saw her about 3 days ago :o which means nephew's bacteria are probably VERY antibiotic resistant by now.

So I can't help but draw the conclusion that B may very well have caught his 'almost chest infection' from nephew who has a full blown, potentially antibacterial resistant chest infection. So the other night when I noticed B wasn't quite his normal self I told DH I wasn't going to be bringing him out to see MIL. I don't even understand why DH feels the need to see her 3-4 OR MORE times a week anyway. She's a horrid cow, she's downright nasty to me and uses DH, and he knows this, but yet he still goes. So he gives me the 'she's his grandmother, she has a right to see him' bull$#iT!!!!! Stupidly, because I wanted to avoid a fight I gave in, so we went to MIL and SIL's. I go to the toilet while I am there and I come back out and find nephew practically mauling B snot all over his hands, then he coughs on him gives him big open mouth kisses THEN BLOWS HIS NOSE ON HIS SHIRT!!! I grabbed B and stormed out.

All that night B was restless and tossing and turning and giving little whimpers and his nose was so congested he was snuffling and he was asleep but not really ITMS and I was awake the whole night because he was so restless. So last night DH wants to bring B to his mothers AGAIN! Well I lost it..the converstaion/yell went something like this....minus all the swears and foul language.

I do not care that she is his grandmother. I don't care that she's your mother. I hate the woman. She is a nasty, childish, manipulative person that the world would be better off without. She knows B is sick, yet she still lays the guilt trip on you that 'she never sees him' what kind of bull is that she sees him WAY more then what she should...but as usual you roll over and give in like the spineless idiot you are. Well MY SON is not leaving this house, it's clear that I'm the only one that really cares about his health and it's sad that you as his father are putting his health behind the wharped illusions of your mother. He's my son, HIS HEALTH comes first and it will be a cold day in #ell before he leaves this house. And he WILL NEVER set foot in your mother and sisters house again if ANY of them are sick.....EVER.

Of course I was over reacting and he's not as sick as all that, and it's just normal for kids to get illnesses I can't expect him to never get sick....blah blah blah.


So last night I made DH get up EVERY time B woke me. I made HIM get out of bed and comfort him and rock him and hold him. ALL NIGHT. Every time B wheezed I elbowed him, every time he whimpered I hit him with my foot. If he grizzled I made DH get up to him. Then HE had the audacity to complain to me how tired he was this morning and how unfair it was. So I then called him in sick. Told his boss he wasn't able to come in today, and proceeded to keep him awake and take care of B. Then I made him take him into the doctor with me and hold him while the poked and prodded him and made him cry while they tried to figure out what was wrong. And I think the penny FINALLY dropped when the doctor said he is a VERY sick little boy and that it could get a lot worse. She also said that we need to keep him away from anyone that is sick as he has a compromised immune system and had he been around anyone lately who had a chest infection. To which I answered yes his cousin. She was disgusted when I said that they let him wipe his snot all over him knowing how sick he was. DH left feeling like cr@p and apologised profusely to me and said he didn't realise and yadda yadda yadda, but I'm still furious with him. Of course something that's bad in a 2 year old is going to be even worse if a 4 month old gets it :wall: It just makes me so mad that he lets his mother manipulate him the way she does and even madder when it's my baby that gets the raw end of the stick for it! He needs to but B first. He needs to stop giving in to his mother's every wharped demand and realise that his family....myself and B come first!!!!! ESPECIALLY when it's B's health that's at stake :protest:

Hi there-

Just a quick one from me. I did post earlier but when I hit reply the comp crashed and my hard earned 2 hours of stop starting post was lost :protest:

DR T-Oh Lordy !! I would be FURIUOS. I do NOT think you are over reacting one little bit. Your MIL is a rotton cow!!! Hmmpphhh to her and your SIL too!

Poor B :( and :hug: to you. your having it rough at the moment :hug:

Am thinking of B lots and hoping he gets better and you get sleep very soon AND I hope DH grows some dangly bits between his legs and sticks up for you and your son in the future.

Sorry for the short post- I have a non sleeping baby ATM that requires CONSTANT mummyness- driving me MAD!! ;)

ETA: Good onya for waking up DH! will keep that in mind in the future!

Delph - I just was/am so furious abiut the whole situation. Mostly because B is so miserable. Don't get me wrong, I Love my DH dearly, and he is a fantastic father he just can't stand up to his mother. And I get that she brainwashed him for 20 some odd years of his life into beleiving that things are just wrong, but he has seen now that her world isn't the 'real' world and that she really firetrucked (that's my new word for the f word :lol: ) him in the head. And he's seen/understands how much she lied/lies to him, but he jsut can't seem to shake that hold she has on him and that makes me just as mad. I hate seeing how torn and miserable she makes him and just wish he could tell her to take a flying leap so he can get on with living his life....a happy one, not one twisted by her wharped 'family' concepts!

Had a good old laugh at you hoping he grows some dangly bits :rofl:

:o OMG Dr Tal :jawdrop: I say GOOD ON YOU!!! I think what you did was EXACTLY what your DH needed to hear- straight from the Drs mouth, i bet he felt bad and so he should!!!

Salad.. All the best for tomorrow. I am sure it will all go well xxoo

Quick post to say good on you Dr T :clap:

Hope things improve really quickly with poor little B! :hug:

Sal - thinking of you xx

Dr T, so angry for you! Grr. What evil ILs. The kind you wish lived far, far away, not close enough to see you every day!!! Just outrageous that they let such a little baby get slobbered over by a sick kid. Sounds vindictive even.

Grr again.

Sal, I hope everything goes well with your DH. :hugs:

Delph, non sleeping baby huh? I know how you feel. I'm hoping T's recent behaviour is due to getting his 4 month shots on Wednesday and that he will become a happy boy again soon. Can you put gumnut's down to anything in particular?

Now ladies, on the subject of solids. Until about 5 minutes ago I was adamant that I was going to wait until 6 months to introduce solids. This is despite the nurse at the local GP clinic and both my mum and MIL saying I should start him on rice cereal now (mainly because that was what they did and they believed their children needed it). My plan to wait until 6 months was based on the WHO guidelines as espoused by the ABA. BUT I just checked my ABA folder on my email account and noticed one email about introducing solids. Anyway, I clicked the link and read this article. It sounds to me like what is backed up by research is that introducing solids between 4 and 6 months decreases risk of allergies and that there isn't any research to support the idea that breastfeeding exclusively until 6 months decreases the risk. But then they say in the box at the bottom that it does. Can anyone else have a read and tell me if they see what I mean??

To be honest I've already given T a couple of tastes of mango :lol: and one taste of banana, just little tiny bits that were totally mushed up on the end of my finger. He pulled a face at the mango (so cute) but gave no reaction to the banana!

Anyway, would love to hear what you girls think about this article and its conclusions if you get a chance to read.

So many things I didn't get a chance to say this morning before T woke up...

OP - Thanks for that little rhyme, it's really sweet! And for the reassurance about the lack of house work getting done. :) And for the record, going at least a week without vacuuming is par for the course around here. And we have a very furry cat!

Dr T - I told my DH about your spoon trick and he can't wait to try it with T! Thanks for the heads up about Raffertys. Did you think of good finger food for B? The only thing I can think of is steamed vege sticks, maybe cooked apple or pear.

AFU - The past few days T has really got the hang of moving around. He didn't roll for ages after I saw it for the first time the other week, but lately he's rolling front to back and back to front, as well as wriggling himself around so his head is at the opposite end plus pushing off the floor with his knees. I really do wonder if it has been the transition to the cot that has encouraged him to be more mobile! Actually, I've also noticed that he has much more success in manoeuvring himself around during naked baby time. Those chunky cloth nappies must restrict movement quite a bit, which is a shame! Sleep time is still fairly traumatic. Even with my willingness to rock or feed him to sleep, some times it just takes ages and lots of crying for him to enter the land of nod.

I have a feeling I've forgotten something else I had planned to say. Doh.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Emma - It certainly is all confusing isn't it? It seems like everyone has an opinion on it and most of them are conflicting. I was told at clinic when B was 4 that I needed to start him because he was 'ready' mind you she never asked me if he was shoing any ques or any questions that would have really let her know if he was ready.

After listening to the ladies on here, and doing lots of reading myself, I decided I was going to go on my 'mummy instincts' and watch B and decide for myself when he was 'ready'.

I initially wasn't going to start him before 5 months (so next Friday) and really had intended to feed him his first solids next Saturday. But lots of things have changed in the past week. Last week he wasn't showing any interest in food at all, and really could care less when DH and I were eating. But that's been chaning until last night when he near about lept out of my lap to pounce on the pasta I was eating :o I only just caught him before he had both hands straight into it. He's also been playing with my water bottle a lot this week. Again last week he showed no interest in it at all, but the past couple of days it's all he's wanted to play with and he's even figured out which end you suck (I make sure it's closed before I give it to him) and will turn it around until he gets the spout then will suck and suck on it.

Also last all day yesterday and today my breast milk just hasn't seemed to satisfy him. He just wants more...he even drained both my breasts first go this morning, he'd slept through the night and both were engorged and dripping, usually when they are like that it will take him 2-3 feeds to empty them, but he emptied them first feed :o I got to thinking that maybe he was ready, I also thought that maybe the extra iron in the food might be good for him being sick and all, so I thought what the heck, if he doesn't want it I'll leave it till next weekend.

So I mixed up the rice cereal, really diluted though, I put in less then half of the rice cereal and more then the amount of EBM the recommended. Well he LOVED it. The first spoonful he made a bit of a face as if to say 'hey, this isn't breast milk' but he mushed it around in his mouth some then down it went and his mouth opened for more. He would have eaten a bit over 1 tablespoon I'd say. I took as very short video of it for my mum. If you're interested in seeing it I can PM you my photobucket account.
He also 'helped' (read this as flailed for the spoon until it touched his hand, then shoved it in the general vicinity of his mouth) his daddy feed him. SO CUTE.

Guess that's the really long winded version of saying, do what the other mum's on here have suggested and go with your gut, if you think T is ready then he probably is, but if you think you should wait, then wait.

As for finger foods, I've been thinking alongthe line of avocado wedges and banana for some of his first foods after the rice cereal. I might mix some steamed apple the cereal as well.

Everyone else - Thanks for your well wishes for B. He seems to be a bit less miserable today, but his poor little eye was all gummed shut this morning and he's really snotty
:tmi: he coughed/spat up a huge phlem ball (right onto my chin :sick: EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....did I mention EEEEEWWWWWWWWW) first thing this morning!

Also, if anyone else is interested in watching B eat his first meal and you don't already have my photobucket account information, let me know and I'll PM it to you!

Almost forgot!
Delph - How did the bbq/lunch thing go with your DH and gumnut? or has it been yet? Was he able to keep nephew away from her? :hug:

Girls quick post as on phone again but be careful with banana as it can cause constipation... That combined with the added iron in farex/rice cereal can cause a bit of a blockage!