--Lion Cubs - Mummy and Baby Group!-- We are all One Year Old!

[ShadowRat]

Hey guys

Yes, it is quiet in here, but that's ok! We all know the thread is here to pop in whenever we need / want to

Pips, sorry about Sam's breathing again I hope it's nothing too serious and that the inhalers help until they get the tests etc done.
Boothh, sounds great that Jesse's eczema is starting to clear up a little. Don't feel too bad if he has another bout of it though honey, I know that can happen. You're doing well with creams etc. so hopefully it will stay away, must be pretty exhausting doing all of that each day! Have you considered taking a step back on the weaning front to see if that helps at all? I know that early weaning can sometimes be linked to asthma and eczema conditions, do you think it would help him at all to eat slightly differently? I know you'd thought about going for a bit more of a BLW approach, and it does sound like Jess is the perfect candidate for that as he's already so good at feeding himself In any case, I hope his skin clears up and that his weaning continues to go swimmingly

Not much to say from me, having a mini nightmare with OH's ex (as ever!) but am hopeful that it won't make too much difference from the court's point of view with contact with his daughter. We're seeing her tomorrow, and Vince will hopefully be staying with my mum so we'll have full attention to dedicate to her.

Vincent's homemade feeding has been very hit and miss this week. A couple of things he adored and scoffed down, little lumps and all. But two days were a disaster, he wouldn't eat the stuff and he screamed and chocked until on one day I gave him something fruity and sweet instead, and on another day he was so hysterical that he would only (barely!!) take a bottle. But I have picked myself up and dusted myself off (lol) and am going to go for the milder flavoured baby jars again for a while. Am just about to check out the weaning section in here (which I have never even looked at! Silly Shadow!) to try to get some advice about when they should be getting more nutrients from their solid feeds (i.e. meat, veg etc) and whether it is OK that for now often all he wants is sweet solids and his bottles. Don't want to force him to eat the lumpier, more savoury stuff if he doesn't want it (sometimes he really does want it!) and yet I want to be sure that he is getting enough from his feeds and that he is progressing enough in his weaning so that he won't be stuck in this phase when he should move on to more solids etc...

MJ, where are you sweetie? I miss you! Might have to text you soon and tell you to get online

Love to all and cubs

xxxxx

 

[Pippin]

Hey Shadow. Sorry stupid ex is being a pain hope it goes well tomorrow funny you should mention the weaning thing linked to Asthma and eczema as she told me to continue breast feeding for as long as possible and not think about weaning just yet as the longer I can do it the more it might help his asthma if he does have it. Mind you my mum breast feed for a year and my brother has it very badly so I don't know how effect that advice is.

Sorry his feeding has been off, what a bummer! I just don't get babies sometimes. Like today I've had loads of milk and last night to the point it's uncomfortable yet for once he's laying asleep in his pram in the hall way and doesn't want any he's normally a milk monster!!! I'm actually waiting for him to feed rather than the other way around!!!!

 

[ShadowRat]

Awww hehehe, maybe express it if he's just going to sleep through? Would that be helpful for later? You could freeze it and use it in a while if you need to for some reason...?

Interesting what your doc said about the asthma and BF, sounds like Sam isn't quite ready for full on weaning yet anyway, am I right? He's pretty happy with his milk really, right? So maybe for you guys that would work out fairly well.

I am feeling so tired today have been like this for a few days really, not sure what is going on, just a heavy fatigue spell I guess. Often they go as quickly as they come, until then I am trying to just rest as much as poss. OH is out doing the shopping right now, Vincent and I are playing on the floor. He's getting to be so playful and laughing so much, it's lovely

xxx

 

[cleckner04]

Shadow- Be careful in the weaning section. They can be brutal in there!


So I still haven't finished the BLW book. I started it the first day and haven't went back to it since. My mom brought me all kinds of celebrity mags and now I"ve been reading those instead. Celebrity gossip was my guilty pleasure before Emma and since than I haven't read many magazines so it's fun reading them. More fun than reading about weaning anyways. LoL!

Emma has been sleeping like an angel again. I think the bedtime routine works. I bathe her at 8:30 give or take a few minutes of course, lotion her body, sing to her a bit, and than lay down with her and feed. She's out like a lightbulb by 9 typically. Now if I can get back in the habit of sleeping that early because I've been staying up till midnight most nights and than I still feel tired in the morning. She sleeps until 8:30 or 9 most mornings so you'd think I'd be more rested but I am the type of girl that needs 12 hours to feel normal.

 

[Boothh]

hey girls,

shadow - the doctor did say to try that but i didnt want to do it if it wasnt needed, since hes had the antibiotics its alot better its just the bits that were realy bad that are still abit rough, so i dont think that really it would make alot of difference, i am giving him a mixture of foods, he had 3 of those carrot stick things today and loved them just left a little stump that was in his fist, he also ate some tomato today, but breakfast was a apple and banana puree, he enjoys his food and we rarely fight about it so i dont want to mess his routine and change how he eats when hes in a good sleeping pattern etc,

he generally has a couple of spoon fed meals these are going along the lines of i give him the spoon and he feeds himself from it though it takes ALOT longer lol, and he has a range of finger foods throughout the day which he is getting brilliant at, i have taken a few videos which i might upload when i find the wire, he feeds himself his bottle alot now too only if he is very tired he wants to be fed, now when i get his milk i hold the bottle in front of him and let him get it himself,

pippin - stu was breastfed for quite a while and he has excema, asthma, hayfever, allergies etc,

i was bottle fed from about 3weeks and have nothing apart from very occasional hayfever,

i knowthats not true in alot of cases though and you are deffo doing the right think carrying on BF i just wish i wouldve been supported better when i tried instead of just having a HV shove my boob in his mouth and getting him all upset!

 

[Vici]

Sorry I've been missing for so long. Not had a good time but was finally discharged today minus a gallbladder and 52 stones!!!! Promise to catch up soon xxxx

 

[cleckner04]

Okay. I thought the other night was a one time deal with Emma army crawling across the living room. She just did it for a good 40 minutes about an hour ago. She is all over the place!! Her little elbows are red now though. But I am so proud of my baby girl!!

 

[Boothh]

awww cleck i bet your so proud, jesse gets up on his knees and sort of throws himself like a caterpillar lmao, he takes a while but he gets were he wants to go hahaha, im worried about putting him on the floor too long though because we have got cats and the dust in the carpet might make his skin worse, he goes on a blanket but unfortunatly i dont let him off it so he never gets very far, i will though when we move and there are no animals xx

 

[MollyApple]

Shadow - Routine? What the hell is that?! It's pretty impossible to acheive at the moment for us, we come and go so much, I've decided when I wean I will do my utmost to establish one then but glad to hear we're not the only ones without routine.

JP wakes up around 9/10 then its playtime. She has a nap usually a couple of hours after we get up but that can be a short as 15 mins or long as 90 mins, if its shorter she might have an afternoon nap or she might force herself awake and be an utter grump. Then she usually dozes off again around 9pm although just lately she's taken to waking up again around 11pm wanting to play As we're bf she takes the lead on that. Bath/PJ's go on around 6-7pm as there's almost always a nappy change then and if I can I get my PJs on then too! Trying to have sit-down meals with JP in her high-chair in the evenings too, but usually fail! When she's a bit older will be more disciplined about it!

Re high-chair, when JP first went in there she had a cushion behind her, now its a folded blanket, helps a bit, might make Vince more comfy? She still tends to slide down sideways after a while! Also taken to feeding her fruit bowls while she's in the walker as its the perfect height for me to sit on the sofa with her and she can sit in it so much more easily.

MJ - love the new ticker! Great pic of Adam having a nosh, so cute.

TMR - glad that wardrobe is finally up! Typical case of RTFM I think!

Cleck - Wonderful proud mummy moments and we're privileged to share them with you! I imagine Emma with a huge smile on her face! I love hearing what our little ones are acheiving - I think we are going to suddenly see lots and lots more - and I'm so proud to share JP's in here too. Sounds like Emma is sitting up and I think will be crawling so very soon but she's gonna be a hard one to keep track of though!

Aimee - Bahhh at the teething, the white bumps look so raw don't they! I can feel the rough bottom edges of JP's top teeth now and I keep thinking I can feel bottom teeth then when I feel again think I must have imagined it. I thought she bit me while BF the other day, when it happened a second time I found out it was sharp fingernails up by her mouth, little madam! My local pharmacy sell the bickiepegs as does Boots (I think) and Asda. The website lists stockists. Hope Sam's chest X-rays come back clear.

Jelr - thanks for the amber info, I think I am going to get her one, she likes jewellery so it'll be a new toy for her.

AFU - I really, really can't believe JP is 5months old today! The time has gone so fast and yet I barely remember anything before her unless I think really really hard!

We've had some more exciting moments over the last couple of weeks. The other night she was in her walker in the kitchen, saw me by the dishwasher and scooted over (a couple of metres) - on her tippytoes bless her as she can only just reach the ground in it! She looked so pleased and happy to be able to move and scooted back across the kitchen again. I wished I had the video camera to hand but it really cheered me up because she'd screamed pretty much non-stop for 3 hours that day!

She is at the stage where she is ready to learn to crawl/walk, she sees things she wants and slides off my lap to attempt to get them - then finds she can't actually move on her own yet! Last night she wanted to go on her belly in the bath and practised crawling across the bath and back with me and the water for support. It just amazes me so much they know how to do this instinctively, so clever. Holding her hands she can be walked around until my back gives in now, she has finally got the second foot working - no more going round in a circle lol.

I think we might have put her off picking up her toys though Last week she saw her fave cuddly on the sofa, leaned forward, grabbed it with both hands, sat back up onto my lap and housemate and I applauded her a bit too loudly, made her jump, she dropped the toy and the screamed for the next 5 mins, maybe she thought she was being told off!

I plonked her down with her keyboard last night and discovered she can now sit up, most of the time she leans forward slightly (no longer folded in half like a psammead) and if she needs to she rests on the toy or ground but occassionally she straightens her back and sits upright - but too upright and she falls over backwards! She's also desperately trying to sit herself up and can get to about 35 degree angle now!

On the downside she's been very grumpy again. We were supposed to leave home on Wed for visitations in Reading and Brumagem but because she wouldn't stop screaming unless she was being held and I was standing up by the time I'd packed for a two week trip, signed for several parcels, tidied up (mostly one-handed) I was too worn out to drive so we left Thursday evening instead. Little minx! We are now doing well again with the bf but I think its time to mix in some baby rice to an evening feed to help as the grumps might be hunger related? My milk supply has suddenly shot up though and I'm starting to get lopsided boobs - one huge, one deflated motherhood is sooo attractive!

Talking of which we met my housemate's colleague yesterday who was completely gaagaa over JP, and asked if she was mine. I gave him a "stupid question" kinda look cause I was sat slumped into a chair, hair unbrushed and knotted back, baby sick down my jumper, grey skinned and I suspect smelling vaguely of baby poo cause she'd leaked down my top too! I thought that might be a give away. Annoying though, cause he was rather cute, !

Sorry I've gone on so much, like Cleck said re Emma I'm just overly excited at all this progress and it feels a bit depressing sharing it by text with family who are miles away and friends without kids don't appreciate the milestones like we do!

I've had a bit of a bashing too by a friend for pushing JP to do things... I'm babyled everything, she does what she wants to do, she's a very interactive, bright spark. If I was pushing her I'd be rolling her back and forth across the carpet every night demanding "roll, goddam you!" [and I'm not!]. We also got criticised on the co-sleeping, "she should be in her own bed by now, it's not good for her or you". Err, apparently it is very good for us both and it's my choice if I want to practice attached parenting?! Eventually I decided its simple jealousy because she wanted me to let her have her sleep with her for the night so I could "get some rest" and I told her, for many reasons, no. Anyone getting criticisms? Boothh, I know you felt because of your age you dd, but I'm 9 years older than you and I still get treated as if I don't know what's best.

I really will shut up now! You'll be glad to know I'm mostly on iphone for next two weeks so no long posts/rants from me. Gives my fingers a rest too!

all round xx

 

[Mary Jo]

hey, Shadow, I here - had my mum here since Tue and have been up to ears in wedding things, but have got a lot sorted, thank goodness. she is back up north tomorrow so I'll have more time to be online

Adam LOVES my mum, laughs like a hyena when she pulls funny faces/makes funny noises, it's just adorable. and she is so much help with him. I do wish she lived closer. grrrrrr.

so I haven't really a lot to say! am almost all the way through the BLW book, it is very interesting if a little repetitive (but I might see it that way because I've been reading in the weaning forum for a while and read a lot about BLW there). I feel 100% sure it is going to be the right thing for us because I know Adam picks up on when I feel stressed and one thing about FF that I HATE is that feeling of worry that he hasn't had enough or he's had too much when what I should do is trust he is taking what he needs and if it is a lot less one day and hugely increased the next it is fine and only what bf babies do only their mothers don't feel the stress because they have no way of knowing for SURE what their LO has had. similarly with BLW. trusting that the baby will take what he needs each day.

the book has been good in another way - it's keeping my mind off weddingweddingwedding the whole time. there is so much to do. even my simple little wedding is taking a lot of planning. I am trying to stay relaxed but unfortunately I have a bridesmaidzilla on my hands who is not making anything easy on me. you'd think it was her wedding the way she has fussed on and made demands! (hair, shoes, dress, where she'll stay, you name it... while saying she doesn't want to cause me stress - yeah, RIIIIIGHT.)

so anyway, sorry I haven't been contributing. Vici, hoe you're feeling a lot better without your gallstones - that's an awful lot, you poor thing! how was Imi while you were away?

and Pips, so sorry to hear Samuel has been under the weather, hope his inhaler helps. the whole bf babies don't get x, y, z thing - it's not that I don't believe it as I am sure studies do show what they claim to, but I have certainly heard a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests the opposite - for example, my mum formula fed me and my brother 100% (we never even got colostrum) and whatever health issues I have had they've never been digestive or allergy-related and I've never been one to get a lot of infections/colds, etc. my brother did develop an allergy to house dust mite when he was about 9 or 10 though. my sil on the other hand bf my nephew and niece and my niece is one of those kids who constantly seems to have some sort of a cold.

MA - I wouldn't say we practise attachment parenting but I know what it's like when other poeple want oyu to leave our child and you just say no! C's mum - heh - every time we go over there she tries to make us put Adam in a travel cot in another room by himself for his nap and we always say no. I don't *want* him going to a strange cot in a strange room and wake alone. I still like to keep him with us or with the very few people I trust (ie my mum and to an extent C's mum but obviously I don't trust her fully as I don't trust she wouldn't stick him somewhere all alone). I once made a suggestion that sometime we could leave him with her for an evening while we went to the cinema and since then she has asked EVERY TIME WE SEE HER if she can keep him while we go out RIGHT THEN and we always say no or find some excuse. I only said it in the first pace to get her off my back but it hasn't worked! and when I said "sometime" I really meant "sometime when he is a LOT OLDER, like, maybe 5 or 6 (years not months)"

I only trust my own mum 100%, other than C of course. but I don't want AE spending a night away from us yet.

anyway. need my bed now. been a long long day.

 

[MollyApple]

Thanks MJ, that's a lot how it feels. I know for the most part she is trying to help (she's like a surrogate mom to me) but I do feel she's pushing a bit hard. She keeps trying to get me to go out with friends (even though I would rather take JP with me!), go away, do something else and leave JP with her and that woud be great if I wasn't still in anxious new mom mode and JP still mummy-clingy! Also if she's holding JP and she starts getting agitated, she won't give her back. But most worryingly I've heard her getting frustrated with JP, tonight I told her off for snapping at JP for fussing while having her a bottle from her so I dread to think what would happen if I went out and JP got really upset.

Enough. I'm off to bed. Glad you had a great time with your mom and sorry she's had to go, I wish my family were closer too, I'd pop round most days if I could. Good luck with wedding planning and Bridemaidzilla. BTW just noticed the "shotgun" remark

 

[ashnbump]

is bnb not working for anyone else atm? i just wrote a frickin huge post and it didnt work!x

 

[ashnbump]

and now its working lol!

I'll repost asap!x

 

[Boothh]

MA - i would tell them all to get lost, im constantly being criticised with the way i parent, i just keep saying you had babies 20years ago and have one now and i want to do things my way with my baby, you know if he was a really difficult baby maybe the criticism would sort of be relevant, but he slept through from 7weeks, he goes for a 3hour nap in the day, he almost never cries for no reason, he eats and is learning to feed himself briliantly and is hitting all his milestones fine, so i dont understand why they feel the need to tell me i should do things differently, (might i add iv never pushed jesse into a routine hes done it himself, its just easy to tell what he wants and he more often than not wants them at the same time!) you know your own child dont let anyone push you around hun xx

 

[cleckner04]

I agree girls. Your child=your rules. Since being home around family I've gotten the rolls of the eyes and the comments but people know me enough to not mess with me when it comes to my parenting.

 

[Sam_Star]

Hi everyone sorri i've been MIA i had the phone call about Elins op on wednesday and i've just been trying to get my head around it IYKWIM!
She has to go for her bloods and everything thursday 28th, then she has to be admitted on the 31st and then the op on 1st Feb im absolutely petrified! I cant stand the thought of seeing her with tubes and sedated again all in the knowledge that this might not even work and she may have to have open heart again
Elin was very nearly admitted again the beggining of the week because she had come down with a horrible bug, she also had a very bad weepy eye so i took her to the docs and by the time i'd got her down there she was just so limp and lifeless i was so scared the doc took one look and said that she was phoning the cardiac ward who said that if she had not perked up in a few hours they would admit her and keep her in the containment unit - it was all scary stuff but by 2 that afternoon she had perked up ever so slightly and they agreed to let her stay at home safe in the knowledge that i was doing all i can for her!
So today she is all better and finally has some colour in her - she even managed to eat a whole bowl of butternut squash which is her fave din dins by a mile!

Shadow i juat wanted to say i think youand your OH are a saints for the way you are dealing with Fins mum, i think i would have flipped my lid by now!! So MASSIVE hugs go out to you xxxx

We love you all and i promise i will try to post more often!!

P.s Sorry none of my story was on FB im still reeling from my so called friends saying that i flaunt my daughters illness grrrrr!!!

 

[cleckner04]

oh no hun!! I will be praying for you guys. I'm sure she'll be okay cause she's such a fighter but I still worry about you guys. Don't forget about us in here anytime you need to rant or cry. You always have friends because we are here.

 

[Sam_Star]

Thanks Sam that means so much some times you just get tired of talking about the bad stuff though
Things are looking up though!!

 

[Pippin]

P.s Sorry none of my story was on FB im still reeling from my so called friends saying that i flaunt my daughters illness grrrrr!!!

Errrr pardon???? I can't believe they said that, I'm so sorry honey, I'm reeling too now and incredibly angry. They don't seem like friends to me bloody hell. Don't listen hon we are here for you and we need to here how she is doing and you to add. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have every faith the op will be successful and every ounce of my spirit will be in that theatre helping the surgeon making it a success. Massive hugs to you and the family hon I hope she has a very speedy recovery.

 

[MollyApple]

Sam-Star so very sorry to hear about Elin being ill, terrifying. The girl has good taste though, butternut squash is yum! Best wishes for her op, will keep fx it goes well. The charity adverts with poorly babies make me want to cry, you have the most amazing strength and courage coping as you have shown so far.

Thanks Cleck and Boothh, I really struggle telling people to butt out, far too diplomatic and I know its because they're trying to look out for us, I hate to sound ungrateful.

Measured JP today (just on home scales so not precise), she's back on her original baby curve track - 25th pc for weight and 75th pc for height! Very pleased!