Our babies are all grown up - December 2009 and January 2010 toddlers

[MNORBURY]

What is Gymboree? Sounds interesting!

 

[Jchihuahua]

I do want to to BF number 2 as I love feeding Daisy and all the benefits she's got from it but I am also wondering about combi feeding and giving bottles at night to number 2. Daisy's sleeping has just worn me down so much over the last year and I feel like it is my fault really. She likes being breastfed at night, likes cuddling into me and likes the comfort from it at night and I can't blame her or complain about it because it was me who encouraged her to feed to sleep and now she likes it and is used to it. I want to breastfeed her until she self weans but I can't see her ever wanting to self wean. My hubby hasn't said anything about me stopping but lots of family members keep making comments now she's past a year. It is difficult to know what to do for the best as I'd like more sleep and I'm sure she'd be better off having more sleep too.

I havent sorted out her injections yet. It is so difficult with work. I think I'll have to ask my boss for an hour off to take her but I hate the thought of taking her to the doctors for an injection then going straight back to work afterward when I'll want to comfort her and make sure she's okay. Her daddy will do a great job but I just want to be there too .

Gymboree is fun! It is on a Saturday morning for an hour so I get to take her as all the other groups are through the week when I'm at work. She goes to a 'crawlers and cruisers' class. There are about 15 other babies and they do soft play, have different toys out every week, dance, sing, rhymes, musical instruments, parachute time, bubbles...all sorts! She loves it!
https://www.gymboree-uk.com/

 

[bluebaby]

I am really starting to think breastfeeding equals bad sleeping! I'd never post that point of view elsewhere in the forum for fear of a backlash but I think I can quite safely say it in here .

Daisy slept a 6 hour stretch last night so not too bad but the night before she was up every hour from 1 until we got up at 5. I always end up feeding her back to sleep as it the only thing that works but I have made a rod for my own back.

I must admit one of the reasons I decided not to breastfeed was the not sleeping thing. Madi has never been a great sleeper and is only now starting to sleep through but if she had been breastfed i think she would have been much worse.

Gymboree sounds great, there is one in our area which I'm dying to take Madi too but all the classes are during the week. I'm really disappointed that there are no classes for any baby groups at the weekend.

My OH's mum can no longer watch Madi the 2 days a week she is meant to so I now have to put her into nursery. I have til mid february to find a nursery, get her enrolled, do some settling in days before she has to start. Need to phone around some nurseries tomorrow while I'm at work, lucky for the next month my work have given me the 2 days off a week to help with childcare. Never thought I would have to put her in nursery . I hope we can also afford it, we don't get any help from the government but nursery is cheaper than me dropping days at work.

 

[Cattia]

JC - I don't know how you feel about doing any sort of sleep training and I don't want to sound like someone who is selling Sleepsense, but it really helped us with Abigail's sleeping, and we got her sleeping through with it several months before I weaned her off breastfeeding. Happy to chatabout it if you want to PM me. I think there is definitley a comfort thing invlved with night feeds. You must be shattered! I will definitely BF number 2 as well but am hoping we don't get a nightmare sleeper - I am not used to the sleepless nights any more!

 

[MNORBURY]

There's no Gymboree near us

Aww BB hope it's not too stressful finding a nursery for Madi and I'm sure once she goes she will have so much fun interacting with all the other babies, she'll love it! That's one of my concerns at the min that Evie doesn't get much interaction with other little ones, I'm hoping to take her to more of the toddler groups now she is staying awake longer and actually likes humans now

 

[New2Bumps]

I am really starting to think breastfeeding equals bad sleeping! I'd never post that point of view elsewhere in the forum for fear of a backlash but I think I can quite safely say it in here . I encouraged her to feed to sleep but I think I've made a rod for my own back.

I must admit one of the reasons I decided not to breastfeed was the not sleeping thing. Madi has never been a great sleeper and is only now starting to sleep through but if she had been breastfed i think she would have been much worse.

My OH's mum can no longer watch Madi the 2 days a week she is meant to so I now have to put her into nursery.

Aw BB I hope you find a nursery you're happy with. I'm sure baby will love it x

I'm glad we can post openly about things like BFing in here -we all know we mean well.

Jc, I was thinking that bf might = poor sleeping and I'll def. look into that for number 2. As for making a rod for your own back - I read somewhere that babies don't begin to form habits until 3mo so my rule was to do whatever it takes for the first 3 months and then start to worry about things. I rocked Ethan to sleep most of his first 3 months! In hindsight, I think the key might be to start to get the habits you want your 7/8 month old to have in place when they're around 3mo.

BB, I was the opposite to you. I fully intended to exclusively bf on demand and didn't even buy bottles but then Ethan was a month eary and wouldn't latd the horrible midwives kept giving him bottles, telling me I couldn't keep trying to bf him as he needed to spend as little time off the heated matress as possible. If that happened now I'd tell them to stuff it as being next to me skin to skin is just as warm as the heated matress and I'd try to bf before each feed but that's by the by now!

As it turns out though, I couldn't have asked for more from bottle feeding and things have definately turned out for the best. There have been a few times I did express so he got all the milk I had to give with formula top ups for his first month, and I felt bad initially that he didn't get 6 months of milk but he's only just been ill with a cough so whether he just had a good immune system or the ebm helped he's totally fine!

With next baby, I'd still try bfing but I'd really encorporate some of the routine and other elements of bottle feeding and wouldn't try to exclusively bf but rather combi feed with a view to cutting out bfing by 3 months.

I certainly think it makes a diference to lots of things, but obviously the nutritional elements make any extra difficulties worth it. The hardest thing I think is how do you make baby know the difference between just a hug and comfort and a feed? I think having gone through combi then formula feeding and coming out a year later with a premmie who is now spot on for his height and weight and development and has only just been ill I would have no qualms about going down the same road intentionally next time.

ETA: Sorry that my post seems to have turned into a personal bfing experience blog!!!!!!

 

[Jchihuahua]

I wouldn't be averse to combi feeding with number 2. Daisy has been exclusively breastfed from birth and I love breastfeeding her and will be really sad when we stop. She is thriving in terms of height and weight but has suffered a heck of a lot of illness over the last year. Maybe if she'd not been breastfed she'd have been even worse but who knows. She's had a week in hospital with a scary virus that mimicked all the symptoms of meningitis, she's had mumps, an ear infection, a really serious chest infection where she had to have chest x-rays and a cold as well as the well documented sleeping issues.

With number 2 I will introduce much more of a feeding routine which is where combi feeding might well help. I fed on demand until I went to work and fed her to sleep at night and for every nap and I certainly wouldn't do that again I don't think. For her being BF equates to comfort just as much as it does to getting milk which is why breaking the habit at night is hard. It is interesting about habits being formed by 3 months New2Bumps. I will defintely be bearing that in mind with number 2!

 

[bluebaby]

Yeah its definitely great we can open up about bf and ff without fear of a backlash. I decided to ff from when I found out I was pregnant and bf never really crossed my mind (don't really know why). It has worked really well for us but i now think what would it have been like if I had bf. If we are to have any more children I am still in 2 minds whether or not I would give bf a go.


On another note, I took Madi to see a nursery today and she loved it I was holding her and she wriggled to get down and sat playing with the other children for about half an hour while I looked around. The only problem is they can only take her 1 of the 2 days I need care for. They can't take her the 2nd day until May due to child to carer ratio Don't know what to do I love that nursery and can't see myself putting her in somewhere else.

 

[Jchihuahua]

I'm glad Madi loved the nursery but what a shame they can't take her for the second day until May. Is there a child minder in your area who could maybe take her on the second day until the place becomes available at the nursery? It is such a shame that your childcare arrangements with your OH's mum fell through. Would you be entitled to CTC to help towards the costs of the childcare?

Daisy loves seeing other babies so I keep thinking that she might benefit from a couple of mornings a week in a nursery. She is sociable and likes to copy the other babies at her groups so I think nursery might be good for her development.

 

[bluebaby]

I'm glad Madi loved the nursery but what a shame they can't take her for the second day until May. Is there a child minder in your area who could maybe take her on the second day until the place becomes available at the nursery? It is such a shame that your childcare arrangements with your OH's mum fell through. Would you be entitled to CTC to help towards the costs of the childcare?

Daisy loves seeing other babies so I keep thinking that she might benefit from a couple of mornings a week in a nursery. She is sociable and likes to copy the other babies at her groups so I think nursery might be good for her development.

No we don't get any tax credit help cause we earn too much. I've been weighing it up today and its actually cheaper for me to send her to nursery for 2 days a week rather than me going down to 3 days a week. Its still going to be a struggle financially. I was really impressed with the nursery, she will be in the baby room until she is 2, they only take 6 babies which is great. They have a lovely room with outdoor space and have a healthy eating plan. Madi gets her own folder which she will bring home every nite and it will have a photo of what she has done that day with a description of her activities that day, what she has had to eat etc. I thought about the childminder but i really want to avoid trying to get her used to 2 places at the 1 time she would just get so confused. You never really think when your pregnant about how hard childcare can be when you go back to work.

 

[bluebaby]

I wouldn't be averse to combi feeding with number 2. Daisy has been exclusively breastfed from birth and I love breastfeeding her and will be really sad when we stop. She is thriving in terms of height and weight but has suffered a heck of a lot of illness over the last year. Maybe if she'd not been breastfed she'd have been even worse but who knows. She's had a week in hospital with a scary virus that mimicked all the symptoms of meningitis, she's had mumps, an ear infection, a really serious chest infection where she had to have chest x-rays and a cold as well as the well documented sleeping issues.

With number 2 I will introduce much more of a feeding routine which is where combi feeding might well help. I fed on demand until I went to work and fed her to sleep at night and for every nap and I certainly wouldn't do that again I don't think. For her being BF equates to comfort just as much as it does to getting milk which is why breaking the habit at night is hard. It is interesting about habits being formed by 3 months New2Bumps. I will defintely be bearing that in mind with number 2!

Thats a shame about Daisy being not well so often. Poor wee soul, it least she will have a good immune system now. I thought it was only really babies at nursery who come down with so many illnesses, I must just have been lucky with Madi.

 

[New2Bumps]

Poor Daisy she has had quite a bit of illness bless her. My friend Emily exclusively breastfed for 10 months and her little one has been ill lots too. I wonder if the immunity thing comes down more to just the immunity the baby has naturally from mom during pregnancy etc as much as the breastmilk situation?
BB so glad you've found a nursery you love - it sounds great. Snatch their hand off for that one day and get your name down for May if I were you. It's about 14 weeks until they can do the 2nd day - do you have enough holiday to maybe take a day a week off until then or half a day maybe? Could your OHs mum do just that one day if she knew it was only for 14 weeks? Could you call on other family or friends to have her one day a month for 2 months?! I'd think about any little temp solutions you can bring into play to get her into that nursery

 

[bluebaby]

Poor Daisy she has had quite a bit of illness bless her. My friend Emily exclusively breastfed for 10 months and her little one has been ill lots too. I wonder if the immunity thing comes down more to just the immunity the baby has naturally from mom during pregnancy etc as much as the breastmilk situation?
BB so glad you've found a nursery you love - it sounds great. Snatch their hand off for that one day and get your name down for May if I were you. It's about 14 weeks until they can do the 2nd day - do you have enough holiday to maybe take a day a week off until then or half a day maybe? Could your OHs mum do just that one day if she knew it was only for 14 weeks? Could you call on other family or friends to have her one day a month for 2 months?! I'd think about any little temp solutions you can bring into play to get her into that nursery

Thanks New2bumps. I'm going to try to call in some favours i think. My OH mum is ill at the moment with a condition that means she cannot see out of 1 eye, we all feel that it would just be too danagerous for her to watch madi now she is on the move. Its such a shame cause she was so looking forward to doing it but there is no indictation on when her condition will improve. I have absolutely no holidays left as I have been using them to go part time from August to December - I should start asking people if I can buy their annual leave Every week I seem to ask my work for a day off or to get away early - I must be the worst employee in the world

Hows everyone else doing? R u at work or staying at home? What are you all doing about childcare?

 

[XcupcakeX]

Hi Everyone Just popping in to say hello. Lola turned 1 on 16th December, just dont know where the years gone!

Im a SAHM, but like a few people have said, i feel really guilty that I dont do 'enough' with her during the week Hopefully when the weather gets better we can get out and do more. I really need to join some groups with her i think!

Lola is literally running around now, and her favourite thing to do is open the kitchen cupboards and pull all the stock cubes out!

Shes not been the best sleeper but shes getting better and seems to be sleeping 7pm-7am, just hoping she keeps it up! Shes a great eater never turns a thing down! Her favourite foods are grapes and banana!

What do all your babies weigh now?? I feel like Lola is huge, she weighs 24lb, but she doesnt seem BIG, HV said shes just really tall (99th for height!)

 

[Jchihuahua]

We were so worried about what to do for the best for childcare before I went back. The ideal scenario for me would have been to go part time, 3 days a week, and to drop a lot of my responsibilites at work. that would have meant a HUGE paycut and we have a lot of debts to pay off and just couldn't afford for me to do that as I'm the main earner. We didn't want her in nursery full time though from 5 months old. We looked into flexible working for hubby and decided that that was the way to go. The application process for that was a pain in the neck and took ages and he was turned down at first but eventually won his appeal and he now works Monday to Friday 6pm til 10pm and all day Sundays. It means our childcare is sorted and he really is brilliant with Daisy but we don't get to see much of each other unfortunately.

 

[bluebaby]

Hi Everyone Just popping in to say hello. Lola turned 1 on 16th December, just dont know where the years gone!

Im a SAHM, but like a few people have said, i feel really guilty that I dont do 'enough' with her during the week Hopefully when the weather gets better we can get out and do more. I really need to join some groups with her i think!

Lola is literally running around now, and her favourite thing to do is open the kitchen cupboards and pull all the stock cubes out!

Shes not been the best sleeper but shes getting better and seems to be sleeping 7pm-7am, just hoping she keeps it up! Shes a great eater never turns a thing down! Her favourite foods are grapes and banana!

What do all your babies weigh now?? I feel like Lola is huge, she weighs 24lb, but she doesnt seem BIG, HV said shes just really tall (99th for height!)

Hi hun so glad you could join us. SAHM is the hardest job, I work full time and I still think that staying at home is harder. Madi loves to open and close my cupboards, I need to get locks. She also loves to switch my switches on and off. When I had Madi weighed when she was about 10 month she was 19lbs but not managed to have her weighed since.
Madi favourite foods are also grapes and bananas but she also loves mellon, pineapple and peach. She is def a fruit lover

 

[bluebaby]

We were so worried about what to do for the best for childcare before I went back. The ideal scenario for me would have been to go part time, 3 days a week, and to drop a lot of my responsibilites at work. that would have meant a HUGE paycut and we have a lot of debts to pay off and just couldn't afford for me to do that as I'm the main earner. We didn't want her in nursery full time though from 5 months old. We looked into flexible working for hubby and decided that that was the way to go. The application process for that was a pain in the neck and took ages and he was turned down at first but eventually won his appeal and he now works Monday to Friday 6pm til 10pm and all day Sundays. It means our childcare is sorted and he really is brilliant with Daisy but we don't get to see much of each other unfortunately.

I'm so glad child care is not an issue for you. My hubby and I don't see much of each other either as he works 1 day every weekend to allow him to have a day off during the week to watch Madi.

 

[Jchihuahua]

I havent had Daisy weighed in a few months as I just can't get to the baby clinic with work but she is a chunky monkey! I put a 12 to 18 month shirt on her yesterday and couldn't do up the bottom two buttons over her tum!! I think I'll have to get her weighed asap as it made me worry that she's way over what she should be. She is really tall though. Her daddy is 6 foot 3 and I'm only 5 foot 2 so she must take after him!

 

[MNORBURY]

BB so glad that Madi loves nursery, must be a huge relief! Your work seem flexible and if they was considering letting you do 3 days would it not be an option for you to take that 1 day unpaid each week until May? if it's not too much of a financial strain of course.

I feel really lucky that I have been granted a 12 month career break and that we are in a financial position to be able to take advantage of it but I am already worrying about what will happen at the end of it! My mum and dad would have Evie (mums a housewife and dad took early retirement) so again I am fortunate but I also worry about her interaction with other children, I suppose we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

I am trying to make more of a conscious effort, took her to a rhyme time play class yesterday only to find out there was a training day on so it doesn't start until next week, silly me not reading the small print!

We are going to try Evie in her own room over the next couple of weeks , I am actually dreading it but if she wakes and I am there she will not let hubby settle her and just screams where as if I am out of the room she settles much better. I'm already delaying it though saying it can't be next week as she has her jabs and she may get poorly, does it get easier after the 1st night is over with?

Evies sleep is still really poor, it baffles me though as in the day she will go down 1st time and stay there usually for an hour and half minimum, sometimes 3 hours but without fail when we put her down at night she is up after 15/20 mins and is up and down for hours, on a good night she will eventually settle for 2-3 hours but they are very rare at the minute, however I do think teeth may be playing a part as she is doing funny things with her mouth again lately.

 

[bluebaby]

BB so glad that Madi loves nursery, must be a huge relief! Your work seem flexible and if they was considering letting you do 3 days would it not be an option for you to take that 1 day unpaid each week until May? if it's not too much of a financial strain of course.

I feel really lucky that I have been granted a 12 month career break and that we are in a financial position to be able to take advantage of it but I am already worrying about what will happen at the end of it! My mum and dad would have Evie (mums a housewife and dad took early retirement) so again I am fortunate but I also worry about her interaction with other children, I suppose we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

I am trying to make more of a conscious effort, took her to a rhyme time play class yesterday only to find out there was a training day on so it doesn't start until next week, silly me not reading the small print!

We are going to try Evie in her own room over the next couple of weeks , I am actually dreading it but if she wakes and I am there she will not let hubby settle her and just screams where as if I am out of the room she settles much better. I'm already delaying it though saying it can't be next week as she has her jabs and she may get poorly, does it get easier after the 1st night is over with?

Evies sleep is still really poor, it baffles me though as in the day she will go down 1st time and stay there usually for an hour and half minimum, sometimes 3 hours but without fail when we put her down at night she is up after 15/20 mins and is up and down for hours, on a good night she will eventually settle for 2-3 hours but they are very rare at the minute, however I do think teeth may be playing a part as she is doing funny things with her mouth again lately.

the sleeping is such a hard thing isn't it. TBH and this is only my opinion I think Evie need to learn to settle herself or else she will just cry every time she wakes for you. I know you are trying to avoid it but perhaps moving her into her own room and trying some cio or cc may help. It feels wrong and it is really hard at the time but it is worth it. Madi has been in her own room since she was really young but it was only a few months ago that we did some cio. When she went to sleep she would be up about 5-6 in the first couple of hours of me putting her down. I did cio and within a week or so she was no longer getting up once I put her down for the night and it also helped for her waking up in the middle of the night. The last couple of nights she has been getting up during the night and crying but she is able to settle herself within about 10 mins. When Madi see's me it tends to make her worse, she tries to get out the cot etc so thats why I try not to go into her room unless absolutely necessary.

Teething could also have something to do with her not sleeping well. At the moment Madi has some calpol before she goes to bed as she is teething really bad and the painkillers seem to take the edge off and help her sleep. How many teeth do your LO's have? Madi still only has 2