It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

mardatha

I had my first at 18 and I had never even held a baby before (if I knew what they were like I'd probably have been more careful & not forgot to take my Pill eh! ) But I just thought its my baby not hers lol. Plus I once had a part tiem job as a cleaner/housekeeper for a HV. She was out at work all day telling mums how to manage their kids, but her house was completely run for her by me and the nanny. She had a baby when I was there and made such heavy weather of it she almost drove everybody batty. SO that made me feel much better about lying through my teeth to HVs lol!!

rachbc

well I'm not the biggest fan of HV BUT they don't make up the rules - guidance on weaning changed because there was new evidence that showing that later weaning was better for the long term health of kids - effects that may not be evident immediately. My daughter a week off 6 months wen she decided to blw herself by nicking a sweet pot wedge from my plate - with ds the advice was to wean at 12 weeks and ironically I had to argue with the HV as I knew he wasn't ready....

MummyOfTwo

im no fan of health visitors - havent had a nice one yet! when i had DD at 20, she walked in, looked me up and down and told me i needed to start on my ab exercises! she wasnt exactly thin as a reed either! second one when DS was born meant well, but was pants. i had a breastfeeding problem with him, he had a favorite boob which caused a few issues, and when i asked for advice she claimed to have never heard of that before ever!!! found that hard to believe. anyway,on the weaning, my wee daughetr was 10 weeks, but by god she was a big lass. born 8lb 9oz, two weeks early, and by 3 weeks she was taking 8oz bottles of hungry milk. in them days them said to wean at 4 months anyway, and she weaned at 3. my son was better, he breastfed and started solids at 4months. clues to look out for are if a babys sleep pattern is disrupted after being settled, watching other family members eat, grabbing for food.

kezlou

PLP so sorry to hear about your friends. to have gone through all that only to find out this (((hugs)))).

Sammy i personally would just puree up some veg and give it to her. I know she's young but some children grow at different speeds.
My eldest was about 12 weeks old when he decided he was hungry and in the time it took me and OH to walk in the kitchen and back to the front room (it was attached to the living room, i could sit on a chair and put my arm in the kitchen).He had managed to crawl / across the room and start scoffing a sandwich :eek:. He had mayonnaise all over his face and ham flopping out of his mouth. So i decided to start weaning him, he was breast fed as well and only had goats milk with porridge etc as i decided cows milk was to thick and heavy for his little stomach.
DS2 well he was a slow developer but he sat with us at every meal since he was four weeks old. By 4 months he was stealing cheese, potatoes you name it he grabbed it. I tried mushy food he hated it and still does now. So i did the same thing, lots of finger food and goats milk.
Now both of mine eat everything with no problems, well apart from DS2 with mash potato, no fussiness (i won't allow it). They love spicy food and will quite happily munch on just about everything.

My health visitors went mad, this coming from the woman who said breastfeeding was dirty, and i just said its called baby led weaning if you don't like leave. Lo and behold within a few months a new method came out called "baby led weaning". Soon got one over on that b from hell :rotfl:.

jackieglasgow

Sammy Kaye, Aldi have those big food keeper Thermos flasks for £5 this week, perhaps that would help Owen out? In fact, on second thoughts, if he has access to a microwave he one need it.

gailey_2

Ohh will it ever stop raining!

Debating trip to co-op as daughters 1st week of packed lunches again tommorow as cant afford school dinners right now, often sundays good with reductions and no one else be mad enough to leave house in this weather.

sammy k - I do a fantastic jaimie oliver lasagne recipe costs about 5quid to make but makes 10portions and I buy the takeaway tubs from poundstretcher with lids on 6 for 1pound and freeze they normally last a few times.

Hubby sometimes takes onto work and blasts with micro, he has fridge in staff room.
hes lucky he has gross cup a soups in machine alongside coffee subsidised at 5p a cup.
he keeps some emergancy box of cup a soups in his office as staff room has kettle and he has mug.

Think big thermos flask with homemade soup be nice or sometimes the covent garden ones are on offer at pound and really nice.

Other things you could consider is hot baguette with bacon that that could be warmed in micro.

If you buy the packs of park bake baguettes then bake every nite or morning.

or got jaimie recipe for chicken pasties that are lovley warmed up.

ps wasent meaning to be preachy about weaning and onside of evil hvs.
I actually quite like mine and her motto most time is trust instict mummy knows best.
its just sammy said 1st time was hard so maybe increasing milk and teething stuff worth a try as thats probably why shes got hands in mouth.
I just know how stressed and probs I got with my 1st and hwo 2md was os much easier she could grab food and eat it at 6months quite easily as had several teeth and things progressed so quickly.


my happiest memory was july in cornwall baby was 9months and eating fish and chips on beach followed by icecream in cone!
I do try restrict the treats but now and again.
Always rememeber when 2nd was few days old my midwife came over and noticed eldest 4year old was eating a pack of wotsits.

Do i think she should be eating them, thye not most healthy and could make her hyper.
I just chuckled mentioned it to hv and she said ahh for god sake a pack of wotsits wont hurt her some people!
My midwife does not have kids but constantly likes to preech to me.

Mummy of 2 hope your daughter had lovley party all the same.
I only missed one last year as got my weeks confused.
eldest wants 5th birthday party but dont know who to invite whole year group as dont want people to feel left out!

Have to do something with the tomatoes today they not looking their best and hubbys moaning.
kids destroyed lounge as usual this morning.
kitchen needs deep clean but sick cant face it until later.
lots of washing to dry and clear away.

babys asleep reluctantly but tired.

one thing that will cheer me up hubby picking up cheap pram tonight.
won last month but not had chance to pick up.
been borrowing my mates buggy but ist bit exposed for winter.
Have cheapy umbrellafold that lives in car but quite flimsy not very cosy for bad weather or long days out.

The only solution for me from expereince in winter as both my girls quite heavy and some prams feel like tanks is 3wheeler as can manage the snow if we get any, can push with one hand to hold eldests hand and is lot more cosy and enclosed.
I won a single nipper with raincover, and cosytoes for 12.79! It will be my main buggy until baby arrives and I need a double!
i would have been realy stuck last year in snow and unable to get out without 3wheeler have tried several.

Think it may have stopped raining!

charlies-aunt

ceridwen wrote: »

I've got a mother who outraged her health visitor when I was a baby because the woman had come in to find the baby (me) sitting there "gumming" my way through a bar of chocolate. ."

Oh dear - I'm guilty of this one too! White chocolate drops were a regular feature on the menu from being a few weeks old - probably more got dribbled and smeared than was actually swallowed but ...yup! they liked it.

My midwife was practically a foetus herself - very young, newly qualified, keen to do everything by the book and had a very high opinion of herself. She knew everything in theory.. but if you had a problem that wasn't in the book - or asked why do I have to do that? She was totally clueless. :mad:


So sorry to hear the sad news - things are tough but when you hear about those kind of problems, you count your blessings and appreciate the things that you do have that money can't buy.

Its sluicing down here - fields standing in water and most crucially our soakaway isn't soaking away so toilet flushing, washing, baths are on ration. I love the countryside but some days the idea of living in town with mains drainage seems very attractive!

Must haul myself off the sofa - the ironing and housework won't do themselves (unfortunately) - take care everyone x

BB1984

Grim day here today too, very wet and windy. Not too cold but I'm chilly here on the computer - have switched on my new oil-filled radiator! It's quite good actually - it has 3 settings, 450W, 650W and 1100W. I've got it on 450W at the moment and it's enough to take the edge off, mind you it is right next to my chair! I've also got a kitten sitting on my shoulder keeping my neck warm, bless her! She's so cute. Has a habit of licking my ears and face though, to show affection, which is a bit gross! :eek:

Went to wedding reception last night, long drive of about 1h40mins, and a horrible route through winding dark lanes. Was better coming home though after midnight as no other cars on the road. Got to bed at 2am, so had a lie-in this morning for once. DH cooked a big brunch and now I'm doing some work.

Just did some internet banking, looks like this month will need to be a bit lean after spending most of the money in the first couple of days of the month! Oh well, all the bills are paid so if the money's not there we can't spend it.

DH got the winter clothes down from the loft this morning, will have a sort through later and put my summer clothes away

Supposed to be sailing this afternoon, last race of the year before taking the dinghy home for winter, but it's so windy I'm not sure we'll be able to race (DH and I only started sailing this year and we're rubbish!)

Need to sort out some space to store all the tins that I bought yesterday - at the moment they're still in bags on the kitchen floor! We have one big cupboard in the corner that I can probably clear out a bit to make some space, but it's just getting round to doing it! I did decant all my flour into the three big tupperware tubs that I bought - one for Plain, one for SR and one for Bread flour. I fit about 3 bags of flour into each one (still got several bags left though - went a bit mad stocking up!) They're now stacked on top of the fridge-freezer and look very neat and tidy :T

Ooh, I think the sun might be coming out.....!

Hope you have nice days, everyone. Stay snug,

BB

Lindy_-_Loo

gailey wrote: »

Ohh will it ever stop raining!

Its still pouring here! I too nedd to go the co op, need veg that will do today and a stew in the week. I hasnt stopped raining since overnight and I have cabin fever!!! Sunday is the only day I get to do something on my own, DS1 is 5 and a half and we have never had a babysitter apart from when I gave birth to DS2, such a huge family but no one to help! Im very snappy at the minute.

Have been on ebay trying to get some clothes for DS1 he is growing out of everything, DS2 has DS1 old stuff so he not too bad. Ive been outbid on two pairs of petite combat trousers, sold a faulty ds last week and still waiting for payment, cant open a case until tuesday.

northwest1965

Morrisons have some food flasks aswell for £5 or stainless steel £7.

Sammy K, can you make spag bol? If so lasagne isnt much different (you could cheat and buy the white sauce if thats the problem.)

Use turkey mince and bulk it out, works out much cheaper.

How about making a batch of home made veg soup, it'll last in the fridge a few days. I never buy soup just use up all the old veg I have.