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

the_cat

Why is it that health visitors and the like find it perfectly acceptable that babies are ready at different times to crawl, walk and talk and yet insist on defying all logic and say that they must all be ready to start weaning at the same time?

If you think your baby is ready to wean, almost certainly she is! As long as you stick to baby rice or fruit and veg to start with, she will be fine. If by chance you have misread the signals, she will certainly let you know in pretty short order

Mythi

mardatha wrote: »

:mad: The OH is taking this moneysaving too far !! We have to be out all day tomorrow at a hospital appt & I wanted to put a nice stew in the crockpot because I will be shattered when I get home. Noooo he says -- "the crockpot burns electricity" :eek: my god, does it ???:rotfl:
Serve him right if I give him a pkt of crisps then.

Slow cookers dont cost a lot to leave on, usually no more than leaving a normal light on as far as I am aware.

According to this http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooking.html
using an electric over for an hour costs three times as much as using a slowcooker for 7 hours (apologies for it being American, couldn't find a British one quickly)

Hope that helps.

Puddleglum

I have had to smile over HV anecdotes. When DS was about 12 weeks he was really hungry and milk was not hitting the spot so we gave him some baby rice and he was finally happy. Our HV was not pleased and let me know that you MUST wait until at least 4 months before giving any solids.

Three years later I was being read the riot act again because I hadn't started feeding DD solids by 4 months. You really can't win when you are up against an expert!

katholicos

I strenuously believe in mothers intuition. A mother often just 'knows' when there is something wrong with her baby or when they have needs that are not being met. Both my children were weaned early because i knew they were not being fulfilled with their milk. Until my first child was born i had only held a baby on one occasion....and that baby was teething and bit me so hard she made me cry. I knew nothing about babies .....except that their gums were like vices if you stuck your fingers in their mouths when they were teething...and when i had my own baby I was terrified when the hospital staff actually let us come home with our baby....were they totally insane????!!!!

Thrown into the thick of things however, it surprised me just how quick we mothers (and i'm sure fathers) pick up on what baby wants or needs.

Health Visitors can be very informative and lovely, but because they have guidelines to adhere with regard to their advice they tend to do everything by the book and i'm not wired that way so i used to smile a lot at them and then did things my own way when the door was closed behind them.

Thing is, there is no instruction manual on parenting...i used to buy books on 'perfect parenting'....i can tell you know, there is NO SUCH THING as perfect parenting...there is 'do the best you can parenting' .....and that is it!

dreaming

Although my"babies" are all grown up (and eldest with babies of his own) I remember my HV with lots of affection. With DS (firstborn) I was panicking one day as right from birth he hardly seemed to sleep (still doesn't) and I said to HV that it said in the books that newborns sleep for most of the day. She replied "Ah well, he probably hasn't read that book yet", then went and made me a cup of tea. She was lovely - unmarried, with no kids, and lots of health issues of her own, but she made me feel as if she had all the time in the world for me and gave me lots of confidence.

DD (2nd) was the complete opposite and slept all the time (and still does, lol) and that worried me as well!

MummyOfTwo

its nice to read that we ignore these interfering HV's and get these babbas fed! i remember my mum telling me the trick with a hot needle to make the teat bigger!

charlies-aunt

:mad: :mad: :mad: Grrr-h-h-h! :mad: :mad: :mad: The dog is in the dog house!

Had to go out this afternoon, so put the hot, just out of the oven chicken on a plate on the dining room table to cool . . . firmly shutting the door to keep the dog and cat out. The heavy roasting tin full of hot fat and meat juices was left on the draining board to cool off so I could take the fat off for roasties and make gravy when I got back in.

Came back wet through to a beeping washer so had to strip off before I could set to emptying it and fold the wet washing. Put parsnips & potatoes on to parboil and then noticed that the roasting tin had been moved . . . :think: I tracked it (and a very chevilled wooden spoon!) down eventually - under the side table in the sitting room - licked clean! Backtracked into the kitchen and inspected the kitchen carpet and quarry tiles - both sporting a big greasy patch!

:rotfl: :rotfl: Ruddy dog!!! That'll teach me to put stuff away before I go out! :rotfl: :rotfl:

greent

I weaned DS2 & DS3 at 6 months - I quite liked the fact that it was entirely me that had fed them and made them grow for 15 months (9 in, 6 out) (DD & DS1 were weaned earlier - but I found waiting until later much easier - & BLW even easier still)

bluebag

mardatha wrote: »

:mad: The OH is taking this moneysaving too far !! We have to be out all day tomorrow at a hospital appt & I wanted to put a nice stew in the crockpot because I will be shattered when I get home. Noooo he says -- "the crockpot burns electricity" :eek: my god, does it ???:rotfl:
Serve him right if I give him a pkt of crisps then.

I'm just shaking my head :doh:

elizabunny

charlies-aunt wrote: »

:mad: :mad: :mad: Grrr-h-h-h! :mad: :mad: :mad: The dog is in the dog house!

Had to go out this afternoon, so put the hot, just out of the oven chicken on a plate on the dining room table to cool . . . firmly shutting the door to keep the dog and cat out. The heavy roasting tin full of hot fat and meat juices was left on the draining board to cool off so I could take the fat off for roasties and make gravy when I got back in.

Came back wet through to a beeping washer so had to strip off before I could set to emptying it and fold the wet washing. Put parsnips & potatoes on to parboil and then noticed that the roasting tin had been moved . . . :think: I tracked it (and a very chevilled wooden spoon!) down eventually - under the side table in the sitting room - licked clean! Backtracked into the kitchen and inspected the kitchen carpet and quarry tiles - both sporting a big greasy patch!
:rotfl: :rotfl: Ruddy dog!!! That'll teach me to put stuff away before I go out! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Oh no!!! This reminded me of the day we took a packet of bacon out of the freezer to defrost. Left it well out of reach of both dogs (we thought). Next morning came down looking forward to a nice cooked breakfast and the bacon was gone -not only the bacon, but the whole plastic wrapper as well:eek: not a sign left anywhere.