MSE Parent Club

Lu_T

Hello all newbies & welcome :wave: Nifi, Traveller, Honeybee (Hope I haven't missed anyone?) Glad you've joined us. Hope we can be of use to each other.

I've been catching up on posts, so forgive me that I'm a few days behind - it's been busy in the T household!

Cups - we gave Imogen an open Doidy cup when we first started weaning her. It took a while but she got the hang of it. She also has a SteadyCup which was given at her 7-9mth check. Now we mainly use Tommee Tippee cups, but take the valve out. Never had a problem with her taking milk from a cup, she's so greedy she'd have it from anything!

I'd like to second the post about lending baby things. We were loaned/given a lot of stuff and it saved us £ks. It's especially useful with things that you don't use very long e.g. moses baskets.

Honeybe - on your question about how old should they be before you leave them - it's whatever feels right for you. Some people don't leave babies for months, some are comfortable doing it at weeks - some not til years! Do whatever's right for the three of you. OH is only just getting used to the fact that Imogen is happy to stay at her grandparents for the odd night. It's invaluable for us as well as her, and she's 18 months now, so not a teeny babe any more. To be fair, he has just agreed she can go to stay at my mum's for a few days in August as a 'summer holiday', so he must be starting to get over it!

News from T HQ - I've had my implant out :T We aren't officially TTC, as the main reason was that my libido has headed off into the blue beyond recently, which hasn't pleased either of us. But we do want a summer baby next year, so we aren't far off going on the Pregnancy Club TTC list :j Also, he's been a sweety and finally bought me an eternity ring :happyhear Not very MSE, but it is VERY sparkly! We've had to order my size, so it will be here in a few weeks and I CAN'T WAIT!!! It's been a long time coming...

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

nifi26

Good luck and congrats Lu T. I can't even bear the thought of being pregnant again...

nadnad - twice a night is nothing. Trust me, you've got it good.

I have breastfed after a drink on occasion. Don't think it's a big deal as long as it's just a couple but some babies react to some drinks, just like food. I think it's good to try to have a small glass of wine (or something) just to see that it's not making you little one sick or give then colic, before you have a proper night out.

I think this place is great, by the way!

Becles

Congrats nadnad and welcome

I breastfed after an odd drink, but I didn't drink heavily. It didn't affect the baby in anyway, but I would do as nifi suggested and try it on a night at home just in case baby has a reaction to it.

I'm jealous of all you ladies who can express! I've had three babies who were all breastfed but I still never got the hang of expressing!

Best of luck with TTC Lu T. I've been going through a broody phase and would love to try for another one but hubby isn't as keen as me!

izoomzoom

Hi to all the newbies - seems to be a tonne of new faces :wave:

Re alcohol and BF - the guidelines I looked up (but can't be asked to find now) states something on the lines that for every unit of alcohol that you consume, you need to leave an hour before feeding baby.

So if you have 4 units, you need to ensure that you have left enough milk before hand for 4 hours worth of feeds ...

Samantha is now 8 months old :eek: and this week has started saying ba ba and da da. Dad is smitten and it is so nice to actually understand something of what she is yabbing about :rolleyes: .

Returning to work is looming in the horizen for me, and after doing 1000 scenarios on what different shifts / working hours would net me in pay at the end of the day, DH and I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that working in the daytime (and incurring childcare costs) makes it near impossible for me to return to work, so it looks like evening and weekend work for me :mad: . This caused us major relationship problems in the past, so has not been a ready choice. We have, however, decided to look into childminding, because I had previously erraneously thought that with no toilet downstairs, my house was off limits.

Not sure if childminding will realise us any money, but at least that way I get to spend my days with Samantha, and the older boys in the daytime, earn money in the evening (and the most important bit - be able to drop the evening work if the childminding becomes a feasible option :money: ) !

nadnad

i got made redundant last thursday which isn't as bad as it seems cos it'll give us a few grand we wouldnt otherwise have had (not sure exactly how much yet) and as i wasn't going to be returning to work until next april i've got time to find something else. Also i may not have went back to my job anyway as the commute is long and the price of petrol is now ridiculous!

But i can't decide the best way to go re childminding and working i can't work out the best thing to do, i know its early days yet but i think about it a lot. I know its not PC but the days of the 1950s housewife when only one partner had to work actually seems appealing now! I'll get ready for the onslaught of womens rights people shouting at me now (i used to be one)

honeybe21

lut- good luck in ur ttc i had my implant removed(the one in ur arm i had)and concieved literally a few days later no more than a week lol.
well my cravings for ice have finally gone and my cravings to bath multiple times aday have worn off once a day is fine now yayy.
im feeling quite good if a little tired,im a little upset i cant go to my kids sports day neither can my partner and thier real dad wont take the time off work.we cant go because we have to register baby,go job centre sort some money issues and go tax credits office and its all fallen on sports day.feel so guilty no one will be there to watch them and not sure how to explain it to them.
im thinking of sitting them down and saying this
"mummy and pete cant come sports day tomorrow because we have to go to the place we got married and sign in the big book so riley can and get a birth certificate and we can sort pennies out becuase everyone in the world has to have a borth certificate or u get in trouble with mr police man but mummy and pete would much rather be at sports day and are very very sad we cant come"
does that seem ok?they are 5 and almost 4 but very smart for their ages so lying or just not turning up isnt an option.

nifi26

honeybe21 in case you didn't know you can claim child benefits and tax credit 3 month back, so if it helps at all maybe you could postpone your appt at the registry office?
maybe this way you could make it to sports day even just for a little while and they wont be so disappointed?

Claire_Jones_3

I've just got my regristration certificate as a childminder so if you want any help with it or just to pick my brain you are more than welcome izoomzoom.

However OH has woken the broody monster in me so i've come off the pill and we'll see what happens, race you Lu T

Dormouse

Good luck to those TTC or thinking about it - how exciting! :j :T

(Not me, sorry, I've got my hands full with my two and am enjoying having some sort of normality in my life :rotfl: )

Welcome newbies!

I'm with Becles on the expressing issue - have loads of admiration for those who can make it work. :T I've BFed two and am the worst expresser ever - usually just got enough for mixing with their baby rice in the early days of weaning.

Good luck for the childminding plans, zoomy and Claire! :T

Drinking during breastfeeding - I agree with what's been said, I think you just have to be sensible about it. A couple of drinks won't hurt if there's a break of a few hours between feeds. :beer:

chocaholic110

Not good at expressing breastmilk here either - and the few times I managed enough Tom wouldn't drink it out of a bottle. he also won't drink formula milk either and I'm starting to panic as I go back to work next week. It won't be quite so bad when I'm at work as I live only 5 minutes away and can pop home in my lunchtime to give him a feed but on Thursday and friday I'm on a course and can't get home. The couple of times I have left him (not full days) he's had nothing to eat at all.

Both health visitors that I've seen have advised starting to wean but he won't have that either - after getting one spoonful in his mouth he now closes his mouth and eyes when food comes near and shudders!!

Someone else said that he will eat if he's starving and I'm not there but he's a stubborn little thing and can cry for hours (like three hours solid when we travelled to Blackpool last week!!)

Any advice please?

(He's nearly 25 weeks BTW)