MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 3

BeNiceToMySelf

aaw sorry to hear you're missing Thomasland Bangton, maternity leave would be great if it wasn't for the pay! Hope LO gets on better with food soon, but it must be lovely to see him move so much. I think my LO is turning into such a tubster 'cos he isn't moving! How are you doing with your sling?

LO went to sleep at 10:30 and woke up at 5, which I can handle. I still feel tired tho. I'm hoping to try and baby-proof the living room today. Any tips? We have loads of wires on the floor so we could do with getting rid of them. I'm going to get rid of a book shelf and set up the travel cot as a playpen. Most of LO's mates are already moving so I need to do this so he can have playdates.

HV is coming tomorrow for LO's pre-one health check. I've heard all they do is weigh them and ask about weaning and movement. Hoping to tidy house so it's not too disgraceful!

Crabapple

BeNice, babies do tend to chub up rather before they start to move about!

Wires, you can get cable tidy things which keep them in one place. Put as many things up high as possible. We have a playpen in our living room. Toddler never goes in it now but it was a life saver when she was younger to have a safe space for her to play in if I had to leave the room for 5 mins.

We have open plan downstairs so we have a stairgate on the entrance to the kitchen, but I guess what you need will depend on your house. In our case we started thinking about cupboard and drawer locks then realised it was going to be an awful lot easier to just keep her out of the room altogether! She does go in but only under supervision. And she is only interested in the fridge because she knows what lives in there!

We had a check just after 1 and 2 years with her (think they do them different times in different areas) but a lot of it both times were them asking me how she was doing at certain things so they can highlight if there are any particular areas that a baby might be struggling with, or that the parents want advice on.

Bangton

oh lobey I feel the pain of 4-5 wakeups. 5am is typical for us but 4am is not that rare. I hope lo stops doing it for you (and me). For a start breakfast tv doesn't start till 6 so I end up watching business news or Rory bl00dy Bremners Great British views while we have breakfast.

He's not awful at night but could be better (for me anyway!!). He goes down a dream at 7 and can and has slept through while 5. At the moment he can't do without a bottle so he's up once but often for over an hour which I think is down to his teeth as he eye rubs and gets stressed.

When weaning gets a little better I tell myself I'll offer water at night to try and stop the night bottle but I also said I'd do that at six months and then seven!

Thanks for the Thomas land empathy. We actually had a great day. We went looking at car seats for next stage. (We've decided on maxi cosi 2 way pearl as it means lo can rear face until 15 months) then we went to park and lo had a full banana with no sick!

Benice - I don't like the sling I have. I should have gone with the ring sling. I just find it so faffy with all the straps. It's definitely more comfy than the bjorn but I find it hard to hold lo with one hand while searching behind my back for the straps. It's due back this week so I'm hoping I can try a ring sling but I'm tempted just to buy one. Didn't you try the manduca as well?

hope everyone else had a good day xx

sunshine_1988

We took A to italy when he was three months old, i just bought a cheap tent from tesco and it worked really well. Also got some pram clips from jojo maman and some huge muslin cloths, we had aden and anais ones, then cover the pram when they are asleep. It still lets a breeze through too.

Bangton, sorry you missed thomas land. Where are you? We live about 30mins from there.

X

BeNiceToMySelf

Crabapple wrote: »

BeNice, babies do tend to chub up rather before they start to move about!

Yes that's what I think it is. At his last weigh-in, about a month ago, he'd gained almost 2 pounds in 5 weeks! I've seen older babies that walk and their legs are much slimmer.

Bangton I've hired the connecta, bondolino and hop tye. I tried the manduca but I think it wasn't quite right for me. All of those involve finding a strap behind your back. I bought a hop tye but the connecta and bondolino were great too. The bondolino was the quickest cos the waist strap is velcro and it just had one tie at the back. The right sling depends on you and your body tho. Trying them all out and practicing was the best option for me. Ring slings seem particularly hard to me so I would try before you buy with one.

WalkingOnADream

I haven't been on in so long! I've tried to read back but there's a lot of pages. My lo is 7 months now and I return to work next month which is really worrying me now. Sorry this will be a long post as I've got a few questions!

Lo is sitting really well on his own, but if he wants something he just reaches for it and usually lands face first resulting in lots of tears. He's starting to bend his legs beneath him to attempt to go on hands and knees but hasn't quite figured it out. He's not crawling and if I put him on his hands & knees he spreads his needs to lower his belly to the floor then rolls into his back, he's no interest in being on his front so I don't know if he'll ever crawl. However he's started 'walking' when holding onto your hands, albeit very very wobbly and just wants to stand all the time.

Are bumps and scrapes to be expected around this age? He's already had bruises from some of his falls when trying to figure out moving, I try and plant cushions to prevent banging his head but he moves them out the way. Obviously I don't want him to hurt himself but is it best to leave him to it as it's the only way he'll learn? Otherwise I'll have to permanently keep hold of him and supervise but I need to leave him sometimes, obviously I move anything dangerous or sharp edges out the way.

Weaning is going really well, still no teeth and he's had teething pain for months but nothing has popped through. We're blw and at first he wasn't too fussed but he loves food now. I'm very relaxed about it and sometimes he might have 1 meal other days he might have 3, there are even some days where he gets nothing if we've been particularly busy, is this ok? Some people are shocked about this and declare me to be starving him but he hasn't dropped any milk at all and doesn't seem bothered by it so I guess it's ok.

When I return to work family will be looking after him for the first few weeks until his place becomes available with the childminder so I don't know how to approach the food situation. There will be no highchair for him in family houses and mine can't be transported also they've no experience of blw. He'll eat jars of fruit pur!e and yoghurt but will refuse all savory jars even the textured ones. Do you think it's ok that he'll be having mainly milk over these weeks with maybe a few bits of finger food? I don't know what else to do, he refuses a spoon for everything but yoghurt/fruit pur!e/porridge.

Has anyone stopped using anti colic bottles and returned to regular ones? I'm still using my anti colic ones as he had awful colic until about 6 months but for various reasons it would be more convenient for me to change back to regular bottles. I don't know how this would affect lo. Also I know you should be rid of bottles by age 1 but all my attempts at introducing another drinking vessel have failed so I don't see how this will happen. No matter what his water is in he likes to blow bubbles into it or take a big mouthful and spit it out, although I haven't tried his milk in anything other than a bottle.

Sorry for the mammoth post! Hope all your little ones are well

BeNiceToMySelf

Hi WOAD, so many questions! I've no idea about some of them. We still put cushions round LO when he's sitting so he doesn't hit his head too bad. He doesn't tend to fall forwards in sitting.

I think LO will tell you if he hasn't had enough food. As for the highchair, I'm currently using the baby bud from mamas and papas and I love it. It's a really nice booster chair that has a handle so you can carry it round. It fits onto any dining chair. Maybe the next few weeks you can figure out which foods are less messy for bubs so he can have those. If I want less mess I tend to go for toast and finger shaped fruit and veg. Also, you could show family how good he is at BLW. My OH seemed pretty against BLW but now he says I've made a convert of him!

*edit* HV just been and LO has just gained 2lbs7ozs in 6 weeks! He must be chubbing up before he moves. HV said BFing every 2/3 hours like I am will give him enough fluids but to try different cups. I think I'll order the doidy cup soon. She said to try the tomee tipee with a lid again. I think I'll take crabapple's advice and not try to childproof the kitchen as it could be a nightmare with all the drawers and cupboards!

Mrshaworth2b

Woad

Don't worry about him tipping over etc obviously carry on trying to stop him falling and banging but don't panic if he manages to, I remember trying to take a picture of lo when he had learnt to sit up, put pillows where he could tumble and of course he went the one way there was no pillow, just as I took the picture. You'll get used to bruises and walking into things, my lo is soo clumsy when tired.

In regards to blw, it is exactly that so if lo doesn't eat, don't panic, babies tend to even themselves out, like you say one day 3 meals, the next one! Your still very early in the weaning process, your both finding your feet. In regards to the cup for water, my lo didn't master a sippy cup until he was a year old (we stopped his bottle for water because he had bitten through teats) babies tend to do what they want when their ready! I was worried about him needing to be off the bottle by 1 and he battled me all the way until one day he picked it up and drank from the sippy cup.

Can you ask your family to look up blw? Come round and watch you, before lo is looked after by them.

Hope this helps

*Nutella*

WalkingOnADream wrote: »

he's no interest in being on his front so I don't know if he'll ever crawl.

My brother never did crawl - he went straight for walking My LO started crawling properly within a week of starting nursery aged eight and a half months - she obviously just needed some other little people to show her the way. Made me feel a bit guilty about never taking her to a playgroup!

WalkingOnADream wrote: »

There will be no highchair for him in family houses and mine can't be transported also they've no experience of blw.

We have one of these - might be worth considering? It's really lightweight and easy to transport, and absolutely fab As for what food to eat, could you write lists or provide them with his food for the first few days until they get the hang of it? Complete with a shower curtain each (available in Poundland) to protect their floors from the inevitable mess?

WalkingOnADream wrote: »

Also I know you should be rid of bottles by age 1 but all my attempts at introducing another drinking vessel have failed so I don't see how this will happen. No matter what his water is in he likes to blow bubbles into it or take a big mouthful and spit it out, although I haven't tried his milk in anything other than a bottle.

My LO got upset the first time her milk was served in a sippy cup, but because she really loves her milk and hence actually wanted to drink it, it didn't take long before she stopped protesting. Might be worth a try!?

Crabapple

WOAD, you are absolutely not starving your little one! Milk has more calories than food so that's what is needed at the moment.

If family are feeling a little out of depth with blw, don't put it like that - the older advice was purees and finger food, so just tell them to give x y and z as finger foods and the things that can be eaten off a spoon that way. Just out of interest, does he use the spoon himself? Sometimes they will eat better off a pre-loaded spoon.

I think my daughter started crawling about 8.5 months. For ages before she would get up on hands and knees and kind of rock and we kept thinking it would be any time now... and it never was until one day she set off at a baby group. Only sad thing was I quite liked that group but it was supposed to be for non-mobile babies. In my head that didn't mean I had to stop going the second she got the hang of crawling a bit, but comments were made to make sure I got the idea we weren't welcome any more .

Some babies don't crawl though, some commando crawl, some roll, some do the bottom shuffle. The only thing that is certain is they will work their hardest to find a way to get away from you at speed:rotfl: