MSE Newborn to 1 year Club

FreddieFrugal

He's just having the one bottle before bed still. But eating like a pig! I don't get how to make him drink milk anymore. You're meant to stop using bottles around a year old. But he only takes small sips from his cup. So if we put milk in there it would just be going bad and having to be thrown out constantly, would be a right waste.

Have just been making sure he's having plenty of yoghurt and cheese (low salt like mozzarella or ricotta)

He's sleeping really well again now. He woke once in the night a few days ago but was back to sleep within a minute of being put back down. Then he's slept through every night since.

He's got three more front teeth through at the top now - they were all coming at once last week!

He's dropped his afternoon nap completely...cannot get him to take one, but he's also now been pushing his morning nap later, so he has a two hour nap in the middle of the day - he is getting less grouchy around tea time as a result which is good.

Also going to be a year old in two weeks time. It's insane!

euronorris

Colic - yes, Mia suffered with it in the early days and nothing much helped. It just eased with time until one day, it stopped being a problem.


We tried infacol, gripe water etc, and all of them just made her projectile vomit up the entire feed!! That was way more distressing than the colic itself, so we just plodded on through. She was breastfed during this time, and I understand now that a bad latch and/or tongue tie can play it's part with that.


As for milk feeds, I can't offer much help I'm afraid. She still likes to guzzle milk. It has taken us months to get her to drink water from a sippy cup, and even then she will only drink it from a specific munchkin one. The ones that look sort of like a normal cup, but have that 'no spill' rim. We daren't put milk in it though, as when you drop it, liquid does still pop out (not a lot, but enough to cause a problem on a carpet). So, she still has her milk in bottles. It's gradually getting less though.


All I know, at 14 months, is that everything changes on a pretty regular basis. So, if something isn't working at one point, it doesn't mean it never will and it's worth trying it again in a few weeks time and seeing what response you get then.


Which is a long winded way of saying, at 14 months, I still don't really know what I'm doing! lol

Beckyy

1st birthdays already, it's crazy how quick the last year has felt!

I hope everyone is doing well.

Freddie, how are you finding your Osprey carrier (if you've used it yet)? We're probably going to need to look for something more heavy duty for hiking and trips next year and they're rated really highly. We're quite limited on shops which sell a selection nearby so any recommendations for one much appreciated!

FreddieFrugal

Hi Beckyy,

We went to Little Trekkers on the edge of the Peak District to try carriers as it was the only place I could find that had a large stock of those carriers to try (also well priced) - was an hour and a half journey but we combined it with a day out.

I tried the Thule Sapling, LittleLife Voyager, MacPac Possum, Deuter Kid Comfort 3 and the Osprey Premium.

It was actually really hard to choose - I like the Deuter one but it didn't have as much space for storage as the Osprey.

The Littlelife Voyager was actually quite nice, had good features and relatively low price - but it doesn't have a proper stand. It's only stable if you've got your foot down on the back of it - which obviously limits where you can stand when putting child in.


The Osprey one is good - there's a few things I really like about it:

It's very stable when on the ground (so long as you remember to put the stand out BEFORE you take it off your back which I still occasionally forget!) that makes it easy to put him in, and we can give him his lunch sat in it - obviously with hand ready to steady it if he decided to do a major wiggle. But it is very steady on flat or slightly uneven ground.

The sun shade is integrated - you can't put it up with it on your back, but it's easy to get out on the ground - there's a zip just behind the child's head - the sun shade pulls out of its own pocket and then you attach the front hooks at either side. It's really quick and it works well.

It includes a rain cover - haven't had to use it yet, but good to have!

Large storage space - the bottom pocket is big, however it does compress when you close the kick stand, it works fine for carrying the raincover and our coats. If you wanted to really fill it - or have things that weren't squashable you'd have to leave the stand out.
The removable pack is actually really handy - we use it to carry what would have been in the changing bag on the pram. So we can just carry son and the small zip-off pack into changing room without having to take the whole carrier in.

The Mesh system works really well to keep back cool.

Weight is well balanced and it's very easy to adjust- I've managed several full days now and although obviously it does get very tiring especially on hills! I haven't had any actual discomfort or pain. That said, the first couple of times I tried it - I was finding that the hip belt was digging into me a bit on one side. With a bit of adjustment and probably just a bit of breaking in - I don't seem to be having that problem anymore.


Very easy to put child in - the seat adjust up and down really easily - the harness is brilliant because it goes over each arm and then fastens at the top of the chest - so it's really easy to access. The other ones we tried were faffy because they fastened in multiple places including low down in front of the child's tummy which was awkward to reach.


Negatives:

Bulky - it is a bit heavier than some of the others were.

The hip belt pockets are a bit too small to really fit anything of use in. Maybe a packet of hula hoops.

It's quite tricky to reach the mesh pockets at the side while carrying. So you can't reach a bottle easily - although it does have space for a water bladder - or there are loops that you could hang one from if it had a hook of some kind.. It's not a problem anyway as OH just carries the bottles in her small rucksack.

The sun shade is good, but it sits quite high, so depending on the Suns position - child's face can still be exposed - that's hard to avoid though really, just have to make sure they've got sun cream on their face.



Anyway I like it, it's comfy, son is happy up there and he's slept in it happily. It's feels good quality and well put together and it's easy to use.

If you're able to though it's worth trying them in person - I know Go Outdoors stock a few different types if you have any of those shops near you. Some seem to be better for different people as obviously we're all different shapes! The Osprey was the most comfortable feeling in the shop. But that hip problem I mentioned is apparently quite a well known issue for many people - I think they altered it from 2017 with a different type of foam to try and sort out whatever was causing the digging.

crazy-cat-lady_2

Argh. Shoot me. The canine teeth are here and ALL 4 AT ONCE! This is going to be a horrible few weeks til they're through. Her poor little cheeks are red and on fire. One top cutting through now and other close and can just see the start of the bottom two coming through. At least after these are through there's only 4 to go and she has them all. She's not quite 13 months. I didn't think these were due for ages.
Should be glad they waited til we were home from the cruise. Wouldn't have been a good holiday with teeth coming.

euronorris

Feel your pain crazy cat lady. Well, Mia does. The top two canines have broken through now, but they seemed to take ages!


Bottom two still pushing, but not yet broken through.


Don't know why they have guides for the timelines. I've decided that babies simply laugh at them and do whatever the frick they want!


Mia not enjoying the swimming at the moment. Has suddenly become very clingy in the pool. I'm told it is fairly typical for her age to go through a clingy stage at this point. Hope it doesn't last long!

ThinkPink

My little one had his operation yesterday and appears to be back to his usual hectic self and charging about! We are trying to get him to be careful as he has a dressing on and obviously need the surgery to repair and heal well but it's proving pretty impossible. also changing nappies with him wriggling and trying to make sure the catheter doesn't leak everywhere is fun!! I'm just do glad it's over and done with, the three hours he was away in surgery were the slowest three hours ever!!

Hope everyone is well.x

penguingirl

Glad the op went well ThinkPink

I've been lurking, but not had much chance to post. J is now 16 weeks. Sleep is still a bit mixed, but manageable. He's starting to be so giggly and cheeky. We've just bought the ergobaby 360 having hired one for a little holiday in Wales as the close caboo wasn't suiting us anymore and we used it a lot. Also finding J is happier in his buggy the pram, but struggling with the car at the moment!

FreddieFrugal

He's started screaming just in the last week. Whenever he's getting cranky or impatient - being changed or if we've not got his food ready fast enough.

Proper ear drum splitting screams. Its awful! Hoping this is just a passing phase...

Beckyy

How does anybody with a baby get spare time anymore? I never seem to get half way down my to do list, let alone finish it now a days!

Thank you for the reply re: carrier Freddie - really, really helpful! Who would have thought this last year would go by so quickly!?