My little angel is now 10.5 months and eats so well it's hard to believe she's only been doing it 4.5 months. I'm so proud of her, she's a star. Yes, it's sometimes (well usually, but maybe surprisingly not always) messy, but what part of having kids isn't? The way we weaned KK is known as "baby led weaning" but I think that's a stupid name, it should just be called "weaning as anyone with half a brain would" - but I guess that is a bit long. When I was pregnant I read about baby led weaning (or BLW) and it seemed like a new idea that was sensible, if a bit 'hippyish', but since I've been doing it I've realised that all I'm doing is feeding my baby as I feed my husband - offer normal food for them to eat in their own time, they're both perfectly capable of holding food/a spoon and putting it in their mouth, so there's no need for me to do it for either of them. I probably sound like a pushy bint but I don't understand why people feel the need to feed their baby mush - whether they like it or not! I often can't tell if KK has something in her mouth, if I do try to give her something when she does she either pushes it away or opens her mouth anyway - both resulting in a big mess! BLW seems to be seen as a 'new' thing - but what did people do before blenders were invented? Maybe they chewed the food themselves and regurgitated it like birds! Hmmm, maybe not. I saw a children's sketch show the other day - a 'cook' was making an English breakfast. She put bacon, eggs, sausage, beans and tomato on a plate. She then added various cereals, toast, orange juice, tea and various other breakfast items - describing it as a "full" English breakfast. Her assistant then said "but you don't eat it all together, like that" to which she replied "no, you eat it all together like this" and scraped the whole thing into a blender then mashed it up. Although this was obviously a silly, funny and 'unrealistic' sketch, it occurred to me that this is not really any different from blending lots of food together and feeding it to babies. One jar of baby food I've seen had chicken and apple juice in! Surely not something you'd usually have together in the same dish - so why should babies? (They still have taste buds you know!)
Another thing that annoys me is people weaning their babies before six months. Six months is not a long time, one minute you're holding a tiny baby in your arms and the next they're smiling, laughing, babbling and if you're lucky - or not - crawling. Why on Earth would anybody want the little baby stage to go any quicker than it does already? I get sad at how quick my baby is growing up and she's not even one yet! I know that in the past health professionals recommended weaning at four months, but that was the past. In Tudor times (so the past) doctors recommended rubbing a hangman's rope on your head to cure a headache, but I prefer the more modern way of drinking more water or taking paracetamol. You know why? (Apart from the fact that I don't own or have access to a hangmans rope!) It's because medicine is advancing everyday, therefore it is usually safe to say that the most recent research is the best for us. The reason that babies shouldn't be weaned before six months is that their digestive system is not mature enough to handle anything other than milk. This is the same for all babies (unless they have a specific health issue and a doctor recommends early weaning)
Another thing I've heard people say is that their baby wouldn't/didn't last until six months...because they were interested in watching their parents eating! Of course they are - all babies are. Everything is brand new to them and the most mundane things are absolutely fascinating. That doesn't mean they want to copy you, or - even if they do - you should let them. KK was fascinated watching me drink but I never put a vodka and coke in her bottle or let her drink her milk from a wine glass. She also loved watching her daddy drive but there was no way we were going to stick her in the front seat, turn the engine on and let her have a go! When KK got to about four months old we got her a highchair. This was, I have to say, mainly beacuse we were living with dogs at the time and she had been in her bouncy chair with us during mealtimes but tended to get licked a lot! She also couldn't see us very well from down there, so we got her a highchair so she could 'join in'. She watched us with fascination as we ate. She was very used to putting things in her mouth by then but still watched intently. We got her a few plastic spoons to play with while we ate and she loved it! She obviously felt like she was joining in and this was enough for her. When she was six months old we started giving her bits of veg, and now - just over four months on - she pretty much eats the same as us. I've found it great, it's really making me eat healthier as well - she tends to want the same as me and fruit is much better for babies than chocolate!
I still can't believe how quickly she's growing up and how clever she is. She's definitely her own little person now and although I'm sad she's not tiny and totally dependent on me anymore I am so proud of how far she's come and excited for the things she will achieve when she's a bit bigger (but not just yet!)
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Friday, 13 May 2011
My must-have baby buys!
I thought I'd do a list of the things that have made my life easier since becoming a mummy:
Let's start with the most useful - muslins.
Muslins are AMAZING! They are so underrated. There are about a million uses for them (well, not a million, but a lot)
Firstly there's the traditional use - for burping. Great for protecting your clothes/the surrounding area from dribbles and sick. They are also useful for mopping up drips when feeding from a bottle, particularly if your baby is a messy drinker (as KK was and still is!) While we're on the subject of eating, in the early days when it's all feed feed feed you can guarantee they'll want feeding just as you're eating, and the trouble with eating one-handed while breastfeeding is that you will invariably drop crumbs on your poor baby! However, putting a muslin over them (keeping their head clear so you can both still see what you're doing) is a great way of catching the crumbs. It works for snacks as well (chocolate stains do not look good on the clothes of a week old baby!)
Another thing I found very useful was using them for naps. Tiny babies are very bad at napping when out and about because they don't want to miss anything while they're asleep (well, everything in the world is brand new!) Unfortunately, they also get very grumpy when they're overtired (actually so do I!) I find that hanging a muslin over the pram - or over your shoulder if you're holding them - means that they can't see anything to distract them, and therefore go straight to sleep (unless they're just not tired!)
They're also great for playing peek-a-boo, hours of entertainment! KK can now pull the muslin off her head herself if you put it on her and ask where she is. If you are ever out and need a bib or a sunhat and have forgotten to bring them, muslins can be used as makeshift versions of both of these things (of course if you forget the muslins as well you're screwed!) You can lay them on a changing mat to stop the baby getting too cold and/or to soak up wee quickly in case of an accident (thus avoiding a complete change of clothes - of course if you have a boy you may need a change of clothes!)
If you are out and don't have any toys to hand (for example because the baby has thrown them all on the floor) and need to keep them occupied/quiet then the label from muslin work well. Or you can tie it in a knot and pretend it's a toy. I have also used them to put decongestional drops on when KK has had a cold (I tie the muslin to the cot then put the drops on the knotted bit so she can't lick it!) Muslins also make great teethers, great to suck or chew on - particularly with a bit of teething gel on.
Next most useful thing - linkys. Little plastic rings with a little gap so you can link them to each other and/or other toys. I remember seeing a packet when I was pregnant and thinking 'just links - what's the point there are no toys in there!' - oh how naive I was! These things are brilliant. They were a first toy for KK, When she was about two months old I used to link two together and put them in her hand, then another two in her other hand, and link four together for me, then shake them and say "shakey shakey!' to her and she'd copy me - cue one very proud mummy! They're great toys for little hands, especially if you link them together. You can also use them to attach toys to prams and carseats, or to 'bling up' a baby gym! One of their best uses however, is as teethers. They're brilliant for little ones to chew when teething, and if you put a bit of teething gel on there then they're even better! This is particularly useful at night or when out and about, as rather than just licking the teething gel off you finger, if it's on a bumpy linky it will have contact with their gums much longer - therefore increasing it's effectiveness.
A car seat that attaches to your pram base is very useful for the early days. If the baby has fallen asleep in the car seat and you don't want to wake them (tip - never wake a sleeping baby unless it's an absolute emergency) then it is very useful to be able to just keep them in there and still be able to get where you're going.
Johnson's bubble bath and body wash (the new one in the orange bottle) The advert says squillions of bubbles and they're not lying! Great fun now that KK finally likes her baths. She is fascinated by the bubbles, although she does sometimes try to eat them!
Magic mat - this is a mat that sticks their plate/bowl to the highchair tray, so they can't pick it up and throw it everywhere. You can only get the plate off by pulling a tab (which you face away from the baby). The pack says it works better if you wipe the surface with a damp cloth before use. What it means to say is that if you don't make the tray moist the magic mat won't work, rendering it useless. The same applies with the sucker for the plate. (We usually use a few drops of water from KK's beaker) It took us a while to figure this out but now that we have it's a product that makes mealtimes a lot easier.
Jingley toys. We have a few of these, they are essentially soft animals (a butterfly, a giraffe, and elephant etc) which dangle from a ribbon which has a jingley thing halfway up it and a type of linky at the top. This means you can attach them to things like prams and carseats, and as you travel along they make a soft jingling noise, as well as giving the baby something to look at and - when they're a bit older - play with.
Of course there are other essentials like nappies, a cot, clothes and blankets, but as well as being obvious they're not nearly as fun!
Let's start with the most useful - muslins.
Muslins are AMAZING! They are so underrated. There are about a million uses for them (well, not a million, but a lot)
Firstly there's the traditional use - for burping. Great for protecting your clothes/the surrounding area from dribbles and sick. They are also useful for mopping up drips when feeding from a bottle, particularly if your baby is a messy drinker (as KK was and still is!) While we're on the subject of eating, in the early days when it's all feed feed feed you can guarantee they'll want feeding just as you're eating, and the trouble with eating one-handed while breastfeeding is that you will invariably drop crumbs on your poor baby! However, putting a muslin over them (keeping their head clear so you can both still see what you're doing) is a great way of catching the crumbs. It works for snacks as well (chocolate stains do not look good on the clothes of a week old baby!)
Another thing I found very useful was using them for naps. Tiny babies are very bad at napping when out and about because they don't want to miss anything while they're asleep (well, everything in the world is brand new!) Unfortunately, they also get very grumpy when they're overtired (actually so do I!) I find that hanging a muslin over the pram - or over your shoulder if you're holding them - means that they can't see anything to distract them, and therefore go straight to sleep (unless they're just not tired!)
They're also great for playing peek-a-boo, hours of entertainment! KK can now pull the muslin off her head herself if you put it on her and ask where she is. If you are ever out and need a bib or a sunhat and have forgotten to bring them, muslins can be used as makeshift versions of both of these things (of course if you forget the muslins as well you're screwed!) You can lay them on a changing mat to stop the baby getting too cold and/or to soak up wee quickly in case of an accident (thus avoiding a complete change of clothes - of course if you have a boy you may need a change of clothes!)
If you are out and don't have any toys to hand (for example because the baby has thrown them all on the floor) and need to keep them occupied/quiet then the label from muslin work well. Or you can tie it in a knot and pretend it's a toy. I have also used them to put decongestional drops on when KK has had a cold (I tie the muslin to the cot then put the drops on the knotted bit so she can't lick it!) Muslins also make great teethers, great to suck or chew on - particularly with a bit of teething gel on.
Next most useful thing - linkys. Little plastic rings with a little gap so you can link them to each other and/or other toys. I remember seeing a packet when I was pregnant and thinking 'just links - what's the point there are no toys in there!' - oh how naive I was! These things are brilliant. They were a first toy for KK, When she was about two months old I used to link two together and put them in her hand, then another two in her other hand, and link four together for me, then shake them and say "shakey shakey!' to her and she'd copy me - cue one very proud mummy! They're great toys for little hands, especially if you link them together. You can also use them to attach toys to prams and carseats, or to 'bling up' a baby gym! One of their best uses however, is as teethers. They're brilliant for little ones to chew when teething, and if you put a bit of teething gel on there then they're even better! This is particularly useful at night or when out and about, as rather than just licking the teething gel off you finger, if it's on a bumpy linky it will have contact with their gums much longer - therefore increasing it's effectiveness.
A car seat that attaches to your pram base is very useful for the early days. If the baby has fallen asleep in the car seat and you don't want to wake them (tip - never wake a sleeping baby unless it's an absolute emergency) then it is very useful to be able to just keep them in there and still be able to get where you're going.
Johnson's bubble bath and body wash (the new one in the orange bottle) The advert says squillions of bubbles and they're not lying! Great fun now that KK finally likes her baths. She is fascinated by the bubbles, although she does sometimes try to eat them!
Magic mat - this is a mat that sticks their plate/bowl to the highchair tray, so they can't pick it up and throw it everywhere. You can only get the plate off by pulling a tab (which you face away from the baby). The pack says it works better if you wipe the surface with a damp cloth before use. What it means to say is that if you don't make the tray moist the magic mat won't work, rendering it useless. The same applies with the sucker for the plate. (We usually use a few drops of water from KK's beaker) It took us a while to figure this out but now that we have it's a product that makes mealtimes a lot easier.
Jingley toys. We have a few of these, they are essentially soft animals (a butterfly, a giraffe, and elephant etc) which dangle from a ribbon which has a jingley thing halfway up it and a type of linky at the top. This means you can attach them to things like prams and carseats, and as you travel along they make a soft jingling noise, as well as giving the baby something to look at and - when they're a bit older - play with.
Of course there are other essentials like nappies, a cot, clothes and blankets, but as well as being obvious they're not nearly as fun!
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Money
There are many sayings about money, "Money can't buy you happiness" "Money is the root of all evil" and my personal favourite "Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy you a better class of woe!"
It's not that I want to be rich - I just don't want to be poor. Money is the kind of thing you don't notice until you haven't got it. While it's true that money can't, indeed, buy happiness, it is also true that worrying about not being able to pay the bills can make you rather sad. I don't consider my family 'very poor' but we have been struggling. A few years ago we were by no means rich, but we able to go out, buy new clothes (albeit from Primark!) and still have a bit to save at the end of the month. Now, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have no savings and with the little one, only one income. This means things we used to take for granted (petrol to go places/visit people, buying branded food instead of supermarket basics, buying the latest CD/DVD/game, last minute trips to the pub etc) are now very rare.
However, I have something much more precious. A gorgeous baby girl and a loving husband. We have fun together. Blowing raspberries on my daughters belly costs nothing but she finds it hilarious! Snuggling up with my husband watching tv, a family trip to the swings, a spontaneous disco dancing along to the radio, these are all things that money can't buy.
It can be frustrating not being able to afford nice things, but would I swap it? Not a chance!
It's not that I want to be rich - I just don't want to be poor. Money is the kind of thing you don't notice until you haven't got it. While it's true that money can't, indeed, buy happiness, it is also true that worrying about not being able to pay the bills can make you rather sad. I don't consider my family 'very poor' but we have been struggling. A few years ago we were by no means rich, but we able to go out, buy new clothes (albeit from Primark!) and still have a bit to save at the end of the month. Now, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have no savings and with the little one, only one income. This means things we used to take for granted (petrol to go places/visit people, buying branded food instead of supermarket basics, buying the latest CD/DVD/game, last minute trips to the pub etc) are now very rare.
However, I have something much more precious. A gorgeous baby girl and a loving husband. We have fun together. Blowing raspberries on my daughters belly costs nothing but she finds it hilarious! Snuggling up with my husband watching tv, a family trip to the swings, a spontaneous disco dancing along to the radio, these are all things that money can't buy.
It can be frustrating not being able to afford nice things, but would I swap it? Not a chance!
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Under the Weather
Under the weather - an odd phrase, (as well as two fab songs by Feeder and KT Tunstall) but a good way of describing someone who is not necessarily ill, but not their normal self. Like my bubba today. She slept in about an hour and a half later than usual today (woohoo!) but then didn't finish her breakfast (not like her at all - usually she's a bottomless pit and will eat anything!) She also didn't finish her bottle and is generally, well, under the weather. She's usually all smiles but I've barely seen a smile all day, and she's very quiet, not babbling away like she usually does. If it were another baby I wouldn't think anything of it, she's not crying or being sick, but I can tell she's not right cos I'm her mummy and we spend all (well, most) of our time together. There's a lot to be said for mothers instinct, but I think a lot of it, rather than instinct, comes from knowing your baby (or child, or indeed any other friend or relative) so well just from spending time with them. I'm not worried enough to take her to the doctors, I'm just gonna keep an eye on her and give her lots of cuddles. Oh, and I think the routine may go out the window today!
Monday, 9 May 2011
Where does the time go?
It's 4.30pm and I've got nothing done. Again. KK has watched far more CBeebies today than is probably good for her (or my sanity!) The washing up hasn't been done, the dirty clothes haven't been washed and the fridge hasn't been cleaned. Luckily I did the vacuuming last night (well, most of it) so the house is not a complete tip! So after a day of doing practically nothing why I am so tired? I think the answer lies in worrying. Worrying can tire a person out. I put such pressure on myself to get so much done that I spend the whole day worrying about how I'm going to fit it all in, never actually getting anything done. So what is the solution? Don't try to do it all? But things will always need doing. Where to start? What's the most important? What if they're all important?? Maybe a should make a list and assign certain tasks to certain days, but then I'd spend the whole time making lists (or worrying about making lists.) Maybe I should just forget everything and just get on with it? The problem with that is that I end up getting sidetracked again and again. At the end of the day I'm knackered and know I've done a lot but nothing is finished. Maybe I should just accept that after a busy weekend nothing much will ever get done on a Monday? Or maybe, just maybe, I should forget about everything and just spend the day playing with my gorgeous girl. The washing up can be done when she's in bed. Playing with her is such fun, probably enough to de-stress me and stop me worrying about the washing (which will still be there when she has a nap, or when daddy comes home and wants a cuddle) Playing with my baby is probably the best use of time and the most fun! And at the end of the day what have I achieved? I'm raising a beautiful, clever, funny girl, who before I know it will be off to school, college, uni, moving out, so I should really make the most of her while I can.
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