Discovery Home & Health

Janie- too right you are entitled to whatever you can get! We've paid taxes our whole lives so we can at least expect to be able to get help when we need it the most. I do know that you will be entitled to income support and you don't have to go on job seeker's allowance cos of Aisha.

Harriet's still screaming at dinnertime, she's fine at breakfast and lunch I've tried giving her a spoon but she just flung it angrily on the floor and screamed louder!

Our house has been burgled!! They got in through the kitchen window and stole DFs drum kit and lots of other stuff. Luckily most stuff is here but it doesn't make it feel any better. Have loads more stuff to do now before we can rent it. We're really hoping the insurance will pay out. They even stole the tv aerial wires, the police said it's cos of the copper in them???!! Also a box of Harriet's small clothes that I was saving for the next one

Waves to Pobs, I have messaged on your thread x

Hello, all,

Hi Pobs, emailed you this morning.

Oh Rusty Thats awful, never been burgled but when my car stereo was nicked i felt invaded, and that was just my car!

Jane, just apply for everything, I was single mum few years ago, long story short, moved out of marital home with 3 kids and applied for everything, including money to get furniture, got some of it but not all, but certainly worth asking about everything, We find ourselves particually skint with df not been working for 3 months, heading for the 4th, we are applying for income support as not likely he goes back for a while yet.

Decided i have a really naughty baby, she is only happy into something that is not hers and a danger, she cant crawl but can trash the lounge in about 10 mins.
Got to go, Sophie bored of trashing lounge and screaming!

Take care all,#

Pinky, in a rush!!!

Rusty, really sorry to hear about your burglary, how awful. Can't believe the took the tv aerial wires, how ridiculous. Hope the insurance pay up promptly so you can get it rented asap.

Janie, sorry to hear about your job. Guess as they've shut the company down you don't have any recourse from being made redundant when on maternity. Absolutely you should claim for what's rightfully yours, as you say if you've paid in all your life,you deserve some support now when you need it. LOL at Aisha flapping like a fish - Jemma does exactly the same and gets very frustrated. She's now learnt a new trick by clicking her tongue and thinks it's hilarious . She's also very grumpy if she doesn't have her lunchtime siesta too.

Pinky, sounds like Sophie's a smart cookie, into lots of things she can't have and wants mummy's attention all the time! Shame about your df not being able to work too, hope you're coping ok {{hugs}}

All well here, another lovely day at the beach, Jemma loves watching all the other kids playing, keeps her entertained for hours!

Good news re Bandit, he's not diabetic but now they think it could be thyroid problem so waiting on blood test results.

Better dash, Jemma calling...

Jenny xx

Hi All,

Well school holidays nearly done, that went quick, its been lovely having the kids about, not looking forward to school run starting back up, have saved a fortune in petrol!
Sophie will miss the house being full, we have a quiet weekend this weekend so she will have a few days to adjust.
I saw a thing in a catalogue that you put over the seat in a supermarket trolley and it gives something for baby to play with and keeps them away from the germs lurking on the trolley, especially as they always seem to chew on the thing and it must be the most germ infested place there is what with everyone and his dog touching it. Anyway it was out of stock so i looked on amazon where i got it from a place called BILLYBABY, its called a cart safari and is fab, will test run today and give you all a verdict!!
Sophie is into her big seat in the car now, she really grew out of the pther one and hated facing the wrong way, she is MUCH happier now so i am too.
Nights are getting better at last, she goes to about 5 then quick milk and then few more hours, she is missing the 3am time slot now and on occasion the 5am, we are all much happier with her sleep!
Af is not only back but is worse than it has ever been, i hope she misses the wedding i am on now and its in 9 weeks this weekend so hopefully as i am on time i will be ok, dont want to go into too much detail but lets just say super strength everything only goes an hour, in Jan we are deciding on the more baby thing then if no more babies the mirena is going back in, some people have issues with it but is was good 4 me, it just about stopped af and right now that would be lovely.

Hello to all, hope babies are all well,

Not many of us seem to be here now, i just read my birth story on here again, ahhhhhh I must admit though to be glad she is bigger now and easier, she has been a very demanding little girl and is so much easier and happier now she has gone past the 6 month mark, i would say that was her turn around point i suppose its understanding a bit more but she is lovely!

Must dash, baby to clean up, rush everywhere and a wet bottom to change, I love this stage!

Take care all, big hugs mums and babies,

Pinky xx

hi all

don't get on here too much now but try and keep up.
all is going well here, henry has slept 7-6 the last 2 nights so hoping he's cracked it.
tom 7-6 too so could be up for some serious sleep catching up if this continues

stopped feeding henry at night 2 weeks ago, ready for serious controlled crying but he hardly whimpered! he woke on and off at different times until i was ready to give in, then slept through!

both boys are starting to 'talk' to each other which is really cute

think henry is ready for the front facing car seat - we had a little go the other day, and he loved it - but he's not heavy enough (i don't think anyway, haven't had him weighed in a while), not old enough (the car seat says 9mo) or tall enough to justify it yet.
have bought the seat (as tom still in his) so just need to decide when to change.

i am (slowly) still losing weight, not fast enough for me really, but more importantly i am getting smaller so now having problems with size 14 trousers falling down! but haven't found any 12's tho i must have some somewhere....

right, going to post before anything goes wrong....keep well everyone

hi everyone,
sorry not been on a while, DP came for a few days last week and then i went to stay with sister for a couple of days to see the kids before they went back to school.
Can't believe my eldest nephew starts secondary school next week, makes me feel old.

Rusty - sorry to hear about yr burglary, it beggars belief what the thieving buggers will steal these days, they have no morals.

Pinky - i can relate to what you say about sophie being naughty, aisha will scream the place down if i take the remote off her or i wont let her hold the phone when i'm talking on it.
Love the sound of the thing for the supermarket trolleys, i have to walk round with my elbows over the metal to stop her sucking it but gets tricky when trying to pack and stop her doing that to, let us know how you get on with it, may have to invest if it works.
Sorry to hear about af,i don't know whats happening with mine, i've decided to stop taking the pill as i was coming on every 2 wks but only really light and also it has made me pile on the weight. Other options are very limited now so have to be extra careful, really can't have another addition now (even if i do want one but can't cope with 2 on my own). I did have the mirena but just didnt get on with it but like you say it suits some and not others.

mojo - it must be great being so near to the beach, glad Jemma is enjoying it, happy to hear yr cat is not diabetic, hope it ends up nothing to serious.

katyt - aww its lovely that both yr boys are "talking" to one another. Know what you mean about the car seat, i know aisha is still far too small to go into front facing seat but she tries to sit up and hates facing backwards now but will have to wait a while until she's bigger. well done on the weight loss.

well not much more to report from me, it's now been 1 whole week since i gave up bf aisha. She is now sleeping through the night, about 10 or 11 hrs, done by controlled crying which worked really well, so i dont have to feed in the night and she just was not interested in taking feed in the morning, think the milk was not satisfying her so swapped it for a bottle. I felt quite sad knowing that was the end but i know she was ready to stop. Saying that tho i still seem to be producing milk as i am leaking a little. Does anyone know how long it'll be before it dries up completely?

The sleeping as i said was done by controlled crying which i was loathe to do but could not cope with sleepless nights any longer. Well as you can see above it was very successful and even at my sisters where she was in strange room and in travel cot she settled quickly and slept all night. Tonight is a record, only took 5 mins and off she went into land of nod and heard nothing since.

Well off to appt at job centre tomorrow morning to discuss claim for income support, do hope i get it or i will be looking for job very quickly!! Can't see why i shouldn't but wont count my chickens.

Right off now to watch a bit of tv before bed,

take care all
Jane
xxx

Jane,

Hope it went well at the job centre this morning.

We are on our 3rd day of controlled crying as recommended by HV and I'm finding it really hard. I was pleased to read that you managed it successfully and it works...has given me hope!! Would you mind telling me how you did it? The first couple of nights we were in about 3-4 times, saying 'night night' and putting her dummy in and she settled but last night was not good. She screams so much she sounds like she's going to choke and gets all hot and bothered. She has alot of stamina and can scream for ages, and when I do go in after 5, 10 mins etc. when I leave she just screams even louder...
Is it better to leave them so they eventually calm down by themselves of pop back to check at the risk of starting the frenzy up again? HV warned me we have to be consistent and persistent which I am committed to doing but just want reassurance that we're doing the right thing, heart-wrenching as it is. Out of interest, how long did you do it before you saw signs of improvement with Aisha? Thanks for any advice, really appreciate it.

On a different note, just rescued a tiny vole (shaken but alive!) from Bandit in the garden. He was playing with it like a toy - horrid. Anyhow he's now sulking behind the sofa and little vole hopped off into the bushes. My good deed for the day

Waves to everyone else, hope all is well,

Jenny xx

Hi Jenny,

Got on ok this morning thanks, will have to wait for them to make decision but don't anticipate any problems, just gonna have to really tighten the purse strings but as long as i can pay the bills and aisha has food thats my main concern.

Re the controlled crying, i have to say it was hard at the beginning but it has only been 9 days and the change is just amazing. Aisha has a good pair of lungs on her too and she has a trick of pretending to choke and cough which magically goes away when you go to her, the things babies learn amaze me really.

Anyway the first night i was up and down the
stairs every 5 mins for about 40 mins, i just kept going in and shusshing her and stroking her hands and face but she calmed down each time then just started again when i left the room. It was hard but just before she went off she just rolled onto her side and sighed so i know she didn't go to sleep in a state. To be honest i didnt like the thought of her crying herself to sleep so just held her hand and then when she rolled over let go.

The second night was completely different, took me about an hour and half before she settled

then each night since then has been gradually better, some nights half hour, some only 5-10 mins, even when staying at my sisters she was really good about 20 mins.

Tonight i've not had to go back up at all, she had her milk then winded and put in sleeping bag and she started to snuggle into my shoulder which usually means she's ready for sleep so i took her up at 7 laid her down and switched monitor on and not a peep, she's gone off on her own

I have to say it was very hard at the beginning but now i think she has latched on and to be honest she is sleeping much better for it and is a much happier baby during the day , she is sleeping between 10 and 11 hrs a night. This morning she woke at 5 but just put dummy back in and she went straight off again, heard her talking about 7 and went down to get bottle ready, when i came back up she was fast asleep again so i had shower, got dressed and cup of tea before actually having to go in and wake her at 8 for her milk!!!! I would have left her if i'd not had to go out early.
I really can't believe the change in such a short time but i have to say it has been worth it.
As they say short term pain, long term gain...

Hope that all makes sense as i do tend to ramble and good luck.


Well done on the vole, my moggie tends to bring in birds and its usually slow sparrows that end up biting the dust with me chasing her round the room trying to rescue it, usually to no avail, the poor things tend to die of fright first.

Hi to everyone else
Jane
xx

Hi everyone,

Just read on another thread not to give baby ready brek because of the salt in it but I've been giving it to Harriet since she was 6 months old!!! And that was on the advice of my HV Think I'll just stick with the weetabix instead.

We've put in our insurance claim for the break in, some of the stuff seems really stupid but it's all worth money that we have to find to rebuy it. Some of the weird stuff they took: all the food out of the cupboards (baked beans and pasta etc!), a clothes dryer, our manky bin, an old rug, 2 mirrors, all our cutlery and crockery, xmas decorations and an ironing board!! Wtf!!

Hoping they'll pay out, fingers crossed.

Mojo- naughty Bandit catching the vole! Bet he's not happy with you.

I can't do controlled crying either as Harriet is much more stubborn than me and will literally scream for hours until she gets what she wants. Think it's an omen of things to come

Janie- what did the job centre say? I've not had leaky boobies for a long time but I guess they'll come back when I stop bfing too. Harriet's still taking 5 good feeds a day so no plans to stop yet. Although I did feel embarrassed (first time in ages) when I fed her in public yesterday and might try to make sure that I can avoid it. She comes off so much and looks around!

Well done Aisha on sleeping through

Kt- well done Henry on sleeping through Aww how cute that your 2 boys are talking to each other!

Pinky- well done Sophie on (nearly) sleeping through!

Sorry your AF is so bad. Mine started today which is good cos I had a dream that I was pregnant again and was getting a bit worried I read through my birth story too and my posts leading up to labour and it was weird! Haha can't believe I thought I was constipated!

I have bought Harriet a front facing car seat too but think she's still too small to go in it. Do they have to weigh 20lb? Think it might be a while before she weighs that as she was 15lb 2oz last week. I could not resist and got her a pink flowery maxi cosi one, my one little luxury Got it a bit cheaper than normal from kiddicare so not too bad.

Waves to everyone else gotta go guests here poo!

Rusty x

Jane,

Thank you so much for that, you've been a real help. How fantastic that Aisha slept until 8am, what a good girlie.

I'm so pleased it's worked for you and as you say the short term upset is worth it in the long run and evryone's happy . I think what has surprised me is there's no rhyme or reason to it and every night seems to be different despite us sticking to the same routine. Anyhow, don't want to jinx it but tonight was much better. She boo-hooed for about 5-10 mins and just as I was about to go in she stopped and fell asleep Just thinking how lovely it would be if it continues...we shall see.

So hubby & I are sitting here in peace with our bottle of rose and chinese - very civilised.

Rusty, hope your insurance company pays out - can't believe they took food as well - bizarre?!? My health visitor and baby books both recommend ready brek and Jemma loves it. Did buy some weetabix today to try though. Had Jemma weighed and she's now 16lbs 9oz so must be doing something right even though she spits out most of my veg! Talking of pregnant, my lovely friend from antenatal class (who had a baby boy on the same day Jemma was born) has just found out she's pregnant again! She's delighted although a bit shocked - can't imagine that feeling all over again now, not sure I could face that looong 9 months again.

Waves to Katy and Pinky, have a lovely w/e all.

Jenny xx

Hello all,

bad night last night, Sophies monitor alarm went off twice which is a bit weird, must check it today see if its moved or not connected up. She is all tired and snuggly on my lap!
She has a nasty rash on her chin, and down her back, looks like heat rash, will keep an eye on it and use magic cream that worked last time see how it is mon.

Rusty,
how strange, stealing your food? never heard of that, some people are really odd!
I heard ready breck is a NO NO, its why its important babies have baby foods, its much more pure and no added stuff babies cant cope with. As for your health visitor, well... Weetabix is the only no added salt cereal babies can eat, and i found it makes bottoms sore. Sophie has 7months+ cow and gate bananna porridge and it is in quite big packs so goes a long way, she is quite fussy.
She loves toast so i give her plain bits of toast to chomp on, it must rub the gums nicely!
Sophie was just too long for the car seat, i felt it was safer to be in one she fitted in,(18lb to fit the one i got) and she fits all snuggly in the new one, all my children are tall, dont know why, i am a short arse! I must carry a tall gene, my 14 year old towers over me now, and my other dd i was told 'shes not underweight, shes over tall' whatever the difference is!!!
I have had the dreaming i am pregnant dreams, i used to get them where i could feel the baby kick, i think its quite disturbing but i do try not to think about it too much when i am pregnant it freaks me out!!
xx

Jane,
The supermarket thing went well, its got microban on it for added protection, she is still a bit wobbly in the seat but it was a hit with Sophie. There are 3 different versions, one just covers the handle, one from front to back and a full seat one, fropm about £8 to £26 if you go on amazon and look for trolley seat covers it should give some pics, billy baby mine was from they were very fast.
Sounds like you have bedtime sussed, Well done!
Sophie settles with her daddy stroking her head, its easier than keeping everyone else up, think the trouble is yet to come with sleep, i know she will be happier with a good nights sleep, its not too bad, when school goes back, i will be up at Sophie time!
Sure you will be fine re money, i am cutting back but Sophie is always my priority, i am not a great shopper, i dont like clothes or shoe shopping so my money goes on the children, petrol and food!
xx

Jenny,
good luck for weekend sleeping, once you started it gets easier.
How nice with your hubby and wine, i had 2 glasses of wine the other day, i really enjoyed it, then next day had first migraine in months so think i will give it a miss from now on.
xx

Kt,
Well done Henry, being a goog boy for Mummy, little boys are good! in my 2 boy, 2 girls experience the boys are much easier, my other dd was great as a baby but dosent half wind her brother up now, there all lovely but the boys are easier at all ages!!
xx

Anyway had better post b4 i hit a wrong button and loose all this!
Sophie all sleepy still, kids away, df in bed still, lazy bum, nothing planned for today really, still wrapped up in wedding plans...9 weeks today aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Have lovely weekends!

Pinky xx

I am concerned now as I have given Harriet Ready Brek nearly every day for 6 weeks, I can't believe the HV recommended something which babies shouldn't have! I am not happy, I hope I haven't done her any damage as I'm usually so careful with salt.

Pinky, 9 weeks to go ...how exciting. Remember to cherish every minute as the day whizzes by so quickly...I didn't sleep a wink the night before ours, sheer adrenalin kept me going and I didn't stop beaming all day. It was the best day of my life apart from having Jemma of course.

I really am shocked as I've been giving ready brek to Jemma and she loves it! She's so-so with Weetabix but loves Hipp banana porridge. We are limited as alot of the baby cereals have skimmed milk in which she can't have. Paediatrician said we can try soya soon so I bought some Alpro yogs but they are full of sugar!! I'm going to sneak in some grated cheese next week and see how we go, would be souch a relief if she's grown out of this dairy intolerance. I got this lovely wholegrain bread with cranberries in it yesterday as she now likes sucking on toast (v. messy)so will try that at tea-time.

Which car seat have you got for Sophie? Jemma is also very long and her legs are dangling over her current one even though she's within the weight limit. Need to go shopping again...like you I no longer spend money on me,it goes on Jemma, and living. Have to be more careful now my income has dried up. Have heard about Working tax credits but not sure if we qualify but will look into it.

All this talk about pregnancy and siblings playing together has got me thinking...hubby is keen for another but I'm a bit apprehensive a) because of my age - 40 now - eek! and b) because my 9-month sickness was unbearable. If we are going to go for it then I guess we need to decide pretty soon, always think it's lovely to have siblings, even if they do bicker!!

Rusty, are you going to stay away from ready brek now? I will have another chat with my HV next week to double-check.

Jane, hope Aisha's sleeping well and you get some mummy-time to yourself. Jemma's having her siesta now and I've got washing to hang out. Beautiful day here, DH playing golf then we're all going for a walk along the beach.

Katy, hope you're well and your boys are still sleeping better so you're getting a bit more sleep too Well done on weight loss...I dream of size 12's....they're in the wardrobe gathering dust!

Better dash, Jemma stirring, enjoy the sunshine everyone

Jenny xx

Rusty,

All my friends from antenatal classes are feeding their babies Ready Brek and Annabel Karmel ( the guru of weaning) recommends it! She also says that Weetabix is fine in moderation as too much fibre in a baby's diet can prevent them from absorbing nutrients.I am sure Harriet will be fine so try not to worry about it, I know how you feel though. We've been using the original RB and the Sodium levels are less than 0.10g per 30gm ser

Rusty,

All my friends from antenatal classes are feeding their babies Ready Brek and Annabel Karmel ( the guru of weaning) recommends it! She also says that Weetabix is fine in moderation as too much fibre in a baby's diet can prevent them from absorbing nutrients.I am sure Harriet will be fine so try not to worry about it, I know how you feel though. We've been using the original RB and the Sodium levels are less than 0.10g per 30gm serving. I think it's probably ok to use now and then but not every day buut I will ring my HV and check.

There seems to be alot of debate on this one. Pinky, out of interest, where did you hear it's a no-no?

Christening rehearsal this afternoon, hope Jemma's a good little girl for the vicar!!

Jenny xx