Weaning, what age and method?!

As a first time mum, you don’t ever know when the right time is to do things. Each baby is different and each parent believes things should be done at different times. So when it comes to weaning, when is the best time?

The government are now saying nothing until 6 months, yet all the packaging in the supermarkets sells food in from 4 months plus and if your baby needs bulking out, you can feed it baby rice earlier. Also, I had read up on baby led weaning, which is giving your baby solids, and basically what you eat from 6 months, without giving them pureed foods.

I had planned to do the baby led weaning route and had been told you can give them food slightly before 6 months (which my daughter is) and when she grabbed out for my food, I knew that she was ready, but it is scary to do, especially during the day when I’m ion my own as they do gag on the food sometimes and I’m worried she will choke and I won’t know what to do. So, being a bit of a cop out I went and got some pureed food and mushed up some rusks which she absolutely loved and gobbled a plate full straight away.

I’m going to introduce a bit more solid food, like pasta and rice and potato, all the things that can’t completely break off and choke her but she will be tasting more things and not having everything mushed up for her. So, tonight she will try a bit of fish pie and see how she gets on!

Has anyone else been frightened by the baby led weaning or not sure when to introduce things? I’d love to hear other people’s stories about what worked best for them and at what age.

Emily x
Image: federico stevanin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Formula vs Boob

I started off breast feeding my daughter and having thought it would be weird and I wouldn’t like it, I found it to be very natural and, to me, it was the best start in life I could give her.

After having enough milk to feed 10 babies at the start, my milk supply dwindled and I had to introduce formula to one feed a day, this then increased to two feeds and kept increasing until I was only breast feeding her on a morning. Then I became really ill with a tooth abscess which meant I was on really strong antibiotics and for a couple of weeks had family round to look after the baby as I kept getting severe migraines and couldn’t see, let alone look after a child. Thankfully, they went away, but after not being able to feed her on a morning my milk supply had completely gone.

By this point my daughter was over 3 months and had had all the goodness I could possibly give her, she was growing well and was in a great feeding routine and a fantastic sleep pattern so it didn’t seem to be bothering her one little bit.

I wish I had been able to feed her for longer, but I’m not ever going to beat myself up about it, because I know I have done the best for her and the best for me. I have got friends who have been miserable because they have a low milk supply and can’t feed their baby every feed and I have friends who have combated everything in a bid to breast feed for a full 6 months, whether they have to top them up with formula or not and I have friends who express and do bottle and boob. What I have learnt is that if you’re happy and the baby is happy, then do what your instincts tell you to do, never feel like you have let yourself or anyone else down and go with your gut feelings.

My daughter is the happiest little thing, she loves her bottle, she can even hold it herself now and her eyes light up when she sees it coming towards her, she is being weaned and her weight is fantastic, plus I am happier that she is actually getting food and not having a boob stuck in her face that can’t give her anything.

With my next child I will do exactly the same thing, I will breast feed for as long as I can and do what is best for that baby, not what was best for my daughter. Looking at the other girls in our NCT group, I have realised that each baby is so different, they do different things at different times and they all have their own personalities and above all, a happy mummy makes a happy baby.
Emily x
Image: Lavoview / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Longing for a room she can call her own

Currently, me and my partner live in a 2 bed flat with our nearly 6 month old little girl and my 16 year old stepson. Those of you who are good at maths will have worked out that the people out number the amount of rooms available!
We put the house on the market in October, just before my daughter was born, in the hope we would have sold and be out in around 6 months. Everything was going according to plan, until our buyer decided to pull out at the last minute. She had got nervous as she was a first time buyer and wasn’t from this country originally, so everything was different and she felt too far from home. This left us in a very tricky situation as we had fallen in love with our dream house.
We may still be able to buy the house of our dreams – which incidentally, to everyone else is a bog standard house on a bog standard estate in reach of nice schools, but to us, it has potential and is somewhere we can see us staying for the rest of our days, but my main disappointment when we lost our buyer was that I couldn’t do a nursery for my little girl.

I realise this is more for me than her, as she doesn’t give a hoot where she sleeps at the moment and having her own room is not on her list of priorities, but it’s high on mine. I feel a bit cheated that I wasn’t able to do it before she was born, and now that I have got my hopes up of a new house and, in my mind, have decorated it, I want to give my daughter a space of her own, I want to put up her big cot instead of the travel cot she’s using now, I want to put up the bunting with her name on that my friend made for her, I want to put the wardrobe that was her great grandfathers but is now a shabby chic wardrobe fit for a princess and the toy box that sits and waits and my parents house that my great grandfather made. It’s all there it just needs a room to put it in and I am getting more impatient by the day to put it all together.

I know it might sound silly, but this is the one thing that in my dreams I wanted to do, I wanted to be the mum who had the nursery all ready, with a chair in the corner where I would feed her during the night but I guess I’ll just have to wait for my dream and it will be in a bit of a topsy turvy order but one day she will have a room to call her own.

Has anyone else had a dream for them or their child that hasn’t quite gone according to plan?

 Emily x
Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Work Life Balance...

As my daughter (now 5 months) gets bigger and more interested in things and demands more attention I am feeling ever more guilty that I am not spending as much quality time with her as I would like to.

But as I sit doing my work and take time out to go see the other mums from my NCT group, I realise that when they go back to work shortly, I will still be with my baby and see her all day, everyday – so should I feel guilty?

I try and spend as much time as possible and entertain her and she is such a good little girl who plays and laughs (mainly at me) and doesn’t seem to be missing out on anything, but it is so hard to try and get the balance right throughout the day, spending enough time on work and enough time on the children.

So, what does everyone think is right? Should I take an hour out of each day to go for a walk? Should I take 2 hours out, and have activity time? What is the right thing to do? And, would I feel like this if I spent 6 months to a year with my baby, then went back to work? Probably not, I would put her in nursery and spend evenings and weekends with her, so am I being too harsh on myself?

Comments and advise please? Do any of you struggle to get the work, life balance right as self-employed mums?

Emily x

Putting all your eggs in one basket

Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Egg donation was in the news recently and whilst watching ‘Loose Women’ where they were discussing it and the procedure you go through, as I sat on the sofa, I thought – would I do that for someone close to me that was unable to have children any other way?

Later that month I was speaking to a very close friend of mine, who I have grown up with since being 5 years old and she mention egg donation and whether I would consider it. Now, this said by anyone else would be a general question but my friend has a genetic disorder which she could very easily pass on to a baby, they have been through lots of disappointing stages to try and have a baby both naturally and looking at IVF where only healthy eggs, without this gene were planted but their options are running out and their hopes have been slashed.

It got me thinking back to the programme and the procedure you have to go through so I looked it up online. I didn’t realise that it was such an invasive operation with quite a few risks, including damage to your bowel or bladder and potentially making you sterile, obviously there are always risks during any surgery but egg donation for a women is not like it is for a man, who has to wander into a private room clutching a cup and a magazine from the top shelf!

Also, being a mum – only 4 months into the job, but I can see characteristics of me, I can see little bits of me from baby photos and nobody in this world could prize me away from my little girl, how would I feel if I saw those characteristics in a friends child? I think I would be insanely jealous and part of me would want my child back. I know I couldn’t do surrogacy for this reason, there is no way I could hand a baby over that I had looked after for 9 months. I would also wait until I was happy that I had had all the children I was going to in case it did make me sterile.

On reflection I came to the conclusion that emotionally I don’t think I could do it and also weighing up the risks and potential problems of surgery, bearing in mind I have had a lot of bowel problems so have a very thin lining which could be punctured very easily, I decided that my answer would have to be no. Having said that, I feel desperately sorry for my friend and a bit selfish as I have a beautiful baby girl but I know that she would never expect me to do anything or think bad of me if she did come and ask me straight out and at least I can tell her my thought process.

What do you all think of egg donation? Would you do it for a friend or family member or would you do it for money? I look forward to your comments.

Emily x

Born Free Coolflow Soother Review

My little girl had taken to sucking her thumb to comfort herself – she was even sucking it on my scan picture! We decided to use soothers as we have seen the damage thumb sucking can do to a childs teeth and as my partner always says “You can take away a dummy, but you can’t take away a thumb”.

I was asked to review these soothers, which I was really pleased about as I was using another leading brand and my baby wasn’t able to hold them in her mouth properly making her more frustrated rather than soothing her. When I switched to Born Free at 2 weeks old, she took to it straight away and held it in her mouth a lot better.

I like the shape of the soother it looks like my baby is comfortable and it doesn’t come too close to her nose like others do. Another bonus is that there is no ‘right way up’ for the soother like there is with others, making it easy to pop in a frustrated babies mouth rather than faffing around working out which way up it goes.

When I met up with other mums who have babies of a similar age they were all envious of the soother and asked what brand it was as they had similar problems with the ones they were using not staying in the baby’s mouth and were getting annoyed with having to put it in a certain way up.

The colours of the soothers (purple and green) are very bright, which I was a little put off by at first but having used them have come to like the fact that if they do fall out into her rocker or moses basket I can find them quickly and easily unlike the transparent ones I was using previously.

They come with a little cap that fits over the teat of the soother so you can carry them around easily and hygienically.

The soothers are also BPA, PVC and Phthalates free and are sold as being orthodontic which is a must in my eyes.

Overall I would recommend the Born Free Coolflow Soothers, they tick all the boxes are good value for money and I will be purchasing another pack and ditching the other brand I previously used.

Emily x

BornFree™ CoolFlow Soother / Dummy / Pacifier Information:
An orthodontic silicone soother with a rounded cherry shaped teat. 100% free of BPA, Phthalates and PVC, this innovative BornFree™ soother features a breathable shield with extra large air holes to reduce moisture around the mouth and, raised soft edges to protect sensitive skin.  Supplied with a hygienic snap-on cap, simply pop over the teat to keep clean.

Available Stages
Stage 1: 0-6 months
Stage 2: 6 months +
Twin pack £5.50 from www.babybornfree.co.uk

Lifft Baby Sling Review

Cocoa & Coral Lifft Sling

I received my Lifft Sling to review and was really excited, it looks gorgeous, the colours are really nice, the fabric is soft and it looks really comfortable.

I then had to work out how to put it on, which I managed with guidance from their web page. The difficult part was getting my daughter into it, I followed the instructions to do a front lift and tried with a teddy bear first, but however I did it, I felt like I was squishing her in and she wasn’t too impressed about being in there.

I persevered with the front lift and did manage to carry her around and she fell asleep in there but I couldn’t get my head round her being squished. So the next time I used it I tried the little Buddha lift (from 3 months only), which is fairly complex in terms of getting the baby in there and I had to lift my baby quite high in order to slide her in but she seemed much happier peeking out of the sling and enjoyed it for longer. She wouldn’t stay in there for more than half an hour before getting a bit fretful, I don’t know if it is because she doesn’t like sitting cross legged for too long?

Whilst she would sit in it, the sling was comfortable and distributed the weight evenly, I didn’t have back ache at all and it enabled me to get on with things around the house whilst she was still close.

I think my Lifft sling will come in most handy when my daughter is 6 months old and I can do the side lift, where the baby is sat on your hip but the weight is distributed more and you have more support, I am looking forward to trying this position and think it will be the most successful.

I want to love this sling as it looks stunning but I have personally had a few issues with getting my daughter into it, at the moment she prefers her standard front carrier and will be happy in that walking round town in and out of shops for a few hours. Also with a standard carrier you can swap it over with someone else, with the Lifft Sling, you order it in your dress size and my husband isn’t a size 10 so he can’t carry her around at all.

As I’ve mentioned I think it will be invaluable from 6 months, I will update you on my progress and let you know what she thinks of the side lift!

Emily x

A little bit about Lifft Slings:
Your little one is carried at your centre of gravity and encourages you to stand up straight. The hip carrying position means you no longer need to 'kick' out hips to support toddlers and instead their weight is spread comfortably across your hip, shoulder and back. This means it also doesn't place any pressure on a baby's developing spine, keeping them in the recommended carrying position.

Easy to put on with no buckles clips or straps to do up, meaning the sling can be used without help and be put on with just one hand -  also allowing for fuss-free and discreet breastfeeding.
The perfect fit...
The fit of a baby sling is crucial to protect both your posture and your baby's, so is available in a multitude of sizes and styles, for both mums and dads shape. The Lifft™ sling comes in a variety of sizes from 6 to 22 for ladies, or S, M & L for men and is sized to fit the wearer. Particular sizes can also be made specifically for you and your individual shape and size.            

The sling is machine washable, made in the UK and folds down to the size of a nappy - perfect for squeezing in when you're on the run.
Lifft™ sling £49.99 also available in other colourways from www.lifftslings.com

The Christmas take over

PaperTigerNStitches Baby's 1st Xmas Ornament

This Christmas is my little girls first, she's not going to remember all the fuss at 3 months old but I will, and that's what's bothering me.
She’s the first grandchild for my parents and I can't help feeling that everything I'm trying to do to remember her 1st Christmas is being taken away from me.

My mum bought her a Christmas outfit, we'd already decided on a little dress we liked but not bought it yet, we then saw the perfect advent calendar with little doors to open that would last her years but through the post arrived an advent calendar made by my mum that she can keep every year instead, then we decided that instead of big presents this Christmas because she would get so much we would start a charm bracelet for her so that when she's older she'll have something to remember each birthday and Christmas by, along with that we'd get some books which the lead character has the same name as my daughter, they come in a series so would be a great addition and we could build those up every year, but on telling my sister our plans she announced that my mum had found those books and bought them already, my sister incidentally is making her a stocking which she will keep year after year. So now what is left for me to do?

This is my first child, my first Christmas with her and I want her to have a memory of one thing that mummy and daddy got for her first Christmas that she returns to every year, but instead we'll just have photos of everyone else’s presents.

I know they're all meant well and I love that she is being thought about and loved and I understand that she is a long awaited grand child but I just think we could have been consulted?

My partner thinks we should go ahead and get her the things we were going to and she'll just have duplicates but I'm reluctant as it isn't really the same. I think I'll just roll over like I usually do so I don't upset anyone and keep the peace and I am really grateful for everything anybody does for her so it's not like anyone’s done anything terrible! Plus I love Christmas and don't want anything to spoil it.

Having said that if my mum finds this blog (which is unlikely) I know she'd take it the wrong way and feel I'm unappreciative but all I want is to do just 1 thing for my daughter for her 1st Christmas.
Any ideas of keepsakes that I can make or buy for Christmas?
 Emily x

Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Feeding Bottles Review

I am breast feeding the majority of the time but wanted to introduce a bottle as I wanted to combine feed so that I had the choice and flexibility of both. I started using the bottle once a day with expressed milk at 3 weeks old and have since also used formula on occasions when I haven’t been producing enough breast milk.

I used the Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles and they do look like they mimic the breast, my baby took to them straight away and then went back on the breast for her next feed so she wasn’t confused or frustrated between the two.

The flow seems to be fine for her as she doesn’t totally glug it and it doesn’t let air back into the bottle. I can’t really comment too much on the anti colic easi-vent as my baby has had really bad colic whether on the breast or bottle and is on gripe water which still isn’t curing it, so for her they don’t seem to work but on the other hand they certainly don’t make her any worse when she is bottle fed. I think I just have an incredibly windy baby and the fact they don’t make her any worse than being on the breast must mean they are doing their job.

The bottles are BPA free and are easy to clean, they come out of the steriliser (I use the Tommee Tippee Microwave Steam Steriliser) looking bright and clear, unlike some bottles that have a dull look to the plastic. I like the shape of the bottles, they are easy to hold and use.

Overall I like the bottles and it has made it easy to combine bottle and breast with no latching on problems so I can rest assured that she is not going to reject the breast and I can be flexible with how I feed her. I would recommend to other mothers introducing bottles and combine feeding.

Emily x

Taking Control

Pic courtesy of "Bridget Jones Diary" the movie

As most of you will know I gave birth 5 weeks ago by caesarean. I thought the road to recovery would be long and painful but by the end of the first week I felt confident doing most of the things I did pre-pregnancy apart from not being able to lift heavy objects and drive. I believe that what helped my confidence and aided my recovery was... Wait for it... My control pants!

I'll explain… I was advised to get a pair whether I had a natural birth or c section by a few friends who had been given the advice from their midwives, and after I had the baby the physiotherapist that visits and shows you certain exercises also told me to get a pair - and it really was the best thing I did.

Not only do they hold your tummy in and make you feel like you've got a more flattering figure but they help hold in the ‘sag’ you get after giving birth – especially after having a c section they seem to hold everything in place and stop your tummy from pulling making it less painful, they also help with the swelling and mean that you don’t have pants that sit on your scar line or pinch half way up your tummy.

I invested in a few pairs so I could wear them during the day every day. You don’t have to spend a fortune, I found pairs in Matalan for £6 which I think is very reasonable and they were the ones that come up to just under your boobs. They are also handy, as they come up so high, for hiding your tummy when you’re breast feeding so you can lift up your jumper and not expose any flesh.

Confidence in your figure after pregnancy is such a big thing as you haven’t worn your everyday wardrobe for 9 months and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be itching to get into your pre pregnancy clothing, it made me feel great when I went out 8 days after giving birth and a few people commented on how great I looked and that my tummy was hardly there, the control pants were helping hold everything in and create a more flattering, flatter stomach - just hearing someone complimenting you boosts your confidence. The pants have also meant I can get into clothes that I would otherwise be self conscious in so I have got back to normality quicker than I would have imagined.

I just wanted make other new mums out there aware of the benefits of control pants as not all midwives tell you about them and such a small thing made me feel so much better in a lot of ways – and if they’re good enough for Bridget Jones, they’re good enough for us yummy mummy’s!!

Emily x

Having a baby - a right pain?

I had a beautiful baby girl 2 weeks ago and like many mums went over my due date, when my waters finally broke, I thought we were in business - but she had other ideas, 48 hours later I was induced and the process finally kicked off but after thinking I was in labour - the pain was certainly there, I wasn’t, that was just the induction working. When my contractions were every minute and lasting 40 seconds I again thought we had lift off but instead I was given an injection to slow them down and put on a drip, although I was 4cm dilated so a flicker of hope was there and I was in actual labour, so not long to go then?

14 hours of labour later and only dilating another centimetre with involuntary pushing and a swollen cervix I was given an epidural – the one thing that I wanted to avoid and the thing I was most scared of, but once I had it and I was given 2 hours of rest whilst my contractions continued it was clear that the baby just didn’t want to come out and I was taken down to surgery for a caesarean.

At the time I was really disappointed with myself that I hadn’t been able to have a natural birth and was now, after all that going to end up with an operation and a longer recovery time the other end, but once they did the operation they found she had turned herself and had the umbilical cord round her neck so there was no way that I would have delivered naturally without putting the baby at risk. This actually made me feel a lot better that it was something that couldn’t be avoided and throughout it all the baby had not once been in any distress so all round it was the best thing to happen.

I think the most incredible thing was about to happen though that once I had seen my gorgeous, perfect baby girl and was stitched up and wheeled through to post op, all the pain, the waiting, the discomfort seemed a million miles away and I’d forgotten what it felt like because every second was worth it. I always thought it was strange how people say you forget about what you’ve gone through when you’ve got your baby in your arms but it is so true. Even though I had lost a lot of blood and was weak and had to deal with the recovery, my milk coming in, the breast feeding, staying in hospital and everything else you face as a new mother I would do it all again if the outcome is this rewarding.

2 weeks on and I am mobile, we’ve been for a walk in the park, shopping and on the beach, something I wouldn’t have thought I’d manage in the first weeks after having a caesarean but I think if you keep an open mind and take everything in your stride and accept help when it’s offered you can do almost anything. I’m even back to writing blogs and doing work on only a few hours sleep – and believe me – if I can do it, anyone can.

So, if you’re thinking of having a baby, are pregnant or run your own business and wonder how you might cope, then take it from me, it can be done. My best piece of advice, coming from someone who wanted a purely natural water birth is to keep open minded and flexible and to do what is best for you and your baby. I am no longer disappointed with myself for not having a natural birth, I now know that that is the way it was always going to go and I’d have done anything to get my baby out safely and have her in my arms.

Emily

Meet our author - Emily

If you haven't noticed already we have some new peeps helping us deliver to you an exciting blog which will help you make parenting an easier and more fun ride!

Now you will get to meet Emily which will be sharing with us her new mummy ramblings and reviews! Glad to have her with us.

Now over to Emily...

Monica x

Mummy blogging

Why should people read my blogs about my experiences pre and post pregnancy? Hmmm! Why should you? Well, I write blogs already about my business which is design and marketing for print and web and enjoy having the odd rant here and there as well as providing people with useful hints and tips so when My Funny Bunny asked me to write as a mummy I thought I’d apply the same principals.

I am a first time mum, I have a stepson who is 16 who has been brought up by my partner for over 12 years and we live a very happy life together in Southend on Sea. I will not profess to be anything special or different from any other mum out there but I will hopefully strike a chord with people and relate to their experiences.

So you tell me what you want to hear about or comment on my blogs so I know what you do and don’t like and I’ll try and cater for all you mums and dads out there and hopefully add a bit of humour and general banter along the way!

Emily

The waiting game...

I have done the worst thing possible, I got into my head that my baby was going to be 2 weeks early! Now, with 2 days until my due date it already feels like I am over due. What will I do if I go over? I know I’m going to be a nightmare because I’m fed up now, I feel whale like and it’s uncomfortable. People have gone from saying “ooh, aren’t you tiny” just a mere few weeks ago to now likening me to someone who looks like they’ve swallowed a beach ball!

I only have myself to blame by trying to schedule the baby in like she was one of my clients but what do I do now? I suppose I just have to wait and see when she is ready to make an appearance!

I have a friend who I met at my NCT group and out of the 5 of us she was due first, she is now 4 days over and 1 of our group has already beaten her to the post, she has a large baby that could be a 10 pounder and she is relaxed as anything, she’s walking everywhere and thinks it’s funny that if we go into labour this weekend she could be the last of us to give birth. I really don’t know how she can still smile about it… is this me over reacting, should I just enjoy the last bit of pregnancy, try and relax and get over it?

I think I am just being impatient as we know it’s a girl, we decided on a name before she was even conceived and it’s like she has her own little personality already as people refer to her by her name, so I just want to meet her and see her, I want to know what colour hair she has, who’s nose she has, whether she has teeny ears like me and if she has a long body like her dad, the more I think about it, the more I feel like a small child at Christmas desperate to open the presents under the tree. We have so many plans for her, her things are ready we just need her to join us.

Well, I guess there’s nothing I can do other than the obvious curry, raspberry leaf tea, fresh pineapple and bumpy car journeys amongst other things so I’ll just have to play the waiting game!

I’ll keep you posted…

Emily