Tiny Turtle Hatchlings

[Kenickie]

Awww, she sounds properly adorable. That's good that she's so adaptable and not missing nursery.

Does she know about the new baby?

[Kenickie]

Tidying up after her tiny tantrum is super cute! It sounds like she's going to be a great big sister. To be fair it still blows my mind that that's how babies are made. ;)

[Kenickie]

I don't want to jinx things but the last couple of nights have been massively better. Both have managed at least one four hour stretch between feeds, and Tim did two last night. They've needed cuddling in-between, so haven't been asleep all that time, but it still makes things a lot easier for me as I can pass them over to P and go back to sleep rather than having to be awake constantly feeding them. I'm hoping that the sleepy sevens is a thing and this will continue!

How's everyone else?

[Kenickie]

I'm glad her sleep is getting better overall. Speech must be such a lovely stage, I guess their little personalities come out even more when they can talk.

[Rhodonite]

That sounds like excellent progress on the sleep, Ken

Arguing is quite cute, Beatrix! It can be so hard not to laugh at them sometimes!

Conchie is having a bit of a rubbish time for sleep, during the day and night. I think his teeth are really bothering him. He's started sitting up just for a wee bit before he loses his balance. H gets very frustrated at not being able to crawl, and of course we're weaning now, too.

[Kenickie]

Arguing and commands sound quite cute!

Sorry about Conchie's sleep. Maybe seven months will be a turning point for him too. How is weaning going? We've just moved up to having two meals a day now.

[Rhodonite]

Mine too, Beatrix. I fully hate weaning!

Some things he'll eat, some things will result in a look of disgust as soon as they touch his lips, and everything ends up on the floor and all over him! It's going well!

[Kenickie]

I hate the associated rigmarole, but I love seeing them chomp on stuff, and the little faces of surprise/ disgust. Topsy's new trick is to put a whole finger chunk of cucumber in sideways. we're doing a mixture of spoon feeding and blw though and she hates being spoon fed anything, whereas Tim is quite happy to let us do the work and wolfed down a load of banana porridge the other day.

[Kenickie]

How's everyone doing with tinies in lockdown? I had a couple of days last week when I really struggled, everything just started feeling really relentless like groundhog day. I never really had any of the post birth blues/bleakness I was expecting after reading threads on here, but it felt a bit like that, that everything was just hard and joyless. Luckily it was only temporary and I'm feeling a lot brighter now, although it still seems hard to not be able to go anywhere to give them different simulation and to see other faces etc. I guess it must be even harder with the older ones.

I have a disgusting question to ask, so look away now if you're eating.









What's the best way to deal with complete poonamis? One didn't poo yesterday and just now did so much that the whole vest was absolutely full, like the normal nappy amount but in the vest. I took it off downwards, and then wiped off all the solid stuff and then soaked the vest in napisan. It took about a million wipes though-is there a better technique? Just throw the vest away next time?

Sorry, I think that's the worst thing I've typed on here. I might put them back on just breast milk for the rest of their lives.

[Rhodonite]

I'm glad your feeling of bleakness hasn't lasted long. I didn't feel that after birth, either. So it must be odd for it to have come now. I did have a couple of days of crying over silly things, with J, but it quickly passed.

In that situation, I'd probably throw out the vest and dunk in the bath, after removing the solid stuff. Then clean water to rinse of. But I'm not sure how practical that is with two babies? Otherwise, I definitely find that reusable wipes are better at dealing with lots of poo than disposable ones.

[Kenickie]

I have actually got loads of cheeky wipes as I use them for wiping their hands and faces after meal times so that's a good idea. Dunking in the bath is possible if P is not on a call (inevitably he was this time) so will also do that next time. Throughout the other one was crying because they'd dropped their toy out of reach and I was just like 'that's really not something I can be concerned about right now'.

I think the lockdown has just maybe thrown up some weird feelings in response. I also had a few days where I couldn't sleep at night as was really anxious, and also felt constantly guilty that I don't do enough with them/don't stimulate them enough and was being a really bad parent.

[cluefree]

I think them just being alive is stimulating enough for them at the moment, Ken. Sometimes I worry that Pete isn’t getting enough to do while being trapped in here with us but honestly they’re so young and they won’t even remember it and it won’t do them any lasting damage. They’re safe and they’re with you and that’s the main thing. Obvs your (our) own mental health is a different matter. but really. These aren’t normal circumstances so don’t put even more pressure on yourself. There’s literally nothing you can do about it other than just keeping going.

[Rhodonite]

If it makes you feel any better, I keep forgetting to put Conchie on the floor, so at this rate, he's going to be a year old before he learns to sit or crawl!

[Princess Morripov]

I used to cut the vest off and bin in those circumstances. I remember my brother being horrified at how wasteful that was and I said he was more than welcome to attempt to remove and clean for me if he was around at such a moment. I found I couldn’t get those stains out anyway and those little vests are so cheap (like a 3 pack for a couple of quid in Tesco) anyway.

Biggie has always had the opposite problem and had been on medication (and up until recently on lactose free milk) since birth for constipation. It was all fairly under control but he’s really been struggling the last couple of weeks, so I do think he may have an intolerance/issue that could do with investigating, poor thing. It’s horrible watching him struggle so much. We had hoped we could start to reduce the medication he’s on but I think weaning has made it worse so we may have to increase it further.

Biggie started crawling a couple of weeks ago, so that’s nice he also loves bizzing about in the walker that a Tupac had and they chase each other around the house which is cute.

It is hard staying at home all the time and trying to occupy them both, I’m so used to be out all the time. We bought a massive climbing frame/swing/slide set for Tupac and A had made him a mud kitchen so he’s got lots to occupy him outside and he is really good at playing on his own most of the time anyway, and we’ve bought a big play pen to contain Biggie in the shade outside so that’s good too. I am so thankful we have a garden as the days when we had to stay in the house because we were getting some work done were so hot and awful

[Rhodonite]

Poor Biggie. I hope you can get it under control.

A mud kitchen is a good idea. I might suggest D makes one this weekend! J is unfortunately pretty rubbish at playing on his own, but he doesn't always have to choice.

I've just set up a play pen* inside, so Conchie has some space to movie around without J annoying him! I have ordered some foam mats, and radiator cover to go in it. I might see if we can do something similar for outside, as at the moment, I just sit him in his buggy when we are in the garden.

*The bit of paper is a sign J made, that says no big children allowed!

[Kenickie]

Awww that sign is so cute!

I'll be very happy if mine take a year or more to crawl.

I remember my brother being horrified at how wasteful that was and I said he was more than welcome to attempt to remove and clean for me if he was around at such a moment.

Sorry to hear that Biggie's having issues, I hope it's not too painful for him and can be sorted. This is probably too obvious but do foods like prunes help him at all?

I think them just being alive is stimulating enough for them at the moment, Ken.

That I can do.

I think it's that often they're left to their own devices (eg when the other is feeding or sleeping on me or being changed etc etc) rather than me interacting with them, and then they're also put in the jumperoos or in chairs in front of CBeebies/Tiny Pop if I need to get on with washing, cleaning etc which I feel like I shouldn't be doing. I mean, rationally I know that there's no evidence that screen time is harmful but so many people online seem to be virulently against it so I feel like I'm being really neglectful when they're so little.

Also, if I put them in a jumperoo and then go up to the toilet or whatever, their faces just massively light up when I come back so I feel like it makes them so happy for me just to be looking at them so I should just be there for them and not doing other things as what they want is so simple really.

And on the other hand, when one or both are having a whingey day/afternoon, I feel bad at being annoyed with them (obviously I try not to show it too much but having them tag team low level unhappiness is really wearing).

[Froozy]

If you’re near the toilet when they poonami you can flush the babygro in the toilet (hold on tight, I lost a couple of nappy liners that way). Then a rinse and spin before a normal wash should cope with most poo. If it doesn’t then it’s definitely time to bin it!

Finding the balance between being ‘present’ for your child and keeping some of yourself (and the house) vaguely together is a never ending battle in my experience. I also think we’re institutionalised to never feel we’re doing enough in any respect so finding a sweet spot is really difficult. Although everyone around you (and here) will be able to see you’re doing a brilliant job in really difficult circumstances.

[Kenickie]

Flushing the babygro is a good idea.

Thanks for the reassurance. I think unless you've spent loads of close time with other babies, it's hard to know what exactly everyone else is doing all day, so it's easy to think that they're all doing constant baby sensory/music class level entertainment which probably isn't the case.

A mini bouncy castle sounds amazing! I'm not surprised she is thriving. ;)

Having said that I'm happy for them to stay non mobile for as long as possible, one thing I'd like them to be able to do is move slightly to reach the toys they throw a million times a day.

[Princess Morripov]

Ah we have a little bouncy castle too, it’s ace.

He has a prune pouch with his breakfast every morning and it doesn’t seem to make much difference to be honest. He only really goes every third/fourth day and is in a bit of discomfort when he goes but after he’s eventually gone he’s fine again.

[Kenickie]

This is the first time one of mine hasn't gone at least once a day.