Tiny Turtle Hatchlings

[Princess Morripov]

Tupac has always gone 2-3* times a day. I think it’s more the fact he’s in so much discomfort when he does go than the actual frequency. But, on the plus side this does mean I am poonami free. Which takes the poo chat full circle

* not 23 times as I originally wrote

[Kenickie]

I think 23 times would even out the lack of poonamis. ;)

[Leap]

23 times

I don’t think we’ve had anything as bad as that, it must be because she’s still not eating huge amounts of food. For a while she would only go every 2-3 days and then we’d have a potential Full Poopsuit (TM) situation, but it was the type that would only spill up the back IF you laid her on her back. If you stripped her while she was still sitting up it would stay contained in the nappy and could be dealt with from there. We put puppy pads down on the changing mat and I’ve only had to transfer her straight to bath once. Poopsuits (anything stained) go straight in a basin with Oxyclean and Dettol and then come out okay in the wash after that.

I was thinking about the lockdown today as I feel strangely and guiltily lucky about how it’s impacted us. My parenting style seems to be very tied to routine, and most of the anxiety I’ve had in the last few months has been when I’ve either had to, or felt I should go out and try to adapt that routine to outside life. My absolutely happiest natural state is being at home, and being required to stay in and also having C here on top of that has made life much better in many ways A lot of my close mum and new-mum friends are in very different positions so I know how lucky I am, and god knows it will come home to roost when I actually have to go back into the office.

On that note, I’ve been postponing discussing KIT days etc with work as everything is so up in the air at the moment, but I’ve been invited to a social work Zoom tomorrow afternoon which I will join if I can, and later might arrange a half day to go in and get my laptop updated and whatever else as long as their social distancing seems responsible. I literally have no other way of giving Hop a decent stretch of time away from me and as I can’t do any of the things I had planned to help with that (extended time with grandparents, going out shopping/with friends etc) I might as well try it this way and get paid for it too.

[Kenickie]

Definitely don't feel guilty that it suits you!

It's strange as I'd describe myself as a homebody and in theory it should suit me really well, but I think maybe I'm less introverted than I think, or maybe it's just all the restrictions on my freedom to be out and about. I think as well I really did find some of the classes great, and I know Topsy and Tim reacted really well to just being in a new situation and seeing new faces so I really miss that, plus seeing my mum as we'd got into a really nice routine with each other. I guess as well I struggle a bit with P being here but not really being here, if that makes sense.

I was also thinking about sounding out my boss about the possibility of still doing KIT days (from what I read your work has to agree to them so I guess it's possible they can refuse). I think doing something for me like that will help keep the bleakness away and stop me feeling like it's all baby baby baby. I'm also trying to carve out bits of time to exercise, and I might start being a bit more insistent that P gives me a proper break for it rather than trying to half exercise and half entertain babies.

[Kenickie]

Also I love Poopsuit and I'm going to start using that.

[Kenickie]

And thinking about it, I really miss eating and drinking out as much as spending time with other people. I guess that's the most constant thing in my pre and post baby life so it's frustrating to have it taken away. And, it's pretty, but I feel particularly pissed off that I'm not earning but can't really use this time to do any of the nice things I wanted to do.

[Kenickie]

I mean obviously spending time with my children and husband is a nice thing.

It's been helpful in making it clear that I definitely need to go back to work though.

[Leap]

I mean obviously spending time with my children and husband is a nice thing.

You always looked like you got out of the house for food a lot more than we did, no wonder you're missing it.

I took a bit of the dip the last few days though - I think the change in weather made me feel a lot more hemmed in than I'd felt until now, plus C's work really ramped up at the same time some big nap refusals started, so I've felt a bit mad eyed and strung out. We had a REALLY good stretch of amazing evening sleeps for a little while there - no 30 min evening sleeps or mad hours and hours of being wide awake, just down at 7 pm, awake at 11 pm for a feed and then either one more wake up in the middle of the night or NONE (this happened once - a 7 hour sleep for everyone!). This all fell apart this week and I think I'm finding it harder after seeing how nice it was to have a properly relaxed evening for a little while.

Also, I would like to officially complain about weaning, it is SO BORING and I don't feel like we're making headway at all. The vast majority of stuff ends up on the floor, anything that is a success one day is completely ignored the next, and the mess (hers) and enthusiasm (mine) is so exhausting. She's 11 months old next week and I was expecting it to have definitely clicked by now, but as it hasn't it feels like another thing I need to spend a lot of time and effort researching and trying out and thinking around.

I should've put a moan warning on this How are you finding it? I think Rhod said she hated it too, I'm hoping she will turn up with some magic inspiration.

I also saw on another thread that Pov is back at work, I meant to comment but I'm just going to drag it over here and hope she sees it Basically, fingers crossed for the network issues occurring as expected and lasting a very long time.

[Leap]

Oh, on a more positive note though, when I’m not wearing out the carpet walking back and forth from her room to put her down and collect her from failed naps, or watching her check she has my attention before dropping a green bean onto the floor like she’s doing a mic drop, she is still the most delightful lockdown companion.

[Princess Morripov]

Oh, I hated weaning and it took forever for Tupac to start eating stuff properly. I’ll admit I was lazy and did a mixture of BLW and pouches but I mostly just chucked the pouches into the bin half the time as he wasn’t up for them at all. Then weirdly we turned a corner and he suddenly just started eating everything at say 9 months?

Biggie. Well, I think he’d eat me if he had a chance it’s hilarious. Basically I’ve done exactly the same and he just woms anything presented to him into his gob and is a really good eater.

So just another example of them all being different when you’d expect them to be the same. I started Tupac at 6 months and Biggie at nearly 7 months (I had to wean him onto normal formula first).

[Princess Morripov]

She’s so cute

I am back in work on Friday A has been furloughed for at least 6 weeks though since Monday so it’ll make my transition back into not giving a shit at work easier and whilst his company are being generous at the moment on the terms, I can’t see it continuing so all the dollar would be welcomed. So I can spend it on overpriced groceries?

[Rhodonite]

Oh look at her. She's so cute! But how on earth is she 11 months old, next week, already?? That doesn't seem possible.

Yes, I hate weaning. J was older than 1 too, before I felt he was actually eating something. I wish I had some magic inspiration, but I don't I'm afraid. Just keep presenting the food, and she'll eventually start eating more. Then she'll probably get older and start refusing stuff she used to love!

I'm sorry for the rubbish naps and sleep. Hopefully it's just a small blip, and she'll be back to normal in no time.

We've had the start of crawling here. Every since we got the play pen all set up, and I actually give him floor time, he's been working hard at it, and he's eventually managed to pull himself forward.

[Hazey_Jane]

Hop is very cute indeed.

[Leap]

I'm sorry for all the weaning woes, but it really makes me feel a lot better. I've been assuming I'm missing something or doing it wrong, but if it doesn't click for every baby (oh, to have a Biggie ) then I can relax a bit. I do need to work out what to do with dropping milk feeds as she still looks for it every 3 hours regardless of how much food she eats, and I need to be prepared for going back to the office for full days even if that doesn't seem likely at the moment. She won't take bottles or sippy cups, and although she will/can drink water from an open cup, she only has very small sips and then has a lot more fun slapping it out of your hand like a cat

Excellent news on M sleeping through, Beatrix! Long may it continue (until the new boss turns up at least ).

[Rhodonite]

If it helps, or makes you feel better, my sister breastfed both of hers (she's still feeding her youngest st) when she went back to work, without deliberately dropping any milk feeds. It just sort of happened naturally. She fed them when she got home from work. She also never used a bottle or sippy cup. She went back to work when they were 11 months old.

[Leap]

That really does! I think my main mental road block just now is that we're always together, so I haven't had the chance to leave her for e.g. 4 hours and then build on that to see how she is without me around, if she gets hungry etc. That's how I would've built things up over time for my own reassurance, but I'm not going for a 4 hour walk ( ) and we're purposely not seeing grandparents just now so it's my main motivation for a few KIT days later in May or in June. I'd definitely rather give her a transition than toss her into 8ish hours without me all of a sudden, but I guess whether I do a KIT day or not then work will have to support that the same way they must be supporting other childcare needs impacted by all this.

[Kenickie]

Lots of people on my twin feeding group seem to have babies who are happy at that age to just wait until their mum is home to have milk of she's at work, Leap, if that makes you feel better? It might mean you're stuck under her cluster feeding a bit too begin with though. She is lovely.

Crawling already is very impressive, Rhod! We just have lots of rolling, particularly from Topsy who's started sleeping on her front now.

Both mine are not bad eaters at the moment, I think, although I've no idea how much other babies eat so maybe they're not. They both love ramming stuff in their mouths though and their nappies have plenty of evidence that stuff's going in. They've reduced their milk feeds a bit now so just eight times a day each. At one point a few weeks ago it was twelve or thirteen times each so about 25 altogether. No wonder I felt like I did nothing but feed.

They both can get a little bit of water from sippy cups. Topsy loves to feed herself and shovel as much in as possible. She's a really slow eater, and sometimes it feels like she could just keep going so we just tend to clear up when we get bored. Tim is happier to be spoon fed, and often randomly will get a bit upset part way through.

I'm doing a random mix of feeding them with some stuff, and then giving them chunkier stuff to do themselves. So at lunch today they had a few baby spoons of some mushed up carrot and sweetcorn, some chunks of sweetcorn I cut off the cob to hold themselves, some small chunks of roasted pepper that were part of our meal last night (given directly to their mouth as they were too small to build really), a bit of cauliflower and broccoli that they held themselves (neither are big fans and this got mostly spat out), a couple of mini breadsticks dipped in hummus, a chunk of cucumber dipped in hummus, a quarter of a banana each (they both would have had more of this but I read it might make them constipated?), a dried prune each (cut up and offered directly to their mouths as it makes a massive mess), half a baby yogurt each (spoon fed to them).

I only give one or two things at a time as otherwise it gets chucked while they work out what the best bit is.

I guess I should start giving more of our actual meal at some point rather than bits and pieces. Sometimes we do, eg last night we had Thai mince so they had some of the meat. But lots of stuff we have comes in the right size for two portions (eg salmon) so I'm loathe to give up more than a taster. tonight we're having takeaway pizza and obviously the salt is a concern and also I want all of mine.

[Kenickie]

Sleeping through again must feel amazing, Beatrix. Mine have got terrible again. I guess it's the eight month sleep regression.

[Rhodonite]

It's not proper crawling yet, Ken, more just dragging himself forward on the floor in a commando crawl. He's trying to get his knees going, but sometimes gets it wrong and goes backwards!

I'm doing a mix of feeding too. Much the same as POV, using pouches sometimes and sometimes some of what we're having. It sounds like T&T are getting a good mix of stuff Ken, so I wouldn't worry about giving them more of your actual meals. Especially when it's something you really like and don't have much of!

[Kenickie]

That's still pretty good going!

Thanks, I might just carry on with what we're doing then. I tried pouches once but they just didn't seem to get them at all so I haven't since, but it's probably worth persevering.