BABY ADVICE – Page 3 – NEW YUMMY MUMMY

TEETHING ??????

If you ask me if Chloe is teething my answer would be YES … For the past 4 months ! Was she really teething for so long? God only knows,as the teeth have a long way to go and it doesn’t happen overnight … What I know now is that she is DEFINITELY teething now. My usually very happy baby for the past 2 days has been so upset, crying every 5 min and having small temperature.

We all keep waiting for those first teeth, now finally at the age of 8 months I can see tooth coming through !!!!!

We all think that dribbling and putting everything in to the mouth is a sign that baby is teething-wrong !!!! I have reed an article which explains that this is a normal phase in baby’s development and has nothing to do with teeth.

So how do we know if baby is teething?

– dribbling lots and lots more than the usual lots !

– temperature

– one red cheek (apparently not both)

– red bum

– swollen gums

– moody, clingy

…. But it’s still a little bit of guessing game as it is with everything when it comes to babies 😉

TIPS FOR HOLIDAYS WITH A BABY 🌴☀️🌴😊🌴😊🌴😊🌴😊🌴☀️🌴☀️🌴

BABY ADVICE

Going on holidays with a baby is not an easy task, doing it for the first time is quite overwhelming! Here are some lessons learned by myself after our first holidays in a hot country.

1. HEAT RUSH

Babies very often get heat rush so it’s best to be prepared. Take creams good for heat rush and ideally speak to your GP about it (ask for medication incase your babie gets it). Chloe get it half way through our holidays, lucky it didn’t bother her and she was her happy self.

2. PRETTY SWIMMING COSTUME

They do look good but aren’t much use, especially with very little babies. I ended up having Chloe mostly only in her nappy, or in a sun protecting swimwear. I would advise to buy lots of pretty panties instead 😁

3. TENT

Yes Tent😁 I didn’t realise that I needed one till a very last minute. I was talking to my husband about how nice it would be to take Chloe to the beach when he asked me if she will lay under a umbrella? Of course that the answer is no ! Then I started panicking : where will she play, sit, hide from the sun? Lucky I discovered those foldable baby tents! I would definitely recommend getting one as it was great through the holiday! Chloe was using it a lot.

4. MOSQUITOES 😖

Get something to prevent your baby getting bitten, and something just incase a mosquito manages to get a taste of your baby.

5. LOTS AND LOTS OF WET WIPES

Can’t live without wet wipes… It’s shocking how many packed I have used on our holidays! Take lots !

6. PORTABLE FAN !

What a great invention ! You can get small fans which attach to a pram (or anything else) it will keep your baby cool.

7. PLAYMAT

You always think about taking baby toys with you … But what is your baby going to play on ? Take a small play mat, it doesn’t really take any space but it comes very handy.

8. CLOTHES

I have packed a whole suitcase of clothes for Chloe…. And she didn’t wear half of it. She has spent most of the time in a pretty nickers as it was too hot to wear anything. She wore lots of jumpsuits (on a very thin stripes) or very summery dresses. I found that T-shits are way too much in a hot country.

Hope that this will help you with getting ready for your holidays! ☀️🌴☀️🌴☀️🌴☀️

Excitment / nightmare of buying a pram!

BABY ADVICE, BABY STUFF - DO WE NEED ALL OF IT ?

Buying a pram was the most exciting bit straight after decorating Chloe’s nursery. Prams are not cheap so there is a lot of pressure to make sure that you pick up the best pram; pram which will be good for new born but also for toddler, practical but good looking, have all of the gadgets but will be simple and quick to use.

There is a lots of things that everyone tell you too look at, there is also lots of things that no one tells you about, things that you find out about as you start using your pram – I wish I knew about those.

Obvious things to consider while buying pram

– Do you want a travel system or just a pram (travel system seems to be better value for money).

– The size of the pram. Will it fit in to you boot??!! This is an important one as prams are not small.

– How easy is it to fold. This is important but in my opinion it isn’t a deal breaker. They all are more or less easy to fold, some are just super easy to fold or foldable with one hand.

– How & where will you be using your pram. In my opinion it’s important only from the size point of view ( if you use it a lot in the city (tube,bus) you want it to be quite compact). I would advise to look more at the suspension; It doesn’t matter where you are, you want it to be smooth to ride and to be able to cope with uneven surface (you have city pavements which are worst than off road paths in the countryside).

Things I wish I have know before buying my pram:

– Hood wchih goes all the way down is the best. You use it when baby wants to sleep, so you don’t have to buy sleepshade. You also us it when it is sunny ( normal hood doesn’t protect properly from the sun and baby very often is exposed to it). That saves you money which you would have to spent on an pram umbrella (which btw isn’t very good).

– Big basket isn’t necessary (I use my one only for small things) but one which has a cover is very very good and handy ( whatever you store there is protected from dust and mud & people can’t see what you have in it).

– Height of baby when in the pram, you don’t want your baby to by too low or too high .

– How long will you be using this pram. If you are planning on having 2nd baby close to your nr1 then you should look at prams which will be able to acomodate it.

– Look at what is included in the price of the pram and what do you need to buy separately.

MOST OF ALL PICK THE ONE THAT YOU LOVE. All of the above are important but you do have to love the way it looks !! This is not negotiable!

What is good about some of the most popular brands :

Boogaloo

PROS – nice colours, very big hood, shopping basket with cover.

CONS – quite flimsy, placement of break, baby seat and carry cot a bit low.

I Candy :

PROS: nice colours, height of child is perfect, great if you want to use with more than one baby, very solid.

CONS: expensive, you need to buy a lot of things seperatly, quite big.

Silver Cross :

PROS – small, perfect height of child’s seat, lots of things included in the price.

CONS: colours could be much nicer, good doesn’t go low enough.
When it comes to buying your pram its good to ask for opinion of others, compare them, see reviews ect but what is the most important is to make sure that you buy the pram that you love ! If you go for one which meant to be the best but you don’t love it you will regreat it trust me 😊

All ABOUT WEANING BY AGA 😁

BABY ADVICE, MY BABY EXPERIENCE

How did you find weaning your baby? Was it really exciting? OH YES, was it lots of fun? OH YES, was it making you really proud of your baby? OH YES, was it confusing ? HELL YES!!!

What did I found confusing ?

-With what food should I start weaning ?

-How much food should I be giving and how much milk?

-How often should I introduce new food?

-When should I increase solid food from one meal to two?

-Should I give water to my baby?

Guess what? there is as many opinions as there is about sleeping,bringing up babies,ways of parenting ect ! I had no idea what is the right way to do it and it was affecting how excited I was about starting Chloe on her food.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE FIRST FOOD?

There is a lot of different opinions: Baby rice, baby porridge, fruits (for example:Apple,Bannana or Pear), Vegetable (for exapmple Carrot, Sweet potato).

I have reed lots about it and have found so many different opinions about it. I decided to go with NHS guidance (which by the way isn’t clear at all) which says that you can start on any of the above 😊. My plan was to start with baby rice then go in to porridge then a fruits and vegetables.

I found baby rice a total waste of money and time. The whole idea of weaning is to introduce new textures and flavours, baby rice is very watery and doesn’t have any flavour!

After trying baby rice once I moved in to strawberry porridge which Chloe enjoyed very much and then to very simple vegetable and fruit purée . I started on fruits and vegetables pretty much straight away.

HOW MUCH FOOD SHOULD I BE GIVING ?

When I reed about weaning it said that baby will eat a one spoonful of food on the beginning….. Not true! Chloe started with eating round 3 tbsp of food. I bought those cute cubes to store her food and haven’t used it because the portion was way to small. I let Chloe decide how much she wanted, I would feed her till she didn’t want it. Trust me your baby will let you know when it has had enough.

In my baby cook book next to each recipe it says how many portions will be made; this was very helpful, especially in the very beginning .

When it comes to milk I have kept all of Chloe’s milk feeds and introduced solid food in between her milk.

HOW OFFTEN SHULD I INTRODUCE NEW FOOD.

As with everything there is a lot of different informations. Some say that you should give baby one food for a week, some say you should do it for 3 days and some that you should be trying new things daily. I went with the last approach and started giving Chloe lots of different foods.

First week was very basic : Apple, Carrot, Porridge, Pear, Sweet Potatoe, Bannana. Second week I started doing a very simple mixes of fruits and vegetables :Apple & Pear, Bannana & Avocado , Apple & Parsnip, Sweet Potato & Carrot, Carrot & Buternat. On week 3 I started to give Chloe different vegetables (Broccoli, Corn, Peas, Spinach) and fruits (Strawberry, Mango, Blueberries). Week 4 which we just started I started introducing chicken and more complex meals, it’s now more of a grown up food 😊

WHEN I SHOULD INCREASE SOLID FOOD?

We have started on 3 tbsp per 1 time a day for a 2 weeks. Then we started on 2 meals a day for a week. In week 3 I started to give Chloe her meal fallowed by desert (4tbsp of vegetables, 3tbsp of the desert).

Again it’s pretty impossible to find any information about what you should do. I decided to fallow a meal plan from my baby cooking book (which I very much recommend) and monitor how much Chloe wanted to eat.

SHOULD I BE GIVING WATER TO MY BABY?

Again it’s not very clear. Some information says that you should start introducing free flow baby cup and give water. Other say that baby gets enough water from the breast milk. Ideal solution seems like giving milk in the cup 😁. Seems like a bit of water won’t do any harm. Just remember that water needs to boiled and cooled.

It is very confusing if you are a new parent to know what is the best way to wean baby but it is so so so much fun and I am enjoying it so much !

Now I have become one of THOSE parents ….

BABY ADVICE, MY BABY EXPERIENCE

You know when you are siting on the plane trying to sleep and there is this baby screaming like crazy ? You are ok about it but after 2-3 minutes you start looking to check what is wrong with this baby…. After another minute or two you start questioning if the mother is doing anything to stop it… After another 2 minutes you are just pissed off … This was me … No not me getting angry … It was me with the crying baby!!!!

Yesterday we flown to Poland for Chloe’s Christening. She was perfect at the take off and through the whole flight. We have given Chloe dummy a bit to late at the landing of the plane which meant that hear ears started hurting and she was crying for good 5 minutes. It was only 5 minutes but it felt like 50. It was one of the most stressful 5 minutes of my life!!!!
TIP – always have dummy/bottle/breast ready and give it before plane takes off and before it starts landing. If this for some reason doesn’t work putting them on your knees on they belly works also.

ANOTHER BIG STEP : Mummy emotional, Chloe oblivious.

BABY ADVICE, MY BABY EXPERIENCE

We have had quite a few big steps happening recently. As I mentioned in previous posts we started introducing solid food, Chloe has moved from the carrycot to a pram. Now was the time to start with another milestone : starting to move Chloe in to her own room !!!! 😳

Just thinking about it makes me scared and tearful 🙂 Soon Chloe will be 6 months old (what???!!!! Where did the time go???) and that’s when by UK guidance they don’t have to sleep in this same room as you. I think that it will help with all of us sleeping much better and start preparing me slowly emotionally for what will come (maternity leave will end at some point)

We decided to start with Baby steps by putting Chloe for her naps in to her cot. We will do it for a week and then try to put her there for a night. Chloe knows her room and her cot pretty well as we always change her there, put her to play in her cot etc. that’s why we can start with naps straight away (Advice is that you start with leaving babies to play in the cot first)

Surprisingly after 5 min of looking round Chloe just went to sleep, not bothered by new bed, or how big deal it is for her Mum !

If this is such a big deal for me how the hell will I leave her there for the whole night ??? How will I sleep without her next to me?? And God only knows how will I leave her in the nursery??!!!!

Someone was a happy bunny after her nap

CLOCK CHANGE and the baby

BABY ADVICE, MY BABY EXPERIENCE

We all know how this small clock change messes us up ! It’s inly an hour but it sims like our body doesn’t know what is going on. Now imagine that you are only few months old 😊 this equals trouble !

Few days ago Chloe started getting up earlier which was messing up the whole daily routine ( sleeping every 2 hours). So this time change should work perfectly and bring our routine back on track. ( we normally get up at 7am and sleep every two hours, eat every 4 and go to bed by 7pm. Chloe started to get up at 6am which meant that I ether had to keep her up longer between naps which was making her really tired and cranky; or I had to keep her up longer in the evening which meant that she was oils struggle to go to sleep.

I decided to act. Plan of action ? Just stick to exactly this same routine and dosing things at the time we usually do it. It doesn’t matter that really is an hour earlier, just stick to the time.

Plan to wake your baby up an hour earlier to start the day. That way your baby won’t notice any differece and the time change won’t upset your baby’s routine.

Hope that all of you mums up there had an easy transition from wint r to summer time 🌞🌸🌺🌻🌷

FIRST TRIP TO WEST END (London)

BABY ADVICE, MY BABY EXPERIENCE

I go out all the time, mostly for a walk, baby classes or a coffee, but also (once in a while) to shopping centres, to see some of my working friends for lunch ect. Up until now I was very limited in places I could go to because I didn’t want to take Chloe on the tube (I thought she was to small for this). Somehow train or a bus seemed much more “safe” for a tiny baby. You know less people, being able to open a window etc 🙂

Now at just over 4 months I decided that we will go to west end to see my friends and do some proper shopping. Because I was up from 6:30am (yes Chloe still things it’s a great time to start playing😄) it meant that I could get going by 9am , get to the west end , do some shopping, see friends and get back home before it gets too busy. We have had a lovely day :me because I have seen my friends and did some shopping (I love shopping!); Chloe because she loves looking at everything + I didn’t make her have her naps 😀 (I will prabably pay for it later) .

Only problem I had is : stairs ! why is there so many steps everywhere??!!! Don’t they realise how heavy prams are??!! Shouldn’t we have by now better acces to public transport ?

Oh and not being able to carry shopping with the pram, and needing to think about getting back home. This has seriously limited my shopping (thank god for that 😃)

Advice:

Plan your lunch or your shopping around baby. I always make sure that I have a good plan 😃 shipping is fun but your baby routine and happiness is more important.

1. I leave the house when it’s Chloes nap time. Why? So she sleeps on the journey. I usually wak for 10 minutes before getting on the train which gives enough time in the pram for Chloe to fall asleep. If I travel by car then she would sleep in the car seat as soon as we set off.

2. Plan your lunch or shopping around your baby. I always have lunch when Chloe is due a feed or I make sure that I am in the shop which has a parents room so I can easily feed her.

3. Baby needs some fun even when shopping (I don’t think that at this stage they understand that shopping is a great fun). I always give Chloe brake from the pram. Usually while I have lunch I would get her out of the pram and let her stand, seat, bite or wherever she wants to do. It means that while we are in the shop she doesn’t mind being in the pram. And she loves seeing what’s happening around her !

4. Consider time at which you will be shopping. There is nothing worst than trying to shop and push your pram in a busy shop! Early mornings are the best, being a mum means that we need to get up at ridiculous time in the morning (night more like it) anyway so this shouldn’t be difficult.

5. Make sure you visit more than only baby shops 😊

NO MORE BABY SLEEPING PROBLEMS !!!! Hurray!!!! …. How wrong was I 😊#neverending

BABY ADVICE, MY BABY EXPERIENCE

So I thought that we cracked the sleeping problem and everything will be now perfect … And it was for a day or two but then Chloe decided that she will go back to being a newborn baby and start feeding every 2 hours!!!!!! How and why??!!! Until now Chloe was eating every 5 – 6 hours at night and was sleeping perfectly in between !!! Why would she change that? 😳😳😳

On the very beginning I thought that she is going through the growth spurt, but after a week of it I guessed that this is not the reason …. She can’t be growing so much !!!

It’s been now over 2 weeks and after another bad night I hit the Internet 😀oh yes again ! I discovered that there is a lot of us with exactly this same problem. Just put on to google: 4 months old feeds every 2 hours and you will have millions of links. My research conclusions : there is lots of reasons it may be happening 😃 (I told you that nothing is ever straight forward with babies)

1. Your milk changes at 4 months and it’s not as fatty as it use to be, because of that baby needs more to stay full or eats more often. That would explain a lot 😊 apparently you should feed your baby more through the day and it will make her fuller at night so she won’t be up so often for the feeds. In my experience it won’t work, Chloe will eat all of the extra on top of her usual 😳😳😳 she also poos so much that I don’t think it stays in her belly for very long time 😁

2. Baby’s are so interested in the surrounding that they eat very quickly so they can explore what is happening. Obviously eating isn’t very exciting so they want to get it done very quickly and eat only the minimum needed to stop feeling hungry. That would be a good explanation as well. Apparently feeding in a dark quiet room should solve the problem.

3. At 4 months they go through sleep regression.

4. It’s normal up until around 6 months that babies wake up a lot and we just need to wait for them to become sleep mature !!

So I will be trying some of it to see if it makes any difference! I will also be begging Chloe to let me sleep a bit more and maybe she will feel sorry for myself and decides to give me a small break.

BABY NOT SLEEPING\ BABY CRYING WHEN GOING TO BED- WE FINALY CRACKED IT !!!

BABY ADVICE, MY BABY EXPERIENCE

Chloe is extremely happy baby. She doesn’t cry very often… Mostly in the evening😄

It started few weeks ago, or maybe always was there but just wasn’t that clearly visible, or we just can’t remember 🙂 After a bath, we would put Chloe in to her crib, giver her dummy and her comfort blanket. My husband would read Chloe a story and she would be asleep within 2-10 minutes (without any crying). Sounds like a dream yes? But only for 30minutes to an hour, after that she would wake up screaming/crying. She would be in such a state that we would have to get the lights on and clap really loud to distract her. Nothing would work to calm her down, this could last from 15 min to an hour (most od the time an hour). After which she would go back to sleep. Very recently this crying has moved to straight after the bath. As soon as We would start dressing her she would start crying so much, it’s almost as if she knew it’s time to go to sleep.

As parents all of us, all the time keep trying to find reasons behind everything. Me and my husband went through all of the reasons why Chloe is doing it. From the most ridiculous ones like: She doesn’t like this room, She doesn’t like her bed, She hates to sleep, She is hungry (after feeding 10 minutes beforehand) through the standard checklist: too hot, too cold, wet nappy, unsettled in new bed (we recently moved he to crib), scared of dark, has nightmares. Nothing seemed to give as an answer or a solution.

Got to the point where we started dreading the evenings, it was heartbreaking seeing Chloe so upset. One of another evenings spend on the internet researching why is my baby crying I came across a theory about being overtired. Ok so Chloe didn’t look overtired (red eyes, cranky, crying) but this “specialist” said that if baby gets less than 3,5 hours of deep in the day it will affect him at bedtime. Until now Chloe would sleep only 30-45 minutes in the day. She would wake up happy and start playing, and I always thought that this meant that she has had enough. Apparently the reason why she was waking up is because her sleep cycle has finished and she didn’t know how to go back to sleep, not because she has had enough sleep. With nothing to loose and becoming quite desperate I decided to try this theory . Chloe already has her set times for naps so now I just needed to make sure that she would sleep 1,5 hour twice in the day and 45min on her last nap. Luckily it turned out to be much easier than I thought. Chloe started sleeping 1,5 twice a day and then 45min in the evening pretty much straight away!!!! Yes she would wake up and be up for 2-15 minutes but with a bit of help. Help being giving her dummy, comfort blanket to her cheek and ssssshhhhhhh then leaving the room; sometimes I would have to repeat it few times but she would eventually fall asleep. Guess what was the end result ???? The crying has stopped !!!!! It has stopped !!!!! Me and my husband have our evenings back, Chloe is so much happier in the evening and a bonus that I have so much more time now on the day for myself !!!!!!!!