Hello Mudduh Hello Fadduh: ILX Rolling Parenting Thread

And yes, we did watch ST:TNG. *grin* Which is probably the entire reason why the kiddo is a geek.

My wife was raised like your husband Teeny. And she's pretty brilliant as well. But I think in the long run you want to play the odds and assume that not everyone will be as lucky as our spouses are. Not to mention that sound eating habits have obvious rewards.

Here's Bill, he's two. His favourite thing ever is Thomas the Tank Engine. Also loves drawing, squirrels, Postman Pat and walking like a robot.

Almost 2, waiting for his little brother or sister to arrive (sometime this week), with his bunny, named "Money." Faves: balloons, "bidee-roes", and trains incl. Thomas.

I am shocked at my new appetite for baby pictures.

Edith was only brestfed for about two days (two very hungry days) and she is a fine strapping lass. Swings and roundabouts, I'd say. I'm not very keen on sterilising, but that's all.

I think you can mix and match.

Did anyone watch that programme about breastfeeding last night? Corking stuff - like a series of Little Britain sketches.

Most important thing Natalie (my wife tells me) - don't feel guilty - a few months down the line you'll be thinking "why did i let this get to me!?".

My parent profile - two children Louis, 8 and Mae, 4. Mae has just started school, which in my humble opinion is a little too early because I miss her! I stayed home and looked after the kids purely because financially it seemed the most sensible way, my wife has always earned a lot more than me. I do a few hours paid work a week now.

I don't know if I have much advice. You get so much advice from everyone that you wind up beating yourself up over whether you're doing the right thing. Having said that I find that If the kids are happy, you will be happy. And vice versa. And one way to stay happy is to get as much sleep as possible. This was one of the most difficult things for us, and it seems cruel going through the process of getting them to sleep through but I think it's worth it for everyone.

Anyway, here's a picture of Mae as an angel at her playgroup's xmas do.
http://static.flickr.com/34/72507088_9134fdc0f0.jpg

In one word: ARGH.

But, hey, one look at Ophelia and I melt.

no problem about the h. :-)

Don't worry about this; milk proteins and lactose don't work this way, as you will digest them first. Other things can pass into your milk untouched because they are absorbed directly into your bloodstream - alcohol, the volatile oils from garlic and onions.

It can work well to express your milk and bottle feed, and to nurse the baby when possible - I did it for months. Freeze your milk as soon as possible to preserve the enzymes and warm it under warm, not hot, running water. It is important to nurse the baby as often as you can (I was able to once in the morning and two-three times in the evenings), otherwise your milk will eventually dwindle.

Even though I nursed my son, he was a projectile vomiter. It was just the way he was (apparently, I was too). He eventually grew out of it, though it was frustrating all the time it happened. As long as the baby is filling her diapers and gaining weight, she's doing fine, regardless of spit-ups and burps.

congrats, Raymond!

Make sure you're drinking enough water--that could be the source of your headaches. And if you think it could be dairy in your diet causing trouble, cut it out for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I have actually read that milk is the most common allergen, so my information conflicts with yours, Jaq. Here's an article:
http://lalecheleague.org/NB/NBJulAug98p100.html

wow, I can't believe you're even doing half-days so soon! I'm working a little next week and even that's tough. Child care is a pain to arrange when you work weird hours.

He converted to cow milk around a year. Despite my concern that "milk is for cows," and general lack of enthusiasm for him eating much dairy, he is apparently a two-legged, blue-eyed holstein, he loooooves milk, cottage cheese, mozzarella and yogurt. For a while, he didn't want to eat anything without yogurt mixed with it, or mozzarella melted onto it.

What do you guys do when a toddler will only eat a VERY limited number of foods, and snubs the rest despite your served menu?

re: the breastfeeding and vomiting -- i think that's another one of those "no universal answer" issues. our kid actually had more spit-ups on formula than breastmilk, which is one reason we were sorry when the breastfeeding tapered off. and hiccups and gas and whatnot just come with the territory. our experience was that those things got a lot better after 6 months. now we're down to just the very occasional vomit, usually when we give him too much or if he has some food he's never had before. but also, don't be intimidated by the breastfeeding purists. what bugs me most is when people act like any one way of doing things (breastfeeding/formula, sleeping in the bed/out of the bed, tv/no tv) is the only way to do it. everyone's gonna have opinions, i try to pay attention to them but i also try to pay most attention to what seems to work for him and us.

in other news...Z is right on the verge of actual walking! every day he can go a little farther before he plops down, and his balance is getting better and better. i suppose within a few weeks it'll mostly supplant the crawling. which is a little too bad, because he's really cute when he crawls. but he's pretty hilarious to watch walking too. one more milestone about to fall...

Somebody please explain this to me.

Also, there was a article in the Wash Post today about some low-performing elementary school in Alexandria that is pulling itself up by its bootstraps and doing better and better on the VA Standards of Learning (SOL) tests so that it will no longer be labeled a low performing school and wealthy parents will no longer pull their kids out of it in search of better schools. There was a picture of a first grader taking a reading test and he was looking at the sheet of paper with long words printing in a small font. Shouldn't these kids be reading picture books, still? I have these teaching pangs now and again but then I read an article like this and I think, no way I good teach in that kind of school system.

Apparently there's two basic components of breastmilk. At any one feed, when your baby starts off, she mainly gets the watery foremilk, which is high in antibodies and boosts the baby's immune system, but is actually a little hard for them to digest. After a while of feeding, the hindmilk starts coming through, which is much richer and high in fat and what your baby needs to put on weight, but it also helps to calm the baby's digestion.

If your baby is feeding frequently, say every hour or so, and you keep changing breasts, she will mainly be getting the foremilk, and this will cause colic (burping, discomfort, vomiting). What you need to try and do is space feeds more, but have the baby take in more at any one feed so she gets more of the soothing fatty hindmilk.

To do this, you'll need to keep herawake by rubbing her cheeks and gently squeezing her feet, things like that. Obviously, intake is limited by the size of the baby's stomach, so if they're too small to drink very much in one go, put them back on the same breast for the next feed instead of alternating (hope you're not too sore!), then switch the next time round.

Make sure you wind thoroughly afterwards and help the baby relax by holding her resting on her stomach, like on your forearm or thigh. And don't worry too much - I think everyone gets problems with this.

Viewers, that is.

Tits, eh?

Hunter, this is exactly the problem we're having. Bill's only really interested in eating cheese, cereal, yoghurt and birthday cake, and only the odd bit of fruit and veg. Seems to have got worse as he's got older too. Still too young to reason with and doesn't quite understand how bribery works either, grr dammit! He's also recently had that phase of tipping his plate upside down on top of his head (I must admit though, it's hard not to laugh when this happens)

It's immensely frustrating but we're *trying* to manage it (correctly or not) firstly by not making him special meals, cos it only compounds the frustration when he refuses food we've cooked him especially. So we just give him whatever we're having, and if he doesn't like it all that much, err well, that's just tough (God, I feel like a mean dad sometimes). We try not to offer him alternatives, and if he doesn't eat his food, he doesn't get any pudding. Unfortunately, I'm afraid we're pitifully weak when it comes to executing this plan, so we've had mixed results. However, we do manage to sneak healthy stuff into smoothies and soups by blending it up small (but don't tell him that!).

Would be very interested to hear how other folks handle this.

Pink Panther - your baby looks so blissed out there!

She has not reached toddler status yet though.