8 months

Baby M was 8 months old on Sunday.  I say this every month but time is just flying by.

The last month seems to have gone so quick as he has achieved so much

He is able to stand for much longer holding onto furniture and tries to pull himself up to stand on us.  We have lowered his cot so that if he stands he doesn't topple out.  It's a good job as we found him sitting up in his cot one morning

His biggest achievement is that he is now crawling.  We are so proud as he has been trying so hard and getting so frustrated with himself.  We now have to have eyes in the back of our head and have done some baby proofing.

Crawling is bad news for the cat though, she seems to be target numero uno.  She's handling him so well though, she just bats him but never puts her claws out.

Baby M still likes to mainly be fed but he is sticking his hands in his food more and he put his water cup in his mouth all by himself.  We are continuing to give him his own spoon during meal times.  He loves his food! We are continuing to introduce finger foods as well as still feeding him jars.

We don't have any teeth yet but can see more white under his gums so hopefully they aren't far off.

He still loves to babble and now uses more sounds, his favourite at the moment is "V" sounds, he said Volvo to me the other day!

He's developing his personality too.  He's such a cheeky and smiley little boy.  He seems so content. He loves cuddles and kisses.  Tickling him gets a wonderful reaction, I love his laugh.  Baths are still a firm favourite with his splashing lots.  He is progressing really well with his swimming too, although we are now on a break for the holidays. 



This post has been added to Mummy Bloggers Weekly Wednesday linky.
Also added to Olivers Madhouse Magic Moments and Twin Mum & Dad's #binkylinky

Tongue Tie procedure

Baby M was born with a tongue tie, following after his dad.  The tongue tie made breast feeding really difficult as Baby M couldn't latch on properly.  After persevering for 2 days and Baby M getting distressed and my nipples getting sore we decided to bottle feed.  There are those out there who maybe think I should have persevered for longer but I couldn't cope seeing Baby M so upset.  When he had that first bottle he guzzled it all down he was so hungry.

For those who don't know a tongue tie is where the skin which attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth reaches too far down the tongue making it difficult to move it around.

Even though I had stopped breast feeding we were still referred to the hospital to have his tongue tie removed.  Whilst Baby M was feeding well he was still losing a lot of his bottle through squirting out of his mouth and he was getting bad wind due to his gulping.

As Mr M had his tongue tie procedure done when he was 6 years old he had stayed in hospital for 2 days, I think he was quite anxious about Baby M going through the procedure.  We were told it would be quick and that no anesthetic would be used (which we were surprised about) and that we needed to take a bottle to feed Baby M straight after.

When we went into the room the nurse asked that Mr M lie down baby with his head at Mr M's knees.  Mr M was asked to hold his hands whilst the nurse held his head.  The surgeon then used a long pair of scissors (which kind of looked like hospital clamps) to cut the bit of skin attaching Baby M's tongue to the bottom of his mouth.  Baby M squealed a little but that was it.  There was a little bit of blood but the nurse stated to give him his bottle then she would come and look as his tongue.  We gave him his bottle, which he took really well, you could tell the difference as there was no milk squirting from his mouth and his sucking felt stronger.

It is now 3 days after he had the procedure and we both agree that his feeding has improved.  He seems less windy and is not gulping on his bottle.  The sucking has improved and he isn't losing much milk through the side of his mouth.  Baby M has also noticed a difference as he has been sticking his tongue out quite a lot since the procedure

We are so happy that it has gone well and Baby M is feeding well.  Another bonus of the procedure means that his speech won't be effected when he starts to talk

1 week old

Wow what an amazing/tiring/quick week it's been (or should I say 13 days)

Baby M & I spent 2 days in hospital following his birth and I couldn't wait to get home to Mr M.  Our first night home was awful, baby M wouldn't settle. We tried feeding him, winding him and nothing seemed to work. At 4am we phoned the ward who were brilliant and gave us lots of reassurance, they said that it sounded like baby had very bad wind.  They gave us some tips and said they would phone us back in 2 hours, which they did.  It was so reassuring to know they were only a call away.  They also stated they would ask the midwife to come see us for our visit first thing. 

Our visits from the community midwives haven't been very positive experiences to be honest, there has been conflicting advice, one was just plain rude and another made me feel awful as she arrived as baby was crying.  After 2 seconds in the house she was making judgements about us and made us feel rubbish.  

On a positive note we were discharged from the midwives to our lovely health visitor as baby has gained weight and is doing well. 

One thing I am getting fed up of people asking is "are you in a routine"!!! Really?!? How is a week old baby supposed to have a routine???! Also people are obsessed by how much sleep we are getting.  Some nights are good & he's up every 3-4 hrs for a feed but other nights he won't settle until 4am.  Although we are both shattered I'm not worried, how does a new baby know the difference between day & night?!? We are just going with the flow and taking the lead from baby.

Some people are being pushy about visiting us too, we've been firm so far with regards to a visitor ban but people have ways of making you feel guilty. 

I feel things are going really well, baby seems happy & the fact he has put on 5oz in 5 days shows he is eating well.  We will just continue taking each day as it comes & enjoy our new family