Calm, cups and cradle cap - 20-22 weeks


I took BB to a local toddler group again this week. It was our second time there and we brought our next door neighbour and her 22 month old boy with us. There were a lot more mums and children this week which was lovely but it also made it much noisier for BB, which she didn't particularly enjoy. It made me realise how calm she likes it at home and how much she is like her father in that respect.

BB, who is usually a pretty good sleeper (will typically go from 7:00pm till 6:30am), has now been waking at around 3:00am for an extra feed for the last week. At first we thought it may be further signs of teething or possibly being a bit cold as the temperature outside has dropped quite a bit in the last few weeks. But I am now thinking that it may be due to her getting ready for solids. I have not started BB on purées as yet as I am quite keen to give the whole Baby Led Weaning a go and until now she hadn't really shown the signs of being ready. But she is now very sturdy in her sitting up, her hand eye coordination is also very good (so much so that anything that is anywhere near her ends up in her mouth), and she has started to lunge towards food – making me more aware of what I should be eating in front of her and what I should be eating when she is asleep (or not at all really but where's the fun in that!). So I have made another appointment with the Health Visitor to get BB weighed, have a further discussion about the BLW and to clarify when would be a good time to start – it is advised to start at 6 months but some people go by the baby's actual birth date or 26 week mark, which may be a few days out of the birth date, and others I have heard opt for the 24 weeks mark. All very confusing. But no-one seems to mention if it makes any difference whether the baby was born early, on due date (give or take) or was late. BB was two weeks late so does that mean that she may be ready for solids sooner than the 26 weeks from her actual birth date?

And whilst on the subject of feeding, I have given up on the bottles totally, as we were getting nowhere with those and feeds always left both BB and myself annoyed and having to resort to the breast anyway. I am, however, persevering with cups and beakers (with and without the flow valve). By far the most successful to date, and the messiest, is the Doidy cup. BB is able to hold onto the cup handles and does seem to know what to do with it by bringing it to her mouth (sometimes jolting it quite hard, so spills are very common) and will then either sip the milk or take a few gulps. BB has had a couple of very good sessions with the Doidy cup and others have been total disasters with her pushing the cup away and arching her back and scrunching her face up in disgust. Up until recently I have only been trying the cup once a day to introduce it slowly but I am going to try and use it at every day time feed (apart from the first feed of the day and the last one before bedtime) and top her up with a breastfeed afterwards as well to make sure she is full – maybe this is a mistake but I will keep trying with this for a while and speak to the HV to see if she has any other tips.

BB has had a bit of cradle cap for a little while but it hasn't seemed to bother her and it just flakes away every so often. But recently it seems to be getting a little worse so I am now dabbing it with a bit of olive oil and using a soft brush to loosen the flakes – but I will get this checked out by the HV also.


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