h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Cloviscat,

A nightly bath is such a nice thing, I agree it's a difficult thing to give up on! Got my fingers crossed for you re. Kitten's sensitive skin

Hey there e[version]

Anna

Agreed. My son has always loved bathtime and laughs constantly from start to finish.

Hey there Anna, thanks for making me feel welcome. Looking forward to sharing ideas on this thread. Talking about childcare theory is always fun, since it's so much easier than the actual thing.

Anyone else having problems? I've been trying to post this reply all morning:

Hello e[version] and Anna!

We're now alternating between bath emollient stuff and her usual beloved bubbles every other night. Nothing getting any worse, and some patches are getting better

I've stopped feeding her tangerines, as someone said they can exacerbate skin probs, but I'm not happy about this as she loves them and they're (comparatively) good for her - anyone any opinions on that matter? We've got the health visitor coming on Thursday, so I'll ask her too.

She's really been quite poorly over the weekend, not eating, seeming shivery and producing the most *unpleasant* nappies, sometimes requiring her to be stripped down and given another bath! Eating better now, so I'm hoping that things will respond better now her immune system isn't so busy.

Complicated isn't it? And isn't it hard when a little one won't eat? Everyone says "don't worry, they'll eat when they feel better" but it doesn't stop you worrying as you scrape bowl after bowl of food into the bin. Some meals I ended trying six different things to tempt her - a lot of washing up, especially as my dishwasher is at the menders!

Someone tell me a really nice positive baby story to cheer me up Like e[v] says, talk can be more fun than reality!

My baby has started clapping her hands and its so cute to see her trying to make them connect. She thinks its great fun and having a blast in her crib right now, not going to sleep. When she was smaller she had some digestive problems, but they're mostly done now, I think. We still have to be careful what we feed her. But she has the cutest grin!

I'm currently teaching my son various tricks with bubbles. These involve scooping them up in his hands and then either throwing them, clapping (and getting a face full) or blowing them.

This last one he has yet to master as he tends to put them up to his mouth and suck instead of blow, resulting in a mouthful of bubble bath. Can't taste that good but he still laughs about it.

Never heard anything about tangerines though, I'd be interested to hear what the health visitor has to say.

I'm liking the new abbreviation to my nickname! e[v] - looks great, but I guess those brackets are pretty annoying to type...feel free to omit them if you wish

Dear Cloviscat, it is very worrying. I don't think there's one of us here who hasn't been in the same situation. I've pestered NHS Direct on several (or if I'm honest, many) occasions!

Dom and I took a big step yesterday. We abandoned the pram and walked along instead. He was extraordinarily pleased with himself. He also didn't have his dummy *once* on the train. Either on the way, or on the way back. And a special treat was in store for us on the way home - there was a huge truck/crane combo digging a hole, that proved to be very interesting to watch. It doesn't get any better than that!



Anna

Right. slight time delay over the weekend, but:

Health visitor agreed with the citrus causing skin problems thing. Apparently, you see it most on fingers (from handling the fruit) and on the bottom. She was horrified when she found out that the Kitten had been having one tangerine a day, and recommended no more than one a week!

I'd stopped the tangerine by then anyway, and there were still probs, so we're back off to the docs this afternoon.

Princess Bride - our babies are about the same age (I think mine was born a little earlier?) and like you, I thought I'd left the digestive probs behind me. Be aware - they can strike again at any point.... and they're ***even worse****!!!

That's great to know (sarcasm). Emmy is 8 1/2 mos old and had corn chex for the first time last night- that's a breakfast cereal. She loves eating with her hands... Right now she's unhappily asleep- didn't want to go down even though she was dead tired.

Once the Kitten got the hang of sleeping - after a very difficult few months - we've not had much room to complain touch wood! But how do you stop them swimming backstroke up the bed till their heads are jammed against the top of the cot?

Breakfast cereal is a *big* hit, isn't it? I try and convince myself that it's not as bad as other sweet things - I usually get away with giving her a prune as a treat! I'm doing the Nestle boycott, though, which really cuts down on the options available

The one problem about finger food is that suddenly she's turning her nose up at a lot of finger foods - and I've got a freezer filler with mashed potato! I'm cooking potato wedges right now, and to fit them in the freezer the mash may end up on the bird table

I don't think there is a solution to the backstroke problem, you just have to let them get on with it. My son usually combines that with front crawl, butterfly and breaststroke - which means that blankets are a complete waste of time, and thick, warm sleep suits are the only way forward.

Of course you've both got the night that baby starts climbing out the cot to look forward to. I can still remember the sound he made when he hit the floor at 3 in the morning...

In that Batman movie, the Penguin's parents had a cot entirely surrounded by cage bars - I wonder if they sell them in Mothercare?

If not, then they should start right away. I still have no idea to this day whether he broke his fall with his head or his feet. Either way, he certainly did the right thing and tried to roll with it (good advice for any budding stunt man), because he was a few feet from the cot when I got in the room. Which was probably only about 0.7 seconds after it happened. Not bad considering I had two doors and a corridor to negotiate - not sure I've ever moved so fast in my entire life.

Hey e[version],

Eek! When did that happen? Should I be keeping an eye on the climbing antics of Dom? (The little fellow who once rolled off his changing mat - *NOT* when I was changing him - and broke his fall with his big tummy).

Anna

Hi there, try letting them sleep in sleeping bags, they used to keep my kids from climbing out and then you don't have to wrap them so tight and they take the covers with them when they wriggle. I used ones that had arms and buttoned/zipped down the front and along the bottom, so if you need to change the nappy at night, they don't get cold.

Sleeping bags work well, it certainly helped us keep him warm when he kicked off his blankets. We had to give up on them at about 12 months though because we realised that his broken sleep pattern was partly due to him getting annoyed with the sleeping bag. It would get all wrapped up around him when he rolled around in the night.

It was just after that he decided to swallow dive out of the cot. Pretty impressive really, it's a cot/bed with adjustable sides that are very tall. Thankfully the travel cot has even taller sides.

NEWSFLASH:

A few hours ago Josh climbed out of his travel cot. My wife went upstairs to check on him and found him knockiing on the bedroom door asking to be let out. The sides are almost as tall as him. I guess we're onto a bed this weekend. Wish me luck.

It's my own fault really. Rock climbing is my favourite sport.

I know you've probably sorted out the eczema thing by now, but I'd like to add something.

Charlotte had dreadful eczema for over a year; it started as nappy rash that wouldn't clear up and spread all over her. We took her off oranges and tomatoes without effect. I took her to the doctor and was given aqueous cream, Diprobase and steroid cream which was the only thing that actually seemed to work at all. It wasn't until ages later that I discovered, completely by accident, that the creams were the cause of the eczema. She's allergic to Sudocrem (which I'd been using for the nappy rash), Aqueous cream, Diprobase, Oilatum Junior.... I stopped using it all and within a week she no longer had eczema. I used olive oil and almond oil to treat her dry skin and we use either Johnson's or Sainsbury's moisturising bubble bath, neither of which affect her.

Bernardette - hi!

That's *very* interesting - thanks for taking the time to tell me about it. I can't remember what I said here, but I did get the worst reaction ever when I tried Sudocrem on it - so i can see the sense.

Her dad has bad skin and is sensitive to the base in things like E45 - I wonder if it's the same sort of thing?

And I tried Aqueous cream again over the weekend, but it was looking bad so I've switched backto vaseline, which seems much better

I have some sweet almond oil from the baby massage - maybe I'll try that...

...how old was Charlotte when it cleared up?

I agree with Bernadette. Olive oil is the best way forward.

MMmm marinaded baby - I've always said that she's good enough to eat!