The Mom Thread

[peko]

Toddler eating habits: sigh.

Everything is NO, so I don't even ask any more - I just pretend that I'm going to eat the food so my toddler will eat it.

Days where I slave in the kitchen to make super meals from scratch end up uneaten (pokes her finger at it and says 'yuck'), other days she eats everything. I keep meals REALLY simple too.

What do you feed your toddlers/ preschoolers for breakfast?
Everything around here has to be called a 'snack' to get any interest in it. I also repackage food (different plate or bowl) which she previously calls yucky and she eats it the repackaged item.

I taught her the sign for hungry and now it's non-stop (only for us). My sister thinks I'm being played but it breaks my heart to hear my baby say "I'm hungry, snack, snack, snack." She doesn't pull these same stunts at daycare.

Despite the resistance to meals, I do love her.

 

[peko]

[YOUTUBE]frN3nvhIHUk[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Metal Morphosis]

What do you feed your toddlers/ preschoolers for breakfast?

Thomas' breakfast = milk
yes, only milk. we gave up a long time ago. he'll have something solid around 10AM and eats a good lunch and supper so whatever, i'm not fussed. he eats a wider variety than his older brother though... but to be honest, i can't really complain about either of their eating.
Elliot's more of a meat-atarian - he'll eat steak, loves chicken etc. has limited veggies (raw peppers or cucumbers or corn) but will eat any type of fruit. Thomas could care less about meat but loves eggs and legumes, peas, grape tomatoes and corn. He's a little more choosey with his fruits though.

I just made a neat little snack item for the kids yesterday - no bake energy bites. Here's the recipe:
No Bake Energy Bits
I didn't have coconut so i used crushed cornflakes instead. i also did half peanut butter half cashew butter and used choc chips along with goji berries that i blitzed in the magic bullet for a 1/2 minute. super easy and tasty, if a little bit 'flax-ey'... just add more honey to cover the taste if you need to

 

[Liability]

Toddler eating habits: sigh.

What do you feed your toddlers/ preschoolers for breakfast?

We do steel cut oats mixed with home-made applesauce or simple fried eggs with toast.

 

[mcbee]

umm nothing? our daycare does the first snack at 8am and its a breakfast sized snack....so cereal/fruit/toast/yogurt/pancakes/french toast etc. She'll usually have some milk, and handful of crackers/handful of berries or a piece of toast on our way out the door though.

On the weekends here, she gets offered whatever we are having (same strategy for lunch and dinner) and she chooses what she wants to eat (if anything). So cereal with fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes.

AFM, I'm happy to report we are coming out of an INSANE period of preschooler sleep. She lost her sh*t while on vacation and our formally amazing sleeper all of a sudden NEEDED me to be beside her, in the same room or in the hallway in order for her to fall asleep. It was taking 3-4 hours of emotional craziness (on both the parent and child ends) to get her to sleep and to stay in bed. We've done alot of work getting her back on track since we've been back and progress has been made each night since being back. Just put her to bed and it went totally normally and she went to bed without a struggle or a tear. hallejuah!!

sarah

 

[peko]

Thanks for the feedback. So, we're on track with milk & cut up fruit. If it's not a daycare day I'll make: pancakes, french toast or peanut butter on toast.

Eggs: I use these for lunches or dinner and on weekends. It's hit or miss.

Oatmeal & bananas are big fails for her. It's like she thinks she's outgrown these two foods.

No Bake Energy Bites, added to menu. thank you MM.

Daycare morning snacks - I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.

Preschool sleep habits: I've read about what you're experiencing McBee. We're still in crib land, so I can't relate. But, my friend with a 2 yr old is going through this phase too (buddy has to have someone in his room or lying with him before he falls asleep).

Funny note: I finally figured out that "muffin, muffin" is a reference to "Do you know the muffin man" song.

Happy Spring Thaw Mamas!! I've never been so excited to see my front lawn before.

 

[peko]

The best new funny moment: OC crosses her arms all gangsta when she says NO.It's hard not to smile or laugh at her. She also "blah, blah, blah'ed" me the other day - that was VERY hard not to chuckle at.

 

[Jennika]

glad you're back on track mcbee with the sleep. We went through a similar stage with Andy a few months back, along with major developmental stuff. Exhausting, I can't imaging going through that frustration and being pregnant. the exhaustion just kills me. on that note how's pregnancy going? do you know the gender?

 

[mcbee]

Preschool sleep habits: I've read about what you're experiencing McBee. We're still in crib land, so I can't relate. But, my friend with a 2 yr old is going through this phase too (buddy has to have someone in his room or lying with him before he falls asleep).

.

I wanted to keep her in the crib for life! Would have been waaaaaaaaay easier lol.

sarah

 

[mcbee]

glad you're back on track mcbee with the sleep. We went through a similar stage with Andy a few months back, along with major developmental stuff. Exhausting, I can't imaging going through that frustration and being pregnant. the exhaustion just kills me. on that note how's pregnancy going? do you know the gender?

in the spirit of transparency and learning from others, I will admit that we eventually resorted to the preschool version of sleep training, and we locked her in her room. Took 3 nights. She gets 3 chances to stay in her bed after I sing songs/cuddle/tuck in her and then the door gets lock. The first night she jumped around and screamed her head off and rattled the door for 10 minutes, screamed and cried for me for 10. And then went to sleep. Second night, took 3 tries to get her to stay in bed but on the 3rd try she let me leave without having to lock the door. She did get out of bed and lose her mind at 11ish, so had to lock it then. 3rd night, took 3 tries, but I left her without locking the door and she slept the whole night. Last night put her down and everyting went normally, and she didn't even fight me, she just rolled over after songs etc, and said 'I love you too mommy. I stay in my bed all night!'. And I left the room. She did get up at 5:30 but thats okay.

So a week of hell, plus a week of this training and yes, I'm friggin exhausted. But happy we are back on track.

As for my pregnancy, its going well. We are having another girl! Anatomy scan was perfect, no risk of my genetic disorder or downs etc (due to our IVF PGD testing), AND my placenta is in a normal position. So I'm all systems go for what I hope will be a successful VBAC. My new current worry is that the baby will be breech and/or I have GD. Had my one hour screen last week and will know next week if I passed. As for baby being breech, I'm 26 weeks so I know there is lots of time for her to move, but I get movements down low probably 90% of the time, so I worry! I don't want anything to impact my VBAC.

sarah

 

[mariazmess]

Happy Spring Thaw Mamas!! I've never been so excited to see my front lawn before.

i have a 6' snow bank on my lawn. :/

yay mcbee! such great news for bb girl #2!

things are going well on my end. Melodie gained a whole pound in 20 days, which is something. she's hitting her developmental milestones so i'm back to not being worried.

Matteo is awesome. he told me the other day, when i suggested he get a buzz cut like his dad, that that was dad's hair and this was Matteo's hair and that he likes his hair just the way it is.

ok then.

also, Mel waved for the first time today!

 

[rubytuesday]

L has milk for breakfast too (a bottle when he wakes up), but will pick at assorted fruits, dry cereals, and cashews while we're getting ready to leave the house. Right now he's over apples and bananas which is annoying because they're so easy to keep around. He's been a lot pickier after having a wicked cold/cough for a few weeks so I'm just riding it out (all he wanted for a while was orange juice and milk). I can't wait for corn and strawberries to be in season because those are his favourites.

L's night sleep has gotten a lot better overall, he *knock on wood* sleeps through the night now, and doesn't ask for a bottle anymore. When he had his last bottle before bed I would tell him that was his last bottle of the night, and he could have water if he was thirsty at night. When he asked at night I gave him a bottle of water, he was unhappy for a minute, and hasn't asked for a bottle at night since. This was precipitated by L sleeping a whopping 10 hours through the night with his grandparents, we realized he was very capable of doing it so we just kept it going when he came home. Kind of funny that he sleeps better out of the routine than with us, probably because we're such wusses at night.

 

[sugar]

Well, I just logged in to Tribe for the first time in 2 years and it looks like my last post was a year before that (!). I just stopped by to say hi and that I'm joining your club!

I've gone back and read many of the pages in this thread and have found them very helpful and reassuring, so thank you all I'm sure I'll bombard you all with questions soon...

 

[mcbee]

aww yah!! congrats alison!! welcome to the crazytown place that is mamahood

When are you due? Will we be on mat leave together? I'm due July 4th.

AFM, sleep hell continues in the house. And Kevin had hernia surgery on Friday, so he is down for the count right now in terms of parenting. And I'm big, sore and tired. Needless to say yesterday (that essentially started at 4:30am due to the sleep hell Brooklyn has us in) was challenging. Thank god for the grandparents who have Brooklyn at their house all day today. Lying on the couch, a latte, laundry and a manicure are on the menu for this mama.

sarah

 

[awwnaw]

Guys what do you use for sunblock for babies? I tried the natural stuff (badger something) and I swear it did nothing. In addition to application being much like wasabi mixed with milk. I then tried a Banana boat babies one and application was good but I'm nervous about it going on her face/seeping into her mouth. Moreover, I exposed this baby to the sun for maybe 30 mins total TOPS, wearing a full sleeve uv swimming top and hat (we're in vacation) facing away from the sun as I could and still she had a slight pink tinge.

I feel like the worst mother on the planet exposing her precious skin and giving her a tan at 5 months! Is this normal? What do you guys do in the summer? You slather every day even if you're just heading to the grocery store from the car to the store?

 

[peko]

Guys what do you use for sunblock for babies? I tried the natural stuff (badger something) and I swear it did nothing. In addition to application being much like wasabi mixed with milk. I then tried a Banana boat babies one and application was good but I'm nervous about it going on her face/seeping into her mouth. Moreover, I exposed this baby to the sun for maybe 30 mins total TOPS, wearing a full sleeve uv swimming top and hat (we're in vacation) facing away from the sun as I could and still she had a slight pink tinge.

I feel like the worst mother on the planet exposing her precious skin and giving her a tan at 5 months! Is this normal? What do you guys do in the summer? You slather every day even if you're just heading to the grocery store from the car to the store?

No big deal sounds like you're doing a great job. A little sun is good for everyone. Oksana got a little sunburn on her legs during her first summer.

I've used Badger, Green Beaver Kids, Alba Kids, Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby (NPFB) and some Neutrogena Wet Skin Kids Sunscreen spray. I like the Neutrogena products best. The spray is awesome around water or in humid temps.

Wet Skin Kids Sunscreen Spray Broad Spectrum SPF 70+ | Neutrogena®

I love sunhats with SPF protection too. Let me know how the SPF sleeve suit works, I was looking at those the other day. Have fun!

 

[Liability]

Guys what do you use for sunblock for babies? I tried the natural stuff (badger something) and I swear it did nothing. In addition to application being much like wasabi mixed with milk. I then tried a Banana boat babies one and application was good but I'm nervous about it going on her face/seeping into her mouth. Moreover, I exposed this baby to the sun for maybe 30 mins total TOPS, wearing a full sleeve uv swimming top and hat (we're in vacation) facing away from the sun as I could and still she had a slight pink tinge.

I feel like the worst mother on the planet exposing her precious skin and giving her a tan at 5 months! Is this normal? What do you guys do in the summer? You slather every day even if you're just heading to the grocery store from the car to the store?

We use green beaver brand and it seems effective. You can get it discounted at the upcoming green show. All natural and goes on relatively easily.

We still try to avoid using it all the time. We kept her out of the prime time stong sun 10-2 or used lotion. Sun hats on all the time.

 

[Jennika]

yay sugar!!! super happy for you babe

 

[rubytuesday]

Congrats sugar!

The green beaver sunblock is a bit better than the badgerbalm (imo) for spreading onto baby skin. They sell it in a spray-friendly format now too and I find if you warm it up in your hands it's not that hard to spread on. I was crazy about the sunblock when L was a baby, they can't resist too much at that age anyway so it's a good time to get into the habit.

 

[mcbee]

I've used green beaver and the badger stuff...both I felt were suuuuuuuuuper greasy and hard to get on. Now that I have a crazy preschooler, I'm a big fan of the neutrogena kids spray stuff. Spraying it on her is soo much easier.

But yes, its stressful being in the sun with babies. Brooklyn is almost 3 year and while she is still so porcelain and relatively untouched by the sun, she now has a couple of moles on her that I feel guilty about.

Loved these bathing suits the last two summers.....
Canadian made Sunseals have been tested and approved since 1999, by children worldwide.

sarah

 

[sugar]

Thanks ladies! Im due October 6th, so yes mcbee, we'll have some overlap in our mat leave

 

[mcbee]

Thanks ladies! Im due October 6th, so yes mcbee, we'll have some overlap in our mat leave

awesome!

I'm always up for a mom and baby date!

sarah

 

[Metal Morphosis]

congrats sugar!
my second bean was born in early October.

are you guys going with a midwife?

 

[sugar]

Yay Sarah And we are likely moving closer to you soon.

Yes, going with a midwife and liking it so far. If we move into a suitable place, we'll be doing a home birth.

 

[Cheer Bear]

I've used green beaver and the badger stuff...both I felt were suuuuuuuuuper greasy and hard to get on. Now that I have a crazy preschooler, I'm a big fan of the neutrogena kids spray stuff. Spraying it on her is soo much easier.

But yes, its stressful being in the sun with babies. Brooklyn is almost 3 year and while she is still so porcelain and relatively untouched by the sun, she now has a couple of moles on her that I feel guilty about.

Loved these bathing suits the last two summers.....
Canadian made Sunseals have been tested and approved since 1999, by children worldwide.

sarah

+1 for the spray on neutrogena kids

We still end up collecting more and more freckles and moles though.