You'd think being a second-time around mum would make me confident about every stage of babyhood, but both my girls have been very different so far. The Bean was born five weeks early and was very small compared to her peers until she was about one and a half when she seemed to catch up. Pops is completely different, weighing in at 8lbs at birth she put weight on very quickly and although I am breastfeeding, at five months she is now 18lbs! With this in mind I have taken the steps (against my Health Visitor's advice) to wean her early. Call it mother's instinct, but I know that Pops is hungry. She's the same size as most seven month old babies and I feel that breastmilk just isn't enough to sustain her. She has been waking up at night and I can practically see her mouth watering when I cook The Bean roast chicken! I started off on baby rice as it's simple and easy for young babies to digest. Pops loved it and has slept really well since then. Next week i'll graduate on to carrots, then potatoes and perhaps some root vegetables... To me, she's much happier with a little bit of food, even though the Health Visitor was aghast at the suggestion that I would be weaning her before six months! So, who should I trust, A Heath Visitor, a GP or a mother's Instinct?
The Bean is now settled happily into nursery and although some mornings she still cries when I leave, on the whole (and if her best friend Savannah is there) she settles in fine. One look at the gooey play doh or the 'messy room' and she's forgotten about her bedraggled mum. Potty training is still interesting though, we still can't seem to get poo s in the right place and my washing machine is on overdrive. Wee s generally end up in the potty or the toilet. The whole process is definitely taking much longer than I thought it would. You just have to perservere! Lat week D and I both had important work meetings and we both discovered Poo on our shirts during the meeting as The Bean decided to have a little accident as we were leaving the house! The trials of working parents continues!
The Bean is definitely getting cleverer. Yesterday she said to me 'Mummy I want to Kiss you', after we kissed she said, 'now can I watch television because I kissed you'! Oh dear, at such an early age she's already aware of the power of a kiss....