Okay, Ben's sleeping at the moment, but he will no doubt be up soon. He had his jabs at 2.00 pm and started screaming at 5.45 pm. So, dosed him up with Calpol, bottle of milk and put him to bed. Gave him lots of food this am, so not too worried whether he eats much tonight or not. If past experiences are anything to go by, he'll be like this (grizzly and sleepy) for the next 3 days or so. So far he's not had a temperature, so keeping fingers crossed that stays away this time too. All done now though until he's 18 months and gets the MMR.
Lizzy - Hope Kitty stays okay after her jabs. It's lovely when they don't react. Jack never did.
His eczema's lots better today too. Completely smothered him in hydrocortisone ointment last night. Magical stuff that is.
Amanda - I'm sure you're right that the summer will help lots. I've always had very mild eczema (just the odd patch here and there every now and again), and it's definitely better in the summer.
Had Ben weighed today too, and he's now 14lb 15oz, so bar 1oz he's put on 1lb in 3 weeks. Looking at the chart too, he's followed a really steady upward line right in the middle of the 9th and 25th centile since starting solids. So, pleased with his gain today. Going to get his length measured when the HV visits me in a couple of weeks time (she didn't have time to chat today and wants to see how I am re PND, etc. Can't fault her really, she's been very supportive) as I'd like to know whether his height and weight centiles match up. His length has never been measured, even when he was newborn, so I'm curious to know how he's growing.
Re sterilising stuff. I've heard so many different things on this one. The red book I have for Ben (the one that goes to clinic with him) says that sterilising needs to be done for the first 6 months only. I have read elsewhere the same as Barbara says, that you only need to sterilise bowls, spoons, etc until 6 months, but bottles until 12 months, and I've also read that you need to do everything until 12 months.
With Jack I was intending to sterilise everything until 12 months, but dh put the microwave steriliser in the combi oven on 210 dc

So we just stopped then. Jack was 10 months old. I think with Ben I'm going to stop sterilising everything at about the same time. Apparently if you put stuff in a dishwasher anyway, then this is hot enough to sterilise (I haven't got a dishwasher though - apart from dh

). I suppose it's just personal choice, but as far as I can tell, I think once babies are shoving everything in their mouths anyway (usually by 6 months), then it's safe to stop sterilising. I'm going to do it for that bit longer though just to make sure. But as Sue says, so long as everything is washed and rinsed thoroughly then where's the nasty bacteria going to come from that causes a tummy upset. Most dangerous cause is from old milk, as this can cause a really nasty bug that's particularly dangerous for small babies. Other than rotavirus, Jack's never had any form of upset tummy, and so far Ben's been fine too. I know upset tummies can be picked up via airbourne virus as well as bacterial infection, but so far we seem to have been lucky.
Sue - Obviously fate that you didn't win that kick piano on Ebay. Hope Iestyn likes the one you got
Jac - Glad you're feeling better today.
Jules - I hear what you're saying about your friend possibly being pg. It's hard isn't it hearing this sort of news even though we have our miracles. I also find that the people that know that we had treatment now don't feel it necessary to cover up how easily they conceived because they think that it's okay now we have our babies. And in a way it is, but as Amanda says, it still puts a pain in the heart knowing that we have to go through so much emotionally and financially to even try for our babies. They will never understand this.
Mel - Lovely to hear from you. I'm sure giving the odd spoonful of puree to Jessica at 14 weeks will be fine. As Sue says, I think 16 weeks is given as a guide for people to know when the earliest start age should be, so they don't go giving solids at something daft like 8 weeks when baby's digestive system is definitely way too immature to cope. I think from 14 weeks on is fine if baby needs it. Again, only my opinion

Saying all that though, I think that if possible, it's best for baby's health if they aren't weaned too early and the longer the better. If a baby (and a mum can stand more frequent feeding, etc.) can last until 6 months then I think it is best to wait until this time. I think it's very easy to rush into weaning these days, as it's such an exciting stage, and we all feel our babies are ready by the quoted 16 weeks, when maybe they aren't quite.
Ben's just woken up screaming his head off

Dh has given him milk, but he'll only take 3 oz (normally has 6 minimum), and just tried him with some solids, and he's not having any of it. So, dh is going to bath him and see whether he'll take anything after that. A bath normally soothes him whatever. As I'll be the one on duty all day tomorrow, dh has said that he's happy to do all this tonight. What a good un eh
Love
Jayne x