It's a roll-over

Ya ya roly, ya ya poly, ya ya roly poly. SB is on the move. He can roll onto his tummy but only to the right. He hasn't mastered the left yet. After 2 or 3 weeks of this he's becoming a bit more comfortable on his tummy and can stay there for a few minutes before having an eppy. I'm pretty sure it won't be long before he crawls so we'll need to pen him in. His legs go nineteen to the dozen when he's on his belly.

But then all his limbs move all the time. He burns calories faster than I can get them into him. And that's not an exaggeration. Since last I wrote, he's barely gained half a pound. I've had the same sized baby for 2 months. I'm ready to throttle the health visitors because on a whim they oscillate between two extremes. First they are at my door wanting to weigh him every week, whipping me up into an anxious frenzy and then they retreat into the shadows leaving me wondering what to do and whether I'm starving the SB. They'll be coming to take him away next.
After the last weigh-in I decided to start to wean him one month 'early'. Obviously I wasn't making enough milk for him and he still won't take a bottle so what else was there to do? So we are about 10 days in and he's loving it. They say babies will tell you when they've had enough by clamping their mouths shut or turning their heads away. Not SB. I think he is trying to make up for lost food over the last 2 months. He's already a happier baby (at last) and now I feel bad that I must have been starving him all this time. But the old NHS breastapo do forbid early weaning and I'm such a square - I always just comply. I'm going to try to use my instincts more. And with that in mind I'm trying to be more relaxed about what I should and shouldn't be doing. So if I want to breast feed SB in the middle of the night when he's probably not hungry but is in need of comfort, I will do it without guilt. And I have long since abandoned the routine. But I am scared about having him weighed next in case he still hasn't gained, even on solids. And when he does gain, how strange it will be. For the last two fifths of his life he's been exactly the same size.

So he's a totty tiny baby but he is making strides in other areas aside from the rolling. He's got much better co-ordination already and he is into everything. He loves to be outside being a nosey parker, watching people go by. He especially likes being in the sling. I don't hear a peep out of him when he's in it and we are out and about. And being tiny, he's easy to carry! I promise I'm not stunting my child's growth for convenience. The rolling is a bit of an issue in terms of sleeping. When he wakes up and cries, it's straight onto the belly and of course he's stuck there with no hope of him settling himself back to sleep. Hopefully he will learn how to roll back soon.

I never ceased to be amazed at the free stuff you get from the NHS as a new mum. Recently it has been free books, a free toothbrush and toothpaste and a free tommy tippee cup. I think it's both sad and ridiculous really. Presumably there are so many people out there that would not think to buy these things themselves that they are bought by the state for everyone. And how wasteful that everyone gets these things when so many of us can afford to buy them ourselves. Far better surely that those less well off are given more help using the money saved from not buying a bunch of middle class women toothbrushes, books and cups. The books come at about 4 months to 'introduce the child to literacy'. SB likes to eat them.