Nov-Dec 2006 Mommies - They're Here, Now What? The First Months.

[bluebunny]

Franni, I'm of the anti-CIO camp so take my advice with a grain of salt...is co-sleeping an option? What about letting her sleep in the swing? I really disagree with CIO but especially with an infant so young. I feel your pain, though, as my DS woke up ever 2 hours until he was over 6 months old and I worked full-time.

[Rancid13]

amyE & rancid- Yikes! I can't imagine how hard it is for you guys to let your little ones CIO. We did it with DS when he was almost 6 months. It was hell - the first night he cried for over 2 hours straight - but it got better over about a week or two. Of course, now that he is 2yo we have sleep issues again, but that's another story. I hope we don't have to do that with DD too...


It wasn't hard...I'm probably a bad person for saying this, but his crying (even in the middle of the night) makes me laugh more than anything because as he's getting angry he sounds like a mad cat.:o :)

[AmyE]

CIO I'm sorta editing my previous post, because our babies are all so young, and the "CIO" we did wasn't what the system of whoever-that-guy-is, so just posted for clarification: at 6+ weeks with DS 1 we let him fuss, and he never really got to the screaming, vibrating baby voice stage. (It was like Rancid described - more fussing and talking/whining to himself) I also never let him go longer than 10 minutes - as I said 9 mins was my max. Our ped thought if they were fussing after 10 mins they probably did need something, but if they slept before then it was just him letting off some energy before falling asleep. As it turns out, DS1 was one of the kids who was just fussing to fall asleep, but I was running in at every noise and distrubing him when he was trying to put himself to sleep.

If the baby is really "crying", I wouldn't leave them unattended at this stage for very long. Although I will say they do sometimes scream if their bottle is still heating up, or I have to run to the bathroom and put them down....but I don't think that counts as CIO either!! So far the twins seem to be able to fall asleep on their own if they are already drowsy, so we've been lucky with that at least, although J will fuss sometimes if she's not on top of DH.

I think there is some book somewhere that has a CIO "system" for older babies by some famous Dr. dude. Can you tell I"m out of it this morning? I do know his name....I'm not using the term CIO they way he describes it, which does mean leaving the baby for an hour or more.

[Kimmer]

It wasn't hard...I'm probably a bad person for saying this, but his crying (even in the middle of the night) makes me laugh more than anything because as he's getting angry he sounds like a mad cat.:o :)

This made me laugh b/c Justin sounds like this to me. It is just a funny fussy noise.

[mobox]

"Sleep Training" Books:

On Becoming Babywise - I hated this book but it works for some people. Is of the routine/CIO train of thought.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - This is the one that many people use...I believe this is the one with extinction, etc methods. I have it but haven't started it yet.

No Cry Sleep Solution - This is the one that I find the most useful for sleeping and "taking care of" baby when you don't think it's good to let them cry. She has some great tips in this book.

The Baby Whisperer - Like this book too as it advocates the Eat/Activity/Sleep pattern that you can instill in a baby.

Most of these books do not advocate "training" until the 4 month mark. Except Babywise which says 8 weeks which I think is bollox. Why would you let your eight week old cry (and I mean cry, not fuss) for 5-60 minutes? That is cruel to me. That baby needs something, even if it's just to be held. I totally agree with Dr. Karp's Happiest Baby theories as well.

Anyway, that's my biased opinions of course.;) Each baby is SO different and what works for some won't work for others. For us, swaddling helps immensely. Pacifiers help him soothe himself to sleep. At night feedings, I am as quiet as a mouse and barely wake him to feed him. He then goes right back down. Also, I cannot tout the white noise enough. There is a CD called "For Crying Out Loud" that is wonderful. I also bought this, the Sleep Sheep:
http://store.babycenter.com/product/sleep+sheep+on+the+go.do?search=basic&keyword=sleep+sheep&sortby=shortdesc&asc=true&page=1
And Sam loves it so much. I took it today to his WBV (ugh, immunizations!) and he quieted right down when I turned it on.

So, there you have it!!!

[Lizzie Beth]

Ellidew- Ugh about your MIL & Miles' routine. My MIL can be the same way...over the past 2 years w/ DD#1 she's done some pretty wacky stuff. I don't think she can help it, though - her instincts tell her something different from what I tell her, and she loves the girls so much that her instincts override my marching orders. :rolleyes: I don't think she can help it. And who knows, maybe the girls act differently based on the fact that they know Mommy's not around. They seem to intrinsically know they can get their way with grandma and grandpa. With my MIL, it is a food-fest each and every time they are there, as much as she can jam into their little mouths. :rolleyes: But both girls are tough - when they don't want any more, they are pretty insistent about it.

So I've pretty much given up on telling MIL what to do, except for a few select things that I REALLY need her to do - the toughest one is my "do-not-overheat-the-baby" thing. She was raised on "babies must have hats" but in the no-swaddle era. With the swaddle thing AND a hat, they overheat FAST. There have been times I have come to their house unannounced and found DD#1 drenched in sweat. (She also subscribes to a general overheating baby is best theory - found DD#1 in a flannel sleeper in the middle of summer 70+ in her room) This drives me BATTY as DD#1 has eczema (overheating exacerbates it) and the risk of SIDS. So I have hammered home that point (and DH has been even more vocal about it than I am) and because that is my one big issue, she seems to have tried to comply with it.

But YAY for solving Miles' digestive problems!!! :D That is huge! You definitely deserve a mommy award for that. Do something nice for yourself (other than giving yourself the happy-baby experience!)

And - I was thinking 'it would be nice if you helped me in the morning!' but didn't say anything because i thought it would be rude but his reply was 'You may want to think about getting up a few minutes earlier in case meltdowns happen. Just a suggestion.' I emailed him back and said 'uh, thanks? I will start getting up earlier since i have to do it all myself.' I was dumbfounded by his reply.

Girl, you gotta tell him specifically what you want him to do! My DH never did anything spontaneously with either baby at this age, but once I gave him his marching orders, he's really done his best. Even with the new one, he'll walk right by when Katie's in the swing and griping because she's lost her binky. I had to tell him - hey, if you're nearby and she's in that sitch, TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF TO REPLACE THE BINKY FOR HER... Doh! :rolleyes: With the toddler, he's more confident and takes things on for himself, but with a newborn he's a LOT more hesitant, and he seems to take on a "the mother can hear - let her handle it" attitude. Um, no. When mommy is busy running around like a madwoman to put dinner on the table and gets up multiple times a night to breastfeed - he can deal. But if I have to tell him what to do, I will.

Oh, and the DTD question - I can finally put myself in the "did it!" column... Yayyyyyyy.. It was part of my birthday present. :D For those RO's who would be amused, I've been singing the Dora - "we did it!" song in my head ever since.

[Franni]

Thanks for all the tips and for sharing. Sadly I think I have done everything that everyone has posted.

Dr Karp's method worked wonderfully for DD1. So I thought the same would be true for DD2. Nope.

Thus far we have tried or are still trying:
swaddling
pacifier - HATE
swing - steady
swing - moving
wearing/slinging to sleep then transfer to bed/swing
co-sleeping - worked for the first few weeks but now NO
strict routine
no routine/baby led
white noise
nursing to sleep
early bedtime
late bedtime

We have a sleep routine and once it is the evening, when we have to take care of DD, there is absolutely no talking, no eye-contact. The room is dim. She is fed and rocked in silence.

bluebunnyright now she is not even sleeping past 10-15 minutes without waking up. I wish I could just co-sleep. It takes about that long to get her to sleep.

moboxmaybe I'll get a Sleep Sheep. I am skeptical though since she has a musical mobile on top of her swing and she is fine with that when she is awake but not when she wants to sleep. Oh well...anything is worth a try at this point.

katnbug DD1 didn't use the crib until she was 5 months. DD2 has been in her crib once and that was the early days when she was still a sleepy little thing...oh how I miss those days now.

rancid I feel your pain. I hope last night was just a one time thing for you guys.

Last night We put DD in bed at 7. She went down ok but for the next 3 hours, she was up at least once or twice an hour. Not too bad since it was still pretty early in the evening. At around 10, she woke up. I fed her and put her down. She woke up after 5 minutes, so I decided to try co-sleeping again. She did fall asleep while nursing but the minute I tried to shift in bed, she would wake up and cry. So began the cycle of soothing, sleeping, waking in 15 minute increments. DH started helping me out at 1 AM. He took over to let me sleep. It went on for him till 3 AM. She finally slept from 3 -6AM. I nursed her at 6 AM. She fell asleep in my arms and I just decided to sleep the rest of the night in the armchair with her in my arms.

DH and I are both going insane at this point. I am not sure exactly what we are going to do anymore. I feel like we have done everything short of CIO. We are both snippy with each other and DD1.

[katmg]

I'm reading along about sleeping b/c I've spent the last three nights on the sofa with Charlotte sleeping on my chest. She sleeps great during the day but at night the only way I can get her to settle down and actually sleep is to have her on my chest. She'll go into "light" sleep but the second you put her down she is up and crying. I'm exhausted!! She's only 2 weeks old so I don't feel right letting her CIO.

[katnbug]

:D For those RO's who would be amused, I've been singing the Dora - "we did it!" song in my head ever since.

LOL. Now that's funny. :)

Franni- That routine is making me tired! I feel for you. All I can say is hopefully things will change soon. It sounds like you've tried everything. :(

katmg- The couch was a familiar place for me when DS was little (he's 27 months now). He also would sleep only in my arms and cry the minute I put him down. Unlike your DD, I couldn't even put him down to sleep during the day... he would wake up every time. I drove around the block with him a lot in those days because the only other place he'd sleep is in the car! After realizing that putting him in a bassinet at night was not going to work, I would sleep with him next to me on our couch, which was very deep and actually pretty comfy. Then we progressed by both moving to our spare bedroom. By 3 months we made it to our bed and he co-slept with DH and I. And that was where he slept until about 5 1/2 months when we put him in his crib and let him CIO by dr's orders. I guess that just goes to say we do what we have to do at the time. Things will get better eventually... it just seems like "eventually" will never get here!
****************************

Well... I'm tired (like so many of you). Mentally & physically. I really need a mental-health day. DH is just making me more tired. He was in Florida on a "business trip" this week - I say this sarcastically because it involved golf, and to me that's recreation, not business. He got home last night and I was happy he was back, for a few minutes. He immediately dumped his luggage by the front door, where it still lays. I wonder how long before he decides to move it. I asked him to read to DS last night while I fed DD. He read a page, then watched TV for a few minutes, then read another page, then back to the TV... I guess CSI was more interesting than giving his son attention. Then we all went to bed early and he knocks the pile of clothes that need to go to the dry cleaner onto the floor and leaves them there. I told him to pick them up and he said he didn't see the point since they're dirty and I'll be taking them to the cleaner today. :mad: He saw by my reaction that that wasn't the right answer and quickly put them back on the chair. Besides, he doesn't even realize that going to the dry cleaner is not a chore I can do with a toddler and baby in tow, and I can't even take them until tomorrow. I kept the house pretty clean while he was gone. Did lots of laundry and put it all away, no dishes in the sink, all toys put away... suddenly he's back and my house is a mess again! :(
I guess I'm happy that he's back home.. but we're already back into a routine of my scolding him for everything and feeling like I'm his mother too. I really need a break...did I say that already?? ;)

[Toonces]

Sleep issues ~ I really feel for those of you who are having sleep issues with your little one. I went through that with DD and it was a nightmare. For 22 months, she slept on my nap for every.single.nap. Seriously, 22 months. Granted, that's extreme and I was still nursing her and she'd fall asleep like that. Now she falls asleep on her own in bed. So even the most extreme cases do work out. :) Hang in there!!

Katnbug ~ If I didn't know better, I'd swear we were married to the same man. :) DH is going on a "business trip" to FL next week and everytime I clean, he comes in like a hurricane and the house is a mess within minutes. I've given up. I have some Zoloft and Xanax if you'd like to pop a few of those. It's done wonders for me. :p :) You should check out the CC Convention thread in Chit Chat. We're planning a trip to Vegas next Spring. You & I could get hammered and smoke cigarettes. I'm going... even if I have to pump and dump. One weekend in Vegas with the girls and no kids - I'm SO there!!

katmg ~ My DD only slept on us at night for the first 8 weeks. After that we were able to co-sleep with her - I would nurse her down and she'd fall asleep in our bed. I think it's pretty common for newborns to want/need to sleep on someone. What does your DH think about co-sleeping?

Sorry for no more SO's. I'm so behind on this thread. We just got our master bathroom remodeled so I'm off to buy accessories online and after DD wakes up, I desparately need to Hoover wet vac. I can't believe the dust from redoing one TINY bathroom!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[katnbug]

You & I could get hammered and smoke cigarettes.


I'm there! :D

[katmg]

katnbug - I thought about trying to cosleep with her in the guestroom - we may progress to that...I'm just glad to hear that I'm not the only one who has had a newborn like this!

catgirl - DH is not really in favor of co-sleeping - with her being so little he's worried about suffocating her in bed. Our bedroom is really cold in the winter and we sleep with a ton of covers/blankets - big cosleping no-nos. I think eventually I'll be able to nurse her and get her settled enough to sleep at night. She does it during the day - not sure what is so different about nighttime!

[Rancid13]

For those RO's who would be amused, I've been singing the Dora - "we did it!" song in my head ever since.

That had me cracking up! My niece used to have a Dora doll who would sing "We did it!" while doing a silly dance that DH and I still crack up about.

I had my PP ob visit today (yeah, at nearly 7 weeks pp) and everything is healed up from the c/s and I'm looking to get an IUD implanted at my next visit as soon as we hear back from the insurance co. regarding coverage. Unfortunately every time my ob stuck something 'in there' it hurt really bad...I had a culture, pap, and one other thing done and it really hurt.:eek: She said I'm still really tender and sensitive in the vaginal area and it will take awhile longer for that to get back to normal. No wonder it hurt so bad when we attempted to DTD a couple weeks ago. :o

DS slept much better last night. He's been falling asleep in his swing in the evening and we leave him there until he wakes for his first middle of the night feeding, which is DH's feeding. He said DS went right to sleep as soon as he was fed, and slept thru his diaper change. He fell right asleep after his next 2 nighttime/early morning feedings too. :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the 2 nights prior to last night were flukes and DS was just having fussy nights.

[Franni]

catgirl Oh....so.jealous. I think I will promptly do that tomorrow. I am going to a wedding sans children. Looking forward to getting hammered after the week that I have been through. ENJOY.

RAncid Fingers crossed...that your DS is all settled now.

[Toonces]

Franni ~ The Vegas trip isn't until next Spring, so you'll be enjoying before I will. :) Have a few for me!

Rancid ~ Fingers crossed! Hopefully you'll get some good sleep tonight. We haven't attempted DTD yet, but after DD I remember being sore for 6 months. The KY warming gel helps a lot. :o :)

katmg ~ I totally understand. The first few weeks are so hard anyway. I hope you get some sleep soon.

[Rancid13]

The KY warming gel helps a lot. :o :)
.

LOL! We used our trusty old lube but even generous amounts of that stuff didn't help things at all. I made DH stop after a couple minutes and we haven't attempted since. :o

[mobox]

He read a page, then watched TV for a few minutes, then read another page, then back to the TV..

OMG!!!!! I thought my DH was the only one who did that! Well, I put the kabosh on it. I really get pissed when he only halfway does things with Samuel and I finally told him that he needed to do it all out or not at all. He has complied since. He also does the I-will-ignore- the-fussing-baby thing and I told him he needed to attend to his son if he hears him fussing and not ignore it. It's like he has blinders on sometimes!!!

[katnbug]

Just a quick update: DH's luggage and golf clubs are still parked in our foyer from Thursday evening....

[Rancid13]

Just a quick update: DH's luggage and golf clubs are still parked in our foyer from Thursday evening....

Ugh, how annoying is that!!!:mad:

DH does that with trash bags...I ask him to please take out the trash, and he collects the bags from the various trash cans around the house and puts them in the entry area, saying he'll take them out to the chute when he gets home that night. Nevermind that our entry area is a tiny hallway just off the kitchen, through which I can't get a stroller and/or carrier by myself, when there are 4-5 full trash bags lining the wall to the door.:mad: So I have to relocate the trash bags one by one to the kitchen so I can get out of the house...

We had a good night last night, with DS going down at 9:30pm and sleeping till his first feeding around 1, then back to sleep till next feeding around 4, then again till the next feeding at around 7. He fussed in his bassinet at the foot of our bed for about a half hour, then fell asleep. I used the quiet time to take a shower and eat breakfast. He's due for a nap right now, He last slept from 12-1pm and now it's almost 4. He's been awake and playing (after eating and being changed three times in 10 minutes:rolleyes: ), and most recently fussing so he's in the swing now and drifting off to sleep. I think I'll take a nap too.

[bijouparvin]

Hallelujah! Angels are singing - it has taken me more than four hours, but I'm finally caught up with this thread!!

Here are my stats:

CC Name: bijouparvin
DD Name: Molly
Me: 29
DH: 28
Married: 8/6/04
EDD: 11/17/06
ADD: 11/22/06
Time of Birth: 8:48 AM
Weight: 8lbs. 11 oz.
Length: 20"

Pic for front page:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/bijoudiva/Molly/Ninth%20Week/DSC00408.jpg

I'm not sure how good I'll be at keeping up here since Molly tends to want to be held most of the time: not conducive to typing. Just wanted to chime in on a few topics...

Diapers: We CD most of the time but we use Pampers Baby Dry for overnight or when we're out and about and need her to be happy for a while. I love the CDs but if she wets even a little, she feels it immediately and gets really unhappy until she's changed. With 'sposies, she doesn't ever seem to mind if she's dirty (not that we'd leave her in a dirty diaper for long, mind you!)

DTD: I thought this was not going to happen for a long time, but last weekend my folks were visiting from CA and they took Molly for a short walk and we seized the opportunity. It was way better than I expected. In fact, the act itself was not painful. I was a little ...er... swollen for a few hours afterward, though.

Co-Sleeping: I'm so relieved to hear that so many others are using this option. I was one of those who said we would definitely NOT be co-sleeping. But DD had different ideas. The first few weeks, she was up every two hours for an hour at a time. Since we switched to 'sposies at night and co-sleeping, she sleeps from 10 or 11 until 7ish with one semi-conscious feeding around 3 or 4, then again from 7 until 9 or 10am, after another feeding and usually a diaper change. I would love to get her into her crib, or at least the PNP but I'm not willing to give up the great sleep or even consider any CIO methods. Plus, it's sort of nice to have her there. I guess we'll just play it by ear until it feels like the right time.

Question to any other people who are or have been co-sleeping: What is your plan for transition? If you have already transitioned, what did you do and how did it work?

It's so great to be caught up on everyone (and introduced to the Dec. mamas).

ellidew - So great to hear that Miles is a "new baby". I can only imagine what a relief that is for you.

catgirl - Thanks for being honest about your PPD. I hope your treatment is helping.

rancid - I'm so impressed with Tyler's rolling over. We don't do any regular tummy time with Molly but now I'm inspired so if she ever wakes up from this nap, I'm going to try!

katnbug - I can't believe your DH can just walk past that luggage every day. My DH is that way about clothes in the bedroom, food in the kitchen sink catch, and shavings in the bathroom. How can they NOT see those things!?! You are a very patient woman.

************************************************** ********

I can't remember who brought this up, but we have also been having trouble with Molly not liking her sitters. I work at home for four hours five days a week. I've been back to work for three weeks now and just this past week or so, Molly will cry nearly the whole time. She's fine all day and then when I have to go downstairs to work and leave her with one of the gals, she just loses it. I thought it was too young to have a Mama attachment, but that's the only reason I can think of. Twice now, I've just gone upstairs and brought her down and held her while I taught and she's immediately calm again. Once, the student was my doula's daughter so I knew she wouldn't mind if I nursed just to calm her down. But I can't always go and get her so I hope she adjusts. It just breaks my heart to hear her wailing. It's like my own terrible version of CIO, seeing how long I can try to teach while I can hear her in the nursery. Any suggestions or commiseration?

[rosa727]

Question to any other people who are or have been co-sleeping: What is your plan for transition? If you have already transitioned, what did you do and how did it work?

We co-sleep most of the time. Sometimes we put him in the PNP, if he falls asleep right after eating and seems very content. We put him in a sleep positioner either way (in our bed or the PNP) so I am hoping this will make it easier to transition him. It should feel the same to him and he is nice and snug. I think we will work on putting him in the PNP more and then eventually go to the crib. I like having him close still. He usually sleeps from about 8PM to 11PM and then until about 5AM and again until 8:30 or so. So he has been a pretty good sleeper. If co-sleeping is what works for now, I am all for it!

By the way, Grady is still doing a whole lot better. I think the formula change really helped. He is napping well and playing happily for much longer stretches. He still starts crying when he has had enough playing (usually after about 30-40 minutes). Does that seem about normal? I am assuming this means he has had enough and needs a nap. Does that seem right? He is usually yawning and fussy. We also brought him back to the professional photographer and he was very good. We got some beautiful shots. Yesterday we were able to go out to lunch and have some adult time. He slept through most of lunch, woke up, and went right back to sleep in his carrier, with no help from us. I sure hope this continues. I was losing my mind last week!

What can I do to make DC's 2 month vaccinations easier? Did anyone give their DC anything before them? Anyone have problems?

[neenbean]

I am following along, but so overtired, I can barely think straight. DH and I are at eachother's throats because we are so exhausted and DD#1 is getting scolded often by both of us. DD#2 cried for over 2.5 hours last night- nothing would soothe her!!!!!! Finally, we plopped her into the swing and 3 minutes later she was asleep- that was 2:45AM. We had to wake her around 8AM to put her in the infant carrier to go to church... Does that qualify as STTN? :confused: We were beside ourselves with anxiety from her blue-in-the-face screaming, and were about to call the Ped after trying everything- rocking, holding, bouncing, letting her be alone, pacifier, bottler, Mylicon, bouncer seat. DH grabbed the swing and it saved us all.

Gotta go! My needy family needs me.

Can we say overwhelmed?!?!?!?!????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ilovemygeek]

What can I do to make DC's 2 month vaccinations easier? Did anyone give their DC anything before them? Anyone have problems?
When Daria got her vaccinations I gave her infant Tylenol every 4 hours for the day following her appointment at my Ped's suggestion and it really made things easier for her. She had a fever that night and the Tylenol seemed to calm her and keep her temperature at bay. The injection sites on her legs were red and felt like little knots (again, the Tylenol helped with the soreness), but that did disappear in a couple of days. Overall, it was about what I expected. Daria was fussier than normal, but if I was diligent with the Tylenol, she did fine.

[mimieliza]

I'm reading along, but have been very busy with work and unable to post much.

Vaccines - Miranda's almost three months old, and we haven't gotten her shots yet. Oops. :o Deep down, I'm really nervous about it. I'm doing only one shot at a time, and not getting everything (we're doing DTaP, Hib, Prevnar and Rotavirus). We had to reschedule her WBV due to my illness, so she just went in last week (at 11 weeks old). I didn't want to do the shots that day because she was staying with my parents off and on this weekend while I was managing concerts for the orchestra I work for.

Anyway, at 11 weeks, she is 11 lbs. 5 oz., and 23.5 inches. :)

neenbean - Oy. That sounds like a rough night. We are crazy swing addicts here. I alternately praise and curse Fisher Price for their addictive cradle swing. We had to buy another one so I can have one at work. Anyway, the swing has restored sanity to her sleep patterns. She naps twice a day in the swing, and goes to bed at 9:00 in the swing. DH and I take her into bed when we go to bed at 11:00 or so. So if the swing works, go with it! At first she would fuss for awhile until the swing lulled her to sleep, but now she's conditioned to sleep in it and closes her eyes almost as soon as she's in it.

co-sleeping transition - I'm not even thinking about this yet - we're very happy and cozy in bed, so I've decided to wait and think about transitioning if we get to a point where we're not sleeping well. It helps that she goes to sleep in the swing earlier in the evening - DH and I have some alone time at that point.

bijou - good to see you here! Molly's adorable. :) I hear you on the work-baby struggle. I'm bringing her to work and so far have had no childcare. I spend all day feeling pulled in two directions - whenever she's reasonably happy, I'm pretty much ignoring her trying to get things done. I'd like to look into some part-time childcare, but discovered this weekend that she will not take a bottle anymore.

Sleep Training - We've had to do a bit for naps. With my going back to work, she's been very overstimulated. It's hard to settle her for a nap, and she just keeps getting more worked up. I finally have had to just put her in her swing and leave her alone for up to 15 minutes. Usually she just fusses and drops off to sleep quickly, but a couple of times she's worked herself into a scream before dropping off. I hate it and feel awful, but she needs her sleep! I read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. While it made a lot of sense, and I can see much of what he talks about in Miranda's sleep patterns, I found the methods pretty cold - he talks about not even going in to a child who has cried so hard they vomitted. :( So I'm taking what I can from the book and leaving the rest, and mostly going by Miranda's cues. I can usually tell when she's just crying from exhaustion and over-stimulation versus when she really needs me to respond. I'm also trying to catch her sleepy cues and get her down for her nap before she becomes exhausted, and have started a sleep routine. Those have both really helped avoid too much crying.

[mobox]

Love the tree hugger onesie--so cute!!!

He fell right asleep after his next 2 nighttime/early morning feedings too.

Rancid - Do you wake him to feed still or is this when he wakes you up? Just curious because DS really doesn't wake up during the night and I'm wondering how common that is. I give him a feedings at 10p-11p and then he sleeps until 5-7am.

What can I do to make DC's 2 month vaccinations easier? Did anyone give their DC anything before them? Anyone have problems?

I didn't do anything. My Ped said to give him the Tylenol if he started to run a fever. The injections sites do get little knots so the nurse said to just gently massage the area with your fingertips at ever diaper change. DS was very sleepy that day but was back to normal the next day.

Hey gals--newsflash--we finally DTD today. DS was taking his afternoon nap and DH was feeling it so I figured I couldn't deny him. It had been since Thanksgiving. The actual act didn't hurt but since I fell on the stairs last week and my tailbone is hurt pretty bad, that is what hurt the most. I do recommend LOTS of lube. LOL.

[AmyE]

vaccines Funny, but I am supposed to be calling the ped and making the appt right now, but I somehow can't seem to log off. :D We'll do the Tylenol thing, like we did we DS.

sitters Fortunately we don't seem to have a problem with this. Our person started this week, so I could make sure she knew how I wanted things done when I go back to work on Feb 1. So far the babies seem to like her.

Update - we had a GREAT weekend. The last two nights the twins got up every 3-4 hours at night, one after the other or at the same time. whoo hoo! Granted, last night they were up from 1am until 3am, but went back to sleep until 5am. They ate at 9pm, 1-3am (sortof), 5am and again at 8am. That's huge progress for us, esp being on the same schedule, more or less. They won't eat/sleep at the same time during the day, but at night suddenly they will. whatever. I'll take what I can get.

Julia is going through this phase where after 5pm she just wails and wails when we try to feed her. suck suck, scream, suck, scream. We can't figure out if it's gas, overfeeding, too hungry, or what. My latest theory is that we haven't warmed the milk enough. Rewarming seemed to help at the 2am feed, but then she cried when I nursed her earlier, so I'm not sure. She'll do this for a good 45 mins, too. But she does eventually go to sleep, so i'm hoping it will just pass eventually. Or that it's the temp.

Also, we put my toddler down to bed and for his nap without his bottle, and he didn't ask for it, so I think we're close to ditching the bottle at the very late date of 21 months. I just couldn't handle it with the move and then the babies arriving, so we left it til after they were born. He's also sat on his potty a couple of times (doing nothing). Now if we can just do the potty training.....AND we signed him back up for preschool, so he starts again tomorrow. He's apparently the only one in his class who isn't pottty trained, so I hope the peer pressure will work. Sheesh. Sorry, didn't mean to post so much about a non-Nov/Dec baby! Just made my weekend all that much better!

The only bummer was that I'm pretty sure I ended up with diastasis with this pregnancy, and will check with the doc in a couple of weeks. I was really hoping the mommy pouch was just leftover baby weight, but I"m within 10 lbs of prepreg, and this is what I weighed a couple of years ago, yet my waist is 5 inches bigger. Ah well. The babies were worth it.

[mobox]

This is a great article on sleeping rituals and tips:

http://www.babycenter.com/general/baby/babysleep/7913.html

[katnbug]

Question to any other people who are or have been co-sleeping: What is your plan for transition? If you have already transitioned, what did you do and how did it work?


I didn't really have a plan, but just tried to transition DD into her crib on Friday night. Not successful. She woke up crying the minute I put her in it. I was frustrated all day Friday because of her crying.. I decided right then that I was done breast-feeding because I know my breastmilk is the major problem. I don't eat much dairy, and I try to stay away from spicy and stuff that makes me gassy... but with my eat-what-I-can-when-I-can diet I just know I am part of the problem. With a toddler it's just too hard to have a strict diet for me. Anyhow, the only thing that soothed DD back to sleep Friday was my breast-feeding. :( So... that plan failed. I really want to try to get her in her crib because we're leaving Thursday for Vegas and it would be easier on SIL if DD was in the crib. Maybe I'm taking this on too soon...

teething, anyone?- I know DD is one of the older babies on this thread since she was born mid-October, so I don't know if anyone else is going through this yet. DD is showing signs of teething. Drooling all over the place. Cranky (maybe this was part of her issue on Friday). Chewing on everything. I read in my "What to Expect- The First Year" that signs of teething can come up to 3 months before the first tooth appears. So DD is right on schedule for a 6month tooth (just like her brother).

[Franni]

FINALLY!!! For those who have followed along with my major sleep whine (apologies for really being SO WHINY), DD2 let us co-sleep. She slept wonderfully last night beside me and I hope that it is not just a fluke.

bijou I went through the same thing with DD. I didn't think that they would have separation anxiety this young. The first few days with her nanny was so horrible. I was there during the transition and she would cry. Nothing the nanny did soothed her until I took her from the nanny and immediately she calmed down. It does take a lot of getting used to for the babies, but it will pass. DD did get used to the nanny finally. To this day though, DD doesn't like the bottle. She will tolerate it when she's really starving.

co-sleep transition I am not thinking that far ahead since I am not sure if this will work out in the long run for us, but as the others here have said, I won't even think of sleep training until 4-5 months unless it gets crazy again.

teething I know it is too early for teeth but I already see whiteness in her gums, but along the side rather than the front. So I am not sure if that is the case for me.

[RubberSoul]

co-sleeping transition- I haven't even begun to think about this. I think DS will be sleeping with us for a good while, so we have a while to work this out.

Franni- Yipee! I hope that the co-sleeping continues to work and you get some much needed rest :).

bijou- I love that onesie! Molly is adorable!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reflux update: Zantac did not work for us. We went back to the Ped today and made the switch to Prilosec. I was hoping we would be able to get the prescription filled today, but no such luck. It has to be made at a compounding pharmacy and they didn't get it made before they closed. We will have to pick it up tomorrow morning. The Ped says that it will take a few days to start working. Fingers crossed that this works. It is so hard to see DS in pain and not be able to do anything about it :(.

[Rancid13]

Rancid - Do you wake him to feed still or is this when he wakes you up? Just curious because DS really doesn't wake up during the night and I'm wondering how common that is. I give him a feedings at 10p-11p and then he sleeps until 5-7am.

He wakes us up. During the day his eat/nap schedule is somewhat random still, but at night he wants to eat every 3 hours. He'll start to whimper/fuss a little bit and if we don't hear that, then he does a full fledged cry but stops as soon as he's picked up. He's usually sucking his hand, so we know immediately that he wants food. Now. :)

Co-sleeping transition~ We only occasionally co-sleep, such as when DS is being particularly fussy and won’t go to bed at a reasonable hour (ie: before 2am), lying next to one of us calms him down enough to fall asleep. Sometimes we can successfully move him to his bassinet, other times we’ll leave him be. In the morning when I’m really tired but have to feed him, I’ll lay him next to me in bed and side-nurse him and we’ll usually get a little nap in together right after.

Vaccines~ We have our 2-month WBV on Feb 15 as our ped’s office is super busy. I called about 3 weeks ago for the appt, and that was the soonest they had available. I hope everything goes well with the vaccinations.

Sitters~ So far we’ve had success in leaving DS with someone, either at our house or at theirs, in order to get away for a few hours. My mom will be watching him 2-4 days a week at her house when I return to work, starting next week. She dug my niece’s swing out of storage, bought an activity/play mat and bouncy seat, and has a bassinet all set up for him.

Teething~ I think DS may be showing early signs of teething as well. I’ve noticed over the last week that he’s been drooling and very interested in the paci more than usual, as well as constantly sucking on his hand. He "chews" the paci more than he sucks it, I've noticed. He’s been particularly cranky at night as well, just more fussy than usual and drooly at the same time.

Rubbersoul~ I hope the prilosec works! Poor DS, I hope his pain is relieved soon!


I think DS is about to make the transition from newborn to size 1 diapers. He's been having several poops lately that go right up the back of the diaper and sometimes seeping out. He's definitely over the 10lb weight 'limit' suggested on the pack of the Luvs newborn. :) Now I have several unopened newborn diaper packs that will go unused, I was thinking about donating them to a local women's shelter or something similar.

[rosa727]

A quick Grady update:

First off, the boy is still gaining weight like crazy! He was up to 9 pounds, 3 ounces today (he was 8 pounds, 7 ounces 10 days ago) which puts him in the 15-20th percentile! The doctor actually said he is catching up TOO fast and although it is good at this point, I need to pull back and stop supplementing with formula as much. I am so happy about this. Apparently I am getting him most of what he needs! I only need to give him about 4-6 ounces of formula per day, and hopefully I can do mostly EBM instead. He is latching on to both sides without the shield now, so that may be part of why he is getting more? Not sure, but something s working!

He was also diagnosed with reflux (why I was in today in the first place). They are putting him on Zantac, and I really hope it works. I decided it was time to go when he was waking up in the middle of the night the past few nights spitting up, choking, and screaming :( The doctor seemed to think he had a pretty bad case. I just *knew* there was something physically wrong with him - when he is not uncomfortable he is such a smiley, happy, social baby. I hope we get to see more of that baby soon!

[ellidew]

I am so very sad to say that i'm back in acid reflux hell. The Zantac worked for less than 10 days. Apparently babies can build up a tolerance to it in as little as a week! Ugh, it's so awful listening to ds scream and knowing there isn't a darn thing i can do about it. He was prescribed Prevacid and i pray it starts to work soon.

Good luck to anyone else going through this. Those ear piercing screams are awful. I cried again for the first time in a while last night (and this morning;)) I keep telling myself that it isn't anything i did to him personally but for some reason it's really weighing heavy on me and i think i'm taking it personal.

[rosa727]

ellidew: I am right there with you. I'm so sorry to hear that you are going through this, but I definitely know how you feel! Let's hope the Zantac works for my baby and that the Prevacid works for yours. You are not alone - there are other people (like me!) out there feeling the same way - the guilt and crying - I feel like that too :(

[Franni]

elliedw I am so sorry to hear that. I am sure that despite knowing there is nothing you can do, it will always be hard for you to hear your baby screaming.

[ellidew]

rosa- I'm sorry you are dealing with this too. It totally sucks! :) Keep an eye out on the Zantac for recurring symptoms. Ds responded to it after about 3 days, then had 3-4 good days and then it quickly went down hill from there with each subsequent day being terrible up until day 10 when we were more or less back to where we started. If you see symptoms coming back call your doctor and try a ppi (proton pump inhibitor). Good luck and keep us posted!

Franni- I never realized how much pain i would feel when i saw my child in pain. I can only hope that seeing him happy will provide the same level of emotion because that would be absolutly incredible!

[RubberSoul]

ellidew- I know exactly how you feel. Zantac worked for Ian for about a day, that's it. We are moving on to Prilosec and from what I understand it is going to take about 3-4 days for it to start working. That feels like an eternity to me right now. I wish there was something that could provide immediate relief - I know you do to. I hope we both will have happy, pain free babies very soon!

rosa- We saw very little to no improvement with Zantac. We had one day where we had no reflux issues, but that was all. I noticed rather quickly that the Zantac would wear off between doses well before it was time to give the next dose. If you notice the Zantac is not working push your Ped to go ahead and move on to a PPI - no need to wait around if they say, wait a few more days. Chances are it isn't going to magically start working again. I do hope the Zantac works for you though. It is great that your DS is gaining weight so well!

[pacificbliss]

Hi all,

Finally a moment to catch-up (sort of).

reflux my heart goes out to those of you dealing with this one. It hurts me to hear ds cry.

co-sleep transition we're not up for trying this one just yet. Maybe when he's 6-8 weeks old. I don't know. Right now he's 3 weeks old and we're enjoying the time together and the sleep.

vaccines our 2 month WBV is the end of February. I'm following along with those of you ahead of us to see how to make it as easy on him as possible.

sitters we haven't left hm with anyone yet.

teething no sign of it...still early for ds.

travel question Have any of you taken dc on a plane. I want to take ds to see my family. The flight is only an hour and 10 minutes. I am thinking of going when he's 6 weeks old or so but that is before his first shots. Any suggestions? Warnings? I will ask his ped too.

We seem to have worked through the major issues. Most of those were around bfing which is working fine. I might start pumping soon too so I can have a reserve and dh can start giving a bottle. We have no real schedule to speak of, ds sleeps 2-5 hrs in a stretch at night. Mostly he cries when there is a specific problem and he settles down pretty quickly when we figure out what he needed. We last weighed him on Thursday and he was 9 lbs 7.5 oz.

[katnbug]

Sorry for all of you who are experiencing reflux issues. I hope something works for you soon!

I thought I'd drop off a pic of Hilary with her pretty new headband! DH thinks I'm goofy....
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l307/katdossett1124/prettybow.jpg

[katnbug]

travel- I didn't travel by plane with DS until his first birthday... we just didn't have anywhere to go before then! I would think your dr. might have some suggestions since it's before his first vaccinations. :) Good luck!!

[Teresita]

Katnbug Hilary is adorable!

Reflux We've been stuck in acid reflux hell for a while now. DS was diagnosed with reflux at 2 weeks and put on zantac. Went back in last week and the doctor got to witness one of his spit-ups and his constant wheezing and upped his zantac dosage and put him on reglan. The reglan seems to help control the spit-ups somewhat (he still spits up a lot, but not as bad), but he still has lots of discomfort--and it is so frustrating not only because he is in pain, but also because it keeps him from getting the sleep he needs--he often will wake screaming from wet burps and wet hiccups. I am so worn out dealing with this plus my moody two-year-old. If the reglan doesn't improve things soon, I am going to see if we can try something else.

Travel I won't need to fly with DS until he is four months, but I flew a ton with DD her first year since she came with me on all my business trips. Her first flight was at 7 weeks, before her 2-month vacs, and she was fine. The flight was domestic and just about 4 hours long (one-way).

Co-sleeping transition DS doesn’t usually sleep with us, since he sleeps best a bit more upright in his bouncer. But, we co-slept with DD for 6 months and then transitioned her to the crib. It wasn’t too bad—I mainly referenced HSHC. We had been doing naps in the crib for a while to get her accustomed to sleeping in there. Then we started putting DD in there for her first chunk of night-time sleep and then she would come in and sleep with us after her first waking. Then, finally, we did do a few nights of CIO (we went in off and on to comfort her, but didn't take her out of the crib), which was very tough, but from then on, DD has pretty much been a great sleeper. We don't plan to start sleep training with DS until he hits 6 months.

Vaccines My plan is to see how DS does with vacs and then give Tylenol afterwards only if he seems noticeably uncomfortable. DD never seemed too bothered by hers—she would just tend to be a little sleepier than usual.

Sitters Not yet. We have a part-time nanny for DD, so in theory we could ask her, but I don’t feel ready yet, especially since DS has not had a bottle yet. We did ask her if she could sit for us for Valentines Day, but she is busy, so it may be a while before we have a date night since we do not have family nearby.

Other than the reflux issues, Finn is doing great. He eats like a champ. At 6 weeks he was 11 lbs 9 oz, up from 7lbs 6 oz at birth! He is getting a lot more interactive now—he loves our ceiling fans and I think I have gotten a few non-gas-related smiles. His sleep could be better, but I have faith that it will improve with time and hopefully once we figure out the best way to treat his reflux. Here is a picture of him from last week:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/367390293_0a482d72d2.jpg?v=0

[bluebunny]

Hilary and Finn are adorable!

At DD's one-month appointment yesterday, she weighed a whopping 10 pounds, 10 ounces up from her birth weight of 7 pounds, 11 ounces. :) She is a pound and five ounces heavier than DS was at one month.

Reflux: We're dealing with this as well. The doctor upped DD's Zantac dose yesterday but I haven't seen any improvement. In fact, today she cried in pain for almost an hour. So frustrating. Her sleep is hit or miss because of this stupid reflux. It is so hard to see her try to sleep but crying out in pain.

Co-sleeping transition: We'll probably try to transition her around 3 months. DS slept full-time with us until around 18 months. He still sleeps with us part of the night. I can already tell that DD is less high-needs than DS so transitioning to her own bed might actually work.

Sitter: I return to work in two weeks so I'll be leaving DD with my mom. We've never left DS with a sitter, only with family, and we don't plan to use sitters until they are school-age.

[AmyE]

travel A flight shouldn't be a problem before the 2 month vaccines, esp if you are BF, but even if you're not. (I'm assuming the concern is that she might "catch" something?) She's probably still got mommy's immunities anyway, and her chances of contracting something on a plane are pretty slim. More likely she'll catch a cold if she gets anything.

We took the twins home by plane at 5 weeks, no problems, and travelled tons with DS1 before the first year mark. I brought hand sanitizer and DH and I each wore a baby in the Bjorns. They slept through the entire trip - car to airport to plane to car to home. Bliss!

Teresita Julia LOVES our ceiling fans too! Ben prefers curtains. DS1 did, and now at 21 months, he still gets soooo worried if a fan is turned off, and asks us to turn it on again. We're trying to explain that you don' t need fans when it's cool already, but he doesn't get it.

[b]weights[b] Great weight gains on all those babies! we're hoping for the same.

[Rancid13]

Rosa~ I’m so happy to hear Grady is doing so well weight-wise! What great news that you can pull back on the formula supplementing. Hopefully the Zantac will help with his reflux…fingers crossed!:)

Ellidew~ That’s just awful that the Zantac stopped working for Miles! He was doing so well while it was working too!! Is reflux something that babies will eventually outgrow?:confused:

Pacificbliss~ I’m happy to hear that you guys are working through things!! Good luck on your trip. The only thing I can think of to advise (what I would do, at least) is maybe make sure he’s been fed and changed just prior to boarding, that way he’s more content. Dunno about anything health-wise though. :)

Katnbug~ Adorable picture of Hilary!!

Teresita~ Sorry to hear that you’re having reflux issues with your DS as well. Cute picture of Finn! Sounds like he’s doing pretty well with his growth.

Not a whole lot going on here. I'm jealous of all of you who seem to have ped appts fairly often. ;)I'm dying to find out how DS is doing growth-wise. We had our 2 week WBV, and the next one they do is at 2 mos. When I called a few weeks ago to set that one up, the soonest available they have is Feb 15. Pooh! That means another 3 more weeks.

DS decided last night to wake up and eat every 2-2.5 hours rather than his usual 3 hours...so I ended up getting a lot less sleep than I had anticipated. He was up for a good part of today too, he was awake from 2-7:30pm with maybe a 5 min nap somewhere in there. He's been asleep for an hour now but will be up soon I'm sure, to eat of course. On Saturday he started smiling...DH was leaving for work and saying something silly to him, and DS gave him a huge smile...then a few more. Since then, he's been smiling pretty regularly when he's in a good mood and one of us is talking silly to him. It's so cute he makes me tear up when he smiles.

Here's a picture of Tyler playing on the changing table a couple nights ago...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/rancid13/JenniferPictures051.jpg

And here's a 45 second video of Tyler from Sunday, the day after he started smiling. DH was co-sleeping with him and woke up to a splash of spit-up on his face and when he came out to the living room and started telling me about it, DS was all smiles, looking at DH the whole time. It was too cute:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v432/rancid13/?action=view&current=JenniferPictures054.flv

[rosa727]

Rancid:Cute video - YAY for smiling! It is just so rewarding to see that, isn't it? As far as doctor's visits, we go more than I would like! Now that his weight is good, we can probably go less. But it will be nice to find out how much Tyler weighs. Can you ever just go in for a free weight-check? Oh, thanks for keeping your fingers crossed on the Zantac for us. I am thinking we should see improvement (if there will be any) by tomorrow.
************************************************** *******

Grady is starting to grab and hold things! I was showing him his little mirror that goes with his playgym and he grabbed it. I let go and he held it! Unfortunately, he now grabs my hair, necklace, and skin too. Ouch!

He is also really liking tubby time now. We only give him one twice a week, but we may have to increase it, since he enjoys it. I just had to post this picture:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a343/rosa727/Grady/tubbytime.jpg

We also just got great professional shots, but I can't post them on here :(. I'll post one of the ones I order. I was so happy with how they came out - what a relief after having to reschedule!

travel: We will be driving 9 hours to New York City for Grady's Baptism when he is about 4 months old. Then we will be driving on another 4 hours to Massachusetts so my family can meet him and have a party for him. I hope driving proves to be the right decision. He loves the car normally, so I hope that goes for long trips too! Do any ROs have suggestions about driving?

[Franni]

katnbug Hillary just looks so pretty. What a cute little girl. Love the bow.

I love those pictures... I should do pictures too.

Finn, Grady and Tyler are just adorable.

[mobox]

I love all the pictures--so cute!

Dr. appointments--it worked for us to schedule them out in advance at his first appt. That way we had 6 week and 3 month appts already set up.

Reflux - Seems to have subsided in DS. He still spits up a little but the frequent burping and elevated crib mattress has helped immensely. I'm so shocked at how many little ones are experiencing reflux. It's kind of amazing. What could cause so many to have it? Something in our diets??? Weird. I hope that you all find some relief.

Here's my question...how many of you have your DC napping in their crib? DS sleeps wonderfully at night in his room but he is getting to be pretty resistant to napping there. He started out wonderfully but has regressed. He'll nap in his swing most days but I need to start weening off of that behavior because I go back to work in 5 weeks. Does anyone have any tips? Per No Cry Sleep Soloution, I'm trying to develop a "nap routine" of soft songs on a CD and a little rocking and then into the crib. DS has been in there about 10 minutes now and is starting to cry. He had another fussy night last night...up every 15 mintues between 3-5am. I ended up curled up in the glider in his room because I got sick of getting up and going in there. Anyone else have that experience???

[sandy]

Bath time question... does anyone else's DC hate baths? My son just HATES them with a passion. Any tips for getting him to enjkoy it more?

[mimieliza]

Loving all the baby pictures! I've been a slacker and haven't put any pictures from January online yet.

does anyone else's DC hate baths? - Miranda loves her bath, but I found I need to make the water hotter than I would have thought - I have a tub thermometer, and if I make her water 99-100 degrees, she stays happy throughout the bath. She gasps a little when I put her in but then gets very wiggly and excited, so do watch how your baby reacts if you make it that warm. We also make the room very warm, too.

sitters - Miranda has stayed briefly (under an hour) with relatives that are visiting us, including my aunt and DH's mother and father. She's stayed with my parents for 1-2 hours several times. This past weekend I had a lot of work-related obligations, so she stayed with my parents for 5 hours on Friday, four hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday.

The problem, we discovered on Friday, is that she will no longer take a bottle. So I kept dashing home when my mom called to tell me she was hungry. Luckily we live in a small town and nothing is more than 10 minutes away, so I was able to do that.

Is anyone's baby showing signs of an allergy?
I think Miranda has a milk intolerance. Here are her symptoms:
-Green, mucous-y stools
-Very gassy, seems uncomfortable, hard belly, lots of grunting, farting and squirming that keeps her (and me) awake at night
-Rash on her face around her mouth. I think this is from the bottle attempt this weekend - we had to use formula because I hadn't pumped enough. My mom said more formula ended up on her face than in her mouth.

So I'm eliminating dairy from my diet, which KILLS me. I looooove cheese. And ice cream! I'm still on soy, so I hope she can tolerate that.

[AmyE]

napping So far the twins are napping mostly downstairs in the PNP or in the bouncy, and we don't have much of a nap routine, although I know we should start one. I hear you, mobox on the one-step-forward-two-back sleep issues though. The babies ate at 9pm, 1am, and 4:45am last night - huge progress, and Julia fell back asleep in her crib relatively easily, but BEN decided he would only sleep with a parent from 1am to 6am, and I cannot sleep with a baby. (Is he breathing? that grunt - waking up? squeaking - too cold?..etc etc.) sigh. I got no sleep last night - just like you, every time I put him down he was up 10-15 mins later.

I think eventually they settle into a pattern and stay there. Maybe when they are 12? LOL

baths I second the water temp suggestion. DS 1 hated his because the room was too cold and the water too cool. Once we got smart about running the shower to make a little sauna and making the water "almost" hot, he decided he loved it. Now we do baby sauna first with the new babies, adn they haven't had a problem. However, it does wake them up, so we can't use it for a bed routine.

Some kids just don't like baths though, so there might not be much you can do.

allergies sorry mimieliza, no experience here, but my condolences. it would be hard to give up ice cream!

[rosa727]

napping: What do people do for a nap routine? Grady has a lot of trouble going down for a nap. Actually, the only place he really naps well is in the sling. Does anyone else have that problem? I figure it is better to get him to nap there than to have him not sleep and be overtired and super cranky. But it hard to really establish a routine that way. Any suggestions? Do you think he will naturally outgrow this? The only other thing that works is nursing him to sleep at nap time. I nurse him in bed and get to nap too. He will sleep forever with me, but only 20 minutes or so when he is down alone.

tubs: Grady likes the tub. He only cries when we are getting him dressed after, probably because he is chilly. But I might try the "sauna" thing - seems like it could be nice. My DH does the baths, so I am not totally sure what he does. I think it is better for him to do it because he has bigger hands and can handle him better when slippery. This probably makes Grady feel more secure than if I did it.

[neenbean]

So much to catch up on!!!! Love all the photos! Your children are adorable.:)

FLYING/TRAVEL~ we flew last week with both of our DDs, DD#2 is 9 weeks old. Make sure you hold off on feeding until take off, unless your baby is very interested in a pacifier. The swallowing helps equalize them.:)
I did travel 12 hours each way in the car with DD#1 when she was the same age. The trip normally takes 8 hours, but I had to stop often to BF. Other than that, both travel occasions went well.

NAP~ well, DD#2 naps on her own schedule and it changes daily. She usually sleeps in her infant carrier because we are out of the house, but at home, I try to put her in her cradle, swing or bouncer seat when sleeping. I just can't hold her with DD#1 running around and a lot to do around the house. Fortunately, she sleeps well on her own.:)

REFLUX~ I wonder if DD has reflux... She will spit up every time you burp her and always seems to be gurgling. We don't burp her, but rather hold her up on our shoulders and let the burps come out on their own instead of patting her back. Also, she is still having crying fits, despite changing her formula to Nutramigen. They are way more tolerable and happen far less often.

DAIRY/SOY ALLERGY~ our Ped believed DD has an intolerance to both, so that is why she is on the hypoallergenic formula and I stopped BFing. We saw a HUGE change in DD after 3 or 4 days- and most days things are great!

BABYSITTERS~ A friend of mine has watched both girls on several occasions with great success. My mom watched DD#2 once for an hour- she was petrified the entire time, but DDwas only 5 days old. She is planning to watch her in February for a few hours- hopefully it goes better. I did not have a sitter for DD#1 until she was 7 months, but I trust more people now and know DD#1 is bossy (despite only being 22 months) and will inform anyone what they are doing wrong. :o However, I do have anxiety about our daycare at my gym. They allow babies as young as 6 weeks- which I though I was OK with. However, DD#1 came home with a foul cold after going back when DH was on paternity leave- which turned in pnuemonia!!! Needless to say, I know MANY moms do not keep their ill children home and I cannot risk DD#2 getting sick. This is maddening because I really need to get back to the gym.

TUB TIME~ both our girls love bath time! I would suggest wetting a face cloth and laying that over your baby's belly as soon as they get into the tub. Make sure the water is warm enough- my girls like the water warmer than I can tolerate, so you may be surprised how warm (or cold!) they prefer the bath water to be.

TEETHING~ DH and I were discussing this tonight! DD#1 did not get a tooth until she was 6 moths and she never drooled! However, DD#2 is drooling up a storm and has white patches on her gums (like teeth are coming in). We will discuss with our ped on Friday at her 2 month WBV.




Anyone else feeling disgusted with their lack in weight loss??? I was doing so well after DD was born, but the minute I stopped BFing, I gained nearly all the weight I had previously lost. Ugh. I am doing a 5K this weekend, but am not in nearly as good of shape as I hoped- so I will be walking instead of running. I am not a dieter, but could stand to cut a few more calories. Exercise is how I control my weight and I am not getting nearly as much as I am used to. I have made a promise to myself to get walking more often and hope that helps. I guess a little is better than nothing.

[mobox]

I would suggest wetting a face cloth and laying that over your baby's belly as soon as they get into the tub. Make sure the water is warm enough- my girls like the water warmer than I can tolerate, so you may be surprised how warm (or cold!) they prefer the bath water to be.

We discovered the warmer water trick tonight. And ditto on the washcloth over their body. It helps to keep them warm.

We've started giving DS a bath every other night to establish some sort of routine. So we do bath, bottle, book, bed. Hopefully it works. Does it sound really mean to say I can't wait for DS to stop waking at 1-2am??? I'm feeling so tired right now. Everyone says they start stretching out their night sleep and I cannot wait!!! Thankfully he goes right back down after a bottle...at least for now.:rolleyes:

Today the napping was quite erratic. He would not sleep for more than a 30 minute stretch in the morning and then took a 3.5 hour nap at 1. Weird. And the afternoon nap was in his crib the whole time.

At daycare, he will have to sleep in the PackNPlay, but we haven't even set the thing up yet. Do any of you have a similar situation?? How did you get DC accustomed to sleeping in a "new" place? I was thinking of getting him to try to nap in it about 2 weeks prior to daycare starting in March.

[Rancid13]

Naps~ We don't have any real schedule/routine for daytime naps. I have been keeping a schedule of DS's sleep habits and know he generally has a morning nap between 8-11am for 1-2 hrs and an afternoon nap between 2-6pm for ~2 hrs. He also has little catnaps throughout the day, anywhere from 10-30 min, ususally while in the car or stroller.:)

Baths~ My DS somewhat hates baths too. Screamed through his first few, slept through one, and now will tolerate the bath until I get to the hair-washing part and loses it until I have him dried off and clothed. Then he calms down. :rolleyes:

PP Weight Loss~ I was thrilled when at my PP checkup I had lost 30 of the ~43 pregnancy lbs I had gained. But I've been stuck at that point for the last 5.5 weeks now. I got the ok from my ob last week to start exercising so this week I've been walking a minimum of 30 min per day, and am also trying to eat healthier both for me and for my baby. I'm also exclusively BFing and pumping so hopefully that will help. :)

[Franni]

pp weight loss Like Rancid, I have been stuck on that last 10 lbs for a while. When I got back to work, it got a little better since I walk to work and walk around a lot while at work. Didn't have the opportunity when I was at home with the baby because of the weather here to do much cardio outdoors.

baths Syd really hates baths too. I think it has much to do with the temperature. I bought one of those bathtub liners that have a rudimentary disc that changes color when the water is "too hot". Well, it changes color when the water feels really tepid to me. I think I will try to hotter water suggestions. Sydney seems to be happier when I let the shower (we have those long corded ones) on her helly.

sleep....where art thou? well, it wasn't there at my house last night. Yesterday was going really well. Syd rolled over for the first time and when I came home, she seemed so talkative and happy until sleep time came along. She was again so unsettled last night. She didn't sleep any longer than a few minutes on her own. I tried co-sleeping but she would dose off and wake up, alternately pulling at my nipples and then crying that she let go. So I tried rocking her. She would fall asleep but would wake up if I decided to sit down. She finally slept in the sling but I couldn't put her down either. Any attempt at that seemed to just wake her up. After 6 hours of this, she finally was asleep enough that I was able to take her out of the sling and into the bed beside me. She did wake up though but then I just nursed her and she fell back asleep. Just when my brain was beginning to feel clearer.

[rosa727]

outings: I was just wondering where people were bringing their babies. I am wanting to get out more, but Grady is fussy a lot, and I am afriad he will act up while out. We have brought him to restaurants and he always sleeps. I take him on walks sometimes, but he has seemed to hate those lately.

PP weight loss: I have lost all of the 30 pounds I gained, plus a little more. I am BFing about 90% of the time, so I guess that helps. I do feel like I NEVER sit down (since Grady always wants to be danced around in the sling). So maybe that has helped too!

reflux: No real improvement since we started the Zantac. But he has only had 3 doses. He spit up through the second half of the night last night, choking and crying. Luckily, he slept well with me this morning. I am relatively well rested, but my poor DH is exhausted. And I am worried that Grady is going to choke!

[sunshine0928]

PP Weight loss- I still have about 18 lbs to go to get to PP weight. It is not coming off as quickly as I had hoped but with the weather being very cold I have not been able to take walks and that is my favorite method of exercise plus it has been only 5 weeks so I just need to be patient.

baths - DD hates baths so I will try to up teh temp a little and see if that works. She screams the whole time until I take her out and wrap her in the towel. Needless to say I dread them and we do them quick!

Naps - she is not consistent in this area. Some days they'll be for hours and some days they are just cat naps.

Here is a funny picture from Monday...check out her hand!

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/sunshine0928/IMG_2366.jpg

[rosa727]

sunshine: That picture is too funny! So what did you do to make her mad? :p

[sunshine0928]

Rosa - It's funny b/c I had not even noticed her hand. I had sent a bunch of pics out and my mom noticed it! Maybe she is sick of me taking her picture and that is her way of showing me.

[Franni]

sunshine That picture is a classic. Save it!!! One day it's going to be part of her wedding photo collage.

[Teresita]

Weight Loss I still have 20lbs to lose. People have been telling me I look like I have lost all my weight, so I am hoping I don’t look too huge, but I think it’s just the fact that I have been living in my black sweat pants that they don’t notice my hugh-jass. I started running again this week and plan to get back to doing some weights. I also am not a dieter, and have always been able to stay at a healthy weight with being a runner. I am hoping that with running, BFing round the clock, and getting better about what I eat (I eat mainly healthy stuff, but I have a horrible sweet tooth!), I will lose the weight. I have a work trip to Hawaii the end of April and I hope to be back in bathing suit shape by then.

Outings We get out at least once a day—mainly for my sake and DD’s sake than DS’s. We go to the park so DD can play, go to playgroup (also at a park), run errands (post office, groceries, Target, etc.), go to the library, and go for walks/runs.

Baths Thankfully, Finn loves baths. He does, however, get pissed when we take him out of the bath.

Naps I have been too tired/busy to even notice if DS has fallen into any sort of a routine. I’m not too worried about it. DD was a lousy sleeper and hardly napped at all at this age, and now she is a fabulous sleeper. DS is better than she was. He usually naps in his bouncer (helps to keep him propped up for his reflux) or in my Moby wrap (LOVE THIS WRAP!!!), which also keeps him upright. His crib is in DD’s room (they will eventually share a room), so he hasn’t yet napped in there. When he is a little older and napping a little longer, I plan to try and coordinate his and DD’s naps, so he will get used to sleeping in his crib.

Sunshine LOL!! It is made even funnier by the contrast between her hand gesture and her demure pink princess shirt! She is precious!

AmyE That’s too funny about your older DS and the fans! DD loved fans as a baby but seems to have forgotten their allure. Can I just say that you sound so relaxed in your posts that I am just amazed given that you have twins AND a toddler. Hello super mama!

Rancid Tyler is adorable—what great facial expressions!

Rosa Love the shot of Grady in the bath. Look how he is naturally modest and has his hand strategically placed! We only did one long car trip with DD as a newborn. I can’t offer much advice besides being prepared to make several stops to feed him.

Mobox You are not alone with a fussy night-time baby. Finn has had many nights where he fusses on and off all night. It is exhausting!

Mimieliza Sorry to hear about the allergy—I hope eliminating dairy does the trick!

[rosa727]

Teresita: I know, isn't it funny how his hand is there? I probably would not have posted it otherwise. A baby needs his privacy :p

I am hoping that our lack of schedule is not a big deal. I'm glad to hear that your DD did not have one at this age and is now a good sleeper. I was worried I might be in for an entire childhood of fighting naps!

[mimieliza]

Weight Loss - I've lost all but 5 of the 26 lbs I gained, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

outings - DD goes everywhere with us. I've started back to work with her, so I kind of drag her around with me all day. She usually does really well and doesn't melt down until she's been out way too long.

naps - We're sort of in a three nap a day schedule. One of the naps is usually very long - 2.5-3 hours or so.

sunshine - Funny picture! DD has that onesie in a bigger size (6-12 months, I think).

Franni - I hear you on the lost sleep. DD was thrashing and grunting all night, pulling away on my nipples, then crying to nurse. I really hope the dairy-free diet starts to give us some relief soon.

[mayham]

Sorry I haven't posted in ages, but I've been trying to read along with all of you! I'm back to work on Monday, which makes me sad, but I'm so happy to have had this time off with my DD! Here is my attempt to catch up...

Outings - We probably get out about 3-4 times dudring the week. We signed up for a Mommy and Me exercise class that was once a week. Also, our local libraries have a baby story/singalong time once a week. It's only 15 minutes or so, and then after all of the moms sit around for a bit and chat. It's good because they're short, yet still enough stimulation for dd.

Naps - DD is not consistent with naps either. Every time I think there's a pattern, she defies it. Though generally she's awake in the mornings and takes a couple naps in the afternoon. I am worried because she naps best when I'm holding her, and I know they won't be able to always hold her for naps at daycare. :( DD was just napping on me, and I put her in her PNP. She immediately woke up and stared at the bears overhead. She played for about 15 minutes before she cried, and so I picked her up and now she's in the sling. I hope she can adjust to daycare...

Baths - DD LOVES baths. We're treating her for reflux, and the times she cries and cries, we'd put her in the bath and she'd be happy as a clam. BUT that is followed with some crying during the dry off/clothes stage.

Reflux - WE had dd on Zantac for probably 2 weeks, and it wasn't helping. Rather than up the dosage, we switched to Prilosec, and that seems to have helped a lot. She is still occasionally spitting up, but not the half digested spit up like before and not nearly as frequent. She also doesn't have the painful coughing and hoarseness anymore. She takes the meds well about 50% of the time, but I always feel awful using the syringe and shooting it in her mouth!

Allergy - I've been on a caffeine and dairy elimination diet for the reflux. Caffeine was easy enough since I had already given it up during the pregnancy. But the dairy is HARD. I probably have a small amount of dairy every other day just because I"ll eat something then realize hours later that it had cheese on it. Boo! Since prilosec is working, I can add in one of them. I'm starting with caffeine because I figure I'll need it for when I go back to work!

sunshine0928 - your DD is SO CUTE! I love that she's flipping us all off! :)

Teething - DD has been drooling a lot, and chewing on her hand... I'll have to check and see if her gums are white or not. I'm not ready for her to have teeth yet!

Weight Loss - I gained about 35 pounds, and the first 30 came off pretty easily in the first 2 months with the help of breastfeeding. The last 5 is an entirely different story! I'm still BF, so I'm kind of bummed that I"ll actually have to WORK to get the last 5 off! Kidding, kind of... :rolleyes:

Ceiling Fans - We co-sleep and DD LOVES to stare at the ceiling fan when she's awake in the mornings and we're not. I do think it's nice of her to be nice and quiet while we're still sleeping, but it kind of creeps me out she's staring at a fan that's not even moving! We put some Hawaiian leis on the fan paddles to at least give her some color to look at!

I'll try to post here more often. It's great to see the Nov girls here, and I'm looking forward to getting to know the December moms as well!!

[rosa727]

teething: I don't know why this did not occur to me, but I really think DS is teething. His gums look white in many spots (they actually already looked a little white at birth). He is drooling tons now, and I was wondering why (he never did before). I wonder if that is adding to his fussiness. It's hard to know between that and the reflux! I have also heard that age of teething is hereditary and I started getting my first tooth at 2 months! DH got his early too - 4 months.

[Nov-Dec2006Mommies]

UPDATED!

Please let me know if i missed anything.

Also, there is space for 23 more photos on the front page of this thread. If you would like a photo added or would like to add an additional photo simply post it an indicate you'd like it added in RED. Thanks!

[ellidew]

OMG, rosa, do we have the same child? Last night ds was drooling all down the front of himself and dh and i both commented on how we'd never seen him do that before. MIL said, well he can't be teething yet and i told her that he could start teething any time or not get a single tooth until he's 10 months old. There's really no rhyme or reason. Then i told her about how i told dh a few weeks ago that i wouldn't be surprised if we had weeks and weeks of awful screaming, finally solved it (haven't yet but hopefully we're on our way!) and then he'd start teething! This poor baby has had a horrible start to life. The good news is that it can only get better ;)

[mimieliza]

We've got major drool over here, too. I've made an Executive Decision that she is not to get any teeth until she's 10 months old, so I'm ignoring any signs of teething. Mama's nipples need a break after the six weeks of thrush.

[rosa727]

ellidew: Oh, you make me so sad when you say he has had a horrible start to life :( I often find myself thinking that. We just need to hold onto those good times when they smile or do something cute or seem content and remember that they are not always unhappy. I sometimes wonder if he is thinking "this place stinks! I want to go back in your belly!" :p

[ellidew]

rosa- It makes me sad too... i've cried 100's of times about it. I agree that we need to hang onto the smiles and happy times. When ds smiles it makes it all better! Maybe i over exagerated too, he hasn't had a horrible start to life... it just could've been better (it could've been worse too!) :p

[Rancid13]

Franni~ Hopefully tonight will go a bit better for you guys, sleepwise.:)

Sunshine~ LOL at the picture of DD!! That’s too funny!! I’ve taken pics of DS with his hand doing the “metal sign” or the Dr. Evil pinkie thing, but haven’t caught him with just the middle finger out yet, hahaha!!

Mayham~ Are you required to use the syringe to give DD her meds? I found that an easier way to get a baby to swallow liquid meds is to make sure you have the correct amount in the syringe, then squirt the contents of the syringe into a bottle nipple (just the nipple) and letting baby suck the meds down. I’ve used this method when giving gas drops or gripe water, and he won’t refuse a nipple but if I try it with the syringe he won’t swallow it and it gets all over.:p

Outings~ I try to get out of the house w/DS once a day, or every other day at the very least depending . So far, DS has been to several friends/family members houses, DH’s work, my work, stores/supermarkets, several parks, walks around the neighborhood, and the beach. He gets fussy on occasion, but when I’m alone and driving there’s not much I can do about it. I have pulled over to give him a lost paci or feed him and get him in a more content mood. He had a screaming fit when we arrived at a park yesterday, it took about 5 minutes of walking on a bumpy bike path with the stroller to calm him down and he was fine after that. Usually the paci helps quiet him. I try to time our outings to his eating schedule. I feed & change him right before we leave, it makes for a more contented baby for the next couple hours. We haven’t attempted to take him to a restaurant yet, but I’m sure he’d do fine. We’ve only been to 1 restaurant since he was born (Cheesecake Factory!) and that was a date night for us when my mom watched him for a few hours. ;)

Ceiling fans~ My niece used to love staring at ceiling fans. There is one in every room of my parents’ house. We don’t have any in our home, but lately we’ve noticed that DS stares at the one in my parents’ family room whenever we’re over there, whether it’s moving or not.


DS has been sleeping at night *really well* for the last 2 weeks and I hope I'm not jinxing it by saying that. :o He's been taking a last "nap" in his swing starting around 7:30-8pm for a good hour, then waking up for one last feeding & changing, and down for the night in his bassinet in our bedroom right after, with little or no fussing. Then he's up the usual every 3-3.5 (sometimes 4, which I LOVE) hours to be fed/changed, and usually falls asleep as he's finishing eating or while being changed and back to bed with no fuss. Most of the middle of the night feedings/changings only take 15-20 min to complete which is a welcome change from the 1-1.5 hour long ones during the first few weeks.

I hope someday I get used to these interruptions in sleep, I like to get solid blocks of sleep in 6-8 hour chunks so this every few hours stuff is killing me.

I return to work next Tues, on a part time basis. My usual workweek was Mon-Fri from 7:30am-4:30pm (40 hrs) and my new starting schedule is Tues 10-2, Weds 9-2 or 10-3, Fri 10-2 (13 hrs). DH has every other Tues off and every Weds off, my mom will be watching DS the remaining Tuesdays and on Fri. It'll be nice getting back to work, being around adults, working again with clients that I miss, and making some $ again, but not having to be away from DS very much in the beginning. I actually enjoy little breaks from DS every now and then. ;) Our business is very slow right now (real estate) so my boss isn't anxious to have me work more hours than that for now, unless things pick up. When it does get busier, we'll work on a new schedule for me for both work and childcare.

[AmyE]

Teresita How ironic that I read your post on how relaxed I sound just when I was close to tears! It was 4am, the babies took about 1.5 hours to feed and settle (normal for them - the feeding is fine, but it takes awhile to get them back to sleep), then I started pumping and reading along, and was reading your post just as Julia woke up crying again. Had to stop mid-pump, settle her AGAIN, finish pumping, put the milk away...and Ben woke up 15 mins later. Sigh. I was so tired and frustrated. But I do keep reminding myself that the newborn thing is temporary, and will end. Sooner rather than later, I hope. I'm ready to be done with newborns - they are cute, i got the pictures...

things I would like OK, STTN is obvious. But barring that:

1. I would like both babies to have a good night, the SAME night. Up every 4 hours, back down to sleep immediately after feeding, no fussing at the bottle/breast.
2. I want to fit into pants that don't have elastic waists. And aren't maternity pants. (I'm within 10 lbs of preprg, but 4 inches of belly. Argh)
3. I want good red wine and dark chocolate delivered to my door when I REALLY need it, but not have it just lying around. (um, see no. 2)

rancid soooo jealous. I hope the sleeping stays good for you both!

rosa and ellidew[b] I hope those babies feel better soon.

[b] teething OMG. So not ready. maybe when they are 10 months.

Julia has started to scream for about an hour or 2 around 5 or 6pm, and cannot be soothed. It's not enough for it to be considered real colic, and I know it's not reflux because it's just the time of day and doesn't matter if we feed her, burp her, et etc. Hard when she's going at it, my toddler is melting after a long and active day, and poor mellow Ben is being completely neglected. Still, I really feel for those of you who have had to deal with crying babies for ages and ages.

[fms]

Hi all. It seems like forever since I have been able to post. I’m attempting to keep busy with my photography work, get out every other day or so and keep DS happy…makes for a challenging but great life  DS is sleeping.

All of the babies here are so cute! I love seeing the photos of how big they are all getting. Here’s mine as I’m teaching him to flirt:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/meashcc/flirt2.jpg?t=1169820682


Co-sleeping…Very, very rarely do we let DS sleep in our bed. At night, we give him a kiss, turn on the music on the PNP and put him down. Usually, he will play by himself for a little while and then drift off to sleep. During the day, he sleeps in the swing, his car seat if we are out and about, or the PNP.

Travel…We are planning a trip for Brendon’s baptism in April. We’re going to fly and then do some driving while we are visiting. Generally, he’s great in the car but, there have been one or two screaming bloody murder incidents.

WBV…shots at two months. He is getting his shots on Valentine’s Day. Sweet.

Reflux…I feel so bad for all of you who are dealing with this. DS gets gassy, we pump his legs and he might scream a few times but, it’s nothing too serious. We do use Mylicon a lot. Our ped. Suggested using before feedings as a preventative measure. Again, wish there was something we could do to help all of you!!!

Sitters. None yet.

Bath…DS loves bathtime. He tends to stare at the “baby in the mirror” i.e., himself the entire time though.

Outings…we go out at least once everyother day if not everyday. He have not been shy about taking him out but, are conscious of strangers touching him. Yesterday we went to the outlet mall and DS slept in the Hotsling while I shopped. The stroller was used to hold my purchases.

Weight loss/clothes…I’m 13 pounds away from my pre-preggo weight. I refused to weigh myself until the six-week mark b/c I didn’t want to know. (That was this past Tuesday.) I’m lucky in that I have some pants that fit b/c they are one size bigger than I would normally wear b/c of the length. I need to lose the extra weight to fit back into everything else. Exercise here I come. The biggest problem I’m having right now is tops. My new boobs are making a lot of my shirts a little tight. :o

Bra at night...I have wore my bella band to bed as a bra a few times when I had plugged ducts. It's way more comfy than a regular bra.

Ceiling Fan/Moblie…DS loves to stare at anything that’s going round and round above his head.

I hope that all of these little guys and girls have a good couple of days! :D

[Rancid13]

2. I want to fit into pants that don't have elastic waists. And aren't maternity pants. (I'm within 10 lbs of preprg, but 4 inches of belly. Argh)

Ugh! Same here! I'm about 13lbs over my prepg weight but my waist is still huge! I normally wore 5/6-7/8 sized pants/jeans and last week I attempted to find a larger size pants to wear that weren't maternity or elastic waisted, and gave up when I found that even size 12's wouldn't button up. Size 12's!! For all 5'2" of me, that's big!! And they still wouldn't fit! All because of my lower belly flab...so I've been walking a minimum of 30 min per day & doing some ab work (with the ok from my ob) with DS in the stroller, in an attempt to get rid of some of this belly.

rancid soooo jealous. I hope the sleeping stays good for you both!

Me too. Last night was decent. Ate at 6:30pm, played and took a nap. Ate again at 10:30pm, down for the night with no problems. Up to eat at 2am, down with no problems. From there he decided that eating every 2 hours worked out better, so was up at 3:45am, 6am, and 8:15am but at least he went right back to sleep after the early morning feedings (unfortunately I can't say the same thing about myself). When he woke up at 8 he was fussy and gassy for a bit before really crying. It's now 11am and he's only napped briefly since waking up at 8.:rolleyes: I need a shower. Now.

[Franni]

Rancid & AmyE I have jelly belly. I hate it. Although technically I weigh less prepg, I was 10 lb heavier than what I wanted to be anyway. The scale is also not very accurate as you have noticed. The weight may be about the same but distribution is no longer where it used to be.

When I went back to work, I invested in some Spanx and its cheaper counterpart, Assets. I love both. I went to a wedding recently and wore my Spanx. It pulled everything in to give me an inkling of a waistline again. I also would have been so self-conscious of my belly protruding like I am 5 months pregnant again. So it was nice to just feel confident even if it is with the help of piece of undergarment.

fms I was just going to ask you if your DS's photo was pro until I read your post. Really nice shot.

[polydactylcat]

Add me to the jelly belly club. I'm back to PPG weight but this gut just refuses to cooperate. Pilates here I come! Of course what stinks is finding a block of time to do the working out - if I'm not feeding/caring for DS I'm running around helping DD. Where is my DH you ask? Working out of course! :rolleyes: Like Franni, I have discovered the beauty of supportive undergarments for the time being!!

Reflux - we've been dealing with this as well, last week DS went on Zantac and it seemed to improve slightly. This was until his face broke out in a terrible rash and we had to stop giving him the medication to see if that was the cause. We are on day 2 without the meds and his face is not as rashy (we're entering the dry skin stage of the rash) but now we are back to dealing with a screaming baby who spits up most of his meal. I've altered my eating drastically and that seems to have helped a little bit but that does NOTHING for my appetite (I love to eat). No tea, chocolate, or anything that has any sort of heavy spices, dairy... the list goes on.

Outings - We try very hard not to be little hermits, but in this weather it is difficult. But there is always something we need to go to (DDs dance, errands, etc) so we are out and about erratically throughout the week. I can't wait to go to the park/on walks in the spring and summer!

bath DS is a big fan - sometimes a bath is the only thing that calms him down! Must remind him of his previous home. He also likes to give us little fountain shows from time to time. Boys.

mobile DS loves his - we haven't tried a ceiling fan yet.

sleep DS still wakes up every couple of hours or so to eat but has been good about going back to sleep pretty fast afterwards at night. We started using a paci to help him fall asleep initially and that really did the trick last night.

It appears that DS has caught his sister's cold. Lovely. He looks at me with the biggest bug-eyes when I come at him with the aspirator. Hopefully he will be able to rest and kick this quickly. Gotta love the germs older sibs bring home.

[RubberSoul]

weight loss and jelly belly- I am about 10 pounds away from prepg weight. I want to lose about 20 pounds total since I wasn't at the weight I wanted to be at when I got pregnant. I am also dealing with the new weight distribution issue. I have jeans that fit me when I weighed about 10 pounds more prior to pregnancy and they don't fit :(. I would love to start exercising again, but I have no idea when I can fit it in. Between a full time job, being Mommy, and Wife - where does the exercise come in? I have to sleep somewhere in there too.

Reflux- We are on day 3 with Prilosec. It is helping a little so far, but hasn't kicked in completely yet. I think it takes up to 5 days to really start working. I am hoping we continue to see improvement - it is killing me to continue to see DS in pain.

bath- Ian LOVES bath time. Like many others we can put in the bathtub when he is fussy and he calms down. Thank you to whoever said to make the bathroom a sauna. I did that last night and when we took DS out of the tub to dry him off and put clothes on he didn't freak out like he normally does. It was a much better transition than him screaming after being so calm.

teething- no teething going on here. I am not ready for that and neither are my boobs :).

Question- For the past couple of days DS has been very fussy at the breast. He keeps pulling off constantly and fussing, but still acting hungry. I can't figure out if this is part of his reflux - if he is having pain while eating OR if he is gearing up for his 3 month growth spurt. Is this a sign of a growth spurt? Seems like I have read that somewhere...

[rosa727]

I just had to report the bad scare we had. When we started on the Zantac, the doctor MISTAKENLY precribed TEN TIMES the amount Grady should have been gettign for his weight!!! I caught it (thanks to the help of CC) and called, but the basically blew me off, telling me it was fine. Thankfully, he had his 2 month WBV yesterday and they caught it then. We had to call poinson control to be sure that there was no danger to him. They said there was not, but we had to take him off it entirely. Now he is back on it in the proper amount. No wonder he was WORSE not better. One of the side effects of too much is insomnia. And I was wondering why my previously great sleeper was not sleepeing. Last night he lsept so well. Poor guy. I wish this child could catch a break. Hopefully it works now. If not, he will need Prilosec.

RubberSoul: My baby does that when nursing too. I suspect it is because of the reflux, but I really don't know.

[ellidew]

Poor Grady. I'm glad he's doing better now. I hope the Zantac starts to take effect and he's feeling better soon. The prevacid seems to be working for Miles. I think i already said but the Zantac stopped working after 10 days. Since babies can build a tolerance to it so quickly and Grady's already had so much, if you don't see a result call your doctor back. We decided to switch formulas 1 more time before making the switch to alimentum for the bad hard to pass gas and constipation. We're still mixing old and new formulas 50/50 so it's not such a shock to his system but once we run out of old we're giving him 5 days on new before switching to hypoallergenic.

Thankfully it seems the reflux is mostly under control right now.

3 Month growth spurt- This is a real growth spurt, right? Miles is eating like a little piggy! He's sucking down bottles every 1.5-2 hours! Last night he had a 5 oz bottle at 3:30 (granted he's slept for 8 hours so he was really hungry!!) and woke up again at 5. I tried all sorts of ways to calm him down but he wasn't having it and just kept crying and making sucky face. Gave him about 3.5 oz and he was out like a light.

[bluebunny]

pregnancy weight: Remember ladies, it took 9 months to put the weight on, it will take awhile for the jelly belly to go away! Don't get discouraged. I remember feeling so hopeless at 8 weeks PP last time because I had lost all the weight but my belly made my waist so big and NONE of my regular clothes fit. This time, I haven't lost all the weight, yet, and have a HUGE gut but I know it will go down over time. At 9 months PP last time, I was almost two sizes smaller than my pre-pregnancy weight. It will happen!! :)

Question- For the past couple of days DS has been very fussy at the breast. He keeps pulling off constantly and fussing, but still acting hungry.

DD does this when she is uncomfortable (gassy, etc) or needs to burp. I usually stop and try to burp her and then try again.

rosa727, that's so scary. Did the pharmacy not catch that??

reflux: DD is on Zantac and Reglan now. Yesterday she had quite a few screaming spells where I could see that she was in pain but she slept pretty good last night. I was so out of it, I don't remember how many times she woke up because she went right back to sleep. If it wasn't for this dang reflux, she would be an easy baby. :(

bath: We put DD in the bath with DS the other night and it was so cute. He helped wash her and she loved it! I got some cute pictures of her looking at him.

[rosa727]

ellidew: Thank you! I am going to try this for a few days and then call the doctor. I feel so bad for him. I was doing more research and apparently the symptoms of an overdose (and he had a HUGE one!) are severe headache, restlessness, insomnia, and excessive drool (I guess he was not teething after all!). I hope he did not suffer too much.

bluebunny: Yes, very scary. No, the pharmacist did not catch it, even when I called and said I was concerned and wanted to discuss whether that was a normal dose. I don't even know who to be mad at!

************************************************** **

So after Grady's overdose scare, we are doing a lot better. He slept so well last night (8:30PM-8:30AM with one waking to eat and go right back to sleep :D ). He has also been happier and less cranky. I don't think the Zantac is working yet (we only have given him one dose since taking him off it for 24 hours) but at least he is back to his old self, which was better than how he was when he was on the overdose of Zantac! He enjoyed his tub today and has smiled a lot - makes me feel better after this whole thing. I hope he was not in too much pain or discomfort when we had him on the overdose of meds :( Goes to show you cannot trust anyone and you should always question things as a mom!

Grady's grandparents are coming to visit tonight. I'm glad, as he could use some extra love after the terrible few days he had!

[Rancid13]

Remember ladies, it took 9 months to put the weight on, it will take awhile for the jelly belly to go away!

LOL, that's what everyone keeps telling me to help me feel better, but it actually took about ~6 mos for me to gain the pregnancy weight since I didn't gain more than a couple pounds, tops, in the first few months. :)

[Lizzie Beth]

Rosa - Holy crap! I guess the Dr. is hoping if he stays low-key about it, you will too (read: and will not try to do anything crazy, like sue him :rolleyes: ) But yay to you for catching it yourself! I know CC helped, but something obviously tipped you off to the possibility. You get the good-mom-following-her-gut award for today!

Neen - Anyone else feeling disgusted with their lack in weight loss??? I was doing so well after DD was born, but the minute I stopped BFing, I gained nearly all the weight I had previously lost. Ugh. I am doing a 5K this weekend, but am not in nearly as good of shape as I hoped- so I will be walking instead of running. I am not a dieter, but could stand to cut a few more calories. Exercise is how I control my weight and I am not getting nearly as much as I am used to. I have made a promise to myself to get walking more often and hope that helps. I guess a little is better than nothing.

OMG! Apparently you are my alter-ego! I'm still BF'ing, though, and running every other day or so (when DH will cooperate - funny, he doesn't seem to need MY permission to go run himself....:rolleyes: ) but so far, no dice. Of course, my stress emanates from the fact that I have gone to 2 formal dinner-dances in the last 2 weeks, and obviously getting into formal dresses is a problem. One was even from the maternity place, but no dice. My biggest problem is the boobs, currently a 34E, I look like the cover of Hustler every time my conservative DH and I have gone to one of these formal things. What I need is a dress that accomodates my boobs that has a square or scoop neckline - so far, in order to fit into anything, I need a V-neck, which at this point is just overkill. I really wouldn't be stressing about the weight at this point if I hadn't had to do those 2 dinners.

I did try to fit into pre-pg jeans the other day. Yuck, not even close. I'm going to go do a thorough closet-purging soon and throw out everything I don't love, because when the weight is finally gone, I'm going to treat myself to new clothes that are great and that fit me, rather than trying to squeeze into an outdated shape and beating myself up over things not fitting.

As a RO, I can say that with my first DD, a great deal of weight did magically come off around 9 mos post-PG, I'm not quite sure how - maybe a combination of chasing after a crawler and a return to normal of my hormones. Everybody is different, and for a lucky some, they seem to return to normal after just a few stinkin' months (or even weeks) - I am just not one of those people. But by eating responsibly (and I don't mean dieting, just using my calories on mostly-healthy food, and occasional splurging) and a little exercise, I did get down to pre-PG weight. But I will be checking out the weight-loss boards here and paying a bit more attention to this issue. I also read in the paper about some sort of blog-type weight loss thing that is limited to four people at a time to keep everybody motivated and accountable... Anybody remember what this site is called? Anybody else interested in trying this out with me? Could be fun.

And seriously, we can all go for a run around the block every couple of days or so - our DH's will survive being alone with the kid(s) that long...and the kid(s) will, too.. Hell, they might even like it. :p

Rancid - I remember DTD was really crappy the first few times after DD#1, too. It does get better. And it was much better after this DD#2, so this may be as bad as it gets, which is a funny way of saying that it can only get better. ;)

katnbug - sorry about the DH's golf clubs and luggage. Still there? Unfortunately, I am that spouse that can stand to leave things in the way for WEEKS. On his behalf, I apologize. You have inspired me to go put away some things that have been annoying DH. So my DH thanks you...

Sunshine - I also have a LOVELY picture of my DD#2 posing with the boy across the street and flipping the bird. Unfortunately it's my neighbor's camera, but if she can figure out how to email pictures, I'll post it. Cracks me up.

Ellidew - Ugh, sorry to hear you and Miles are back in the colic club. Am even more sorry to hear about how you're feeling about it. I was a colic baby from hell, and my mom told me how she would feel so bad about it, and was convinced that I would be an unhappy and/or timid adult because of my sorrowful start. I am pleased to report that I am happier than 99.9% of the population and am not timid by any stretch of the imagination. So while my mom has awful memories of my infancy, I don't, although I'm really sorry she had to go through that. And I now have a famously cast-iron stomach. So buck up, mama, and keep tinkering! At 9 mos. my mom found a pediatrician who told her about nutramigen, and from that day on, I was apparently exorcised of the demon tummy-trouble that I had night and day from birth. My dad says that it was really expensive, but he would have happily sold his soul for that stuff.

[mobox]

Hi all....am I the only one that has a good night/bad night scenario? One night DS will sleep like a champ only to be up multiple times the next night. I find that if he naps badly during the day, his sleep is less organized at night. Yesterday he didn't nap well and while he slept from 6:30p to 11:30p, he was up at 3am and stayed fussy until 5. That's not like him. The night before he slept from 7:30pm-4am and again from 4:30-7:30. Perfect...he needs to sleep like that EVERY night!!! :)

I am trying to implement a "bed time" now before I go back to work. We try to get him down around 7-7:30pm and when successful, he seems to sleep like a champ for 7-8 hours at a stretch through the night. Does anyone else do that? We've been doing a good routine of bath/massage and then bottle/book and bed and it seems to really work! (Surprise!)

Ok, I'm a jiggly stomach club member too. Aren't we all! :P I'm normally a 8/10 and I still don't fit into my clothes. I bought 3 pairs of size 12 pants so that I would have something to wear out in public that aren't maternity I do wear a lot of my maternity tops still though (especially the sweaters, as it's been cold and my Pre-pg sweaters don't really fit yet). I definitely recommend lots of walking and if you have an exercise ball, do some crunches on that. The ball has really helped with not straining my back (with all the boob weight, I'm sure it's easy to strain your back!). I have 7 pounds to get back to pre-pg weight and 17 pounds to get to wedding weight (my ultimate goal). Good luck everyone and remember that the weight you gained helped you produce a wonderful little person and so WORTH IT!

Without further ado...my seven week old rock star...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/162/361163463_6ef9943174.jpg?v=0

[Rancid13]

Rosa~ OMG! :eek: I cannot believe Grady’s doc prescribed the wrong amount!! I’m so glad you figured it out when you did and that he’s ok!! That’s great he’s doing better and is back to his old self.

Ellidew~ Hopefully Miles’ growth spurt will pass soon enough so he’s not so constantly eating. It’s so funny how it all of a sudden comes out of nowhere and they need to eat so damn often, then it just goes away and they’re back to their normal eating schedule.:)

Bath~ For DS's last bath, I tried something someone on here suggested; putting a washcloth over his belly while he’s in the bath to keep him warm. He gave me some smiles during, and actually didn’t cry until I got to the hair-washing part so I tried to make that quick. :)



(when DH will cooperate - funny, he doesn't seem to need MY permission to go run himself....) but so far, no dice.

OMG! Yours too?! DH thinks nothing of telling me “I’ll be back in a few hours…I’m going surfing/skateboarding/taking pictures.” ?!?! :eek: Whereas I feel like I have to ask his permission to leave the house and leave DS in his care while I run to the friggin’ grocery store for 30 min. And even then he gives me a hard time about leaving.:rolleyes:


Rancid - I remember DTD was really crappy the first few times after DD#1, too. It does get better. And it was much better after this DD#2, so this may be as bad as it gets, which is a funny way of saying that it can only get better.

I sure hope you’re right! We tried again a few nights ago and again it hurt so bad I made him stop.:o I feel kinda bad, but then again it really hurts and I don’t want to have to go thru that just b/c he wants some.

[mayham]

Rancid13 - We tried giving DD the meds in a nipple, and it's even worse than the syringe! We've also tried putting it in a bottle, but she just knows and keeps refusing, or takes FOREVER to finish it. She's been okay lately with the syringe, we just have to start when she's not crying and mad, and give it in small shots.

mobox & fms - Great baby pics... you both have little future heartbreakers on your hands there!

rosa727 - Holy CRAP, that is awful! I'm glad to hear that Grady is doing so much better now! Reflux SUCKS!

AmyE - 3. I want good red wine and dark chocolate delivered to my door when I REALLY need it, but not have it just lying around. (um, see no. 2)
Can I sign up for that delivery service too???

Jelly belly - Mine seems to be getting a little better now, after 3 months. I still haven't started a regular exercise routine, so hopefully it won't be too bad getting rid of the JB once I actually start doing something about it!

Back to Work - I'm back at work tomorrow and crossing my fingers that I don't break down while at work! Thankfully DH is doing the school drop off, I would be a wreck at it!

[sandy]

I'm sorry if I don't get to all the personal SOs, someone here is quite clingy and won't let me divert my attention away long enough.

rosa OMG! That would have scared me to death! I'm glad you got Grady's med dosage corrected and he's back to normal with his sleep and all.

jellybelly LOL, add me to the club! I can pull on and button my pre-pg jeans but should I is the question? I have total muffin top and it grosses me out to no end. I've got 5 lbs left to lose but it feels like quite a lot more thanks to the extra fold I now sport thanks to the csection incision.

bath timeTHANK YOU all so much for your advice on upping the water temp. he now loves his baths. Too bad I can't wrap him up warmly fast enough afterwards to avoid the hysterical crying.

clingy DS is now also incredibly clingy. His formerly favorite place to sleep-- his swing-- is now his least favorite place to lay down. He won't sleep during the day unless I'm holding him. Thankfully he can sleep on his own in the bassinet at night but during the day I can't get him to shut his eyes anywhere else... well ok, unless we're in the car constantly moving.

Ok, fussy baby... I'll be back later!

[polydactylcat]

rosa - thank goodness you were able to alert the doctor, hooray for you following those mommy instincts. Our pharmacist made a mistake between .3 and .5 mls on th