July & August '06 Mommies ~ Halfway to 1...Let the Babyproofing Begin!

[Soulmate]

I've read along but am not able to do SO's :( We just got back from a long weekend cross-country :eek: and are still recovering.

We flew to the other coast and it was a nightmare :( DS was *that* baby on the flight out there. The first flight was only 2 hours and the second one was 4 hours with a 1.5 hour layover. OMG! The boy would not sleep at all on the plane except for 30 mins during each takeoff. On top of that the flight departed at 6am and DS woke up at 3:30am. So from 3:30am to ~6pm he only had 2 or 3 30 min fitful naps. He also caught a cold on the plane.

DS only took on the other time zone for one day and then reverted back to his original time zone making the return to his schedule super easy.

The way back was much better and I think it had a lot to do with a later flight. The last flight was after his bedtime so he fell asleep at takeoff and stayed asleep. Thank god!

Tips for airtravel:
* Gate check the carseat
* If you babes are mobile at all please spring for their own seat if the flight is longer than 3 hours. DS is not and he was all.over.the.place! Those seats are soooo tiny having an antsy infant on your lap was hard.
* A sling is a must mostly for arrival/departure from the airport when you have your extra bags.
* Leave later in the day when your DC has had at least one good nap at home.
* Bring puffs/cheerios but only give them one at a time. DS would not eat on the plane either and he would get really upset when he saw other people eating. These kept him satiated for 10 mins :\
* Bring tylenol (they'll probably catch a cold) and don't hate me but benedryl as well. If we had benedryl with us on the trip there we would have used it to put him to sleep. You should have seen how upset and uncomfortable he was and nothing helped him. You may not need it but if you had an experience like we did you would want to have something to help them especially for 4 straight hours.

No other baby on the plane was as upset as DS so I doubt others will have such a crappy experience....thank god!

[cocoa_femme]

Hi, guys. I'm still hanging around...busy, so mostly reading & lurking. But, I just wanted to drop off these pics of my little guy:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/cocoa_femme/March.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/cocoa_femme/April.jpg

[cosmic]

Aw.... so many cute baby pics in here! :D

I'm just getting caught up again, so I'll just dive in.
It's official: Kai's crawling! He's so darn active we knew it was just a matter of tiime. But he likes pulling himself up even better. We have to watch him every. single. minute. unless he's playing with toys in his crib.

I'm sorry I missed all the talk on weaning. (Is there a weaning thread???) I'd like to get DS to take his sippy cup more often but I seriously need a gameplan-- like which feedings to get rid of and when, as well as when to pump, etc. Otherwise I don't feel I'm being consistent. DS got really constipated over the Easter weekend. I think two solid feedings a day might be too much for him, so the past couple of days we cut back to one. He still likes to BF, even when he's getting BM in his Nuby cup. I guess it's all still OK since my goal has been to have him on BM for a year anyway. Also, DS is now cutting his 5th and 6th teeth.

sleeping Am I the only one who doesn't mind getting up at night?

Since I'm a SAHM right now, I don't really mind getting up with him as long as he has gone to bed on time. (When he wakes up, he nurses and then he's back to bed.) Our dilemma has been that DS sleeps perfectly as long as he goes to bed when he wants-- 11 or midnight. :rolleyes: When we put him to bed at a decent hour he's up 1, 2, or 3 times per night.

Here are a few professional pics of the munchkin (sorry they're so big!):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/cosmicgirlndc/s41304cb105782_3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/cosmicgirlndc/s41304cb105782_6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/cosmicgirlndc/s41304cb105782_9.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/cosmicgirlndc/s41304cb105782_15.jpg

[sunchaser26]

UGH, just tried to post a very long post and got ate.... I hate when that happens.

hotmama

Nice to see you! Graham is so cute!!
I so love being a mom, much more than I ever imagined. Oh, really you mean they get even cuter than this!!! I can't wait!

Amy

Yay for crawling! Look out - now the trouble starts!

chimi

Sorry to hear that Reagan still has her ear infection.... Will they give her anything I thought that I read somewhere that they don't like to treat ear infections anymore?

Soulmate

Sorry to hear about the terrible trip that you had with your DC cross country recently. Unfortunately I haven't run into any issues like those with Jacob, he has been a delight on all the long and crazy flights we had this winter to CO. Glad to hear that the return tri went much more smoothly. Some babies just travel better than others, you won't know though till you try.

Good tips for others thinking of traveling with infants.

cocoa_femme

Your DS is so cute!!!!

cosmic

That was me that posted about the weaning... I don't think any one ever said if there was a thread or not. I can definitely relate, I need a gameplan too. Jacob is very much into nursing and I try giving him a sippy every now and then and he just likes to play with it (chew on it or throw it basically). Need to start giving it to him more often so he gets used to it.

Can't see you photos...

[a_spark]

Hi everyone! I am so so pitifully behind but I'm trying to read up. I can't believe all the teeth and crawlers and standers we have here!! Time is really flying by.

Here's where we stand:

teeth Still no teeth!

crawling Ava just started army crawling and it is the CUTEST thing ever. She kind of tangles her ankles together and pulls with her hands/arms while raising her butt off the floor- kind of like an inchworm. I love it!

sippy cups She drinks really well from the sippy cup and from a regular cup, but won't hold them herself. She also doesn't try to put cheerios in her mouth, or any finger foods. She just sits like a little airplane with her arms out and lets us feed her and give her water/juice (she's drinking prune juice for constipation). I'm trying not to worry about it- I'm sure eventually she'll figure out that she can do that stuff herself. She does play with the Cheerios, but just drops them on the floor for the dog and rubs them around on her tray. Silly girl.

AF Came back a couple of weeks ago. It was kind of sad- it was like my pregnancy was officially over and Ava was one step further away from me. But it was kind of cool to have it back after so long, to be completely "recovered."

BF Still BF here and A is still milk intolerant, but like abby's mom said, I'm so used to not eating dairy that I don't even notice. I plan to wean down to one or two feedings a day at one year.

I have a question-- for those of you still BF, how many times per day do you nurse? We do about 4/5.

sleep Ava was STTN but is waking again. I think she got really used to sleeping in bed with us while we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago and now wakes up really upset in the middle of the night and will not calm down unless I bring her to bed with me. I don't mind sleeping with her, but she insists on sleeping attached to me and it's hard to get comfortable. So, we're working on it. I won't do CIO and don't really have a plan, but I'm not terribly worried about it. I guess I'm assuming this is a phase that'll pass.

So, that's what's up with us!

[Abby'sMom]

BF - Hmm, probably 8-10 x/day. We're still EBF since he won't take a bottle or a sippy. We also have 2-3 solid meals/day.

cosmic - We have that little blue outfit! Love the hat you added to it!

Travel - Just a quick note about Benadryl: If you decide you want to try to knock out your kid when you fly ;) , PLEASE test it on them first! Benadryl can completely wire some kids, and it's really no fun if you have a hyperactive baby/toddler on a plane. (Not speaking from personal experience; my SIL is in the medical field and warned me about this when DD was a baby.)

Teeth - 3. The two bottom, and one on top.

Crawling - Fast. Very, very fast. Started at almost exactly 7 months. Also pulling up and cruising everywhere.

Sleep - Ugh. I'm worried he'll still have nightwakings at 18.

Oops, have to go.

[mmisabel]

Hi ladies!

cocoa_femme - Adorable! What a cutie!

Cosmic - he's so cute styin' in his Burberrry!

Abby's mom - good point about benadryl. Some kids have an adverse reaction and become hyperactive. Wouldn't want to find that out on a flight!

Soulmate - Sorry you had a bad experience. We are flying to FL on Saturday with DS (about a 3 hour flight). We are leaving early in the am and i am a little nervous how he'll react. Is there any restriction on bringing liquid meds in the carry-on?? I should look into that.

We had N's 9 month WBV. He is 18.0lbs and 28.25 inches (10th and 50th percentile, i think). No shots so that was nice. All he wanted to do was stand for the pedi, she thinks he'll be an early walker. Great. I don't really care, but he's all over the place crawling so walking will be interesting!

[maryanne]

Is there any restriction on bringing liquid meds in the carry-on??

You can take unlimited liquid meds , breastmilk, and formula with you. Put the meds in a ziploc bag to be handed to the inspector. If you have an still sealed bottle,I would take that to make life easier. I also brought baby tylenol, mycolin, decongestant and nailclippers.

I also brought a six pack of canned formula. (I checked the rest)

(You might have problems with the gel pack if you are travelling with BM. Give it a try but they might take it. if so, you can ask the fligt attendants to refrigerate it for you.)

as for yourself you can have as many bottles up to 3 oz that can fit in a sandwhich sized ziploc, but I checked all of my tolietries.

[Lizard]

I have a question-- for those of you still BF, how many times per day do you nurse? We do about 4/5.

We are nursing about 5-6 times a day. I have a friend with a 9 month old that just dropped down to 4 times a day. 5 times a day works for us schedule-wise so I'm not sure when I'll drop more feedings. She's definitely getting less and less interested in nursing though. :(

Here's our routine currently:

7 AM - wake up, nurse
8 AM - breakfast
9 AM - nap (about 1.5 hours), nurses when she wakes up
1 PM - lunch
2 PM - nurse, nap (about 1.5 hours)
4 PM - nurse (sometimes she nurses again around 5 or 5:30)
6 PM - dinner
7 PM - nurse, down for the night

Now that she's solidly on a 2 nap schedule, it's like clockwork and I'm SO happy. I love getting some Mommy time during the day.

Sippy - She takes one very well, but just recently she's started to suck in the water and spit it all over the place. :( I was really hoping to try some BM in the cup but I don't want to waste as much as she's spitting.... hopefully this is a phase.

AF - I am like 90% positive I O'd last week Tuesday. :) I have terrible O pains and I definitely had them all day that day. So we'll see if I get my first PP AF next week sometime.

[maryanne]

We are still feeding on demand, so to be honest I am not sure how many times she eats, but it seems that she likes to nurse every 4 hours (including in the night),with a couple of snacks too.

[Soulmate]

Soulmate - Sorry you had a bad experience. We are flying to FL on Saturday with DS (about a 3 hour flight). We are leaving early in the am and i am a little nervous how he'll react. Is there any restriction on bringing liquid meds in the carry-on?? I should look into that.Just like Maryanne said, there is no restriction on liquid meds and we had no issues getting ours through security. We were also able to carry his jarred baby food (4ozs) through with no problem. On the way back we even just had it in his diaper bag and not in a ziploc bag and they never said anything. But try not to stress too much. There were a ton of babies on our flight and DS was the only one with an issue. He is such a picky sleeper.

[maryanne]

and since you are flying out of orlando, I bet that the security is really lax about about kid's stuff.

[cosmic]

Thanks for the compliments on the pics, ladies! I just wish we had taken them sooner.

Air travel-- We also traveled by plane over the Easter weekend and we were allowed to bring unlimited bottles of BM in an insulated pouch. (One TSA guy did ask to scan it. :rolleyes: ) We also had a bottle of DS's liquid Zantac. But it was in our checked luggage. DS did very well on the plane. I was worried about his ears popping so I nursed him on takeoff and he slept through most of the flights.

[Wrighty26]

and since you are flying out of orlando, I bet that the security is really lax about about kid's stuff.

I don't think Megan is flying out of Orlando... but OIA is VERY TIGHT with security at the moment. We had a big incident occur a few weeks ago (with one of the their employees and guns) and security is NUTS and the lines are LONG. If anyone IS flying out of Orlando anytime soon, I suggest getting to the airport AT LEAST 2 hours ahead of time.

BFing - During the weekends I am nursing 4-5 times a day. During the week it's twice, but he takes 3 bottles while I'm at work.

Sippy - I just started giving him the Nuby straw sippy and I think he likes it a lot better than just the regular one. He hasn't quite figured out that if he tilts it back that he's not going to get make water -- but less water ends up on his chest!

[Chimichanga]

Super cute pictures cocoa_femme and cosmic :)

And thanks for the tips on air travel. We've got about a year before our first planned family vacation (I'm taking one in August with my mom and sister). But by then DD will be almost 18 months so she should be fine.

I'm a bit sad...my parents are taking Reagan for the weekend. I know things will be fine, but this is the first time she isn't with DH or I. I've gone away for the weekend before, but she's been at home with DH. Originally my parents were coming up tonight. Now my mom is coming up - pretty much now - because my dad's car has a flat tire and he needs to fix it tonight.

And I'm stuck at work :( I can't even say a good good-bye to Reagan. I gave her a kiss before I left, but she was preoccupied by her toys so she didn't even want to snuggle.

[mkvh]

cocoa_femme and cosmic--TOO CUTE! Love their smiles.

Air travel--I currently am debating flying solo with C when we go to FL in July OR braving the 15 hour drive with her. Can't decide which would be worse!

Sippy--Thanks for the rec, Wrighty. C isn't a very good tipper, so I think we'll try the straw one.

BF--Our schedule looks remarkably like Lizard's when I'm home. When I work, she nurses when she wakes up, takes 3 ~6oz bottles, nurses when I get home and when she goes to bed. So 5-6 times daily.

Chimi--sending you a BIIIIG {{HUG}}...it stinks not to say goodbye!

Okay--hope I didn't miss too many of you!

[babylove]

coco_femme and cosmic ~ Adorable pics!! Your guys are precious :)

mmisabel ~ How'd you manage to avoid shots at the 9 mo WBV??

Lizard ~ Aren't schedules GREAT!? I love it that Jake has a predictable schedule.

Chimichanga ~ I'm sure Reagan will have a blast with her grandparents, but I know it must have been hard to not be able to say bye!

***

Nursing ~ 5 times a day. On days that I work he gets 3 5 oz bottles plus 2 nursing session.

Sippy ~ We use the Nuby w/ the straw and he's pretty good with it, although I don't offer it too often.

Air travel ~ We've flown w/ DS once and will do so again in June. We had no problems with security or behavior or anything. But I agree with whoever said that having a seat for the baby is KEY.

[a_spark]

chimi Aww, I'm sorry you didn't get to say goodbye. I'm sure that was hard!

air travel I third the recommendation to get the baby their own seat. We've flown twice with Ava so far and she has been awesome, just sleeping, hanging out in her carseat playing, or on our laps. It is SO important (I think) that we have somewhere we can put her when she's tired or wants to play or whatever. Plus, then we have a whole row to ourselves so I'm not all worried about bothering people, kwim?

[maybebaby]

babyloveI don't think there are shots at the 9 mo WBV. I was expecting them too, but at least for us, they just offer them up at the 12 mo WBV.

[jesseybell]

Our ped said no shots at 9 months - just the prick for the lead test

We are flying again with DD in May and not getting her her own seat. I think that will be the last time for that! We'll be flying again in October and I am thinking definitely getting her her own seat - I am hoping to be pregnant by then ( :eek: ) and the thought of having to deal with a 14 month on my lap in the early throws of pregnancy doesn't sound too appealing!

[maybebaby]

Jesseybell I know it depends on your kid, but I flew a couple of weeks ago with DD in my lap (no extra seat) and it was fine. She slept and she looked around with no crying. So good luck!

I should have brought less stuff though. I flew alone, and I was crazy to schlep all that baby gear myself.

[Chimichanga]

Thanks everyone for the support. DH and I survived. :) I called my mom this morning just to say hi. I guess Reagan slept through the night (got up 2-3 times to fake-cry but went back to bed right away) and got up at 6. I said hello to her and she was smiling. I couldn't say hello yesterday - I would have started crying.

I'm feeling much better about it today. It was the same way with daycare; first time was hard now it's old hat.

[smurf]

Sippy - She takes one very well, but just recently she's started to suck in the water and spit it all over the place. :( I was really hoping to try some BM in the cup but I don't want to waste as much as she's spitting.... hopefully this is a phase.

K does the spitting thing too. We were on the plane home yesterday and she kept taking sips of her juice and spitting it out everywhere. Luckily the guy sitting next to us was a grandpa and thought it was funny instead of annoying.

Air travel--I currently am debating flying solo with C when we go to FL in July OR braving the 15 hour drive with her. Can't decide which would be worse!
OMG, I would totally fly solo with her. 15 hours in the car with an infant is my worst nightmare :eek: Everytime I've flown by myself, the flight attendants and other passengers have gone out of their way to help me.

babyloveI don't think there are shots at the 9 mo WBV. I was expecting them too, but at least for us, they just offer them up at the 12 mo WBV.
It depends on the doctor. K got the hep b shot at her 9 month.

SippyK finally started to get the hang of tilting it back last week. She's getting pretty good now.

AFCame back last month. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Very minimal cramping/bleeding.

FlyingWe flew home yesterday, and K did great. Last time we flew she was a total menace, so I was expecting the same this time. I totally agree with Soulmate that timing is everything. We left an 1 pm, so she had time for a nap (even though it was just a short one on the way to the airport). I didn't get her her own seat, but I think I will when we fly to Florida this summer since it's a longer flight.

[jennylou]

Jessie - we are flying again at the end of the month. DD will still be a lap infant for me - probably until she's 2! I'll board early (flying SW) and pick a window seat. Last flight it was nice b/c DH and my ILs flew with us, so we were able to pass her back and forth. This time, it'll just be me. I could have flown early in the morning or in the evening. I chose evening, because I felt like she'd do much better than having to wake up super earlier than she usually does.

sippy - she does very well with the Nuby cup.

AF - she came back at exactly 12 weeks PP, despite the fact that I was, and still am BFing.

nursing - probably about every two to four hours during the day - I still feed on demand. On average, I'd say she nurses 6 times during the day/evening and then usually 2-3 times overnight.

teeth - she's got her bottoms. Her top two seem to be about to break through.

[July&August2006Mommies]

Well, ladies, we have surpassed the 1000 post recommended limit! I am putting together a new thread now. I'm sure jennylou will link us there when I'm ready!

New Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32119)