PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[MustangGal]

Mandy, I''d try leaving it out again and see what happens. I never did a dreamfeed, and yours doesn''t seem to be helping, so it''s worth trying a few nights without it to see what happens.

I think I posted before that my SIL is pregnant. She''s about 11 weeks now, and is driving me nuts! She''s a bit more high maintenance to begin with, and I think she craves the attention being pregnant gets her. We were all at the ILs on Sunday, where we came to have lunch. SIL walks in the door, sits down, and asks what''s for lunch (before anything was even put out). When she hears the menu, she decides she can''t eat any of it. The cheese on the pizza will make her stomach upset, the ceasar dressing has eggs and fish in it, she didn''t want the cips, etc. She made BIL drive her down to the store, where she got a hot turkey sandwich (MIL had the fixings for that at home, but she didn''t want it?). Now, if you knew your diet was that limited, wouldn''t you make sure there would be something you could eat, like bringing your own meal? She also spent all day Friday telling me how she''s feeling, and how this pregnancy is so much different than her first. Ugh. 28 weeks more of the drama.

 

[E B]

Blen- I'm sorry about the biting! I'm dreading that day, and it looks like it won't be too much longer now that H has two teeth coming in. George will eventually understand that it isn't okay- hopefully sooner rather than later!

Pandora- Cute swimming photos! Daisy in a little daisy bathing suit.

TDM- I hope A starts feeling better (and getting better sleep!) soon. Teething is the worst.

dreamer- They're Hyland's brand, and we get them online (from Amazon, I think). Just Google "Hyland's Teething Tabs" for different places to buy them from (you're in Canada, right?). They're great- SO easy to use! And a BIG congratulations on having another paper published!

Mandarine- I created a nap schedule after observing Henry's 'natural' nap needs for the first few months. He usually needs two big naps during the day (at ~11 a.m. and ~3 p.m., each about 2 hours). Sometimes he'll take a smaller one before bed (~6 p.m.) but I leave that decision up to him.

Mustang- Kyle is SUCH a cutie!

Well, I think Henry's officially ready to start solids! Just two more weeks before I'll allow it (open gut). He tries to grab our spoons, forks, and will pull our plates closer to him when he's in our laps. In the last week, I've had to pry both spaghetti and cranberry sauce from his little hand.

He'll move his mouth like he's chewing as we do, and when I drink from a glass while I'm holding him, he'll put his mouth to the side of the glass and lick it. He's so funny. I don't even have to dissolve his teething tabs in his mouth with my finger anymore- he takes them and "chews" them up.

For the past week or so, he's also been laughing like crazy at things we do. For the longest time, he'd only laugh if we tickled him, but now if we make certain faces or noises, it cracks him up. I LOVE it.

ETA: I'm the first post on page 100! Woo hoo!

 

[phoenixgirl]

TDM, I think your body hangs on to the last pounds as insurance against a sudden drop in food availability (thanks evolution). It's the same principle by which women with too little body fat stop ovulating.

Both times I've done workout videos, Claire decided she was hungry on the very early end of her usual window, and I had to divide it into two parts. Oh well, that's better than trying to coordinate a gym visit with DH. I was surprised at how my arms were obviously weaker but how my abs were up for sit-ups.

Mandarine, I'd definitely do what works for you and forget about the dream feed. I've found the same thing -- if I wake Claire up, say, at 11:30 after a 9:15 feed thinking I'll "bank" her long sleep for later, then she just thwarts me and wakes up at 2:30 and 5:30. I'm better off deciding to put myself to bed earlier than I expected to enjoy however long she'll sleep at that point. I continue to hope that her schedule will regulate itself but really we're following a flexible schedule. I just make sure to wake her up if she falls asleep without taking a full feeding so that she gets used to going longer between feeds.

The lactation place called today, and I confess that I really feel antagonistic towards it now. I know I shouldn't as I might really need their help when I go back to work and try to make pumping work on a high school teacher's schedule. But I just felt like the woman was fishing for proof that I'm not providing Claire what she needs, although I know she was just doing a follow-up. Their mission is to increase how many women BF and how long they do it for, I know this, but I'm just shell-shocked from the way they wanted me to keep up that crazy schedule when Claire was gaining 1.4 ounces a day.

Claire has been getting fussy lately when she's obviously tired. Taking her outside and sitting on the porch swing works like a charm; she stops crying the minute we step outside and will fall asleep in minutes if I keep her out there. I wonder if she doesn't like the house being as warm as DH and I like it since she reacts so positively to the cold air (I've taken her temperature to make sure it's not illness). She's just wearing a thin tee-shirt like onesie and I'm bundled up with two layers on, so I don't think I'm overdressing her. I don't want her to need me or the porch swing to fall asleep for a nap, so sometimes I try to pat her to calm her down or put her down when she's calm but not asleep, but often she cries again. Today I was just too hungry to comfort her before I ate my lunch, and she fell asleep on her own in 8 minutes. It doesn't seem like I am being evil and letting a tiny infant CIO if she cries at a moderate intensity and falls asleep that quickly, right? But if she gets really worked up I know she won't calm down on her own, so I take her outside for a blast of cold air and a swing.

I don't want to start a bad habit, but really this is one or two spells a day. The other times, Claire falls asleep on her own. I just wish Claire came with an instruction manual so I'd know if I am comforting a child/alleviating a physical condition of being too warm or just conditioning her to need me and the swing to fall asleep.

 

[fieryred33143]

Hey Ladies

I just heard from Robbie that her uncle passed away

. She''s headed to NY tonight for the funeral and wanted to update. Keep her family in your thoughts.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Robbie, you''re in my thoughts. My condolences to you and your family.

 

[Mara]

on the prev page fiery said: "Re: rocking to sleep. You aren''t really creating any habits right now so I wouldn''t worry about it too much."

can someone let me know when it is commonly thought for the kids to pick up ''habits''? i just want to be sure we don''t create any bad ones hehe.

also when do you start to put them on tummy time? i didn''t think it was that early but a recent comment in here made me think you are supposed to start at very young...like first few weeks?

re: uterine prolapse, i am taking heed!!!

 

[fieryred33143]

Mara- IMO based on some reading I''ve done, talking to my pedi, and other moms it "bad" habits don''t really start until the baby is more aware what is going on which, again IMO, doesn''t really happen until after 3-5 months. Those first few weeks are all about survival. If that means you have to rock, nurse, offer a paci, sing Sir Mix A-Lot just to get the baby to sleep then by all means do it. That is not the same as saying do not establish a routine. One of the "mistakes" I made was not establishing a routine from the beginning. I also made the mistake of worrying about habits that I wasted a lot of time not doing what worked for the moment. For example, I refused to nurse to sleep. Around 4 weeks I finally decided to just give in and we all got more sleep as a result. I also refused to let her sleep with me in bed but around 3 weeks I noticed that I could get an extra hour or two during naps which I desperately needed if she were next to me. I didn''t worry about what kind of habits we were forming until about week 10 because I was going back to work and even now at 5 months if I see that she just wants to nurse to sleep and its the one thing keeping her awake, I just let her.

Tummy time- almost immediately really. You don''t have to do for too long, maybe a minute or so. I used to do tummy time with Sophia once her cord fell off (around 2 weeks IIRC). I would just put her on her belly on my lap or across my chest. She would just sort of lay there not doing much lol. Tummy time is really important to start really young IMO. I wasn''t strict with it and it took Sophia a lot longer to be interested in lifting her head when on her tummy. TGal gave me some good advice which I tried and it worked. She did always have strong neck control though because I always had her in the shoulder hold so you don''t just have to do tummy time to achieve that but it is still really important.

HTH

 

[fieryred33143]

Also wanted to mention that "bad" habits are subjective. For example, to me nursing to sleep is a "bad" habit but only because I travel for work and she can''t exactly nurse to sleep if my boobs are in another country :p

But in Blen''s and Pandora''s case, I wouldn''t consider it a "bad" habit since they bed share and nursing to sleep makes sense (not saying that they do or don''t...I don''t know if they do).

Also once you want LO to start self-soothing to sleep, a lot of these habits become crutches like the paci and the rocking. But it depends on when you want your LO to self-soothe. Some want as early as 4 months, others much later, some not at all. Depends on the mom. Again, all JMO

 

[Dreamer_D]

Mara I think that around 6 weeks or so is a good time to start thinking about habits... not so much for bebe but for you. "Start as you want to finish" as they say. But then again someone here mentioned that with sleep training they suggest something like 3/4 mo for easy babies and later if things are more challenging (colic etc). I think the same is true for habits. Do what you need to do until you feel a little more collected. You can change anything anytime, as long as you are persistent.

I was at my Daycare today starting gradual entry with Hunter. I go with him and basically hang out and get him used to the joint. I take him for 1-2 hours ech day this week, then 2-3 next week then half a day until x-mas. Its great. But I noticed another benefit of sleep training there.... some babies need to be rocked and help and given a bottle to fall asleep, and the caregivers will even sit and hold some babies while they nap because the kiddies can''t sleep otherwise. They were a little pleased to know that hunter falls asleep on his own in his crib, and so was I. So there is one side benefit of sleep training if Daycare is in your kids future!

BTW I loved my daycare. Eight kids and three caregivers in the infant room and it is so nice and quiet and peaceful. Such a fun place. All the kids seemed so happy and content, no yelling. Lots of music and dancing! It is a great daycare centre and we were super lucky to get a spot! Hunter was on the waiting list for 10 months.

I also got a little window into Hunter''s attachment (a la Bowlby and Ainsworth). It was a strange situation and he was roaming all over! I even left the room and he didn''t bat an eye. The caregivers commented that the transition should be ok for him because he is easygoing and outgoing. This made me happy

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 12/2/2009 12:23:24 AM
Author: fiery
Mara- IMO based on some reading I''ve done, talking to my pedi, and other moms it ''bad'' habits don''t really start until the baby is more aware what is going on which, again IMO, doesn''t really happen until after 3-5 months. Those first few weeks are all about survival. If that means you have to rock, nurse, offer a paci, sing Sir Mix A-Lot just to get the baby to sleep then by all means do it. That is not the same as saying do not establish a routine. One of the ''mistakes'' I made was not establishing a routine from the beginning. I also made the mistake of worrying about habits that I wasted a lot of time not doing what worked for the moment. For example, I refused to nurse to sleep. Around 4 weeks I finally decided to just give in and we all got more sleep as a result. I also refused to let her sleep with me in bed but around 3 weeks I noticed that I could get an extra hour or two during naps which I desperately needed if she were next to me. I didn''t worry about what kind of habits we were forming until about week 10 because I was going back to work and even now at 5 months if I see that she just wants to nurse to sleep and its the one thing keeping her awake, I just let her.

Tummy time- almost immediately really. You don''t have to do for too long, maybe a minute or so. I used to do tummy time with Sophia once her cord fell off (around 2 weeks IIRC). I would just put her on her belly on my lap or across my chest. She would just sort of lay there not doing much lol. Tummy time is really important to start really young IMO. I wasn''t strict with it and it took Sophia a lot longer to be interested in lifting her head when on her tummy. TGal gave me some good advice which I tried and it worked. She did always have strong neck control though because I always had her in the shoulder hold so you don''t just have to do tummy time to achieve that but it is still really important.

HTH

With HUnter too. I generally don''t nurse him to sleep but there are times he really needs it for whatever reason. I think as long as baby *can* go to sleep on his/her own then it is easier to go with the flow. Still, he isn''t totally asleep when he is done, just drunk

 

[NovemberBride]

Robbie, so sorry to hear about your uncle. Your family is in my thoughts.

Dreamer, it''s great that Hunter is adjusting well to daycare. I have to go back to work at 12 weeks, but am planning to do the same thing you are, going to daycare with her then leaving her a few hours a day for a few weeks.

Question re: nursing to sleep - at this point I am happy to do it, especially at night when the goal is for her to go back to sleep asap. But what do you do about burping? She generally hates burping, so if I burp her, she wakes up again. Is it ok not to burp her?

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 12/1/2009 11:59:40 PM
Author: Mara
on the prev page fiery said: ''Re: rocking to sleep. You aren''t really creating any habits right now so I wouldn''t worry about it too much.''

can someone let me know when it is commonly thought for the kids to pick up ''habits''? i just want to be sure we don''t create any bad ones hehe.

also when do you start to put them on tummy time? i didn''t think it was that early but a recent comment in here made me think you are supposed to start at very young...like first few weeks?

re: uterine prolapse, i am taking heed!!!

I spent a lot of time stressing about ''bad habits'' at the beginning and taught Daisy to go to sleep without nursing, rocking etc - she did do it, but it took ages and if I didn''t time it exactly right then it was impossible.

In the end sleep deprivation won and I now nurse her to sleep when possible and she just puts herself to sleep the rest of the time. As Fiery says, we are bed-sharing and LOVE it and so she feeds herself during the night - I don''t think she always properly wakes up anymore, just gets half-awakeish, turns to the side, finds boob, feeds and sound asleep again generally without waking me up.

The earliest she has been awake in the morning for the last week has been 8.45am - and that is going to bed around 8pm so I''m pretty happy with that!

I do have a ''routine'' of sorts which I think was really useful in the beginning and still helps me calculate when she''s going to be getting tired.

Tummy time - I was a BAD mummy. Daisy HATED tummy time and screamed blue murder if she was on it at all. I wanted to keep her stationary as long as possible. So, we didn''t do tummy time - she always had very strong neck muscles and control so I wasn''t too worried. She rolled over 2 weeks ago and set off across the floor all of her own volition, she can crawl backwards and forwards and is now pulling up on furniture, can stand with minimal support for a short time and will ''walk'' if you turn your legs into parallel bars for her to hold on to - so I reckon they crawl, roll etc when they want to and not necessarily because of tummy time. She did always want to ''stand'' so we did that all the time and so her leg muscles are very well developed which may perhaps have helped her crawl more easily and definitely helps her stand and pull up.

November - Daisy has never been a ''windy'' baby and very rarely needs burping, so I just leave her if she''s asleep. You will know pretty quickly if she is unhappy about it or needs burping as she''ll complain!

 

[gailrmv]

Date: 12/2/2009 5:12:17 AM
Author: NovemberBride
Robbie, so sorry to hear about your uncle. Your family is in my thoughts.


Dreamer, it's great that Hunter is adjusting well to daycare. I have to go back to work at 12 weeks, but am planning to do the same thing you are, going to daycare with her then leaving her a few hours a day for a few weeks.


Question re: nursing to sleep - at this point I am happy to do it, especially at night when the goal is for her to go back to sleep asap. But what do you do about burping? She generally hates burping, so if I burp her, she wakes up again. Is it ok not to burp her?

NovemberBride Hello! I had the same concern about burping. I eventually stopped doing it. A hated burping and never seemed to have much of a burp anyway. I just nursed him and gently laid him down in the crib.

As far as nursing to sleep, I don't worry about it if it happens. A often falls asleep nursing and stays asleep when I put him in the crib. However, he *can* fall asleep on his own. Sometimes he is still awake after a feeding, and if it's time for a nap or bedtime, I just put him in his crib and he generally falls asleep in a few minutes on his own. My concern would be with an older baby if they REQUIRE being nursed to sleep, because that might not always be practical, especially if you travel like Fiery. Also, you don't want to be having to nurse to sleep mutiple times a night if they would otherwise not be hungry and are just unable to soothe back to sleep. But that's a ways down the road. I agree with you that in these early days it's perfectly fine and I would totally do it.

Mara I wholeheartedly second Pandora and Fiery and I think I am missing someone else who said that the first few weeks or even months are about survival, and not to worry too much about forming habits. I do think it's good to read up and make plans and get started on routines as DD recommended, but do what works best for your baby in those early days. Just keep in mind the habits and routines you hope to establish and work towards them, but don't stress!

Robbie thinking of you, and very sorry for your loss.

DD the daycare sounds wonderful! I have never heard of such a good ratio of caregivers to babies. In my city (in the US) the best places have 4 babies to 1 adult. It sounds like a great place and I'm glad the transition is going well for you guys! Also, congrats on the paper!

_________________________________

Thread splitting A couple people mentioned that they liked my idea to have this thread be for 2009 mamas. This keeps our group together over time and keeps us from overwhelming the toddler thread, and keeps the preggo thread from overwhelming this one. The alternative is for everyone to continue "graduating" from one thread to the next and then split the toddler thread down the line if it gets too crowded. I think either way would work. Maybe more people can chime in. If most people prefer the 2009 idea, I will request the mods to change the title and will put a note on the other mama threads letting them know what we are up to. Actually, maybe I should ask what they think - after all, it would mean changes for their threads too.

Neatfreak I'm sorry you are sort of between the two threads. I hope you will stick around here! You always have so much to contribute and I really enjoy your posts.

 

[gailrmv]

TravelingGal it occurred to me that during our discussion about sleep and routines last week, you mentioned going to your father's funeral when Amelia was younger. I should have said in my post that I am very sorry for your loss. I am sorry that I didn't. It was not an intentional oversight. I hope you will accept my belated condolences.

 

[fieryred33143]

Hi Ebree

I was thinking about you the other day and realized I missed your post from yesterday. That''s very exciting about starting solids! Take pics!! He''s almost 6 months right?

November Nursing babies don''t really need to be burped often because they don''t take in air when eating (at least not too much) so I wouldn''t even worry about it at night. Bottle-fed babies need to be burped more often (whether formula or pumped milk) but even at night "they" recommend to skip it if it means that LO will wake up. We use the Playtex Ventaire bottles which I really like because they don''t allow any air inside and the nipple is very wide so she doesn''t suck in too much air when eating. I hardly ever burp at night

 

[phoenixgirl]

Re burping at night . . . one of my baby books (Baby Whisperer or Baby Wise, can't remember which) says to just put the baby back to bed without a burp at night. Claire doesn't seem to have a problem going back to sleep, though, so I burp her if I can. I've also learned that she does this nibbling at the breast when she needs a burp mid-feed, so I burp her then and she gets back to real eating. It's really neat how you do eventually learn to read these things.

Last night was a bit of a disaster because DH tried to be helpful and watch Claire for me. Well, really he was down in his bike room and I was with Claire around 9 p.m., and I decided I was bored and tired and would lie upstairs with Claire until the 11:30 feeding, maybe catch a little sleep. DH realized we were MIA, came looking for us, and tried to be helpful by volunteering to watch Claire, so he took a happy baby downstairs, where he no doubt attempted to do stuff on the computer with her propped up on the couch next to him, patting her if she fussed. So our happy, quiet baby became super fussy and cried and cried, and I couldn't sleep like I wanted to. My options were a) try to sleep anyway b) go downstairs and tell DH how to calm her or c) hope he would figure it out by trial and error like I have. A wasn't working and B seemed too bossy, so I tried to go with C, but eventually I gave in and found DH trying to comfort Claire by lying on his back with her thrashing about on his chest. Obviously he knew that wasn't "right" because he immediately clarified, "I've only been trying this position for a minute!"

So finally he took her to the basement, but I could still hear her crying and sleep was a lost cause. DH brought her upstairs at 11:40 very proud of himself for staying up late to "help" me and tired from his ordeal. I hope he did learn some tips for how to calm and comfort her because it didn't actually buy me any extra sleep time and then it didn't seem fair to ask him to take a night feeding with the bottle I've been storing up, so neither of us got a good night's sleep. Sigh. At least our sweet baby only woke up to feed once between then and 7:15.

Today is supposed to be a jogging day with DH coming home for lunch, but it's raining, so I'm going to attempt a cardio video instead. It seems like it's a case of the "best laid plans" around here.

 

[Mara]

thanks for the info ladies. i guess bad habits is not really the right phrase, but it helps to know when others feel like their kids started to form a habit or a ''routine''. i will be going back to work around 14 weeks, so we have some time to just survive before having to try routine or sleep training.

re: splitting threads, as a jan 2010 mom to be...i like your idea TDM. the only thing is i hope it''s ok if the early 2010 mom''s can still pop into the 2009 thread to ask questions, because unless we have a fair amt of experienced mom''s on the 2010 thread already (which i know RPS and steph are and they are due in jan too), it may take a few months for that new thread to be as active, so i am sure there will be a lot of Q''s we''d like to ask of the mom''s who just went through it in 2009.

 

[taovandel]

Pandora: Super cute pictures!

Robbie: My thoughts are with you and your family.

Mustang: Kyle is super adorable!

Ebree: Solids---like it was suggested...take tons of pictures! I can''t wait to take pictures of those messy feedings...I''m sure I''ll get tired of it quickly though!!



Now onto the me-centric posts---sorry!

The last two nights have been terrible. Evan, for some reason, has gotten confused on night and day. I''m sure it''s our fault. He''s been taking really long naps during the day and then can''t sleep for longer than one-two hours at a stretch at night. I just feel so guilty if I wake him up from a deep sleep---but I know it''s for the best to do this for a bit until he learns.

So after two frustrating nights (one night, where I had to give in to the pacifier because I had a migraine and the husband couldn''t deal with a screaming baby and just wanted to shut him up---btw: he hated the pacifier), I''ve been doing some research and will be starting a modified cycle for him.

It''s been frustrating so far because he is sooo tired right now, but will only go down for a nap for about 10 minutes and then wakes up screeching! So I go in and comfort him and he immediately falls back asleep in my arms. I put him back in the bassinet and he''s out for about 5-10 minutes and then up again screeching his head off!

We''ve been doing sleep/screech cycle since 10:30 a.m. (he ate at 9:15 a.m. and we cuddled and played a bit until it was supposed to be his nap time---he was even falling asleep when playing) it is now 11:50 a.m.

It''s time for his next feeding, and according to the things I''ve read he should be up for about an hour and then be put back down for a nap after that. But since he technically missed the first nap---do I let him fall asleep earlier? Wouldn''t this mess up the timing? Or should I not worry so much about all of that and just create our own personal pattern?

 

[neatfreak]

FWIW I don't think it will become necessary to split the threads at all until some of the 2010 moms deliver. Because if you are splitting it into 2009 moms everyone who delivers this month (and all the new moms who just delivered) will still be on this thread even if we "split" it KWIM?

So if everyone already thinks it's too busy then splitting into 2009, 2010, etc. won't help because the 2010 moms aren't even on her yet except for the occasional question.

The only person you'll lose is me.

So it really won't do any good to split them until the Jan-Feb moms start delivering IMO.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 12/2/2009 6:53:39 AM
Author: TanDogMom
TravelingGal it occurred to me that during our discussion about sleep and routines last week, you mentioned going to your father''s funeral when Amelia was younger. I should have said in my post that I am very sorry for your loss. I am sorry that I didn''t. It was not an intentional oversight. I hope you will accept my belated condolences.

No worries TDM, it''s been a year and a half now. Life goes on, especially when you create new ones.

But thank you.

Speaking of condolences, Robbie, I am so sorry for your loss.

Re: splitting threads. TDM''s suggestion was one I made the first time the threads split. I think it makes more sense since if most of us are honest, we don''t want a "stage" thread...we want to stick with mothers in our "class." I''m wondering if it''s just possible to rename the threads and have the mods do it for us so we don''t have to create new ones...we would just create the new one for 2010.

I think you''ll find that the 2008 moms will visit 2009, and they will visit 2010 because they can offer help on something that they all experienced not long ago. I know for myself, as my daughter moves into her second year of life, the newborn stages becomes more and more distant and I forget a lot and just am not much help.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 12/2/2009 11:20:13 AM
Author: Mara
thanks for the info ladies. i guess bad habits is not really the right phrase, but it helps to know when others feel like their kids started to form a habit or a ''routine''. i will be going back to work around 14 weeks, so we have some time to just survive before having to try routine or sleep training.

re: splitting threads, as a jan 2010 mom to be...i like your idea TDM. the only thing is i hope it''s ok if the early 2010 mom''s can still pop into the 2009 thread to ask questions, because unless we have a fair amt of experienced mom''s on the 2010 thread already (which i know RPS and steph are and they are due in jan too), it may take a few months for that new thread to be as active, so i am sure there will be a lot of Q''s we''d like to ask of the mom''s who just went through it in 2009.

I like to talk a lot so the 2010 thread will be stuck with loads of opinions from yours truly

**********
Are you ladies doing gifts from LO for your family this holiday season?

I would really like to give everyone something small from Sophia. I purchased a snow globe and had it engraved with a message from Sophia for FI''s grandmother (she collects snow globes, we get her a new one every year). I''m having a hard time thinking of what to do for everyone else though.

The rave on the bump are these ABC books (pics with LO next to each item for example A is for Apple, LO with apple). It''s really cute but my camera sucks and if they wanted an organized place with low quality photos of Sophia, they can just log on to Facebook haha

So I don''t know. I was thinking maybe ornaments for her grandparents and I Love My Uncle picture for her uncles (she has no aunts...she and I are the princesses of our family

).

 

[phoenixgirl]

Re splitting . . . if the problem is to alleviate "overcrowding," and everyone currently on the thread must have babies born between December 2008 and now anyway, then creating a 2009 babies thread doesn't seem to really change anything. Perhaps a thread that splits every six months instead? January to June 2009 and July to December 2009, or something like that.

I have to say, though, that it feels a little odd to have shown up on this thread only to have people suddenly announce that it was time to split so the moms who had been here longer could keep posting with each other and . . . get rid of us newbies?

Tao, I've been having the same exact questions. Claire just doesn't follow this supposedly sacred "eat/wake/sleep" cycle. My advice would be not to worry about waking him up. It's funny; that's not something that has ever given me pause, I guess because my concern about causing my baby discomfort by waking her up is less than my concern about letting her be hungry if she sleeps too long (except at night when I'm willing to give it a shot). How long is he going between feeds?

My SIL told me that if her girls were awake for just 10 minutes after feeding, she was like, OK, great, I got my "wake" time in.

In your current situation, which happens a lot over here, I'd do exactly what you've done: try to get him to sleep on his own after a wakeful period, but if he has a crappy or non-existent nap then wants to nap for the whole time after he feeds this next time, I'd let him and just thank the heavens he's asleep so you can relax for a bit. The Baby Whisperer says that at one month of age babies can start transitioning from the "eat/wake/sleep" every time to three 90 minute naps during the day. So maybe he is naturally moving towards that kind of schedule? That's been Claire's MO since the beginning . . . fewer, longer naps.

It sounds like getting Evan sleeping more at night is your primary goal, so I'd just be sure to wake him up when it's been 3 hours or however long you're going these days and try to make sure he doesn't have more than 3 long naps during the day.

P.S. I don't think I'm going to work out today. I was sooo tired and trying to nap, then DH decided to come home to check on a leak in the attic. Well, half an hour later after what sounded like that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where they're building the Trojan Rabbit, my chances of a nap for this period are out. (He reported that there is no leak, so I don't know what all the stomping and hammering were about.) I can't count on Claire having another nap that lasts this long, but if she does, I think my napping will take priority over working out. I try to only have a couple of goals a day and today nap is at the top of the list.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 12/2/2009 12:22:47 PM
Author: phoenixgirl
Re splitting . . . if the problem is to alleviate ''overcrowding,'' and everyone currently on the thread must have babies born between December 2008 and now anyway, then creating a 2009 babies thread doesn''t seem to really change anything. Perhaps a thread that splits every six months instead? January to June 2009 and July to December 2009, or something like that.

I have to say, though, that it feels a little odd to have shown up on this thread only to have people suddenly announce that it was time to split so the moms who had been here longer could keep posting with each other and . . . get rid of us newbies?

I haven''t really commented on the thread split because I have no opinion. I have a group of girls in my mind that I''d really love to stay with but if they move on to another thread, I''ll just e-stalk them.

I don''t think the over-crowding is on this thread since we don''t have that much posters on here (I think maybe 10 regulars?). The over-crowding is more on 12-36 since that is a large age range and essentially everyone will end up there so it does get crowded.

And we definitely don''t want to get rid of newbies!! We were all newbies! Heck, I''m still a newbie. Claire will stay right here!

 

[neatfreak]

Phoenix I'm a little unsure where you're coming from as for you nothing will change. You'll stay right here with all the 2009 moms which is basically everyone on this thread. Just the new preggos who deliver in 2010 will have a new thread.

The only people it would really affect is myself and the moms that will deliver in 2010.

I will throw it out there that I don't really understand the thread splitting myself yet for this thread (i.e., I don't feel it's overcrowded as people drop off from posting)-but maybe that is because I am not someone who tries to respond to absolutely everything everyone says. But I know not everyone operates that way. And I know it'll need to be done eventually so now is fine with me if it needs to be done.

 

[fieryred33143]

Neat!

17 days left until the boys turn 1

(is that right? Dec 19?)

So exciting! Can''t believe it. Any plans?

Along the same lines, can everyone post their baby''s birthday. I like to keep track so that I know how many months everyone''s baby is

Sophia: July 1

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 12/2/2009 12:43:22 PM
Author: fiery
Neat!


17 days left until the boys turn 1

(is that right? Dec 19?)


So exciting! Can't believe it. Any plans?


Along the same lines, can everyone post their baby's birthday. I like to keep track so that I know how many months everyone's baby is

Sophia: July 1

I know it is so so crazy.

And no-I have NO idea what to do. I have gotten as far as knowing we are going to have a party on their birthday-but that's it!

I'm not usually a big theme person so I don't really want to deal with a theme-but everyone keeps asking me the theme so I feel like I need to have one!

And how the heck is Sophia 6 months already??? Time flies. Geez. Makes me feel old!

 

[fieryred33143]

Tell them the theme is college savings fund

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 12/2/2009 12:49:10 PM
Author: fiery
Tell them the theme is college savings fund

Lol. I like that one!!!

 

[Mara]

nf i feel really obtuse but why would you get left out if there was a 2008, 2009 and a 2010 thread? oh maybe because they were born dec 2008? would there be a 2008 thread?

i know that the moms here are helpful regardless so i am not too worried about how/when things split, as fiery said if i have Q''s i will just estalk people anyway hehee. but there are a few good points re: splitting right now vs waiting til jan/feb of 2010.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 12/2/2009 12:57:52 PM
Author: Mara
nf i feel really obtuse but why would you get left out if there was a 2008, 2009 and a 2010 thread? oh maybe because they were born dec 2008? would there be a 2008 thread?


i know that the moms here are helpful regardless so i am not too worried about how/when things split, as fiery said if i have Q''s i will just estalk people anyway hehee. but there are a few good points re: splitting right now vs waiting til jan/feb of 2010.

Because all the mommies on this thread are 2009 except me (we are 200. So it means I get bumped back over to the thread I got bumped from last year when the threads split based on under 1 and over 1.

I just always get bumped around when the threads split because of the different ways things were done.

I''ve been posting with these ladies for a year now and while of course I love the ladies on the 2008 and prior thread too it feels a little like being kicked out for me because I have been posting with these ladies here for a year and now will theoretically be supposed to post on the other thread again instead where all the babies are a lot older than mine. Mine are just in-between regardless.