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PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

natalina: oh my, you have such a cutie!!!

mandarine: sorry I'm not much help since I was a rocker too! I rocked C till sleep and bounced a bit too. I know it's not recommended but the good news is she outgrew it. Hope others chime in, I think the swaddling and letting them fuss a bit is probably the best approach and sounds like that actually went pretty well. Of course there are countless sleep books on this with various approaches.
 
Date: 1/7/2010 11:08:35 AM
Author: Mandarine

Today I started trying a bit of crying for naps to start to try to break the habit. I lightly swaddled them (not with the big guns -aka: miracle blanket- as I save that for the nights!). Then I sing and rock them, and down they go (awake). They cry and fuss, I go back in one minute and pat their butts, offer a paci, turn on the crib soother and leave again. They keep crying, I go back in after another minute, same thing. Then I leave again...then come back, rock them each a minute again and put them back. All in all it takes like 10 minutes until the fall sleep. That''s not bad right? for the first day of trying to break the rocking madness??

I want to try tonight at bedtime too.

Any tips??
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Persistance is key.

I did the Pick Up, Put Down "method" if you even want to call it that with Sophia. We did lotion, pjs, bottle, bed whether she was asleep or awake. Sometimes she would pass out between finishing the bottle and me trying to burp her. Other times she would be awake. But once she was in the crib, I''d leave. If she fussed, I''d let her fuss. Once she started crying, I''d do as you did...go in and pick her up then put her back down. The first few nights it took over 30 minutes before she finally slept. After those first few nights, it took 5 to 10 minutes without me having to go in there at all.

But you have to keep at it. I didn''t do it so that she could STTN but more so that she could learn to put herself back to sleep when she would wake up since I knew she no longer needed her overnight feedings.

GL!

Natalina-That''s an adorable picture!
 
Fiery, one of the signs we spotted was a tiny tinge of blood in wet diapers. I have never spotted it on a disposable, but it''s pretty obvious in a cloth one. When we go out or at night, when I tend to use disposables, I add one of the disposable liners meant for cloth diapers - you can see any blood very clearly on that. It''s blood in urine, so very dilute, just looks like a darker, rusty colour round the edge of the liner.

Other than that, we just check her temp first thing every day then last thing at night, which has told us what her normal range is as well as checking for fever.

She doesn''t make much fuss when she''s sick, so without these checks, we would be likely to miss an infection in the early stages.

Jen
 
Mandarine---10 minutes sounds good to me! I''m also a rocker/bouncer for E to fall asleep (if he doesn''t conk out just from eating--which is the norm). I just love cuddling with him. I know transitioning him to the crib we did the same thing you are doing and he was good to go in the crib after about a day.

We are struggling with naps now that he "sleeps through the night". He fights taking naps unless being held...he wasn''t like this before. So today, I''m trying to get him to use the crib for his naps.

I just put him down a few minutes ago---fingers crossed....
 
Amber - about breastfeeding in public I use a nursing cover up like this one (peanut shell nursing cover)
It took me a while to feel comfortable nursing in public, but finally I did. I saw someone else doing it and realized I could not see ANYTHING private. Gave me the confidence to do it myself and it made it much easier to go places with A. Now, I make it a point to nurse in public with the cover in the hopes that it might make some other woman feel more comfortable, or just help get people used to seeing a nursing mom. I hardly ever see public nursing, cover or no, here which I think is a shame.

A is teething and has been sleeping terribly, and resisting naps even though I know he is exhausted. I''m exhausted too!
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Mandarine For me as well as for many of the moms here going back in to pat them just made it worse. So don''t be afraid to NOT go in and pat them if it seems to be making it worse or not helping.

For mine, just seeing me always makes it so much worse. If I go in and don''t pick them up they just increase the volume!
 
ugh...back up from nap at 1:00...so a 15 minute nap...
 
Mandy, good luck with the nap training!

I confess that I do swaddle Claire in the miracle blanket to nap because it makes things so easy. Today I put her down without it on just to see if she could fall asleep unswaddled, and she did, but then stupid Mommy decided to organize some stuff in her room and woke her up. So then I swaddled her to get her back to sleep.

Claire is pretty easy to get to sleep. If she cries, I can usually get her to fall asleep in a couple of minutes but holding the pacifier in her mouth and going "Shhh!" as I lean over the crib. But if I were to leave her to cry, she''d usually cry (what I consider "light" crying, not wailing) for less than 10 minutes, then fall asleep. I know it''s irrational since she''s better off being able to fall asleep without help, but I feel like a bad Mommy when I hear her crying and I know I could "fix" her problem for her with minimal effort.

The other night DH came home when she was crying to fall asleep, but we had a miscommunication and he thought she had just woken up, so he got her out of the crib. She seemed happy, so I thought maybe I had misinterpreted her tired signs and didn''t say anything until she had an absolute meltdown. At that point I had to bounce her to fall asleep.

I have been absolutely exhausted recently. Maybe it''s knowing that I have to go back to work at the end of this month. Maybe it''s 2.5 months of not sleeping more than 5 hours at a stretch (and I think I can count the times I''ve done that on one hand). I wonder if Claire is transitioning into a long morning and afternoon nap schedule rather than an hour nap before every feed. This week we''ve both napped from around 10 a.m. to noon, and every time I''ve had to wake her up. She would have kept going but it had been 4 hours between feeds and I don''t want this to affect her night sleeping/eating (unfortunately there have been several times recently when we''ve had two nighttime feeds, which I think is contributing to the exhaustion). Yesterday I felt like taking a second nap in the afternoon, but DH was home for the day and I knew it''d be my only chance to run before the weekend, so I ran instead. I''ve worked up to 3 miles (yay!) though I only did 2 yesterday.

DH always gets Claire for our nighttime feeds and changes her diaper as I drag myself out of bed and get positioned in the guestroom where I can watch t.v. My sister told me my BIL never gets up with the baby, and then DH told me that some of his clients told him the dad "shouldn''t" get up at night since the mom has to anyway. I became defensive because I thought he was either trying to make me feel bad or trying to change our arrangement, but it turns out he was just looking for a little appreciation. We actually had a very adult conversation where we were able to articulate our concerns and frustrations and what we needed, but at one point he mentioned that he wanted me to spend more time with him when he is at home, and I asked for an example of the kind of things I was doing instead of being with him, and all he could come up with was napping! I was like, "So you want me to nap less?"
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He said no, of course. Seriously, until this week, I was only napping a couple of times a week anyway. I''ve never been big on naps; they''ve just become something of a necessity these days.
 
UPDATE!!!

So far so good! I''m so proud of the little guys
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3 naps today took about 10 minutes...and I went back in every 2-3 minutes.

Bedtime was great!!!. We swaddled them, rocked them for like a minute (or less), kissed them good night and put them down. Took 8 minutes!!. I went back at Min. 2 to soothe Lucas, pat his butt. Two minutes later I went back and Lucas was already out, I soothed Alex, went back out. One minute later went back in to soothe Alex and that was it!. They are both out now!!!
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Maybe I was more attached to the rocking than they were! lol

I''m thinking I want to implement something else for their bedtime routine. I tried lotion..but they don''t seem to like it...and do they need lotion??
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Is it too early to implement reading them a book?. Would I do this after the bottle and before swaddling or after swaddling?

I''m so proud of my boys!
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Mandarine- That''s awesome!
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So smart of you to do this now- I''ve gotten in a bad habit of rocking O to sleep and now I"m afraid he''s gotten into the habit. Not looking forward to breaking him of the habit now. Ugh.

So O had no problem being de-swaddled, despite my fear it was going to be a nightmare. Now, however, he ends up on his stomach. I think Fiery maybe Sophia did this too? Anyways- how much should I worry about it at this stage? He''s almost 5 months and can definitely roll over back and forth and lift his head, etc. I don''t really know how I would keep him from doing it, but is this a huge deal? And of course he turns away from the monitor so I can''t see his face at night.
 
Great job Mandarine! I think the bedtime "routine" is over emphasized. You don''t really need much of a routine at all IMO as long as it''s the same thing at the same time.

We don''t want to get them used to doing ANYTHING before bed because it can often be a PITA if you can''t do whatever it is. So for us it''s just jammies, bottle, and bed!

We read to them but right now don''t want to make it a part of a "routine" per se. And they do just fine. IIRC TGal has a very similar very simple routine too.
 
Date: 1/7/2010 8:28:29 PM
Author: ChinaCat
Mandarine- That''s awesome!
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So smart of you to do this now- I''ve gotten in a bad habit of rocking O to sleep and now I''m afraid he''s gotten into the habit. Not looking forward to breaking him of the habit now. Ugh.


So O had no problem being de-swaddled, despite my fear it was going to be a nightmare. Now, however, he ends up on his stomach. I think Fiery maybe Sophia did this too? Anyways- how much should I worry about it at this stage? He''s almost 5 months and can definitely roll over back and forth and lift his head, etc. I don''t really know how I would keep him from doing it, but is this a huge deal? And of course he turns away from the monitor so I can''t see his face at night.
Click to expand...

Nothing you can do if he''s at the stage of rolling by himself. And he''ll be fine at this age. Don''t sweat it.
 
Thanks Neat.
 
Thanks!!!

That makes sense NF!!!. SO I'm going to keep it simple. I always sing the same song to them when it's time to sleep or calm down. Now they know the song and calm down as soon as I start singing it. So I'll just keep doing Bath (on bath day since I only bathe them every other day!), PJs, bottle, swaddle, song, hugs/quick rocking and off to bed!.

I want to break them out of the swaddle, but it's too early....I think they will have a hard time with that one when the time comes though!.

I think this was the right age to stop the rocking habit...I could tell it was getting worse...each time it was longer an each time they had to be more in DEEP sleep before we could put them down. So hopefully we have nip that in the butt and can stop doing it!
 
well after an unsuccessful nap time earlier in the day...he was okay with napping later on. Hopefully tomorrow will go better.

I''ve been feeling kinda blah today and my throat started hurting. I checked it out in the mirror and I have the white stuff on it--like strep throat. I had it this time last year! And the antibiotics I took for it messed up my birth control and that''s how I got knocked up! So great, I have to try and make an appointment for tomorrow...getting an appointment on a friday at my office is horrible! Then my husband and I have to figure out how to take care of Evan if I do have it. I think Strep is only contagious for a few days--right?


And I was bored today and decided to take some pics....he loves the monkey and the turtle one the most. I''ll walk in and he''s just laying there staring at them grinning sometimes...so cute!

evaninbed.jpg
 
last one...

evaninchair.jpg
 
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right back at ya mela lu!

adorable pics everyone!
 

Daycare


How long did it take your babies to get used to it? Hunter is doing great overall, but he still is not really napping. I feel bad for him! He is sleeping about 13 hours at night though, so I guess he is compensating. There is one little boy who is also new and he just cries ALL THE TIME. I feel bad for him but I also want him to just stop it so Hunter doesn''t have to listen to it all day and so Hunter gets some attention from his caregiver, who I think gets monopolized by the babies who are more demanding
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BAH... oh I long for the simplicity of being a SAHM. But I love being at work.

Boy do I miss Hunter in the day though! I played hookie this afternoon to hang out with him. And then worked in the evening.
 
Date: 1/8/2010 12:25:41 AM
Author: dreamer_dachsie


Daycare




How long did it take your babies to get used to it? Hunter is doing great overall, but he still is not really napping. I feel bad for him! He is sleeping about 13 hours at night though, so I guess he is compensating. There is one little boy who is also new and he just cries ALL THE TIME. I feel bad for him but I also want him to just stop it so Hunter doesn't have to listen to it all day and so Hunter gets some attention from his caregiver, who I think gets monopolized by the babies who are more demanding
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BAH... oh I long for the simplicity of being a SAHM. But I love being at work.

Boy do I miss Hunter in the day though! I played hookie this afternoon to hang out with him. And then worked in the evening.
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I was thinking of you this morning, because Lex slept for 30 minutes the whole 9 hours at daycare yesterday! And he's been there over a month now. I have no advice because we are really struggling w/ it...it's now become VERY difficult to get him to nap on the weekends. In fact, I've had to use CIO on occasion now to get him to nap. He's sleeping like a rock at night though! Seriously, most days this week we've had to wake him up at 6:30 because I have to leave by 7:00. Definitely give it more time, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Hunter adjusts soon!



Question for you ladies: I'm starting to REALLy freak out, we've noticed for about a month now, that when holding Lex he will not make eye contact, he'll actually actively try to avoid it. Meaning, if we try to look directly at him (while talking), he'll turn away, if we try again, he'll turn in the other direction. But it's only when we are close (like face to face). He looks at us fine from a distance and watches us like a hawk sometimes. But no eye contact at all when we try while holding him. Even if I try to sing to him or do patty cake or whatever, he just refuses to look at me, he'll turn his head to the side and look AROUND me, but never at me. And like I said, it's only when holding him (if I start singing and he's crawling around he will stop to look at me and smile). We go to the pedi next week so I'll defintely bring it up, but I'm starting to get concerned (have to stop googling). He's 7 months now, do any of you notice this too? Or should I really start to worry
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?
 
Tao - I just had strep throat last weekend
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. You''re contagous for 24 hours after you start antibiotics, so try to stay away from the baby until you know for sure. Mine also came with a fever, but I don''t know if it always presents that way.

DD - Kyle started daycare at 9 weeks, so the transition might be a bit longer for an older baby. I''d give it another week or two for him to get comfortable. There''s probably so many new things for him there that he just doesn''t have time to sleep!

cdt - that does seems a bit odd, is he maybe turning his head to "hear" you? If you have an appointment next week, just don''t stress about it until you know what the pedi says.

Kyle and I are both feeling better know, but he''s still been a bit clingy and only wants mommy. And he''s still just shy of walking on his own, he''ll do it holding on to one hand, and pushes his walking toys all over the house. I''m going to try working with him this weekend, maybe we''ll get that first step before he turns 11 months next week
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. And I just realized that I better figure out what we''re doing for his 1st b-day next month
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. That sure did sneek up fast!
 
Mgal - Yeah, it''s weird to me too. He''s VERY social otherwise and loves watching people and making sounds at them, but eye contact is something he struggles w/. Like he''d rather look at everything else BUT us when we try. If we just try to engage him normally, he looks at us no problem, but not if we''re holding him at all, he''d rather look around. I don''t know....he seems fine otherwise and can follow objects w/ no problem. It''s just hard not to be concerned
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A situation IRL just made me wonder, are you ladies keeping all your baby stuff once your LO has outgrown it? I have a friend with a 7 year old that finally was able to keep a pregnancy (3 miscarriages that I know of). She just found out she''s having a girl, and is finally giving her baby boy stuff away. 7 years holding on to all the baby-junk would drive me nuts! I''ve hardly kept anything. Am I the odd one? I''ve been giving all of Kyle''s clothes to 2 friends that have boys younger than him, and taking a few things to a consignment store. I''ve only kept like 3 outfits to put away for him. I figure the odds that I have another child compouded with the odds of having a boy in the same season are not worth storing tons of boxes...
 
Date: 1/8/2010 11:11:24 AM
Author: MustangGal
A situation IRL just made me wonder, are you ladies keeping all your baby stuff once your LO has outgrown it? I have a friend with a 7 year old that finally was able to keep a pregnancy (3 miscarriages that I know of). She just found out she''s having a girl, and is finally giving her baby boy stuff away. 7 years holding on to all the baby-junk would drive me nuts! I''ve hardly kept anything. Am I the odd one? I''ve been giving all of Kyle''s clothes to 2 friends that have boys younger than him, and taking a few things to a consignment store. I''ve only kept like 3 outfits to put away for him. I figure the odds that I have another child compouded with the odds of having a boy in the same season are not worth storing tons of boxes...
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No you''re not weird. I''ve been giving everything else away too. But I know plenty of moms who have their teenager''s baby stuff still in the garage.

In CA space is at a premium so I just want the space back!
 
CDT From what you describe, that is not autism if that is what you are concerned about. Maybe he is farsighted? Maybe he doesn''t like mommy and daddy in his face
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and he wants to do what he wants to do. It is hard not to worry, but if he smiles, is sociable, and likes people then I really don''t think you need to worry. Does he babble? Ask the doc when you see him to set your mind at ease. Better yet, ask the daycare what they think -- don''t lead them just ask if they think Lex is sociable and does he engage with them. They see lots of babies and spend lots of time with Lex. At 7 months they are still not the most interactive IIRC about Hunter at that age.
 
Date: 1/8/2010 11:37:20 AM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 1/8/2010 11:11:24 AM
Author: MustangGal
A situation IRL just made me wonder, are you ladies keeping all your baby stuff once your LO has outgrown it? I have a friend with a 7 year old that finally was able to keep a pregnancy (3 miscarriages that I know of). She just found out she''s having a girl, and is finally giving her baby boy stuff away. 7 years holding on to all the baby-junk would drive me nuts! I''ve hardly kept anything. Am I the odd one? I''ve been giving all of Kyle''s clothes to 2 friends that have boys younger than him, and taking a few things to a consignment store. I''ve only kept like 3 outfits to put away for him. I figure the odds that I have another child compouded with the odds of having a boy in the same season are not worth storing tons of boxes...
Click to expand...

No you''re not weird. I''ve been giving everything else away too. But I know plenty of moms who have their teenager''s baby stuff still in the garage.

In CA space is at a premium so I just want the space back!
Click to expand...
I am keeping the nice stuff because a lot of it is gender neutral, like sleepers etc. I`ll get rid of it all when we are doing having kids. But I only have like, 2 small diaper boxes full so far. The rest I passed along.
 
Cdt - Daisy does that when she''s annoyed with me, like when I say no or take things off her...
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Has your babyhawk arrived yet? I finally got DH to try the mei tai the other night as he was complaining that the BBjorn was starting to hurt his back. He was amazed at the difference!

MGal - I kept a few of her tiny things and some special pieces but otherwise I give it all away. I don''t have the space and even if we did have another it won''t be for ages.
 
Sorry to jump in here with a random question...but I''d love to hear from the BLW moms
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Blen and Pan - I''m currently making Romy''s food (purees) and loving it, but I do love aspects of BLW that I''m trying to also incorporate into our meal times. I always give him something to ''play'' with while I feed him, like a broccoli stem or lightly steamed carrot. I want him to experience his food wholly, touch, taste, sight etc., as well as help dev''p his motor skills.

What else can I give him at 7 months to ''play'' with while he eats. He HATES anything slimy, so all the big peices of fruit I''ve tried giving him make him turn up his nose and he will not touch it! haha. TIA!

***

I''m behind on this thread
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but will get back to regular posting soon. BUT, Tao - EVAN is sooo cute! lol I miss that cute stage.
 
Date: 1/8/2010 12:20:16 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
CDT From what you describe, that is not autism if that is what you are concerned about. Maybe he is farsighted? Maybe he doesn't like mommy and daddy in his face
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and he wants to do what he wants to do. It is hard not to worry, but if he smiles, is sociable, and likes people then I really don't think you need to worry. Does he babble? Ask the doc when you see him to set your mind at ease. Better yet, ask the daycare what they think -- don't lead them just ask if they think Lex is sociable and does he engage with them. They see lots of babies and spend lots of time with Lex. At 7 months they are still not the most interactive IIRC about Hunter at that age.
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Heehe...my mom said the same thing about us in his face
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Yeah he's VERY babbly (if that's a word), even if a stranger looks at him, he takes it as a time to "talk." I think the fact that we maybe trying to force it, could be the issue...like he does look at us just fine, but NOT if we actively try to do it. He must think we're really annoying
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Pandora- I did!!! I haven't had much time to try it yet though since I just got it yesterday, but I did try it out really quickly yesterday and he was super comfy to hold! And I love the pattern I chose too
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Mela - We've given Lex celery and pickles, and while he can't eat it them, he loves to just suck on them and play. I also give him bread occasionally if we're at a restaurant and he sucks on that too (but that he can eat that to some extend). Recently we went out to breakfast and he had a ball w/ pancakes (no syrup)
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Date: 1/8/2010 1:28:13 PM
Author: mela lu
Sorry to jump in here with a random question...but I'd love to hear from the BLW moms
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Blen and Pan - I'm currently making Romy's food (purees) and loving it, but I do love aspects of BLW that I'm trying to also incorporate into our meal times. I always give him something to 'play' with while I feed him, like a broccoli stem or lightly steamed carrot. I want him to experience his food wholly, touch, taste, sight etc., as well as help dev'p his motor skills.

What else can I give him at 7 months to 'play' with while he eats. He HATES anything slimy, so all the big peices of fruit I've tried giving him make him turn up his nose and he will not touch it! haha. TIA!

***

I'm behind on this thread
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but will get back to regular posting soon. BUT, Tao - EVAN is sooo cute! lol I miss that cute stage.
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'Sticks' of meat like steak or chicken are popular here, also bread, spaghetti or big pasta shapes. Pretty much anything you eat bar nuts and shellfish. Daisy still just plays with it, not a lot actually goes down yet but she enjoys herself and there is a lot of 'nom, nom, nom' sounds when she likes something!

I'm a terrible mother and let Daisy try anything she likes - we shared a mint chocolate cornetto the other day...
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- she's even had juice but likes water better. In any case she has to drink out of a normal cup so the floor gets more than her...
 
good suggestions so far...what other veggies are easy and a hit?

ONE MORE QUESTION.

It seems Romeo has his naps backwards. He gives me a 1 hr 15 min nap every morning. (to the tee). The afternoon nap is spotty; at 20 or 30 (maaaaaybe 40) mins tops. What can I do to lengthen this? It''s absurd!!
 
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