PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[MonkeyPie]

Question: How do you put them to sleep on their side if they are swaddled? That seems really uncomfortable.

 

[fieryred33143]

MP I wouldn't suggesting the side sleeping with a swaddle but you can use a sleep positioner.

Sophia slept with a positioner up until she was 3, almost 4, months. For naps, I would put her on her side if I was going to be awake. If not, then she went on her back. ETA: Forgot to add that she wasn't swaddled. We didn't swaddle until she was about 10 days old because the bili was in the way and it was a PITA. For naps, I hardly ever swaddled. When she was swaddled, I didn't put her on her side.

She started side sleeping on her own once we dropped the swaddle and the positioner. Now she's a tummy sleeper.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Claire just rolled over from her back to her stomach! She looked kind of surprised, and her arm was stuck under her body. I may be a bit biased, but I think that is pretty good for 3 months! My sister''s 4 month old hasn''t rolled over in either direction yet. Claire did stomach to back for the first time over Christmas.

My little genius!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 1/28/2010 12:13:53 PM
Author: fiery
MP I wouldn''t suggesting the side sleeping with a swaddle but you can use a sleep positioner.

That''s kind of what I was thinking. I knew I wanted to try swaddling, but didn''t want to confine him to his back. Maybe he will just side-sleep during the day when I can be awake

Thanks, fiery.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 1/28/2010 12:48:29 PM
Author: MonkeyPie

Date: 1/28/2010 12:13:53 PM
Author: fiery
MP I wouldn''t suggesting the side sleeping with a swaddle but you can use a sleep positioner.

That''s kind of what I was thinking. I knew I wanted to try swaddling, but didn''t want to confine him to his back. Maybe he will just side-sleep during the day when I can be awake

Thanks, fiery.

No prob!

Not all babies are the same (being Dr. Obvious here lol) and some are happy being on their backs for all naps. Sophia hated it so she slept on her side.

I found a pic of how she used to sleep in her bassinet for naps:

 

[ChinaCat]

Viz- My BFF had a "high needs" baby too and she literally got everything "bad" in the book- colic, reflux, had to do a severe eliminaton diet, mastits, boob strike, jaundice, refused to sleep unless held, up all hours, etc. Finally around 6 months she implemented CIO and it worked beautifully and now she is sleep trained. I have huge respect for her and you and any mom that has a tougher time than just normal newborn stuff- she is such a fantastic mom and I am in such awe of her. Anyways, her little one definitely outgrew all of it, it just took more time. I don't think it's selfish at all to keep him in your room if that is what works for you. BUT when you are ready, you really will get more sleep if you move him into the other room.

Nipple sizes- Again, something that didn't even occur to me. I just picked up a few size 2 and we will see. O has been fighting eating from the bottle for the past week or two and it takes forever to feed him, and I'm wondering if this is the issue. Fingers crossed!

PhxGirl- I keep meaning to tell you that Medela makes these "quick clean wipes" especially for pump parts. They are hygenic wipes "proven safe for cleaning breastpumps, breastshields and accessories". They are intended for use after pumping and can take the place of washing them. I use them after I pump each time at work, and then I take the parts home and wash them with soap/water every night. Just FYI- sounds like a lot to take 3 sets to work if you can just use the wipes!

ETA: Fiery!

Look at the little love peanut. She was so small and cute- look at her legs!!! Aww, what a sweet picture. She is SO much bigger now.

ETAA: Viz- I should add that my friend's daughter is 9 months now and she's already talking about another one, so I guess it's true that you forget!!! Or else she has just seen the light at the other end of the tunnel and knows it's worth it.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 1/28/2010 12:59:42 PM
Author: fiery

Date: 1/28/2010 12:48:29 PM

Author: MonkeyPie

Date: 1/28/2010 12:13:53 PM

Author: fiery

MP I wouldn''t suggesting the side sleeping with a swaddle but you can use a sleep positioner.

That''s kind of what I was thinking. I knew I wanted to try swaddling, but didn''t want to confine him to his back. Maybe he will just side-sleep during the day when I can be awake

Thanks, fiery.

No prob!

Not all babies are the same (being Dr. Obvious here lol) and some are happy being on their backs for all naps. Sophia hated it so she slept on her side.

I found a pic of how she used to sleep in her bassinet for naps:

Gah, she''s SO CUTE!

I was worried about his little head getting flat from sleeping on his back too much. I have a friend that basically let her guy sleep on his back all the time and kept him in the carseat a LOT. So his head is flat

 

[fieryred33143]

China-I know she''s HUGE! I''m gong to put her in the bassinet tonight to take a pic and compare lol

5 MORE DAYS!!! If I get my hair done for Sawyer, do you think he''d notice

MP: Even if he were to nap and sleep on his back, you wont have to worry about flat head as long as you do tummy time or hold him in positions where he isn''t on his back (like the shoulder position). Sophia hated tummy time but she had good head control because we held her in the shoulder position all the time.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Thanks, fiery. I am so worried about that, even though it would probably be the least of my problems once he arrives lol. Maybe I will just rub his little head a lot

 

[ChinaCat]

Fiery- Methinks he likes his girls dirty.

MP- O slept on his back only till 4.5 months. He doesn''t have a flat head. Though I was worried about it, and as my lovely DH said- "He''s a boy. It won''t matter as long as he has good B.S."

Your ped should keep on eye on it.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 1/28/2010 1:55:33 PM
Author: ChinaCat
Fiery- Methinks he likes his girls dirty.

MP- O slept on his back only till 4.5 months. He doesn''t have a flat head. Though I was worried about it, and as my lovely DH said- ''He''s a boy. It won''t matter as long as he has good B.S.''

Your ped should keep on eye on it.

I wonder why some babies get the flat head then? Curious. I''ll try not to worry about it and just put him on his sides anytime I can.

 

[fieryred33143]

MP-It happens because of exactly how you describe: too much time on their backs and too much time on hard areas (like a car seat or swing).

But I have found that a lot of babies like side sleeping. It helps with gas

so you can''t go wrong if you let him nap like that during the day. What''s funny is that my cousin gave me the sleep positioner as a gift and I tossed it in the back of her closet. My mom kept telilng me to take it out but I didn''t and when we finally did, I loved it! Some people don''t like it but I thought it was awesome and Sophia loved it too. We actually had a harder time breaking the positioner habit than we did breaking the swaddle. We got rid of the swaddle when she was over it but when we took out the positioner, she didn''t know what to do with herself. It took a few days for her to figure it out.

 

[sunkist]

Date: 1/28/2010 12:32:55 PM
Author: phoenixgirl
Claire just rolled over from her back to her stomach! She looked kind of surprised, and her arm was stuck under her body. I may be a bit biased, but I think that is pretty good for 3 months! My sister''s 4 month old hasn''t rolled over in either direction yet. Claire did stomach to back for the first time over Christmas.


My little genius!

Yay Claire!

 

[Steel]

Date: 1/28/2010 12:59:42 PM
Author: fiery
I found a pic of how she used to sleep in her bassinet for naps:

Sophia is adorable in this picture. She is such a cutie Fiery.

 

[sunkist]

Date: 1/28/2010 2:04:16 PM
Author: MonkeyPie

Date: 1/28/2010 1:55:33 PM

Author: ChinaCat

Fiery- Methinks he likes his girls dirty.

MP- O slept on his back only till 4.5 months. He doesn''t have a flat head. Though I was worried about it, and as my lovely DH said- ''He''s a boy. It won''t matter as long as he has good B.S.''

Your ped should keep on eye on it.

I wonder why some babies get the flat head then? Curious. I''ll try not to worry about it and just put him on his sides anytime I can.

MP- Ya, just picking them up and not leaving them sitting all day can help that problem. Holding them more hours of the day also helps with colic and bonding with your baby. I dont know if some babies have softer heads and are more susceptible to flat head or not, though.

 

[phoenixgirl]

China, thanks for the tip! I am really going to try to give up my "Lansinoh" habit when I pump (I lubricate with Lansinoh beforehand), but until I do, I don''t think a wipe would be good enough for the flanges. This milky ring of goop develops inside the flange, and I''m just not willing to deal with cleaning that. (Other than three periods off a week, I only get 30 minutes for lunch and 6 minutes between classes.) I''m going to be quite the "bag lady" with my pump, bag of pump parts, work bag, lunch bag, and purse every day!

We just took Claire to meet the staff at the daycare and drop off her forms. Even that was harder than I imagined. I realized I''ve never been away from Claire for more than 4.5 hours, and all of a sudden I''m going to be away for 9 hours every day. As I told DH, she''s not an idiot; she''s going to notice that the boob lady has gone away.

But we do really like the daycare, although the "one year waiting list" is obviously a crock. There were only 4 other babies there in her group (which can hold up to 8 with 2 workers), so that will be a pretty good worker to child ratio. And as I was filling out the forms I noticed that we''ll get a better break over the summer than I thought if I decide to keep teaching.

I''m still all over the place regarding that decision, which is ok since I don''t have to make it now. Last week I was thinking I''d for sure stay home, but now I''m looking forward to the adult interaction and the fun parts of my job. Plus, and I know this is kind of selfish, but when we''re both working, DH won''t be able to leave me alone so many nights. We''ve finally made up for real after the other night, but it took a couple of days.

Re: flat head, this happened to my nephew, and somebody tried to sell my sister a $7k helmet for him, but she decided to see what happened without intervention. He''s 2.5 now, and his head looks fine. I think part of the problem is that his head is unusually large (or at least appears to be) and he''s a boy so therefore has short hair, so the lack of symmetry really stood out. Now my sister uses the Boppy head insert for carseats in the crib with my baby niece. She is also big on swaddling, and I wonder if that could be part of it. Claire is more likely to put her head in different positions now that we don''t swaddle her.

 

[fieryred33143]

Thanks Steel

 

[Blenheim]

Go Claire!!

Fiery, I can''t believe that they used to be so little. I miss little itsy newborn George.

 

[MustangGal]

re: flat head... Kyle had a bit of this problem (more of a dent than flat). It was on one side, and it turned out he was turning his head that way no matter which end of the crib we put him in. He was swaddled until 3 months, and started sleeping on his side on his own around 4-5 months. He''s fine now, it evened out as he got more active. I think some kids just might be more prone to it, the pedi noticed it and just said he''d keep an eye on it. By the 6 months check-up he wasn''t worried.

 

[lizzard]

While on the topic of swaddling (and rolling), our LO is 3.5 months and is swaddled every night before bed. We do not swaddle him during naps. He hasn’t rolled yet, nor has he even attempted to. He hates being on his stomach! My family/friends have been telling me that he isn’t rolling yet because he is still swaddled at night and doesn’t have the opportunity to move around freely. I can’t help but wonder if there’s any correlation? I don’t think we’re quite ready to stop swaddling at night since he has been sleeping well recently, but I also don’t want to stunt his development.

Fiery – what a CUTIE pie! So presh!

Mandy- thanks for the input on the mommy classes. I'm thinking of signing up for a mommy & baby yoga class - figure I can at least benefit from the workout!

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 1/28/2010 4:36:20 PM
Author: lizzard

While on the topic of swaddling (and rolling), our LO is 3.5 months and is swaddled every night before bed. We do not swaddle him during naps. He hasn’t rolled yet, nor has he even attempted to. He hates being on his stomach! My family/friends have been telling me that he isn’t rolling yet because he is still swaddled at night and doesn’t have the opportunity to move around freely. I can’t help but wonder if there’s any correlation? I don’t think we’re quite ready to stop swaddling at night since he has been sleeping well recently, but I also don’t want to stunt his development.

I don''t know if there is for sure but in my case, I don''t believe it.

Sophia decided right before 3 months that she was over being swaddled. She started moving on to her side around 5 months and eventually became a tummy sleeper right before 6 months. However, this was all in her sleep. While she was awake, she had zero interest in rolling around. She is *now* at almost 7 months starting to roll all over the place.

 

[MustangGal]

Date: 1/28/2010 4:36:20 PM
Author: lizzard

While on the topic of swaddling (and rolling), our LO is 3.5 months and is swaddled every night before bed. We do not swaddle him during naps. He hasn’t rolled yet, nor has he even attempted to. He hates being on his stomach! My family/friends have been telling me that he isn’t rolling yet because he is still swaddled at night and doesn’t have the opportunity to move around freely. I can’t help but wonder if there’s any correlation? I don’t think we’re quite ready to stop swaddling at night since he has been sleeping well recently, but I also don’t want to stunt his development.

Kyle started rolling both ways right at 3 months, yet was swaddled for night (not naps though) until right after he started rolling, so not necessarily related.

 

[ChinaCat]

Lizzard- We kept O swaddled till 4 or 4.5 months but he started rolling way before that. He just couldn't roll at night b/c he was swaddled and still in a moses basket. Once we moved him to the crib, he rolled over even swaddled so we stopped swaddling. Don't worry about it. Your LO will roll over when he's ready. It's like the tummy time thing. We never did tummy time for like the first 3 months or so, but O could hold his head up anyways. Point being, the kiddos will all hold heads up/roll over/crawl, etc. when they are ready.

ETA: So apparently the next size nipples really made a difference today. O has been fighting his bottles. It never occurred to me it could be the nipple size till the discussion here. I bought some and he's been eating like a champ all day. So thanks!!!

 

[lizzard]

Thanks for the feedback re: swaddling & rolling. Up to this point, I''ve tried to follow the mindset that he will reach each milestone when HE''S ready - not what the books/family/friends say he should be doing... but every now and then I wonder if we''re doing enough to encourage him to reach his full 3.5 month potential

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 1/28/2010 3:53:53 PM
Author: Blenheim
Go Claire!!

Fiery, I can''t believe that they used to be so little. I miss little itsy newborn George.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing!! makes me want another one

It will be old hat. Compared to an 11 month old a newborn seems so easy! LOL!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 1/28/2010 5:25:13 PM
Author: MustangGal

Date: 1/28/2010 4:36:20 PM
Author: lizzard

While on the topic of swaddling (and rolling), our LO is 3.5 months and is swaddled every night before bed. We do not swaddle him during naps. He hasn’t rolled yet, nor has he even attempted to. He hates being on his stomach! My family/friends have been telling me that he isn’t rolling yet because he is still swaddled at night and doesn’t have the opportunity to move around freely. I can’t help but wonder if there’s any correlation? I don’t think we’re quite ready to stop swaddling at night since he has been sleeping well recently, but I also don’t want to stunt his development.

Kyle started rolling both ways right at 3 months, yet was swaddled for night (not naps though) until right after he started rolling, so not necessarily related.

Ditto. Tummy time matters more, and some babies don''t roll until 6mo and that is normal too!

 

[phoenixgirl]

Re developmental milestones: I didn't walk until I was 22 months. In my defense, I had to wear those shoes with the bar between them from months 9 to 12, I was born a month early, and my brother and sister didn't walk until 16 months, so it's not like I was super behind the rest of the family. The annoying thing is that my mom doesn't seem to think the bar-shoes had anything to do with it. Hello, I could have spent that time crawling around using my body instead of forced to sit with my feet parallel. They don't still make kids wear those shoes, right?

It's not like you see adults walking around with their feet messed up, just like you don't see a lot of people with misshapen heads. I think these things usually work themselves out. The ironic thing is that they told my mom my feet were turning out because I slept on my stomach. Now they say kids' heads are shaped wrong because they sleep on their backs!

 

[sunkist]

Ya, youre right PG. There are always certain things that seem to be of more concern to every generation, or every few years or so.

I have never seen any baby shoes with a bar between them, but I know a few of us kids in my family had to wear special shoes to shape our feet correctly. They looked like white leather baby army boots. I remember sometimes my mom would also just put a babies shoes on opposite feet, I guess to prevent pigeon toe...

At least medicine/doctors are always looking for ways to keep us and our babies healthy and healthier!

 

[mela lu]

CAN'T

KEEP

UP....!

Haven't even read the past few pages, but wanted to pop in and say HI! and kick off BPF with this doozy (most have seen it on FB). My 8 month old has gone from ZERO to HERO in the past 2 weeks, hitting every developmental milestone.

I'm talking, rolling, crawling, pulling-up to standing - all at once. He's totally on overload, and having some tantrums and sleep issues as a result.

Oh assertiveness, why did you have to come pouring down on us? Why not a gentle trickle?

Anyways....here he is, in girls PJs to boot! lol.

ETA: Just that morning, my DH said..."oh he wont be standing for another month at least". Errrr, yah. Try, 20 minutes later.

Kids and dogs will make fools of you. FACT!

 

[fieryred33143]

Awww look at Romy!!

I totally forgot about BPF and I had the funniest pic at home (sleeping with her butt in the air lol). I don''t think I have any recent photos. I''ll have to ask if FI has any