PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Pandora II]

Date: 2/17/2010 1:32:59 PM
Author: vizsla

Date: 2/17/2010 11:51:50 AM
Author: Mandarine

Date: 2/16/2010 10:34:23 PM

and I think the babies actually need to mold to your life, not the other way around (sorry Viz!).

tee hee... so funny! and i''ll tell ya why

for the first 2 months of charlie''s life i took the advice of every book i read, every ''whisper'' out there and nothing worked! i was so distraught that charlie didn''t do these perfect 3 hour intervals of eat, awake, sleep that i would make him eat, awake, sleep -- DISASTER -- it wasn''t until i started going on charlie''s cues that i realized he didn''t fit into any of the books of what a baby ''should'' be doing. he never slept for more than an hour (who am i kidding 30mins -- and he literally NEVER slept unless held) and all of the forcing him to eat, awake, sleep on his own did nothing but make me more paranoid. anyhoo, for US

realizing that we needed to cue from baby made all of the difference in the world to get thru the day. there were no more battles, no more hours and hours spent doing something that charlie didn''t want to do. granted, he needed me and still needs me to help him sleep but when he''s hungry he signals and he eats, when he wants to play we play, when he wants to sleep he gets fussy and he sleeps ... he then wakes up and maybe wants to play some more, or maybe wants to eat etc. i can imagine that having 2 babies is a horse of a different color... and everything i just wrote would have a big gigantic line thru it. but for us NOT following the books and letting go of that ideal was our saving grace.

steph.. i have no idea about supplementing when e is done nursing.. but could you just nurse him longer? and not supplement?

my LC told me in the early days of pumping/buiding a supply -- for every cycle, nurse them until they cue that they are full, then pump for 5 mins after and not any longer (keep this BM in the fridge). do this at every feeding cycle and you will have enough BM so that your partner can give baby a bottle in the middle of the night and then you simply pump that feeding cycle -- saving that pumping as reserve in the freezer. this not only builds up your reserves, but gives you a break from nursing once during the day.

bbbbuuuuttt LC are like baby books, and you have to do what you think is right.. that is just what *i* did.

Viz, i''m with you on most of it. Once I gave up trying to force a routine and just went with Daisy''s cues not only did everyone sleep better, but I actually picked up on her cues properly and she started to take naps rather than being up for 14 hours at a stretch.

I go with her as far as when she is hungry she eats, whether that is 10 minutes or 2 hours after the last time, when she is tired then she sleeps - occasionally happens during the daytime etc

For everything else then she fits into my life - if we go out then she comes too. I am pretty strict on good behaviour. I HATE seeing children misbehaving or causing a nusiance or disruption to others and parents doing nothing about it. I''m going by the "I expect good behaviour, therefore you will behave" theory.

If she plays up, or starts shrieking then there are consequences - normally being taken out or by having things removed and a firm ''No'' and ''that look''. Even though we started doing it when she was very little, I worked on the basis that babies understand twice as much as you think they do, and she definitely knows what both mean.

The funniest one is that if she''s up to no good or about to touch something she shouldn''t, she will look round at me with a big grin to see if I have noticed and will then start shaking her head. I have to try really hard not to crack up laughing.

Blen - yay for first words - sounds like it''s one to me!

Thanks all for the reassurance on the acrobatic mealtimes.

Was also going to say that it''s odd how different it has been for when AF returned for different people. I still have no sign and Daisy is 9 months old today. I''d have put it down to nursing all day and all night, but Blen did that as well. Most strange...

 

[taovandel]

Mandarine: E gets really happy when I put him on the changing table...he doesn''t laugh at it...yet, but he''s all smiles..he also loves when I change his clothes.

 

[Mara]

QT... greg cleans all my pump stuff thankfully so it makes it easier. Also we'll be bottle feeding him when I go back to work and he is already used to it.

RPS... i haven't even used it yet! it came yesterday but we haven't had time to switch over from the hospital one. but it looks pretty cool and man so tiny after using the monstrous hospital one! the equipment/bottles are similar/same to the hospital one since it's same brand, i'll report back on strength hopefully soon.

MTJ...re storage, well we don't have THAT much to store yet but we use Avent storage bottles, I got a pack of 10 at Target with screw on lids for like $14. They store up to 5oz each and you can freeze them I think as well. I don't use the storage bags because I don't have that much milk to store yet so I am not freezing anything at this point. If I do freeze in the future I will prob use the bags. I am just making about enough for him to eat in a day, so we don't do a whole lot of storage at this point but hopefully in the future.

Mandarine...ours screams when he is being changed but he's young so give him time hopefully. we feel like jeez shouldn't you be happy about us changing your diaper? it's a GOOD THING hehe.

Sha...re: the caregiver, that is exactly it. I def can't wait til he 'sees' us and knows who we are. It will feel so much more worth it. But in the meantime we'll just keep plugging along.

I don't remember who posted but I like the note about the baby having to learn to sleep...that they don't really know how. Sometimes it is easy to think that they pop out with all systems go but I have to constantly remind myself that it's all new to them too.

Steph... ours still wants a bottle too after nursing sometimes. But not always. Honestly he is such a piggy! I am still not a fan of not knowing what he is getting from nursing, with a bottle it's sooo much easier mentally. aka we know if we need him 100ml then he should sleep 3-4 hours no problem at night. But if he nurses at night for 30 min and then passes out on the boob and we put him down, he might be up in 2.5 or 3 hours and we are like...is he HUNGRY? Or just fussy? Or dirty diaper? It's harder for me to nurse and feel confident about him getting what he needs vs bottle. Maybe because we started bottle then moved to nursing...maybe it's backwards. But we still don't feel confident.

Also my supply seems to be BARELY keeping up with him so it's stressing me out a little. I want to make a little bit more so that we have some stashed just in case. I was making more originally than he was eating but now he is keeping up with me. Yesterday I nursed him almost exclusively and then gave him bottles at night. This morning I only had like 40ml left in the fridge.

Pandora, it cracks me up that your daughter is on the boob doing acrobatics! How does that even WORK??

____

Last nite was a little trying in that I fed kiddo and he passed out COLD on the boob. I swear he only got maybe 1.5oz. So I am sure he wasn't full. I put him down and he slept 2.5 hours. Then Greg fed him and he was super wakeful and he couldn't get him to sleep. I finally put him on the boob at like 2am and he passed out within a few min. So then he slept til just 4am, but that was just because a dirty diaper. Then he slept til 7:30am which felt like FIVE MINUTES. Because we had our shoot today, we had to get up vs going back to bed so I am tired, it'll be naptime soon while Greg watches him.

I def am missing our old routine of feed him til comatose and then he sleeps 3-4 hours. Now he is way more alert, so for feedings during the day he stays up almost until the next feeding and barely sleeps. So during the day he requires way more time from us than a week ago to keep him 'soothed'. But he works himself all up into an overexcited state usually anyway, and finally passes out after crying for about 10 min at the end, and sleeps for a few hours. Anyway our 'schedule' is all off now, but I am trying to remind myself that having a 'schedule' at 2 weeks isn't really realistic.

On the plus side of growth spurt, his head and body seems larger, his eyes wider/larger and he seems more alert for sure. He might even be longer. His pedi appt is tomorrow so we are excited to see how he has grown/changed.

We had our newborn photo shoot today and whew that was tiring for everyone involved. He did excellently even though he was not sleeping (wakeful!) so we didn't get any cute comatose sleeping baby photos, and then at the end he was just inconsolable. I tried feeding him to put him to sleep but he was just too alert. So we called it a day after 3.5 hours and she might come back another day to finish up some shots we didn't get. As soon as I dressed him and burped him he basically was comatose and passed out in the swing after some white noise and rocking. It just was probably too much for the poor kiddo. But I can't wait to see her photos!

Oh re: hamburger meat nips... actually it's NOT that bad, they just FEEL like hamburger meat sometimes. It is prob the hardest thing for me to get used to... how they feel. Sometimes I think gee can I really make it 6+ months with boobs like this? **** star size, leaking, tingling (let down, I finally figured it out), red and stretched out? But it's good for him sooo. Oh and Viz, I think he does use his gum ridge sometimes, it hurts! How do you get them to stop that? The LC said he had a great latch so not sure if the gum ridge is newer or what, but I def notice it sometimes, not all the time. I think also he clamps down even harder when I try to detach him by sticking a pinkie into the mouth, and that def hurts.

 

[mtjoya]

RPS-Not at all your butting in! Thanks for the input! I know it''s easy but I guess that I am under the impression that I need to pump out bags among bags of milk!

Because I thought that i was pumping out a little bit. But, so far I have been putting them in the small bottles.

Mara-Thanks for mentioning the website diapers.com! I have been searching and have found some great deals and love that they ship so quick! I am going to try the medela gift set that includes bottles, storage bags and the small bottles!

 

[vizsla]

gah.. it's so hard to put inflection in a post isn't it?

... i took absolutely zero offense to your post, and hope i didn't come across as snarky with my reply either. i just wanted to say that for our 'high needs' baby (have i mentioned how much i love dr. sears the more we tried to instill a 'schedule' or 'routine' the worse things got ... and it wasn't until we threw our hands up in the air and said "fine, do what *you* want to do" that charlie started babbling and laughing and sleeping etc -- he became much 'easier' (relatively speaking).
pandora - i didn't mean to imply that charlie totally rules the roost... he goes where we need to go and deals with being tired, hungry etc. in public (i agree 100% with you about teaching proper manners to children) -- charlie doesn't keep me from going places, especially now that i feel like i 'know' him better and can handle things as they arise. however, i guess now that we are 'really' trying to establish a bed time, i won't (if i can help it) take him out of the house past 7:00 in the evening etc. does that make sense? and if DH and i say to one another 'hey we need to get a few things at target' and charlie is sleeping we wait until he wakes up before we leave, or just one of us will go -- and i wouldn't wake him up from a nap unless there was someplace we *had* to be. blah blah blah blab -- talk in circles.. that's what i do best

-- so, in summation, i hope i didn't come across as snarky, i took no offense to schedule vs 'non'schedule discussion and my baby does not follow the EASY routine and it took me probably 10 weeks to get to 'know' him before i realized that

.... and it can all change tomorrow...

charlie absolutely laughs himself silly after pooping, especially on the changing table.... it helps that i sing this totally silly made up song about him being mr.stinkypoopypants. ahhhhhhh it cracks me UP!
does everyone know about this aquaphor/maloxx combo for diaper rash? c had an ear infection and the antibiotics gave him a little bit of diaper rash. his daycare caregiver has been using this combo and it seriously cleared up in one day.. magic.

here is another newborn trick my midwife told me about that works like a CHARM to get them to sleep! so, say your baby is having a hard time putting themselves to sleep, or just won't close their eyes. there is a pressure point above the eyebrows in the middle of their head that totally makes them close their eyes. we use this ALL OF THE TIME with charlie. it's awesome, particularly when he's fighting sleep. sometimes we also rub our finger gently from the tip of his nose up to his hairline.. this works too.

mara - i hear you on being paranoid about not 'knowing' how much they are getting to eat -- but maybe flip your thinking to 'isn't it great that i don't have to worry about how much he is getting'

. RPS is right, you will not pump as much as your baby can actually pull from you. babies are so so so so so much more efficient than a pump -- and as long as j is back up to birthweight and gaining you shouldn't *need* to worry about how much he is getting at each feeding. babies won't let themselves starve. however, this does mean that you have to be more available to baby because they probably will nurse like 12-14x a day instead of having 8-10 bottles KWIM? for me it was 'easy' (ha!) in that respect because it was cold and crappy outside for the first 8 weeks of charlie's life.. so i planted myself on the couch and just fed and fed and fed. and your boobs won't be this giant leaky mess for the entire time you nurse. they will adjust to their new role. my first nursing bra i bought was a 38DD (started as a 34B) around 8 weeks they went down to a D, then C and now that i'm almost done they are close to being a B again.
as far as getting j not to use the hard ridge -- my understanding is that you *really* have to make sure their tongue comes out before placing them on the boob. that way he is drawing the nipple back into his mouth and compressing it with his tongue and soft palate - because charlie either can't/doesn't know how to stick out his tongue he would compress my nipple with the hard ridge. even now i have to watch him when he takes a bottle that he's not 'biting' it as opposed to 'sucking'. does that seem right RPS?
and neosoporin and air helped more than the lansinoh (for me

first words!?!? jealous! i'm soooo wondering what c's little voice is going to sound like when he starts talking.

so charlie now has cold #2 since being at day care

i know it's good to build up the immunity now so that he's not missing school when he's older, it's just so hard to see him sick. and he's mr. cranky pants too! it's hard for me when i only see him for a few hours and he either only wants to sleep or cry and be cranky b/c he's sick. i haven't seen a smile in almost 24hrs -- so sad. i call his cough a 'tiny tim' cough.. heartbreaking. my pedi said this time of year we have to be worried about bronchitis -- would he have a fever too? i guess i can just google it.

COME ON SPRING!!!

 

[Mandarine]

Viz - you are silly, I didn''t take offense at all, just wanted to explain what I meant I think C is a lot like A&L!. It''s good to know because all other babies I meet are so mellow!!!


So I got food poisoning............

At Starbucks (had one of their little salads. It was a long and painful night and a very slow start because I felt like I was going to pass out. I feel like now I''m truning the corner. Maybe I found my secret medicine...have Alex nap on my chest

Ok, back to the couch to watch them play, a little more ginger ale and a little more feeling sorry for myself...

 

[rockpaperscissors67]

MTJ, you know, I used to think that when someone pumped they''d get loads of milk, too! The only real exposure I had to a pumping mom was back in ''91 with a woman I worked with and she pumped a TON so I thought that was normal. And then when I got around to pumping with #4 only once in a while with a manual, I thought there was something wrong with me. The reality is that most women will pump between .5-3oz. when they are pumping in place of a feed. Knowing that makes me feel sooo much better!

One big tip is to freeze in small quantities. I do 3 oz. because that''s the standard bottle that I send to day care, but I''ll also do a couple of 2 oz. and 1 oz. It''s a horrible feeling when you thaw 3 oz., put it in one bottle...and the baby refuses to drink more than an ounce so the rest goes down the drain. It''s really enough to make you cry if you''re working hard to pump.


So...I apparently jinxed myself talking about how Ben''s poop was looking normal and not green because last night we were back to green poop. In addition, we had gas and a lot of crying. It was the worst night out of the past almost 3 weeks and I''m *almost* convinced that it was something I ate. Ben has a lot of the signs of a milk protein intolerance but the only dairy things I ate in the last couple of days were nachos (cheese) and a steak. I talked to my midwife about it this morning and she doesn''t think it''s dairy. She''s more inclined to believe it''s a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance so I need to really stick with the block feeding.

I talked to her about my concerns with Ben''s weight -- it looks like he''s following in his siblings'' footsteps and not gaining very fast. I''m sure he''s not losing; he''s just not packing on the pounds. My midwife suggested renting a scale so I can keep an eye on his weight and I''m going to start offering 1-2 oz. of expressed milk after every 4th feeding, which means I''m going to have to pump more often.

I''m torn about this. On one hand, I think it''s good to be proactive. OTOH, I''m afraid that having a baby scale in the house is going to lead me to be a bit crazy about it and focus 100% on his weight, which I don''t think is the healthiest thing. I don''t mind pumping more since I just do it while Ben''s nursing and I''m at home so I can pump all day long if I want. I don''t mind giving him bottles either since he''s had a few and goes right back to nursing pretty easily (thank heavens). It''s just the whole weight thing that drives me absolutely bonkers.

I feel like there''s something wrong with me that I have so many kids that don''t put on weight easily! And then I look at my older kids who are still thin, but eat well and are very healthy.

Oh, yeah, and I haven''t been able to find anyone who rents the scale I need in our area, so if I can''t find someone who will do a rental online, I''m going to end up shelling out $400 for the stupid scale. Umm...yeah, at this point, breastfeeding has become as big of an expense as formula! LOL!

 

[fieryred33143]

Question

This is probably more for the mommies of older babies but any ideas welcomed.

Yesterday Sophia woke up at 2:30 crying and would not go back to sleep unless we were holding her. She''d fall asleep in our arms and scream in the crib. Finally at 4:45 she went back to sleep. This morning at 4:30am she woke up again crying. I rubbed her back a little and patted her bottom and she went back to sleep 15 minutes later but woke up at 6:30am.

What do you think it could be?

She is teething but isn''t running a fever and doesn''t seem to be in pain. I gave her teething pellets (hylands) yesterday when she woke up.

She did have new food: spinach which I later lurned she shouldn''t really have until 10 months (oops) but she wasn''t gassy.

The other thing I thought of is maybe her diaper? We were lucky

and ended up with the new cruisers. This morning when she woke up at 6:30 she had urine on her pjs and sheets so maybe its not as absorbant and so it wakes her up?

 

[cdt1101]

Date: 2/18/2010 11:58:15 AM
Author: fiery
Question

This is probably more for the mommies of older babies but any ideas welcomed.

Yesterday Sophia woke up at 2:30 crying and would not go back to sleep unless we were holding her. She''d fall asleep in our arms and scream in the crib. Finally at 4:45 she went back to sleep. This morning at 4:30am she woke up again crying. I rubbed her back a little and patted her bottom and she went back to sleep 15 minutes later but woke up at 6:30am.

What do you think it could be?

She is teething but isn''t running a fever and doesn''t seem to be in pain. I gave her teething pellets (hylands) yesterday when she woke up.

She did have new food: spinach which I later lurned she shouldn''t really have until 10 months (oops) but she wasn''t gassy.

The other thing I thought of is maybe her diaper? We were lucky

and ended up with the new cruisers. This morning when she woke up at 6:30 she had urine on her pjs and sheets so maybe its not as absorbant and so it wakes her up?

I don''t think it''s any of those things because Lex did the same thing 2 weeks ago. And he as never been up for 2 hours in the middle of night (he wakes up sometimes but for about 10 min tops usually). It was so strange because he would fall asleep, but as soon as I put him in the crib he went crazy! Full on fit w/ tears and everything

I still have no idea what was wrong.

I will say that since then, it has gotten more and more difficult to put him to sleep. He never liked being rocked and preferred just being put in his crib to self sooth before bedtime. Well not anymore!!! I have to rock and rock and rock, and unless he''s completely passed out I can''t put him down or he freaks. Our bedtime routine used to be a total of 10-15 minutes, it''s now anywhere from 30-60 minutes

Totally sucks, but I''m hoping it''s just once of those phases he will grow out of. He''s also super clingy w/ me in general now.

 

[fieryred33143]

Do you think its the start of separation anxiety?

She went down easily last night but the waking up and crying (with tears too!) is weird. Even when she was waking up consistently over night, she didn''t cry. And as soon as she''s up in our arms, she''s asleep. Weird.

 

[vizsla]

Date: 2/18/2010 12:10:28 PM
Author: fiery
Do you think its the start of separation anxiety?


She went down easily last night but the waking up and crying (with tears too!) is weird. Even when she was waking up consistently over night, she didn''t cry. And as soon as she''s up in our arms, she''s asleep. Weird.

not that i know a *thing* about babies.. but that was my first thought. it usually starts around 9 months right?

 

[cdt1101]

Date: 2/18/2010 12:10:28 PM
Author: fiery
Do you think its the start of separation anxiety?

She went down easily last night but the waking up and crying (with tears too!) is weird. Even when she was waking up consistently over night, she didn't cry. And as soon as she's up in our arms, she's asleep. Weird.

Yup..Lex does the SAME thing. Definitely weird. I think it is separation anxiety. And hoping it goes away soon

Anytime I try to put him in his crib now he wraps his arms around my neck really tight and I have to pry his arms off...hehehe...it's actually cute, but putting him to bed is such a long process now

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 2/18/2010 1:32:11 PM
Author: cdt1101

Date: 2/18/2010 12:10:28 PM
Author: fiery
Do you think its the start of separation anxiety?

She went down easily last night but the waking up and crying (with tears too!) is weird. Even when she was waking up consistently over night, she didn''t cry. And as soon as she''s up in our arms, she''s asleep. Weird.

Yup..Lex does the SAME thing. Definitely weird. I think it is separation anxiety. And hoping it goes away soon

Anytime I try to put him in his crib now he wraps his arms around my neck really tight and I have to pry his arms off...hehehe...it''s actually cute, but putting him to bed is such a long process now

LOL that must be it then. When I put Sophia down, she hangs on to my arm like a koala on a tree.

 

[Mara]

thanks viz for the extra info re food and bf...i know it might be irrational to think he is not getting enough. we have a pedi appt today so we'll find out what he gained! we just want him to keep growing and not worry about his weight. and overall i know he is getting enough since he has crazy pee and poo diapers. but it's just that mom's fear i guess haha. IS HE HUNGRY?

i will try to keep an eye out for his tongue too. sometimes he doesn't use his ridge and other times he definitely does. it's prob part of that practice makes perfect thing as well.

mandarine, booo on food poisoning! that soo sucks. hope you feel better soon.

fiery... lol re: the koala on a tree. hope that sophia eases up a bit soon.

we have J's first pedi appt today, i can't wait to see what he weighs and ask all the weird mom questions.

RPS...awww you know there is nothing wrong with you that your kids are just small. small or big...it seems like there is so much anxiety around that for parents. funny re: all your kids being small, one of my friends is really tiny and she had a tiny firstborn but her 2nd son was 'giant' compared to her first. the 1st son is almost 5 and weighs i think around 45 lbs and the 2nd baby is just one year old and is like 23 lbs!

i feel pretty good today given that i got a lot of rest last nite. greg took the 2nd feeding by himself so i was able to sleep from 2am to 9:30am pretty much consistently. poor greg...on the 2nd feeding the kid apparently kept being lulled to sleep after the feeding but would then have some crazy explosive poo or spit up on himself which would then wake him up. it took him like an hour to get him back to lull state, he brought him back in around 7:30 and the baby cried for about 5 min then would drop off, then cry for 5 min, drop off. he did that 2x and then passed out til 10:30. greg was like 'kid was tormenting me with poo and barf'...hahaa.

i think i will be ordering those mothers milk capsules to see what they do for me. oh and i am about to order a sleep sheep after the photographer yesterday had one and J seemed to really like it. they have a 'to go' one which is smaller and attaches to strollers too, i think i might get that one. does anyone have the SS?

 

[sugarpie honeybun]

Fiery - I’m not an “experienced” mom by any means, but this sort of sounds like separation anxiety. I’m wondering if our DS is going through this now, even though he’s only 4 months. He had been sleeping great lately and falling asleep easily in his crib, but these last few nights has been waking up screaming in the middle of the night. He’s not hungry and falls immediately back to sleep once we hold him.

Mara- we have the smaller Sleep Sheep attached to DS''s stroller. It worked really well when he was younger (it feels weird saying that since he''s still so young), but doesn''t seem to be as effective now. Then again, it might be all connected to the above-mentioned sleep regression issues we''re dealing with.

 

[Blenheim]

Fiery, CDT - sounds like separation anxiety to me and it''s about the right time for it.

Sugarpie - there''s also a 4 month wakeful, when they start being more aware of the world around them. Sleep regression issues tend to accompany it. But then again it''s also more fun when they hit this stage and are less houseplant-like (to copy DD''s excellent terminology).

We had another version of the sleep sheep and I think it was most useful when he was in the "fourth trimester". We had that thing on so much, LOL. George lurved it.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Green poo -- it''s back. Claire''s been popping off the boob after 9 or 10 minutes, so I thought maybe she was just nursing more efficiently, but no, the poo turned green again. It seems like she really needs about 13-15 minutes on the first boob. Does pumped milk get the hindmilk too? I only pump for 10 minutes at a time at work -- is this contributing to the imbalance?

I was just about to need a bottle from the freezer for the first time for tomorrow, but Claire didn''t get the third bottle at daycare. Sad how excited I am when that happens.

So last night DH told me he was going to go mountain biking tonight, and I had to say, "You know, this is just semantics, and I''m not going to say no, but you really need to ask when you want to go out. Because it''s not just leaving me to hang out by myself. You''re presuming that I''ll be available to take care of Claire during that time." So I said my piece.

Not that I am really finding much fault with DH. He does a lot, and he watched the movie Up last weekend, and the story of the old couple made him cry, and he made me watch it again with him and said how much the wife reminded him of me. I do have a softie. But sometimes you just need to be asked, not told.

 

[fieryred33143]

If it''s separation anxiety then I feel bad for MIL lol.

So my boss was chatting with me and out of nowhere he says "my wife hasn''t gotten her period so I think we may be on baby #4"

I didn''t know that being invited into the mommyhood club also meant exclusive updates from your male boss

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/18/2010 5:02:35 PM
Author: Blenheim
Fiery, CDT - sounds like separation anxiety to me and it''s about the right time for it.

Sugarpie - there''s also a 4 month wakeful, when they start being more aware of the world around them. Sleep regression issues tend to accompany it. But then again it''s also more fun when they hit this stage and are less houseplant-like (to copy DD''s excellent terminology).

We had another version of the sleep sheep and I think it was most useful when he was in the ''fourth trimester''. We had that thing on so much, LOL. George lurved it.

haha

My take on baby development: They go through four phases in their first year. The first is "houseplant" where you might as well be carrying a potted plant around with you, the second is "cat" where they demand things of you but don''t give much in return, the next is "dog" where they start getting smarter and you can''t trick them as easily by hiding things out of reach, and then finally "person". It wasa big moment for us when we realized Hunter was smarter than our dog

 

[Pandora II]

Viz - good grief I''m not offended... I was just doing my usual rambly posts, so please don''t think I was criticizing what you do at all. Oh, and Dr Sears is brilliant - have you got his Good Behaviour book? I''ve found it very useful already.

Fiery - Is Sophia about to start crawling? I found that separation anxiety got really bad around that point. It''s a lot better now at 9 months than it was at 6.5.


I must say that I am really enjoying this stage. Daisy is so much more interactive and into the outside world suddenly. She initiates games now and will ''run'' away from me with lots of giggling (still doing a weird crawl like something out of a Japanese horror movie!), then she sits and claps her hands together and just squeals.

Public transport is one of her favourite things so that she can flirt with people - first thing she does on a bus or the tube is to look round to see who she can smile at... then to see what she can have - she''s had sandwiches, cans of coke, ipods, mobile phones, magazines, anything she can get her paws on from people, luckily they''ve all found my little kleptomaniac amusing. The latest is pretending to be all coy and looking at men from under her eyelashes like Princess Diana used to do. I don''t know where she gets it from as I am not flirtatious at all and certainly wasn''t as a child - neither was DH.

Yesterday she spotted a pigeon from the pram and got really excited - I was not popular because I didn''t catch it for her!

The last few days she''s been standing for a few seconds at a time without holding onto anything, so I have a nasty feeling that I may be buying shoes sooner rather than later. Help!

 

[Sabine]

Fiery and cdt, Jacks has just started this as well. He has been going down on his own for bed without a single peep for months now, and has been not crying at all for naps either for a few weeks as well, and now all of a sudden without warning, as soon as he sees me moving towards the crib he starts screaming. He''ll stop if I rub his back and talk to him, but starts again as soon as I leave the room. And he''s been waking in the middle of the night, and instead of just crying for a few minutes like he used to do, he''s screaming at the top of his lungs. When I go in, nothing is wrong at all. I totally think it''s separation anxiety. He''s been a little more clingy during the day, but it''s hard to tell because I''m around him so much that I don''t get a chance to test how he is without me much.

 

[sugarpie honeybun]

Date: 2/18/2010 7:21:44 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 2/18/2010 5:02:35 PM
Author: Blenheim
Fiery, CDT - sounds like separation anxiety to me and it's about the right time for it.

Sugarpie - there's also a 4 month wakeful, when they start being more aware of the world around them. Sleep regression issues tend to accompany it. But then again it's also more fun when they hit this stage and are less houseplant-like (to copy DD's excellent terminology).

We had another version of the sleep sheep and I think it was most useful when he was in the 'fourth trimester'. We had that thing on so much, LOL. George lurved it.

haha

My take on baby development: They go through four phases in their first year. The first is 'houseplant' where you might as well be carrying a potted plant around with you, the second is 'cat' where they demand things of you but don't give much in return, the next is 'dog' where they start getting smarter and you can't trick them as easily by hiding things out of reach, and then finally 'person'. It wasa big moment for us when we realized Hunter was smarter than our dog

Ha! These are great analogies. Based on these, DS must be somewhere between a commanding cat and a dexterous dog.

 

[Mara]

we''re still on houseplant. can we skip cat and go straight to dog? our dog is great.

we''re back from our pedi appt... the NP was hilarious. she told me to nurse on demand more during the day but don''t let him nap on the boob for 45 min. she said if he''s not eating aggressively, pop him off and make him want it. and at night stick with the bottle which is great for us because Greg goes back to work next week so we are going to try a switch off approach where he wakes up for one feeding and i wake up for the other so we are not both awake needlessly and the other person can sleep. she also said his weight and height are average. he gained 4oz since the last time we were at the newborn club which i think was last tues or wed, so in about 8-9 days he gained 4oz. i wanted him to be closer to 9 but at least he is still gaining and she said she is happy with him but that she wants him to gain more. she said he is about to enter a growth spurt (i was like damn i hoped we were already there!!).

she scheduled us for a weigh in next week so hopefully he will be close to 9 then. she also answered all my weird first mom Q''s and had me feed him in front of her...wow that was interesting, she squeezed and probed my boobs and said his latch was great and he is a wonderful feeder. she also gave us huge props for overcoming the non-latch and then latch-only-with-shield. she said a bunch of other hilarious things too, greg loved her.

oh and she wants us to only let him sleep 3 hours at a stretch during the day and start trying to get him to sleep longer at night which i am totally on board with. i had asked 2 of my friends who i really respect and have kids who STTN how they did it and plan to start working on starting some of that within the next 1-2 weeks anyway. so i am jazzed she wants us to start doing that anyway.

anyway, it was a great appt.

oh and one of the other things she said about feeding him during his growth spurt was ''you''re not a person, you''re a boob''... i was like well at least she didn''t call me a COW! cuz that''s sure how i feel HAHA.

 

[taovandel]

Just stopping by to post a picture...I''m such a mom now...

 

[puffy]

just real quick,

mara B started to STTN right before 6 weeks, by STTN, i mean 8-8, and noah started doing it at 7 weeks. noah had been doing 5-6 hour stretches at around 3 weeks and by 5 weeks, he was going 8 hours and from 7 weeks he''s been doing 12+ hours. i am one SUPER lucky mommy!!

glad that the appt went well.

i love all the baby pics...so cute!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/18/2010 11:15:03 PM
Author: puffy
just real quick,

mara B started to STTN right before 6 weeks, by STTN, i mean 8-8, and noah started doing it at 7 weeks. noah had been doing 5-6 hour stretches at around 3 weeks and by 5 weeks, he was going 8 hours and from 7 weeks he''s been doing 12+ hours. i am one SUPER lucky mommy!!

glad that the appt went well.

i love all the baby pics...so cute!

But Puffy, you forgot to mention how you slip sleeping pills into their bottles

 

[mtjoya]

tao-So freaken cute! What a lil heartbreaker!

RPS-LOL..I thought the same about pumping loads and loads of milk. I watched those bringing home baby and a lady opened up her fridge and all there was, were bags and bags of frozen milk! I am going to start pumping when I get my supplies thru diapers.com. I just signed up and received 10 percent off and got a coupon code for 10 dollars off, so that''s pretty good! I am just going to cringe when she wants to only drink a little bit and have to throw away the rest!

Don''t want my Liquid gold going to waste!

 

[Mara]

puffy, dear...what is your secret?!?!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 2/18/2010 11:51:56 PM
Author: Mara

puffy, dear...what is your secret?!?!

I think it''s genes? B was talking in full sentences at 18 months, potty trained himself at that age (which also included leaving his toddler bed on his own, peeing, and then returning to bed) and I''m pretty sure he makes stir frys with Ginsu knives!

Puffy, I want to have YOUR children!!

 

[puffy]

you guys crack me up!!

tgal, you are more than welcome to take my kids anytime!! i will gladly give up dealing with B''s tantrums. heehee, i wish he was doing stir frys, then all i would do all day is sit on the couch with my feet up.

DD, haha...i just have nothing to say about that. haha.

mara, when the kid is ready to STTN, he will. sounds like you guys are doing pretty well with J.