PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Burk]

EB~Etsy is very dangerous!! We did a cake (chocolate) as well as cupcakes (white) for T''s birthday because I couldn''t make a decision!

Can''t wait to see pics of your the party!

Fiery~I forgot to mention I love your theme too!! I may be biased, though...we did ladybug for T''s 1st birthday and butterfly for her second (her choice).

QT~I should really start adding frozen milk in too. I get so worried about the old stuff going bad and then I worry about his poor belly. Hmmm.....

K''s stats:
15lb 5 oz
26.25 inches long
don''t remember head, but it was little

He handled the shots like a champ. T was pretty confused about him getting "poked." She kills me. Pedi gave the go ahead for cereal so we tried some tonight and I now remember why T got a bath every day when she was around his age!!

 

[Mara]

burk..yay for K's stats, he's a biggun! J was 14lbs 8oz and 26.5 inches. when i took him out of the carseat the nurse said he looked healthy and like 6 months. haha. booo on a broken pump and lowered supply.

EB.. those cuppies will be super cute! i use cookie cutters to make the round circles usually.

re: AF... it wasn't too bad but i have to say that ovulating got more painful this month, i totally could feel my ovaries.

J was so tired tonite but he's had a hard time going down, woke up 30 min after falling asleep crying. and i swear he's longer again!!

eta...i forgot to say today he ate his regular bottles but he ate a ton when i got home. he had a total of about 26oz for him which is a lot. oh and we have started mixing oatmeal into his bedtime bottle with rice to help transition him over. he seems to like it.

 

[Sha]

qtekiki - Thanks for your comments earlier. Just wanted to chime in again about the BF/fertility. BF atually does have an effect on fertility,, which is why Bfeeding moms typically go for longer stretches (couple months) without a period, as opposed to women who FF. The hormone, prolactin, which is triggered by suckling etc, helps to suppress postpartum ovulation. Exclusive breastfeeding throughout the day and night (no bottles, pacifiers, etc), typically offers 98% protection against conception in the first 6 months postpartum. Fertility typically starts to return once weaning starts (e.g solids or other food supplements) or the baby starts sleeping longer through the night . Of course, there are always exceptions to the general rule (like Amber?), where fertility returns quickly whether women bf exclusively or not, but I think the rate is like 2-5 % or something like that. The chance of fertility returning increases after 6 months pp as well.

On that note - did anyone see the episode of 'I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant?" llast night? There was a woman on there who got pregnant one month after delivery, while bfeeding her daughter. Her doc told her not to worry about the 2% chance of getting pregnant since it took her 3 years to conceive ther first child, anyway. So the woman is going along bfeeding normally, but noticing her tummy is getting bigger and bigger by the week. She thinks she's been eating too much and goes on a salad diet to lose 'the baby weight', but her belly wouldn't go down! Couple months after she wakes up witih excruciating pains and is rushed to ER - and a baby falls out on her shoe!!!

Not to mention the first story of the girl who went into labour on a boat out in the middle of the ocean. She thought her pains meant her period was coming'!!! (She was on the piill) Her boyfriend is inside the boat sleeping while she's out on the deck of the boat, hunched over in pain, thinking she's going to die. She sees blood coming out of her vagina and feels something rubbery coming out, but has no idea what it is! She's sure she's going to die! Eventually, bf wakes up and finds her outside, and calls 911. They have to race to a Marina so the ambulance can collect them. When the ambulance reaches the girl is in so much pain she's unable to stand up. The emergency team sees something coming out of her vagina and thinks maybe she has a prolapsed uterus. They make her stand up and hop from the boat to the land, and as soon as she lies down again out whooshes a baby!!! The girl is like, "WTH was that???" Everybody is shocked because they had no idea she was pregnant!! She almost died when they told her she just delivered a baby!!

Unreal!

 

[Sha]

Mara - is Julian 14 lbs already? Dalila is just about the same size - 14 lbs, 8 oz at her 6 month visit last week.

 

[Puppmom]

I just wanted to chime in because I was giggling when I read the size of Juliian and Dalila. My 5 month old nephew is 20 pounds and 28 inches!

I''m 32 weeks pregnant and now I''m convinced I''m gonna have a giant baby! Either that, or my kiddo will look like a runt compared to the nephew!

 

[Mara]

yup he was 14 lbs 8 oz at our last appt which was almost 2 weeks ago now! so he''s prob 15 by now. he is 95 percentile for length and 50 for weight. it blows my mind to think there are 50% more kids out there bigger than him hehee. pupp i think your nephew is one of them!

the irony is that he was 8lbs 2oz when born so a normal size baby... and for his first 2 months he was only like 30-40% for weight and about 50% for height. so again--pretty normal and middle range. in fact the first 3 weeks the pedi wanted him to gain more, he only gained like 1/2 a lb to 1 month appt so she had us come in every week for a weigh! i think that made me paranoid about his size but after his 2 month appt he started growing like jack the beanstalk!

AND he has never been a huge eater... even now he only eats like 24-26oz on average per day which if you go by the 2-2.5oz rule he should be eating at least 28-29 and up to almost 40 oz. i figure he''s just efficient at turning his food into fuel! greg is actually a lot like that too, moreso than me!

sleep update: so last nite he was sleep sacked again, a little restless going down at 7:30..he fell asleep about 8pm and then thrashed about at 8:45 so i gave him paci. then he slept til 5am!! gooo J. greg paci''d him and moved him back into the middle (the movement he can achieve while unswaddled is hilarious). he woke at 7 and i gave him paci and a blanket since his hands were freezing (house was 72) and now he is still sleeping. so, progress...i think!! i don''t even mind him just waking to take paci at 5am. he must be getting more comfortable with his limbs free.

he is also napping better in the last 2 weeks, 2 naps per day about 1.5 hours long now whereas i used to be lucky to get 45 min out of him. we''ll see how he does when he moves to my mom''s house next week for days...she always wants to ROCK HIM TO SLEEP. the enemy of self-soothing moms everywhere hehee.

sha... those ''i didn''t know'' shows are soooo bad!! i mean some of the stories sound slightly more believable but again having BEEN pregnant i am really baffled how you don''t know for 10 months !! and then a baby just falls out! W.T.F!

 

[phoenixgirl]

EB, you know what''s funny? Henry is my favorite boys'' name, but DH doesn''t seem to love it. Funny that we have the same taste!

MP, glad your day went well!


Ugh, I forgot my pump connectors today, so I had to run home during work (the good news is that because I teach seniors, I have all this free time since they finished their classes last week). Then all these busses were blocking my access to the parking lot, and some guy told me I''d have to wait for them to move. I was all, "Please sir! My baby! I must pump for my baby!" and he let me through.

 

[meresal]

I''m back home! The car trip back was a bit more "vocal", but still only had to make one stop! He did awesome and we hada wonderful time!

Jcrow- Thanks!! The snuzzler we have is this: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2299911
It is two pieces, and since the bottom is no longer needed, we just use the top part that goes around the head. It works great.

re: postpartem period... I had mine this past week. That''s right, a measley 6 freakin weeks. I definitely could have gone a few more months, or 12, without that lovely return.

C will be 8 weeks this weekend, and I am BF, with maybe 3 or 4 formula bottles during the week.

Mara- C wont fall asleep on his own yet... but while at my parents, my mom would swing him at night on the patio! LOL. Not only being held, but OUTSIDE as well... it was his dream come true.

 

[jcrow]

meresal - thanks! i think we''re going to get it. hopefully it will help with her head getting so hot in the car seat. that sucks about af! yuck. i''m dreading that day. ugh.

mara/meresal - i so understand about the rocking to sleep. everyone that comes to visit feels the need to do so. that and the second she cries they''ll go pick her up! i''m like she''s FINE! grrr. she cries or whimpers a bit usually right before she falls asleep. but they think this that or the other is wrong or that she wants/needs to be held and they scoop her up! hello hard work down the drain.

eb - thanks for asking about e. yesterday was probably the hardest day i''ve had yet. she cried all day long. and wouldn''t sleep. i don''t know what was going on but she was not happy. nothing worked either. i was so frustrated and just when i thought, yea, dh will soon be home, he calls to say he''s going to a work function and would be getting home late. oy. last night i thought, you know, the only time she''s like this is when she''s hungry. any other time she cries she is consolable. but not when she''s hungry. and then i panicked and thought on no! what if she was hungry all day long?! what if i''m not producing enough milk. ugh, i had such a meltdown.

today she is a normal baby again. taken naps. sits contently, etc. so, maybe it was the shots? who knows! i''m just happy that she''s happy today.

 

[lili]

Date: 6/10/2010 12:55:33 PM
Author: meresal
re: postpartem period... I had mine this past week. That''s right, a measley 6 freakin weeks. I definitely could have gone a few more months, or 12, without that lovely return.

C will be 8 weeks this weekend, and I am BF, with maybe 3 or 4 formula bottles during the week.

Meresal--
It may not be AF returning.
Mine did the same thing too and I was ebf.
I had 5-7 wks of bleeding PP and it dried up on the 7th week.
But then started bleeding again on the 8th week for a couple of days.
Thought that it was AF, but it didn''t return until 8 months PP.

 

[Mara]

jcrow she might be going thru a growth spurt...sometimes J gets soo fussy and then the next day he is normal again. same with a weird sleep night OR a lot of sleep during the day, or a weird eating day. i don''t really start to worry unless it starts to become more of a pattern.

and i loved the kiddopotamus snuzzler for J! we also took off the bottom piece after he outgrew it and left the head piece up until almost 4 months. the only reason i removed it was because it kept folding his ear down into it (ow!) and it was getting too hot for him and i wanted him to have more air flow. the downer is that when he falls asleep now that the carseat is without it, his head flops fwd and looks SO uncomfy... i miss it for the reason that it would keep his head nicely placed into the seat and upright.

re: AF returning, i also thought it was returning about 2 months into it but it ended up not being a real flow after all. i just got it back this last month, probably because of hawaii throwing my pumping schedule off...and it was obviously a REAL period this time.

 

[jcrow]

mara - yeh, i''m hoping it was a growth spurt and NOT that my milk is disappearing. that would be so sad + sucky!

re: snuzzler - the infant car seat we have has an insert that functions just like this, but we found it was making her head hot because of the material. i was hoping the snuzzler thing would be less hot for her.

 

[KimberlyH]

jcrow, you''re exclusively breast feeding on demand, right? if so, your supply being an issue is highly unlikely, like a 1-3% chance. it could be 9 week growth spurt, and your supply will adjust, just keep feeding her, or it could be reaction to vaccines.

mara, i hope your mom respects your wishes. i know my mom and i are going to have some issues re:food and j as she gets older, she''s already commented that she just won''t tell me, which just makes me crazy, because it''s not going to work with me.

**

it''s drizzling, we''re stuck inside.

not much else going on in our world.

 

[Mara]

the snuzzler is like a fuzzy padded thing so i think it just generally will keep their heads warmer. maybe there is a mesh product out there that won''t function like that? J used to sweat in his as the weather got warmer. i loved it because it was soft and i felt like the car seat material was so scratchy on new skin but now that he is bigger and 4 months i figure his skin can take it!

kim...i hope so too but my sister texts me when i am not there that my mom tries to rock him. she also will go in if he just MOVES AROUND even though he does that all the time and it doesn''t mean he needs to get up. also if he is awake she will want to go get him. i tell her wait til he cries--if he wants to lay in his crib and move around and talk to himself that is GREAT.

it''s so funny because my mom raised 3 kids and i swear she never did any of that stuff with US. but she says ''i am grandma so i can do what i want''..umm no!! anyway i know overall she will be great with him but it''s just a few little things (that could be big things if left unchecked).

oh yeah she also wants me to start feeding him solids because she''s sure he would sleep even better. seriously, what is a little FRUIT going to do? on that note though i think we are going to try oatmeal this wkd and if he likes it solo (he likes it in bottle), we''ll start him on oatmeal mixed with fruits next wkd. i just don''t want to deal during the week right now, too busy!

 

[jcrow]

kim - yes ebf on demand + pumping about once a day. i know better, but i just had a meltdown yesterday. i swear i was like, omg, i didn''t have let down, or did i? omg, she''s eating so much. omg, she''s eating so often. omg, what if there''s nothing there and she''s starving?!

oy. seriously get a grip. and i did. i guess that''s what happens when she''s wailing all day and i couldn''t put her down. my brain just melted. haha.

 

[Mara]

jcrow also...if you feel like you need a few minutes to yourself, maybe E feels the same way. one of my friends would tell me she felt like sometimes she couldn''t help soothe the baby ...so she''d just put her in her crib and leave her alone for 10 min. i do that sometimes with J and i DEF would when he was younger and i needed a break. esp when it was just me at home yanno. i don''t think it is bad for the kids at all and they might even fall asleep or just find they like kind of having some quiet time. while J likes white noise and all that..i do notice sometimes he just needs to be on his own and chill out. anyway if you need to do that...don''t feel bad at all.

 

[KimberlyH]

mara, we had the same conversation regarding "i''m the grandma..." yes, but you don''t get to feed her crap all the time. how about a treat of going to the park or something, instead of dessert after every meal which is what my nephew gets. i''m trying to set ground rules now so we don''t need to battle it out later.

 

[E B]

Sha- "I Didn''t Know I Was Pregnant" confuses the heck out of me. I was huge by the end and felt a TON of movement from ~15 weeks on, so I can''t even imagine going 9 months without knowing. I know it''s different for every woman, though, depending on body size and the placement of the placenta. Plus, I guess I can see how some women who think that pregnancy is impossible could reason away pregnancy symptoms, since it doesn''t even occur to them that a baby''s causing the movement, the size, the nausea, etc.

Mara- Sounds like he''s transitioning to swaddle-free sleep beautifully! Keep up the good work, J!

jcrow- Poor E. Some babies feel awful after vaccinations, and it sounds like that may have been the case. That or a growth spurt, or perhaps both? I''m glad she''s feeling better today.

Well, it doesn''t look like I''ll be able to make the cute monkey cake decorations myself. I''m kind of bummed, to be honest. I just attempted to dye the gum paste and it was a huge, messy disaster. The palms of my hands are still red even after several washes.

I contacted the woman from Etsy who made the flat fondant cupcake topper (photo) from my ''collage'' and asked her if she can make something in time. I''m thinking a sock monkey topper for the cake (which my husband prefers I make over cupcakes) and then fondant polka dots in pale blue and red that I''ll scatter around the sides of the cake. She''s pretty reasonably priced, and darn it, I want a CUTE cake for photos!

 

[phoenixgirl]

I thought I''d kick off BPF a little early . . .

Is this cuteness or what?

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 6/10/2010 9:33:11 PM
Author: phoenixgirl
I thought I''d kick off BPF a little early . . .

Is this cuteness or what?

Omg! What a sweet little face! She''s such a doll, phoenix!

 

[MonkeyPie]

I just realized I never posted this picture. It''s my absolute favorite of Micah so far - a bunch of you have seen it on FB, but for those of you that haven''t...I present my little mischievious monkey!

 

[meresal]

Those are two GREAT pictures to start off BPF!! So stinkin'' adorable!!

 

[drk]

Here''s K at 2.5 months in her cousins "circle of neglect". Off to peds tomorrow morning for another weight check (yes, we''re still struggling with BF and pumping, oh joy). She actually napped in her crib (first time ever sleeping in there) twice yesterday. And I''m back to work on Monday. Hope I can swing the pumping/BF thing when that happens... I don''t post much these days because I feel like my moaning about BF/pumping/poor weight gain is getting old. But I''m still following along.

 

[drk]

OK, pic''s small enough to post this time!

 

[qtiekiki]

PG - what a cutie pie. Claire is so adorable.
MP - Micah has lovely eyes. Look at that smile. So cute.
drk - K is so cute.

 

[lovelylulu]

the pictures.


can you tell that i''m ready to join this thread

 

[MonkeyPie]

drk, lol @ "circle of neglect." She certainly looks happy in there, so neglect away! We put Micah in his swing all the time and people say the same thing about it, that it''s a way to just ignore your baby. Hey, we all have to eat sometime!

lulu, we are ready to have you! Not much longer for you now!

 

[vizsla]

hello ladies!
i''ve missed so much - forgive me for just jumping back in - mmmmmkkay?

fiery - dooooonnnnn''ttttt leeeaaaavvvveeeeeee

i can''t believe sophia will be a year old (LOVE THE THEME BTW)
but, i''m

for a totally selfish reason...i don''t want you to leave this thread. promise you will keep an eye out for me, kay?

LOVE LOVE LOVE the sock monkey theme too!!! so cute!!

mandy - hope you are feeling right as rain! and everything went smoothly.

________________

i''ll give you all a brief synapses of what has been going on in VIZLAND since my last post - my apologies for busting back and then only talking about myself.

the infection c had must have been massive. the doc eluded to how bad it was, but for 2 weeks (post-tubes) he continued to drain pretty heavily from his ears. it was basically miserable and super hard to get the drops into his ears b/c they were always filled with gross goo - which also means that we didn''t see any nighttime relief until recently.

as of the past 5 or 6 days he has been staying asleep for longer stretches of time - and even went one night only waking at 2a to eat - but like clockwork, he''s up at 6a - no matter what time he goes to sleep

.

we have been slowly increasing the amount of solids he eats. but he''s still sooo wishy washy. doesn''t want to even look at ''food'' until he finally gets a taste (which can take 10-15mins worth of trying) and then he''s all about it!

daycare spoke to me this week about increasing the amount of solids he eats a day - and essentially - dropping one of his daytime bottles. i''m so confused about this! my wee little head can not wrap itself around a "new" feeding schedule. particularly because he''s so inconsistent with eating anyway. and never takes more than 6oz at any one feeding.

at 7.5 months is it normal to start ''dropping'' bottles? pedi wants c to be eating 3 ''meals'' a day by 8 months. does this mean in addition to his bottles?? we''re lucky if he lets us feed him twice a day. and the back end of eating solids... Oooommmmmmmggggeeeeee! not only the smell, but it makes c sooo uncomfortable. he''s never strained to poo before... and today he had a little hard poo. so i guess i need to increase his water intake? ugh... soooo confused.... he''s so gassy now and i think because he''s uncomfortable at night he''s not sleeping well.. just rolling around and moaning.

how''s that for a sweet post? maybe i should go back into hiding

 

[cdt1101]

Hey Viz!!

Question...how many bottles a day does Charlie take? Personally I think you can start giving him water in a sippy now. It's good practice anyway w/ the cup. As for poo, every so often I mixed prunes (baby food) w/ oatmeal and that gets Lex going!

Hello to everyone else

...miss you ladies and the pics are adorable!!

 

[anchor31]

Coming out of lurkdom after a rough couple of weeks... Jacob was hospitalized again for a UTI for a week on May 25th. He recovered well from the infection, but the subsequent week of meds was terrible and I''ve been trying to recover from a stay at the hospital, a bad cold and a bout of gastro, so

.

Anyway, this morning I tried cereal with him because he seems so hungry (he gulped down 13oz before bed of Wednesday) and interested in food, but it wasn''t a hit. He seems confused as to what the spoon thing is about and what he''s supposed to do with the stuff I put in his mouth! He was much more interested in chewing the silicone bib than eating the cereal.

We''ll try again tonight and tomorrow, if it still doesn''t work we''ll wait a few days before trying again.

Here he is, getting ready for his first (attempted) meal...