PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Skippy123]

thank you Momma friends!!! We appreciate the prayers and good thoughts. Evan will stay in isolation for a bit till his ANC is up. I do visit him and I am working on trying to take his full feeds. I need to take a picture sometime as he is such a cute cabbage patch baby. Miles is my skinny minnie even though he eats more than Evan.

It is crazy hot out here! Hope everyone stays cool this weekend!

NOEL ~~~ aw, I just want to cuddle Skye; she is so precious!!!

More baby pics, PLEASE!!!

HH ~ your son is so adorable!!!

 

[Skippy123]

thank you Momma friends!!! We appreciate the prayers and good thoughts. Evan will stay in isolation for a bit till his ANC is up. I do visit him and I am working on trying to take his full feeds. I need to take a picture sometime as he is such a cute cabbage patch baby. Miles is my skinny minnie even though he eats more than Evan.

It is crazy hot out here! Hope everyone stays cool this weekend!

NOEL ~~~ aw, I just want to cuddle Skye; she is so precious!!!

More baby pics, PLEASE!!!

HH ~ your son is so adorable!!!

 

[Cupcake*Muffin]

Kunzite, RT, Deelight, and Noelwr--your babies are adorable.

Skippy--- good thoughts and prayers out to your little guy!

Sorry we have been MIA, time has really flown. This was my first week back at the office and the first week that DH has been in charge at home. I feel like Lorelei doesn't even miss me , I know, I'm probably being silly but I feel like she has already forgotten me . Anyways, I need to catch up and post more later, just thought I would post a few pics and say hi to everyone.

I've attached some pictures from her 2 month bday and some from our trip to Hilton Head. Lorelei is getting big, she can almost hold up her head and she has been sleeping through the night for the last few weeks--it's been great. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

 

[noelwr]

cupcake - Lorelei is just utter cuteness! but that's to be expected with such good-looking parents.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Skippy--thinking of you and your little babes.

Adorable pics everyone!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Kunzite]

noel - So cute! Is Ms. S crawling forward yet? When we would tell other parents about O crawling backwards they said it's only a matter of weeks before he's going fowards. That hasn't been true for us, but he does an awful lot of rocking on his hands and knees. He'll even do a forward nose dive every now and then. I guess that's his way of trying to go forwards!!

Skippy - I think about you and your cute little peanuts often. I hope E's count goes back up soon. How often do they test him? Are his feeds getting any better? I sure hope you and little M don't have thrush. Life needs to give you a break!!

CM - L is so cute!

This week was O's 8 month birthday! So here are the required monkey shots

 

[Kunzite]

And since we've got a whole new crop of babies coming soon, I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of O while he was still in the hospital... a little then and now...

 

[Laila619]

Oh wow, Kunzite, what a little angel! LOOK how far he's come!!! He was such a tiny precious lil thing.

Skippy, dust for your baby boy!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Ohhhhhh, Kunzite! Wow! Like Laila said, he has come a long way!! Love your new photos. What a cute little outfit O is wearing! Where is it from? At first I thought it was a swimsuit cover-up! He is toooooooooooooooo CUTE! Oh, and going back a few posts. I don't think I could imagine a more appealing butternut squash baby food photo! I definitely have to work out a system. We're still hovering in banana pear land, so I prepare before each feeding.

Cupcake - L is adorable! I love the second photo. Such a cute little girl outfit too! How was vacationing with a little one?

Skippy - Continued wishes for a swift recovery for Evan. I hope his counts improve very quickly.

Noel - Skye gets cuter and cuter every time you post! The teddy bear pic is my all time favorite!

Going back a few pages now.

Deelight - Oh, that is such a sweet picture of Lily!! She is so cute all bundled up with her little pawprint hand up in the air!! And, so pink and perfect! We have A LOT of pink too! Come back and tell us all about her!!!!!!!!!!

Geri - Claudia is sooo pretty!! Is she still rolling? Or, just that one time?

*************

Not much new here. Still living on baby time. S does not STTN. I think she did once, which I promptly reported here, but that was like, yeah, once. I think we'll continue on this way for a while longer. I meant to take the dr's advice, to let her cry a little, I don't even recall how long he said, maybe 5, maybe 15, but the moment she makes a peep, I spring up and get her in an instant! Aside from that, she really is the perfect baby! When she wakes up, she looks at me, and smiles. I love that! She pretty much smiles all.the.time. DH actually googled it to make sure it's ok! It is.

So, am I the only one who hasn't lost all of the preggo weight yet????? I'm still up 7-ish pounds, so about where I was at shortly after delivery. I joined Weight Watchers on-line, but stopped using it about 3 days after joining! Haha, I need to get back to it.

 

[noelwr]

Kunzite - yes, the rocking on hands and knees is Skye's thing now. ever since she learned to roll onto her tummy, everyone has been saying that soon she'll be crawling... and now we're almost 3 months further and no crawling. O has indeed come a long way! you have been such a strong mama with O. I get tears in my eyes when I see little babies hooked up to wires. I think I would have been bawling above Skye all day if that had been her. by the way, what type of pacifier is that in his hospital picture? I see that often in photos of American babies. we don't have anything like that here.

LV - when S cries at night, do you pick her up? maybe first thing you could try is just to go to her, give her a pacifier, put your hand on her chest, stroke her head, but don't pick her up. otherwise she could be associating crying = Mom will come to pick me up and entertain me. and then slowly from there, try 5 min CIO, then 10, then 15. and maybe don't talk to her or make much eye contact, but just be there at first. I never speak to Skye in the morning during her 1st bottle and change, as I don't want her to get all hyper and want to play. she goes back to sleep fine. I also need to still lose another 7 lbs. I am using my chemo treatments as an excuse of being too tired to go on the treadmill, as horrible as that is. S goes to day care 3x a week now so I really should get on the treadmill all of those days. sigh...

 

[Loves Vintage]

Noel - Yes, I DO pick her up. Immediately, too! She still sleeps right next to me, in a pack and play, since she's outgrown the co-sleeper. I also feed her then, and though I try not to cuddle her too much, invariably I do, because I'm holding her when I feed her, and then when I try to burp her, she usually falls asleep on my shoulder! So, I acknowledge this needs to change, just haven't been too keen on changing it yet.

I would like to try what you've suggested. Will you be our STTN coach? I do have a few questions. I *know* she is not going to be ok with a pacifier and patting, but I will try it again. I have before. If anything, she might fall asleep again for a bit, but then she will wake up again. So, after I do the pacifer/patting, do I then feed her? When I go to 5 min CIO, is the idea that I then feed her after 5 minutes of crying? How long do I do this for? A week? And then move to 10 min.

I have to admit, 10 min CIO seems largely impossible to me right now. To my knowledge, she has never cried for that long (alone), and these days, she is almost immediately placated when she cries (i.e., there is none of that newborn inexplicable crying going on.) Maybe it has happened at daycare, but I'm not aware of it and would prefer not to be!! So, what do I do when I get there, beside CIO myself as well!!

 

[noelwr]

oh yikes! I don't know if I'm qualified to be your STTN coach, especially since you are breastfeeding and I have none experience there what-so-ever and I had no idea you were feeding her every time cries. CIO is for babies to learn settle themselves back to sleep, not to set a feeding routine. I am guessing you are demand-feeding, as well, then? my baby was on a routine and eventually she would just go longer without waking up hungry or we would try giving her the pacifier and if she fell back asleep, that would help extend the hours in between bottles. but I think by 14 weeks old, she was managing to not drink from 11pm to 5am. how many times a night does S wake up and do you feed her? and does she drink well or just a little bit and fall back asleep? if the latter, then I am guessing you need to try not to feed her every time she cries. make sure she has one good feed before putting her to bed (if you are trying rice cereal mixed with BM, this would be the best bottle for it) and then try to not to feed her until an hour after she first wakes up crying. and then when she sleeps until that new feeding hour, try extending it another hour. (she "should" start sleeping longer by herself.) anyway, that's just an idea. you need the input of other moms on here because every baby is different. my thoughts are all based on routine while other moms prefer to be there on demand.

at one point in time, you will be faced with CIO. probably at the point somewhere around 8 months when they get anxious when you leave their room... (and maybe for you sooner when she stops co-sleeping). so even though her crying makes you cry, too, I think toughening up now will help in the long run. don't want LV to cry.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Noel, Thanks for your response. Re: how many times she gets up, it depends on what is considered STTN. She wakes up usually at around 2:30, and will drink an entire 6 oz, straight through, and kind of half asleep after she gets started. That's the wake-up that I'd like to avoid!! I should also clarify that there is not exactly a routine bedtime. Say she goes to sleep at 8, well, she'll definitely be up at 11, and she eats then too! These later in the night bottles are usually formula because I don't get enough milk when I pump to feed all day. She also wakes up usually btw 5:30 and 6:30. It all really kind of varies day-to-day! I'd be happy with something like 11 pm to 6 am!

Oh, at my 4 month appointment, her pedi said that all babies should be capable of STTN at 4 mos, something about their blood sugar being regulated at that point. Hmm. When we talked about solids, I asked him about putting rice cereal in the bottle, but he said, I should only feed her solids that she is willing to take by spoon. (I totally get that this is his opinion, and plenty of babies start solids with cereal in their bottle.) I didn't ask him specifically about helping her to STTN, though. Maybe we will try a little to see if it helps.

Hee-hee, not the first time I've been told I need to toughen-up in life! It's been rather a theme for me! I am a bit, er, sensitive! I haven't actually cried, just more burying my head in my hands and stressed at the thought of baby's discomfort. But, you are right, we do need to get this sorted out, and sooner would be better than later for all involved!!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

LV, if you're bottle feeding at night, try dream feeding her before you go to bed and see if that makes a difference. Aidan didn't curb his night time feedings until almost 8 months when he started STTN. His STTN corresponded with crawling and cruising so I think a lot of it was just that he was tiring himself out. However, some kids keep one night time feeding and that's OK. I think MonkeyPie's Micah kept at least one night time bottle for a long time, almost a year if not past. Every kid is different. Aidan didn't STTN until he was ready. Unfortunately that was 8 months or so

 

[Lanie]

LV -- if she's 4 months old, she should be able to go 6 hours without needing to eat (which is technically STTN). By 5 months, she "should" be able to go 9 hours. I think you have a trained night feeder. How often is she waking up to eat? I also second the dream feed at 11pm. If she wakes up before 5 am, don't feed her and DON'T PICK HER UP. She shouldn't need to eat in a span of 6 hours at nighttime, especially if you're giving her formula. You aren't going to like this, but part of sleep training, I truly believe, is setting limits for yourself as well. She's going to protest. But you have to understand that she'll be fine and she'll still have a smile when you go retrieve her. This isn't the first time she's not going to like the limits you are setting for her, but it's in your best interest and hers to let her work this out on her own. I know that the 6 hour thing and the 9 hour thing are guidelines, but if I were you, I'd try to make it my goal for her. Like I've said before, it takes 3 nights for a baby to get used to new change. The first night will suck (or maybe not!), the second will be a little less sucky, and the third will be easier yet. This is the best age to do this so you aren't doing all of this later when they get more stuck in the habits!!!!!

 

[Lanie]

P.S. Loving the pics!!!! Kunzite - those ones of him in the hospital are heart-breaking but so happy to see that he thrived and is a little monkey these days!

AFM -- I'm LOVING this age! He's 6.5 months old and is just so much fun. Smiles all the time, is making more squealing and funny noises, he scratches everything! Does anyone else's baby do this? He scratches the wall next to the changing table. He scratches our sofa. He scratches my jeans. He scratches the books. He's totally into opening and shutting things. I have a couple of books where you lift the flap, and as soon as I lift it, it's like his number one mission to close it. We also have this toy with a door that opens and shuts, and he goes ballistic if it's left open! He isn't near crawling yet, but he's getting his legs up under him more, and getting his butt in the air and trying to lurch forward. The coolest thing yet is that everytime he sees me prepare his bottle, he goes crazy and makes this grunting, whiny sound (like I haven't fed him for weeks). Well, I didn't have his bottle ready yet, and I asked him in Spanish "Quieres tu leche?" which is "do you want your milk" and he went crazy and made the same grunting sound. He knows the word for milk, and it was so cool to see that!!!

 

[Kunzite]

Laila - Thanks so much! It's so good to see you pop in here. I hope you come give us an update on your precious LO!!

LV - The outfit is DwellStudio for Target. They make the cutest, most modern clothes, or at least they did... The Target website only lists a few things right now so I'm not sure if they're going to stop selling them or if they're just between collections. We have so much Dwell stuff it's unreal. MMMM pears! O really liked pears. What time is S's bedtime? I'm a pretty big believer in bedtime routines and early bedtime to help babies sleep well at night. That said, I think she'll probably need to wake up at least once in the MOTN to eat for awhile. Both HSHHC and NCSS say the MOTN feed will last until around 9 months, and even longer in some babies. The key is to watch how the feed goes. If she is eating well and goes right back to sleep when she's done eating it means that she needs the food. If she's just barely eating and wants to play then it means she just wants your company. O's bedtime is 6 o'clock and he'll get up once during the night. It varies night to night, but it's usually between 1 - 3 and then he wakes up for the day between 5 -6 (Boy, I wish it was consistantly around 6!!). I don't think there's anything wrong with going to her right away when she cries necessarily, what's more important (IMHO) is being strong when you're trying to get her back to sleep. If she's truly waking up hungry and needing to eat then there's nothing wrong with going to her right away. We've had to let O cry some nights after he eats before he'll soothe himself back to sleep, but we never let him cry when he wakes up because we know that he needs to eat.

Noel - The pacifier is called a Gum Drop. You'll notice the outline of the top is specifically made so that it doesn't get in the way of the NG tubes and CPAPs for babies in the NICU.

Lanie - O is a scratcher too!! We tell him that he's picking up too many bad habits from the cats. My arms are starting to look like then did when the cats were kittens, lol! It's almost OCD the way he just mindlessly sits and scratches our arms in the same place forever. I don't mind the scratching so much, but he's starting to pinch now too. And HARD! It's brought a tear to my eye a few times. I love that A knows when you're talking about milk O has learned that we set his books were going to read before bed and naps on the edge of his crib. So we'll finish reading one book, say "The End", and he'll look up at the edge of the crib to see if there are any more books left! My smarty pants. Then when the books are all gone he lets out a little cry because he knows that means he has to sleep!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Thanks HH, Lanie and Kunzite for trying to help us!

Kunzite - Yay, for dwell studio. I have a 3 pk of dwell onesies that we really like! You asked when is bedtime -- well, it ain't bedtime yet! Miss Samantha is having a ball playing on her activity mat right now (it's 8:30). She took a looooooooong nap, like 4:30 - 7:30. Earlier naps in the day were much shorter. So, tonight, maybe 9:30 - 10 will be bedtime? THERE IS NO ROUTINE!!!!! And, yes, she def wants to eat in the middle of the night. She does fall asleep quite easily after eating in the MOTN, and there is no playing then and no attempts on her part to play/engage with us. I suppose I should have woken her up earlier this evening, but I didn't!!

Lanie - I agree with a lot of what you said, but I need baby-steps!! I'm going to try the dr's suggestion again and wait thru 5 minutes of crying! I know that's not exactly what you said, but I do think she should be able to go for longer stretches. We'll see what tonight holds for us!

HH - Thank you for the reassurance. It's good to know that we're not alone!

 

[Lanie]

LV -- no problem. Did you read the thread on baby sleep books? Some of the advice is conflicting (just as my advice and Kunzite's did) but the main thing I see is that you have no routine. I would definitely start with that. As far as the crying in the middle of the night, do what is comfortable for you, but I personally think (like you said) that she can go for longer stretches. It's amazing how when they cry during the day it's not that big of a deal, but when they cry at 2am, it's a lot harder to take. They seem so alone in the dark and it pulls on the heart strings. I just speak from my personal experience, but I'll admit that we've been lucky in the sleep department. I'm not an advocate for CIO at 4 months, but I AM an advocate for letting them begin to self soothe. She needs to begin doing that or you're in it for the long haul. Good luck tonight!

 

[geri]

Cupcake - Ditto Noel - what a gorgeous family!

Kunzite - wow O has grown! What an amazing journey you have had.

Noel -such cute pics of Skye. I bet she will be crawling in no time!

LV - like Kunzite, we have an evening routine and Claudia goes to bed between 6.30 and 7pm so no long naps in the afternoon, but that is pretty easy for us because during the day C doesn't sleep more than 40 minutes at a time anyway We have been doing this for a few months now and it has worked well for us. At the moment, C generally wakes once between 3 and 4 for a feed then goes straight back to sleep although she has slept right through to 6 or 7 a couple of times over the last week so I hope that continues. When she wakes in the MOTN I try to resettle her in her cot first and if she won't resettle, then I'll feed her. I haven't done CIO yet so on the rare occasion when she wakes and isn't hungry I sometimes have to resettle her every 20-40 minutes which makes for a long night but it is pretty rare so I'm happy to do this for the time being. Once I am back at work though, this is when I probably will try CIO if I need to. Hope it gets better soon! As for rolling, C has now learnt to roll from her back to her tummy but it takes a lot of effort and she doesn't do it regularly. Now that she can roll back to tummy she won't roll from tummy to back. Guess she wants to practice one skill at a time!

Lanie - C scratches everything as well and she pinches hard too. Ouch! I don't think she understands "gentle" yet. Too cute that A understands milk!

 

[noelwr]

LV - well, you've gotten some other opinions now. it sounds like S needs her night time bottle if she finishes 6 oz. could you perhaps start a feeding routine? she should be on 5 bottles/feedings a day now (if you don't include the night time one she is supposed to skip) and then moving to 4 when she eats her fruits and veggies well. start feeding her during the day every day around the same time (try to plan around nap time... and by the way, feeding routine may also help with the daily nap routine), and plan her lost bottle around 10pm. like you could do 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm, and fruits/veggies in between. then let her have her night time feed the first few nights and note what time she wakes up. then start postponing these night time feeds for an hour in increments of 3 days at at time. at the same time you can practice the CIO by going to her after 5 min, then 10 min, then 15. (I know you co-sleep, but CIO might better be done if she sleeps in her own room as she isn't crying into your ear next to you.)

Lanie - yes, Skye is also a scratcher. she scratches the wallpaper when she is on the changing table. she scratches all the knobs on her plastic book that sings Dutch nursery rhymes. actually, she is trying to pick something up with her fingers, but as these things are attached to something, it looks like scratching. toys that can be picked up, she doesn't scratch. it's the same with licking. she's actually trying to put stuff in her mouth, but when it's attached to something, it doesn't work, so she just ends up licking it.

 

[Lanie]

noel -- what language do you and your DH speak to her? I can't remember if I've asked you this before...if I have, sorry!

 

[noelwr]

Lanie - we're an English-speaking household. my mom speaks Dutch to her and of course that's what they speak at day care. she will also go to Dutch school which I by the way already "applied" for as someone told me there are waiting lists for even public school. they confirmed a place for her. she starts school after her 4th birthday, even if it's in the middle of the school year. guess they don't do that much other than play the first year. when she's about 12, she can decide if she wants to go to the private international school. we're hoping she wants to stay with her friends at Dutch school so we can use all the money we're saving up for private school on a nice vacation!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Hey gals, since I have a newborn again I might pop in here sometimes! But doubt I can keep up with the thread. There needs to be a thread for newborns and toddlers or something, it is a whole other can of worms I am finding!

LV your posts caught my eye and wanted to add my 2c. I breastfed Hunter exclusively and he woke to nurse 3-4 times a night until he was 9 months old when we did CIO. In my humble opinion, don't bother with any type of attempt to get your girl to STTN until you are ready to do total 100% CIO -- that means put her down for the night at 7pm (or whatever) and do not go into the room on pain of death until morning. All the other methods did not work for us and frankly don't make sense for a learning theory perspective -- going in after 5 then 10 then 15 minutes etc. just teaches your kid to cry LONGER for you to come! Seems the opposite of what you want. And we tried soothing Hunter in all the non-boob ways and he had none of that. Mom being near meant BOOB time!! And daddy did not cut it. So I just sucked it up and nursed him whenever he woke until I reached my last straw and did CIO at 9 months. Took 2 nights. Best thing ever and we will likely do it a little sooner this time. Prior to that, we worked on teaching him to fall asleep on his own (putting him down milk drunk but not asleep), and to sleep in his crib. I did not go running every peep, though, only when he full on cried. Babies are noisy and 9/10 they will fall back asleep after small peeps. So working on igoring those might be worthwhile. We also found thedream feed backfired for us. Hunter was in a pattern of sleeping from 6pm until about 1/2am, and I tried to introduce a dreamfeed and all it meant was he started waking to nurse at 11pm regularly Others had similar failures I recall. The baby's circadian rhythms get set be eating, so if they eat regularly at a certain time they start rousing then to nurse. I have found this to be true throughout Hunter's life, not only as a really little infant. So I would not personally try a dreamfeed either. My rather jaded view is that there are lots of things you can do to make your life easier as a parent -- like settling without nursing, adopting a routine to the day (like EASY or what have you), respecting their naps -- but there are other things that you either just have to wait for them to grow out of (like early digestions issues and all day nursing marathons) and still others that you can only solve with extreme (for the mama ) measures (like CIO for sleeping through the night).

ETA: Just noticed you cosleep. Don't bother with CIO in that case at all lady. I tried it. The baby can smell you and won't settle from it. Cosleeping is not really consistent with that model of parent child relating. If you want to do anything, you could consider working on transitioning her to her own room so you don't *hear* every little peep and thus don't respond to them. That is a baby step. Or sleep in the same bed and learn to nurse in the side-laying position so you can nurse without waking up. Now that is bliss.

 

[Puppmom]

Just a quick post here. N will be awake any second.

LV, just wanted to chime in. We have struggled on and off with N's sleep habits. He STTN from 3 mos to 5 mos (8pm to 7am) and has been hit or miss ever since. We're just not willing to CIO - or at least not now. He does still nurse in the MOTN sometimes. I used to think that, because he nursed until I was empty, that he was hungry but it's probably a comfort thing. I'm okay with it though. I think you should just do what feels right for you. There's no right answer.

Cupcake, Oh my gosh! Lorelei is too cute for words. You have a gorgeous family.

Ugh...N is squeaking up there so just a matter of moments before he's up. Here are a few pics from our photoshoot.

 

[Lanie]

pupp--he's SO cute!!!! He has the cutest cheeks!!! How much does he weigh? My little guy is on the well fed side, and everyone always comments that he's so chunky, which I guess is okay when you are a baby!

 

[somethingshiny]

Love all the photos!!!

I'm working on getting a few of Lily together to track her growth over the last year. Still can't believe she'll be 1 on Thursday.

 

[Skippy123]

CUPCAKEMUFFIN, your daughter is soooo adorable!!!

KUNZITE, I just love little OLIVER!!! He is precious! aw, hugs momma; he has come a long way. Evan hopefully will come home; his feeding is still keeping him there; oh and his brady's. His blood levels came up a bit thank goodness; I am hoping they continue to increase.

PUPP, awww, I love his cheeks! He is adorable!

SS, wow, I can't believe she will be 1!!! time flies!!! looking forward to pics!!

HH, how is your little guy?

LV, I hope she sleeps better. hugs

SHARON, hugs and thank you. he is starting to turn around in the right direction!
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a pic of Miles. I tried to take one when he is awake but he moves around too much to capture a good pic so we have to go with the sleeping baby ones. lol He will be 3 months on Monday (1 month adjusted). Oh and Evan's white blood count is coming up; thank you so much for the good wishes and prayers!!!

 

[noelwr]

pupp - N's got beautiful blue eyes! and look at those two front teeth. what a great shirt for a photo shoot. what happened to Mommy's face and Daddy's upper body?

Dreamer - I can't begin to fathom how busy you must be with 2. please share pics when you can.

SS - can't wait to see Lily's timeline photos.

Skippy - I agree: very hard to take photos of newborns when they're awake. and then when they keep their heads still, the arms and legs go flailing about leaving blurs in the pics.

 

[Puppmom]

LOL - the pics aren't intentionally anonymous. That's how they were taken. In the tree pic, I was trying to cheer him up. You can't tell from the pics but her cried 75% of the time. It was a rough day!