PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[S&I]

Mayerling, when N is nursing, is he always actively sucking and swallowing? I ask because A tends to just latch on for comfort when he wants to go to sleep at night. He'll suck until he empties my boob, but he still won't pop off even if he's fallen asleep already. Maybe that's what N does too when he's not necessarily hungry?

 

[mayerling]

S&I, I'm afraid I can't really tell if he's actively sucking or not...

Update: at 10pm I put him in the car and drove for an hour. He slept but woke up when I got home. I gave him a bottle with the 85ml I pumped today. He spit up some of it. Now he's on the boob and his eyes are wide open. Everybody's gone to bed and I'm feeling pretty lonely. Anyhow, enough about me feeling sorry for myself. How are all of you?

 

[Kunzite]

Okay... I know I'm going to miss a lot because I'm typing this while rocking my spirited child... sorry in advance!

mayerling - Please don't worry. What you and N are going through is perfectly normal. It sounds like he's just being a typical newborn. A spirited one, like E, but still typical. Last night when E wouldn't settle after eating at midnight and DH was getting uber frustrated we were talking about how it's not really that he won't settle, it's the anticipation that's involved. You rock him for a good 10 minutes until he's asleep, lay him down gently, he sleeps for about two minutes, and then SCREAM!! Just when you think it's safe to lay back down and sleep he tells you otherwise. It's like, if you didn't get your hopes up that THIS IS IT! Finally! He's asleep! Then it wouldn't be so bad. O was the same way and he grew out of it (mostly) by around 10 weeks adjusted. I just keep telling myself that when I spend hours on end rocking the child, only 7.5 more weeks to go!! There's nothing wrong with him or you, it is what it is and it will pass.

PP & SI - Happy to hear about the long sleep stretches. I can't wait to get to the promised land!

LC - The green bean face is awesome! When we made purees for O he ate everything and LOVED it! We thought, man, we have this made! This kid is going to be a great eater! Boy were we wrong. Apparently a like/dislike of flavors in pureed form does not translate to whole form. We're nearly down to just fish sticks and chicken nuggets at this point! He'll still eat anything if it's pureed though so we still give him fruits and veggies that way. It's almost like we're pulling a fast one on the kid.

steph - Sorry to hear about the mastitis. It's the worst E's fussy period goes between either 8-12 or 4-6 in the morning, which makes it extra hard. Why can't he have a normal evening fussy period like most babies!!

pancake - Sorry to hear you had such a rough trip! I hope S (and you!) are back into your normal routine. I hope you had fun showing her off.

NEL - I literally laughed out loud when I read your car seat comment. YES! That's where you're heading little one! DH and I used to tell our ornery cat that we were going to send him to the farm if he didn't behave, so now we've taken to telling E that he's going to the farm too! Love the picture of K in the swing!

Freke - We're getting ready to do a very similar move so I feel your pain! The kids and I will be in our new house for about a week before our stuff arrives It's going to be CRAZY! My plan is to see if I can break down the RnPs and put them in a large suitcase to bring with us. Have you tried that? I admit I haven't tried it yet, mostly just crossing my fingers that it works!! A is adorable!

AFU - We're in trouble. Mr. Miles found his voice. Now I have two little monsters. I've had far more patience this time around than I did with O, but I still feel at the end of my rope when they both get worked up at the same time. M can't eat sitting up yet because he still chokes, which means I can't feed them at the same time yet. Someone always has to wait and that someone is usually M because he is a horrible eater. I think he's finally caught on to the fact that he's always the one waiting and he's not pleased with it! He's a scream eater too, like O. Ugh! E is getting worse about soothing himself to sleep. I used to be able to put him down about 80% of the time with just a pacifier and he'd fall asleep. Now it's closer to 10% of the time and the other times require lots of soothing, thinking he's asleep, then waking up screaming cycles. It feels like all I do all day. So much for getting any chores done anymore (and DH just complimented me on Monday for accomplishing so much during the day! He jinxed me!!), I haven't gotten a chance to wash bottles yet today so they're going to have to sit back and cry while I wash two bottles if they don't get to sleep soon! Have I mentioned how many freaking bottles I wash in a day!? It was the one thing that never occurred to me about having two babies. And have I mentioned how unfair it feels to have preemies and have to go by their adjusted ages? I keep thinking, man these boys are two months old we should be nearly done with all of this! But they're not, they're only 2.5 weeks old. It's like those other 6 weeks didn't count for anything. Boo!!

Okay, that's all really negative. I'm actually feeling pretty good about everything, all things considered. The boys were fussing at the same time yesterday so I decided they just wanted to spend some time together! This picture reminds me of those silly photo booth pictures... like M is trying to kiss E on the cheek or something! And one of M chilling in the boppy for about 10 seconds before deciding he was mad about it! (I think he knew I was trying to pacify him!!) I really need to put the good camera in our room so I can stop taking cell pictures!

 

[mayerling]

Kunzite, thanks for the words of encouragement. The boys are such cuties!

AFU, N did a 3.5 hour stretch of sleep last night and then was awake for 4.5 hours until 8am and then slept for another 4. He woke up to nurse and is now sleeping again!

 

[lliang_chi]

Mayer, watch N's throat, not his chin the fleshy part just behind it. When he swallows you'll see that part "drop" down with a big gulp. Think of a bullfrog croaking. That's how I could tell Ethan was actually DRINKING. He never made a habit of comfort suckling though, he was never a big nurser. Which makes me sad because I really enjoy/enjoyed it. Don't beat yourself up though. This is all part of the territory with the newborns. Sounds like N had a good sleep pattern this morning. Keep the faith. And *JUST WHEN* you're at your last breaking point and they do something that melts your heart and you're like all mushy and in love again. It's a good thing these babies are so stinkin' cute.

Kunzite, well HELLO Mr. Miles!!! Your boys sound like they're doing well. Sounds like E will be the crazy brother that prods M out of his shell a little bit. Re: the bottles would it help if you have extra bottles as reserve so you don't have to do dishes so much? But when you do wash bottles it'd be like a TON of them... I have 4 or 5 4oz bottles that Ethan doesn't use anymore, I can send them your way. They're Avent brand. How's the move prep going? Hee hee, that picture of the two of them together is fantastic. Looks like they stopped fussing after they were able to hang out so your plan worked.

Pancake, How was Daddy's visit with S? Did he watch her while you were at your meeting? So cute that your DH is showing S off. But then again, with a cutie patootie like her, of COURSE you'd show her off!!!

NEL, If we move into a proper house I'll register for a chest freezer. It'll be pretty handy to have and with kiddos running amok having a frozen stash of food i always a good to have. How did the green beans go? Does K have the same reaction to them as Ethan?? I packed them for Ethan's daycare "breakfast" today... I told DH that I want daycare to give him the green beans so I won't be the mean mommy that gives Ethan only yucky tasting food. LOL. We didn't make it to the park last weekend but I want to this weekend.

S&I, hee hee, look at A sucking his thumb. I have a picture of Ethan doing it too. Both your and my picture makes me giggle, i love seeing how cute these guys are I don't use a feeding tray with my Bumbo but Ethan inevitable gets stuff ALL. OVER. HIMSELF. And the chair. J keeps trying ot get the dog to "lick him clean" and I try my hardest to make sure that doesn't happen. It's totally gross to me. J just thinks it's funny.

Steph, Glad you're feeling better too I would do the baby monitor in the bathroom with me thing too. Or just leave the bathroom door open when he was sleeping in our room. Ethan's always had a set of pipes on him, so if he gets worked up, I would've been able to hear him. Wow, little Miss Nora is thriving! Glad you had a nice lunch date with your DH. How's MIL's visit going? I'm like you, deciding not to sweat the "small" stuff but hinging a little more with the bigger things. Fortunately your DH is on the same page as you are (e.g. no water).

Freke, LOOK AT THAT FACE!!! You've got yourself a GORGEOUS little girl there! I remember you posting that dress when you first bought it, it looks AWESOME on her. But then again with a model like A, anything will look good.

AFU, Ethan's been doing carrots & oatmeal like a champ at day care. Like I told NEL, I'm making day care give him the green beans today, so they'll be the mean people with the yucky food. And Mommy can feed him peaches, pears etc that he likes this weekend. He seems to be doing a ton better with naps and food at daycare. He's eating 4-5 oz bottles now, only 3 though, and usually all his puree (roughly 3+oz worth, typically thinned out with milk). I make some zucchini the other day, and have some plums and mangos ripening ready for me to puree up too. I also have some red apricots, but I thikn they're a touch tart so I might mix them with peaches or something so Ethan likes them more.
Sleep-wise Ethan's been NOT so good. He went 6+ hrs last night, woke up around 3:45 and would NOT go back to sleep. I finally tried to feed him at 4:30 and he was fussing and eating. It was very annoying at 4:45AM. DH got up and took over feeding him since I was rocking and shushing him for 45 mins before that and already loosing patience. But in the light of hte morning he did go 6:15 so I suppose I should cut him some slack. The night before OY! 3 hrs, woke up took 1.5 hrs to get him to go back down again. Finally had ot break down and give him a bottle which I really don't want to do. I'm OK with him being hungry in the middle of the night so long as he'd go back to sleep. Honestly it's not like he's going to starve or be malnourished.

 

[lliang_chi]

Take that back, Ethan's been crap with sleeping at night, getting up after 3 hrs. I suppose he might be going through a growth spurt, but he doens't even eat that much when he wakes up fussing. Just 2oz or so. The cheeky monkey!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

LC, bad nights are the worst, I'm sorry E was keeping you up all night. Have you checked for any teeth starting to sprout? I keep hearing that teeth really interrupt nighttime sleep, so whever K starts fussing I check, haha. K seemed to like the green beans, but I admittedly mixed an ounce of green beans with equal parts papaya, peach, banana and pears. So I think she couldn't even taste them with all the fruit mixed in.

Kunzite, I don't even want to THINK about how many bottles you have to wash per day. You must spend half of your day at the sink (and the other half soothing or feeding babies). I am totally guilty of nagging my husband when he leaves a dish on the table, but I was so guilty of leaving a half-eaten bottle on various surfaces around the house and then forgetting about them until the end of the day and/or I ran out of bottles.

Adorable photos! That first one totally looks like the kind of picture they would take in a photo booth.

Mayerling, it's perfectly okay to cry and nurse. I can't think of a mom who hasn't cried while nursing at some point. It does sound like N is just exhibiting totally normal newborn behavior and sometimes nursing IS the only thing that will calm a crying baby. And sometimes that doesn't work, either, which makes the mom cry harder. How many weeks is N now? I'm guessing that you're very close to the 6-week peak crying/fussing period. I promise it gets better.

S&I, yep, the bebe pod is about the same size. I feel like it doesn't go up as high in back and the leg holes are bigger. The straps make a difference for feeding, though.

Freke, A. DORABLE! I love that she's holding shoes in her pic. She is her mother's daughter!

Steph, so glad Nora's 1-month appt. went well. I hope the nighttime sleep is continuing to go well!

AFU,
1. K's 6-month appt. is Monday (even though she'll only be 5.5 months). I'm going to ask about how much food is too much. K is now eating over 40 oz. of food per day (30oz. of formula, 11oz. of solids). I just feel like it's beyond any "normal" amount.

2. We're in a transition period with sleep. She was sleeping from 7:30pm to 4am, then bottle, then right back to sleep until 7:30am. Now she's starting to go longer without a bottle, so she's been consistently waking up at 5:30 or 6am for her bottle, but she only goes back to sleep about half the time. I always leave her in her crib until 7 because I'm trying to train her to go back to sleep. But sometimes she just plays with her hands and rolls around until I pick her up at 7. When she doesn't go back to sleep, it throws off her daytime nap schedule and she'll sleep for 5 hours (over three naps) during the day. It just seems lopsided, but I'm hoping she'll eventually make it to 7 or 7:30 without needing a bottle and I won't have to worry about it anymore!

 

[S&I]

Mayerling, I have a feeling that N might be nursing more for comfort than hunger, like A does. We just have clingy/needy babies! LC gave a good description for how to tell if he's swallowing or not. You can also hear him swallow if you listen closely. Does he fall back asleep when he's nursing or is he awake the entire time? Everything you're doing is perfectly normal though, so try not to stress out about it. I remember many nights when I was still awake, while DH was already fast asleep, trying desperately to rock A to sleep for hours on end. I know it's hard now, but things will get better with time. Another thing is that maybe N still has his nights and days backward, and just needs time to adjust to being out in the world.

Kunzite, I never get tired of seeing your little monsters. I love that they enjoy being squished together. Maybe you can get enough bottles to last you through the day, and then have DH wash them at night? Good luck with moving too!

LC, I wonder if E is going to make that same face with the green beans at day care - it's priceless! I'm sure our dog would love to lick food off of A when the time comes, which is why we'll have to feed A high up so she can't reach him. Pixie has a habit of squeezing her way onto my legs while I'm holding A, and letting him rest his feet on her back. But then she'll turn her head so she can lick his toes. Sorry E's sleep has been rough lately. Maybe he's going through an extra tough time with this particular growth spurt?

NEL, K sounds like she has a healthy appetite! I hope it's not much longer until K can sleep all the way through to 7am. At least she can entertain herself in her crib on days where she doesn't go back to sleep. Thanks again for suggesting the bebe pod. We're planning a trip to BBB on Saturday to get one of those, as well as some bigger sleep sacks and whatever else comes to mind while we're there.

AFU, A has started giving me sleep cues right around 7pm, sometimes earlier, depending on when we give him his bath. That's barely after we finish eating dinner. DH was sad that he didn't even get to hold him yesterday because A fell asleep in my arms around 7:30pm. He tends to wake up for a bottle around 2-2:30am, and then goes back to sleep until about 6am. He has some grizzly periods around 11pm, but doesn't fully wake up. I'm enjoying the earlier bedtime so I can spend time with DH, but it still seems like my evenings are super short now that I'm back at work.

 

[mayerling]

LC, I'm sorry to hear that Ethan's sleep is suffering.

S&I, he definitely falls asleep on the boob and I'm guilty of encouraging that given how difficult it is to put him to sleep.
It's a shame that you and DH don;t get much time with A, but yay for the proper stretches of sleep.

NEL, N will be 4 weeks tomorrow. I suppose I have to brace myself for the 6 week mark.
K sounds like she's got a healthy appetite!

AFU, N had a long awake time between 4 and 10pm, but he'd had 4- and 3- hour naps earlier in the day. Also, during the night he went 4 hours between feeds (3 asleep), and 4.5 hours between feeds (3 asleep). These have been the longest stretches so far. We had another weight check as well: 3810g - up 330 from last week. So I guess his weight gain varies given how he gained 435g the previous week. Also, I tried the carrier again and he cried; DH tried it and he slept.

 

[pancake]

Mayer, I think I said this on the pumping thread as well, but try and give yourself a break - nothing that N does at this early stage will be anything that can be worked through with logic! So I reckon you just have to do what you have to do to get through with as much sleep and sanity as possible, and then worry about establishing good habits later. You're dealing with so much right now - the huge upheaval of a new baby, and then in the last couple of days, your hubby and mum have gone back to work. There is so much hormonal stuff going on, sleeplessness, mastitis... you need to look after you! So don't stress about feeding N to sleep at the moment, and don't worry about why he slept in the carrier on your husband but not on you (for the record, S hated the carrier early on, I think it was because she was close to my chest and could smell milk - kind of like, "um, why are you putting me here but not giving me the boob??").

All babies and parents are different, but for what it's worth, this was kind of our progress for the first couple of months. Keep in mind that S has a very relaxed temperament (even in our mothers' group of 8, she is "the chill baby"). She was pretty settled for the first couple of weeks, but would have a squidgy period late in the evenings. Around 4-5 weeks, she stopped going to sleep in her bassinet and we fell into the habit of cuddling her to sleep (which, in hindsight, was lovely! Although at the time I worried about establishing bad habits. Like any first-time mum, I suppose!). Around 6-7 weeks we decided to start working on getting her to fall asleep in her bassinet. A lot of shush-patting and prolonged periods of settling ensued... things improved over the course of about a week (maybe by about 8 weeks?) but to be honest I have no idea how much of the improvement was what we did, and how much of it was "just her". We did find that the peak of her unsettledness was around the 6-8 week mark, and then things settled down after that. We had unsettled periods again around 10-11 weeks, around 14 weeks, around 17-18 weeks, and around 4 1/2 months.

But my main point is that the first month or two is tiger country! Then things become more predictable - plus you become more confident.

It sounds like you're getting better stretches of sleep between feeds though! Hooray!

Weight gain definitely varies. S put on an entire kilo in the 2 weeks after we got her home from the hospital, but that gain slows over the first couple of months. 330g is great for one week - go you milk-making mama!!

S&I - S's bedtime moved a lot earlier around exactly the age that A is now. She went to bed around 8-8:30pm before that, but around 4 1/2 months, fairly abruptly moved to 7pm and now she goes to bed between 6:30 and 7 every night. It is sometimes a bit of a stretch to get her to bedtime, depending on what time she wakes up from her last nap (usually around 4:30-4:45)

I hear you on re feeling good that he's settling well and having the evening to yourself, but also feeling bummed because you have so little time together before he goes to bed. I don't work at the moment, but my husband leaves the house at 7am (S wakes around 7:45) and gets home often around 7pm (she's usually in bed already). It makes the weekends so sacred!

NEL - I reckon you're getting there with the morning wakeups! S did something similar - she went from waking at 1:30, to around 3, to around 4, then 5, then she started waking around 6. Initially when it stretched to 6am I would pick her up, but then one weekend we were REALLY tired and didn't get up to her immediately, and she just played for a while and went back to sleep. Surprise! So now she gets up around 7:30-8am, often with a period of play around 6. Sometimes it's 7:15, but I don't get her out of bed before then. I hate it when she doesn't go back to sleep because as you say, it mucks up her daytime sleep, but I really want her to have a routine and a get-out-of-bed time that's within a 30 minute window.

I love those photos of Katie! I haven't put S in a swing yet, the local park doesn't have any that have seats secure enough to put her in. But I'm looking forward to trying it out when the weather warms up and she's bigger and stronger!

LC - sorry to hear Ethan is fussing at night. I reckon it will pass though - I always worry it won't, but it does! I haven't tried S on oatmeal! Do you find it makes E's constipation worse? I am still not giving any starches or cereals as S is still tending towards the constipated side (eg. today was the first time she'd pooped in 4 days).

Kunzite - you are a superwoman, honestly!! I don't know how you manage to keep all your balls in the air. I have a friend who has just-3yo twins and a 4 month old bub (who is very highly strung as far as bubs go), and I don't know how SHE does it, either!

Re the unsettledness and crankiness, I have had other people tell me that their irritability doesn't necessarily go with corrected age, so you might find they calm down a little earlier?

I can totally understand why you feel frazzled. Venting here is good! And the boys are ADORABLE. Do you have any more of O with the twins, all together?

Steph - wow, Nora is doing so well! I think this early on, those good nights are like GOLD and you just enjoy them when they happen and don't worry too much when they don't. But it sounds like she is generally quite a calm bub?

Freke - that photo is so cute!!!

AFU - S is having a good week. We had a weird random wake-up at 5:30 this morning and she was crying (unusual) and then escalated despite cuddles (she was very very sad, poor thing) - eventually I gave her a feed; I knew she wasn't desperately hungry but it was more of a settling thing than anything else. She then went back to sleep immediately and woke up at 8am as usual. It's been a normal day since then!

She is slowly eating me out of house and home. I've finally got around to introducing red meat, and she is enjoying mince with her vegies, plus last night I made a slow-braised oxtail ragu for us and I thought I'd mash some of that into her vegies for dinner tonight and see how she likes it.

A couple of cell pics:

 

[lliang_chi]

Ethan slept 5 hrs last night!! HOOORAY! he got up around 4AM and I rocked/swung him back to sleep. I realize it works MUCH better for him than the ol' pat-on-the-back. Which is unfortunate because patting is SO MUCH EASIER than swinging/rocking. And he has to be swung until he's quiet and drifting off then and only then am I able to sit in the glider and rock him the rest of the way to sleepy-land. Sigh, at least there's a system now....

Pancake, I'm glad to hear S is having such a good week. Did she get a haircut or something? For some reason her hair looks different now. Ethan has the same little ball toy (in your first pic), but his is different colors. He plays with it during his tummy time. So far Ethan's been doing fine with the oatmeal. We've been giving him prune juice (50/50 mix with water) about 2 oz worth. So far he's been pretty regular, one poop a day, except for Weds, when I think we skipped the prune juice.

Mayer, how are you and N doing today? I 2nd everything Pancake says, you'll get into the swing of things, and it gets better. And remember there's nothing wrong that N cries. He's a baby. He's supposed to cry. Just because he cries doens't mean you're doing something wrong. So just tick off the things that you can fix for him (e.g. diaper, gas, food, cold, hot) and until then your job is to be there with him while he cries. That he knows, Mommy's here and he's not by himself. Ethan used to cry when I first put him in the carriers too. But once I started walking/bouncing around, he would quiet down and hang out. Until he got hungry or to hot.

S&I, Day care actually said he ate all his green beans and oatmeal yesterday. I packed another round today for him to eat. Ha ha, so cute that Pixie will like A's toes. Quizas is not allowed on the couch, and it's a good thing too. I had Ethan on the ground and Quizas was so adamant about having someone play fetch with her, she kept sitting in Ethan's space. (We make her sit before tossing her toy for fetch). I know what you mean about evenings feeling so short. Sounds like A's also moving to an earlier bedtime. DH always gets home really late, I feel like he misses having any E time. It's an easy solution, he can just leave work earlier, but he doesn't do that.

NEL, I didn't thikn about teething. I just checked he gums yesterday and it still looks the same. No teeth. But I'll keep that in the back of my mind from now on. How do you prep the papaya? Do you steam it also, or just puree? Hopefully your pedi can give you an answer about K's food intake. But to me, it sounds like she's just a healthy eater. I want to start giving Ethan veggies in the evening. Do you feed K solids first THEN follow up with milk?

 

[mayerling]

LC, yay for 5 hours of sleep! Is it the first time E has done a stretch that long? I agree that patting is much easier than rocking, but I too have a baby that prefers to be rocked - or at least held.

Pancake, I know what you mean about offering the boob just for the baby to calm down. Also, it's good that S has such a healthy appetite.

How's everyone else doing? I wish some of the other mamas that had babies before me would come and update more often - Muffdog, Monnie, Sugarpie, etc.

AFU, N has been such a good baby for the last few days. He still has times of fussiness and it is draining to have to spend a long time settling him down or putting him to sleep, but he's definitely doing longer stretches between feeds which is good. Did I tell you that during tummy time the other day he managed to turn his head from one side to the other?

 

[PetitiePoire]

Hi mommas! Sorry for the me centered post. Just thought I'd give an update since it has been a while.

We are just over the 4 week mark. Today actually marks L's 1 month! We are doing great. She is staying awake 80-90% of the day and sleeping from about 10/11 pm- 5 am. Other than the night sleeping we don't have any schedule yet. I feed on demand and now have a cover so I can feed anywhere. It's great, but requires an extra person when shopping. We have been busy with the move, so daytime scheduled sleep doesn't happen.

I have moments sometimes where I just need to hand her to DH and have me time. It's only like 10 minutes though before she wants me again. Hopefully we can work on that.

She's more and more alert and we are just enjoying her being so tiny and cuddly.

Also, she had her first plane ride last week. The total trip was 14 hours and she was perfect! I never let her get to the point of crying. She just ate or slept on my lap.

 

[FrekeChild]

The photographers had me take off my heels and let her play with them. Of course, she stuck one in her mouth, and that was fun. Hah! I wish they had gotten the look on her face.

Just got home a little bit ago from the house hunting trip. A definitely had a hard time with everything. The plane didn't seem to bother her at all though. That was great. Now her parents on the other hand...I have never had so much anxiety in my life. And don't even let me start talking about the 2 hour delay on our layover. WHY DIDN'T I PLAN FOR DELAYS?! Thank goodness we had an extra clean bottle in the bottom of D's carryon, and I had stuck the extra diapers we'd bought in his carryon on accident! Having said that, I'm really not enthused about moving now. Taking her is going to be fine, although on the plane all she wants to do is climb all over and generally make herself hard to hold onto. It's the not being surrounded by her stuff, not sleeping in her bed, not having the dogs around, etc that ended up throwing her off. So she slept in our bed with us holding her, and slept about half as much by way of naps than she normally does.

Trying to catch up. Looks as though we have a ton coming up quick (MOVING!) and I should be doing something moving related right now, but after a day of traveling...not happening.

So you all get a few more pics.

 

[lliang_chi]

Freke, beautiful pictures! Love them. Glad you're back from your trip in one piece. Sounds like Miss A did a great job, and you guys did too. Now that you travelled once, you should be OK with your moving trip. Best of luck to square everything away before the big move. Sending you lots of stress-free and calm days until then.

PP, 1 month old! Great job to L for her awesome plane ride. it's great that your DH can take her for 10 mins to just give you a short break. I think as they get older, they'll start liking being held by Daddy too. Ethan now LOVES Daddy time now. And DH loves it too now that he's older and interacts with him more.

Mayer, sounds like N's doing better. Keep up the faith. It'll get better. Great job N for the long stretch of sleep and for the tummy time!

AFU, Ethan had a great weekend. We went to a party on Saturday and he let J's work friend hold him for a good amount of time. His work friend has a granddaughter that's maybe 5 months older than he is, but she's smaller than he is. But she loved him, kept climbing around to get to him. Hee hee, very funny.

A bit of a personal question, has anyone found sex after baby uncomfortable? We haven't really had much intimacy post-baby, a few times, and each time it's been pretty uncomfortable for me. Not just in a less lubrication sense (have some outside help with that), but it kinda feels physically different to me now..??

~LC

 

[mayerling]

Freke, those pictures are gorgeous! They make me want to have some professional pictures taken.

Petite, happy one-month birthday to L! You seem to have such an easy-going baby; I'm jealous! How's the new place working out?

LC, I'm a bit anxious as to how sex might feel like too. DH and I are the sort of people who were up until the day before I gave birth and are anxious to go at it again, but the vaginal infection I've had on my internal stitches has me rather concerned. On another note, AF showed up exactly 28 days after N.

AFU, N has been doing longer stretches of sleep. For the first 3.5 weeks of his life he would be up to feed every 3 hours even at night. He'll be one month old tomorrow and for the past week he's been sleeping for 3 hours at a time so basically doing 4-4.5 hours between feeds. Unfortunately, I wake up whenever he stirs so I haven't been able to get as much sleep as he does . He's still fussy some times, though.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Mayerling, so glad to hear about the longer stretches! It honestly does just get better. K did 3 hour stretches until she was about 4-6 weeks, then the nighttime stretches kept getting longer and longer. In fact, she's still stretching her nighttime sleep, but I think we'll probably hit the 12-hour stretch right at 6 months (she's at 11.5 hours now at 5.5 weeks). So the nighttime stretches really did go from 3 hours to 12 hours in those 4 months. It's nice to feel like the worst is behind you!

LC, about the papaya. I had planned to steam it, but once I peeled it, de-seeded it and sliced it, it was so mushy that I just blended it. it pureed really easily. As for the sex, I have a feeling that the infrequency might be leading to the discomfort. The first few times we tried after I got my "all clear" were not so comfortable and I sort of laughed my way through those sessions telling D it was the worst sex ever. After that it was better, though. After K moved to her own room, we started doing the deed a couple of times per week and that helps me feel much more comfortable and more like my old self.

Freke, those pictures as ADORABLE! I know you have a ton on your mind (for good reason). Even if A is out of sorts for several days, it will be temporary. Even if she has all of her own "stuff", it will still be a new place and she'll need to adjust. At least you'll be there with her through the transition and that will probably help more than anything. You're her anchor.

Did you end up finding a house to rent?

PP, it sounds like everything is going really well! Yay! And I can't believe you spent 14 hours on a plane with no crying, that is amazing! I totally understand needing some "me" time. I think it gets better as time goes on. In a few months she'll have a more normal schedule/routine and you can work around that.

Pancake, sounds like Sylvie is doing well! Quick question: how thin are her purees? I thought our pediatrician was going to give us the all-clear to start giving her slightly chunky purees, but she said to hold off. I'm just curious if yours are thin since I know you're doing meat. Cute pics, by the way! I love that wooden tummy time toy. I was looking for something like that so that K might lift herself up more while on her tummy, but never found one!

S&I, the super short evenings are THE WORST! I feel like I get home, feed K, bathe her and then she's in bed. I really hate it. Like, a lot. But I want her in bed between 7 and 7:30, so I just have to deal. I have to stay an extra half of an hour today and I'm nearly in tears over it. I know it's just a half of an hour, but it makes a big difference to me.

AFU, D took K to her 6-month appointment today (a little early). She weighs a little over 16 lbs. and is 27 inches long. The pediatrician gave us the all-clear to start feeding her pureed meats. And I think we're going to start feeding her 3x per day. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to make all of her food...

 

[S&I]

Mayerling, I'm also guilty of letting A fall asleep on my boobs because he can be really fussy when he's tired, and the boob is sometimes the only thing that will calm him down enough to doze off. N is still so young, and you just need to do whatever you can to soothe him. As for his weight, babies' weights vary a lot in the beginning from week to week. I wouldn't worry about it unless his pedi says something. I'm glad that N has had a few good days lately. Those will soon become the norm as he gets older, and you'll have a few more better days until those become the norm, and it just keeps going. Yay for N turning his head during tummy time! Sleeping for 3 hours at a time for a one-month old is actually pretty good. I'm pretty sure A didn't sleep that long when he was only one month old!

Pancake, weekends are definitely sacred! That's awesome that S is such a good eater! Love the pics - I've got to say, she really is a great-looking baby and always looks so happy! What kind of chair is she sitting in? It looks quite comfy!

LC, yay for E sleeping more again! I agree that patting doesn't work quite as well as actually picking them up and rocking them for a while. I've never been able to pat A back to sleep, ha! But it's been a while since he's woken up in the middle of the night for no reason, or because he needed to burp. And yes, I'm pretty ashamed to admit that we've only had sex a couple times since A arrived and I got Mirena put in. It really hurts! We haven't tried any lubricant, but I don't think that'll help much with the pain. It's like you said, it's somehow different than before. I wonder if my anatomy is just different now that a human has passed through it!

Petite, happy one-month to L! That's great that she is sleeping so well at night too. Yay for her first successful plane ride. You are a braver mama than I am!

Freke, the pro photos turned out great! Glad your house-hunting trip was successful overall. It's understandable that A would be out of sorts having to sleep in a strange place without her own stuff around to comfort her. What a trooper! Did you guys find a house yet?

ETA NEL, we were posting at the same time! That's exactly how I feel - it's just a big blur when I get home from work, with bath, feeding, and then bed time. Yay for K getting the all-clear to start on meats. Did D get to ask her pedi if she was eating too much? I know you were concerned about that.

AFU, we had a little scare with A this weekend, but it seems as if he's fine for now. Thursday morning, he had his normal morning poop, but then he pooped 3 more times in less than 2 hours that evening. It was also yellow and oily-looking so that really caught me off guard. He pooped the same stuff 6 times on Friday, and 4 times on Saturday. I finally called the after-hours line and were able to get in to see an NP yesterday. Of course, he didn't have a poopy diaper when we were there, so she couldn't look at it, but she did see that his butt was starting to get irritated from all the frequent poop, so she prescribed a stronger butt paste. He pooped 5 times yesterday, but so far nothing today. Fingers crossed that he gets back to his normal once-a-day pooping schedule soon though. Other than that, he doesn't seem to be bothered by anything - still his happy normal self. He even slept 9.5 hours last night. I'm starting to think that he gets really worn out when we take him to church on Sundays. But I figure the more times he accidentally sleeps that long, the more he'll realize that he CAN sleep that long, until it becomes a regular thing to do. Here's hoping!

 

[pancake]

NEL, Sylvie doesn't eat purees any more - I just mash everything. With meat, I either use mince and make sure that it's really fine, or I slow-cook until the meat falls apart and I can just sort of mash it with her vegies. She seems to now prefer a thicker mash texture than the thinner, runnier stuff. She has meat at lunch and/or dinner each day. Beef seems to be her favourite, but I also get our butcher to mince chicken thighs and she quite likes that too. If she has just vegies, they're cooked in chicken stock.

S&I, thank you - we think S is pretty cute too! She's sitting in her bouncer, which is a Bamboo by Bombol. Sounds like Alex must have had a little tummy bug - so glad that it wasn't anything serious and that he recovered quickly! He's becoming quite the little sleeper...

LC, to be honest, we haven't got back to - almost 6 months in! Disgraceful, I know... but there has been so much going on that it has just been pushed aside again and again. It is on our radar though! I am quite scared about the discomfort factor. I have some estrogen cream which I can use intermittently but it's not a long-term solution. Apart from the lubrication side of things, the low oestrogen levels whilst lactating makes the lining of the vagina quite thin and delicate compared to normal, so that might account for the extra discomfort.

Mayerling - wow, the sleep situation is improving rapidly! Nice to hear. You will adjust to all of his noises. I still don't sleep as soundly as I did before I had S, but I definitely tune out at least some of her noises. Took a while to get there though.

Freke, the photos are beautiful

AFU - Sylvie is super-happy at the moment. Right now she's on her tummy on the floor giving me scrunchy-nosed grins. Eating up a storm, sleeping well, all is good. I assume there'll be another sleep regression at some stage soon, but enjoying this while it lasts...

On a different and more sombre note, I know I haven't posted about this in a while, but my father passed away peacefully on Sunday evening, in hospital. I wondered whether I should post this here, but then I realised that I talked to you guys about it here much more than I did with most of my friends here. In fact, some of my good friends still don't know that Dad was even sick - I guess because I was in a fog of new motherhood for the first 6 weeks of Sylvie's life, and then after that I felt it was weird to call someone up and say, "Hi, can we catch up? By the way, my dad is terminally ill" - you know? So this forum has been a source of support for me for which I am so grateful, and even though I don't know any of you in the real world, your solidarity and thoughts have been appreciated more than you can know.

We are doing well, I think. Overwhelmingly, I am glad that Dad is no longer struggling, no longer in pain, and I am already finding that I can think about the good times in the past. They weren't plentiful, but they were certainly there. I think I can think about those already because I did so much grieving at the very beginning, when he first got sick. But we were with him in his last days, and he knew we were there. When he was really acutely sick on Saturday night, I was showing him videos of Sylvie to try and help him feel less distressed. He smiled, and between breaths (he had severe pneumonia) he told me she had "thoughtful eyes"...

 

[bobbin]

Pancake, I am so sorry to hear about your father's passing. I am glad you are doing well at the moment, and I hope you are able to find the time in between being S's super busy mumma to grieve him as well.

 

[mayerling]

Pancake, I'm sorry to hear about your father. I'm glad you're able to remember the good times.

S&I, we seem to have similar babies. Hearing from you always makes me feel hopeful that things will get better. I hope A's poop-a-thon is over soon.

NEL, how exciting that K is ready to start feeding 3x a day. I can imagine how stressful it must be to make all that food. I'm already worried about how I'm going to manage when the time comes.

Petite, when you say that L is awake 80-90% of the day, does that mean that she only sleeps a couple of hours during the day plus the 6 hours at night? So 8 hours total? I'm constantly worried that N is not getting enough sleep. When he gets less than 12 in a 24-hour period I freak out.

Question to all mamas who use carriers: do you let the baby nap in the carrier or do you set them down for naps? do you carry them around most of the day? how does it work?

AFU, N is one month old today! He's been on a sleep strike for a couple of days now. He'll still do a couple of 3-hour stretches at night but from around 5am to around 9pm it's really hard to get him to nap properly. He just does catnaps. Also, my nipples are still extremely sore and I experience a constant burning sensation which has me wondering how long I can keep breastfeeding. I wanted to do at least 6 months but it's only been a month now and I wonder how long I can keep going...

 

[lliang_chi]

Hugs Pancake. I know you had a complicated relationship with your dad, but I'm glad you can reflect upon the happy/good times you had. Many thoughts & prayers with you and your family. I'm sure you father really appreciated having you there and loved seeing videos of S. She's enough joy to light up the life of everyone around her. HUGS and go easy on yourself for the next few days.

 

[janinegirly]

I'm so far behind, hope you don't mind as I try to catch up..

Pancake: what an absolute doll! I can't believe you've introduced red meat already, that's great. I am also so sorry to hear of your father's passing. I hope you find some time to spend with your family and find peace and I hope it is somewhate comforting to know he is no longer in pain.

NEL: papaya, how exotic! I've been trying to make my own food, slowly but I'm getting there. A has not been much of a fan though, maybe it's the consistency (for sweet potato for example) or that it tastes different. Any ideas on how to introduce meats - you're the baby food guru as far as I'm concerned. As for DTD--a couple times a week? Wow girl (and D), I'm not going to share how things are going (or not) in that dept for us! How's PT been going btw?

LC: how's it going, I think NEL is a better resource on DTD than me, but I hope it gets better. How's the feeding and sleeping been going? I will forever think of when I see green beans now, hehe.

Freke:She is such a beauty, what an angelic face, there is never a bad shot!! How's PT going?

 

[PetitiePoire]

Mayerling – I agree with Kunzite about it being difficult because of the anticipation involved. It’s a probably a huge reason why I end up hold L so much. In my head I’d rather put off the laundry and her get some sleep than her get herself worked up. Yeah, she only sleeps a few hours during the day. Maybe it’s closer to 10-12 hours total? This is her typical sleeping times with feedings on the beginning and end times:
10/11pm-6:30am (sometimes a 4am wake up/feed thrown in)
9/10am-12pm- nap between those hours, normally just an hour

After lunch I don’t keep track because we are usually running errands, due to the move. She usually wants to eat every hour or two though and will usually doze off after each feeding for a catnap.

I’ve noticed this week she has started to show signs of fatigue (yawning, rubbing eyes), so I’ve tried to calm our days down and provide no distractions to allow her to sleep. It seems like she tries to fight her sleep.

Also, I’ve had those same thoughts regarding breastfeeding! It’s much harder than I thought it would be, because of the amount of time it consumes. I’ve noticed since I’ve started pumping my nipples have hurt more. Prior to that it was only during the initial latch.

Are you getting naps during the day?

Kunzite- Wow! You are a busy momma! How is adjusted age counted? When they are 1 year old you will go by their day of birth and not plus 6 weeks, right? I always get so confused when posters post using adjusted age, I apologize. Your “photobooth” pictures are super cute!

NEL- I can’t believe it’s already time to start K on pureed meats! Good luck making the food!

LC- I’m curious about the post baby sex, so I’m glad you asked. I’m actually terrified at the idea and cringe when I think of something going in there after something just came out! Ahh! Now I think I am even more terrified after reading the responses!

S&I- I think plane rides with newborns are much easier than squirmy infants. She can’t do much but sleep.

Pancake- I’m sorry to hear about your dad. It seems his last day with you was nice and I’m glad the video of Sylvie brought some peace/happiness to him during that time.

AFU- L is napping. She has been asleep for an hour and thirty minutes. This is the first nap she’s had in a room alone, normally she’s with me. I think this might be a good thing because she has slept this long. We’ve started going to bed around 10pm (last feeding). She fights it, but I just turn on her Twilight Turtle and we put our hand on her stomach and she falls asleep pretty quickly after that. She has been waking up with DH’s 6:30am alarm clock, so we are getting plenty of rest and are grateful. Pumping is much, much harder than I anticipated. It feels like it is bruising my nipples. I’m tempted to just buy formula for unexpected times when I have to be away vs pumping and storing. I don’t get a lot from pumping. It’s such a difficult decision!

 

[parrot tulips]

Pancake - I'm so sorry to hear of your father's passing. I'm sure seeing the videos of his gorgeous granddaughter brought him a lot of happiness. She really is a beautiful girl, and sounds like such a pleasure.

AFU - Ava is doing beautifully. She isn't necessarily one of the easier babies, but she isn't particularly challenging either. She is not sleeping through the night yet, but her sleep is definitely improving. We've been getting 5-7+ hour stretches on average, which is a huge improvement from 3 hours.

She had been refusing solids, and baby led weaning made me slightly uncomfortable (fear of choking), so we've been trying mesh feeders. Ava seems more receptive to them than the spoon, so while she doesn't end up eating much, she's getting used to new flavors in her mouth. We have tried avocado, apples, sweet potatoes, peaches, turkey, carrots, and her favorite, zucchini. The only thing she refused with the mesh feeder was avocado. We tried spoon feeding some pureed peaches tonight, and while we couldn't get her to eat much, she wasn't as resistant as before, so the mesh feeders might have been a good way to introduce the concept of flavors other than breast milk.

Ava is rolling in all directions quite easily, and is sitting up unassisted for long stretches. The only time she falls over now is when she gets fussy and decides to "plank." Overall, she's a sweet, happy (albeit stubborn) baby, and such a joy to be around.

 

[S&I]

Pancake, so sorry to hear about your dad's passing. My thoughts and prayers to you and your family. I'm glad you were able to spend his last days with him, and can already think back to the good memories of him. I'm sure he was really happy to see videos of his gorgeous granddaughter. Yay for S being super happy and eating/sleeping well. Isn't that what we all wish for?

Bobbin, how's little miss C doing?

Mayerling, happy one-month to N! It does sound like we have similar babies. My nipples were really sore in the beginning too. I found that they were worse when I was trying to nurse and pump, so I ditched pumping and just nursed him when he wanted. My supply was never enough anyway, so it's not like I was pumping to save anything. Now that I'm back at work, I'm pumping 1-2 times a day and can feel them getting sore again. It will get better as N gets bigger though. I think mine stopped hurting around 6-7 weeks. As for the carriers, if A fell asleep in it, we would let him sleep until he got too hot or if it was time for bed. We have the Ergo, and the infant insert is pretty hot. We mostly use it when we know we're going to be out for a while, and only a few times around the house when he was fussy and nothing else was working. NEL used to carry K in it every morning and dance around with her while doing chores around the house, but she's just awesome like that.

Janine, how is A doing? Has she tried any baby food from the store, or only the stuff you've made for her? We're going to discuss solids at our A's 4-month appointment, and I'm wondering if it will be hard for him to go from eating store-bought baby food to stuff I make. I'm more afraid that I won't be able to find the time to make enough food for him.

Petite, yay for L napping slightly longer than normal! That's also great that you can put her down so easily even if she's fighting sleep at night. We just recently got to the point of being able to put him down in his crib and letting him fall asleep while we're standing over him. Like I told Mayerling, pumping makes my nipples really sore! I don't think there's anything wrong with giving L formula for the times when you're unavailable.

PT, glad A is doing well and is starting to like some solids. Yay for rolling around and sitting up for longer periods. I love her chubby cheeks!

AFU, A's poop-a-thon (thanks Mayerling) seems to be better now. He's back down to 1-2 poopy diapers a day instead of 4-6 this past weekend. I was afraid he was going to get dehydrated from pooping that much, but he seems perfectly fine. I gave him a bigger than normal bottle last night, and he ended up sleeping almost 9 hours, but I don't think I'll do that again because I don't want to overfeed him.

 

[PetitiePoire]

PT- Glad Ava is doing so well! For me, 5-7 hour stretches are great. That’s what L does and I enjoy it greatly! She looks so precious in her little beach outfit.

S&I- Glad to know I’m not the only one to ditch pumping because of soreness. My supply isn’t that great either. Have you had to supplement with formula at all or is your supply low, but enough for A? Also, I should mention that although L is fairly easy to get to sleep it is only when it is with us. As soon as I put her down and she is awake enough to realize it she wakes up completely and cries. We haven’t made it to full nights on her own since the move. Glad A is doing better!

AFU- I don’t think I like the multiple naps yesterday. We went to sleep about 10pm last night and L was wide awake at 2:10am. I was able to feed her and let her fall asleep on the boob, but I much prefer the 6:30am wake up (with the occasional 4:30am feed). I was surprised at how quickly I settled into that routine. When she woke up and it was still dark I was certain it was no earlier than 4:30. Also, like I mentioned to S&I, I’ve definitely made a bad habit of letting her sleep with us. I’m hoping it’s just being in a new place, but as of now, unless she is with us she cries when I try to put her in her own bed.

 

[S&I]

Petite, we've had to supplement with formula since A was about 1 week old. He lost too much weight, so the pedi gave us a sample starter kit of Enfamil. He also had really bad jaundice so the formula helped get the bad stuff out of his system, along with sleeping on the UV-light pad for a few days. My supply never increased enough to catch up with A's needs, so he's basically a formula-fed baby with some bonus breast milk. The highest amount I've ever been able to pump since April was just barely over an ounce. Is your supply as bad as that?

Re the sleeping, A still will not nap on his own for longer than an hour, usually only a few minutes in his rock-n-play. When he startles, he opens his eyes and realizes he's not being held, so he cries. It also doesn't help that we have a small dog that likes to bark at every little sound she hears. So my dad ends up holding him most of the day so A will nap longer. We've forced A to sleep in his own crib since we brought him home, so he's okay at night. But there's just something about the daytime that's different. If I weren't working, I would try to train him better to nap in his crib, but unfortunately I can't help what my parents do when I'm not there. They tend to do whatever it takes to stop A from ever crying. I think you're fine sleeping with L for now though. She's still so young and like you said, she's probably just having a tough time with the move. I used to have to wait until A was completely passed out and breathing really deeply before I could put him in his crib without him waking up and crying. Now I can put him in there when he's just about to fall asleep, usually after nursing. I swaddle him up, which wakes him up so he looks at me, but he'll let me put him down and will fall asleep a few minutes later with me looking over him. Then I can leave the room and use the baby monitor until I'm ready to sleep. Also, I sleep in A's room at night so I know exactly when he wakes up or stirs. For some reason, I can't imagine sleeping in a different room even knowing I can use the baby monitor.

 

[MuffDog]

LC, yay for 5 hours of sleep! Is it the first time E has done a stretch that long? I agree that patting is much easier than rocking, but I too have a baby that prefers to be rocked - or at least held.

Pancake, I know what you mean about offering the boob just for the baby to calm down. Also, it's good that S has such a healthy appetite.

How's everyone else doing? I wish some of the other mamas that had babies before me would come and update more often - Muffdog, Monnie, Sugarpie, etc.

AFU, N has been such a good baby for the last few days. He still has times of fussiness and it is draining to have to spend a long time settling him down or putting him to sleep, but he's definitely doing longer stretches between feeds which is good. Did I tell you that during tummy time the other day he managed to turn his head from one side to the other?

Hi girls! First up - I'm so sorry for not coming over here yet to say hi and get involved. Arg. This being a mom thing is TOUGH. This is one of the first times my son has napped at home so that I can actually get on the computer and not just watch Netflix in the middle of the night!

Here is my story (and Mayerling - I've also had some big challenges so I hear ya girl!).

My little guy Luca was born on June 17 weighing in at 8 lbs. Perfectly healthy and super cute IMO He had some mucus in his lungs though which made breast feeding kind of tough those first few days (he wasn't all that interested and when he tried, he had issues breathing. Poor guy!). So it wasn't a surprise when he had dropped 3% by the time we were discharged (next day) and 2 days later when we had an appt with the ped he had dropped 10%. It broke my heart. Breastfeeding hurt me a LOT and to find out that he wasn't gaining enough weight was so hard to hear. My milk took its sweet time to come in so that didn't help.

I burst into tears when the doc said I should supplement with formula until my milk came in. Emotional much?

We supplemented one night and then I was on a mad feeding and pumping schedule so that at nights I could supplement with breast milk. It wasn't fun, that much I know.

For the first two weeks, Luca was a dream baby. Slept, ate, cuddled. Sigh. I miss those days, because as soon as 2 weeks hit, he turned into a fussy gassy monster. Feeding still hurt (went to the lactation clinic twice) but the worst part was that he screamed. He screamed to be fed, screamed when he came off my breast, screamed and grunted after every burp. He wouldn't sleep all cuddly on our chests, or in his crib, in the swing or in our bed. I was desperate. From what I understand, infants are supposed to sleep 16-20 hours a day and Luca was getting about 9. And only about 4-5 at night. In chunks.

I found myself crying almost every night after the third attempt at putting Luca down and having him then start screaming. I cried as I fed him. It was so hard.

During the day the only way he'd sleep was if I was out of the house - in the carseat and out and about. Which is great except I was so exhausted and all I wanted was him to nap at home so I could "sleep when the baby sleeps" like all of the BTDT mom told me to do.

At night, he would sleep for 2 or 3 hours (first stretch), wake up, eat for about 45 minutes and then he'd be awake and screaming for hours. I'm not proud to say it, but there have been nights when I was so far gone (i.e. up for 3-4 hours, fed him multiple times and in tears) that I have put him in his swing and closed the door. And didn't go back in. I let him cry. We had a 10 minute limit for that so if he was still crying after 10 mins I'd go back in and start over, but 9 times out of 10 he went to sleep in about 7. But it felt terrible. Newborns aren't supposed to cry like that without us tending to them.

However, (Mayerling, this is for you), we were recommended to start giving him these Bio-Gaia drops. THey are an all natural probiotic that is supposed to help their guts get working (as they are often under-developed in newborns) and seriously - they worked. I mean, it isn't like he is sleeping through the night, but we now have multiple periods of happy-awake times (before we had ZERO - he was either eating, screaming or sleeping) and he has 2 or 3 three-ish hour naps during the day (usually 2), and sleeps from 11-3, eats for about 40 minutes, goes back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours. This has been going on for about 3 days now (it will probably stop now that I've put it in writing of course!). He still has gas issues but now it is more of a grunting while he sleeps gas as opposed to the screaming he was doing before.

Long story - I know. But just reading of some of M's issues made me feel like I should throw this suggestion into the ring. It is natural - can't hurt!

Even though L is sleeping now at the house, I'm okay if he has his naps out of the house because I'm functioning better because I get more sleep. Thank goodness!

Here are a few pics Hopefully I can come back and catch up on everyone else's babies soon!

 

[MuffDog]

Pancake, I'm sorry to hear about your father. I'm glad you're able to remember the good times.

S&I, we seem to have similar babies. Hearing from you always makes me feel hopeful that things will get better. I hope A's poop-a-thon is over soon.

NEL, how exciting that K is ready to start feeding 3x a day. I can imagine how stressful it must be to make all that food. I'm already worried about how I'm going to manage when the time comes.

Petite, when you say that L is awake 80-90% of the day, does that mean that she only sleeps a couple of hours during the day plus the 6 hours at night? So 8 hours total? I'm constantly worried that N is not getting enough sleep. When he gets less than 12 in a 24-hour period I freak out.

Question to all mamas who use carriers: do you let the baby nap in the carrier or do you set them down for naps? do you carry them around most of the day? how does it work?

AFU, N is one month old today! He's been on a sleep strike for a couple of days now. He'll still do a couple of 3-hour stretches at night but from around 5am to around 9pm it's really hard to get him to nap properly. He just does catnaps. Also, my nipples are still extremely sore and I experience a constant burning sensation which has me wondering how long I can keep breastfeeding. I wanted to do at least 6 months but it's only been a month now and I wonder how long I can keep going...

Mayerling - saw your comment re: constant burning with breastfeeding and I also had that. It started to go away after about 6 weeks. At first L had a shallow latch which I could tell because my nipple looked compressed when it came out of his mouth (kind of flat, some say compressed nipples look like lipstick). Once that was fixed, I noticed that when the burning occurred (which was frequently and often when I went into a cold store), there would be white areas on the nipple. Do you have that? I think they are vasospasms which are painful and are connected to past nipple trauma. When you feel the burning check out your nipples and see if you have that. I think Kellymom has a lot of info on them.

HTH!