PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[amc80]

Question for you guys... what time is bedtime? And how many hours of "night sleep" are your little ones getting? L has been going to bed around 9pm since she was probably 3 months old. She typically wakes up anywhere between 5am and 6:30am. Lately, she's been resisting her day naps, taking really short naps and/or dropping the late afternoon nap so she's pretty exhausted earlier in the evening although still happy and wanting to play. I haven't had any luck getting her to go down if I try around 7:30 or 8 though and she goes to sleep on her own and sleeps all night when she does go to bed at 9pm. But I'm worried that she's not getting enough "night sleep". I read something about how on average, babies around this age should be getting around 12 hours of night sleep and L is only getting between 8-9.

Welcome to the thread! I think B was going to sleep around 8:30/9 when he was that age as well. I was having a lot of sleep issues with him (as documented on this forum). I started putting him down a little earlier each night and for since 7 or 8 months his bed time has been about 7:15. We start bath time at 7, unless he's particularly fussy, in which case it's 6:45. Everything takes 15 minutes or so, so he's generally out by 7-7:15. He has also been having trouble with a late afternoon nap, which means he is often up from about 2pm until bed time, which is a long stretch for him. He can do 4 hours awake but that's really pushing it. He wakes up between 6:30am and 7:30, so he's getting 11-12 hours of sleep at night. His naps have been really short lately so he's sleeping maybe 2 hours total during the day. He STTN about half of the time, the other half he wants a bottle around midnight. I'd try making her bedtime earlier in small increments- maybe 10 minutes earlier per night.

 

[JGator]

Hi, Jfo, your daughter is 2 days older than K. Happy 7 month birthday to Lila. K goes to sleep around 9pm or 10pm. If it's just me with her it's 9pm, if her dad is home, it's often later. He's a bad influence on her sleep times. She currently is waking up around 3, 4, or 5 am for a bottle and then goes back to sleep until around 730am or 8am. Today, she woke up at 3am and again at 6am and then was up on and off from 6-8am. When the nanny is here, she has a good nap in the AM for 1.5 hours and another in the afternoon for about the same amount of time. With us, we are lucky to get 30 minute cat naps in her bouncy seat. K is not rolling over yet. She rolled over from tummy to back 3 times in one day about 2 weeks ago, but has not had a repeat performance and still hates tummy time. She is doing pretty well at sitting up these days though. Hopefully, the rolling over will come soon!

AFU, I forgot to mention earlier. We had a great trip to FL. K did not cry on the flight there or back home. She was awake during take off and landing and fell asleep for about an hour on each flight. I was so relieved. We had a 3-year old across the aisle from us on the flight down who was having a temper tantrum for the first 30 mins of the first flight. That took the pressure off! K enjoyed meeting her cousins and we took her to the beach for the first time. She liked the sand, but the water wasn't her favorite part of the beach!

 

[jfo]

Welcome to the thread! I think B was going to sleep around 8:30/9 when he was that age as well. I was having a lot of sleep issues with him (as documented on this forum). I started putting him down a little earlier each night and for since 7 or 8 months his bed time has been about 7:15. We start bath time at 7, unless he's particularly fussy, in which case it's 6:45. Everything takes 15 minutes or so, so he's generally out by 7-7:15. He has also been having trouble with a late afternoon nap, which means he is often up from about 2pm until bed time, which is a long stretch for him. He can do 4 hours awake but that's really pushing it. He wakes up between 6:30am and 7:30, so he's getting 11-12 hours of sleep at night. His naps have been really short lately so he's sleeping maybe 2 hours total during the day. He STTN about half of the time, the other half he wants a bottle around midnight. I'd try making her bedtime earlier in small increments- maybe 10 minutes earlier per night.

Thanks, AMC! I will try to put her down earlier in smaller increments as you suggest, so that it won't seem to be such a drastic change from before. If all goes well and she can go to bed at 8pm rather than 9pm and still sleep until 5 or 6am before needing a bottle, that would be fantastic. She probably could use that extra hour of sleep. But I hear you on the long stretch of awake time not being so great. L has recently been awake as long as from 2:30pm - 9pm which is simply not good for her or for us!

Waking up once a night for a bottle half the time isn't too bad! Is B able to be put down for bedtime without much fuss?

 

[jfo]

Hi, Jfo, your daughter is 2 days older than K. Happy 7 month birthday to Lila. K goes to sleep around 9pm or 10pm. If it's just me with her it's 9pm, if her dad is home, it's often later. He's a bad influence on her sleep times. She currently is waking up around 3, 4, or 5 am for a bottle and then goes back to sleep until around 730am or 8am. Today, she woke up at 3am and again at 6am and then was up on and off from 6-8am. When the nanny is here, she has a good nap in the AM for 1.5 hours and another in the afternoon for about the same amount of time. With us, we are lucky to get 30 minute cat naps in her bouncy seat. K is not rolling over yet. She rolled over from tummy to back 3 times in one day about 2 weeks ago, but has not had a repeat performance and still hates tummy time. She is doing pretty well at sitting up these days though. Hopefully, the rolling over will come soon!

AFU, I forgot to mention earlier. We had a great trip to FL. K did not cry on the flight there or back home. She was awake during take off and landing and fell asleep for about an hour on each flight. I was so relieved. We had a 3-year old across the aisle from us on the flight down who was having a temper tantrum for the first 30 mins of the first flight. That took the pressure off! K enjoyed meeting her cousins and we took her to the beach for the first time. She liked the sand, but the water wasn't her favorite part of the beach!

Hi JGator! Thanks so much! Happy 7 month birthday to K! Can you believe how quickly time has flown by?

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with a baby this age who has a later bedtime. If we didn't have to be in my car by 7am to get to daycare and for me to get to work, I probably wouldn't care so much what her bedtime was because she might be able to go back to sleep after her morning bottle and get to the 11-12 hour "night sleep" mark. Ah well, we'll figure it out.

Yeah, the day time napping is just all over the place. That's great your nanny can get her down for two good length naps during the day. Our daycare usually has pretty good success in getting her to nap every 2-3 hours, but even they have had trouble getting her to nap in the afternoon recently. She doesn't fuss, but you can tell she's tired and resisting it like crazy. She does this funny head shake. I think she's just too excited to play and babble.

That's great that K is sitting up well and I bet she will be rolling over really soon! Also, that's great that she did so well on the flights to/from FL and you had a nice trip! Did you guys spend time at the beach or pool? We'll be flying to Florida for a week in late July and that will be our first flight with L. It's supposed to be a 2 hour flight, so not too bad. She'll be close to 9 months at that point and we're holding her in our lap, so that part could really prove to be interesting... She already is getting so wriggly while we hold her.

 

[amc80]

Is B able to be put down for bedtime without much fuss?

It really depends on the night. Some nights I put him in his crib, give him a bottle, and he goes right to sleep. Other nights he screams for 45 minutes. I can't figure out a rhyme or reason to it...other than he just doesn't want to go to sleep yet.

 

[Dandi]

Hi ladies!

Well we survived Oscar's first fever, phew! Poor little man, on Saturday night he was up 3 times which is out of character for him, so I knoew something was amiss... he is always so full of energy and chatting like a monkey in the mornings, but instead he slept until 10am, and when I got him up all he did was moan and cry huge tears. He spent the entire day with his head snuggled into my shoulder, crying his poor old eyes out. His temp was 39 celcius, which had me very nervous initially. Thankfully some Paracetamol brought it down and he got some sleep, but pretty much wanted to stay in my arms and feed aaaaall day. Poor little sausage, gosh it was like having a newborn again for the day (which admittedly, I kind of liked ). He did the mother of all poos in the afternoon and seemed to be a bit happier then. I put him to bed that night and checked him a few times, thankfully he had cooled right down. He awoke on Monday morning as if nothing had happened! He developed a really nasty nappy rash almost overnight too, so I was wondering if he was teething, given all the classic signs. But nope, no teeth! Just a very bad day, the poor fella.

He has finally started to enjoy his rice cereal, since I have started mixing it with apple or pear, depending what's on hand. I've been giving his a couple of tablespoons around lunchtime and then again for dinner, as I have yet to find a vegetable he is keen on! It's so hard to work out how to fit solids in with his breastfeeding, I imagine he is still supposed to be having 5-6 breastfeeds a day?! Any advice on this? I've just been slotting his solids in between feeds, but of course then he isn't terribly hungry. I'm trying to encourage solids because he has just started waking at about 3am for feeds in the last week, so I figure he is hungry...???
Oh and in other news, he rolled from back to tummy today for the first time EVER! That said it was in his cot so the softer surface probably gave him some leverage, but hey, I'll take it!

Hope everyone is doing great with their beautiful babies! Here are a few recent pics of our little dude, now 5.5 months old already.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Dandi, love your little blondie. He is just getting cuter and cuter, if that is even possible Ev is not a fan of any veggies other than sweet potatoes. I'm going to try to add a few more over the next few weeks to try to find some he likes. Carrots and peas are definitely out! Oh, and Ev has finally mastered the rolling from back to front too (although he's a couple months older than O). It's so funny because for the past few months he would do it accidentally once in awhile and then freak out when he ended up on his tummy, but now that he is in control, he is SO proud of himself and just belly laughs every time. Last night, he rolled three full turns in a row until he was about 10 feet away from me, and then he started pounded his chest to show just how proud of himself he was. Such a fun age!

Welcome jfo! Always fun to have another person with whom to share and compare baby stories! It sounds like our little ones have very similar sleeping schedules, and I too wonder if he gets enough solid sleep at night. He usually takes a bit of a nap after daycare around 6 or 6:30, and then he wakes up and wants to eat again. We usually get him to bed anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30, but he usually has one or two fussy periods after that, and sometimes needs another bottle. He gets up around 5-6 am. Plus, he is such a cat napperand doesn't get the best naps during the day. He's still taking about 3 a day on average. The longest stretch he ever gets is about an hour. It's hard when you are working full-time to get a good schedule, but we're doing our best, and he seems to be thriving, so I'm not too worried.

JGator, sounds like you're trip was a great success! Thanks for the input on the food. I would say Ev is still drinking about 7 bottles a day, and he takes 5 ounces each time. He is only get about 2 ounces of purees a day, but I'm going to keep working at it and try to find the best time to feed him when he is hungry enough to be interested but not too hungry to throw a fit about not having a bottle. He had apples and apricots last night. I didn't think he'd like it because it was really tart, but I think it was his favorite so far, other than sweet potatoes.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

 

[sunnyd]

Quick fly by post...hi everyone!

MP, we've had a lot more luck with fruits. H is loving applesauce and strawberries mixed with rice cereal (to make it less tart). Now to start hiding the veggies in there! Corn was a smaller success, but we didn't have a puree-er with us so mashed with a fork meant no chewing and chunks of corn showing up the next day. Ew.

H is a mover and a shaker these days...crawling all over the place, pulling herself up on the coffee table, letting go of the coffee table...usually ending in faceplant. She's even figured out the step up from the family room to the kitchen! This kid is growing up way too fast!!

Glad to see everyone doing well, I hope I can check in again soon!

 

[amc80]

Quick fly by post...hi everyone!

MP, we've had a lot more luck with fruits. H is loving applesauce and strawberries mixed with rice cereal (to make it less tart). Now to start hiding the veggies in there! Corn was a smaller success, but we didn't have a puree-er with us so mashed with a fork meant no chewing and chunks of corn showing up the next day. Ew.

H is a mover and a shaker these days...crawling all over the place, pulling herself up on the coffee table, letting go of the coffee table...usually ending in faceplant. She's even figured out the step up from the family room to the kitchen! This kid is growing up way too fast!!

Glad to see everyone doing well, I hope I can check in again soon!

B hated vegetables. I figured out I could mix just about anything with a fruit and he'd eat it, though. Now he will eat some purees on their own- corn, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes (all sweet stuff, but better than nothing).

 

[Kunzite]

We're one

 

[Kunzite]

 

[lulu66]

So cute!! Happy birthday to your handsome boys, kunzite!

 

[Skippy123]

One already?!?!! how did that happen!!! aww, happy birthday boys!

 

[dani13]

Happy birthday boys!!! They are just so cute! Your pics are the best!

Ps-Where did you get those adorable shirts?

 

[monkeyprincess]

Kunzite, so cute!!! Happy birthday E and M! Wow, that went fast!

 

[JGator]

Kunzite, Miles and Elliot are just too adorable for words! Love it. Thanks for sharing! Happy 1st birthday.

 

[mayerling]

Hi ladies

I know I haven't posted in AGES but I read along every day. I thought I'd better pop in since N will be 11 months soon and we'll be moving to the toddler thread in no time. So here's how things are going right now:

1. Sleep: After a 9-month sleep regression which coincided with a bad cold and resulted in multiple night wakings, he's back to STTN (for him that's about 10 hours) half the time, and one wake up for a paci the other half. Still falls asleep on his own at bedtime, still rocked to sleep for his two naps. Also, he's still on a 3/3.5/4 routine. I don't think he'll move to one nap any time soon.

2. Eating: He's been very difficult lately. He loves bread but I think that's because it's the only thing (or one of the few things) he can eat on his own. He only has two teeth still so I can't figure out what finger foods to give and he's starting to resist the purees.

3. Crawling/cruising: He's on the go all the time these days, but hasn't tried to take steps on his own. He's figured out how to crawl onto the first step of the stairs but no further.

4. Speaking: He's still babbling away, and still says 'mamma' meaningfully. I don't expect him to pick up any words soon because of the bilingualism issue, but I think DH is better at pointing things out and naming them than I am, so he'll probably produce English words first.

5. Pointing: He started doing this a couple of weeks ago. I think it was mastering using his index finger because pointing popped up at the same time as his pincer grasp.

 

[Kunzite]

Thank you ladies! This last year was the fastest AND slowest year of my life

Dani, the shirts are from Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/transaction/124259203

 

[jfo]

Dandi, I'm so glad that Oscar is feeling better and it only lasted a day. Having a fever and feeling bad just totally sucks. Gosh, O is just so cute! Nice work on rolling to his tummy!

Welcome jfo! Always fun to have another person with whom to share and compare baby stories! It sounds like our little ones have very similar sleeping schedules, and I too wonder if he gets enough solid sleep at night. He usually takes a bit of a nap after daycare around 6 or 6:30, and then he wakes up and wants to eat again. We usually get him to bed anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30, but he usually has one or two fussy periods after that, and sometimes needs another bottle. He gets up around 5-6 am. Plus, he is such a cat napperand doesn't get the best naps during the day. He's still taking about 3 a day on average. The longest stretch he ever gets is about an hour. It's hard when you are working full-time to get a good schedule, but we're doing our best, and he seems to be thriving, so I'm not too worried.

Thanks, MP! It's good to hear that other babies around the same age as L have a similar sleeping schedule. It seems that whenever I talk to my friends about their little ones (who are all older--we are late in the game having a kid), they all tell me how their guy/gal was sleeping from 6pm until 7am at this age! Of course, that could be selective memory too

sunnyd, wow, that's awesome that H is crawling and pulling herself up! How old is she again? Boy, in a lot of ways, I can't wait until L is doing all that, but I'm also thinking... how am I ever going to baby-proof everything?

Kunzite, happy 1st birthday to M and E!! They are absolutely adorable and look like they had a great time eating cake.

mayerling, sounds like N is growing up fast. Glad that he is back to STTN at least half the time. That sounds so cute that he's pointing now!

AFU, we went to visit my DH's sister and family this weekend to celebrate our niece's 1st birthday. It was a pool party, and L went swimming for the first time. She absolutely loved it. I even "dunked" her 3 times (I would make eye contact with her, count to 3 and then quickly, but decisively bring her head underwater) and she would come up out of the water with a HUGE smile on her face.
I think I need to look into infant swim classes this summer...

 

[fisherofmengirly]

This thread has always seemed to move too fast for me, but I wanted to post pics of our daughter because I know a lot of people here have prayed for her to arrive for years. She's doing well, has some gas/fussiness issues right now, but this is minor in the scheme of things. She is healthy, vibrant, beautiful, delightful and a pure joy to us.

We changed formula to sensitive this week (I have to supplement due to supply issues), and we are hopeful that it will be a successful change for her little tummy.

Being a mom is a dream come true. There are struggle and hard moments (C had difficulty gaining weight in the first three weeks, the first few weeks of breast feeding were sooo hard, and hearing your baby cry and not knowing how to help her is heart wrenching), but the snuggles, the eye contact, the desire she has for me and only me when she needs to be comforted, watching my hubs hold and talk to her... So worth all of the difficult stuff. Gosh how we love her!!!

 

[monarch64]

Fisher, she's amazing! Thank you for sharing a picture. I wish you and your family the best.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Fisher, she is absolutely beautiful!! Another PSer once said that being a mom makes you feel things deeper. So the highs are higher and the lows are lower. I'm so happy that things are going well (for the most part) and it really does get easier.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Fisher, thanks for updating us and sharing a picture. She looks so very sweet and loveable! I can't even tell you how happy I am for you. And the great thing about this parenthood thing is that you just fall more and more in love with them as the weeks and months go by.

 

[Dandi]

Oh my goodness fisher she is just so stunning, a true beauty like her mamma! And yes, those first weeks and months are certainly a challenge, but admittedly it's hard to remember all those trying times now... life as a mumma is just so good! And I agree on the breastfeeding front, there's no way of preparing you for how difficult it is! You're doing an amazing job, she is the picture of health and happiness!!!

 

[jfo]

Fisher, what a gorgeous little girl you have! Congratulations!! So glad that things are going well!

 

[Dandi]

Haha mp that is SO CUTE about Ev and his rolling, he sounds so pleased with himself!! Yep I tried Oscar on carrot too, he hated it! The last couple of days he's been chugging down his pumpkin, and cereal mixed with apple, so I think we are making a tiny bit of progress on the solids front! He has been STTN again and not waking hungry overnight, so something must be hitting his tummy! He grabbed the banana I was eating the other day and shoved it in his mouth, the look of horror was hysterical when he realised it had flavour!

Thanks jfo, you are so right, it is heartbreaking to see our bubbas unwell. Like you said, thankfully it was only a day long thing. I love that L enjoyed her first swim! I've been wondering when it is a good time to start Oscar swimming... although I'd better leave it for a few months as it's winter here, brrrr!

Kunzite, your men are just so so gorgeous!!! How on earth has it come about that they are 1 already?!?!?! Love their t-shirts and the cakes!

Hello to everyone else!

 

[monkeyprincess]

Pretty quiet around here. Hope everyone is doing well!

We took Ev to see a plastic surgeon yesterday, and we liked him better than the other surgeon who was scheduled to do the surgery next week and feel more confident he will do a good job of removing Ev's dermoid cyst and leaving a minimal scar, but now we have to push the surgery out a few more months. I hate having it hang over my head, and I wish could just have it behind us. I think Ev's top front teeth are about to come down. He has been a lot more irritable the past few days, so I'm guessing that is the cause. Poor little thing. Are any of you feeding your babies solids other than purees? What did you start with and when? Ev seems so interested in watching us eat, so it seems like he should be ready to want to try more things, but I'm a little nervous about it.

Here's a recent pic of the little guy.

 

[amc80]

Pretty quiet around here. Hope everyone is doing well!

We took Ev to see a plastic surgeon yesterday, and we liked him better than the other surgeon who was scheduled to do the surgery next week and feel more confident he will do a good job of removing Ev's dermoid cyst and leaving a minimal scar, but now we have to push the surgery out a few more months. I hate having it hang over my head, and I wish could just have it behind us. I think Ev's top front teeth are about to come down. He has been a lot more irritable the past few days, so I'm guessing that is the cause. Poor little thing. Are any of you feeding your babies solids other than purees? What did you start with and when? Ev seems so interested in watching us eat, so it seems like he should be ready to want to try more things, but I'm a little nervous about it.

Here's a recent pic of the little guy.

I'm glad you feel comfortable with the surgeon! Too bad you have to wait a few more months, but likely the surgeon is a huge bonus.

We started giving B solids other than purees around 7 months I think. He wanted nothing to do with them and would gag. We are letting him try whatever we are eating. He doesn't like much but we've had success with rice and guacamole. Most foods still end up on the floor. I asked day care to start giving him real food as well (two snacks and lunch are included in the fee), just to get him familiar. Yesterday he was giving a turkey sandwich (well, small pieces of it) and watermelon and refused both. Sigh.

 

[jfo]

Dandi, you could probably start Oscar on swimming really anytime now if you can find an indoor pool, especially since he's close to 6 months old. I have heard that once a baby is around 6 months old, they can better self-regulate their body temperature, so that's usually a great time to start.

MP, that's great that you have found a surgeon that you feel very comfortable with. I am sorry that it will be a bit longer before the surgery though--I hear you on wanting it to be over with!

I tried giving L some puffs recently along with her purees and she had no interest. No interest in practicing to pick them up from her tray and when I put it on a spoon with her pureed veggies and put it in her mouth, she made a disgusted face and pushed it out with her tongue. So I guess she's not quite ready yet. I'll probably try again in another week or two and in the meantime see if she has any interest in a mashed up banana or avocado to get her used to a chunkier texture. Has Ev tried anything like that yet?

By the way, E is adorable!! He's looking more and more like a little boy than an infant with his longer hair!

 

[amc80]

I just ordered invitations for B's 1st birthday. How in the world is he almost a year old??

We drove up to Oregon last week. DH's family is there. We last visited when B was about a month old....much more difficult this time. He protests (loudly) when in the car, which is super fun on an 8 hour trip. Plus he's basically a holy terror 80% of the time. He is into EVERYTHING. And I'm guessing most parents of 10 month olds don't have to worry about their babies grabbing stuff off counters. But I suppose that's what happens when you have a 10 month old trapped in an 18 month old's body He's also in a slapping/pinching/grabbing phase that is no fun for anyone involved. If there is any way to discipline an infant I'd love to hear it.

Everyone always says how much B looks like DH's dad. We were visiting DH's grandma (his dad's mom) and I asked if she had any baby pics. HOLY COW they could be twins. Check it out-

B at 10 months


DH's dad at 2 years


I hope everyone is doing well!

ETA- One more pic, cuz it's cute It's his morning bed head.