PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Sha]

so cute, MP!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

MP-I am SO happy for you!!!!! Your O sounds a lot like my E, hang on b/c the wild ride just keeps coming! His fierce little 2-year old self is more than keeping us on our toes.

N is adorable and I am so, so, so very glad to hear that she is at home. Wishing you all good health, sleep, and a wonderful time bonding as a family!

 

[Laila619]

MP, your twins are such dolls!! O does look like a clever, cheeky little guy who will give you a run for your money. And N is just so sweet. She looks like a little angel.

 

[April20]

MP the twins are just too cute!! I'm so glad N is home and with you all.


We have been in Charleston the last couple days for a quick getaway. Our anniversary is tomorrow so we decided to steal away. Eliza is with us so it's not a romantic getaway. Especially since she's sleeping between us....

We went to visit a plantation today that had a petting zoo. They had several deer, one of which was very friendly. It let her pet it and it licked her. She was so excited, especially since the dog avoids her at all costs (she pulls his ears). We also went to the beach so she could see the ocean and put her feet in the water for the first time. She's wasn't overly impressed with that! I'm going to post a couple pics.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Loves Vintage]

April - E is a doll!! That first photo is so good! I love her dress!! Did someone make it? The pattern is adorable. Love the hat too! But the expression on E's face is perfection!!

 

[April20]

Thank you. We think she's a doll too! The dress is from Baby Gap. I got it on crazy clearance last fall and it finally fits. She likes to pose for pics when she's in a good mood, it makes it easier to get good pics!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

All of the kidlets are so beautiful, I can't wait to bring Benjamin to meet some animals, it looks like a blast!

He's doing really well. At his 3 month appointment he was about 12.5lbs, skinny guy, but 24" long so doing well. We had him evaluated for a helmet today to help shape his now fully calcified hematoma. We just need clearance from neuro and insurance approval and we'll be going with the helmet. He's generally a happy and very chatty little man, he sits up well with assistance and loves to stand with some help. He'll be starting solids at 4 months and we'll follow his pace from there. Sleep training went really well and he officially STTN from 8:30 or so to 8am. No night feeds, nothing. Hopefully we can keep it this way. I have to whole week off coming up and I'm so happy to spend it with my little guy!

 

[Skippy123]

aww, such beautiful babies in this thread!!! Congrats ladies, they look like pure joy!

assherhelolover, yay for STTN!!!

 

[monkeyprincess]

April, E is so adorable. She looks like such a little lady in her hat and dress.

AHL, B keeps getting bigger and bigger and cuter and cuter. Glad to hear he's doing well. Hopefully, the helmet won't be too big of a deal and goes quickly. I've heard babies aren't too bothered by them once they get used to it.

Thanks Sha, Bella and Laila! Nora has officially been home four weeks, and she is doing really well. Knock on wood! She has started rolling over from back to front and getting a bit better at holding her head up for longer periods. Baby steps, but she is getting there. O doing great and keeping me on my toys, as is his big brother. It's exhausting keeping up with all three, but pretty amazing at the same time.

 

[JGator]

Hi, everyone long time no post!

MP, how are the twins and Ev? I hope N is adjusting well to life at home with her brothers. Do you have all 3 of them in your SIL's daycare? How is work going for you? Do you get any sleep? K still comes to our bed every night around 2 or 3am. I feel like I am playing whack a mole with the wakeups from kids all night long.

AHL, how is sleeping going? I hope he stuck with it on the STTN. I know the 4 month regression can throw things out the window. Is everything going okay with the helmet?

April, love the dress and hat combo. So cute!!! Glad she liked the petting zoo and ocean. We took N to the zoo and he didn't really seem to notice anything!

Neel just turned 8 months on Sunday. Life has been busy. Work has been hard. A lot changed after maternity leave in my responsibilities at work, and I'm just plain tired. My in-laws are possibly buying a condo 4 miles from our house! They have an accepted contract, but just need to go through inspections before it's a done deal. They live in Europe now. We are visiting them in 2 weeks for 10 days. Wish us luck on the plane and sleeping there with a 6 hour time difference! N has been waking typically 2 times/night to eat which is exhausting me. 1am-ish and 4am-ish. Sometimes he throws in a 3rd wakeup. At his last doctor appt at 6 months, he dropped from 50% to 33% for weight so I'm concerned he's not getting enough breast milk or I would likely try to get the night feeds eliminated. I guess I'm just waiting till the 9 month appt to see if he's doing okay now that he's eating some solids. He is 18 lbs and 8 oz per our scale at home. I tried BLW, but stopped because I was too nervous about choking. He eats yogurt, veg/fruit baby food pouches, and puffs right now. He started crawling before he sat up around 6.5 months. He is pulling up on everything in sight and trying to cruise. I think he will be an early walker. This is all new to me as K was a scooter and never crawled. She also was not as adventurous as N. I call him Curious George all the time. So, we will need to get to baby proofing more than we did previously. N is very happy and smiley as long as it's not the middle of the night when he's crying his head off for food!!!

 

[Laila619]

Aww, JGator, he is such a cutie pie!! My MIL swears by "second child syndrome." She says they are usually much more adventurous and tend to keep parents on their toes far more than the first born. I hope he will start sleeping through the night soon for you!

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

It's so nice to see your little loves Jgator! I hope N gives you a break on the night feedings soon.

Benjamin took to STTN very well, his 4 month "regression" was about 1 night of constant wake-ups and that was it! We just stuck to our program and kept it moving. He is still a "small" baby, only 25% for length, 15% for weight, and about 10% for head. With that said, he's ahead on many milestones. Little man sits unassisted for 15-20 minutes, rolls, chats away, has two teeth, and is just the happiest little guy. We ended up not going forward with the helmet, the insurance won't cover it and 2-3k is just not going to happen. As his head grows (slow as it may be) it is becoming less and less noticeable. He's been really enjoying food, we've gone the traditional route for starting off but have already been giving him bits of "real" but pretty plain food. He is able to pick things up and put them in his mouth. Once we're out of the jarred food we'll likely just go on our own with table food. His 6 month birthday is rapidly approaching and we just can't believe it!

I hope all of the babies and mommies are thriving and I can't wait for more updates!

 

[monkeyprincess]

Hi JGator, haven't talked to you in awhile. Your kiddos are beautiful as usual. So sweet seeing them together, right? N is so handsome with his little man hairdo and K just gets more and more beautiful. Our O is also a wild man - much more so than E ever was. He was cruising like crazy at 9 months, but waited until he turned 11 months to start walking. But once he took his first step, he was already walking like a pro. We have had to gate our play room to try to keep him contained, otherwise, he makes a beeline for the kitchen, bathroom or pantry and wreaks havoc. Sorry you're having so many night time wakenings. O still usually wakes up once a night for a bottle. Every few nights, he'll sleep through the night, but it's not enough for my taste! E is still sleeping in the master bedroom with DH, while I sleep in N's room. I think we're close to shutting that arrangement down and having me return to the bedroom, but it won't be easy now that E is so used to to it.

AHL, your little guy is getting so big!

I have outgrown this thread, as the twins are now one. Our life is still pretty chaotic, but things are going pretty well. And I finally feel like we have a handle on being a family of five, some days at least. N has returned to the hospital a couple more times, but for much shorter stays. She's coming along developmentally (rolls like crazy and can sit up with a little propping). She obviously still has a long way to go to catch up, but she's a little champ and so determined. She has the sweetest personality and is such a breath of fresh air compared to her crazy, willful and emotional twin brother. So funny to see how different each of the three kids' personalities are. I just love them all like crazy! Attaching a pic of the twins on their birthday!

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Gotta throw in a pic of Benjamin for his 8th month!

He sits, he pulls up on everything any anything, he has seven teeth, and he's such a happy baby! We did have his tongue and lip tie revised and even though the breastfeeding train had passed it was well worth it. After he was done healing he started really being able to chew food, stick his tongue out of his mouth, blow raspberries, drink from a straw, and he's finally starting to make consonant sounds!

He has continued sleeping through the night (yay!!!!!) and is just generally very easy going.

 

[April20]

AHL, he is adorable! And he's pulling up already?? Eliza just started regularly pulling up within the last month. She's 14 months next Monday and not walking yet and at the rate Benjamin is going, he's going to beat her! He already has her beat in teeth, she cut her 6th tooth just last month. Her first tooth didn't cut until 9.5 months!

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

April20 he started pulling up just past seven months! He's already cruising on furniture and the baby gates. He's following after me and I was walking by 10 months, I'm hoping I get a little longer out of him but I'm not sure! I was the same with teeth, I had all of my teeth by 1 year. I already made his first appointment with the pediatric dentist! It's going by too fast!

 

[JGator]

AHL, B is so adorable! I'm glad he is doing so well.

April, hi! Our Daughter walked at 14 months and got her first tooth at 11 months. Don't worry about the milestones. They all do everything eventually including potty training!

AFU, N is almost 11 months old. He has been walking for about 3 weeks. He is getting more steady, but still falls a lot. He has a lot of bumps and bruises. He has 6 teeth, but I think more are on their way. He also is very happy except in the middle of the night. He was up only once last night at 3am, but 3 times the night before. So, we are not STTN yet! N also is a big eater and eats more than his almost 4 year old sister does which is mind boggling to me. He is relatively small at around 20 lbs, but I think that's due to his activity. He's always moving. K and N get along most of the time, but she hates it when he touches her toys, and he is always touching and knocking over everything. We had to baby proof much more with him than his big sister as he's always looking for weaknesses. He's fascinated with how things work - he takes the drain plug out of the bathtub at the end of every bath. He tries to get his hands in the toilet anytime there is an opportunity. He also runs for the dishwasher whenever it's open and tries to pull everything out. All laundry baskets within reach end up being emptied! Fun times!!

 

[JGator]

MP, i forgot you! Sorry about that! Hope all is well with N and O. They are adorable and I cannot believe they are already 1! Love the cake eating picture. I hope things have settled into a new normal routine for you.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Benjamin is just over 10.5 months! He's walking, has 12 teeth, says "Mama" to me and "meow" to the cats, still sleeps through the night, and is overall such a happy little boy. He's starting to show his personality and what he understands more and more each day now. Just yesterday he carried a box across the living room and tried to use it to climb onto the coffee table. Just reminds me how smart babies really are! We're using this picture for Christmas cards, happy holidays to all!

 

[Dandi]

Benjamin is gorgeous AHL!!! What a divine card pic, he must melt a lot of hearts!! I wish Emm would say mama, everything is dadadadadada. Little monkey.

You reminded me I really should post an updated pic, it's been aaaages. Emm is also 10.5 months and is pure and utter joy wrapped in a tiny girl. She's still in some 3-6 month sized clothing and has the teeniest hands and feet I've ever seen. Loves meat and green veggies, baths and her poppy (my dad). Hates avocado and having her hair brushed. So small, yet so opinionated.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

DA thank you! She looks like such a joy!

 

[evergreen]

Aww, love the baby pics!!

Little boy will be 4 weeks tomorrow, so finally moving over here from the pregnant thread. (I hate change. But such a delightful place with the adorable pictures!) Can't wait til we get a social smile going...

To join the parade of cute babies, here's little one on DH's chest doing his tummy time... reluctantly. (We have a decorative LED light in the nursery which is set to a soothing & melatonin-non-disrupting red for middle-of-the-night feeds, hence the strange colors.)

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Awwww EG so precious! We were also very careful with middle of the night behavior from the get go and so far so good! I wish you continued luck and if you have any Q's on sleep training let me know!

 

[evergreen]

Haha AHL I have *all* the questions about sleep training. but I think 4 weeks, breastfed, is too early to hope/think about stretching out his intervals. (That said, last night he fed at 9pm, 1:30am, and 5 am... which was AMAZING. He had a small tongue tie clipped yesterday and I wouldn't have expected it to make much difference in his nursing efficiency - we're still using a nipple shield until we see lactation later this week - but oh how I hope that's the case, that somehow he's extracting enough now to sleep for 3-4 hours between feeds!)

When did you start sleep training? And before you started in earnest, what bad habits did you try to avoid developing? We are, I'm sad to say, sleeping in the Rock n Play almost exclusively (Argh, American academy of pediatrics, sometimes something's gotta give for parental sanity!)...

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I know I have no business in this thread (though who can avoid these cute pics of newborns?!), but wanted to share a few sleep training tips that worked for me since I started sleep training really early. I'll try to keep this as concise as I can!

1. First, I practiced what the French call "the pause". I can't remember when I started it, but it was definitely before 6 weeks. Basically when my kids started to cry in the middle of the night, I wouldn't immediately feed them. My older daughter used a paci, so I would try the paci first. I used a "three strikes" rule--if she started crying, I'd give her the paci. Second time she cried, same thing. The third time she cried, I'd feed her. Both of my kids pretty much had the same schedule from birth--they'd dream feed around 11pm, then they had a 3am feeding and a 7am feeding. I focused on that 3am feeding--trying to stretch it out. Eventually it went to 4am, then 5am, etc., until they dropped it altogether. I think my first started STTN (11pm dream feed - 7am feed) at 8 or 10 weeks? My second was faster--I think around 6 weeks, but she sucked on her fingers, so she would self-soothe herself really easily. I can't remember when they dropped the dream feed, but I want to say that it was around 12 weeks? I don't have my baby book in front of me to check.

2. I started having both my kids nap in the crib just so they'd get used to it (we also used the rock 'n' play exclusively at night). Not every nap, but maybe once I day, I'd try to get a little crib time in with naps.

I think those are the only things did before 6 weeks. But at 6 weeks, I started a little more training:
3. Around 6 weeks, I started the Sleep, eat, play routine. If I remember correctly, at first they would only be awake for the eating and playing for maybe an hour before they were right back to sleep. By 12 weeks or so, they could stay up for an hour an a half or longer. But the emphasis is making sure the sleep happens after playing, not while feeding.

4. Around 6 weeks, I also had them start to fall asleep with me not holding them. After they'd eaten and played for a bit, I'd rock them a little, but not let them fall asleep. Once they got those heavy eyes, I'd put them in the crib (or in a pack and play we kept downstairs in our house). This one was a bit tough for me because I LIKED having them fall asleep in my arms, but I knew they'd both be starting daycare at 16 weeks and I wanted to make sure they could fall asleep for naps on their own without being held, so I started that early.

I didn't do this EVERY time...mainly because (especially with my second), I was on the go all the time. So I found myself wearing her a lot. If she fell asleep while I was at Target, so be it. But if we were at home, I'd put her down when she was drowsy.

5. At maybe 12 weeks both girls were pretty consistently taking 4 naps per day, but I didn't consider it a "schedule" until they were on 3 naps per day @ 14 weeks or so. By then they could stay up for about 2 hours at a time. So they were up at 7am, then down for the first nap at 9am (1 hour nap). Then down again at noon for the long mid-day nap (until 2:30). Then the last nap was a shorter one 4:30 - 5 or 5:15, then down for the night again at 7pm. For me, I really focused on how long they were awake, not how long they slept. If either of my girls were up for more than 2 hours, they would get overtired and then it was much harder to put them down. They were both really good nappers, though, by the time they were on a schedule, they were used to the crib, used to self-soothing and used to not eating right before sleeping, so that really helped with getting them down easily.

6. I kept the night routine the exact same every night (literally it has been the same for nearly 5 years, when I brought my first home from the hospital). Bedtime, storytime, then bedtime. At that age, bedtime was 7pm (now it's 8pm for both girls). For me, the night routine is a time to unwind and I like for it to be calm.

7. We moved both girls out of the rock and play and into their own rooms/crib at 10 or 12 weeks--basically when they started STTN and I no longer needed to get up and feed them. I can't remember, but I think I had them in the rock and play in their own room for a night or two before putting them in the crib. That transition was smooth for us.

I'm caveating all of this by saying that I'm a very solutions-oriented person. And I wasn't into co-sleeping (both times I literally danced around my room when we got our bedroom back). So clearly what works for me won't work for other people. And I'm very much in the "moms should support each other, not critique each other" camp, so I completely understand that moms have different approaches and there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for every family. I think that so long as everybody is GETTING SLEEP, then that's what matters most. But all of this worked really well for us and both of my girls were super star sleepers. I do think a big part of this is that they were naturally good sleepers, but I think that establishing the routine and self-soothing early on really helped us from needing heavy sleep training down the road. They are now nearly five years and nearly three years old and bedtime/naptime are non-issues for us. They both love going to bed and it's very rare that one of them wakes up and needs me. GOOD LUCK!

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Haha AHL I have *all* the questions about sleep training. but I think 4 weeks, breastfed, is too early to hope/think about stretching out his intervals. (That said, last night he fed at 9pm, 1:30am, and 5 am... which was AMAZING. He had a small tongue tie clipped yesterday and I wouldn't have expected it to make much difference in his nursing efficiency - we're still using a nipple shield until we see lactation later this week - but oh how I hope that's the case, that somehow he's extracting enough now to sleep for 3-4 hours between feeds!)

When did you start sleep training? And before you started in earnest, what bad habits did you try to avoid developing? We are, I'm sad to say, sleeping in the Rock n Play almost exclusively (Argh, American academy of pediatrics, sometimes something's gotta give for parental sanity!)...

We moved him into his own crib in his own room at two weeks, I pretty much followed "The Baby Sleep Solution" to a T. Very quick and easy read, well worth the $10. It can be a little for difficult for breastfeeding moms but babies will adapt with our guidance. By 12 weeks he was down to sleeping from 8-6am with a small bottle at 6 and his first real "meal" at 8. By 14 weeks we completely eliminated all feeds except daytime. By 7 months we took away the pacifier. They boy is nearly 11 months and sleeps like a rock. The worst night we've had was him waking up to cry for a few minutes every few hours, we have not taken him out of his crib once since he was 14 weeks. Not once.

Right now you're just practicing good habits, we started "encouraging" things around 8 weeks. Worth it.

 

[evergreen]

NEL and AHL, omigoodness, so helpful. Thank you both very deeply, I especially appreciate the "so-and-so week, we did this" parts. NEL, thrilled you popped in to offer such a comprehensive description of your experience, which I hope & pray I'll be able to emulate. We are already doing the pause. His overnight feeding intervals are so variable that I think it's too early to stretch anything out but hopefully over the next 2-4 weeks we'll move toward a more regular schedule. I go back to work at 9 weeks of age so it sure would be nice to cut down on the number of overnight feeds before then! I'll make more of a point to let Alec spend time in his crib during the day to get used to the idea... fighting that fight overnight, when the RnP works so well to soothe him to sleep, is probably beyond me and DH at this point.

AHL, thansk for the recommendation -- I do have "12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks Old" which doesn't sound quite right for breastfed but maybe with some modifications it could work (same author as Baby Sleep Solution -- I think it's pretty much the same book). Were you exclusively breastfeeding (and/or pumping-->bottle), or formula-feeding? The benchmarks I've seen suggest 1-1.25oz breastmilk per hour between feeds, and going 10 hours adds up to a mindbogglingly large amount of milk, I don't know how my breasts (or his stomach) could possibly hold that much! Although 10 hours between feeds sounds like absolute heaven.

So much for that glimmer of optimism with his sustained periods of sleep night-before-last... just to prove the point, he fed every 1.5-2h last night. We might be cluster feeding today, though (it's not totally obvious to me, it's not 1 breast, other breast, back to first breast, insatiably, he's just fussy between feeds and rooting every 1-1.5h), so maybe this is a growth spurt.

Um, I have another question, and asking it kind of makes me feel like a bad mom but still -- how do you play with a newborn? I talk to him & sing to him and we do have some of those black-and-white, high-contrast newborn books but I might as well be reading the Economist while showing him pictures of dots and targets and baby faces. (I tried narrating a book about dots. I just couldn't come up with much more to day than, "Dots, dots, dots! Black dots! White dots! Dots in a square!"... and then I flipped the book over & read it "backwards"...) Anyway. He doesn't do much although he stares at me, stares at the book, etc. Is that playing?

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

I pretty much always exclusively pumped and bottle feed supplementing formula as needed. I found it easier because I knew exactly how much he was eating. That's the challenge for EBF babies. I went back to work at 6 weeks so we had to sleep train.

All babies at that age cab really do is observe. Just watching you go about your daily tasks and talking to them is really all of the engagement they need. It's very easy to overstimulate so don't worry too much. Baby is very busy still figuring out where they are. If you have read anything about the developmental leaps I found all of that helpful to understand their world somewhat.

 

[ladyciel]

Like Evergreen, it's time for me to move from the preggo thread to this one. Our little Dorah is 2.5 weeks and a few ounces above her birthweight now. We're really happy about her weight gain, given the feeding difficulties and weight loss she had for the first week because of a tongue tie. We had it clipped at 5 days old, it took a couple days for her to really get the hang of using her tongue properly, and at this point my nipples are pretty much healed and I'm no longer beholden to the tubes of lanolin stationed at every spot I feed her. She went from having only 1 or 2 wet and 2-3 dirty diapers a day that first week, even with supplementing, to now, where I swear she can't keep a diaper clean for more than 10 minutes. There is always some amount of poop. ALWAYS. And usually more of #1 or #2 or both just after you decide it's safe to change her. Usually, she waits until right after you slip the new diaper under her bottom. It's making me very glad we are waiting for her to grow into one-size covers before moving to cloth.

I go back to work at 8 weeks, and I'm planning to start pumping and building a stash at 4 weeks. We'll start giving her a bottle for a feed or two a day before I go back, probably around 6 weeks. We had to give her a bottle a number of times before we had her tie clipped, because she was getting dangerously little milk on her own. The good news is she took it without any hesitation, but she did end up with a bit of bottle confusion. After she'd had a few bottles, she started this bad habit where she would bottle/piston-suck like a mad woman for the first few seconds after latching (mega OUCH). She's mostly moved on from it now - it sometimes makes a random appearance when she's really worked up and impatient. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that, with breastfeeding much better established, she won't do the same thing again when we bring the bottle back. Has anyone here dealt with nipple confusion issues? Any tips?

As for sleep, we're winning some and losing some on that front. Winning... she naturally wants to sleep for 4 hour blocks at night. If I try and wake her to eat before she starts to stir on her own she just falls asleep at the breast. So, I've given up on a 2-3hr feeding schedule at night, though I'm starting to think I need to set an alarm for myself and pump at least once overnight to help my supply. Losing... during the day she tends to fight sleep, and by mid-day we end up in a cycle where she constantly wants to nurse - she's exhausted, can't stay asleep very long because she's hungry, and can't stay awake long enough to eat enough to fill her belly. She snacks for a few minutes, crashes, then wakes up 3 minutes later and fusses to be fed. She knows I have the milk, so there's nothing I can do that will settle her except give in. The one thing that seems to help is giving her to DH for a while so I can go hide/shower/nap/eat. He can usually get her to take a catnap since he doesn't smell like milk, and then when I take her back she's awake and hungry enough to eat a full meal before finally crashing for a real nap. If I didn't have DH home to help me (he isn't working right now), I don't know how we would get through the day.

 

[ladyciel]

...that new-breastfeeding-mom moment when you look down at 4am and notice a bright line of dried yellow mustard down the front of the shirt you've been wearing since you last showered (...what day was that?), only to realize you haven't eaten anything with mustard in at least a week.