PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[phoenixgirl]

So, I''m trying to befriend this mom who picks her baby up at daycare at the same time as I do, but I feel kind of like a stalker, like I''m all, "Oh hi! Camilla is your baby''s name, right?" and she''s all, yawn, that''s nice, I already have tons of other mom friends . . . It''s probably all in my head, though.

 

[cdt1101]

Busy busy over here....

Pandora - not sure if it's normal, but Lex does not have any attachment to much either. He stopped using a paci at about 2 months and even though I sometimes wish he'd take one, no go, he hates them. No blankie either, no stuffed toy...nothing. The only thing I can honestly say that worries me is that he does rely on the bottle to sooth him to sleep where as when he was younger he was much better at self soothing. I fear the day I have to wean him from that nighttime bottle

Tao - I'd be pissed too, but don't get me started on DHs right now, I'm pissed at mine currently as well

China - We started solid before 6 months, mostly because Lex was always a HUGE eater, and we were recommended to start early because he was taking SO much formula. He didn't get much though until he was 6 months. I also wasn't consistently giving him solids until that 6 month period either.

Hello to everyone else!!

 

[mtjoya]

Thank you ladies for the comments! She is not a bad as the other day but slowly peeling and her skin looks good. I was just a little concerned.

Chinacat-J is 11 day old. Where does the time go? I used to cry at night because she would turn 1 day older!

Those damn baby blues! But, the pumping, i dislike! I rather bf but it can hurt too because she latches on like she is attacking me! She moves her head from side to side with her mouth open and shrinks up her face and it''s funny cuz it looks like she has 1 eyebrow! lol...She is asleep right now

 

[Mandarine]

Pandora, my guys I think may be too young for having attachments, but they don''t have any (other than the crazy swaddle addiction! hehe). No pacis, no thumbs, no blankie or toy, etc...

DH is back home and so I''m back to making dinner, etc. I did notice one thing that he does that helps me a TON! He takes care of the dog!. Seems like this wouldn''t be that big of a deal and it isn''t...until it''s time for walks!. We like to give him at least one long walk a day and with two babies and being by myself this was just hard to do!.

I''m happy he''s home

(with his snoring and all!)

**

Quick question....

At what point did your little ones stop napping in between every feeding cycle?. I think mine are about to change things up (or this could all just be from the swaddle rehab)....but I think maybe they are ready to take 3 naps a day rather than one nap (even if it''s 15 mins) in between each 3 hour cycle. Just wondering (my guys are 4m1w)

 

[anchor31]

I just want to share a couple of pictures I''m finding pretty hilarious right now. I''m watching olympic hockey (Canada vs Norway - Canada''s currently leading 3-0

) and I put Jacob down to play with him... Apparently hockey''s more interesting than mommy!

 

[anchor31]

He''s just fascinated... Look at all the moving colours!

 

[mtjoya]

What a cutie!

 

[Mara]

aww anchor he is super cute in those photos.

i have to say i cannot WAIT til J is old enough to really interact with us and SEE us for who we are. some of the things you guys say really make me so excited for the future. right now i feel like we are just ''caregivers'' and things like kisses on his cheek or a caress we might give him or wanting to cuddle doesn''t mean anything to him right now. he''s just all about the eat and sleep business. on one hand i am really trying to take it one day at a time and just appreciate him for who he is today and not get too wrapped up in ''when he can...'' in the future. i did that with portia when she was a puppy, the early days were so trying that i just focused on ''when she is older...'' and she is an amazing dog and we love her to death, but i wish i had better memories of her puppy days instead of just wishing she''d grow up.

mtj...i actually find pumping so much easier on my boob than the kid latching on them, he is turning out to be a really aggressive sucker and his little gumline is sooo hard. i feel like my boobs are hamburger meat when he done with them. pump is like a blessed relief.

my pump came today and i am excited to try it out! diapers.com is pretty darn awesome, i ordered it yesterday at 3pm PST and it came today and it was free shipping!

we''re getting newborn pics done tomorrow, i am so excited. the gal is coming here, she does great photos and has done all the photos of 2 of my friends and she''s super affordable too. she does shoots in 2-4 hours and has her own kids so she allows lots of time for feeding, changing, fussiness, etc. she wants to use our nursery and our living room. she even wants to incorporate portia into the photos with us too. so i''ll bathe the baby tonite...he has a little bit of the baby milia on his face, but she said she can photoshop it out so that''s good.

oh and re: skin peeling, J has that too, in concentrated areas, it''s not all over his body, but right now it''s around his ankles and a little on his belly. i imagine it will keep happening til all of his skin is acclimated and the vernix is totally gone.

CC... i appreciate you saying that it seems like we''re doing things pretty well in terms of mentally being flexible. i am trying to not have expectations of what is coming since that just will let us down if it isn''t the case. i am trying to take one day at a time and not think ''well yesterday was different/better/whatever''. i feel like we are doing pretty well with our new parent status and i just try to remember we are all learning together.

re: bad habits... we are also trying to keep in mind that J is prob too young to pick up ''bad habits'' but on the other hand mentally sometimes we do wonder if we are going to be creating a monster. aka nursing to sleep. or rocking to sleep. but on the other hand, sleep and quiet time is precious so i totally think ''whatever it takes'' as well. the conflict mentally is definitely interesting.

re: sleep training, thanks for all the feedback. i think we will prob wait a few more weeks to try anything, but my girlfriend who has the baby who sleeps 8-10 hours at 2 months is following a strict schedule, i don''t know what it''s called but she emailed it to me along with what she did and her kid has always been a good sleeper, a lot like J... sleeping 3-5 hours at a time. so i might try that in a few weeks and see how it goes. i have time before returning to work (mid-may) so if one thing doesn''t work we can try something else. i do want to have a schedule going for him by the time i do return to work, and ideally the sooner he can sleep longer chunks at night, the better, but we''ll see how it goes.

 

[taovandel]

So my husband just informed me that his mother tried to give Evan a bottle of water. Um what?!! Who does that?? (Fiery no need for you to answer!) I told my husband that they better not try that again....

I know it won''t kill him or anything like that---but why would you even try????

 

[TravelingGal]

Re: bad habits - I really really think it depends on the kid. My friend''s giant son had to be rocked to sleep until he was one and they finally couldn''t handle the size of him and did CIO. He didn''t grow out of it and I saw him many times get pretty violent (kicking, hairpulling) when the rocking stopped before he had a chance to fall asleep. This is also a kid that screamed for 30 minutes straight when his mom dropped him off this past Sunday in the toddler room at church. I''ve never seen those church ladies give up on a toddler, but they called his mom back in because he was out of control. He just wants what he wants and nothing won''t stop until he gets it.

Some kids change, others are more consistent. Nothing is the same for every child, but I do think any "bad" habit that sticks can be changed, although it might be difficult.

And having a toddler now, I can honestly say that any bad habits that my toddler (and those I see around me) develops are far scarier and harder to change than those in the first year!!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/16/2010 6:17:35 PM
Author: Pandora II



RPS - Did you ever find a solution to ''acrobatic nursing''? Daisy has been doing this for a couple of months now and it drives me crazy - plus how can she actually eat while standing up (and as you say holding one leg up in the air) or trying to walk round in a circle without letting go!

At the moment I just take her off the boob and tell her that if she''s not hungry enough to concentrate then she''s not hungry enough to eat - we have had a few meltdowns over this.

This is what I do too. Or I switch sides.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/16/2010 8:29:48 PM
Author: Mandarine
Quick question....

At what point did your little ones stop napping in between every feeding cycle?. I think mine are about to change things up (or this could all just be from the swaddle rehab)....but I think maybe they are ready to take 3 naps a day rather than one nap (even if it''s 15 mins) in between each 3 hour cycle. Just wondering (my guys are 4m1w)

I''m gonna say around 3-4 months. But Hunter was a frequent feeder and BF on demand every 2.5 hours usually. So he would nurse at waking ad before sleeping usually.

 

[Dreamer_D]

So I started Hunter on milk this weekend and it seems ok!

I was worried because my DH has a severe intolerance, but it has been 4 days and no problems at all! Woo hoo! Since Jan 1 I have been taking an hour out of my day to drive to his daycare, nurse him and hang out, and drive back to work. While I love seeing him, I am ready to not do that anymore. He drinks milk like a champ so I will be stopping my lunchtime trips soon.

Funny thing is that Hunter seems to be sort of weaning himself. He nurses in the morning and night before bed for sure, and then a couple other times in the day he will nurse for about 5 minutes. He is efficient. He will still comfort nurse when he is upset or teething, but he seems pretty blase about it from a nutritional POV. Still, I like nursing him and plan to keep going until I get preggo again.

His B-day is this weekend! We are going to my family''s place for the party. I will make him a non-milk cake (so DH can have some) and I am going to try and cut it into the shape of a dog or something! LOL! I will post some pics for sure.

 

[mtjoya]

Mara-LOL..on the hamburger meat! She gets all crazy on me, so I feel you in that aspect! But question, how do you store your milk? Do you do the bags or bottles? I am trying to get the hang of this still...

 

[Sha]

anchor - wow, what a cutie!

Mara- yes, in the first two months I felt pretty much like a ''caregiver'' of sorts as well. It''s like you have this little person whose completely dependent on you and you''re taking care of their needs (feeding, changing, burping, soothing etc around the clock, without so much as a smile of appreciation....

But when your baby starts to recognize your face and smile and interact with you it''s so much more enjoyable! That''s when you''re realize how much of a powerful positive impact you''ve been having on this little person for the past few months. It''s just makes everything SO worthwhile (not that it wasn''t worthwhile when they weren''t smiling, though). But the feeling is just completely different. When my baby looks at me and smiles, I just melt inside and think...."Awwwww....she LOVES me, she really, really loves me!"

 

[sugarpie honeybun]

Mara – During the first 3 months it’s all about “giving” with very little in return. Everyone warned me that around the 3 month mark is when DS would start responding more and doing more, and unfortunately, it would likely be around the time I go back to work. Sure enough, shortly before going back to work DS was making all sorts of noises, starting to roll, laughing, etc. It was so nice to have that kind of fun interaction with him. I can’t wait to see what new things he starts doing over the next few months.

Tao – Can’t believe she tried to give Evan water. Did your DH tell her not to do it again?

Anchor – what a cutie pie!

 

[Blenheim]

Wow it''s hopping over here! I don''t think I''m able to keep up anymore.

Tao - I think that the old-school official advice was to give them a certain amount of water, so she may be coming from a good place with that at least. But yeah... you need to tell her about the "new" recommendations, if you haven''t already.

Pandora - George also doesn''t have any comfort objects or attachments. The main self soothing behavior I''ve seen from his is rhythmically patting something - he''s not big on sucking on hands or anything like that.

Nursing acrobatics - sometimes I tell him that we''ll wait until he can sit still. Other times I''ll hug him to me while nursing so that he can''t be a little gymnast as easily. Sometimes just using a different nursing position helps to calm him down. Trial and error.

Anchor - awwww!! How cute.

DD - I can''t believe you''re already planning a 1st birthday cake and party! Time sure does fly. I went a little overboard with decorating a joke birthday cake for a rocket scientist uncle of DH''s (pic attached, and it wasn''t even his birthday - long story) a couple of weeks ago, and so I think I''m now going to have to think of something even better for George now when the time comes.

Sleep update - We''ve backed off of the CIO some. We''ll sometimes hear him wake up, cry out a few times, and then go back to sleep, and so I think that it has helped him to learn to self-soothe some. But there are other times when he wakes up and stands up, and then gets so worked up that he can keep crying and yelling for an hour and a half (this happened once), and we''re able to get him back to sleep in much less time if we just go in and sing to him and rub his back or something. We''re just really working on reading his cries to try to figure out if he''d be able to get himself back to sleep or get worked up if we leave him, and if he''d be soothed or get even more upset if we went in.

Oh! We may have a first word? When we put coats on and started to leave my mom''s house on Sunday, we all waved at each other and said "bye bye" and then he did a little half wave and said "baa baa". He did a repeat (but with just "baa") when we left a friend''s house yesterday. So maybe?

 

[vizsla]

being in the pits of 'colic' despair for the first 2.5 month of charlie's life i really and truly think whatever you can do to get them to eat and sleep is the BEST thing for them. you can't hold them too much, you can't rock them too much, or nurse them too much, or swaddle them too much, or shhhhhh in their ear them too much. i also agree with china.. i thought i'd be shhhhing and rocking and swaying and bouncing and patting and walking c until he was 10... OMG the walking around the house i did to get him to sleep (how did he know the second i sat down?) buuuuuuutttttt he doesn't need to be rocked, or walked or patted or shhhhhed to sleep anymore. and he did that all on his own. i do feel like it was the looooonnnngggeessstt 3 months of my life and i'm certainly not saying things are perfect now.. charlie still doesn't STTN, bbbbuuuuuuttt comparatively speaking.. they are much better. you do what you need to do to get the baby comfortable and that's that. although what gets them comfortable changes from day to day, hour to hour, second to second. trying to understand that was a challenge "but it worked yesterday?"

i wouldn't worry about sleep training until they are well aware of night and day - and most pedis don't recommend it until they are 4 months. (admittedly, i worried about sleep training too, but now just go with charlie's flow and am MUCH happier -- i read that we try and get babies to conform into OUR lives, when we need to conform to THEIR lives... a lightbulb moment for me)

we did, however, start a little nighttime routine of diaper change, pjs, dark room, white noise, rock to sleep -- which was probably more for my benefit than charlie's when we started, but now i think he gets the big picture. i remember calling my midwife in tears because i didn't think i could do another 24hrs of walking, rocking, shhhhing etc. she would just tell me that it is my job to help charlie understand and enjoy sleeping.. and that he simply did not know how to 'sleep'.. they simply just don't know.

also, if your nips are 'really' turning into hamburger meat your little one is probably latching wrong. is he using his hard ridge? i just get the queasy stomach thinking anyone else would have to go thru all of that. is your nipple bleeding? does it look slanted when he pulls off??

mandy - my charlie sounds a lot like your boys in terms of sleeping and eating. charlie is all over the place -- sometimes he eats at 2hr intervals, sometimes it's 3.. but never much longer than that.. and he has skipped napping in those cycles in the past. i think that it's probably OK if they are not fussing to just let them be awake. i take my sleepy cues from charlie. he still does get tired fussy about 2 hours after eating for the majority of his cycles, but in the middle of the day he seems perfectly content being up for an entire cycle. at daycare he is taking one longer nap in the morning, and a loooong nap in the afternoon (like 2.5 hours.. won't do that for me but i digress). anyhoodles DH picks him up around 3:30-4:00 he feeds him and then he takes a little cat nap until i get home from work and then he's up from 6-9pm and goes to sleep around 9:30. this is a little later than most, but we adjusted him so i could have more interaction. anyhoo.. i'm rambling but yes i think it's totally fine, especially if they are dropping the nap themselves.

p.s. last night charlie broke himself out of his swaddle and when i picked him up he didn't have his pants on!... his pants! lol lol lol.

water!?!?! fo reals!?!? i'd be livid. mostly b/c i'm picturing my MIL and her 'do what she wants' attitude so yeah, who does that?

 

[Shoopy]

Tao-You made me LOL because that is totally something MIL would do. It''s actually something my mom would do too. They both agreed and then told me that maybe her kidney reflux was due to not drinking water

. She does get a little in a sippy cup now so that she starts getting used to drinking out of a sippy cup. She has no interest in it though unless you pretend to drink from it. Then it becomes cool.

Mara-survival! Those first few months, I would say until month 3, are all about survival. If you need to rock, rock. If you need to nurse, nurse. I would definitely try to establish a routine but would still do whatever works for the time being. I always had to nurse Sophia to sleep, even for naps and wondered if she would ever get to the point where she could sleep without having to eat. She does. Once I stopped nursing to sleep, I had to rock and I wondered again if I would always have to rock. I don''t anymore. But I think those first few months are just about getting as much sleep as you can.

Blen-Love the cake!

 

[Mandarine]

Date: 2/16/2010 10:34:23 PM
Author: TravelingGal
Re: bad habits - I really really think it depends on the kid. My friend''s giant son had to be rocked to sleep until he was one and they finally couldn''t handle the size of him and did CIO. He didn''t grow out of it and I saw him many times get pretty violent (kicking, hairpulling) when the rocking stopped before he had a chance to fall asleep. This is also a kid that screamed for 30 minutes straight when his mom dropped him off this past Sunday in the toddler room at church. I''ve never seen those church ladies give up on a toddler, but they called his mom back in because he was out of control. He just wants what he wants and nothing won''t stop until he gets it.


Some kids change, others are more consistent. Nothing is the same for every child, but I do think any ''bad'' habit that sticks can be changed, although it might be difficult.


And having a toddler now, I can honestly say that any bad habits that my toddler (and those I see around me) develops are far scarier and harder to change than those in the first year!!

I agree with this 100%. It really depends on the baby.

My nephew needed to be rocked to sleep until he was well over one!!!. and he liked the fast paced (almost violent) swinging...let me tell you, one session of rocking him and you had your workout for the day!. My youngest nephew one day decided he was over rocking...and so he just outgrew it. Babies are just different!.

Even mine (with their exact same DNAs and all) are different!. Lucas has a much harder time with the no swaddling than Alex does...and Lucas does better when you keep coming back to check on him when he''s crying...and Alex gets more upset everyone I go in!.

No one size fits all applies when it comes to babies!

I do agree that the first few months are about survival...but I also believe you can start to mold the babies to a routine and start getting them used to certain things. My boys were on a schedule since very early on (just so that I could keep my sanity)...They eat at the same time everyday (90% of the time). At the beginning this took quite a bit of work (specially since one would be starving while the other one was sleeping!)...but now they literally know when is time to eat...and I think that really helped them with figuring out days/night.

At my baby shower, one mom said to me "don''t do something you''re not willing to do for the rest of your life"....and while I think that''s extreme...it makes sense (when taken with a grain of salt). I knew it was impossible for me to be rocking both babies to sleep for every nap and bedtime...so I knew I had to break that habit early on. If I had one, I think I wouldn''t have stopped...because I actually enjoyed rocking them (bonding)...but I knew it just wouldn''t work for *us*. Point is, every mom knows what will work and what won''t work for your families...and I think the babies actually need to mold to your life, not the other way around (sorry Viz!). Of course that doesn''t mean I expect them to sleep in on weekends, but to a certain extent, they need to adjust to you and to what works in your family/situation.


Viz The thing is my boys do get cranky in between!....so it''s like they are really tired and very cranky, but don''t want to sleep. So sometimes when I put them down, they cry for about 10 minutes..and then they start talking and laughing (they are weird these boys!!!). So I go in, grab them (all smiles at that point) and let them play. So they are sending me mixed signals!!!

I was lol at the no pants thing! The other day I found Lucas unswaddled and with one foot off his footed PJs. I have no idea how he managed to do that!!!



Blen What a cute cake!!!!

Tao MILs........

 

[steph72276]

Hey, girls. Quick question about feeding: So our normal routine is to nurse for about 25-30 mins and then follow up with about 2oz of formula. I just started pumping today so I can switch the formula for breastmilk now that he has put on some weight. So, do I give him the same amount of breastmilk that I was giving him for formula? I ask because I pumped for about 20 minutes and only got a measly half oz or so. I''m going to try to pump in between feedings to get my supply up, but I didn''t know if maybe he will take less breastmilk than formula. Thanks! Hope everyone''s having a great day!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 2/17/2010 11:51:50 AM
Author: Mandarine



I agree with this 100%. It really depends on the baby.

My nephew needed to be rocked to sleep until he was well over one!!!. and he liked the fast paced (almost violent) swinging...let me tell you, one session of rocking him and you had your workout for the day!. My youngest nephew one day decided he was over rocking...and so he just outgrew it. Babies are just different!.

Even mine (with their exact same DNAs and all) are different!. Lucas has a much harder time with the no swaddling than Alex does...and Lucas does better when you keep coming back to check on him when he''s crying...and Alex gets more upset everyone I go in!.

No one size fits all applies when it comes to babies!

I do agree that the first few months are about survival...but I also believe you can start to mold the babies to a routine and start getting them used to certain things. My boys were on a schedule since very early on (just so that I could keep my sanity)...They eat at the same time everyday (90% of the time). At the beginning this took quite a bit of work (specially since one would be starving while the other one was sleeping!)...but now they literally know when is time to eat...and I think that really helped them with figuring out days/night.

At my baby shower, one mom said to me ''don''t do something you''re not willing to do for the rest of your life''....and while I think that''s extreme...it makes sense (when taken with a grain of salt). I knew it was impossible for me to be rocking both babies to sleep for every nap and bedtime...so I knew I had to break that habit early on. If I had one, I think I wouldn''t have stopped...because I actually enjoyed rocking them (bonding)...but I knew it just wouldn''t work for *us*. Point is, every mom knows what will work and what won''t work for your families...and I think the babies actually need to mold to your life, not the other way around (sorry Viz!). Of course that doesn''t mean I expect them to sleep in on weekends, but to a certain extent, they need to adjust to you and to what works in your family/situation.

........

And the survival thing is the bottom line. All habits are breakable and not everything turns into a habit. A mothers rest is the most important thing in those early months...sanity is key to raising a baby.

I''m actually very much looking forward to helping with my friend''s triplets...I think it will be a fantastic study on how 3 little babies will respond to the same things in entirely different ways. I believe in the strong influence of nurture, but I think this will show me the force of nature. Already one is far more spirited than his brothers...just by the way he sleeps, which makes sense based on his position in the womb.

 

[vizsla]

Date: 2/17/2010 11:51:50 AM
Author: Mandarine

Date: 2/16/2010 10:34:23 PM

and I think the babies actually need to mold to your life, not the other way around (sorry Viz!).

tee hee... so funny! and i'll tell ya why

for the first 2 months of charlie's life i took the advice of every book i read, every "whisper" out there and nothing worked! i was so distraught that charlie didn't do these perfect 3 hour intervals of eat, awake, sleep that i would make him eat, awake, sleep -- DISASTER -- it wasn't until i started going on charlie's cues that i realized he didn't fit into any of the books of what a baby 'should' be doing. he never slept for more than an hour (who am i kidding 30mins -- and he literally NEVER slept unless held) and all of the forcing him to eat, awake, sleep on his own did nothing but make me more paranoid. anyhoo, for US

realizing that we needed to cue from baby made all of the difference in the world to get thru the day. there were no more battles, no more hours and hours spent doing something that charlie didn't want to do. granted, he needed me and still needs me to help him sleep but when he's hungry he signals and he eats, when he wants to play we play, when he wants to sleep he gets fussy and he sleeps ... he then wakes up and maybe wants to play some more, or maybe wants to eat etc. i can imagine that having 2 babies is a horse of a different color... and everything i just wrote would have a big gigantic line thru it. but for us NOT following the books and letting go of that ideal was our saving grace.

steph.. i have no idea about supplementing when e is done nursing.. but could you just nurse him longer? and not supplement?

my LC told me in the early days of pumping/buiding a supply -- for every cycle, nurse them until they cue that they are full, then pump for 5 mins after and not any longer (keep this BM in the fridge). do this at every feeding cycle and you will have enough BM so that your partner can give baby a bottle in the middle of the night and then you simply pump that feeding cycle -- saving that pumping as reserve in the freezer. this not only builds up your reserves, but gives you a break from nursing once during the day.

bbbbuuuuttt LC are like baby books, and you have to do what you think is right.. that is just what *i* did.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/17/2010 11:57:25 AM
Author: steph72276
Hey, girls. Quick question about feeding: So our normal routine is to nurse for about 25-30 mins and then follow up with about 2oz of formula. I just started pumping today so I can switch the formula for breastmilk now that he has put on some weight. So, do I give him the same amount of breastmilk that I was giving him for formula? I ask because I pumped for about 20 minutes and only got a measly half oz or so. I''m going to try to pump in between feedings to get my supply up, but I didn''t know if maybe he will take less breastmilk than formula. Thanks! Hope everyone''s having a great day!

Steph, pumping does not indicate your supply at all, and half an oz. is actually a good amount after nursing! Are you trying to build a stash?

Pumping really seems to be the norm in some places/countries, but in others nary a pump is seen. Funny how things are different!

 

[steph72276]

DD, I'm trying to build up a little bit so that my husband can feed him a bottle if needed. Also, trying to up my supply as well. And after nursing, E seems like he still wants a bottle, so I'm trying to get him off formula and switch to breast milk only. Viz, I will do your suggestion about feeding him longer and then pumping for 5 min. each time...thanks for the tips girls!

 

[qtiekiki]

pumping
Wow, all of the moms with newborns are pumping. I refuse to pump until I have to. haha. It''s too much work for me, the washing of bottles and pump parts.

sleep training
We sleep trained M when she was 4 months. We ended up doing CIO. We could put her down in her crib at bedtimes, and she''ll sleep until the next morning. Everything was going so well, then it all changed overnight when she was 16 months. She wouldn''t fall asleep by herself in her crib all of a sudden. There were no changes in routine, th only change was that I was 7 months pregnant. We let her CIO, but it was no longer working and led her to climb out of her crib twice in the same night. We, since, had gotten her a bed, and it''s been a struggle at bedtime, though some days are better than others.

 

[rockpaperscissors67]

What a day I''ve been having! I got a new computer for work, which is all sorts of awesome, but I need a lot of stuff set up so I can actually, you know, work! Our IT guy is super busy, so I''m on the waiting list.

Last night, Ben was doing the usual behavior for a growth spurt -- nurse, nurse, nurse...and if you lay me down, I''m gonna scream! Finally right before midnight, I decided to take him in to bed because I was tired. He nursed a bit more and fell asleep all snuggled up to me (which, I swear, is the best feeling!). Next thing I knew, I woke up because it was light out! I immediately checked him and he was asleep and fine. Then I went out to the living room and discovered it was 7:05! I made coffee, took care of Will and then went back in and Ben was stretching and squirming, but not totally awake. I got him up and he nursed really well for quite a long time, but still -- it freaked me out. Most moms are praying for their baby to sleep through the night, while I *want* mine to wake up every 3 hours at least to make sure he is eating enough.

The good news is that after fighting the green poop that I think is due to a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, we''ve had brown poops all day today! Yay! Oh, and that silent pooper thing? I cursed myself apparently because for the last day or so, Ben has been anything but silent.

He''s been so good today -- he was awake quite a bit of the morning, nursing on and off, but not straight through then fell asleep after lunch and took a long nap that he''s just now starting to stir from.

Anchor, J is soo cute! I guess you''re going to have a hockey fan on your hands? I love when babies watch tv -- like, really, what could they be thinking?

Mara, so, any reviews on the pump?

Tao, I would really lose my cool about MIL giving E water. I know that this is one of those things that the older generation believes is totally necessary, but they don''t seem to understand that it can actually be DEADLY to a baby.

This is one thing that I find difficult about being a parent -- it''s one thing to be vigilant about dangers from strangers, but when your own family insists on putting your child into harm''s way, well, it''s enough to make a person nuts.

Pandora, I did something similar with Kate when she started acrobatic nursing -- I told her she couldn''t nurse until she could do so politely, lying/sitting in my lap. If she didn''t listen, I put her down on the floor. I noticed that stopping nursing and the attention was a pretty good cure for biting, too.

Dreamer, Hunter''s nursing habits sound like they''re perfectly in line with his age, but he might surprise you and not wean for a while. Will dropped the day time nursings first, but then it took a couple more months until he didn''t want to nurse at night or in the morning. That''s awesome that he''s started on milk with no problems! What a big kid.

MTJ, hope you don''t mind that I''m going to butt in and tell you how I store milk. I''ve only been pumping sporadically in the past couple of days, like when I feel engorged, like this morning, and I don''t pump a lot at a sitting (somewhere between 1 and 1.5 oz. because I only pump the side Ben isn''t nursing on). I stick that in the fridge and then the next time I pump, I also stick that in the fridge. Once both have cooled, I combine them and then when I get 3 oz., I put the 3 oz. into the Lansinoh storage bags that I use, label it with the date and amount, then put that into the gallon ziploc in the freezer. I keep all bags together in the ziploc just so I don''t lose them among the frozen veggies!

Right now I''m pretty casual about building up a freezer stash, but in a few weeks, I''ll be pumping more regularly in order to have plenty to make up for days when I don''t pump enough once Ben goes to day care. It totally sucks when you have a day that you don''t pump enough for the next day and your freezer stash is depleated so you spend the whole evening trying to make up what you need (and baby usually wants to nurse during the evening too!).

Viz, it cracks me up that Charlie got out of his pants, too! How in the world did he do that?? You might need to lay in a supply of duct tape for when he gets older and figures out how to get out of his diaper, too.

Steph, that "measly" half an oz that you pumped is TOTALLY normal! I would try feeding the breastmilk first making sure to use a slow-flow nipple and stopping every couple of swallows to make sure he has to work for it, then I''d see if he''s still hungry. I probably would cut way back on the amount of formula because realistically, if you could pump 1/2 oz., it''s likely that he''s getting much, much more, so he probably doesn''t need 2 oz. of formula. I think I''d start with 1 oz. and then see if he''s still hungry after that.

QT, I don''t blame you for avoiding pumping! I definitely wouldn''t have started as early as I did if Ben hadn''t been a super lazy nurser in the early days. Since I had supply issues later on the last time, I want to do everything now to avoid the insanity later. It''s so much easier for me to up my supply when I''m at home each day and can pump to my heart''s content rather than when I''m back in the office or traveling.

I can say without a doubt: pumping never gets to be more fun.

I totally agree with every who''s said the first months are about survival. I haven''t seen any habits in my kids that were firmly established in the first 6 months of their lives and I think so much of parenthood is doing what you have to do to get through certain phases.

 

[Mandarine]

Oh Viz, that's not what I meant!...hehe.

I absolutely think you have to listen to your baby's cues and things go MUCH smoother when you do!!!. My guys don't do the whole sleep, activity, eat. They do more like cranky, sleep, activity, cranky, eat, activity and start over

What I meant was, there are certain things that you/your family want to do or know you can't do...and those are the things I think a baby can mold to. For example, I'm not into co-sleeping...not only because it's two, but because I think I wouldn't sleep at all if I had a baby in bed with me...so I never did that with the LOs. I couldn't physically rock them, so I had to find a way to make them self soothe. Things like that.

As far as schedules go...I do keep them on the same schedule, but like I said, it works 90% of the time. For example..today Alex only ate 3 oz at 10am....so by 11am he was hungry again. I knew he wasn't going to make it to 1pm so I gave him a "snack" (2oz) to hold him off until it was "time" for them both to eat. Am I going to let him starve because it doesn't fit my "schedule"? no because then I'll have very cranky babies (which equal very tired mommy!).

So that's more what I meant

ETA: Just came back from my "weekly" coffee with the new moms I met through the meetup.com site! I'm actually enjoying it so much. It's like 6 of us with babies between 3-6 months...it's so nice to be able to just talk about baby spit without feeling guilty that all we talk about is babies!!!. I feel like I have to watch how much I talk about babies when I'm talking to a friend (not that I talk to them much anymore, but that's another story! or my sisters!). We also do "playdates" at the houses....more for the moms than for the babies at this point, but it's nice that by the time they are old enough to play, we will all probably become closer s friend. So just wanted to say, if you haven't tried getting into a group but are thinking about it...I say go for it!.

 

[taovandel]

Viz: Evan has done the same thing with the no pants while in the swaddle. I posted a picture a few pages back....It cracked me up.

Thanks again everyone on siding with me on the water issue. Thankfully E didn''t take the bottle at all. But I explained it to my husband and he said it wouldn''t happen again. I''m thinking I might also have the Pediatrician say something about it at our next appointment (March 4). He might listen to her more and know that I''m not just making it up.

Love the talk of loud and quiet poopers. Evan is soooo loud. In fact one of my first memories of him at the hospital is when he pooped for the first time there. I was shocked by how loud he was!

 

[Mandarine]

Are my babies just a little crazy or do any of your little ones think it''s hilarious when you check their diaper? ESPECIALLY when there is poop in them??? and think it''s even funnier when you wipe their butts?

They crack up like it''s the funniest thing ever. If I get them undressed to check their diaper they start laughing immediately (even if they had just been miserable crying right before!)