PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[mayerling]

Petite, I'm glad you got some sleep!. It makes all the difference.

LC, boo for constipation. Is Ethan feeling better?

Pancake, I'm sorry to hear that S's daytime routine is disrupted. I'm somebody who doesn't like change (says the one who just had a baby ) so I can see how disruptions can be frustrating.

NEL, K sounds like she's a great eater! And I agree that if she's taking a full bottle it just be because she's hungry.

AFU, first MOTN feed. He slept for 3.5 hours again, but again I was up for an hour waiting for him to get up! Anyway, I've discovered that unless he goes to sleep straight after a feed, he just doesn't sleep. So I've taken to feeding him one boob, spending some time awake, and then feeding him the other boob to get him to go to sleep. I know it's no good associating food with sleep, but I figure it's worse for him to just have entire 3 hour stretches awake. Also, his "witching hours" as Pancake put it tend to be in the evening after his bath. He just refuses to go to sleep no matter what and does the whole "I'll be awake for 3 hours" thing. And for some reason he hates his bath. I'm baffled by this as for 5 days in the maternity ward he absolutely loved it. He loved it on the first day home as well. After that, it's really a struggle bathing him and instead of relaxing him it just causes him to stay up fussing or crying until his next eat-sleep cycle.

 

[lliang_chi]

Hey ladies,

Mayer, I think ParrotTulip's little girl didn't like her baths either. Any way you can check if the temp is OK? Ethan likes to have bath temp quite warm, around 95F (35C).

NEL, The pedi advised getting prune juice too. So we'll do that. She also said that prunes and pear puree would be the two best fruit for constipation. Wow, K's quite the busy body moving herself all over. Hee hee! the 5AM bottle seems like it's not too bad if she's drinking the whole thing and you guys get some bonding time. I like nursing Ethan in the AM because it's nice to have that time together.

Pancake, how's S doing with her daytime sleep today? hoping she's napping better.

AFU: Ethan's still not pooping. I guess constipated isn't quite the right word since he's just not pooping. But I think we'll get some prune juice and mix it with his bottle. I'll try fixing some prune puree too he seemed to like it.

In other news, Ethan's sick I told J that he felt warm to me today as I was feeding him and getting ready for work. Then about 10AM, J called me and said Ethan had a 103F. He's been sleeping mostly, drinking some bottles. We were planning on doing a date night tomorrow, but with Ethan being sick I tihnk we'll have to cancel...

 

[pancake]

NEL - wow, Katie is really on the move! S is still the happy lump baby who doesn't want to go anywhere The 5am wake-up sounds quite enjoyable so I think you're right not to push it!

The more this STTN thing goes on, the more I am tempted to move S... but I love seeing her there! Last night when I went to bed she was lying there in her adorable striped sleeping bag, with her adorable face turned to the side, with her adorable thumb planted firmly in her adorable mouth... I don't know if I can wean myself off yet!!!

LC - poor Ethan! Hope he is ok, and not TOO miserable It's heartbreaking looking at their little faces when they're sick, isn't it? It's that slightly glazed sort of unhappy look that gets me.

We're having issues with constipation too. S finally went last night (on the change table with me holding her legs up) (is that TMI?) but that was after 3 days of not going, and a day of fierce grunting, straining, going red, and arching her back. I had foolishly thought that it was all sorted at the end of last week, so had stopped giving her prunes every day and had added a teeny bit of potato into her vegies. Potato is now banned and the prunes are back! This morning she had pear, rhubarb and prunes - which she loved - and I'm sticking to mixtures of vegetables for the rest of her meals at the moment. She'll have carrots, zucchini and broccoli for lunch, and sweet potato, cauliflower and broccoli for dinner.

Mayer - I giggled at your dislike of change comment! But having a baby is such a wonderful change... Hope your night with N is going well!

Re baths - S hated shallow baths, but loved deep immersion baths. We found it not particularly useful for settling her early on, even once we had her in a deep bath, because even when she was happy IN the bath, she was freaking miserable when we took her out! Scream city! It probably took a couple of months before she started to be more ok with being taken out of the bath and dressed etc, and I don't think the bath was part of our everyday routine until around then. The other issue was that we were told to bathe her before a feed (which makes sense as the feed would calm her down, too!) but because she was waking to demand a feed, trying to bathe her if she woke of her own accord just led to a screaming red hungry baby in the bath (and frazzled mum and dad).

Now she has a bath every night - basically she gets up from her late afternoon nap around 5 or so, then she has dinner and a play, then bath-breastfeed-bed. It is so firmly entrenched now that if she doesn't get a breastfeed immediately after the bath she looks perplexed and starts fussing because it's what is meant to happen next

AFU - S slept until 6am today, then had a feed and back to bed until 8am. I put her down at 9:50 for her morning nap and she fussed for about 20 minutes but - touch wood - it's now 11 and she's still quiet in there. It's hard for me with the fussing, too, as I'm not accustomed to that either; until 2 weeks ago she either didn't fuss at all, or she'd play by herself for 5 or 10 minutes before falling asleep. All in all I THINK things are slowly improving in fits and starts, but hard to know!

I have been cooking food for her like crazy these past two days! Have 2 small beetroots simmering on the stove at the moment. Thought I could mix that with fruits or vegetables, as it would go with either...should help with constipation too. Yesterday she ate SO much! She also only had 4 breastfeeds so it will be interesting to see how my supply responds... think we might be on track for 5 today, though.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Pancake, I don't know why K has suddenly decided she wants to move. Just last week her torso wasn't strong enough to roll over from back to front. I'd really prefer her to stay stationary for as long as possible.

I can definitely understand why you'd want to keep S in your room. I had such a hard time moving K out. My husband had an even tougher time and was really, really sad when we moved her. Then again, he wasn't the one being kept up by all of her noises. Take your time and just do whatever is best for you. If that means keeping her in there for the time being, then so be it. I still go in and quietly peek at K. They are just so darned cute when they sleep!

Oh, and your comment about how S expects her post-bath meal made me laugh. Isn't it crazy how much more they understand now? One of the reasons I put the bottle tree away is because K would squeal and reach for the bottles when we walked by it.

LC, Ugh, I'm so sorry to hear that Ethan is sick again! That's terrible! What do you do when he has a high fever? Do you just give him Tylenol? Do you call the pedi? Do you bring him in? I'm so sorry since I know he's only been cold-free for a few weeks!

Mayerling, I think the boob-play-boob-sleep plan is a good one. You aren't forming bad habits, you're just figuring out what works for the time being to a.) make sure he's getting his sleep and b.) make sure you're keeping your sanity. I guess those go hand-in-hand. The point is, you've found something that works. I say that in those first weeks, the goal is to figure out what works and just stick with it.

 

[FrekeChild]

For the record, A turns 8 months in 3 days, and is still in our room. I think she would be just fine, but I cannot deal with the idea of her being more than an arm's length away when I'm asleep. If I'm awake, she's fine in her room, but if I'm sleeping, must be close.

I think my husband is on the verge of kicking us both out....

Tired. Teething is still kicking our butts. And it's taken the form of NOT SLEEPING. And our house is so small that we can't get away from the crying, so all three (plus the dogs) of us are sleep deprived.

In other news, got pro pics taken of A, they turned out amazing, and I'll share as soon as I get the images on disc!

For now I need to go to sleep. Only took 2 hours to get her to bed tonight. I'm just hoping she stays asleep for that long.

(Sleep deprivation really messes up my typing/finger coordination. I can't tell you how many typos I had to fix above!)

 

[PetitiePoire]

Pancake- I understand not wanting to move S. I don't know the normal age to do so and hope DH doesn't run across the answer anytime soon. I don't think I'll be ready for a long time! As Freke said, I need her within an arms reach to stay in my comfort zone.

LC- I hope Ethan is feeling better.

Mayerling- L doesn't like her baths either. She cries the whole time and is better once dressed. We were told the temperature needs to be 37C, but I'm wondering if the combination with the air is too cold? Now that I think about it, her first bath was deep and the rest have been shallower. Maybe that's why?

Freke- looking forward to seeing the pro pics! How exciting!


AFU- we had night number 2 of sleep! She woke up once at 2 am after her midnight feeding and again about 5:30. The past two days she has been staying awake nearly the entire day. I think it wears her out. I think she is also either hitting a growth spurt or is becoming very clingy to me. I admit, I do hold her most of the day, so when she is away from me I feel like once she realizes it she wants the boob... Even if she JUST had it. I'm not sure if it's for comfort since she is just snacking, hunger, or what.

We also bought an Ergo baby today. I believe I'm going to be so happy with it, especially if she wants to be held non stop. We were given the Red Castle tikamak sling that we registered for, but I really don't like it. It's really awkward on my body, not comfortable, and I feel like she is going to smother. The Ergo is great. When did you stop using the infant insert? When we tested it was without it and she fit just fine... I'll try again tonight with the insert and see how she is.

Another question: how often are you bathing your babies? The hospital told us every other day, so we've been sticking to that. It's not hot here, so is that why? I have my own theories on the French and their bathing, so I want to make sure I'm cleaning her enough!

 

[pancake]

PP, HOORAY for more sleep! Once S settled into a rough routine of a late night feed (between 10 and 12), an overnight feed (between 1 and 3), and an early morning (around 5-7) I felt absolutely fine and totally human most of the time!

Re the Ergo, we only got ours when S was about 6 weeks old I think? I bought an infant insert but we used it for roughly, oh, 5 minutes. It was too hot and she was fine without it so we just stopped using it, I think it was around 10 weeks. I did use the little cushion wedge for a couple more weeks then gave up on that too. You can frog-leg them (with their feet inside the Ergo) early on if their little legs are too short/flexed to go out the sides.

As far as bathing goes, a couple of times a week is fine! I used to top and tail (with a facewasher) every day, but she hated baths so much early on, and they were such a rigmarole, that we only bathed her 2-3 times a week in those first few weeks.

With the unsettledness... babies peak in their unsettledness at around 6-8 weeks, and then it settles quite a bit by 12 or so weeks, as a general rule. I used to remember this when S was having squidgy periods in that first month!

Freke, aauuuuggghhhh re the teething and sleepless nights! You poor things, all three of you! How long has this been going on? I hope you manage to get a break soon. Lucky A is so gorgeous, hey! Can't wait to see her cuteness captured in pro glory!

AFU, S slept her longest stretch ever overnight - she went to bed at 7pm, and woke up for the day at 7:45 this morning!! My boobs were about to explode but it was a monumental night for me as well, because although S has been STTN for a while now, I hadn't STTN any of those nights - this was my first time since she was born!

Re having her in my room: I don't worry about her at all, I just feel too attached. So I'm not sure WHEN I will feel ready to move her out and realistically I suspect I never will. There will be tears (mostly mine I'm sure!) when we do eventually bite the bullet! But I am putting it off for now.

Other things... Beetroot in dinner + Breastmilk + Too Much Food and Milk in Too Short a Time = delicate pale pink spew on white terry suit at bedtime

 

[mayerling]

NEL, I laughed at how K just squeals and reaches for her bottles.

Petite, we bathe every day as it's quite hot here. It's good to hear that N is not the only one who hates his bath.

Pancake, thanks for the suggestion of using deeper water when bathing N. It worked in that he was able to stay quiet a bit longer in the bath, but he still started screaming at some point. He seems terrified as he holds on to us for dear life when he's in there.

LC, I'm sorry to hear that E is sick Is his fever down now?

AFU, we had a pretty good day, the first with some kind of structure. N fed every 3 hours and followed the pattern eat-play-eay-sleep. We managed to attend a wedding in the evening during which time my mom watched him and he had some of my expressed milk. But he's been fussy since we got back and only seems to go an hour between crying fits. Mommy needs some sleep!

 

[pancake]

Mayer, congrats on a successful first social outing without bub! I did go and run errands from time to time but didn't ever get out for a social event until S was 10 weeks old :S


...
I just had to pop by to share my excitement: S went down without a fuss for her morning nap, and almost an hour and a half later, she is STILL IN THERE!!!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Mayerling, so great that you were able to attend the wedding!! The screaming fits sound very tough (listening to your baby cry has a way of putting a mama on edge). Like Pancake said, I always reminded myself that fussiness peaks at 6 weeks, so the fussiness was likely temporary. You're doing great and hopefully tomorrow will be back to "normal".

Pancake!! 12+ hours overnight without any waking/stirring?? That sounds amazing! And now she's taking a long morning nap! I'm really hoping this means the end of her sleep strike!

PP, I think you'll really love the Ergo--I found it to be the most helpful tool for the first month of K's life. I wore her for a few hours a day while I did laundry, dishes, went to the grocery store, etc. It really soothed her, so I could go out in public without worrying if she'd cry. I don't think I got rid of the infant carrier until she was ~3 months, but I've heard you can juts use a rolled up towel instead of the insert.

I actually still use the Ergo when taking the dog for a walk or the occasional trip to the grocery store or Target when I know I'm going to need the entire cart. She still loves it.

As for the bath, once her belly button healed and we could do submerged baths, she loved it, so we gave her one every night. I'd say every other bath or so was just warm water, no soap. It quickly became part of our nightly routine.

Freke, I'm soooo sorry about A teething. That sounds brutal for everybody involved! I can't wait to see the pro pics, though! A is such an adorable baby, I can imagine the pics are super cute!

AFU, K isn't sleeping so well herself. I was frustrated with the babysitter because K skipped her last nap on Thursday. On Friday (when I had her), she skipped it again. I kept her in her pack and play for an hour trying to get her to sleep, but no dice. Today she's cut all of her naps short. Grrr. The worst part is that she's super happy and smiley when she wakes up from these short naps, so it's hard to keep trying to get her to sleep since I want to pick her up and snuggle with her.

 

[pancake]

NEL - oh gosh, I hope you're right and that S is adopting some kind of new and improved sleeping routine. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm so happy that she's sleeping well today! It's now 11:30am and she's been in bed since 9:15, asleep since shortly after that. As far as the overnight sleep goes, she did wake briefly at about 6:15 and played by herself for about 10 or 15 minutes, but then went back to sleep.

I did a lot of Googling and asking around when S's sleep starting going pear-shaped a couple of weeks ago and it seems that this is an age where a lot of changes happen with sleep and development, so pretty par for the course. I found that somewhat comforting - perhaps you do too? Sorry to hear that K's daytime sleep has gone awry. It is really frustrating!

 

[lliang_chi]

Hey mamas,

Ethan's doing OK. He still has his fever and get uncomfortable, so we've been giving him baby Tylenol. Basically we've been feeding him and putting him to sleep mostly all day. As soon as he starts to stir, we grab him and stick a bottle in his mouth. Otherwise if he wakes up too much he'll be too uncomfortable to eat. My poor baby... he cries big sad tears when he's uncomfortable... It totally breaks my heart. I guess I can't complain too much about Ethan's health since his first cold he didn't really have a fever, just a cough. Now he has a fever, and not so much of a cough. Poor boy. And he still hasn't pooped yet, but I think he might have pooped this last go round. We gave him some prune juice (1oz juice, 1oz water) early afternoon. How do you mamas give your babies prunes? In puree form? As juice? Do you milk the juice with their milk/formula? In their cereal?

Oh and since Ethan's been since, boob strike. I think it's the whole I can't get my shirt off etc before he starts fussing too much to eat. So we've been doing bottles... I miss nursing him...

Pancake, OH NO! Kinda funny but still yuck with S pooping on the changing table. But it could've been worse I guess. I heard broccoli & cauliflower might not be best for baby tummies because it's gas-inducing (even for adults). How's S taking to them? I love broccoli so I wanted to make some for Ethan but I held off... Oh I wanted to tell you about the beet roots, try looking for golden beets if you don't want to deal with red poop. That's my plan because I'm pretty sure DH will freak out if Ethan poops red beet poop. LOL. Fingers crossed that S's sleep keeps improving.

NEL, Aw, so cute that your DH was sad when you moved K out. J *totally* sleeps through anything. He keeps telling me to wake him up if/when Ethan gets up. RIght now he's even sleeping. It's 4PM and he's been sleeping since 1:30PM. Whoever said ALL parents are sleep deprived apparently never set foot in this house.

Freke, Yay! Can't wait to see A's pro pics! Sorry to hear teething is keeping everyone awake. What do you give her to help with the teething? My pedi said NOT to use orajel, but I thought that's what it was there for. So I'm confused....

PP, We used to bathe Ethan ever 3-4 days. He was born in the winter-time and was prone to eczema so we didn't bathe him too much. But he takes after his Mommy and Daddy and is TOTALLY a sweaty baby, so we've been bathing him more now that it's hot. Maybe every other day? Huzzah for Sleep Night Number 2!!! Hoping things continue on this way. I like the Ergo carrier, and used it without the infant insert when Ethan was about 3 months.

Mayer, Hoping N's doing better. Did you enjoy the wedding? Sounds like the eat-play-eat-sleep routine agrees with both of you for now. As N gets older and bigger he'll settle out into a loose "routine" then you can sort things out a lot more at that point. But for now, it's what works for you and your family.

 

[FrekeChild]

Thinking about everyone!

LC, they say that if you use too much orajel, it can spread to the back of a baby's throw and numb everything back there and prevent their gag reflex from activating, and as a result, they can choke. Everyone keeps talking about Humphrey's, but I haven't given that a thought really because of a tiny amount of belladonna in it and it sounds scary.

So for now, we sleep when we can, she sleeps when she can, and we're all still alive and kickin'.

Unfortunately A has been a little bit constipated the last few days, so that's been exciting. I went to the grocery store and combed through the different foods for the highest fiber content stuff. Most stuff has 1 gram or less, some has 2 grams, but the only one I've found with 3 grams is Gerber's Pear and Pineapple, of all things. Prunes actually only have 2 grams as well, surprisingly. I tend to feed her plain ol' Gerber Stage 1 prunes. I don't think I'd want to attempt making them myself, especially not right now! I've also been adding an extra ounce of water to each of her bottles, but I think it's only past 6 months when you can go up to 6oz of water per day.

Hugs for baby Ethan! I hope he feels better soon! Poor little guy!

Ok, I should go to bed to wait for the next waking....

Oh yeah, she will be 8 months on Monday. I'm so sad!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pancake]

LC, I have some Bonjela (similar to Orajel) that my mum gave me for S but I haven't used it yet. Mostly because I am still not 100% convinced that any of her fussiness is actually due to gum discomfort, but also because I forget. If you do use it, it's ok (and is short-acting, so don't worry about that) but make sure that you use it after feeding/solids etc, not before.

With prunes, I just add some to whatever fruit I'm cooking - they cook down really quickly. Mostly at the moment that's with pears, and it actually tastes really nice! I don't give her prune juice or mix it with water or milk or anything. Since S is still breastfed, I don't give her a lot of extra water - just a bit in her sippy cup (most of which she doesn't swallow) at mealtimes so that she gets to give it a try. The rest of her fluid intake is 100% BM.

I'm so sorry that Ethan is such a little sickie, poor little soul He must just need lots of cuddles and kisses at the moment, as well as loads of sleep. Poor little man. It sounds like you are doing all the right things - I hope he starts to feel better soon!

Freke - wow, it's constipation city around these parts at the moment! Hope A is not too distressed. Are you managing to get any decent stretches of sleep at all?

The time goes so quickly, doesn't it?? I remember when we first joined this thread, Aralia seemed like SUCH a big baby as she was 3 months old. Fast forward...and here we are, S at 5 months and A at 8!



S ended up having a THREE HOUR nap this morning. Some crazy fluke of nature no doubt!

 

[lliang_chi]

Freke, E's pedi said that pears are actually pretty good for constipation, pears and prunes, so that's probably why the pear/pineapple has 3g vs everything else. I'm going to pick up some fruits veggies and prunes to make some food for Ethan. Thus far the boy's drank 4 oz of prune juice/water (50/50 mix) and STILL no poop. He hasn't pooped in 3 days.... I can't believe Miss A is 8 months already!!! Wow!!!!

NEL, I want to pick K up and snuggle with her too! Look how adorable she is!!! Ethan's sleeping has been going all wonky too, but of course him being sick and constipated is likely the cause....

Pancake, holy cow. Fingers crossed that S is getting into a great new sleeping pattern. So do you mix prune puree in with the fruit you make, or do you put a prune in with the fruit. And is it dried/semi dried prunes or fresh?

Mayer, we've been giving Ethan baby acetomitaphen (too tired to look up proper spelling) to keep his fever down and help him sleep. It definitely helps, but he's so uncomfortable he doesn't' even want to eat. We have to sneak him to eat when he's drifted off to semi-sleep.

Holy cow, I can't believe all of this conversation about baby poop, constipation and prunes. Man, never thought I'd be having this conversation.... Anyway, pooping dust to all our babes that need it. Sleeping dust to the ones that are going through sleep regressions/schedule changes.

AFU: Ethan was up a few times last night. Fussing and crying. I was struggling with him to go to sleep for 1.5 hrs last night 2AM-3:30AM. DH got up and took over so I could pump. I've got a clogged duct on my left boob and it will NOT unclog. And Ethan (Mommy's primo duct unclogger) won't nurse, so I keep trying to pump it out. No dice. I'm totally dehydrated, so maybe that's why??? Anyway, because of the clog, it's pretty painful to carry him, but of course him being sick that's what he needs the most is to be held and soothed to sleep... Sigh! I can't wait until this fever breaks.

~LC

 

[CDNinNYC]

Just butting my nose in here. I don't know if it was mentioned before, but Camilia drops work really well for us when DD is teething. She also gets constipated around this time due to the crazy high fevers she gets and Gerber stage 1 prune helps with that.

Hope your babies get well soon. It seriously sucks when they don't feel well.

 

[mayerling]

LC, sorry to hear about the clogged duct. I hope Ethan's fever is gone by now.

Pancake, how are S's naps going?

Freke, I don't know if I've mentioned it before but A is such a cutie!

Nel, he's still fussy some times and it bothers me that my mom can settle him some times and I can't. Hopefully the fussiness will go by 6 weeks like you said.

Petite, how are you and L doing?

AFU, DH was up with me for the night feedings last night and took over settling N to sleep so I could get some more sleep which was great. Also, we finally got round to getting N his birth certificate today, and we also applied for his passport.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Mayerling, I'm so glad you were able to get a little more sleep!! Maybe the nightly help will continue for the next several weeks or until N's sleep lasts a bit longer and you can get more rest. And yay for getting the birth certificate and applying for the passport. Are you just getting the passport to have it or do you have an exciting trip coming up?

CDinNYC, thanks for the Camilia drop reco. I have baby orajel, but now I'm wondering if I should use something else when the time comes.

LC, how is E doing? Is one of you home with him today? Any word on the pooping situation?

Pancake, is the sleep situation continuing to improve? I hope so, I hope K's sleep strike is short-lived as well. Last night she slept great, but I'm afraid her daytime sleep might still be off.

Freke, I can't believe A is going to be 8 months!! That's crazy talk! And interesting about the pear/pineapple. I know that the P fruits are good for constipation (pears, plums, peaches, etc.), but I never thought that pineapple might be included in that bucket. Even though it's obviously a P fruit. I wonder if I should get some and just blend a little in K's food. I always include at least 1 oz. of P fruit in her purees and it would be nice to find a new fruit.

AFU:

1. Took K to the park yesterday and pushed her a tiny bit on the swing (you know the bucket kind with the leg holes). She LOOOVED it, haha. She ket squealing and laughing. I also met another mom there who lived just down the street from me, so it seems like a good place to meet nearby moms.

2. This is neither here nor there, just on my mind. I've been using OPKs to track my cycles to see if they would be just as long as they were before having K (and also since D and I decided if we'd TTC #2 on a cycle-by-cycle basis). Anyway, I'm on CD24 and just got a smiley on my digi, so it seems my cycles will be long again. I guess I'm just wired to have long cycles. At least I know that they aren't a problem.

 

[mayerling]

NEL, we're getting the passport because we're going back to the UK in September. We're also applying for a US one, as we're traveling to my husband's family home for Christmas.

 

[lliang_chi]

Mayer, yikes! you reminded me I need to apply for Ethan's passport too! Putting a note to start that ball rolling as well.

NEL, the park!!! What a stupendous idea!!! We have a park that's maybe 10 blocks away I should take Ethan before hte weather turns all yucky and cold again. On my list to do this weekend

AFU: So took Ethan's temp yesterday after his acetaminophen should have been wearing off. 97.xF, so back to normal temp. Not sure if it's because of the acetaminophen or what.

Question for mamas, does acetaminophen cause constipation? I was just thinking about it because J and I want to keep Ethan as comfortable as possible, which means lowering his fever and getting him to poop. Thus far the only thing we can control is his fever through acetaminophen. So we've been giving him that, plus prune juice (since Saturday), prune & pears puree (since Sunday), and as much BM as possible. But still no poop. We figured once he poops we'll stop giving him the meds so we can see if his fever's done.

Ethan slept pretty fitfully, got up a lot. We went it to get him as soon as he stirred, to give him bottles. I know it might be starting a habit but if he started getting too worked up, he wouldn't fall asleep at all. Once he's all healthy again we'll try to get him to sleep normally again. For now, I'm okay with babying him a little.

 

[PetitiePoire]

NEL- The park sounds like a ton of fun. I'm glad K enjoyed herself in the swings. Too cute.

Mayerling- Yay for passports! The US passport (from abroad) is way easier to apply for than I thought. We were told the Embassy was super strict on documentation to prove that I could pass my US citizenship on to L. So, I printed a ton of bank statements, etc since most of my "proof" is in the US. They didn't even take a peek and were fine with my university transcripts. Lots of stress for nothing. We received it in less than a week and it was post marked 3 days after our appointment. Her French passport was easy because she was born here.

LC- Glad Ethan is feeling better. Poor baby. It feels like an eternity that he hasn't pooped! Every time I read an update it feels like a week has passed. I imagine it feels just as long for him. Have you talked to his dr? At what point will they want you to bring him in?

Pancake- Thanks for the Ergo and bath tips. I'm glad S is doing so well with her sleep! I'm sure you're enjoyed that.


AFU- L slept 6 hours straight last night! Woo hoo! I fed her at 11. She was asleep at 11:45ish and slept until I woke her up at 6:30! I kept waking up starting around 4:30 thinking she would be waking anytime to eat, but nope! I felt bad at 6:30 so I woke her up to make her eat. I guess I worry she will starve?

We have enjoyed the Ergo so far. Yesterday we got some baking done. I forgot what it was like to have two arms available! I love having her so close, so the Ergo is perfect. The infant insert kept her a bit more snug so we are using it.

We had a nurse come today to check on the baby. She started asking about our plane trip at the end of the week and suggested we pack some formula in case I can't provide her enough milk for the duration of the trip.... Ummm, what?!? I didn't mind the suggestion, but after 5 minutes of "giving us something to think about" she began to grate on my nerves a bit. Towards the end I just stopped her and said "I'm not the first person to BF and take a plane!" I gave no indications of having a low supply and she shouldn't have had any concerns of that based solely on her growth chart (she is weighed every day).

 

[mayerling]

Petite, I am sooooo jealous of the 6-hour stretch of sleep! How did you manage it? As for the US passport, DH is also using university transcripts in order to confer his US citizenship to N.

LC, I'm glad to hear that Ethan's fever is better but sorry about the constipation.

Pancake, thanks about the deeper bath suggestion. For the first time in a long time, N didn't cry. I also held him more loosely than I did in the past and, counterintuitively, I think it made him feel that the bath is not very dangerous.

NEL, are you guys thinking of TTCing soon? I don't think I could handle another newborn for a while.

AFU, N just spent 3 hours asleep which is the longest we've had at night. So it's been 4 hours since his last feed. He gave us a really hard time putting him down though, which involved a lot of wailing inconsolably. He also had two more 3-hour stretches of sleep in the afternoon.

 

[pancake]

PP, what a fantastic night! I don't think you need to stress too much. Some people say you shouldn't let a baby sleep more than 5 hours overnight at 4 hours during the day at that age, but L is gaining heaps of weight and is alert and thriving, so I say enjoy it. S did the same thing around the same age (although only once) and I remember stressing about whether she was sick, but nope - fine!

How irritating re the nagging to take formula on the plane! I wouldn't take formula. She has BM on tap!

NEL - you are so organised with your OPKs! How did Katie go with her daytime sleep today? Hope it was a bit better... it sounds like she might be doing what S up until a few days ago. Sounds like she is still pretty happy - hope that continues even if the sleep doesn't!

LC - there is a broad understanding in the community that we "need to bring down" a fever; the truth of it is, that's not really true. The fever is the body's normal response to infection - the inflammatory process that leads to infection being cleared occurs at a higher body temperature. You only need to use acetaminophen if E is cranky and miserable (which often coincides with having a fever anyway - it can make them feel pretty crappy!). Don't stress too much about the fever, apart from noting that it is there.

Acetaminophen usually doesn't cause constipation. It might be that his body's just totally out of sorts with his infection. Poor thing; insult to injury!!

S is constipated again too. Ugh. Need to add more prunes in, I was giving her less. I use dried prunes - just take out the pits and cook them with whatever fruit I'm cooking her that day. Usually pears.

Mayer, glad to hear your hubby is so supportive, that's great! You must feel much better for having those extra little tidbits of sleep.

I just applied for S's passport as well. Hilarious. How long do babies/children keep theirs for in the UK? Here it's 5 years - so S is going to look like a stunned 4 1/2 month old mullet for quite a long time yet!

AFU, 3rd night in a row of almost S sleeping around 13 hours. Down at 6:30pm, up at 7:30am, with about half an hour of playing and low-level grizzling at about 5am. I think she would have slept longer if I hadn't got up myself and starting making noise; I didn't want her to sleep past 8am! Anyway, she had a feed, a brief play, breakfast, and then started yawning again at 8:45, so I put her down for her morning nap at 9. No fussing - just straight to sleep.

Cheeks are intermittently rosy rosy rosy, and hot! She otherwise seems fine. She has been a bit fussier than usual when awake, though. Yesterday she also had a 90 minute nap after lunch (after a 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning) and then couldn't sleep again for the rest of the day. Hardly surprising as she had already slept >16 hours in 24! But was quite clingy and not as smiley as usual. I'm wondering whether these last 3 weeks - with the crappy-daytime-sleep-and-random-night-waking followed by sleeping-a-heap-overnight-and-then-more-during-the-day - represent some sort of Wonder Week complex kind of thing? Who knows. She's certainly coming along developmentally at the moment so maybe it is.

Edit: I forgot to say, I have news too - yesterday I was informed that I've won a $50K grant for my research next year! Very excited. Except that it reminds me that I'll be DOING research next year instead of being at home with S

 

[mayerling]

I forgot to mention that N gets hiccups after every meal. Do you think I should be concerned?

 

[PetitiePoire]

MOTN update- L woke up at 3:30 and has been awake for 2 hours with no sign of sleeping soon! She's fighting it. I guess I shouldn't get used to 6 hour stretches.

 

[pancake]

Mayerling - nope, it's normal! S was a super-hiccupy baby too, both in the womb and out. I found that putting her back on the boob would generally make them stop, then keeping her upright and burping her really well for a while after the feed helped. But to be honest, I don't think she was at all bothered!

PP - I think the key thing is not to get used to ANYTHING! I was about to say, "for the next couple of months", but truth be told, even with a routine-driven bubba like S, things still change All. The. Time. Hope L gets to sleep (and you do too!) soon!

 

[parrot tulips]

I had a nice long reply written out (yay for the new mamas!), but my computer just ate it.

Ava is doing well. Her sleep is slowly improving, although it's nowhere near stellar. I was able to wean her from the first night feeding, but if it's been more than 5 hours, she will scream and cry until fed, and absolutely nothing but the boob will soothe her. I tried letting her CIO for 2 hours once, but when the screaming escalated into choking, I caved.

She still refuses the bottle, so we've decided to give up on it. She's still refusing solids (hmmm...notice a pattern emerging...?), and our ped isn't keen on baby led weaning, so she suggested trying a mesh feeder. That way, Ava can still be in control of what she eats, which seems to be the main issue, and I don't have to worry about choking. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works. It seems like it would be great for teething too, since you can put ice cubes or frozen fruits inside. I'm also hoping she figures out her sippy cup. She's interested in it, but chews on the mouth piece rather than sucking on it.

Rolling from back to belly is random and rare, but she rolls from tummy to back every. Single. Time. So much for tummy time. She is also sitting up unassisted for longer and longer stretches. Sometimes up to 20 minutes or more. She smiles constantly (until evening, when she gets cranky, despite great naps), and sometimes laughs so hard she starts squealing/screaming with delight, which is hilarious.

Hope all the babies and moms are doing well!

 

[pancake]

PT, wow, Ava is doing so well! I think S is a bit similar in that she has little interest in rolling (at 5+ months) but is sitting unsupported for up to 10 seconds at a time. Funny how the babies vary so much in their motor milestones! In our mothers' group there are babies who sit but don't roll, babies who crawl but don't sit, etc etc...they are all a bit older than S but it is fascinating to watch!

Re the solids - you have time, don't sweat it too much. You can always find a middle road of your own between purees and BLW that suits you...in fact I am certain you guys will figure out your own solution!

AFU - S had her best day in literally weeks today! Up at 7:45, feed/play/breakfast, nap from 9-11:30, feed/play/lunch/play, nap from 1-2:30, mothers' group/play, nap from 4:30-5:15, has just had dinner and is now squealing away happily in her bouncer. She hasn't been this active and vocal in such a long time - what a relief to see it!

(even if it lasts just today, I am happy!)

 

[CDNinNYC]

NEL, the Camilia drops are great. I was hesitant to try oragel because I didnt want to numb her gag reflex by accident. The drops dont do that, are all natural, and fast acting. It must also taste good because DD will dart her tongue out to taste it.

LC, constipation seems to follow high fevers. Maybe due to dehydration?

 

[lliang_chi]

ETHAN POOPED!!!! Yesterday at daycare! He had one GIANT poop and one little one. Hooray!!!! He hasn't pooped since but I gave 1oz of prunes mixed with his pears for daycare today, so hopefully he'll continue to poop. I'll start making some prune puree and pack it with his solids for the rest of this week.

In other news, I feel like C.R.A.P. I caught whatever Ethan or DH had. Of course still had to get up with Ethan's MOTN wake ups even though I'm sick. And when DH was sick last week he did NOTHING but sleep all night with no MOTN duties at all. Sorry I'm in a grumbling mood with DH since last night, he made me an hr late for a dinner last night with some friends.

Back for a response post in a bit. Work's bombarding me with a bunch of crapola right now....