PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[mela lu]

boo courtney

sorry to hear about AF.

I need your help. Romeo has developed a problem. He WILL NOT NAP for longer than 20 mins at a time. So our routine is EASA *(Never Y, lol). Then, by about 4 or 5 pm, he''s so tired he cant keep his eyes open and has a tough time with his last feed of the day (7pm).

What can I do to get him to nap longer? I''ve tried dark room, white noise, putting the paci back in....and he just fights fights fights. Advice?

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/4/2009 5:51:47 PM
Author: mela lu
boo courtney

sorry to hear about AF.

I need your help. Romeo has developed a problem. He WILL NOT NAP for longer than 20 mins at a time. So our routine is EASA *(Never Y, lol). Then, by about 4 or 5 pm, he''s so tired he cant keep his eyes open and has a tough time with his last feed of the day (7pm).

What can I do to get him to nap longer? I''ve tried dark room, white noise, putting the paci back in....and he just fights fights fights. Advice?

How long between naps normally Mela? What''s his period of wakefulness? And how long do you let him fuss, before and after the nap?

 

[Pandora II]

Sorry all, have been sorting out final (I hope) bits to the legal stuff - and trying to book ferries and B&Bs for our annual holiday (off to Ireland for 2 weeks on Friday and we have nowhere to stay for half of it at the moment - not unusual for moi, but with the wee one I need to actually book things!)

So, apologies for not responding to everyone...

Baby Led Weaning - I''ve read a couple of books on this and know a few people who are/have tried it. One friend has just started it two weeks ago. My youngest sister ended up on it by default as my mother was so busy trying to juggle 4 kids and my father plus his job that she couldn''t cope with baby-food (sister is now 6ft 2"

)

You don''t actually expect the child to ''eat'' anything at the beginning (hence why you continue to breastfeed in the usual way), you just let them try out different tastes, textures and shapes and how it feels in the hand or the mouth etc. Even if they just suck the food they are still getting something from it.

I agree that not all babies will like the method and it won''t work for all - if it doesn''t then I will have to resort to baby rice, but I''d like to give it a go.

TGal - we don''t have paediatricians in the UK unless you have a child with serious illnesses and they are seen by one in the hospital. Babies are just seen by the GP and Health Visitor. I discussed it with my GP and with my father and both of them thought it sounded like a good plan and pretty much what baby animals do.

Daisy is already pretty interested in what I am eating - I do let her try a bit of anything that she seems very interested in. Just a tiny bit on the end of my finger so that she can taste it but not so that she is actually ''eating'' anything. She''s pretty keen on most things so far: coconut milk, creme brulee, mustard sauce, gravy etc - although she pulled a bit of a face at lime and mango chili sauce!

Anyway, as with all things it''s a bit of trial and error, D. will put anything she can get her hands on into her mouth for a good suck at the moment so I''m hoping that this will be the case with food. Will report back in a few months...

Otherwise, everything good here - D. has discovered toys and books and can now amuse herself for a fair bit of time which is sooooo nice. We seem to have sussed the nap problem, although some days seem to go a bit off-track and she''s sleeping really well at night. Still wakes up twice but only to eat and then straight back to sleep so I can''t really complain.

On Sunday DH and I went to see the new Harry Potter and left Daisy with my BIL and his wife. It was the first time we''d both been away from her since she was born and did feel a bit odd. I really missed her!

 

[mela lu]

Date: 8/4/2009 5:58:07 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 8/4/2009 5:51:47 PM

Author: mela lu
Romeo has developed a problem. He WILL NOT NAP for longer than 20 mins at a time. So our routine is EASA *(Never Y, lol). Then, by about 4 or 5 pm, he''s so tired he cant keep his eyes open and has a tough time with his last feed of the day (7pm).

What can I do to get him to nap longer? I''ve tried dark room, white noise, putting the paci back in....and he just fights fights fights. Advice?

How long between naps normally Mela? What''s his period of wakefulness? And how long do you let him fuss, before and after the nap?

Tgal. Thanks for taking the time to ''help'' me. Our typical "3 hour cycle" is:

EAT (45 mins)
Activity until he starts yawning or nods off in his chair/crib (45 mins)
Sleep (20 mins)
Activity until (70 mins)
TOTAL = 3 hrs

He goes down really easily, so there is very little fussing there. The problem is that he wakes up crying most times, and if I only give him the paci and stroke his head (etc) then his cries keep escalating until he is full-on red face screaming!!!

I noticed this started about 2 weeks ago, and to "finish" his nap (after he escalated to screaming) I would toss him into his stroller and walk him back to sleep. This worked until I stopped moving the stroller.

Little bugger wakes up the minute I stop the movement. I refuse to keep walking him so that he can get more sleep, so I need a better solution.

In relation, he''s a fantastic night sleeper. Goes down around 7pm and then only wakes once in the night for a feed (between 2am and 3:30 ish). His current wake time is 6:30 am.

 

[mela lu]

Hi Pandora! Nice to "see" you and hear how well Daisy is doing! Congrats on the naps.

Any new pics?


Mgal - kyle is soooo cute. Great size comparison pic!

 

[Blenheim]

Mgal - what a great pic!

George is sticking anything and everything into his mouth these days. I think he might have eaten a little bit of a magazine earlier today. Oops.
We're trucking along with the house. We have people coming to replace the upstairs carpet next Friday, and we're hoping to have everything else ready by then as well. So.. busy. I'm waiting for paint to dry right now before doing another coat, so I thought I'd pop in for a moment.

ETA Courtney - that sucks. I think I felt ovulation pain during my morning commute and it put me in a bad mood for the rest of the morning. I guess I'll know for sure in about 15 days.

 

[gailrmv]

Mela THat sounds EXACTLY like the nap problem I'm having with A. Pandora posted some really helpful advice for me a few pages back. I also skimmed the No Cry Nap Solution which had some good suggestions. Nothing has consistently worked for us though. The longest crib nap A will have is 40 min. Usually 20. In my arms or while co-napping, he will sleep for hours. I go back and forth in my thinking. Some days I think this is NOT a habit I want to foster, so we work on the crib naps (or I will let him sleep in the stroller, if it happens that way). Other days, especially if I am exhausted, I figure better we co-nap than no nap at all. Sorry to be of no real help. What I thought would work was to try our same nightime routine for naps - not much luck. Other times, I let him fall asleep in my arms and transfer him to the crib. Also not much luck. Ugh. Frustrating! I just keep reminding myself, at least he sleeps at night, and just because he's not a good napper now doesn't mean he won't be a good napper in a few months (with luck!) Also, my pediatrician told me not to worry too much about naps, just give him the opportunity to nap and let him have some alone time in the crib when it seems like he might be tired. If he's tired, he'll nap and if not, he won't. I'm not OK with CIO although I will let him talk to himself or fuss a little, but I won't let him do a full blown cry without me responding. While I would love to be on the EASY or some other good routine, I feel like it is just not happening right now for us and I'm trying to go with the flow.

PLEASE let me know if anything works for you, though!

Mrs Thanks for asking how we are doing - doing pretty well! Things are going a little better at home. It all depends on how much DH works (his schedule varies a lot week to week). Lately he's had a better schedule, and so he's been much better about helping me get sanity breaks.

About solids - we tried rice cereal twice, and A didn't have much interest. I think we'll wait a week or two and try again. No rush, really! I don't plan to try other solids til 6 months. I'm excited for this new stage of his development, but also sad at how fast time is passing.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/4/2009 7:14:18 PM
Author: Pandora II
Sorry all, have been sorting out final (I hope) bits to the legal stuff - and trying to book ferries and B&Bs for our annual holiday (off to Ireland for 2 weeks on Friday and we have nowhere to stay for half of it at the moment - not unusual for moi, but with the wee one I need to actually book things!)

So, apologies for not responding to everyone...

Baby Led Weaning - I''ve read a couple of books on this and know a few people who are/have tried it. One friend has just started it two weeks ago. My youngest sister ended up on it by default as my mother was so busy trying to juggle 4 kids and my father plus his job that she couldn''t cope with baby-food (sister is now 6ft 2''

)

You don''t actually expect the child to ''eat'' anything at the beginning (hence why you continue to breastfeed in the usual way), you just let them try out different tastes, textures and shapes and how it feels in the hand or the mouth etc. Even if they just suck the food they are still getting something from it.

I agree that not all babies will like the method and it won''t work for all - if it doesn''t then I will have to resort to baby rice, but I''d like to give it a go.

TGal - we don''t have paediatricians in the UK unless you have a child with serious illnesses and they are seen by one in the hospital. Babies are just seen by the GP and Health Visitor. I discussed it with my GP and with my father and both of them thought it sounded like a good plan and pretty much what baby animals do.

Daisy is already pretty interested in what I am eating - I do let her try a bit of anything that she seems very interested in. Just a tiny bit on the end of my finger so that she can taste it but not so that she is actually ''eating'' anything. She''s pretty keen on most things so far: coconut milk, creme brulee, mustard sauce, gravy etc - although she pulled a bit of a face at lime and mango chili sauce!

Anyway, as with all things it''s a bit of trial and error, D. will put anything she can get her hands on into her mouth for a good suck at the moment so I''m hoping that this will be the case with food. Will report back in a few months...

Otherwise, everything good here - D. has discovered toys and books and can now amuse herself for a fair bit of time which is sooooo nice. We seem to have sussed the nap problem, although some days seem to go a bit off-track and she''s sleeping really well at night. Still wakes up twice but only to eat and then straight back to sleep so I can''t really complain.

On Sunday DH and I went to see the new Harry Potter and left Daisy with my BIL and his wife. It was the first time we''d both been away from her since she was born and did feel a bit odd. I really missed her!

Pandora, that sounds interesting! Please let us know how it goes. With my disaster of an eater, I''m interested in learning new things in case I have another one!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/4/2009 8:09:40 PM
Author: mela lu

Date: 8/4/2009 5:58:07 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 8/4/2009 5:51:47 PM

Author: mela lu
Romeo has developed a problem. He WILL NOT NAP for longer than 20 mins at a time. So our routine is EASA *(Never Y, lol). Then, by about 4 or 5 pm, he''s so tired he cant keep his eyes open and has a tough time with his last feed of the day (7pm).

What can I do to get him to nap longer? I''ve tried dark room, white noise, putting the paci back in....and he just fights fights fights. Advice?

How long between naps normally Mela? What''s his period of wakefulness? And how long do you let him fuss, before and after the nap?

Tgal. Thanks for taking the time to ''help'' me. Our typical ''3 hour cycle'' is:

EAT (45 mins)
Activity until he starts yawning or nods off in his chair/crib (45 mins)
Sleep (20 mins)
Activity until (70 mins)
TOTAL = 3 hrs

He goes down really easily, so there is very little fussing there. The problem is that he wakes up crying most times, and if I only give him the paci and stroke his head (etc) then his cries keep escalating until he is full-on red face screaming!!!

I noticed this started about 2 weeks ago, and to ''finish'' his nap (after he escalated to screaming) I would toss him into his stroller and walk him back to sleep. This worked until I stopped moving the stroller.

Little bugger wakes up the minute I stop the movement. I refuse to keep walking him so that he can get more sleep, so I need a better solution.

In relation, he''s a fantastic night sleeper. Goes down around 7pm and then only wakes once in the night for a feed (between 2am and 3:30 ish). His current wake time is 6:30 am.

Mela it sounds like you have him fine on the going down part, which for a lot of people is the toughest part. How long do you let him cry before you get him after his 20 minute nap?

Also, how is he going down? I take it you no longer swaddle him. Is the room temperature cool? Is he too bundled up?

I can''t remember how old he is now? Is he 2 months yet? If so, keep him just slightly later...90 minutes is a great period of wakefulness for the really young ones, but that can be stretched out pretty quickly. I''m thinking 45 minutes to eat and an hour to an hour and 15 to play. Then hopefully he''d go down for an hour, completing the 3 hour cycle.

 

[MustangGal]

Mela & TanDogMom- I''m sorry about napping issues! I hope things sort themselves out for you two soon!

blen - good luck with the home projects! Moving stuff around for new carpet is such a pain!

Courtney - are you still supplementing with formula? Maybe your body just isn''t producing enough milk to stop AF?

Pandora - I''d be interested to see how the BLW goes, good luck! And have a great vacation in Ireland! And how was Harry Potter? I''m hoping to go next weekend when the in-laws come to visit.

Well, the sitter is still preggo! The doc told her to try raspberry leaf tea, castor oil, and sex. She hasn''t done the castor oil, but the others don''t seem to be working. Her contractions stopped pretty much, so they''re not going to induce until the planned date of 8/19. She has a back-up all lined up to watch the kids while she''s out and for a few weeks when she brings the baby home.

We''re planning our first night away from the baby! September 15th will be our 8th anniversary, and we were planning to go visit "home" (Palm Springs) that month anyway, so we''re booking a night at the hotel we stayed at the first 2 nights of our honeymoon, and we''ll go to dinner at the country club we got married at. We''ve been meaning to do something like this for years, but we moved away before our first anniversary and just never got around to it! To make things fair for my mom and his mom, MIL will have the baby for the day portion, and my mom will have him at night. DH surprised me and said he thought my mom would do better for the night time shift! I''m sooo excited!

 

[mela lu]

Mgal - happy 8th anni! Congrats

Our 2nd anniversary is Aug 9th - this weekend!

TDM - Thanks for your story. Glad to know I''m not alone on this one...Interestingly, I let him nap in my bed this morning after his first feeding and he slept for 1.5 hrs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just like you, it''s not something I want to foster, but DAMN it was nice.

Tgal - Romy is 9 weeks, and typically does stay away for 90 mins before nodding off. At night I swaddle him tight, but for naps I just wrap him in a light blanket (or cover him) so that he''s cozy but not mummified. I *feel* like the temperature is ok...because his 20 mins happen everywhere. For example, I just drove to my moms house, and he slept for 15 mins (10 in the car, 5 in her house) and was up and at ''em again. URGH. Usually, I''d let him cry for about 5 mins (before escallation) to make sure he''s not going to fall back asleep. I''ll try putting in his paci, and soothing him, and he has NONE of it. My mom says I only had cat naps too...so maybe he''s just a cat napper....FOR NOW!

I remind myself that they can change on a dime.

*Romeo 9 weeks*

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/5/2009 11:39:07 AM
Author: mela lu

Tgal - Romy is 9 weeks, and typically does stay away for 90 mins before nodding off. At night I swaddle him tight, but for naps I just wrap him in a light blanket (or cover him) so that he''s cozy but not mummified. I *feel* like the temperature is ok...because his 20 mins happen everywhere. For example, I just drove to my moms house, and he slept for 15 mins (10 in the car, 5 in her house) and was up and at ''em again. URGH. Usually, I''d let him cry for about 5 mins (before escallation) to make sure he''s not going to fall back asleep. I''ll try putting in his paci, and soothing him, and he has NONE of it. My mom says I only had cat naps too...so maybe he''s just a cat napper....FOR NOW!

I remind myself that they can change on a dime.

*Romeo 9 weeks*

Mela, my guess is that if at night you are wrapping him tight at night and naps he is not being swaddled, that is why he is waking up. Try swaddling him for one nap and see how long he naps. You don''t have anything to lose. Swaddle with diaper only if it''s warm out.

 

[sbde]

hiya mommies!

mrs - hope you guys are able to make the decision that is right for you guys. living close to family is such a plus i think when you have small children. glad to hear sage's birthmarks have all faded! unforch i don't think cafe au lait ones fade so easily.

blen - sorry to hear about the job. good luck with your plan, i can totally see how being close to family would be so helpful in dealing with all of this.

mustanggal - adorable pic sorry to hear about your sitter!!

congrats on your upcoming anniversary - you guys will have such a wonderful time going away!

courtneylub - 6.5 mos post partum and no AF for me yet, i wonder when she'll show up! are you excited that your 2 wks notice is almost up?

mela & tandog - sorry to hear about the nap issues. J also takes very short naps during the day. 30-40 min at MOST unless of couse i hold him (he could nap for hours like that

) the only thing that has helped me lengthen his naps is to play his lullaby cd (baby einstein lullabies) while he is being put down. he stays asleep until the cd is over, and i've tried to cheat by replaying it and it helps him sleep a bit longer. to tell you the truth though, i still let him nap in bed with me in the mornings because honestly i NEED that extra shut eye and it's fun to cuddle. i do think i'm not as regimented as some of the other moms though regarding schedules and conditioning so i may pay for it later on.

fiery - where has the time gone!? 4 wks already - she is adorable

 

[MustangGal]

Do any of you or your DH''s play a musical instrument?

I finally pulled my butt off the couch last night, and sat down with Kyle at the piano. I haven''t played in a LONG time, but I want him to have music in his life and possibly learn the basics. DH sat next to me with Kyle on his lap while I made it through some songs in my "Beginning Piano for Adults" book. He tried pushing the keys, but he wasn''t hitting them hard enough. After a bit of that, I pulled out the flute. I''m much better with flute than piano anyway, but I haven''t played since he was born, and was wondering how he would react to the high pitched sound. I should have remembered how mush he likes the high sounds. I started playing, and he started smiling and laughing. It made me smile and I couldn''t play until I got that under control

. I pulled out the piccolo (even higher sound), and he liked it also. I handed him the piccolo, and he started waving it around. Day 1 of musical education went well!


* Kyle is 5 months + 3 weeks*

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 8/5/2009 10:58:18 AM
Author: MustangGal
Mela & TanDogMom- I''m sorry about napping issues! I hope things sort themselves out for you two soon!

blen - good luck with the home projects! Moving stuff around for new carpet is such a pain!

Courtney - are you still supplementing with formula? Maybe your body just isn''t producing enough milk to stop AF?

Pandora - I''d be interested to see how the BLW goes, good luck! And have a great vacation in Ireland! And how was Harry Potter? I''m hoping to go next weekend when the in-laws come to visit.

Well, the sitter is still preggo! The doc told her to try raspberry leaf tea, castor oil, and sex. She hasn''t done the castor oil, but the others don''t seem to be working. Her contractions stopped pretty much, so they''re not going to induce until the planned date of 8/19. She has a back-up all lined up to watch the kids while she''s out and for a few weeks when she brings the baby home.

We''re planning our first night away from the baby! September 15th will be our 8th anniversary, and we were planning to go visit ''home'' (Palm Springs) that month anyway, so we''re booking a night at the hotel we stayed at the first 2 nights of our honeymoon, and we''ll go to dinner at the country club we got married at. We''ve been meaning to do something like this for years, but we moved away before our first anniversary and just never got around to it! To make things fair for my mom and his mom, MIL will have the baby for the day portion, and my mom will have him at night. DH surprised me and said he thought my mom would do better for the night time shift! I''m sooo excited!

Harry Potter was great - best one yet according to DH (who hasn''t read any of the books and so doesn''t know what''s coming). We saw it at the IMAX, so the first 12 minutes were in 3D - all I can say is WOW. Last time I saw 3D was with those cardboard glasses with green and red plastic in them and it was seriously crap. This was truly incredible.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it - it was a joint wedding anniversary/meeting anniversary/my 37th birthday outing for us.

I don''t start the BLW for another 3 months, so updates will take some time!

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 8/4/2009 8:10:26 PM
Author: mela lu
Hi Pandora! Nice to ''see'' you and hear how well Daisy is doing! Congrats on the naps.

Any new pics?


Mgal - kyle is soooo cute. Great size comparison pic!

Hi Mela, should be around more next week - have booked hotels with free WiFi, so since we will be in with the bear rather than living it up in the bars I''ll have lots of time to catch up on PS properly!

In the meantime, here are a few pics:

This was in a Victorian babygown that my mother had put away...

 

[Pandora II]

Close-up

 

[Pandora II]

She got a bit excited by the photoshoot here:

 

[Pandora II]

Last one... All bathed and ready for bed!

Off to feed the bear...

 

[MustangGal]

She''s sooo cute Pandora! I love the gown!

I''ll have to see if they''re playing it at the Imax here, that sounds like something I don''t want to miss. My DH hasn''t read the books either, and I find myself explaining the misisng bits to him the whole time we watch the movies...

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/5/2009 6:14:53 PM
Author: Pandora II
Close-up

She''s gorgeous Pandora. And from memory from the one pic I recall seeing of you, is it fair to say she looks like her mama?

 

[lili]

Daisy is a babydoll!
Love the Victorian gown.

 

[mela lu]

PAndora - She is BEAUTIFUL! She's really come into her looks! WOW. Less "newborn" and more "infant". Lovely

Mgal - nice on the music! Kyle is lucky to have you for entertainment and education!

Tgal - will swaddling him during the day confuse him at all? I never swaddled him in the day for fear that he would "forget" it wasn't night time. Is that dumb?

*Romeo 9 weeks*

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/5/2009 9:16:10 PM
Author: mela lu
PAndora - She is BEAUTIFUL! She''s really come into her looks! WOW. Less ''newborn'' and more ''infant''. Lovely

Mgal - nice on the music! Kyle is lucky to have you for entertainment and education!

Tgal - will swaddling him during the day confuse him at all? I never swaddled him in the day for fear that he would ''forget'' it wasn''t night time. Is that dumb?

*Romeo 9 weeks*

I don''t think one time trying will confuse him. You''re going to have to wean him from nighttime swaddling anyway. If he''s sleeping as well as he does, I don''t think you have to worry about him getting confused it''s night. He may hate it because he''s not used to it in the day, you never know. But it would be interesting if it would help his napping. At his age, Amelia was still jerking her arms around so that kind of stuff did wake her.

 

[Blenheim]

Pandora - Daisy is just adorable! I love that some personality is coming through the photographs.

If we continue at the crazy pace around here, I think that we''ll be good to put the house on the market in about a week and a half. I took 6 garbage bags of stuff to the Salvation Army today, and prepped a couple walls to be painted (which is tomorrow evening''s job).

 

[nycbkgirl]

Pandora..im in looove

...wow what a cutie!

so we finally got our cribs and ive been all over the place....?...does anyone use mattress pads or anything like that...i will try to post a picture of them..they are sooo beautiful but they dont have bars like every other crib...2 bars in the middle and thats it.

try to catch up soon!!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I''m back!

Will catch up later but wanted to pop in to say we bought a house!!

It is awesome! And scary... I never thought I would spend half a million on anything in my life

 

[snlee]

Pandora, Daisy is adorable! She''s beautiful.

 

[snlee]

Date: 8/5/2009 10:55:55 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
I''m back!

Will catch up later but wanted to pop in to say we bought a house!!

It is awesome! And scary... I never thought I would spend half a million on anything in my life

Congrats dreamer! That''s awesome! How exciting!

 

[puffy]

DD CONGRATS on your house!!!

pandora she is absolutely beautiful!!! LOVE the gown!