PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[lliang_chi]

Huzzah! I feel all Super Mom-y. I made my own baby oatmeal. Took steel cut oats I had on hand and ground them into a super fine powder using my "spice grinder" (I use a coffee grinder as I'm not a coffee drinker). Boil 3 parts water to 1 part oatmeal powder and WHISK, WHISK, WHISK! For about 10 mins. Then portioned out little containers for Ethan's consumption. Storing in fridge until he's ready to eat. Will mix with breast milk serving. If you don't have a coffee grinder use your blender. You want a small diameter container. Next time I'm going to try making it with "old" breast milk. Figure it'll be a good use for it, right?

NEL, saw that pic and immediately busted out laughing! Love it! Looks like she really likes the pool. I haven't tried taking Ethan to the pool yet. I dunno in my head, the city pools seem so dirty, and our gym doesn't allow babies. Maybe there's one branch that's attached to a high rise apt complex, they might have "family swim" I'll maybe give that a whirl....

Pancake, hooray for S's nap!!! That's great. Hopefully that means she'll be back to her regular routine soon. Fingers crossed!

Mayer, Go N for finally hitting significant naps! I hope the trend continues. I also hope your headache goes away...

 

[pancake]

LC, do you mean that you'll use your stored BM instead of the water? I guess that boiling it will negate any issues that you might otherwise have with "old" milk! I haven't tried S on anything wheat-based yet. I'm still reintroducing other starches (potato, rice) very slowly because I was so traumatised by her constipation at the start!!

Well, S had a TWO HOUR nap this morning! I have to say, after that, it's been her best day in probably almost a fortnight - she's been her cheery, interested self today, not the introverted, withdrawn bubby of the last week. I don't know if this is just a once-off, so I am enjoying it! She had a brief nap in the Ergo at mothers group at lunchtime, and she's currently down for her afternoon nap (been down for 40 min so far). I really really REALLY hope that this heralds a return to something of a more normal pattern, but even if it doesn't, it's given me enough to go on for the next few days!

 

[PetitiePoire]

Mayerling- Oh my, I could have written your post ! It sounds like we are going through very similar transitions into motherhood! It’s honestly nice to read that I’m not alone and our little one’s being so close it’s easy to compare. We’ve had a few nights at our house (around midnight) when I’m exhausted and just cry trying to get her to sleep. The only thing that calms me is her sweet face and remembering she can feel my frustration and I don’t want her feeling that.
After some feedings she just doesn’t want to sleep and I find myself lost. DH has been great and it sounds like yours is too. L has days where I feel like she is regressing. Instead of every 3 hours, sometimes it’s ever 1-2 hours. It’s exhausting, but we somehow pull through. I chalk it up to growth. Last night her sleep/feed schedule was 9pm, 12am, 3am, 5:30am, 7:30am, 10am. At her 5am feeding she did not want to go back to sleep. She just cooed and whimpered. I half slept and had a small moment of frustration trying to get her back to sleep. She loves being close, so putting her down after a feeding usually wakes her and she whimpers, so I understand worrying about getting into a bad routine.
I feel like the only time I am myself is my 10-15 minutes when I’m showering. It’s the only time I don’t feel like a wife and mother, just me. It’s crazy how life changes and those few minutes become your sanctuary.

Pancake-I’m a bit envious of your sleep schedule. I’m surprised I don’t miss sleeping more than I do. S looks adorable in that little hat!

LC- Ethan looks so sweet in those pictures. I love the one of him sleeping. It reminds me of L after feedings and sweet she is. Moments to cherish.

Bobbin- I love C’s little giraffe outfit! So cute! It was nice hearing your take on career/motherhood. Some days I wonder if I should work, but 99% of the other days I feel like you. I have time later. We might not have the extra income, but the money can’t make up for the time I’m getting with L now. I’m currently working on a photobook for L’s first few days. Hopefully I’ll finish it today and get it ordered.

NEL- Katie is so precious! I love her blue eyes! I love the beach and pool pictures too. When did you start taking her in the water? If it was during the post partum time was it DH that took her?

AFU- 2 weeks today! Time passes so quickly. L is becoming more alert and is staying awake more and more after feedings. Sometimes I don’t think even she knows what to do during that time as she’s used to falling asleep. She seems restless then. She sleeps a lot during the day, when we run errands, which makes some night time feedings feel long. She is gaining a lot of weight. We have her check up appointment today, so hopefully they will say it’s normal.

 

[pancake]

PP, don't lose heart. You can't see it, but you are going really well! The adjustment to having your hours and sleep turned upside down takes a while but you will find that in a few weeks, the sleep deprivation will not feel so dire, partly because you will get a little more sleep, and partly because your body will adjust. Although S sleeps through now, I still sleep much less than I did before I had her - I think I just got used to having much less and so I seem to need less now. About 6 or 7 hours does me well.

The inconsistencies in L's feeding and waking are all completely normal, so just do what you have to to get through. She is clearly thriving and healthy, so you don't need to worry about that! If she is now more wakeful after feeds, you could start being more structured with the feed-play-sleep routine during the daylight hours. At night-time we just basically tried to minimise any kind of stimulation - very dim lights for the feed, no talking, etc. I never really knew when the best time was to change S's nappy at night in the early days - I used to change after the feed or between sides, but it would have made total sense to do it beforehand to minimise the disruption. S got the hang of day and night around 4 weeks I think? She would still have an unsettled period late in the evenings though, that persisted for a while - max at about 6-8 weeks, but disappeared by about 10 weeks (I think). But all babies are different.

And the shower was absolutely my only "me time" until about 4 weeks ago! Now that she goes to bed so early, I have the evenings, but that shower used to be a blessed haven of peace in my day! I remember NEL and I talking about that on this thread just a couple of months ago!

 

[mayerling]

PP, I feel bad about what you're going through, but also good for knowing that I'm not alone! I'll come back with a longer post later, but, in the meantime, let's both keep remembering that it's all worth it.
ETA: Question for the experienced nursers: at which point did your nipples stop hurting?

 

[janinegirly]

Quick one - love the photos...the babies are growing so fast!!

NEL: K is a champ at eating, wow...that is more than my once huge baby! What solids are you feeding / making? And I am liking that sleep schedule. A goes down alot later...well because I'm home at 7 so can't put her to bed too quick since she's asleep when I leave.
I love the pool photo but especially the drunk beach shot.

 

[bubbly1126]

Thanks, Pupp!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Super quick post because today is a crazy work day, but PP, I promise it does get better. I think that you always have days of regression (I still feel that way sometimes about K), but over time you get more and more time to yourself. Those showers are valuable in the early weeks, though!

Pancake, it's so great that S gave you more sleep!!! I hope the no-sleep days are behind you!

LC, look at you making your own oatmeal!! That's awesome!! I thought about trying to make my own rice cereal, but K is eating so much that I've stopped giving any to her with her solids. It's just fruit, veggies and yogurt.

Janine, for solids I've given her pears, apples, bananas, avacado, carrots, peaches, mangoes, peas, plums, zucchini, melon and yogurt. The only thing she didn't like was avacodo. Bananas are her favorite. oh, and I gave her an ounce of spinach once, then read they can't have it until they're older, so I threw the rest out. I've stopped giving her cereals and do a blend of any of the above with yogurt. Today she's having bananas, mangoes, plums and zucchini with yogurt. I try to make a batch for the week, but she's eating so much that I end up needing to make a couple of batches.

 

[janinegirly]

NEL: thanks - you must be making it yummy! Are you using plain yoghurt and how do you steam the food? (I am a terrible cook if you cant tell..must have directions for everything). She is definitely growing fast, she looks so big in the beach photo! Just so adorable!

 

[PetitiePoire]

Quick post: I didn't mean to come off the way I did in my post. I'm totally enjoying my little one and really am not bothered by the huge changes. I'm finding it harder to express myself though, because I feel constantly in a rush to get back to her, so I end up writing just the cut and dry of it. Hope that makes sense. It's really not *as* difficult as I must have made it sound!

Also, L grew 3 cm in 2 weeks!! She is now 56cm, whereas she was 53 at birth! I feel like I either have a Twilight baby or miracle grow in my milk! yikes. I told DH I'm going to be nursing a baby my size before long! Her doctors appointment went great although she hated being undressed to be checked out.

 

[mayerling]

Pancake, I'm glad to hear that S's seep is getting back to normal.

NEL, those pool pics and the one from the beach are gorgeous!

LC, sorry to hear that E is waking in the night again.

Petite how's tonight going?

AFU, N had a check up with the health visitor and it turns out he has umbilical granuloma so we have to go to the hospital tomorrow to see the child surgeon about getting it treated. Also, he's gained another 110g since Saturday and is now 3050kg. Tonight was difficult as he fussed and refused to sleep and neither I nor DH could settle him. My mom jumped in and did it in two mins which made us feel even more inadequate. I can't wait to go back to our own place in the UK but that won't be for a couple of months. Anyway, so far tonight I've managed to get an hour of sleep so let's see how the rest of the night goes...

 

[mayerling]

Update during second night-time feed (PS is my only friend at this hour ). So baby woke up at 11:40pm. I fed him one boob, burped him, changed him, fed him the other boob and tried to burp him again but this time he wouldn't. He was on a milk high so I shushed him and put him in the bassinet at 12:45. He eventually drifted off. Then he woke up at 3:15 which is great as I got a couple of hours of sleep. So now I'm just repeating the process. I don't mind it, as long as he goes to sleep easily.

 

[stephbolt]

Hi mamas, guess it's time I join you over here! My sweet Eleanor is 3 weeks old tomorrow, it's hard to believe that much time has passed already. I'm very lucky that she's been eating great from the very beginning. She was 7 lbs 7.5 oz at birth and was up to 8 lbs 5 oz by the time she was 11 days old. I worried so much about establishing breastfeeding so it's been a nice surprise that has gone so well, fingers crossed it continues that way. Sleep is still unpredictable – sometimes she'll go as long as 5 or 6 hours at night and sometimes she's up every hour so standard for a newborn I suppose

PP and Mayerling, oh ladies, I am right there with you. There have been plenty of nights where baby girl and I are both sitting in her room crying because she keeps fussing but doesn't seem to want to eat or sleep. I knew she would have to eat every few hours but I didn't realize that every time she woke up it would be at least an hour (and often more) getting her fed/burped/changed/asleep again. I keep trying to tell myself it's normal and each day is going to be something different and we'll deal with it one day at a time. Today I think she was having a bit of a growth spurt because she just wanted to eat and eat all afternoon and didn't want to sleep at all. She's finally napping now in her swing, thank goodness. I did get to do my first outing away from her today, my mom is here helping out so I left them alone and went to Target for an hour, it felt so strange to be out on my own without her but good for my mental health.

Question for those of you further along who have breastfed – when does the insane leaking stop? Right now especially if it's been a little while since I've fed her, I am leaking like crazy from the side I'm not feeding her on, I soak right through breast pads and usually am stuffing a cloth diaper in my bra while feeding at home. I feel like I'm never going to be able to take her out and feed her in public because of this and we've been trying to time all our errands to dash out of the house as soon as she's fed and happy and have to abandon ship and head home as soon she starts to fuss. Please tell me this gets better!

Well little lady is starting to wake up again so guess I better get ready to feed her, looking forward to keeping up with all you ladies!

 

[lliang_chi]

Steph, I noticed the leaking stopped for me around 8 wks or s. I'd be out with a moms group and notice the entire front of my shirt is soaked. Fortunately I was with other moms so they totally understood. Otherwise it would've been quite embarrassing.

 

[mayerling]

Steph, welcome! Your, my, and Petite's babies are so close in age that I imagine we'll have a lot to talk about.

Final update for the night. He went down at 4:15 after the previous update, without a fuss. He was still kind of awake when I put him down but drifted off eventually. Anyway, he just woke up again at 6:25. I'll repeat the process and see how it goes. All in all, I'm truly happy. This is the best night we've had since we got home from the hospital, the most sleep I've had in days, and the first night where I didn't feel that my breast is one big pacifier. I know it won't last, but because I've had some rest, I feel that I can cope.

Okay, enough about me. How are the rest of you lovely ladies?

 

[PetitiePoire]

Welcome Steph! It sounds like things are going well for you!

Mayerling- I'm glad you had a goodnight. It's nice when they surprise us like that. Don't fret over your mom being able to get him to sleep... At least he fell asleep. It doesn't make you inadequate. I understand the feeling though because L is usually very awake with DHs mom, so I worried at first that I was boring her, but I know it's not the case.


AFU- sleep was thrown off yesterday so she woke up a lot last night. It felt more like naps than real sleep. I'm functioning though, so I guess I got enough. Are you all burping after each feeding? We were told at the maternity and DH read that we didn't have to if baby didn't seem to need it. So far, it's worked for us. No tummy issues (knock on wood). The only issue I'm finding is she falls asleep on the boob (or with me holding her) so now she won't fall asleep on her own- unless we are in the car. Hopefully it's just a temporary newborn thing and not a habit.

 

[pancake]

Steph - I still leak! I think some women are leakier than others That said, what LC said is true, the leaking really does settle down after about 6-8 weeks or so, I think...around the time when your supply regulates. I still leak, particularly overnight when S sleeps 10-11 hours in a stretch, but during the day I don't any more. Just get some really good breast pads - early on I found a combo of a wool pad with a disposable behind it was quite effective! For disposables, Lansinoh are the BEST.

PP, we found that the nights were not that different from the days for the first 3 or so weeks. It's hard to teach a newborn how to go to sleep on his/her own at the start because they tend to fall asleep on the boob at the end of a feed anyway - it's something that is easier to tackle (ok, "easier" is the wrong word - more practical, I guess) once they have a bit of awake time post-feed. Try and sleep when the baby sleeps during the day. I was not good at taking my own advice for a while, and around 3-4 weeks I got very emotional and fell in a bit of a heap before realising that I just needed to catch my ZZZs when S did, and be strict with myself about it.

Mayer - yay for the better night! Hope tonight is just as good.

Janine - I'm not NEL, but S eats plain yoghurt - I just bought her some random organic Greek yoghurt (it's about 4.5% sugar) thinking she wouldn't like it, but she loves it! I just cook her vegies on the stove with a little bit of chicken broth; fruit I do on the stove too, but just with a little water so they don't dry out. Then whizz whatever I want in the blender. Initially I was blending different fruits together, and doing big vegie mixes etc, but now I'm just keeping it to about 2 vegies at a time and freezing them in cubes, then I can mix and match at any given meal.

AFU - S had a topsy turvy day today. She woke and grizzled on and off from about 2am until about 3am, but then slept until 5:45...had a feed and then slept until 9am, which I think stuffed up her morning nap as she'd slept too much overnight. Morning nap got dropped - cue very grizzly S - but fortunately she had 1 1/2 hours in the early afternoon, and an hour later in the afternoon. I think I am going to institute a strict wake-up time, eg. if she's not awake by 8am, I get her out of bed. Think I need to schedule the mornings a bit more in order to make it easier for her to have that morning nap.

 

[PetitiePoire]

Pancake, Mayerling- where are you ladies? I'm used to Europe time and US time, but your posts seem almost a day ahead of my European time. If you don't feel comfortable saying, could you give the time zone? I know I'm crazy, I just find it so interesting how we are all doing the same things and different points in each others days.



I just reread the postpartum thread and oh wow, now I know why I was scared. I remember telling DH postpartum would be worse than labor and delivery, but neither has been terrible. A change, but not bad at all. I've just taken up new ways to sit and bathroom habits. I'm just hoping my episiotomy is healing ok. I wasn't given any info regarding it and Ive read horror stories of them needing to be redone! Ouch.

 

[mayerling]

PP, I think Pancake is in Australia. I'm normally based in the UK but until September I'm at GMT+2, so only an hour ahead of you. The reason my posts seem to come at odd hours is because I've taken to posting during N's middle of the night feeds.

 

[PetitiePoire]

PP, I think Pancake is in Australia. I'm normally based in the UK but until September I'm at GMT+2, so only an hour ahead of you. The reason my posts seem to come at odd hours is because I've taken to posting during N's middle of the night feeds.

Okay. That makes sense! I should probably do that too so I can take Pancakes advice on sleeping when L does. For some reason my brain still worries about not being tired at night to go to sleep. Haha. Silly me, those days are over!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Mayerling, yay for the good night! If he can have one good night, then he can have more! Sounds like you're on the brink of getting a little more sleep. It's hard to remember when you're up multiple times per night, but these first weeks go quickly!

Janine, like Pancake, I've been giving greek yogurt. I thought it wouldn't be sweet enough for her, but she likes it. I also thought the plums would be too tart for her, but she likes those, too. I steam using a steamer insert (from Target) in a saucepan. Most fruits you can just slice and steam (the skins come off after steaming). For sweet potatoes, I roasted them in the oven. Steaming one batch doesn't take long, but I usually steam 4 or 5 batches of fruits a week and it takes a chunk of time.

Pancake, is S tossing and turning but not opening her eyes? K has been doing that recently and I'm about thisclose to just shutting off the monitor. When she cries, I can hear her. But the tossing and turning keeps me staring at the monitor all night.

 

[Missy0483]

I'm late to the party! I've been reading along and loving all these babies! I just never got a chance to post anything. Blake is now 6 weeks old! He was born on June 6th at 9:49pm via c-section after an induction that last about 60 hours from beginning to end He was 7lbs 9oz and 21in long. At his checkup at 5 weeks he was 9lbs 7oz and 22in! The last few nights he's slept between 5 - 6 hours, up to eat, then back to sleep for another 2 - 3 before he's up for the day. I can handle that!

I'm attaching some pics. First is from the day after he was born, next is his newborn picture (done at 26 days, so a little late!) and one from yesterday. I can't believe how much he's change just in this little amount of time! I love this little guy so much I'm dreading going back to work on Monday

 

[lliang_chi]

Mayer, huzzah for a good night's sleep! Hopefully he'll get the hang of it. It definitely sneaks up on you when your LO's can start going longer. Also they might get used to having their needs taken care of. I realized Ethan could go 6 hrs by accident when he was around 10 or 11 wks (I can't remember anymore). TBH, I got pretty tipsy and fell asleep. When he woke in the MTTN we used to feed him. I gave him his paci and was so tired, I did the "I'm just going to put my head down for a sec, then I'll get his bottle." Passed back out, but he slept through the night. After that I was like, "If you can do it once, you can do it again." He's been good since then. Once he starts packing on the pounds you can try "pushing" him to go a little longer between feeds. Now I totally don't feel guilty making Ethan wait for me to feed him. I make him wait for me to get him (at least a minute or two). Hope I don't sound like an evil Mommy now....

PP, I used to burp Ethan a lot. For a few reasons, one he kinda needed it to keep him awake during a feeding. He had a tendency to drift off to sleep a lot. He does that now even and he's 5 months old. So throwing him upright and burping him kept him awake. Also around 6-8 wks, he started spitting up some more, so I thought maybe he was too gassy.

Pancake, wow, S is a sleeping champ! I can't believe you need ot institute wake ups! We get Ethan up so early during the week (5:30, latest 5:45) that he's used to getting up early on the weekends too. Great to know you cook S's veggies in chicken broth. I wasn't sure when I could introduce it to Ethan, so I'm going to try it when I start veggies with him.

Janine, making food should be pretty easy. You won't have to cook them for too long. If you can make oatmeal on the stove you should be good to go wiht baby food. Just make sure you have a food processor or blender to get the food smooth. How's your vacation planning going?

Missy, welcome. Blake's such a cute! Glad to hear he's doing so well with eating and sleeping. What a cutie!

AFU, Ethan was still kinda constipated. The daycare was totally lazy on giving Ethan his oatmeal, so I gave him some when we got home. Since it's oatmeal it gets really solid because it's cold. I'm thinking they didn't heat it up so it'd be runny and barely tried mixing in the breast milk. I'm going to make it again but much runnier for them to give ot him. But since he was still constipated I also made some peaches for him to hopefully clear him out. I gave daycare just the peaches no cereal today. Ethan LOVES peaches though. He also liked the oatmeal. He had about 2 oz of oatmeal and 1.5 oz of peaches. I baked the peaches (cut in half then cut side down) and then pureed it in the food processor. I make 2.5 medium sized peaches (I ate one half... ) and that yielded 7.6 oz of puree. This weekend I"m going to buy a bunch of fruit & veggies (plums, peaches, apples, green beans, zucchini/squash, sweet potatoes, golden beets) and do a baking/steaming-baby-food-a-thon. I ordered some ice cube trays from amazon to freeze them.

 

[parrot tulips]

Wow, so many new mamas here! Welcome ladies, and congratulations.

Just a quickie post, since Ava will probably be waking from her nap any minute. I'm so envious of all the great little eaters. Ava still refuses the bottle, sippy cup (both the regular and straw type), and all purees. She did grab DH's hand the other day while he was holding a chunk of ciabatta and started gnawing on it, so I'm thinking about looking into baby led weaning. I'm a texture person when it comes to food...maybe she is too...? Sleep is off again, just as she was improving. Naps are short and unpredictable, whereas she was a great napper before, and she is waking up at around 10:30 every night, regardless of bed time, and will scream bloody murder for hours and hours until/unless fed. She does go back to bed immediately after a feeding, though. Up again once more before her 7:30 wake up time. Since her adjusted age is roughly 6 months, I'm hoping it's just temporary, possibly a growth spurt. Gotta go, crying baby awake!

 

[mayerling]

PT, thanks for the welcome! I hope Ava gets over the bottle strike soon.

Missy, it's nice to see you here!

LC, the problem with my son is that he starts wailing as soon as he's up unless a boob is shoved in his mouth . Also, I didn't introduce a paci from the beginning from fear of nipple confusion and now he refuses to take it.

AFU, first MOTN feeding. Last feeding was at 9pm, he went down without a fuss at 10, and got up at 1:30! Unfortunately, I heard him stir at 12:30 and I'd been waiting for him to get up since. Also, he had a really weird day today, where he was awake from 9 to 1:30, and from 6:30pm to10pm (this second time he cried for most of the time); I don't know how a 12-day-old can handle that. Good news is we managed to get his umbilical granuloma treated today.

 

[pancake]

Mayer, haha - I STILL do that, ie. wake up ahead of S waking and am unable to get back to sleep because I keep thinking she's "about" to wake up! Happened last night... I woke up at 3am when S fussed a little...stayed awake until 5ish...slept fitfully until S eventually actually woke up at 6:30! If you are keen for him to take a dummy, keep trying; we found that S would intermittently take it, but then we stopped giving it and by the time we tried again (weeks later) it was curtains! Glad that the umbi granuloma has been treated.

PT, I have been thinking about Ava and her refusal of purees, and was going to suggest BLW! The only reason we're not doing it is because S doesn't have the motor control to do it yet. I'm not sure whether it'll be difficult to transition from spoon to BLW, but I am keep for her to explore foods and try things in her own time. I have heard of other babies hating purees but thriving with BLW, so give it a go! The Gill Rapley book is pretty good.

LC, she's only a champ during the night at the moment - days are upside down! To be honest I found it easier when she reliable woke once during the night for a feed, and had solid naps during the day. I know that this is a stage and it will pass, but it is challenging! Re solids - I am basically giving S anything and everything within reason. That isn't as liberal as it sounds as there are only so many things you can cook and puree for a baby during winter...no stone fruits etc here! But I am not with-holding meat or anything. I haven't given her red meat yet, purely because I don't have any mince in the freezer - but she has had chicken and I think we'll try fish in the next couple of weeks.

Missy - lovely to see you and Blake in here! The time goes SO quickly! Blake is looking gorgeous and it sounds like you've had a lovely time together. Good luck for the return to work. I know that others here have recently done it (LC and NEL most recently I think) and I'm sure there will be lots of tips here - and loads of support!

NEL, she's kind of been fussing and moaning during the night the last couple of nights - lasts on and off for about 45 minutes. I ignore it but there's only so much I can block out (in order to sleep!) when she's in our room! If the overnight fussing continues but the STTN also does, I might move her to her nursery sooner. I wasn't planning to, but the appeal of it is growing...!

AFU, another topsy turvy day shaping up here. S slept from 7pm until 6:30am (with a little bit of fussing at around 3am but not requiring any intervention), which was great - then went back to bed until 8:30. Looked tired at 9:45, so I put her back down but she wasn't having it - fussed and grizzled for 20 minutes. Didn't escalate, but didn't go to sleep. So I got her up again, fed her, played for a bit, put her down at 11 thinking she might have a longer nap, but it's now 5 to 12 and she's fussing away in there. Sigh!

 

[lliang_chi]

PT, sounds like little A is convinced she's a big kid and decided to skip straight to people food. LOL! She's a little lady with a mind of her own. But I guess you already knew that didn't you? Now that you and Pancake have been talking about it, I'm goign to start reading up on BLW.

Mayer, Has your pedi given you any opinion if you should keep trying with the paci? It sounds like your little man is sorting himself out so fingers crossed it all goes down the smooth path from here on out.

Pancake, wow, great job S on all the food consumption! My pedi says to wait on the proteins but I'm all for trying it soon. We'll see. Did S like chicken? Do you just boil it then puree in the blender? Well, S is sleeping so well at night. I can see how you'd prefer she go back to her regular schedule though. hoping it'll pass soon.

AFU, Ethan still hasn't pooped yet... I dunno if we just need to get used to him being on a new poop schedule. Will see what happens tomorrow. Today he didn't seem uncomfortable, no grunting or arching etc. He sure did sleep a lot.

 

[PetitiePoire]

I just had slept for 6 hours!! Fed L about 11. Woke up at 2- ate for 20 minutes then slept until 5:45! Our routine is for DH to change her in the middle of the night before feedings. It works great for letting me rest, but the past few days I haven't been the one to wake up to her crying. I hope it was because I was overly exhausted? Anyways, yay for sleep!

 

[pancake]

LC, she just had a little bit of chicken in with her vegies - I put a small amount in and pureed the lot. I've just come back from the supermarket with some beetroot and rhubarb - this should be fun! (also should be interesting to see if I can get the stains out of the nappies...) DH is not going to be allowed to feed her the beetroot though, he is super-messy when feeding her!

I know S is sleeping well at night and I shouldn't complain... but by nature she is such a creature of habit and has always been such a good daytime sleeper (with the exception of some short regressions previously) that I have grown accustomed to having a routine to my day!

PP - yay for getting some sleep! Isn't it AMAZING what a difference a couple of hours makes?!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

PP, yay for sleep!!! Like Pancake said, a couple of hours makes so much difference. I find it amazing just how grumpy I can get when I get NO SLEEP!

LC, so sorry for E's constipation issues. Is he eating less due to the constipation? K is very prone to constipation. I give her an once of prune juice per day in her bottle (per our ped's advice) and I also give her a P fruit every day mixed in with her solids. I do the same thing as you--I spend a few hours a week making a big batch of 4 or 5 fruits/veggies. I also bought some ice cube trays with covers from Amazon, but need to buy more!

Pancake, I forgot that S was still in your room. The stirring was one of the reasons I moved K. I could NOT sleep when she stirred. It's better now that she's in her nursery, but I still sometimes hear her stir and it keeps me up. Last night I was so exhausted that I slept through all of her stirring. So sorry to hear that S's naps are still inconsistent. It's so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel even when it's a phase.

Mayerling, yay for more sleep! I also stay awake when K starts stirring. I keep waiting for her to cry. Most of the time she goes back to sleep, but then it's hard for me to go back to sleep, haha. We definitely have days where K is up for 3+ hours and it's no fun because she gets ovetired and fussy. Even at 5 months, she only comfortably stays up for 1.5 - 2 hours and I think it will probably stay that way for a few more months. So glad his umbilical granuloma is being treated!

PT, I've been wondering how A's bottle strike has been going. I didn't realize it was a bottle/sippy cup strike coupled with a solids strike! Like LC, said, it seems that A is one of those babies who doesn't like purees and will go straight to table foods. The good news is that she still likes your boob, so I'm sure she's perfectly healthy and keeping those adorable chubby cheeks

Missy, those pics of Blake are adorable!!! He's so cute! I felt so anxious that last week of maternity leave--I think once you're back at work and in a little bit of a groove, you'll feel better. The anticipation is no fun. Let us know how your transition back goes!

AFU, I've been putting K on the floor and doing chores so that she gets used to playing on her own. I put her down so I could write this post and can hear her talking to herself. She's also scooting around--I put her on her back on her activity mat about 10 minutes ago and I just peeked around the table to check on her. She's on her tummy and not even on her activity mat anymore! I think she's just sort of wiggling around.

Eating and sleeping is still going well. She didn't want more than 3 oz. of solids last night or this morning, so I'm not sure if she's just eating less.

As for sleeping, she's still doing her 5am wakeup to take a full bottle, then going back to sleep. I think she's genuinely hungry, though, because it's been 10 hours since her last meal and she downs a full buttle in record time. I don't mind that one short wakeup because we both go right back to sleep and I selfishly like having that quiet, uninterrupted bonding time with K.