PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[fieryred33143]

So apparently still having insomnia and anxiety 6 weeks pp isn't normal. I came home from my check up today with an rx for BCPs and another one for Zoloft. Who ever mentioned PPD hit the nail on the head. I guess this would explain the rampant case of neurosis I've had...

And we're heading back to the pedi this morning for a recheck. Aidan is still only taking 1 oz or so at a feeding, which ends up being every hour, and he's not sleeping well. He'll fall asleep after an hour or more of trying and then sleeps very fitfully for maybe an hour. And he's still pulling off the bottle repeatedly and crying during feedings. The really concerning thing is his urine is getting really dark, or darker than I think it should be anyway. I feel like he's having an OK amount of wet diapers, but with the decrease in poopy diapers we don't notice when he pees as much. I know his urine is darker because I changed him on our bed yesterday and he peed all over the comforter. So we're going to have to see what the doc says. I see no other symptoms of dehydration, which is good. Maybe the formula makes it darker?

Sorry to hear about the struggles HH but so glad you got on Zoloft. It really helped me with my anxiety. Hugs!

Does his urine smell? Just wondering if he could possibly have a UTI.

 

[turtledazzle]

HH -- Sorry for the continuing feeding troubles. I really hope the pedi can help. My LO is BF, but his urine is usually clear ... maybe a tinge of yellow if it is a really full diaper. I also hope the Zoloft helps you ... it helped a friend of mine for PPD. <Hugs>

 

[jcrow]

turtle - em was the same way with waking herself up by getting startled. basically if her hand/arm/foot/leg relaxed and touched the mattress, she'd startle and wake. we deswaddled her around 4 months. before that, i just don't think she was ready. also, she didn't nap much either. i think two 30-45 minute naps a day, maybe. sometimes it was just one 30 minute nap. but, she slept really well at night. usually a 12 hour period waking only to eat and she'd go back down.

--

as for us, this weekend, we bought all sorts of goodies to make em some food. organic apples, pears, sweet potatoes, peas, acorn squash and butternut squash. then last night we found organic green beans which we couldn't find anywhere. so yay! i also picked up happy bellies organic brown rice cereal and organic oatmeal. today we gave her sweet potatoes. i think she liked it. next i think we'll try apples.

i'm liking feeding her solids more than i thought i would. plus, i think the food is helping her to nap better. since she's been given solids, she's taken a few 2 or 2.5 hour naps each day. this is huge + freeing compared to her typical 30 minute naps. me likes.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Thanks ladies. We took Aidan to the pedi this afternoon. He screamed all the way there and then stopped when we walked in the door. Then he decided to be happy and engaging. *sigh*

I'm not sure I like our pediatrician. I understand that she sees TONS of patients and we've only been there three times thus far so I don't expect her to remember us, but we were there last week and she had NO recollection of the appointment. She clearly didn't review his chart before the appointment either. So we went in there and she basically told us to do the same thing she told us to do last week, which was add the cereal and switch to formula to test out whether there was an irritant in my BM. Duh lady, we did all that. So we explained why we were there and she just said she doesn't like to prescribe meds to babies and to increase the amount of cereal in his formula.

I asked her about the pee color and she said it was fine as long as it wasn't tea colored and he was having the standard number of wet diapers in the day. I'm going to keep an eye on it though.

 

[meresal]

HH- We are having the same issue with our Ped. Up until this last visit, I had just brushed it aside, since C hadn't really been ill... but after going in 2 weeks ago for a horrible cough that C had, we went in only a week later for his regular 6 month appt, and wehn I mentioned his cough, she said something about the Houston weather. I looked at my husband and mouthed, "She doesn't even remember?!"

I talked to my mom that afternoon, and she told me that once your child is ill, your check list of a good ped becomes much longer. She always wanted a doctor that treats your child like their own. It is defintiely something that would make me feel better about the advice they give. Sometimes I feel like what they say is just lip service.
We are searching for a new one now. We want a place that is closer to where we live (feel like the suburbs might offer an office more like what we want), and someone that is more engaging with us and with C. Obviously, being remembered is a must for us. Like you, I can understand if you only come in for your well appointments and are only a few months old, but not being remembered (or looking at the chart?!!?) only a week later. Not cool.

IMO, I would see another pedi about the urine being dark.

jcrow-Congrats on the food and napping! That is awesome!
I would still love to try and get everyone together for a Houston GTG soon. Maybe if you all come into town over the holidays we can get together for brunch again. I would love to meet E!


AFM: We received our proofs from the photo shoot we had, and they are just not good. C wasn't at all interested, and it is obvious. Has this happened to anyone else? Would you ask for a re-shoot?
Also, Kohl's is having all of their FP toys 40% off until Wednesday. We stocked up today!

 

[lovelylulu]

HH - I'm glad that you are getting what you need. Hope that you are feeling better soon. Is there only one dr where you go? I bring my daughter to a practice with about 4 drs. We are rotating through them and I definitely one the most. If that's the only pedi, I'd probably be looking to change.

Turtle - thanks for the link. i'm thinking that i'll try to soothe nora back to sleep after the 45 minute waking and see it she'll have it. could be life changing

Pupp - thinking of you and hope that you had a good monday back at work!

Charger - hope that nico had a good first day in day care. I was just labeling some bottles for Nora. I'm going to bring her tomorrow morning for a while . . .

Mara - ahhhh vacation. so nice. where did you guys go? hope that the presentation was a smash hit

J crow - em's going to be having some good eats lucky baby.

I'm just trying to enjoy this last week!!

 

[taovandel]

HH: You should definitely get a second opinion on the dark urine....I think Fiery used her intuition and was correct in diagnosing her daughter.....And sure your doctor sees a lot of people....but you were just there a week ago....I could understand 3 months like with us but a week (they could have at least looked at that chart and pretended to remember)

 

[MonkeyPie]

HH: You should definitely get a second opinion on the dark urine....I think Fiery used her intuition and was correct in diagnosing her daughter.....And sure your doctor sees a lot of people....but you were just there a week ago....I could understand 3 months like with us but a week (they could have at least looked at that chart and pretended to remember)

This. HH, if your gut feels like you need something more, then find it with a better pedi. I don't like the way your doctor just sort of brushed off your concerns simply because SHE doesn't like giving babies meds. Some babies need it whether she likes it or not!

Our pedi is great. We had to switch when the original pedi moved up in the world, but our new one is just as good, and she ALWAYS remembers Micah. She interacts with him well and he has really enjoyed her the last few times we came in. A good pedi makes a world of difference.

 

[Puppmom]

Lovelylulu, I hope your daycare trial run goes well!

Mere, if your photos aren't so hot, I would ask for a reshoot. I'm sure your photog wouldn't want you to be unhappy and, odds are, he/she knows they didn't turn out well.

Turtle, N naps a lot but sometimes he'll totally cat nap when your expecting a long one and vice versa. He still needs to be swaddled too and he'll be 3 months this weekend. I don't think there's any concern about still swaddling...do what works! N recently discovered his thumb and the ability to self soothe has really benefited us. He sleeps 7-12 hours at night without waking to nurse! We also still rock N to sleep as putting him down sleepy doesn't work well. I figure when he's ready, we'll know. Plus, I like rocking him.

Mara, yay for a mini vacation! I look forward to that. I hope your boss is flexible with your schedule.

re: pedis. We see a rotation of docs which I thought would bother me but they're actually all great. DD goes to the same practice and always sees the NP and she LOVES her. N sees the pedis and they are all very engaged and attentive. I'm definitely beginning to the benefit of the rotation. I learn new things from each one and I like the variety of perspectives.

AFM, today seemed to go well with MIL. She said N had a long fussy stretch again which he doesn't ever have with us. I appreciate her telling me but it makes me sad. He never cries unless he's hungry, tired or has gas. It was after a feeding so it may have been gas. It may also be him adjusting to the schedule we're trying to use with us both working now. She also let him go 6 hours between feedings even though we told her not to let him go more than 5. When I reminded her, it was as if it was the first time I told her even though it was in her *manual*. As it is, he only eats 5 times a day, so I don't want him go more than 5 hours except overnight. I'm not going to sweat it unless it becomes a pattern. He was happy as a clam when I got home and the weather was beautiful so we went for a walk. DD walked the dog and I pushed the stroller and DH was happy when he got home because he got to hang out with N instead of his usual dog duty.

 

[turtledazzle]

Turtle - thanks for the link. i'm thinking that i'll try to soothe nora back to sleep after the 45 minute waking and see it she'll have it. could be life changing

Good luck! I've tried with only minimal success ... but Nora is two months older, so I bet you'll have better luck.

Jcrow -- thank you SO much for sharing that your LO was similar AND that you're now getting longer naps. That's great and gives me hope .

Pupp -- glad things are working out with your MIL ... I bet he'll get over the fussiness with her really soon. I am jealous that he'll even go six hours during the day without a feeding, though. The max my LO will go during the day is 3.5 hours ... and usually it is more on the 2.5 hour end. Just call me Bessie He does go at least six hours at night though ... and on a couple of occasions has gone almost ten hours -- but those seem to have been flukes.

 

[Mara]

re: pedis...we are part of a big HMO and we have a pedi that we love, but when J is sick or we have a Q we call up and speak to an advice nurse. when he was sick recently we called as much as necessary and they are basically over the phone doctors (almost). i love having them...because it can be a total PITA to get an appt sometimes and it's good to know if we should be freaking out over something or just try something diff for a while and see if it helps first.

that said, our pedi only sees us once every few months but she remembers J overall--and when she saw him once a week 3-4x during his first month of birth (they wanted him to gain faster) she totally remembered him every week. i think it's important to 'click' with your pedi--there are others if you want to look around.

mere...re the photo shoot. i don't know if i'd expect a re-shoot. shooting babies and kids is hard work to begin with, and if the kid doesn't want to cooperate, i don't think that the photographer should be required to eat the first session. that said, you could ask in a nice way and be ready to be prepared for her to say no. if so, can you pay for another session? our photographer's session/time is only like $75 so it wouldn't be so bad if i had to have her redo it. but chances are she would comp us the follow up shoot because we have a good relationship with her and we are repeat customers.

thanks for all the vacation happiness ladies! we went to scottsdale, az for a 4 day R&R together. it was so great to be relaxed.

speaking of self-soothing... lately J has really become more of a master at that and falling asleep. he's in love with pulling blankets around himself now when sleeping, tonite after his bath and dress and bottle he just rolled over, grabbed the knitted blanket and pulled it over his entire head and rolled on his side. i put his clothes away for the next 5 min in the dark with his projector and sound on and he didn't even stir, just fell asleep! i went in 10 min later and his head was uncovered.

and last nite i had to go back to the airport to get G (he had to take a later flight since we almost missed our flight and one of us wanted to get home for J) and i put a gap bear hat on his head. in the car it fell over his eyes, he left it there and fell asleep in like 2 min. the kid is cracking me up. but i can't complain !

 

[MonkeyPie]

and last nite i had to go back to the airport to get G (he had to take a later flight since we almost missed our flight and one of us wanted to get home for J) and i put a gap bear hat on his head. in the car it fell over his eyes, he left it there and fell asleep in like 2 min. the kid is cracking me up. but i can't complain !

Haha, Micah does this, too. When he's ready to sleep, he just covers his face and is out like a light.

And I never thought I would say this with so much glee, but - AF ARRIVED! Oh, thank God.

 

[Puppmom]

Mara, that sounds so cute! I would love to see that! It's crazy how they seem to need the perfect storm of events to fall asleep at home but can pass out in oddest places/positions.

...so MIL letting N go 6 hours without eating didn't seem to effect him much as he went 12 hours between feedings last night! My only concern is that he only ate 4 times in 24 hours. Does that seem like a problem?

 

[turtledazzle]

Mara, that sounds so cute! I would love to see that! It's crazy how they seem to need the perfect storm of events to fall asleep at home but can pass out in oddest places/positions.

...so MIL letting N go 6 hours without eating didn't seem to effect him much as he went 12 hours between feedings last night! My only concern is that he only ate 4 times in 24 hours. Does that seem like a problem?

Pupp -- Congrats on the 12 hours! Hope you got great sleep! Do you have an idea of how many ounces he took in? That would be what I would base any concerns on ... but I'd guess kids have less hungry days as well.

My LO went 10 hours between feedings last night. DH was on night duty (he gives him a bottle of EBM whenever in the night and I wake up to pump whenever I naturally wake up in the middle of the night -- it seems to work for us well). Any way, DH said T did start making a lot of racket at 1a, but he went in and popped in the paci (had to do it twice) but then T went back to sleep until 6a. I guess I wonder if we should be doing that, or if T needs a feeding at 1a? But then I think he went back to sleep for another 5 hours, so he couldn't have been too hungry at 1a, right? He's only 10 weeks, but he's a bruiser. Last week we had his two month appointment and he was 14 lbs 3 oz . That puts him at the 93rd percentile. I'm sure his weight is helping him sleep this long.

Oh, and speaking of gas. Does anyone know how long it takes for swallowed air (e.g. during feedings or crying) to become intestinal gas? Our LO frequently wakes up with a good deal of gas to pass. It is a morning routine to unswaddle him and then do tummy massage to help get the gas out. Does anyone else's baby wake up with gas to pass? Is this normal? Lately he doesn't seem to have a lot of gas at other times during the day unless he is working on some poop.
We're just trying to figure out if the gas is coming from the middle of the night feeding (or some other time?), or if it just normal digestion and the gas works its way down there after being horizontal for so long. It seems to happen regardless of whether he is bottle fed or breast fed for that middle of the night feeding (and we are burping him then as well).

 

[Puppmom]

Turtle, N nursed at 4:30am for 15 minutes (this is normal for an am feeding since my let down is much faster and I'm much *fuller*), then he ate 5 ounces at 9am, then another 5 ounces at 3pm, and last nursed for 25 minutes at 6:30 pm. So, even if he's getting 5 ounces a feeding when he nurses, that's only 20 ounces for the entire day and he's almost 15 pounds.

 

[turtledazzle]

Turtle, N nursed at 4:30am for 15 minutes (this is normal for an am feeding since my let down is much faster and I'm much *fuller*), then he ate 5 ounces at 9am, then another 5 ounces at 3pm, and last nursed for 25 minutes at 6:30 pm. So, even if he's getting 5 ounces a feeding when he nurses, that's only 20 ounces for the entire day and he's almost 15 pounds.

Between 1-6 months, EBF babies typically consume the same amount regardless of weight (unless in a growth spurt). The breast milk composition changes as the babies age so they don't need more ounces per day unlike with formula where you have to provide more ounces to provide more calories and nutrition. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

The above link says normal is 19-30 oz per day, so yesterday was on the low end of normal. Maybe he just wasn't as hungry, especially if he slept a little more than normal so he didn't burn as many calories? If he's typically eating 5 times and 5 ounces at each, that puts him right on the average of 25 ounces.

 

[turtledazzle]

Anyone have a bottle warmer they love? Reviews of all I have looked at seem hit and miss.
DH has just been warming the bottles with warm water, but he wants me to get a bottle warmer. We won't use it often, but he'd like the convenience of quicker warming.

Also, what bottles do you use? We've been using Avent and they've been working fine I guess though their footprint is pretty wide. I'm just thinking ahead for daycare and transporting bottles.

 

[Puppmom]

Thanks, Turtle. I was actually just looking at that! I guess my concern was that it was less than usual for HIM. But, I guess I don't eat the same amount every day either.

I don't have a bottle warmer, we use the warm water too. It's a total PITA but I couldn't find anywhere whether or not the warmer was okay for BM. Let me know if you find something!

 

[mtjoya]

MP- Mine did too! FML...I was like sh*t!!! I hate it! That's what I miss from being pregnant. The last time was May 09! Sorry, girl but i feel you on this!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Turtle, Aidan starts really working on toots around 4am and grunts and groans, passing gas until 7 or so. Then he's pretty gas free. I think it's a pretty normal physiological thing...

 

[MonkeyPie]

MP- Mine did too! FML...I was like sh*t!!! I hate it! That's what I miss from being pregnant. The last time was May 09! Sorry, girl but i feel you on this!

I'm glad it wasn't just me but omg! Oh, the joys of reproduction

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Hello Mamas

Nico started daycare yesterday. I left him for about 5 hours, and in that time he ate twice and took 2 catnaps. His providers said all went well, and he was a happy baby. I'm off to pick him up in a minute.

I've been keeping myself busy with a laundry list of things I want to get done this week. You may recall that we moved into our home when he was 2 days old, so there's some organizing (finding my "real" clothes!), and other projects i'm working on. Then it's back to work on Monday (yuk)

I hope to post more as the week progresses! Hope everyone is well.

 

[Mara]

pupp...when J wakes a lot at night is when i seem to feel he's not getting enough food...as it's more out of the ordinary for him (or if it's teething when he wakes up crying that is diff). this kid would play all day and never eat i think...so i am always trying to stuff food in him. if N isn't waking up more often than normal to eat i wouldn't worry so much about it. is he taking more at those 4x?

CG...yay for daycare and some time to yourself before heading back to work!! i remember when you were talking about october for going back (or i guess early nov) and it seemed like so far away and now we are here!

and yeah the covering the head with the blanket thing is new, like the last week and a half he's been doing it more. the last 2-3 weeks he has wanted a blanket with him in the crib...i figured that out when he was waking a lot at night i'd put one in and he'd calm down. so i just started sleeping him with his sack and a knitted blanket and it seems to be soothing him more at night for him to snuggle with it. and now this over the head thing, it's like 'hey leave me alone will ya' hehe. but if it's working for him...good! i just love watching all the new and crazy things he seems to be doing every other week.

 

[cara]

HH, I hope you have a more reassuring encounter with A's pedi, whether it is the same doc or not.

Wow I'm jealous of these 10hr sleeping stretch reports! Well hopefully this is in our not-too-distant future. Silas will go 4ish hrs on his first stretch of the evening, but sadly I rarely get to bed right away to get that full stretch as well. And then he's often up more frequently. Especially after ~5am, he's often making a lot of noise even if he is still asleep so its disruptive.

But Silas is smiling! Well I'm not sure what it means or if he knows what it means but the corners of his mouth tip up and his eyes light up!

 

[Mara]

turtle we use Avent and really like them. We also use the Avent pacis and for sippy cup they have these bottle/sippy cup combo things where you can put a regular Avent nipple on them or the sippy cup top and kind of use them interchangeably which is great. Also their handles go on or off as well.

When you say their footprint is pretty wide, what did you mean?

We also have a bottle warmer and never used it. I gave it to my friend...we just ended up using water from our Arrowhead dispenser and we have a hot water button so we'd mix hot and cold and not need a warmer. But for the first few months or so, we'd warm the bottles in hot water from the dispenser.

 

[meresal]

Can I just share a pet peeve...

Please, please, please... random family members, friends, and complete strangers... STOP TELLING ME, "Enjoy it! They grow up so fast!" (or something of the like).

I don't have a problem with C growing up, I just hate being told to enjoy it. Of course I am enjoying it... we just had a 10 minute convo about how much I love being hom with him. Is this the "go-to" conversation ender when talking about kids?

 

[turtledazzle]

turtle we use Avent and really like them. We also use the Avent pacis and for sippy cup they have these bottle/sippy cup combo things where you can put a regular Avent nipple on them or the sippy cup top and kind of use them interchangeably which is great. Also their handles go on or off as well.

When you say their footprint is pretty wide, what did you mean?

We also have a bottle warmer and never used it. I gave it to my friend...we just ended up using water from our Arrowhead dispenser and we have a hot water button so we'd mix hot and cold and not need a warmer. But for the first few months or so, we'd warm the bottles in hot water from the dispenser.

Hi Mara, I meant that the circumference of the bottles are larger than some others (e.g. Dr. Brown's are taller and narrower).
However, they seem to be working fine for us and we already have them (bottles are certainly not cheap!) so I'm sure we'll keep using them.

I was looking up bottle warmer info yesterday. Pupp -- it seems that it is just fine to use a bottle warmer for EBM. You just don't want to heat it too much because it will cause break down of the proteins and nutrients (and, of course, for safety reasons).

The day care we'll be using keeps a crock pot going with warm water as a bottle warmer, since they sometimes have to warm multiple bottles at once. I'm thinking of going out today to see if I can find a mini-crockpot that would work -- then we'd also actually have a useful item later. Or, I may just tell DH to start heating up some water in the microwave and using that (his peeve is running the water for so long at night to get it to warm up, and I don't like wasting water either).

------------------
Pointless vent ahead. Feel free to not read.

We don't have family near us that can help watch T. We knew that having kids would be hard (especially the first year) and we'd be always on our own, save for the times we hire a babysitter or have friends with kids that will watch him. Since he's so young, we haven't asked anyone else to watch him yet. However, we did just have our last round of the oot family come visit and stayed with us to meet T. Not one single family member offered to watch him for even an hour so that DH and I could go out together sans baby. Heck, no one even changed a diaper. I guess that just makes me sad. Things will probably be a little better when he's older, but it reminds me why I set my expectations low. Thank goodness we have really good friends that live nearby.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Aidan's newborn shoot proofs are in. For such a challenging experience the photog got some great shots. I love all of the pics of Aidan, but I hate how I look in most of the pictures. I have like 4 chins in most of them. So here is an early BPF contribution.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Aidan's newborn shoot proofs are in. For such a challenging experience the photog got some great shots. I love all of the pics of Aidan, but I hate how I look in most of the pictures. I have like 4 chins in most of them. So here is an early BPF contribution.

HH, that is adorable! He looks so happy and content.

 

[Puppmom]

Charger, glad to hear the first day at daycare was a success!

Mara, N doesn't eat more when he eats less frequently - not that I can tell anyway. When we give him a bottle, we always offer 5 ounces and he's certainly not giving us any indication he wants more. When he's nursing, I of course can't tell how much he's getting. I think you're right though that he wouldn't be sleeping through the night if he wasn't getting enough to eat during the day.

HH, what a great pic! ...I think I remember you saying that you and DH probably wouldn't make the best looking kid. Come on, now - that kiddo is adorable!

Turtle, that mini crock pot sounds like a good idea. I hear what you're saying about water waste. Thank goodness ours doesn't run for very long before it gets hot. When we go out, I usually fill a travel mug with really hot water and put it in the cup holder in the car. Then, when it's time to warm the bottle, the water is warm. If we're at a restaurant or something, I just ask for a cup of hot water.

AFM, I'm on day 4 at work and things are going pretty well. MIL seems to be getting into the swing of things with Nolan but we're obviously still working out the kinks. At the end of each day she has questions and sometimes we have requests. It's usually things we forgot to tell her about - like tummy time - whoops! Did I tell you guys that she brings a suitcase with her in the morning? Yep, a full on piece of luggage with wheels! ...and she calls herself Granny Poppins!

My work days are going by pretty quickly between working, meetings and pumping. Right now I pump two times then call home to see when N ate last so I can decide whether or not to pump a 3rd or go home and nurse. Hopefully, waking him and nursing at the same time every day will solidify our schedule. I actually don't mind pumping. I thought it would be a hassle but I kind of like. It makes me feel like I'm doing something positive for N even though I can't be there with him.