PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Hudson_Hawk]

Pupp-I don't think so. I told new doc how many shots he got and she said he should have gotten more than that

Cara-she wants him off of rice cereal because while it's effective at keeping food down, it's basically nutritionless and early exposure to grains can lead to allergies and intolerances later in life. We have a very strong history of celiac disease in my family, which is an intolerance to gluten, and she feels the risk of early exposure coupled with that family history is too high. The rice also makes Aidan REALLY constipated. So we're working on the issue from a reduction of acid angle. Yes we're still going to have spitting up, etc, but hopefully it wont hurt him as much.

I wanted to post this PSA about Sophie the Giraffe. I know a lot of the moms have raved about this product but apparently it's a major choking hazard (or at least according to Amazon reviews)...

http://www.amazon.com/Vulli-Sophie-Giraffe-Teether-Brown/product-reviews/B000IDSLOG/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

 

[Puppmom]

HH, I'm glad you have a plan in regards to A's belly issues. I always feel better when I have a plan! Thanks for the Sophie info. MIL bought N the Sophie and I kind of hate it but didn't realize it was a safety hazard. I hate it because it squeaks so the dog thinks it's his! Maybe now I can just give it to the dog.

Cara, let me know if you figure out how to be on time. I've been back to work for almost two months and have been on time a handful of occasions at best!

 

[MonkeyPie]

We also found out that our old pediatrician didn't give him two of the shots he was supposed to get at his 8 week visit...I don't know how someone like her keeps her medical license, really I don't....

Is there anyone you can report her to? That's just stupid. What a moron.

I'll be thinking about you today. I hope it goes well.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I'm sure there is. I just don't know where to start....

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

HH, I'm glad you have a plan in regards to A's belly issues. I always feel better when I have a plan! Thanks for the Sophie info. MIL bought N the Sophie and I kind of hate it but didn't realize it was a safety hazard. I hate it because it squeaks so the dog thinks it's his! Maybe now I can just give it to the dog.

Cara, let me know if you figure out how to be on time. I've been back to work for almost two months and have been on time a handful of occasions at best!

Pupp-I checked out the Sophie teether recently and I was shocked to see how flimsy it was. When I think of a teether I think of something with more of a Gumby doll texture, something kindof tough but giving. But this was basically like a dog toy so I can totally see how your dog would be interested. My dog would swallow it in one bite sadly. Nothing other than Kong toys last in our house.

 

[AllieLuv83]

HH just out of curiosity which shots did A get? Charlie got the Hib, rotovirus, hepB, Dtap, rsv, and one more but I forget now. 5 pokes in all and one oral vaccine.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

HH just out of curiosity which shots did A get? Charlie got the Hib, rotovirus, hepB, Dtap, rsv, and one more but I forget now. 5 pokes in all and one oral vaccine.

He only got 2 pokes and no oral.

He got the Hib, Dtap and hepB. He didn't get the pnemonia/meningitis combo, the roto or the rsv.

 

[noelwr]

Skye: 8 days old

I am exhausted. had a cry this morning because hardly got any sleep and had a headache. then today was the helper-lady's last day so cried when she left because she's been so fantastic.

I just want to sleep, but am waiting for a doctor to call for a phone appointment. of course doctors are always late for appointments.

I am really in awe of all the breast-feeding mommies who can't just hand over the feeding to someone else. can't imagine how you do it.

 

[Puppmom]

Noel, I cried lots the first few weeks. I was scared to be alone with the baby so I cried when DH went back to work. Sometimes, I even cried while I was nursing. The exhaustion just really gets to you sometimes.

Question for the ladies who BF – since you weren’t getting your period were you paranoid that you were pregnant? We haven’t done anything unprotected (and haven’t done much at all!) but I can’t stop worrying that I’m pregnant. I’m totally obsessing on it. Maybe I should just pee on a stick to settle my mind

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Oh Noel, I'm sorry you're not feeling great. I was an emotional wreck after A was born. DH would find me at night sobbing alone in the nursery. I would just break down while pumping from the lack of sleep. I had horrible anxiety and insomnia and eventually went on antidepressants. ((hugs)) we're here for you.

Pupp-PEEONASTICKALREADYWOMAN!

 

[meresal]

Welcome over Noel! For pretty much the first week or two, if I wasn't sleeping, I was crying. Especially if I was alone. My mom stayed with me for the first 4 weeks, and I have no idea what I would have done without her.

All I can say, is that is does get better. I forget where you are, but can you take the little one out for a walk. Though it seems ridiculous to do something active when you are so tired, but just getting fresh air really helped me to feel normal again. Staying in the house was not helping me feel myself again.

Also, are there errands you can go run. Though mine was not like this, most babies will sleep thru absolutely anything right now, so getting out is pretty easy... especially since it sounds like you are formula feeding.

Just wanted to share some ideas! (we would love to ohh and ahh over your little one if you share pics! Maybe that will make you feel better!)


SS- Re: period. I BF'd for 7 months and STILL go my period at like 10 weeks. Ridiculous. I don't know about the being scared because you don't have it at all... however, I am SUPER paranoid every month starting about a week before my period is due to start. I think it is becuase now I know I can get pregnant. I would be going crazy if I didn't even have a period yet!

 

[AllieLuv83]

Skye: 8 days old

I am exhausted. had a cry this morning because hardly got any sleep and had a headache. then today was the helper-lady's last day so cried when she left because she's been so fantastic.

I just want to sleep, but am waiting for a doctor to call for a phone appointment. of course doctors are always late for appointments.

I am really in awe of all the breast-feeding mommies who can't just hand over the feeding to someone else. can't imagine how you do it.

Poor noelwr...I am breastfeeding, and (knock on wood) have not had it incredibly hard with Charlie but there were days early on when I would be so tired in the mornings that I would sit and cry, my head would hurt right in the front, like a throbbing pain behind the eyes. Poor DH would ask me if I needed him to take the day off work. It does get better and you get used to going on less sleep. I could not get out of the house because Charlie would get so worked up being in his carseat I would need to pull over and nurse him just to get him to calm down. Some days DH would get home and I would just leave the house even if it was for 25 minutes to pick up some fast food, and then come home and take a shower. It would feel sooooooo luxurious!

Keep at it! Every day it will get a little easier

 

[Mara]

re: sophie.. J didn't even start liking it til about 6-7mo and by then he was eating solids so he was a bit more secure with his mouth...so I would just say don't give it to your kid when they are younger and/OR unsupervised if you are worried. it is insanely popular for a reason, the kid will probably LOVE it when they are older/teething. at first J just would hold it or stare at it and i thought it was useless lol. but then he learned he could chew the legs and was in love with it. P loves it too but we trained her to leave it alone, thank god. she loved the squeak noise it makes.

welcome noel...!! the first few weeks can be really tough and you also have a lot going on all on top of that. but you'll settle into a routine and find your groove. hang in!

i'm mostly lurking lately, but all the baby pics are so super cute!!!

 

[mtjoya]

noewlr-hang in there girl! it will get better trust. The first 4 months for me were CRAZY. I breastfed J on demand and I had PPD. I got over it when I returned back to work. It gets better. Just think postive and sleep when the bebe sleeps! :hugs:

 

[Lanie]

I love the pics ladies!!!! So cute!!!! I'm almost on this side of the fence...I lurk ALL THE TIME, but never post. I'll be here after Monday at some point!

I had a quick question regarding breast feeding, and I'll make this super brief:

I have a wedding I want to go to on Jan 8. My little baby (!) will be 2.5 weeks at that point. I REALLY want to go. Travel time to and back to the wedding is 30 minutes. My mom will be watching him. I emailed the bride telling her my DH and I were "maybes" because I won't be sure at that point what feeding will be like, and I was hoping (not expecting) that the bride would tell me to bring him along. She did not invite the baby, which is fine. I would like to be pumping at that point, run out there, stay for 3 hours or so to be gone a total of 4-5 hours, and then come back. I would like to have my mom feed him.

OK, so I know this could all fly out the window, and that everything depends on the baby himself, etc. BUT, is this possible? I've read in some books/online that you shouldn't pump too early bc it will stimulate you to make a lot of milk...way more than you can handle. Which makes me think to freeze it, no? And then some books/online say that you shouldn't introduce a bottle that early until you and the LO REALLY have a grasp on feeding. And I don't want to throw everything out the window and confuse him and have a fussy muss just because I wanted to go to this wedding. I've told one of my friends IRL and she said her lactation specialist told her not to start pumping until 4-6 weeks, which would mean no wedding for me.

What do you ladies think? Am I living in a pipe dream? I SO want to go to this wedding...it's going to be one of those weddings of the century type things!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Honestly Lanie I'd just play it by ear. Everyone is different, but in the early weeks after my supply came in and I was trying to establish it by pumping every 2 hours round the clock I built up a decent freezer stash. So you might be able to pump and freeze enough, You're only going to need enough for 2 feedings, but I'd try and have enough on hand for 3 just in case.

ETA: Aidan was introduced to the bottle at the same time as the breast because we had BFing issues early on. He never had any nipple confusion and I think at one point he had 4 different nipples in the picture between the bottle, me, the paci and the nipple shield.

EETA: Depending on how well your LO catches on to BFing you might have to start pumping in the hospital to get your milk to come in. Some babies just don't do well with latching on in the early days or they're tongue tied. Any number of things can cause issues with the baby successfully latching and you being able to BF from birth. Again, I'd play it by ear. My LC told me to pump as though I were BFing, so every 2 hours with a 4 hour "break" in the middle of the night through 3-4 weeks to really establish my supply.

 

[Lanie]

HH -- this is interesting that you were told to pump right away. Which is totally opposite what my friend was saying. I guess there are different schools of thought. Thanks for your reply...very helpful! Sorry to hear about your crappy pedi, but glad you found a good one and hopefully you guys will be back on track!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Not only was I encouraged to pump early lanie, but the LCs from the hospital delivered a pump to my room the morning after A was born. Once your LO is here, all that matters in the hospital is that s/he is getting colostrum and BM as soon as possible for the immune benefits and also so their weight doesn't drop below 10% of their birth weight. For us that meant either pumping and giving breast milk (what little I had) or formula. We ended up having to do both until we got home and my BM really started flowing. And another thing that doesn't make sense about what your friend's LC said is that even if you have an oversupply it's easy to fix. Most people pump to mimic feeding so it's only for a short time frequently at first and then as your LO gets older and your supply is more established you can make the sessions longer and wait longer between sessions. I didn't see a jump in my supply until after 4 weeks and we stopped at 6 weeks. The little stockpile I had going in the freezer from the early days was quickly used to supplement during the never ending growth spurts the LOs have in the early weeks. I went through everything I had stored during his 3 week g/s and still didn't have enough for him. That's when I had to start with the herbs and oatmeal.

 

[meresal]

Lanie, just an fyi, but if you plan on going to the wedding, you are probably going to have to pump anyway... you might get very engorged throughout the night.

I BF'd exclusively and was in my best friends wedding when C turned 4 weeks... I had to 3 or 4 times that day in order to relieve my own discomfort. (At the spa when getting ready with all the girls, in the car before the ceremony, and in the bathroom at the reception... my dress was getting so tight and it had only been 3 hours since the last time I pumped!)

If I were you, I would pump enough for say 4 to 5 feedings (in case you decide to drink at the wedding, and need a stash to give your LO in the middle of the morning.) Then go enjoy yourself.
I definitely pumped early on as well. I was producing way more than the baby needed those first few weeks, so after feeding him first thing in the morning, I would pump about 2 ounces from each BB. If you can get about the same, you would have enough to go out for that one night. If I remember correctly, at 2 weeks, your LO should only be needing around 2-3oz per feeding.

As far as nipple confusion/preference, we didn't have any issues with that. We used the Tommee Tippee Closer-to-Nature bottles and they worked great for us, re: going back and forth.

 

[somethingshiny]

Noel~ You're doing a great job! It is overwhelming especially with your hormones going crazy and your emotions running high. You'll start to settle in more over the next couple weeks and the next thing you'll know, she'll be completely changed. At around 3 mo, you really start to see a personality and discover the kind of baby you're going to have. If you feel you're spending much of your day worrying call your doc to talk about PPD. Don't worry about the dishes, laundry, or anything else. This is your time to rest and recuperate from pregnancy and labor & delivery and to fall in love with your precious beautiful girl!


pupp~ I had my period 5 weeks after delivery. Ever since then, I've panicked for a couple days before my period because I'm scared I'll be preggo! I was even on the pill and still POAS! Now that I'm off the pill and not using any other BC well, now I'm really flipping out! I'm going to find out about the IUD. Have you thought of something like that?

Hello all!

I have two snotty kids right now. Lily has crusties all over! Her lovely hair is not so lovely when it has coagulated mucus streaked through it. I keep having to was her hair with a warm washcloth. The poor thing always has wet hair!

 

[cara]

Lanie, It's possible but really depends on how things are going and how flexible you are on the whole feeding thing. My supply came in well so I didn't need to pump in the early weeks to help with supply, just breastfeed on demand. At 2.5 weeks I had pumped only a few times but not introduced the bottle yet. But our LC/Peds recommended introducing the bottle between 3-5 weeks (if you want to bottle feed at some point) so we introduced it at 3 weeks when we had the breastfeeding thing going well and our guy took it fine. You could certainly introduce it earlier if things are going well and start pumping as soon as you get your feet under you. As to whether or not it's bad to start the bottle that early, I don't thing it's a big deal even though the standard recommendation is to wait a few weeks. That's why you're the mom! You get to take in all this advice (not always consistent advice) and make your decisions.

If you are only going to be gone 4 ish hours you only need to have 1-2 feedings worth of milk pumped (maybe plus 1 for a safety margin) so not a huge amount. Though if you are struggling with supply then getting ahead at all is hard. There's always formula, but I wouldn't try it for the first time that night and that wolnt be a good option if you are trying to be a purist about the breastmilk.

But just to warn you at 2.5 weeks I was still about 4 mo preggo size and the boob leakage was *not* under control. Plus those puppies were ginormous, so plan your wardrobe appropriately!

Also there are many ways this could be wishful thinking. If your baby is late you might not want to leave your week old baby for fours hours or you might not be up to the car ride and fan y clothes. Or you could be a blubbering sleep deprived mess. Or you may no longer care enough. Who knows? But if things are going well and you are flexible it sounds doable. Good luck!

 

[Sha]

HH and SS - I'm sorry about the sick little ones... Hope they feel better soon!

puppmom - I just got my period in November, at 11 1/2 months, so I had long period of 'could I be..?", not that we were really that active anyway... but still... we weren't using any type of protection either. I did fertility charting before so I just paid really close attention to my fertile signs (especially cervical mucus) to help determine whether I was regaining fertility or not). Of course, that wasn't really foolproof because of the breastfeeding and my erratic hormones. I also peed on quite a few opks during those 11 months!!! - which really helped reassure me that I wasn't pg - since most times there wasn't even a hint of a line.

noelwr - ditto to everyone else that the early days are really hard. I didn't know that it was going to be that hard, taking care of a newborn. I felt like I was walking around in a fog most of the time from constant sleep deprivation, not to mention not being able to do much else other than hold the baby, change the baby, soothe the baby, feed the baby etc. - that was quite an adjustment! I'm sure what you're going through is normal, and I know that having medical issues probably just adds to all the stress. It might be worth it to talk to your doc about your feelings, just in case you may have a touch of PPD.

Lanie - I didn't pump early (started at 2 months, I think), but I might try the pumping in your case. If the wedding is 30 mins away and you feed from one breast & pump from the other as close as possible to leaving, I should think that the pumping would replace the feeding sessions you're going to miss, while at the wedding? Thereby not confusing the body to make more milk, since it's not actually an additional session, but a replaced session? I'm not sure if that makes sense or is accurate... Just a thought.

 

[Mara]

Lanie, I pumped the day J was born, the hospital was totally in support of helping milk come in faster with it and brought a pump to us. I'd try to feed J and then pump as well. My supply ended up being ok but I didn't really do a ton of BF on 'demand' and he was bottle fed a fair amt (formula or bottle fed BM) because he was started on the bottle right away since he had high jaundice so they/we wanted to flush his system out.

But I agree with the ladies saying just wait and see. I hear what you are saying re really wanting to go to this wedding but you may feel COMPLETELY different after the baby comes. What if babe is a week late? Or 2 weeks late? I had a vag birth with minimal tearing and I only stayed at the hospital for 1.5 days .. didn't need a donut to sit or anything and felt ok overall. BUT I didn't drive my own car for I think ~5 days after birth. And when I did drive it felt so weird--I drive a stick so had to maneuver the clutch and press down, it was a little uncomfortable. Forget 'zipping' anywhere a week after birth, maybe 2 weeks but I agree you will prob still be a few months preg (visually), and feel bloated (it took about 2-3 weeks for all the meds to vacate my system, my legs felt SO bloated). Forget being fancy for a wedding! And you will be engorged, boobs will leak (bring a ton of pads!) and you will prob have to pump at least once.

All that said, yes, I think it IS doable, but I'd just wait and see.

 

[Lanie]

Thanks ladies for all of your replies regarding the bfeeding!!!! The good news is that he won't be late...I'm going in Monday to be induced. But I do realize that, feeding issues aside, body issues will be another component to think of. I'm very realistic, but I just wanted to know if it was a possibility so I could have it in the back of my mind. My friend (the same one whose LC told her not to pump for awhile) told me to forget about it altogether, and it made me sad. So at least I know there's the possibility! I'm glad to see that many of you successfully pumped very early on! Thanks again and see you soon! And let's see more Baby pics for Friday!!!

 

[noelwr]

Skye: 9 days old

aw, thanks everyone. I know it is normal to cry after the birth due to the hormones, but I thought I was being a super big cry baby. but yes, then I also have a medical condition so to hell with keeping my feelings in.

we did go for a walk outside on Wednesday, which was lovely, and I love my Stokke pram (only judging from 15 min of use). it is very easy to maneuver. yesterday it rained all day and today it's been snowing so no going outside. maybe tomorrow if it doesn't snow we can take a walk with DH, too. if there's no ice, of course.

Skye threw up all her milk in her crib today which of course dripped into her hair. ew. at least she's scheduled for a bath this evening. then of course she was hungry very shortly after. she does this thing where she turns her head to one side (usually because I have her on my shoulder to take her to the changing table and she turns her face towards my head) and does a type of "biting" motion with a very big open mouth, so I know she's hungry. it's good she doesn't have teeth or I'd be missing my ear and a good bit of my cheek. just fed her again so hopefully it will all stay down.

and here's my fave pic of this week.

 

[cara]

Must. get. ready. for. work but had to post that Skye is so cute Noel! She's beautiful.... Hang in there on the hormones, and if it gets bad or stays bad talk to your doc.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Noel - She's so beautiful!! Her eyes are amazing! She has such a dreamy look in her eyes.

 

[Lanie]

noel -- such a sweet, pretty baby!

 

[AllieLuv83]

Charlie and I went to the mall today to return some things. I came to realize that I have a womanizer on my hands. All the sales associates work goo and gaa over him and he would bat his eyes and smile. Listen up buddy...you are to young to flirt with anyone besides your mama .

We are looking forward to our trip to Boston for Christmas. Paul's parents came to visit us last weekend. It is sad to be away from family but we are lucky enough to be driving distance away. Grammy lost it a little bit when it came time for them to leave, her and Charlie cried together.

I go back to work in 2 weeks so I am trying to soak up as much time with the little guy as possible.

Here is my BPF contribution.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!