Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

[jadeleaves]

Demelza, thks for the recommendation! I also bought the sears baby sleep book, so I''m going to read a few different ones and decide which method I am more comfortable with.

 

[katebar]

Hi Jadeleaves (back from Melbourne with the bling

)
My gorgeous son is now 18 and he was breastfed to sleep for the first 6 months of his life. This got so difficult because as soon as we put him down he would cry. So then we 'invented' this special ritual where I fed him and then DH and I would sing to him and say goodbye to toys etc etc.
Nothing worked (he kept crying every night) and I was beside myself and m husband starting researching alternatives methods. He came up with the famous and probably out of favour controllled crying and so he 'convinced me' to try.
Bottom line 3 days of me feeling dreadful as my boy cried for what seemed like an eternity (real time never anymore than 10 minutes) he 'learnt' to put himself to sleep and actually fed him a night feed to settle tlll he was 2 and half and I was pregnant with my daughter (what was I thinking

.)
My daughter had reflux fed till she was 6 months and decided to be over it but had a dummy from 2 months and became the dummy queen who went straight off to sleep every night

For any dummy hints feel free to ask

She is 15 now stopped using a dummy at 3 but still cruises past the dummy aisle in the chemist just to catch up with her dear friend

 

[jadeleaves]

Hi Katebar,

Which method of controlled crying did you end up using? Dr Weissbluth is in favor of the extinction method (according to what I''ve read so far) in that you put your baby to bed after soothing and saying gd nite, and then let him cry it out. You don''t check on the baby unless u think he is hungry or is in danger (choking, stuck etc).

I have been reading lots, and it seems like the consensus is that 4 month is the earliest you shld start sleep training. I had thought 4 mths was too young, but I am thinking maybe we shld trial it. I can envision myself sitting outside Button''s nursery sobbing away listening to him cry

and I don''t know how hard my resolve would be. How did u cope with that?

Hmm new mums, maybe we can start another thread for parenting tips? Any takers?

 

[chrono]

Jadeleaves,
I went home and checked my books on how long breastmilk will keep in the freezer portion of the refridgerator. According to the IBCLC who wrote the breastfeeding booklet for Medela (my pump), your frozen milk should keep for 3-6 months: you probably don't have to toss out your hard pumped milk.

I experienced a devastating loss last week. I was unaware that I had lost power in my basement and discovered it when I wanted to put more frozen milk in my deep freezer in the basement. Everything stank and I lost 178 BAGS of milk, which is about 700 ounces of breastmilk which I had pumped for over 2 months as my emergency stash!

I was so depressed for the rest of the week and could not even post about it here. Well, the milk cow has recovered and my emergency milk stash is at over 40 bags (approximately 160 ounces) and counting. I now go down to the basement and check on the power, breaker, etc everyday to make sure everything is all right. It is a good thing that I am an overproducer but I still am taking the loss pretty hard.

Demelza,
Where's your baby's pictures?

I am also co-sleeping with my baby. I agree that doing so has made me more attuned to his sleeping pattern too. I am able to wake up when he first starts to fuss and can get him latched on right away. Most nights I just doze off while he is nursing. It took us a couple of weeks to master the side-lying feeding position and since then, I've gotten more sleep. He's almost sleeping through the night now. He developed his own sleep pattern at about 6 weeks old: 10pm through 3-ish am, 4 am through 7-ish am, 8am through 10am where he wakes up for good. My first boy was a terrible sleeper even though we co-slept; he woke up every 3 hours on the dot to drink milk until he turned 2!

I'm sorry I have no tips on the pacifier issue. My first took a pacifier briefly but I only used it for emergencies (car trips when he cries and when I couldn't calm him at night). I stopped giving him a pacifier at about 6 months of age. My current one spat out the pacifier in the hospital and so I haven't offered again.

 

[chrono]

Date: 2/5/2007 6:15:41 AM
Author: JadeLeaves
Hi Katebar,

Which method of controlled crying did you end up using? Dr Weissbluth is in favor of the extinction method (according to what I've read so far) in that you put your baby to bed after soothing and saying gd nite, and then let him cry it out. You don't check on the baby unless u think he is hungry or is in danger (choking, stuck etc).

I have been reading lots, and it seems like the consensus is that 4 month is the earliest you shld start sleep training. I had thought 4 mths was too young, but I am thinking maybe we shld trial it. I can envision myself sitting outside Button's nursery sobbing away listening to him cry

and I don't know how hard my resolve would be. How did u cope with that?

Hmm new mums, maybe we can start another thread for parenting tips? Any takers?

Jadeleaves,
I just don't have the heart to do any sleep training. Just the sound of my baby fussing upsets me, I can't imagine letting him cry alone. That's probably why I put up with my first son's 3 hour sleeping/waking pattern for 2 years... I was like a zombie those first 2 years.

Did your babies experience any overnight growth? I was getting baby ready for daycare this morning when suddenly what he wore yesterday absolutely did NOT fit. It fit just right yesterday and this morning, there was no way I could snap the buttons on his outfit. He used to be able to "swim" in his sleeper but he fit in it perfectly today! I have never seen such a rapid growth spurt before.

 

[katebar]

Hi Jadeleaves hope I''m not hijacking this thread. I personally would not start sleep training to my baby was 6 months this just seems a magic number to be a bit more''grown up''.
I forget the name of the doctor''s book (Hey it was 18 years ago) but bascicly it involved settling the baby and then leaving the room. If the baby cried you waited 3 minutes then went in and patted them or something but did not pick up. Out you went again and if he cried you left him for 4 minutes then went in. Then you increased the time by 1 minute until they fell asleep.
Honestly it felt like an eternity to begin with but as I said it was never longer than 10 minutes and by about day 3 or 4 my son ''GOT IT'' and learnt to settle himself off to sleep right from the moment we put him down.
I not saying it was''nt hard to begin with I remember being in the garden with my fingers in my ears crying as my husband waited outside his door but we did it and it was the right thing for us at the time.

 

[Demelza]

Date: 2/5/2007 6:15:41 AM
Author: JadeLeaves
Hi Katebar,


Which method of controlled crying did you end up using? Dr Weissbluth is in favor of the extinction method (according to what I''ve read so far) in that you put your baby to bed after soothing and saying gd nite, and then let him cry it out. You don''t check on the baby unless u think he is hungry or is in danger (choking, stuck etc).


I have been reading lots, and it seems like the consensus is that 4 month is the earliest you shld start sleep training. I had thought 4 mths was too young, but I am thinking maybe we shld trial it. I can envision myself sitting outside Button''s nursery sobbing away listening to him cry

and I don''t know how hard my resolve would be. How did u cope with that?


Hmm new mums, maybe we can start another thread for parenting tips? Any takers?

JadeLeaves -- I really think your motherly intuition is right here...despite what the books say. I agree with you 100% that 4 months is too young to let Button cry it out alone. Actually, I don''t believe it''s ever okay to let a baby cry him/herself to sleep. Crying is the only tool babies have to communicate with us that something isn''t right. If we ignore their cries, what does it teach them? I believe it teaches them that we''re not going to reliably respond to their needs. Yes, so-called sleep training methods may "work" in the short term (i.e. the baby will eventually fall asleep), but at what cost to the infant''s pscyhe? At 4 months, Button doesn''t have object permanence; he doesn''t know you still exist unless he can see/feel/hear you. As far as he''s concerned, he''s all alone, crying because he wants comfort/assurance/love and there''s no one there to give it to him. This, I believe, is very traumatic for any baby, especially one so young. I, too, am very sleep deprived, but I don''t believe crying it out is the way to "teach" children to sleep. I want my daughter to sleep through the night not because she''s so exhausted from crying or because she''s given up trying to get what she needs, but because she feels safe and secure and knows her parents will be there for her should she need us. I know this is a very controversial topic and I don''t want to offend anyone who practices this method of parenting, but I really feel strongly that, for me at least, this is not the way to go.

I would love a thread on parenting tips! Good idea!!!

 

[Mara]

awww dem she''s super cute!! you proud mama you!

 

[jadeleaves]

Hello new mums! I have started a new thread for us, the "graduates'' of this thread

.

Please come in and share!

Demelza, your little girl is precious!

Chrono, I hear ya about the breastmilk. Don''t worry, you will build up your stash again!

On the pacifier front, Button hasn''t had one for 3 days and he seems to be getting used to not having one when we put him to bed. Yay!!

 

[Kaleigh]

Demelza,
Your baby girl is just precious!!! Glad all is going well!!!!

 

[njc]

Congratulations FranFine and Mrs Flutter!!! Also to Curlygirl and IrishEyes for knowing you are having little girls!

Its still early (7 weeks), but I am going to bust if i dont tell someone... Im pregnant! We have told our parents, but are waiting to tell everyone else a while longer. Im so excited and so over this morning sickness too!

 

[IrishAngel7982]

Congratulations njc!!! That''s wonderful news! I usually just lurk in this thread to check out the gorgeous photos and see how everyone is doing...but I wanted to congratulate you. I hope you have a happy and healthy pregnancy!

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 2/11/2007 9:54:30 PM
Author: njc
Congratulations FranFine and Mrs Flutter!!! Also to Curlygirl and IrishEyes for knowing you are having little girls!

Its still early (7 weeks), but I am going to bust if i dont tell someone... Im pregnant! We have told our parents, but are waiting to tell everyone else a while longer. Im so excited and so over this morning sickness too!

Congrats njc!!!!! Best wishes to you!!!!

 

[chrono]

Congratulations njc! We have so many mamas-to- be here on PS! I hope your morning sickness isn''t too bad.

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 2/5/2007 8:02:16 PM
Author: JadeLeaves


On the pacifier front, Button hasn''t had one for 3 days and he seems to be getting used to not having one when we put him to bed. Yay!!

Jade that is wonderful. I used a pacifier with my oldest and it was just terrible when she had to *give them up*. I decided with Lily to not use them and she been a better sleeper from the get go. It''s so nice to not have to stock up on paci''s and freak out when your somewhere and realize you don''t have any your diaper bag. It is much easier to give the a paci when their babies but i really do think if you can push though those few days and figure out other ways to comfort them it turns out being easier down the road. If I end up having another one, i''m not going to to paci''s with him/her either.

 

[jadeleaves]

Congrats njc! The morning sickness is no fun

but it does get better. You prob think it''s going to last forever, and I did too, but one day it just magically disappeared.

Enjoy your pregnancy - it''ll pass really quickly, so savour every moment!

MrsS - Yes I will definitely not give a pacifier to my next baby! Button is doing great, he hasn''t had a dummy at all since we decided not to give him one, and he seems to be settling himself to sleep quite easily. Ohh there are times when he''ll be grizzling for awhile before he goes to sleep, but at least he''s not bawling his eyes out for his dummy anymore!

 

[curlygirl]

Congratulations, njc!!! It''s a very exciting time! We didn''t tell anyone till 12 weeks and it was soooo hard to keep it quiet but you can come here and share with us! I hope your morning sickness passes quickly. The second trimester is totally the honeymoon trimester, you''ll feel great. I''m at 28 weeks now (3rd tri) and I''m still feeling good although I don''t know how long it will last!! Take it easy and keep us posted! Good luck!

 

[NYCsparkle]

Hi moms! Pumping is better now that i''ve kept to a strict scedule of doing it every 3 hrs. i''m slowly trying to build up my supply again...i''m going to try mothers milk plus--thanks chrono for the great website...none of my friends or family have bf or pumped so i haven''t been able to talk to anyone about it...its sad but most of my friends and family ask---so how much longer are you going to do that for?----i find that ? rude

most people say its so much easier to pop open a can, but when i had to supplement recently i felt awful---like i was giving my son something bad

...thank goodness my DH supports me. he was happy when i decided to do it and tells our rude family off when they bring it up.

 

[chrono]

Date: 2/14/2007 10:49:44 AM
Author: NYCsparkle
Hi moms! Pumping is better now that i''ve kept to a strict scedule of doing it every 3 hrs. i''m slowly trying to build up my supply again...i''m going to try mothers milk plus--thanks chrono for the great website...none of my friends or family have bf or pumped so i haven''t been able to talk to anyone about it...its sad but most of my friends and family ask---so how much longer are you going to do that for?----i find that ? rude

most people say its so much easier to pop open a can, but when i had to supplement recently i felt awful---like i was giving my son something bad

...thank goodness my DH supports me. he was happy when i decided to do it and tells our rude family off when they bring it up.

I''m glad your supply is getting better. I understand what you mean about it being hard when others do not understand the need to keep pumping and feeding breastmilk. Luckily, my DH was a very stauch supporter and agreed that our baby should get BM for at least 1 year or more.

 

[singer]

Hey everyone! I just found out I am five weeks pregnant with my first baby! My husband and I JUST got married on December 22nd, so it is quite a surprise! I am still in shock...it hasn't really set in yet. I can't wait to see a little bump in a couple months. It will probably feel real then, huh?!I'm soooooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Below is the link to my original thread which has some pics of my hubby and I...and of course my ring

:

PICS of NEWLYWEDS

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 2/27/2007 11:20:30 PM
Author: singer
Hey everyone! I just found out I am five weeks pregnant with my first baby! My husband and I JUST got married on December 22nd, so it is quite a surprise! I am still in shock...it hasn''t really set in yet. I can''t wait to see a little bump in a couple months. It will probably feel real then, huh?!

I''m soooooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awwww Congrats singer!!!!! That bump will show up soon!!! Best wishes to you and your hubby!!!!

 

[widget]

Oh singer...how wonderful!!! Congratulatios!!!

widget

 

[NYCsparkle]

congrats singer!!!! i have a honeymoon baby too..lol

 

[VegasAngel]

How exciting Singer congrats

 

[singer]

Okay everyone, I''m freaking out. I am in my fifth week of pregnancy and am having pretty bad cramps...they feel like period cramps low in my abdomen. And they are lasting ALL day long. Is this normal? Is anyone else out there experience this...or HAS anyone else experienced this? Should I be concerned? There is no bleeding, so I guess that is good.

Thanks to anyone who can help me out here!

 

[Miranda]

Date: 2/28/2007 6:58:41 PM
Author: singer
Okay everyone, I''m freaking out. I am in my fifth week of pregnancy and am having pretty bad cramps...they feel like period cramps low in my abdomen. And they are lasting ALL day long. Is this normal? Is anyone else out there experience this...or HAS anyone else experienced this? Should I be concerned? There is no bleeding, so I guess that is good.

Thanks to anyone who can help me out here!

Call the doctor!!!!!!!!!! It may or may not be cause for concern. If you''re 5 weeks it could be the implantation of the embryo.

 

[singer]

Thanks Miranda...I''ll definitely call tomorrow first thing. Anyone else have any input?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

lighting cramping is normal. Your uterus and ligaments are stretching. It they are very painful (hard to breathe or talk) you need to go to the doctor.

 

[singer]

Thanks so much Tacori E-ring! My cramping isn''t that painful. I can still talk and breathe, thank goodness. LOL! They''re just like really drawn out period cramps. I think I''m okay. I also read that this is about the time that the embryo is emplanting into the uterus, so I''m thinking it''s normal too. They''ve actually subsided quite a bit since dinnertime, so I''m already feeling better about things. Thanks again for your input!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Singer, don''t worry about them. Cramping is normal. Your body has A LOT to prepare for

I know it is hard not to worry over everything! Just take it one day at a time