PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[neatfreak]

A new thread for all the new mommies out there!

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Yay for the new thread!

I''ll post my latest update here just because I''m so proud: JAMES CRAWLED TODAY!

I am sooo proud of my little guy

 

[Burk]

Yay for James!!

 

[neatfreak]

Congrats Diva!!!! That is so so awesome!

 

[nycbkgirl]

Aww diva soooo exciting! We love first time everythings

 

[Kaleigh]

Yay for the newborn to 12 month thread. Gosh it''s been a huge PS baby boom here!!! So fun!!!

 

[Blenheim]

Yay for James!!

I have a baby question that I probably should have asked earlier. How do I know if George is hungry or if he just wants to suck for the comfort? We''re going on a long car trip tomorrow, and if he just wants to comfort suck we''d like to use a paci so that we can keep heading down the road, but obviously if he''s hungry we''d pull over to nurse.

 

[pavelover]

Hi Everyone! Thanks for starting our thread!

Congrats to Diva- and Yay for James!!!!

I took Tyler to the pediatrician because he has been teething with a low grade fever. I know he is ok but I just wanted to double check. He is fine. No teeth on the horizon in the next few days, he doesn''t think. t is still drooling a ton and biting on my fingers/his fingers like crazy. I asked the dr. about t''s muscles being tight,etc. He feels like I need to put him down more- he said I hold him too much. he is right. It''s so hard to let a baby cry. I did the tummy time twice since I got home, and used a timer. Of course he screamed the whole time. I know it wont hurt him, but he already cries so much since he hates the car, stroller etc. lots of crying. yeesh. It''s one of those things where I know it needs to be done and is good for him in the long run but in the short run I dont like it,lol. I feel like I am doing all these things I never planned on- like being controlled by a 4 1/2 month old. anyone know what I mean? He''s falling asleep while breastfeeding for naps/nighttime, and then co sleeping at night and when I try to put him back in his swing, he wakes up and cries(ok not everytime because I don''t try every time. I have been falling alseep). And then I pick him up often when he cries- I usually try to distract him or do somehitng else before picking him up, but it doesn''t always work.
this is turning into a novel. thanks for reading. please feel free to comment/give your experience. thanks ladies!!!

 

[pavelover]

OH blen, that''s a tough one I think. when I spoke to an l.c. she told me they should not use a paci/always should eat if they want to suck (when they are young). I don''t know the cut off though. Is George on a schedule yet or does he have an avg time when he wnats to eat? maybe just pull over every 1 1/2 -2 hours to feed?
Hope you have a good trip! Are you going somewhere fun?

 

[Linda W]

Can''t wait to see all of the pictures. So many precious babies.

 

[TravelingGal]

pave, how are you doing tummy time? Just on tummy with arms sprawled out?

Amelia''s physical therapist mentioned this, and afterwards, it became much better...

Put him on his tummy and then hover over him (parallel, with heads in the same direction). Cover his hands with yours and tuck them under him, basically bracing him on his arms/elbows (as if a person was doing a hover workout move). That should help give him more support to move his head. Be sure to put something interesting to look at right in front of him. Sing, talk, have fun.

 

[neatfreak]

Blen For us if the boys were hungry a paci just wouldn't make them happy-they would spit it out and keep crying. So that is how we knew...but I agree it is hard to know for sure! When they truly aren't hungry after a minute of feeding my boys will break eye contact-look around-smile-all kinds of things. When they are hungry it's all business.

Pave Dex used to HATE tummy time-he would scream like a banshee. And then I started doing tummy time on a boppy or with something propped under his chest a bit and all of a sudden he liked it so much more! I don't know why-but give it a try. Then all of a sudden one day he decided he likes tummy time-so now he doesn't scream (at least for a few minutes!)

I can't speak to the always holding him thing-obviously I can't always hold mine! But it really does get easier to let them cry a bit...he's going to need to learn to self soothe eventually anyway so I would put him down now and again even if he cries.

Now both my boys are SSTN regularly-but occasionally they wake up in the middle of the night crying. At first we ran to them and would soothe or feed them back to sleep before going back to sleep ourselves. Now we let them cry a few minutes first (as long as it's not their really distressed/hurt cry) and 95% of the time they fall right back to sleep! It did take us a while to get here-but it was so worth it now that they are STTN. And we never had to do any kind of extended CIO either.

Hang in there-I do think it would be good for you though to let him cry sometimes-better for him to learn how to self soothe a bit now then when you are at your wits end.

 

[Blenheim]

Pave and NF - thanks so much! G''s not on any sort of schedule right now, and the rest stops for most of the trip are about half an hour apart which makes safely feeding on demand a bit difficult. Maybe we''ll just need to take pretty frequent stops and see if he wants to nurse each time? I''ll call my middie tomorrow and ask her if he''s old enough to be getting a paci. We haven''t used one yet, but it would be a bunch easier for tomorrow if it''s ok. And NF, if a paci''s ok right now that explanation makes a lot of sense as to when to use it. Sometimes he just wants to lick me and others he''s a little grunty piggy.

We''re going to my SIL''s college graduation and so G is going to meet a lot of family members for the first time. Should be exciting! G''s finally asleep and so I need to go to bed for the night - we have a long day ahead.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 5/11/2009 11:50:57 PM
Author: Blenheim
Pave and NF - thanks so much! G''s not on any sort of schedule right now, and the rest stops for most of the trip are about half an hour apart which makes safely feeding on demand a bit difficult. Maybe we''ll just need to take pretty frequent stops and see if he wants to nurse each time? I''ll call my middie tomorrow and ask her if he''s old enough to be getting a paci. We haven''t used one yet, but it would be a bunch easier for tomorrow if it''s ok. And NF, if a paci''s ok right now that explanation makes a lot of sense as to when to use it. Sometimes he just wants to lick me and others he''s a little grunty piggy.


We''re going to my SIL''s college graduation and so G is going to meet a lot of family members for the first time. Should be exciting! G''s finally asleep and so I need to go to bed for the night - we have a long day ahead.

Blen- I know some people are anti-paci but I am sure there is no reason he can''t have one now especially since BFing is so established. They gave my boys pacis in the hospital on day 1!

 

[Blenheim]

NF - come to think of it, my middie wanted us to introduce a bottle at 3-4 weeks so that gets used to taking it by the time I go back to work, so she was obviously ok with him having artificial nipples at that age. We''ll take the paci with us tomorrow. Thanks again!!

 

[nycbkgirl]

I had the same confusion about the paci vs bottle issue...I heard both sides of advice...some said shouldn''t give pacis and some say should! I give it very rarely bc very rarely does it actually do the trick!

Asked doc about tummy time and he said same about putting on arms...my lo''s are working their heads pretty nicely already.

?....when did everyone start taking their babies outside for walks?...doc says they can go now (they will be 4wks on sat) but not for long and only in warm (not hot not cold) weather.

Sooo much to learn!

 

[Pandora II]

Blen - Obviously haven't tried this in person yet, but I was getting conflicting advice on the mixing BF with paci/bottles and when you could introduce them.

I found a book by Clare Byam Cook ('What To Expect When You Are Breast-Feeding, And What If You Can't'), who is THE lactation guru over here and then met her in person a few weeks later and asked her advice on various bits in her book that I was getting completely opposite advice on (and got her phone number!).

Her view was that you can introduce both early on (say if you wanted your DH to do a feed and so you expressed a bottle) and they honestly wouldn't get confused. The only problem comes if you are not producing enough or your let-down is frustrating the baby in which case they will find it quicker to feed from a bottle and may show a preference. If you are feeding with no problem then the baby shouldn't have an issue dealing with both.

With the paci, her view was that if they really want food they will spit it out fairly quickly and make their feelings known!

Pave - Before I was preggo I had all these ideas about how a baby wouldn't control my life and how I would do everything a certain way... much as I 'knew' how I would find pregnancy. Having loathed most of being pg, I have now thrown all pre-conceived ideas of my 'organised and compliant' baby out of the window and fully expect hell on earth to descend round here for the next 6 months! I wish you luck!

ETA: Great idea on the split threads - the TTC and Preggo threads are pretty intimidating at the beginning, but the Mommies thread really had me scared!

 

[mela lu]

Oh thanks for this thread! I was nervous too - jumping in all ''green and lost'' into the Mommy''s thread

.

Blen - I have no advice but I hope your trip goes well.

Hope to be here soon. $%@)%($&Y)(^$&%$*^

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 5/12/2009 5:25:46 AM
Author: Pandora II

Pave - Before I was preggo I had all these ideas about how a baby wouldn''t control my life and how I would do everything a certain way... much as I ''knew'' how I would find pregnancy. Having loathed most of being pg, I have now thrown all pre-conceived ideas of my ''organised and compliant'' baby out of the window and fully expect hell on earth to descend round here for the next 6 months! I wish you luck!

LOL. We also expected the worst and have just been going with the flow and it hasn''t been so bad! It is a VERY good idea to adjust your expectations before your kiddo is born-things will go a lot smoother for you if you aren''t rigid about everything.

 

[Mandarine]

I was wondering why there were so many new threads today!!...

I vote you guys kick it off by posting pictures of all the little ones!!!!.

 

[Mrs]

Mornin new mommies! I hadn''t gotten up the nerve to post on the old mommies thread since it was rather intimidating to me as well so I''m psyched about this news one!

My background for any of you who didn''t know me from the preggo thread: I''m a new mommy as of 8 weeks ago when my DD, Sage, was born via planned cesarean delivery (she was breech). I''m 29 and live in SoCal with my DH. Our families are all back on the east coast where we are from (NYC), I work in finance and am currently on maternity leave which is quickly passing. I can''t believe it''s already 2/3 through!!

Sage is doing great! She''s growin like a weed. I think she has doubled her weight since birth. She was 6 lbs 11 oz then. We have her 2 month well visit to the dr planned for next monday so I''m looking forward to seeing what she weighs then. Breast feeding was really rough for the first 4 weeks but we have it down pat now. I can''t say it feels "good" but I do enjoy the closeness. I''m a little concerned about bottle feeding when I go back to work though. We introduced a bottle of expressed breast milk for one nightly feeding at about 2 weeks so DH could help and I could get some relief but now that BFing is so much easier, I do that instead. She was getting a bottle about once every other day while my mom was here last week but now not so much. She just seems to hate it so I prefer to nurse her.... Dh thinks it wont be a problem when I go back to work since she wont have a choice but I''m still concerned.

I''m also struggling with what to do about child care. We researched some day care centers while I was pregnant since DH was working from home and I knew having a nanny wasn''t an option since our apt is so small. But Dh has since gotten another job that has him out of the house so we might consider having someone come watch her here if we can find someone good and affordable... I''ve been procrastinating on it though since I hate the idea of someone else watching her... Finding a good child care solution seems like such a difficult thing.... what are all of you doing on this front?

Our recent accomplishment is sleep: She slept 5.5 hours for her first stretch last night and the night before! I REALLY hope this keeps up - we''ll see.

Question for you all about smiles: when did your LO start smiling for real? Sage smiles in her sleep now and then and she has smiled for us a handful of times but I can''t wait for her to do so regularly!

Diva, congrats on James''s crawling! That''s so exciting!!

Blen, we took Sage on a long car trip 2 weeks ago and she did just fine. She has had a pacifier since about 2 weeks and has always spit it out when she is hungry. I BFed her about every 2 hours when we were on the road. I hope your trip goes well!

Pave, sorry to hear about Tyler''s fever and your struggle with tummy time and crying. I haven''t been very good about giving Sage tummy time either... I just ordered an activity mat for her so hopefully that will inspire me to do it more. As for the crying, I totally know how you feel. It IS hard to let your LO cry but he will learn how to soothe himself if you let him. As hard as it is for you to let him cry, it could be even harder for you in the future if you don''t let him learn how to self soothe...

Neat, yay for the boys SSTN!!!

nycbkgirl, I started taking Sage out for short walks almost as soon as we came home and it''s never been a problem. I think you''re probably fine to take them out, just be sure they''re properly attired. Glad to hear they''re getting head control.

Gotta go - baby''s squakin.

Mrs

 

[janinegirly]

Wow, guess this is where I belong, but I kinda feel like I''m on the border since my little one is almost 8 mo''s! What will we use the "mommies" thread for going forward?

Ok, so for my fellow mommies of 6+ month olds--any ideas for first finger foods? C is just wanting to eat everything (but milk and boring cereal) and grabbing all our food aggresively. But I get nervous about choking--what can she munch on? I hear some people give heels of hard rolls, canatloupe slices--but I get nervous she''ll get a piece in her throat! Maybe it''s time for some cheerios and puffs..

Oh and a big congrats to James for crawling! I''m so excited for that day, but just can''t picture how they suddenly get up and crawl, but apparently that''s what happens! C has started sitting up on her own, so that was exciting. But also trying b/c she''ll just sit up in her car seat or stroller or my arms all the sudden!

 

[janinegirly]

Mrs: welcome! I feel like such an old mommy among all the newborns, but it''s fun reliving it a little bit .

Childcare selection is challenging and very unique to each person''s situation (finances and level of comfort with who watches your child,etc.). For me, I''m still struggling with it, and up to this point my mother has been watching her while I work full time. It''s comforting, but also can''t last forever--although managed to keep it going for 7 months! At 1 year we''ll either have to start daycare or look into a part time nanny. Daycare has pros like socialization, regulated, lots of people around supervising, and more reasonable than a nanny. Nanny has pros in that you don''t have to rush to the daycare on top of commuting (I really treasure that hour before leaving for work in the morning with my little girl) and the comfort of home/own toys, less germs etc. However it''s more $$, hard to find the perfect person and I also am not crazy about a strange female in my home watching my baby. That''s just me though!! The other thing I''ve started to have to deal with is the longer I wait the harder it is b/c she is getting more attached so it''s going to be hard for both of us whenever the time comes.

Not really helpful, but just wanted to share my thoughts. Keep us posted on what you decide!

 

[curlygirl]

janine, I don''t know what will happen to the old thread. I''m kind of concerned about it because all of us posted so many milestones there and it was nice to look back and be able to keep track of everything. I''ve kind of let my baby books go by the wayside these days--who has time to fill all that stuff in?!?

Anyway, regarding finger foods, Lucy is the same as Chloe--no surprise there!! She stares at us while we eat and moves her mouth like she''s chewing!!!!! I''ve been giving her pieces of crusty bread, bagels, pizza crust and the occasional french fry for about a month now. She loves to have something to work on if we''re out at a restaurant and I feel bad if we''re all eating in front of her and all she has is a sippy cup and a toy! I''m probably also going to start puffs before Cheerios. Puffs literally melt whereas I feel like Cheerios are a bit more work and this poor girl still has no teeth so I don''t want to make it too difficult for her. DH thinks that babies can''t choke on Cheerios because of the hole in the middle of them. I don''t really understand that scientifically but I tend to believe him but I''m still going to wait a few more weeks before trying them. How''s Chloe''s pincer grasp?

If you want to try some other things like fruits, you can get one of those mesh feeders and put bananas, melon, etc. in there and let her work on that. Lily hated that thing but I may give it a try with Lucy. You never know!!

Diva, yay for James crawling!!! Isn''t it crazy how quickly they figure it out?? Lucy is totally on the move these days, I can''t turn my back for a second. And the scary thing is that she''s also starting to pull up on things. I know this is all because she''s trying to keep up with her big sister but I just wish she would sloooow down!

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 5/12/2009 10:00:45 AM
Author: curlygirl
janine, I don''t know what will happen to the old thread. I''m kind of concerned about it because all of us posted so many milestones there and it was nice to look back and be able to keep track of everything. I''ve kind of let my baby books go by the wayside these days--who has time to fill all that stuff in?!?

I was thinking about that too. I actually need to go back and get all posts out of the preggo thread too that are related to Jake. this is the only place I wrote my birth story so I need to copy it so I''ve got it for his baby book. one of these days i''m going to just have to take the time to go through all the pages and pages and copy them.

janine-I started Jake on the puffs. he choked on them for a while and I didn''t give him anything but soft foods until he got the puffs mastered. Then I did the rice crispy jumbo''s. eventually I started added small pieces of cheese, chicken, black beans etc. foods he can pick up and easily gum. he still doesn''t really chew and I cut things pretty small for him.

 

[Mrs]

Thanks Janine! You are so fortunate to have your mom there to help you! You make a good point about enjoying the hour you have with your LO in the morning... I feel the same way you do about having someone strange in my home watching Sage but I''m also concerned about day care... It''s so hard to know what''s best. I hope we both figure it out though!

As for finger foods, I had lunch with a friend who has a 10 month old this weekend and she cut up some pear into tiny pieces and gave those to her DD and she seemed to like it a lot. It seemed like a lot of work for my friend but perhaps it''s worth a try.

 

[janinegirly]

Thanks for finger food suggestions!

Curly: Chloe''s pincer grasp is pretty good and she uses her index finger to analyze everything--it''s so cute, like an ET finger! My pedi actually did say you can''t choke on cheerios because of the hole in the middle, so I guess it''s true! Maybe I''ll look at puffs first. Just like Lucy, Chloe looks at us when we eat and follows the fork with her eyes and her mouth mimics us chewing! Mesh feeder for fruits is a good idea too, thanks! What kind of sippy cup do you use btw? I have the Avent Trainer cup which is great for preventing spills, but Chloe just chews on it instead of sucking..

 

[Burk]

pave~It is hard to let baby cry but it does get a lot easier. He'll figure it out. How has his tummy been?

blen~I gave T a paci at week2 and Dh did bottle feedings from week 1 on and we had no nipple confusion problems. I would not hesitate to try the paci on your trip!

welcome Mrs!

janine~I buy pears that are already cut up for Tayva because it's so easy to just for travel, ect. Pears are super easy to "chew." I agree on starting puffs since they dissolve in their mouths. You could also try the gerber yogurt bites along with the other things the other mommies mentioned. Good luck!

 

[janinegirly]

this is probably a silly question, but I get confused over "diced" fruit for this age group--isn''t there a chance they''d swallow it whole and choke? Or should I be cutting it so small that it''s basically mush?

sorry for dominating this thread so far!

 

[Burk]

Date: 5/12/2009 11:30:01 AM
Author: janinegirly

this is probably a silly question, but I get confused over ''diced'' fruit for this age group--isn''t there a chance they''d swallow it whole and choke? Or should I be cutting it so small that it''s basically mush?

sorry for dominating this thread so far!

I think it probably depends on the food. Things like pears are so soft and they break up I don''t think there much of a chance to choke but I would think harder objects you could have the chance of choking if they try to swallow whole.