PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Mandarine]

Mara it sounds like J is doing the exact same thing these two do once in a while....if you read old posts you will probably find a common theme because it seems like it''s normal for these two to go through those phases. I thinkViz had the same issue and it comes and goes...

I was laughing at "put sheep in place"...haha, out of context that just sounds so funny "Greg, go put the sheep in place!"...lol. I think I need a cup of java!

 

[Sabine]

My tip for not nagging is to think of the next 2 things that need done, and then say to dh, would you like to do 1, or 2? That way I''m giving him a choice and not "telling" him what to do, but making it clear he needs to be doing SOMETHING. And for my dh, when the choices are often "would you like to go change Jacks and get him ready to go, or take the dog for a walk?" he often picks changing Jacks and then I get a few minutes to myself in the fresh air (for some reason dh hates walking the dog, but I love it!). He''s the same way with "put Jacks to bed or make dinner/clean up/do laundry" etc.

 

[steph72276]

Well, I guess I was worried about E being up all night for nothing. The boy literally slept all day yesterday after his shots, only waking to eat and went down at about 9, slept till 4:30 this morning and got up to eat, then back down till 8:30 when we had to take Andrew to school. He is still sleeping in his car seat now. I'm going to get him up in a few minutes after I finish my breakfast and attempt to keep him awake some today. The doc said he might sleep more than normal, but this is kind of crazy. I guess it just really wore him out. I'm going to take him for a walk in the neighborhood in a bit to see if some fresh air will wake him. Have a great day everyone!

PG, I would sit down and have a talk with your DH and let him know just how you are feeling and that it's not okay for him to lie. Let him know that you guys have to do the parenting thing as a team. I agree that you need to be getting out of the house for a few hours when you can, even if it's to take a walk in the neighborhood, go get your nails done, walk around the mall for an hour or so, just to get some peace and quiet. Sending hugs to you.

Puffy, sounds like our little guys are similar on the sleeping front. Glad to know it's normal for them to sleep so much after shots.

Pandora, sorry about your DH going out to play poker after you've had D by yourself. I bet he had not thought about the fact that you haven't been away since her birth. You deserve to have some time to yourself too!

Anchor, I agree...I hate asking DH to help and wish he would just do it, but he doesn't when it comes to household things...I have to be direct. Sometimes I feel like a nag, but then I realize I need help doing certain things with my hands full with 2 boys, so then I don't feel bad about asking.

DRK, I would also just feed her every 2 hours...hopefully that will get her weight back up by your next visit. If not, I would consider pumping to supplement with a bottle. Good to see you over here!

Mandi, LOVE Ann Taylor. I used to find some great deals at the outlet at Sawgrass when I used to live there...I so miss that place!

Fiery, your post is SO true. You just have to be direct with men and tell them what they need to do, but of course stroke their ego and tell them how great they are when they help so they will continue

Mara, Adam and Greg sound similar. A always tells me he can't read my mind and if I want help with something, just tell him directly instead of huffing and puffing until he figures it out! So I have learned to ask him to watch the baby while I run or do something to get out for a little bit everyday. It gets lonely being stuck inside the house all the time, I have to get out or I go insane!

Dreamer, the "task master", I like that

Sabine, I totally do the same method. Like at night I will ask Adam "do you want to get Andrew ready for bed or feed the baby?" I also do this with Andrew, like this morning, I said "do you want to wear this red shirt or blue shirt" because then I know he looks good in either rather than the striped shirt and plaid shorts he would have picked on his own. For whatever reason, it makes them feel like they are in more control if they have choices, and I don't feel like a nag for asking him to help.

 

[Sha]

Date: 3/29/2010 7:41:44 PM
Author: phoenixgirl
I feel like a broken record, but I''m frustrated with DH. Not angry frustrated, just tired/sad frustrated. He just has these bizarre passive aggressive deflection tendencies. Can I blame his crazy mom? OK, let''s do that.

I''ve been voicing my frustration at the crazy schedule this past week, and his responses have run the gamut from being syrupy sweet like I''m five (''Oh honey! But I want you to be rested!'' all cheerful and Stepfordish, but not offering to change anything) to offering to take care of Claire for 36 hours like I did this weekend (all I wanted was appreciation, not some empty offer -- great, I''ll just pump a gazillion bottles beforehand and then spend my random 36 hour break from Claire by myself somewhere pumping furiously). Then tonight he had the concert at 8 and started running out the door at 7. It''s a rock concert, nobody goes an hour before the opening band. Then he claimed he had to be there 40 minutes early to give his friend a ticket. Finally I just asked if they were meeting for drinks, and he admitted yes. Oh good, so now he''s resorting to lying.

I am not some fragile idiot who must be lied to or handled with kid gloves.

All I want is for him to ask me when he plans things, not tell me. I want him to be willing to cancel things if I am too stressed. The thing is, I am very direct. I say this over and over, and all I get is bizarro husband in return. The syrupy sweet thing is the most annoying because it says, ''You are some foolish nagging wife who must be placated with falseness.'' OK, I take it back, I am a little angry. But mostly just tired.

PG - this part really made me laugh ..

But seriously, I''m sorry your DH isn''t ''getting it''. His friends - are they single, or without children? It sounds like he''s trying to keep up with his buddies who may/may not have the same committments as he does....or maybe he wants to maintain the same lifestyle he had ''pre-kid'', even though he has a family to help take care of now.

Seems like life changes so much for women when they have a baby, but not so much for the men. Most of them, anyway.... maybe the untrained ones?

I haven''t had more than a 4 hour stretch of sleep since Dalila was born 4 months ago, while DH has probably slept fitfully every night. I''ve gone out here and there...but mostly I take her along. It''s rare that I get to go out for any length of time by myself. I''m not complaining....just observing the way things have been.... and just saying I feel where you''re coming from.

Pandora - I remember you asked in a previous post, whether we get the feeling that our DH''s think the baby is really the moms, and they just help out? I feel like that all the time with DH. It''s like I''m always the ''default'' child-carer, and he helps out when I can''t - like when I have to go out or if I have to go to the bathroom. One time my mother asked him jokingly if he lets me do all the work, and he said, "No, I HELP her ..." as if It''s MY job and he''s my assistant!!

He said he didn''t really mean it that way, but I think the language people use reflects what they really think, unconsciously or not. Granted, DH is great in playing with and stimulating Dalila - he shows her lots of love. But when it comes to the mundane tasks, it''s definitely mostly me. I''m planning to change that when I go back to work next week, though.

 

[anchor31]

Thanks for all the feedback re: asking DH. DH has never complained about me being a nag, so I guess that''s how he likes it, lol. I do that too, the "do you want to bathe Jacob or do the dishes" choice thing. He often picks taking care of Jacob, which is fine with me because I''ve taken care of him all day.

Mara - Another thought about restless feeding I''ve had is that sometimes he needs to burp/pass gas, so just sitting him on my knees and patt his back for a bit while he does his business usually works.

 

[vizsla]

drive by posting.

c has another stooopid ear infection.. his 4th and he is just turning 5 months tomorrow. poor thing. that could explain away some of the sleeping issues (which are not any better/different). but not all.. even his daycare questioned why he was waking so frequently and seemed to be ''in pain''.

and the new drug (ceftin) is giving him awful gas and poos - which is making him even more uncomfortable. the doc seemed a little concerned about how many ear infections he''s had in such a short period of time.

burk - real quick... my doctor told me something that stuck with me when c was having really bad intolerance/reflux/tummy issues. she said that as a doctor she can not advise me to put c to sleep on his tummy.. but as a *mother* i could try it. so there ya go.

mara - c is all over the place with being interested/not interested in eating. a lot prob has to do with his constant ear infections but i had an awful time trying to nurse or feed him around the same age j is. it''s so frustrating! when it got to be too much i would just pump and give him a bottle.

back after my workout.. wish me luck.

 

[fieryred33143]

I need nap help.

At home on the weekends, Sophia does really well. Her typical schedule is:

8am wake
10:30ish nap
12:30ish wake
3:30is nap
6ish wake
8pm bed

However, at MILs she''s only taking 1 nap in the morning for about 45 minutes and then is awake the rest of the day. It''s not affecting her being able to STTN but I don''t like the idea of her being awake when I know she needs her naps.

I can''t figure out what the problem is since I''m not there all day. I don''t know if she''s just over stimulated, if MIL isn''t being forceful, or if she just rather sleep in her crib and not the PNP. FI thinks it''s because she''s not home so she doesn''t feel comfortable enough to sleep. I think it''s because when Sophia falls asleep, she fights it and MIL takes that as her not wanting to sleep.

Do you think it''s a big deal that she''s not napping during the week? On the weekends she''s getting approx 16 hours of sleep and during the week she''s getting approx 12. Is it a big deal that she''s missing out on 4 hours of sleep? Should I tell MIL to force the naps on her, even if she''s crying?

When Sophia gets to the point of crying, it''s because they missed the cue and at that point you have to rock for a few minutes for her to sleep. I would guess that they feel bad and just let her continue playing.

It''s funny because MIL told me once that she was concerned about Sophia. She said that sometimes Sophia gets so quiet and just stares off into space and no matter what they do, she doesn''t seem to pay attention to them.

I now realize that was her quiet alert stage and they just didn''t realize that what she needs at that point is a nap.

 

[gingerB]

re: hubbies and "nagging"- lol..i do the same thing! it also re-inforces the amount of work that needs to be done (i.e. the amount of things that i do behind the scenes to keep this show on the road that he is usually oblivious to) and that i'm not just giving orders and chilling, i'm doing something too.

steph - sorry about E being worn out, but yay that he slept well last night!

drk - ditto on the feeding q2h. as long as she's making plenty of wet and poopy diapers i think you're on the right track.

mara - i don't think i had time to comment before but J's milk belly is too cute! how do you not spend the whole day blowing raspberries on it?!

viz - sorry about the ear infection. have you thought about going to an ENT to make sure C doesn't have some kind of anatomical thing that makes him prone to ear infections?

fiery - A tends to fight sleep too so i worry when other ppl take care of him that they won't be as persistent as we are in "persuading" him to go down.

==========================================
A turned 6 weeks yesterday!!! here are some of his pro pics when he was a wee 2w5d. he's grown so fast my big boy

i loved so many of them so i went ahead and collaged them for efficiency.

eta: ps won't let me attach files

 

[gingerB]

ok..now it's working again!

 

[gingerB]

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[gingerB]

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[gingerB]

*

 

[steph72276]

Oh Ginger he is PRECIOUS!!!!!

them all!

 

[puffy]

ginger ADORABLE!!! what a handsome little man A is!! great pics.

 

[fieryred33143]

Ginger what a gorgeous baby you have

 

[AmberWaves]

Ginger, fabulous pics!!

Piper experiencing the 4 month wakeful. I. Hate. It. When she''s not fussing she''s slamming her legs in the bassinet, again and again and again. ALL NIGHT. If she keeps this up tonight, she''s getting rolled into her nursery, where I suppose she belongs!

Fiery: I''m having the same issue: P naps well on weekends at home, but at work not as well. She naps maybe a total of two hours all day- if that. She used to have three- one from 7-10am another from 12-1 and another from 3-4. Now it''s wake at 9 or earlier, and no nap until 2pm for 20 minutes.

 

[drk]

Thanks for the encouragement, and especially to DD for letting me know we''re not so far off the desired weight gain. I left a message for our BF clinic this morning, and they didn''t sem too concerned when they called back. 15-30g per day is what they want to see her gaining, and they said to only relly keep her at the breas when she''s actively eating - if its just comfort sucking, pop her off till she''s more alert and hungry-looking again. They also gave me an appointment tomorrow morning to have them watch a feed and o do pre and post feed weights to see how she''s doing at drinking. It will be nice to get that feedback, and hopefully reassurance.

I''m going to start another thread on this, but do any of you have any feedback on good double breast pumps? i''ve been eyeing the Medela freestyle and the ameda purely yours. I''ll be pumping at work when I go back at 3 months anyhow. Want something relatively low maintenance (less parts to wash), easy to use, abl to be used hands-free with the special bras, and not super loud (since I''ll probably be reduced to pumping under my scrubs in the OR while giving anesthetics).

 

[vizsla]

my arms feel like j e l l o.....

firey - because i have been super duper concerned about sleeping as of late .. i have been reading as much as i can and have a nugget of information that may be helpful to you.

the general gist of many different doctors/sleep experts (ha!) nurses etc is that you can not "force" sleep on a baby. instead you must create an environment that is conducive to sleep and let sleep take over your baby.

now, i''m not claiming to know anything about this - because, well... that''s obvious

but what it sounds like is #1 she''s getting to that overtired state, making it harder for her to wind down and #2 maybe she just doesn''t feel "comfortable" (not really the right word since she''s been at your MIL house and with her since birth, but i can''t thing of another way to describe it) enough to fall asleep. i may ask your MIL to try for at least 30mins to put her down. it could be that sophia may just need a little extra comforting b/c she is away from home/you.

i would LOVE it if i could tell our daycare to try harder to get c to fall asleep, but she has 3 babies to care for and obviously can''t spend an hour putting c to sleep. but since you have that advantage with your MIL i would definitely have her try. at the very least sophia will get 30mins of ''down time'' while grandma is trying to get her to sleep. i would venture to guess that after a few weeks of this she will be napping like a champ at MIL''s house.

welcomeDRK!!!! can''t wait to see pics of the little lady!

 

[Mara]

drk sorry i didn't comment earlier but i wouldn't worry about the lightish weight gain. J gained back his birth weight within a week but from there to about 1.25 months he was not gaining much weight at all. Finally around 1.5 months i felt like he hit a stride and he seems to be steadily gaining but we'll see this Thurs at our appt. it's so hard to tell if they are gaining but i agree re: wet and poopy diapers. J's first week he went 4 days with no poopy after he had passed all his meconium and it turned out he was barely NOT getting enough to produce a poo. he had a crazy amt of pee diapers but no poo so the nurse said feed him just a little more and see if it produces poo. sure enough within a few hours of feeding him an extra 1/2 oz per feeding he went poo and it's been lots of poo ever since. so if you are seeing both pee and poo consistently i would think he is getting enough for his body.

and this is my own crazy mom thing talking but i think that J wasn't gaining as much because he was SO friggin active so soon. when everyone elses' newborns were apathetic and sleepy, mine was preparing for the next olympics! i felt like he was burning off what he ate. and both greg and i have highish metabolisms (mine was higher when younger, G's is still very high) so we just assumed J would have one too. you are tall and thin right...maybe K got your metabolism. ANYWAY 2 long paragraphs to say DONT WORRY!!

ginger those pictures are the cutest!!! i love the one of him iin the blue chair on the right and the one of him in the sack on the twigs in the top right. i love how on the chair you can see how big he is, not quite baby newborn anymore but in the sack he looks SOOO tiny!!! and re: J's big tummy, oh trust me i am always blowing raspberries on it and kissing it. he just lays there like 'mom you are so weird' but i am hoping one day he will giggle.

anchor...thanks yep sometimes i sit him up to burp to see if he has something stuck. i am wondering if his reflux acts up after eating a little and maybe that's why he starts to struggle after 2oz or so. sometimes during the day i can stop and try again 15 or 20 min later with the rest of the food and he'll take it. i wish i could see inside his body!

fiery...i kind of agree with you on your MIL not wanting to force sophia to nap. my mom is totally the same way about anything with J. she will trhy to feed him and be like oh he's not hungry, he doesn't want it. same with sleeping or whatever. and i am like well he HAS to eat it. try harder. i think it's grandma syndrome. do they forget everything they did with us??? and yep they are prob missing her cues then not wanting to push her to do anything if she doesn't want to.

viz... re: forcing kids to sleep... i am kind of the thought process that you can do everything you can to make an environment positive but in the end you might have to throw some force in there. i feel like babies and kids need to be 'taught' to do things the way we want them to and i don't really believe in just waiting for them to figure things out on their own when they are so young. sure you don't want it to be a negative experience but it can be positive and still effective IMO.

re: husbands... it is funny how everyone says that they say to ASK. G totally says that and yep i do ask!! itis totally fair for them to say they can't read minds and i think a lot of asking is HOW you ask. for me G doesn't like to feel like i am demanding or ordering him to do something, so a lot of it is in the delivery. lol steph re: 'giving a choice' and i love how you compare Andrew to Adam haha...aren't men really boys in bigger clothes?!?! shhh.

__________________

so my left boob friggin hurts. i hate breastfeeding!!!! well really it's not the feeding part that sucks, it's my BOOBS and how difficult they like to make it. left boob was getting better but now suddenly it's not. and last nite i woke up so engorged from J's 9.75 hours of sleeping (don't hit me) that i couldn't empty them properly with the pump so now i am waiting for him to wake up so he can feed. bah.

this morning at his 6:45am feed J only took 3oz of a 5.5oz bottle. boo. and he was sleepy and i didn't want to totally piss him off by making him eat so i just reswaddled him and put him back to bed. i guess i shouldn't stress about him 'getting enough' because he'll let us know when he doesnt but i am bummed that our previous little piggy who'd eat anything put in his mouth is now doing this half-eating, picky thing. boo.

on the plus side he slept 9.75 hours last nite for his first stretch. i put him in his crib after his wake and feed and he went 2 hours (after struggling to get to sleep) with no waking. operation crib move seems to be doing ok so far...not impressive but not bad. knock on wood.

i am bummed to think i will have to remove his cute crib bumper soon and put the ugly mesh on in because he is turning out to be too much of a traveler and the monitor can't catch him all the time...so i end up going in to find him turned horizontally. he's so strong so i don't think that he couldn't get himself out of a situation but better safe than sorry.

quick Q... for any moms who used to do rock/soothe to sleep and then went away from that to putting them in crib or down for sleep 'drowsy but alert' (isnt that an oxymoron) ... when did you start? i do it sometimes with J when i know he's about to pass out but his eyes are still open yet glassy looking, to try to start training him to drop off without my face right there or without movement, but sometimes he still needs the crazy happy baby rocking and sshhh'ing. most of the books say about 4 months is when they should be able to be better at self soothing but J does it about 1/2 the time right now with hand or the white noise.

 

[Mara]

oh and drk re :pumps... i have the ameda purely yours and i was torn for a while on what to get. our LC told me that ameda and medela are owned by the same parent company and basically the PY is the same as the medela one that is not freestyle, can''t remember the name oh PIS. but PY is like almost 1/2 price if you can find a coupon. so i got the PY and i really like it actually. my issues with breastfeeding have to do with my own boobs...haha not the pump. it''s strong suction and it''s a closed system so it is supposed to be better for not getting mastitis and cleaning etc. also you can resell it or give it away because it is a closed system...it''s one of the only ones that is like that, medela is not.

 

[Mandarine]

Mara, I went back to see when I stopped the rocking habit since I had a successful transition and my boys were rockaholics!. It took like three days, I found the olds posts...they were less than 3 months and it too 2-3 days!
ETA: Now I only have to rock them if they are sick or something...but our routine is so simple: bath (every other day), PJs, bottle, quiet playtime in the couch, sleep sack and upstairs to bed (I sing while we're bringing them up), kiss and in the crib they go (with the loud fan on, no crib soother...I only use that for naps).
ETA2: they were only like 4 days from being 3 months old....


https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ps-mommy-thread-newborn-to-12-months.115074/page-124
So...it IS possible to spoil a newborn...or at least my guys!. I got into the habit of rocking the to sleep. It wasn't a big deal and I loved snuggling them. I could rock them both at the same time and just loved it. Well, they're way too heavy now and they want to be rocked for like 20 minutes before they actually fall sleep!!!. If they aren't in DEEP sleep then they wake up crying as soon as you put them down....so sometimes it would take me 45 minutes to put them down for a 30 minute nap! It was just a bad habit...that needed to be broken!.

Today I started trying a bit of crying for naps to start to try to break the habit. I lightly swaddled them (not with the big guns -aka: miracle blanket- as I save that for the nights!). Then I sing and rock them, and down they go (awake). They cry and fuss, I go back in one minute and pat their butts, offer a paci, turn on the crib soother and leave again. They keep crying, I go back in after another minute, same thing. Then I leave again...then come back, rock them each a minute again and put them back. All in all it takes like 10 minutes until the fall sleep. That's not bad right? for the first day of trying to break the rocking madness??

I want to try tonight at bedtime too.

Any tips??


https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ps-mommy-thread-newborn-to-12-months.115074/page-125
UPDATE!!!

So far so good! I'm so proud of the little guys

3 naps today took about 10 minutes...and I went back in every 2-3 minutes.

Bedtime was great!!!. We swaddled them, rocked them for like a minute (or less), kissed them good night and put them down. Took 8 minutes!!. I went back at Min. 2 to soothe Lucas, pat his butt. Two minutes later I went back and Lucas was already out, I soothed Alex, went back out. One minute later went back in to soothe Alex and that was it!. They are both out now!!!

Maybe I was more attached to the rocking than they were! lol

I'm thinking I want to implement something else for their bedtime routine. I tried lotion..but they don't seem to like it...and do they need lotion??

Is it too early to implement reading them a book?. Would I do this after the bottle and before swaddling or after swaddling?

I'm so proud of my boys!

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ps-mommy-thread-newborn-to-12-months.115074/page-126

Naps I started doing naps in their cribs a couple of weeks ago...basically because they were not sleeping too soundly in the living room and the dog loves to bark at ANYTHING outside and kept waking them up!.

Yesterday was Day2 of "kick the rocking habit"...they did so GOOD!!! . DOwn for the morning nap in TWO minutes. We were then running around s they slept in the car seats/stroller and then for bedtime it took THREE minutes and they were out!. This morning's nap took about 2 minutes and they've been sleeping for like 40 minutes.

My boys are not long nappers. The longest nap they take at home is like 1 hour (if I'm lucky!). Unless of course once they're out I have a crazy thought like "maybe I'll nap too"..then they're up in 5 minutes. Not joking!. Little jerks (just kidding, just kidding!)

Bedtime From pretty early on they liked an early bedtime. It started to be like 8pm at around 4 weeks and now sometimes they are ready as early as 7pm!. You can pretty much tell when they are ready because after their 6:0pm bottle they start fussing when they are ready to go and get calm as soon as they're swaddled!.

 

[Mandarine]

Lucas rolled from back to belly......
for my babysitter!!!!!!!. I was upstairs and missed it!!!

Of course now he doesn''t want to do it again!.

 

[fieryred33143]

Viz-Thanks for the comment! I think I''ll go with the plan of telling MIL to try a little harder but not force it.

Mara-It was right around when I returned to work, so about 12 weeks, when we started putting her down awake and doing the pick up/put down. Rocking doesn''t bother me because I work a lot of hours and that''s our quiet moment together. But the nursing to sleep did bother me.

She picked up on it pretty quickly. She got sick shortly after and needed to be rocked again so we tried it around 5 months and it worked.

She can do it now when she''s in the mood. Our nights can be any of the following:

-Give her a bottle and falls asleep before we take the bib off
-Put her down sort of asleep and she''ll put herself to sleep
-Put her down awake and uses her projector to help her sleep
-Needs to be rocked or she''ll scream her head off

Most nights it''s the first one. Other nights it''s 2 and 3. On rare occassions it''ll be #4 and it''s easier for me to just rock her for 30s-1min than it is for her to cry for 30.

Anyway, if you feel that rocking is a bad ''habit'' then I think it''ll be easier for you to stop now than it would be to stop later.

 

[Mandarine]

I posted on the toddler thread by mistake

Here is my post again...

From the same series of the "Older and Wiser" and "Younger and cuter" onesies my sisters made for the boys as decoration for the babyshower, I present to you:

"You don''t scare us, we''re twins"!

I don''t normally like onesies with messages, but these are special and I think especially funny...hehe. I also have the "I came first" and "I wasn''t in a rush"...haha

 

[fieryred33143]

OMG Mandy I love your boys! They''re so adorable!! I don''t know how you get any work done

.

We still need to do a GTG

 

[Mandarine]

Aww, thanks They like Sofia too

I''m probably going to make it down to Weston one of this weekends to see my sister! So when I do I''ll let you know and maybe we can do coffee or something??

 

[fieryred33143]

just let me know! I''m really close to Weston.

We''re going to be in Kissimmee this weekend to visit my mom

 

[ChinaCat]

Hi ladies. No way I can catch up, so I''ll just hit a few posts!

Fiery- Re: naps. She sleeps well at night, which would be my first concern. However, it would bother me if my mom or MIL couldn''t get O to nap. I agree that you can''t "make" a kid nap and that obviously it won''t be the same routine as what you do. BUT I do think kids need naps, and I do think that your MIL needs to give Sophia all the help she can to achieve that. If you think MIL can''t read the "cues" I would try and use a schedule- tell her S must be put down for a nap b/w x and y time. I personally don''t think she isn''t "comfortable" there, she is there every day. She might need a different type of routine at your MIL''s, but no reason she can''t nap there. Just my thoughts!

Ginger- What gorgeous newborn pics!!!!!!!

DRK- Welcome! Don''t stress, just keep feeding every 2-3 hours. O gained fast, and then was sloooooow for awhile, but if you re EBF and feeding every 3 hours at least, she''ll be fine!

Phx- I put O facing forward around 3 or 4 months (can''t remember) but the general rule is when they have good head/neck control. Also, O still sleeps in a sleep sack (for warmth) and always goes to sleep on his side, ends up on his tummy. Never got in his way and he is VERY mobile. Also, O sticks out his tongue ALL THE TIME. Like he''s a dog. He sticks it out and pants.

Oh and I actually DID find a hair wrapped around O''s toe once!!!! It was so tight it was cutting off the circulation. Didn''t bother him at all, but glad I found it.

Mara- O started doing that around 3 months or so and it was so frustrating. For O, forcing a burp out of him or switching holds worked. For some reason if I switched to a football hold he would feed, but not the other way. How old is J? Also, are you feeding him on a schedule or waiting for his hunger cues? And one more thing- if he''s 3 months, you might want to switch to a faster flow nipple.

Viz- You make me laugh. C is such a cutie. LOVE the "new mom" drink!!!! Genius.

Robbie- Hi there!

We missed you! Des sounds so much like O, so it''s nice to have you around for advice. Glad you figured out a way to stay home.

Amber- O is a jumping addict and while he likes both, he much prefers the Jumperoo. Also when he was Piper''s age, he LOVED when I would sing "Five Little Monkeys" so he could jump in my life. In fact, if I started singing it, he would automatically start "jumping". So cute.

Mandy- Love the mohawks!

STTN/CIO- We didn''t have to use CIO. O was a bit weird. He started STTN (from 9 pm till 7 am) at 8 weeks on his own. Did that wonderfully till he was 4 months. Then he started getting up again- usually just 1x and always just to eat- then would go right back down. Finally at 5 or 5.5 months he started STTN again (about 11 hours). He does occasionally wake up and needs to be soothed when he is teething. I think CIO would work and if he wasn''t STTN again by 6 months, I was going for it, but I had a feeling he would naturally do it on his own and he did. For us, the getting up really was about being hungry. Once he stopped wanting to eat much, he stopped waking up. Funny thing is at the time (4 months) I was MISERABLE and couldn''t figure out WHY he was getting up again since I "knew" he could STTN. But in retrospect, he was only getting up to eat, and then would go right back down and it really wasn''t that bad. I think it was bad to me b/c I had just gone back to work and was EXHAUSTED. Now I miss those middle of the night feedings!

I know I''m missing tons of peeps- hi especially to all the newer mommies!

 

[ChinaCat]

AFM- Sorry I''ve been MIA. I was sick, and work is really busy and then we went to Napa for a long weekend!

O is a madman. He has been scooting/hopping/crawling for awhile now, but now he''s FAST and fully crawling. Pulling up on everything too. Plus he''s trying to CRUISE. He''s TOO little for that. He doesn''t listen to me already! He''s such a BOY. Wriggles anytime you try to contain him, wants to move everywhere, crawl over everything, pull up, and he''s obsessed with all things electronic. So funny.

Has gotten two teeth now, along with the requisite fussiness and runny nose. Hope we get a break from that soon.

I had a few questions for you ladies, but it took me forever just to respond above and now I have to get back to work.

Will be back later!!!!

 

[Mara]

oh my gosh mandarine i swear the boys pics are always so precious since they have the biggest grins. when you post about them screaming i have to be like...THOSE DARLINGS?? hahhaa how deceptive. i think the same thing about J either before or after a scream fest when i am like how are you THIS angelic looking??

thanks for the info re: the rocking vs drowsy yet awake. i don't actually rock in a chair, we just do the happy baby standing rocking to put him to sleep OR to get him drowsy enough to put down. i just was wondering how long we should be doing it. funny because sitting in the chair with J and rocking doesn't really keep or get him calm... he needs the standing kind of 'crazy' rocking typically to get calm and stop fighting his swaddle (he hates it!).

it will be a happy day when we can put him down to sleep without swaddle and have it work... sometimes i try for naps but he flails arms and legs and keeps himself awake. swaddle MAKES him sleep. but usually in the mornings i come in to get him and he has one or both arms out haha. and my swaddles are TIGHT.

like you posted fiery... there are usually 3 states for us too. sometimes he is pretty tired and comatose and it just takes a swaddle, and 30 seconds of ssh and rocking or sometimes i can just put him down and he passes out. other times it's drowsy but not quite ready to give up...then i can usually put him down, put sheep on, put pressure on his chest arms with hand and sshhh to get him to drop off. and then there's 'im fighting this with every ounce' and it takes rocking, ssh'ing, reswaddling, for a good 5-10 min. but he's still young and he IS able to drop off if i put him down drowsy yet awake sometimes, so i think we're getting there slowly which seems ok from a timeline perspective. i just don't want to be doing this at month 6 or 9.

J has started to smile and babble like crazy to us when we put him down for a nap or when he wakes up. it is so friggin cute..!! sometimes i have a hard time being solemn and just walking away hahah when i want to engage him. but when he wakes up i love talking to him.

and the crazy 2 month old is sometimes trying to SIT UP. if i sit him a little too low/flat in the boppy he will struggle and use his arms to try propel himself up until i sit him up more. i can actually have him grab onto my fingers with his hands and pull him up into sitting with his own might! i swear... this kid is going to be the death of me hehee.

ETA...China...he's 2 months now. and i have him on a loose schedule but i wait for cues (aka up from a nap and not able to be soothed by activity). the thing about the faster nipple i thought about this but he's also been making lots of gagging and choking noises when he's doing the bucking bronco thing. on a #1 nipple! so i thought originally maybe he wanted a faster flow but now i am paranoid about him choking himself because he's so distracted. it's like a double edged sword.