PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[phoenixgirl]

Tao, Mandy, etc., stop feeling bad about me centric posts and come back so that I can hear what the other 10 month olds are doing!


So, we booked tickets for a trip (without Claire) to France for when she's just shy of 13 months. So that means I have a little over 2 months to get her fully weaned. I'm ready, but it's still a daunting task. Now that I'm not working and we're together all the time, I worry about how she'll take it. So . . . we just had some juice and now she is in her crib for a nap when she would normally nurse first. She's silent with an occasional fuss here and there, but that's par for the course with putting her down to sleep now anyway (see previous posts about sitting/standing in the crib).

She is down to nursing 4 or 5 times a day, but she so rarely takes the sippy cup and actually drinks from it (just kind of uses it like a teething toy) that I figure she is just getting more at those sessions to compensate. I want to actually drop a feeding and replace it with other liquids.

We have a schedule! So now I will forever screw it up by daring to type it up and post it on the internet:

7 a.m. wake & nurse
7:30 a.m. breakfast
10:00 a.m. nap
11:00 a.m. nurse
12:00 p.m. lunch
2:30 p.m. snack
3:00 p.m. nurse & nap
6:30 p.m. dinner
7:00 p.m. nurse
8:00 p.m. bed

Two months ago (which is eons in baby-land) I was all, no schedule for me! I like to be flexible! I mean, yeah, we were napping at regular intervals, but eventually she was going to bed at 10 p.m.! And I realized that the old maxim that fewer/shorter naps means worse sleep at night is true. By not putting her down to nap at approximately the same time every day, she was sometimes missing naps, and then her sleep at night went haywire.

Sounds like she's asleep. Probably all we've done is push back her nursing until she wakes up, but that's something. We're at 4.25 hours since the last feed already.


Tao, any news on your brother's GF?

Cello, I know somebody else mentioned a baby screaming or crying in his or her sleep. Can't remember who, though. Hopefully that person will chime in.

Sha, so jealous of the easy teething. Claire has 4 teeth and one on the way. She's a slobbery, fussy monster.

Charger, the expo sounds right up my alley!

Mara, hope your doctor can give you some relief.

MP, aw, crying boys!!!

 

[Mara]

thanks gals...! Good to know other babies can be like that too.

J also loves being outside...my Mom has a big outdoor yard and a porch swing out back and she would just sit there swinging with him for like 30min and he would be entirely quiet, not a peep! And on our walks lately he is totally quiet now, even for 1-2 hours.

So today was the first day of all day long meetings with our entire larger organization. And we have an evening event tonite, it will be great food at a posh outdoor roof hotel thing but I just wish I was going home! And then I have another event on Thurs night til 11! and then another event on Friday. AND all day meetings today, tomorrow and thurs. OH and my boss was like 'maybe we could setup Saturday meetings' with some of our out of country European guys who are leaving on Sunday if they can't change their flights to be next week.I was thinking 'REALLY? I don't think so.' Have fun with that, seriously.

 

[mtjoya]

Thank you ladies for the love & support, I appreciate it! I feel better now that it has passed.

We just got back from our San Diego trip. We visited the San Diego Zoo and it was awesome. J was pretty good and got fuzzy at times but overall she was kewl. I can't wait for our trip to Disneyland. Next week I am planning on taking her to the L.A. county fair on Monday or Tuesday my days off, we will see how it goes.

Mara-That's kewl that you got the Volo it strolls WAY better than the First Years one.

 

[meresal]

Mara- I feel like our little one gets so bored here at the house. Everytime I add a new toy, I feel like he is over it only a week or so later.
Also, re: the outdoor thing. C wouldn't fall asleep for the entire first month unless he was outside. He LOVES being in direct sun light or in the pool. If he gets fussy we just go sit on the side of the pool and let him splash his feet.
We took him in the pool for the first time when he was less than a month old, and he has loved it sense. Have you tried swimming? It gets them outside and wears them out at the same time.

I'm so sorry to hear about all of your meetings. I can't imagine wht you are going thru, but everyday, you are one step closer to it being over.


Well, today was my first day back and last day of work. I cried when I got to my car, but not becasue I was sad.

I spent most of the day packing up my office of almost 3 years... and of the 17 coworkers I have in my deptartment, 10 were in the office today. Other than my friend that walked me to the lobby, only ONE of my coworkers got out of their chair to say bye. Heck, she was the only one that said bye and good luck, except for the 2 people's cubicles I had to pass on my way out.

I mean seriously. I spent 3 whole years with these people, and they can't so much as wave as I walked out of our office. I had two other coworkers that I enjoyed, but they are both on vacation this week. I think it all just hit me as I left... I never enjoyed this job, but that never stopped me from trying to be personable. The age gapo must have just been too much for polite converstaion... however, I never thought the age gap was too much for basic politeness.


Ohh well. It is the best thing that could have happened, bc it just made me realize I am making the best decision for myself and my family. DH took me out to dinner, and not only did C stay in his car seat the whole time... he even ate Apples for the first time! He finished almsot half of his Gerber package before passing cold out at the table. Such a cutie! I can't believe I get to spend every day with him from here on out...

 

[swimmer]

Thank you ladies for bottle help! I will be back later to discuss the ongoing saga....

Just wanted to chime in while feeding e, MARA! your work sounds nutty to begin with, but are there no Jews there? W night starts the high holy days, TH is Rosh Hashanah. Most school districts around here don't have school on Th or F. I doubt you would claim that having a baby made you more religiously observant and that you need th off from the marathon of work... but yikes!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Congrats on being a SAHM Mere! So jealous - enjoy your little guy

I am attaching a finished picture of the crib bumper. It came out so cute! Micah slept in his crib with it on last night and he didn't even notice, lol. It is almost 6am though and I can hear him talking in there...uh oh.

Also, has anyone else seen this? http://www.allegromedical.com/children- ... 59048.html

It may just be me, but it seems like a rather drastic way to keep baby on their back or side. I know Micah is not a tummy sleeper, at least not yet, but I would never put this thing on him. It just seems a bit much. Plus it would be hard to get him out to eat!

 

[Mara]

super cute MP! great job.

mere i am sorry about the work leaving experience but you are totally better off without it obviously! i can't imagine no one saying good bye-- i know almost everyone on our floor and in our team and everyone is really friendly... for J i ended up having 2 work baby showers, it was crazy nice. boo on those people for you.

swimmer, we're in N.CA silicon valley--we don't see too many Jewish. but school off Th/Fri...definitely not! and work...jeez it's brutal here. i make an excellent salary and overall my job is being pretty good about letting me be flexible BUT ... they also expect a ton and my new Director is a little coo coo in that he's a single older man and seems to have no life but WORK. totally not meshing with my life right now obviously. but i don't have an issue pushing back--get rid of me if they don't like it is the way i feel. i'd be fine if i didn't work for a while too but i really do love working overall but would prefer it to be about 50% of the effort it's been lately. PT would be ideal...but also very hard to find in the industry here.

anyhoo off to another brutal day. my only saving grace is meetings ONLY go til 6:10pm today. oh and i'm getting a sore throat. prob stress!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Add N to the list of babies who LOVE to be outside and on the go! He was such a good boy at the food/wine fest this past weekend. He napped for a bit in his carseat at first and got a bit cranky when i woke him to nurse, but then was all jolly afterwards while we sampled grub and just strolled around.

I'm not sure if i mentioned earlier that he's on Zantac. We've seen a noticeable decrease in his spit-up, but he still cries when we go to burp him- will probably take some time to get the negative association with burping/pain out of his system. Unfortunately, it's a bit challenging to administer the medication to him. we first just stuck the dropper in his mouth, but he wouldn't swallow the stuff- it would sit in his mouth and pool out. so we've been using a nipple- just filling the tip and having him suck it out. it kinda works, but then you have to make sure that it doesn't run out the other side. DH ordered a medicine pacifier from Amazon and it's on the way- hope that helps, but would love to hear tips on giving medicine to babies. Please share- THANKS!

Speaking of Amazon- did anyone else get the invite from them to join Amazon Mom? I have to go back to the email/read it to see what the benefits are, but i think it included PRIME if you spent a certain amount in the baby store each month or something.

One last tidbit about N- we're working on starting his sleeptime routine a bit earlier (a bit after 8p vs. 9p), but don't want to mess with me only having to wake once during the night to nurse him. Anyway, he went down around 9p last nite and I forgot to set my 2a alarm. Next thing I know, it's 3:45a and I had to wake him to nurse. Almost 7 hours! that's the longest he's gone.

Mere- i'm sorry to hear about your insensitive co-workers. But yep, you're much better off!
MP- the bumper is TOO CUTE! and yes, i too saw that back sleep thing- kinda wierd...
Phoenix- THANKS for posting your schedule. I'm all about schedule/routine and am off to a good start with N. Would LOVE to see other mama's schedules!
MTJ- I *heart* San Diego! Their zoo kicks the L.A zoo's butt. Glad to hear you had a great time.
Mara- THANKS for posting the tip about the Gilt sale- although i bought a Volo at homegoods last week, was interested to see what they had, and it turns out that the featured Volo was the same one I picked up. They had it for $85 and I paid $80 for mine, so I'm happy with that! Sorry to hear about your work schedule- at least it's already Wednesday, the weekend will be here before you know it!

 

[phoenixgirl]

Mere, congrats on staying home! Sorry about your coworkers! I went into my old school last week and took Claire around. Some people were super nice and talkative -- the principal was carrying Claire around -- but then others were like, "Oh, hey" as they waltzed on by. In many instances the people I thought would want to talk to me didn't, and the people I wasn't as close with were all happy to see me and talk. I think people just don't realize they're being rude.

So I totally screwed up Claire's schedule by posting it! Well, not really, I did it by sleeping in with my angel until 8:30 instead of getting her up at 7 (She was up from 4 to 6 with teething pain). So now I am trying for a single nap today (right now at 12:30 -- C is talking to herself in her crib but she sounds like she could be getting there) and bed early. Hope it works! I wrote myself a little schedule to follow so I don't get all confused.

 

[jcrow]

charger - thanks for the heads up on amazon mom. i just signed up. you get 3 months of amazon prime free upon signup. then i think for every $25 you spend in the baby store, you get another month of amazon prime free up to a year.

also...

Jennifer W - thanks so much for posting that bfeeding link. it was so helpful and i think we've tuned a corner now that i've figured out that it's not about the time spent on each bb, but rather if she's eating! seems so simple, but i guess i really didn't get it until watching the video. now, i watch for clues that she's done on one side and is just nursing herself to sleep. i pop her off and offer the other side. a little while after she's done actually eating, i pop her off. i love that i have a better idea of how much she's getting now based on how she's nursing. she's going 2 hours between each feeding during the day now. she was going ever hour or hour and a half. whew. thank you.

 

[Sha]

Mara -that sucks that your whole week is being monopolized by work!

meresal - I can't believe only a few persons took the time to see you off. It's not like you were only working there for a few months... And even so, how hard is it to take a few minutes to wish someone well? Are people that selfish nowadays?

MP - super cute! You're very creative!

 

[somethingshiny]

Thanks for the supportive posts about "me time."

Last night I actually left DH a note to do the dishes when he got home (at 4 am).....and he did!! I did 7 loads of laundry yesterday (don't you just love bed linen day?!), took the kids outside for 3 hours, read, had company for a while, and made dinner. That's it! It's amazing that just taking a day "off" really renews a person.

Anywho, Lily has had a rough few nights. Two nights ago I was up until 2 am with her, DH got up with her from 3-5 and then I was up 5-8am. JT started back at preschool so of course, he immediately got a cold and passed it on to Lily. She was so miserable, only sleeping for maybe 20-30 minutes at a time and then waking again. They both are feeling better today.

Quick question: I just got on the pill at my 6 week check. I had my first period 5.5 weeks PP. I've been on the pill for over 2 weeks and I've been bleeding again for the last several days. Anyone with similar issues or know what's up? Does this mean I'm not really covered for BC??

 

[meresal]

PG- Isn't that shocking how people can surprise you. We had a new manager start about a week before I went into labor. Never really got a chance to talk with her... but she was the first person to come into my office when I arrived in the morning. We talked for over 20 minutes about her kids and how she wishes that she could stay home. We were pretty much strangers... and I spent more time with her than any of the people I had worked with for almnost 3 years. Ridicilous. I'm sorry to hear how your coworkers were. I just don't get it sometimes.

Sha- I don't know what it is. I worked in an office where I was the youngest by about 15 years, so I wasn't ever really well accepted by alot of the women in my same position. They would rather gossip than actually get to know someone.

SS- I had heavier bleeding around the 5-6 week mark and asked about it here. I think it was Mara that told me that it most likely wasn't the real deal... and she was right. My actual period didn't return until like 10 weeks.


AFM: I am almost at my wits end. C has decided to start waking up every 3 hours at night again. However, unlike going back to sleep immediately when he was a newborn, it now takes me apprx 45minutes to an hour to get him back down. Couple that with waking up between 6-630 now... I am a walking zombie.
Please tell me Why(??) this is happening... and more importantly please tell me it won't last very long.
(Ohh also, I noticed that for these last 2 night he has been very restless when he sleeps. Moving his head, arms, and legs every couple of minutes. This first night of this he had 8 ounces of formula before going down, so it wasn't like he was still hungry.)

 

[phoenixgirl]

SS, your day off sounds like a full day of work for me! What do you get done in a "normal" day? Wow!

Mere, is he teething? What's his sleeping like during the day? Is he wailing or just kind of moaning when he wakes up?


My alternate schedule worked yesterday, and Claire was asleep by 7 p.m. I definitely liked having the night "off" (versus having a baby that stays up until 9 or 10). I'm definitely going to make bedtime no later than 8 p.m. ever.

I have another girls' night tonight (had one Sunday too). I'm looking forward to it, though last night DH asked what time I was going because he has scheduled a work-related meeting (though with friends) from 6 to 7. So now he is scrambling to find a babysitter. I have no sympathy. This is at least the 3rd time that he tried to schedule something for himself to do when I had a girls' night and then tried to find a babysitter at the last minute. I mean seriously, I've had maybe 2 nights out a month since Claire was born. You can plan around that, dude!

It's just hard for me not to worry about Claire when he's all, "Maybe I'll just find some random person on the street to watch Claire for a little . . ." (Well, not really, but it feels like it.) And since I would never ask people to babysit at the last minute except in an emergency, I find it stressful to think about all the people he's asking to do this for the fourth time. Earlier this week he attempted to schedule 2-3 hour bike rides for four days in a row, so I gave him the option to choose which one to cancel. I wish he would magically sense how much is "too much" so I wouldn't have to put the kibosh on his plans, but I know that mind-reading is too much to expect in a marriage. I can just be honest about my needs and try to remain sympathetic and not bitter about his. OK, vent over.

 

[somethingshiny]

PHX~ lol!! The only "work" part of my day was all the laundry, but everything else is fun stuff for me. That's why I love being a SAHM. btw- Good plan to always have an early bedtime. JT's bedtime is no later than 8 and usually more like 7:30. I find it necessary to keep my sanity! Hope you find a good baby sitter and are able to enjoy your night out!

Mere~ I'm pretty sure what I had was an actual period, but even if it wasn't, I thought you weren't supposed to flow at all during the active portion of a pill pack? I hate to call the dr about this but I'm really wondering if I could end up preggo! Oh, and I am sorry for the way your co-workers sent you off. In your "new" job, you're always VIP!!


Lily and I are both feeling icky today. The poor little baby pooped so bad it came out the top FRONT of her diaper! I thought I was gonna toss my cookies!

 

[mtjoya]

Mere-Excuse the language but F them. You have the most important and best job of them all! Awesome mamma with a wonderful bebe!

I love that fall is here! I just got my Maclaren buggy! hehe! I will follow up with J hanging out in her new buggy. hehe!

Happy Thursday hot mammas!

 

[meresal]

PG- I don't think he is teething yet. (Can't feel anything sharp.) Whe he wakes up it is definitely not a wail. It is more of an,i "I'm awake in here... come get me!"
His sleep during the day was going MUCH better until today. Everytime I set him down he wakes up and I have to nurse him back to sleep. He was getting really good at napping in the PNP or crib... and I even managed to get him to go to sleep on his own a few times without holding him first.

Mtj- Thanks for the support. I apprecaite it
SS- I'm not sure what to tell you. I would just talk to your doctor. AFM, from what I could figure out, it was just some "stuff" left over from the pregnancy.
Just asking, I'm sure this is completely off base, but I thought you weren't supposed to start the pill again until your period had returned?

ETA:
Is rice cereal necessary? Can you go straight to purees of veggies?

 

[KimberlyH]

mere, the cereal is for iron. most babies iron stores run out at 6 months, if you skip rice cereal your ped will likely do a iron check at 9 months and start supplementing if D is anemic, which is likely if you don't do some sort of iron fotified cereal. Jane hates it, but likes Cream of Wheat, so we do that instead. Just try one grain at a time, same as foods, to check for allergies.

 

[meresal]

mere, the cereal is for iron. most babies iron stores run out at 6 months, if you skip rice cereal your ped will likely do a iron check at 9 months and start supplementing if D is anemic, which is likely if you don't do some sort of iron fotified cereal. Jane hates it, but likes Cream of Wheat, so we do that instead. Just try one grain at a time, same as foods, to check for allergies.

Thanks for clearing that up Kimberly. I tried some of the rice cereal again this evening and put just a little bit of apple puree in. He did well. He didn't eat as much as he did of just straight apple puree, but come on... who would?

I just got C down for the night, so we will see how this evening goes. Getting him to sleep on our schedule hasn't been an issue at all... it is just his sleeping AFTER we put him down. *fingers crossed*

Hope everyone is having a good evening. I can't believe how dead it is around here now.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Mere, I read (somewhere . . . ?) that a baby's sleep cycle lasts about three hours. Is it possible you're just getting "light sleep" (which is really lightly awake?)? What happens if you wait 10 minutes before responding? I'm not saying to CIO, just that maybe a little fussing is just normal stirring?


So I'm down to BFing only 4x per day, but Claire is really not taking her Tilty Cup or her Nuby sippy and I think she is just nursing more at those sessions. Argh! How am I supposed to wean this baby???!?!?! Tonight we went out and left her with her grandmother, and she didn't really take the bottle. Help!!!!!!! This baby was in daycare for 5 months; she knows how to do it!

Some days she'll take maybe an ounce from a sippy. She'll take water out of a big person cup (sticking her tongue in it to lap it like a dog). But it's a laborious process, and one she can't do alone, so every day we try the aforementioned sippy cups. I've tried other kinds, but these seem the best.

So I'm just confused. All my theories -- she doesn't like the taste of the juice, or the temperature, or the type of cup -- have all been proved wrong by trial and error.

Also, she doesn't often cry for nursing. She has a certain cry, but she hasn't done it for days. Just eventually I'm like, well, it's been 4 hours, here you go baby . . . Maybe I should try letting her get desperate, but I almost think that would make her panic, and she'd just be less likely to practice a new skill.

 

[somethingshiny]

mere~ I don't know if you're not supposed to start the pill until after a period or not. When he asked if I had one I said yes (and described it) and he did an internal exam. Then we talked about contraception options and I went for the pill. I am going to have to call tomorrow.

phx~ When JT went to sippy cups, we tried every one they made! He decided he like the two handled soft tip ones. I never allowed him juice in a bottle so that's the treat I put in the cup to make him work for it. Then, I just switched him to the cup for everything but morning bottle. He wouldn't let that one go until he was about 14mo old.

 

[drk]

I don't have any good advice to give these days, so here's a fly-by BPF post. Pics are about 2 weeks old (5.5 mo).

 

[MonkeyPie]

Oh drk, she's precious. I love her face in that first picture, "Yes, I know I'm cute."

I'll post a pic tonight, but Micah officially has TWO TEETH! The second one on the bottom has come in. Go, baby, go!

 

[jcrow]

drk - she's so pretty! she has the loveliest shade of hair color too!

--

so, for us... it seems em is doing much better in the sleep department. before she'd maybe take a nap [30-45 min] a day. now she's doing about two naps [1-1.5 hours each]. she's wanting to go to bed earlier too. she still wakes up at night to nurse. going about every 3-4 hours.

also, it might be time to say goodbye to sleep sacks. and boo because we JUST bought two new ones. last night she was pulling it up over her head. she'd grab it on her chest and up and over it went. she played and played so we took it off and then she went to sleep. sheesh.

 

[curiousaboutdiamonds]

DrK & MP - the pictures. Your babies are too cute!

Sorry, I've been MIA. The holiday weekend was filled with lots of family activities, and then we took a short but much needed anniversary trip. We left A with my parents for 3 days/2 nights. It went extremely well, except that I missed A like crazy. I'm generally a really independent person, but boy does motherhood change you! My fingers were itching to call to see how A was doing, but I stopped myself after my mom scolded me the first time I called. Much needed tough love.

I remember reading awhile ago, some mommies were really loving the 5/6 month age. I totally agree! A is 5.5 months and I LOVE this stage. Mentally, I didn't want to start rice cereal until 6 months (even though the ped gave us the green light to start at 5 months), but A just seemed *ready* so we started last week and boy oh boy did she love it. She couldn't get enough! She's also doing the army crawl. She can get up on all fours and rock herself back and forth but doesn't know how to *move* forward and gets really frustrated. So so cute.

We can now put her down for her nap and bedtime when she's drowsy and still awake. I honestly thought we would forever have to rock her in the glider or bounce her in the bouncer to get her to sleep.

As for schedule, ours is something like this:

7am - wakeup, 6oz bottle
8:30 - 1 tb rice cereal
9 - nap
11 - 6oz bottle
12:30 - nap
2/3 - 6oz bottle
4:30 - nap
6/6:30 - 6 oz bottle
7pm - sleep

A's favorite thing to do now is blow rasberries:

 

[Puppmom]

Grrrr...PS just ate my freaking post! Oh well, I'll just share a pic for today. My big boy - he was 10lbs12oz at his one month check!

 

[mtjoya]

Beautiful bebes soooooooooooooooo cute! I wanna reach thru the comp and give them a big kissy!

 

[meresal]

Cuties, cuties, cuties! Every single one!

Good to see you again Drk... hope all is well. Still loving that reddish hair she's got! She looks so much bigger too. Did she have a growth spurt recently?

 

[meresal]

ohh, and here is our cnotribution to BPF:

Playmats ROCK!

 

[taovandel]

Mere: Try oatmeal instead of Rice Cereal. Evan hated rice cereal but he loves his oatmeal.


Gah all the pictures are to die for!!!

PG: We are also having issues with sippy cups. He loves drinking from adult cups but like you said---not easy or something he's able to handle on his own. He will play around with the sippy cup and he knows how to hold it and what it is for but he just won't drink from it consistently.


As for us....we are getting braver with food finally. Bought little biscuits for him and we are giving him more and more table food. He's loving it and hasn't had any gagging issues at all!