PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[puffy]

allie, your little guy is too handsome for words!!

puppmom, B had the worse case of cradle cap ever!! everything i did to treat it did not work at all. it was on his head and forehead. he would scratch it like a mad man at night and it would just get irritated all over again. the pedi didn't even know what to tell me anymore. so she referred me to a dermatologist for him. and after a few visits with the derm, it was all under control. and yes, it was really bad to the point of almost his entire head oozing. i felt so bad for the little guy. i was so glad that N didn't end up with it. hope the pedi will find a solution that works. has the pedi told you to try t-gel or t-sal yet?

 

[Mara]

HH...I used to feel kind of the same way about J feeling more into G than me, Daddy was all fun and giggles and playtime, and Mom was just like the drag who made sure he was fed, clothed, dry, on sleep schedule, etc. But now that he's getting older, he definitely shows me more. When I come to pick him up at the nanny share, he squeals loudly, smiles and starts thump crawling like crazy towards me. It melts the heart every time. Hang in there...J is not super affectionate overall even though he is a really sunny personality, and for the longest time I felt kind of like he could take me or leave me. But now he's starting to show preference for me over other people sometimes which of course, I admit, I like.

Charlie is sooo cutie..!! Adorable.

re: STTN... I missed if someone asked when your baby did, but I will admit I was really anal about getting J on a sleep schedule early on. I read the books before he was born and brushed up on them after he came out. We started a bedtime routine from like week 2 even if the time varied, what we would do didn't vary by much. Over time the routine changed a little but it always became a new routine. I tried to get him on a nap schedule for the longest time, that was the thing he struggled with...it took about 4-5months for him to be consistent and he did it on his own time mostly. But the night sleep he took to wonderfully. He STTN 6 hours by about 4-6 weeks? And was doing 8 hours by about 8-10 weeks, and 12 hours at about 12-16 weeks. After about 5mo he solidified more and he sleeps 12 hours a night most nights, with some wakes if he's teething, sick etc.

I was having this convo with a mom friend today-- some kids just like sleeping. J is one of those kids who I think likes his night sleep. Naps he can take or leave even though he's an ok napper now. But you can have kids where you do all the right/by the book/scheduled things for sleep training and they still FIGHT IT tooth and nail and it's still super difficult. Anyhoo..if your kid is not STTN and you want them to, there are a few good sleep training books out there. HSHHC is a popular one. But some Moms are ok with their kids not STTN, so if that's the case and nothing feels like it needs to be changed, don't change anything.

 

[noelwr]

Skye went for a check-up and is growing well. she even wanted to show-off to the doctor that she can roll from her tummy onto her back. doc said she can tell Skye's having lots of tummy-time.

Mara - we definitely want to train Skye to STTN. what does "HSHHC" stand for? we do notice that when she feeds at night (10pm - 7am), her eyes are closed and she falls asleep with the bottle in her mouth and stays asleep. the more it gets light, the more her eyes open during feeding and she doesn't fall asleep right away or gets fussy. so I think we are on the right track!

meresal - why would some moms be against babies falling asleep on chests?

 

[meresal]

Noel- Some moms are against holding the baby too much and letting them get attached to the body. Thinking that the baby will get used to the warmth and "need" it to fall asleep. (same with rocking to sleep at night)

I don't know if that is true or not, but I will admit that since I am a SAHM I let C do things when he was ready, instead of trying to force him into a schedule (like when he began soothing himself to sleep). If I had gone back to work I would have tried harder and more avenues at getting him to STTN earlier. However, I can't predict what would have happened, because all babies are different.

C falls asleep on the bottle. Luckily, now, we can still put him down if he doesn't fall asleep while eating. I have noticed that if he is fussy after his bottle and burping, that sometimes it means he is still hungry. He started taking 8oz at bedtime, when he was still only doing apprx 4oz at each feeding during the day!

 

[somethingshiny]

Dreamer~ Thanks.

Charlie is gorgeous!

pupp~ Oh, I hope you figure out the right treatment for him. Poor little punkin.

Noel~ yay for tummy time! Lily still screams like she's having a limb pulled off when she's on her belly.


Lily has started flirting with Daddy. She tilts her head, tucks her chin and bats those lashes. He falls for it every time. He is so wrapped around her finger. It's unbelievably adorable.

 

[Puppmom]

N's appt this morning went well. We saw the nurse practitioner. I adore her! She sees DD all the time so I'm very comfortable with her and she's just so attentive and really takes her time. Anyway, she said N has eczema and, as a result, the oil glands in his head are overproducing oil. It's his body's way of moisturizing his scalp. She said she's seen much worse but could understand why we were concerned. She explained that the oozing is not puss - it's oil. She told us to buy a specific shampoo (called Nizoral) and gave us a regimen to follow as far as care for his scalp overall. We go for his 6 month check up in 3 weeks so they'll check it then but she said we should see a significant improvement within two weeks. She also told us to use a tiny bit of Neosporin if he breaks the skin scratching because it's susceptible to infection. I hope this works because my poor little man is clawing himself! He wakes up with gashes on his head. We can't put mitts on him because he's a thumb sucker. There's no way he could sleep without the thumb.

Oh, and he weighs 19lbs5oz! I was shocked because just 6 weeks ago he was 16lbs3oz. I knew he felt heavier but I didn't he was THAT much heavier.

 

[Mara]

HSHHC is Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child... it's a strict sleep training book that advocates CIO when the baby is ready (around 4mo).

No Cry Sleep Solution is another one I read, similar to HSHHC but super easy read (less scientific) and doesn't advocate CIO and is just generally a similar thing (routine routine routine) but without the CIO part--more like graduated extinction.

 

[Puppmom]

Puffy, my pedi said T-gel works for some kids but she prefers Nizoral. We used it tonight and hopefully it works. The shampoo made his head really *slippery* and was hard to rinse out. What treatment did the dermatologist end up with? I'm hoping this is the last stop for us but we'll see! I'll take some before and after pics to share.

Allie, don't people know not to mess with a pumping mom's milk!?!?! BTW, Charlie is so so handsome!

Mara, I'm glad to hear No Cry Sleep Solution is an easy read. Did you implement any of the techniques? I don't know how I'll feel in the future but, right now, I'm not down with CIO. I feel like if N's crying for an extended period of time, it's because he needs something. Plus, it makes me sad to hear him cry. I'm such a wimp!

Blushing, that harness sucked! DD's legs were so strong when she finally got it off though. Surprisingly, she hit all of her milestones early or on time despite being in it from the time she was born until she was exactly 4 months old. She was under the care of an orthopedist until she could walk and then that was it.

 

[Mara]

pupp... i liked both books, NCSS is basically the same idea as HSHHC but without the CIO. i read it in 3 days before birth. it's hard for me to remember what exactly they all said (how quickly we forget!) but i would recommend it if you aren't sure about CIO. it was a good read. both books were given to us thankfully!

 

[noelwr]

Skye: 5 weeks old

Skye slept 5.5 hrs last night. and I woke up at 4:30 again but didn't get out of bed to check on her and fell asleep quickly again. yay for small victories.

I went and got a flu shot today due to the chemo starting in a month's time and I don't want to be passing a flu to DD.

Mara - oops, we already practice a bit of CIO. maybe too early, but I heard they can already manipulate you at 6 weeks of age. I am immune to the crying, but DH is not. probably because he isn't at home to spend as much time with her. I look at the clock when she starts and DH will be like "I'm going to check on her because she's been crying for 20 minutes" and I'll say "Actually it's been four." haha, that cracks me up.

 

[noelwr]

and Skye's photos of today

 

[Mara]

oh my gosh, Skye is so cutie.

noel... i felt kind of the same way about CIO when J was younger like 6-8w. i sometimes would let him cry for 15-20min when i was trying to sleep train him for nap--thinking surely you'll get tired and fall asleep right? in hindsight, i don't feel like he learned anything and he certainly didn't sleep train for NAPS earlier, he chose his own schedule for that.

for night sleep training we were more successful than with naps and we didn't need to let him cry, we did more of the happy baby rocking to sleep for the first 6w or so then we started trying to get him drowsy and put him down, if that didn't work we'd go back and rock a little, etc. i really didn't want to create any negative feelings around sleep, esp his night sleep.

i think sometimes also certain personalities work better with CIO earlier, but if i had to do it again i'd prob not let him cry for naps. i don't think they can 'manipulate' you at 6w... i think it's more about creating a habit and a routine that you don't WANT to continue, aka i cry mom comes for me. that's just expectation. and some people feel like you can't create bad habits at that age but i think you kind of can.. habits are habits and babies learn them just like the rest of us. so for me i just tried to not create any habits that i wouldn't want to continue later...and we were successful on some and not on others, so it's give and take IMO! and i think everyone does what they think is best and the kid is going to be fine and figure it out for the most part along with the parents.

here's my little boy at 11.5mo. he's so active right now and seriously crazy and out of control with his push walker... it's so fun watching him squeal and be all crazy when he kind of realizes that he's motoring around on his own. we don't even hold him now, he will even pick up the walker and kind of move it when it hits a wall. hilarious.

 

[somethingshiny]

Lily is 6 months old today!


We're full in CIO and she's doing pretty well. She doesn't really cry too much, mostly just fussing. She figured out how to get the paci back in so that's a help. I need to download pics to my computer, maybe later...or tomorrow...I just want a nap right now.

 

[icekid]

I will post more soon, but wanted to get in a BPF photo. We got our newborn photos recently and they are so sweet But I will share a more recent one of little jumper smiling. He does not want pupp to think he is too serious

 

[Puppmom]

I concede - Jumper is a happy kiddo! I love the progression of the photos. Isn't rapid shoot on the camera the best?

 

[Lanie]

Love the pictures!!!

Mara -- J is such a cutie! He looks so sophistocated! Love his hair!

Noel -- I have such a special place in my heart for Skye. What a doll. She is precious!

Icekid -- Jumper is so cute! Love that you were able to catch the smile on camera! Haha!

Allie -- Charlie is such a beautiful baby! I love his eyes! That sucks about the daycare not charting that feeding. Hopefully it was a one time mistake. What do daycares do with bottles that they don't finish? Do they just throw the rest out? I hadn't thought of that until I read your post. I hope they keep the extra???

AFM, Anderson is eating a LOT. Like, a lot. So I called the pedi, asking if it was okay to feed him more since he still seemed hungry after 3.5 ounces every 3 hours, and she said to go ahead. He hasn't wanted more than 3.5 yet, but I have a feeling there will be some times where he will. And I was going crazy always holding him. He would seriously wail if I didn't hold him ALL DAY LONG, so it was getting to the point where I couldn't finish meals, I couldn't go to the bathroom, etc. So one of my friends told me to just let him cry during the day, assuming I'd changed him and he had been fed. It's hard bc I hear "you can't spoil a baby" all the time, so I would just go over and pick him up. But I guess I've got to let him learn to soothe himself somewhat, or otherwise he'll get used to me running to his beck and call. It was getting exhausting, but I was so tired and frustrated, I was willing to do anything to get him to go back to sleep or stop fussing. He doesn't cry a lot, just fusses.

And here is my BPF contribution. He looks so serious in the first one, (I'm thinking of you Icekid!) but he's starting to smile more. Not at me, obviously, but he always is smily after he has eaten, and he will smile when he's asleep. Second one is during a milk coma. ETA -- pics came out backwards, but you guys get the idea.

 

[Kunzite]

I don't even want to talk about sleep schedules! This kid is on the every two hour schedule still. It's really hard not to treat him like a 10 week old, but instead his adjusted age of 4 days.

This is the result of tummy time... more sleep! Haha.

 

[Mara]

Kunzite...are you always supposed to consider real age aka 4 days vs 10 weeks... forever? Or is it after first year that it evens out? Just because... he really is 10 weeks old from a bday perspective but I think 'development' is the real age right? So when is is technically supposed to even out? Just curious, I always wondered about that. Like if he walks at 11mo real age then it's really 13mo 1w from birth... so which do you use for like his baby book. Silly Q. He looks so cute and I love how big he is now!

Milk comas are the BEST... I remember them fondly... J stopped getting them after maybe 6/7w...then even if it was a deep sleep it just didn't have that same blobby drunk look to it, so enjoy them ladies!! And take lots of pics.

 

[puffy]

lanie, awwwww....so precious!!

kunzite, your little man is way too cute! i miss by boys being babies.

ok, back to lurking.... have a great weekend mamas!

 

[Kunzite]

Haha! I swear that's not the only outfit we have for O. I just realized I've posted like three pictures in that outfit.

Mara - We're supposed to use his adjusted age for milestones, sleep, feeding, etc until he's two. That seems a little extreme for me and I'm sure he'll reach some milestones on time. He's able to do a mini push-up already when he does tummy time because he's had 10 weeks to work on his muscles. So he's like a mix of the two. For things like starting solids we'll use his adjusted age because we want to make sure his body is at the proper development point. For his baby book we'll just use his actual age so it's not confusing. That picture of J is gorgeous, btw!! Look at that hair!!

 

[noelwr]

I am going to cheat. I got better pics today than yesterday so here are some more.

Kunzite - I love the little cars outfit. makes for great pics.

icekid & Lanie - I am jealous. Skye has only smiled twice now, but I don't think she understands what it means. hopefully it will pick up soon.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

So this morning I went into the nursery to get Aidan and found him face up with a big gummy grin on his face! Yep, he rolled over! Then later in the morning we were napping in my bed and he rolled over a few more times. When we did tummy time later in the day he wanted nothing to do with it though. So tonight I've got the projection on the crack machine turned on in case he rolls and wakes up.

 

[somethingshiny]

I missed BPF, but after a comment on fb about this pic, I had to add it here.

 

[turtledazzle]

Adorable pics everyone!
SS - I do see the resemblance, but Lily is MUCH cuter!

-----------------------------------------
DH usually does the bedtime routine, but he is out of town on business so I've been on my own for a couple of nights. Last night went well. Tonight he fought it a little bit, but finally fell asleep after I gave him the pacifier and rocked him. I accidentally ended up waking him on transfer to the crib and just left him there to see what would happen. He just kind of talked to himself and then sucked on his hand for a bit (I'm watching him in the monitor), and now seems to be drifting off into sleep on his own. Fingers crossed!!!

He'll be five months old tomorrow. The time seems to have simultaneously passed by so quickly and so slowly ... still seems surreal at times. I'm thinking about trying rice cereal in a couple of weeks. I had originally intended to wait until six months, and still may, but he is showing interest in things we're eating and drinking and can sit up pretty well (he'll still flop over after about 30 seconds if we don't catch him, but he's definitely building those muscles). I'm kind of looking forward to it and kind of not -- I know feeding solids will be fun in many ways, but breastfeeding has become just so darn easy. I know I'll miss the days when I didn't have to think about what to feed him!

ETA: for the rice cereal (and later, oatmeal), when we're at home I'll probably mix it with expressed BM. However, I have read and my friends have told me that the enzymes in the BM break down the rice cereal pretty quickly (15-20 min). So, when I send cereal to daycare I am guessing I will have to mix it with water instead (we have to send food pre-made so they won't mix it there). Do I need to buy bottled water for this purpose, or is filtered tap water OK? We drink filtered tap water at home.
<sigh> I know I'm going to have a ton of questions about solids.

 

[Mara]

turtle... we really never did pre-mixing because it seemed like whatever i'd read said once you mixed for rice cereal or oatmeal that you shouldn't keep it past about an hour. i don't know why but i just followed whatever it said. they really won't even add like liquid to powdered rice cereal? what a drag. but yeah i guess i would use water or you could decide to use formula for mixing if you wanted extra nutrition in there. at that age i'd prob use bottled but that's just me. until i felt like i understood more about what his thresholds were i just felt more comfortable being cautious.

ss... lily totally looks like a cabbage patch but i agree, way cuter!

kunzite... got it... ! two seems so far away! i imagine by age 1 he'd be pretty caught up, but maybe they give the 2 # just to pad it a little. he looks like a smartie to me though.

not much here to report other than we put up J's crib net and finished doing some little baby proofing things tonite. he loves our uverse receiver buttons so we put a clear guard over them, and child locked the TV power button. the look on his face when he realized hitting the button doesn't do anything anymore, priceless! and he seems fine with the crib net so far, knock on wood.

 

[noelwr]

how do you entertain a 5 week old? sometimes during the day she lies in her cot wide awake and quiet, so I put on the mobile. by the way, I have to hang this off the side of the crib because she turns her head left and right, but never looks straight up unless she's in someone's arms and their face is right above hers. but then after 4th time of winding up the mobile, she starts crying. I think she finds it fascinating until then, but perhaps it becomes over stimulation.

HH - great news about A rolling over!

somethingshiny - the resemblance is uncanny! I also agree that Lily is cuter, though.

 

[icekid]

Finally a little time to post! I am always reading, though

noel- We do lots of things to play and interact with Jumper. We read books, look at black and white pictures, sing songs, listen to baby Mozart (he loves!), look at him in the mirror (he also loves ), play on the gymini mat. She will get more and more involved soon. I think Jumper started social smiling around 4 weeks, though not super often at first. but now he does it all of the time Melts my heart!! Your sweet girl will smile more soon too!

Mara- I still cannot get over what a little boy J looks like! He is so handsome.

ss- Haha! Lily definitely is a real life cabbage patch doll, but with way way better eye lashes She is adorable!

HH- YAY for Aidan and his stellar rolling skills. He is so talented (hehe, that is what I tell Thumper...... er Jumper when he learns new skills.)

Kunzite- O is a doll!

Lanie- We really do not let Jumper cry either, as I don't really think it is possible to spoil such little ones. And he gets so worked up if left to cry that it pains me! I do let him fuss a bit because he often goes right back to sleep, but out and out cry means he is upset and he will not calm down on his own then. Love the milk coma pic... so sweet!

pupp- He is a happy little guy (usually!) Poor N with his itchy head. I hope it clears up quickly! Wow, 19 lbs! Big boy!

Allie- Charlie is a gorgeous little boy!

Hmm, we really are not on any sort of sleep schedule yet (6.5 weeks). It just seems too soon. We do generally get him down for the night around 9-10, and after that he wakes to eat and goes back to sleep every 3-4 hours. This takes about 45 min these days between eating, diaper change, and burping. During the day we pretty much just roll with when he seems sleepy. Usually he likes to be awake for a longer stretch around 10 am and 6 pm, but not always. And he pretty much always goes off to sleep eating. It is not really a habit that I love since work is looming, but it also is somewhat out of my control!

 

[somethingshiny]

Noel~ as far as entertaining, there's not much to do yet. Staring at faces will be her favorite thing to do. Make sounds and change your facial expressions and she'll be very happy. Give her a different view of the room and she'll be enthralled. My kids liked "the bee" really early. I act like my fingers are a bee and coming to buzz them, on the belly, nose, etc. Mine also liked listening to music. I'd put lots of different kinds on and do different dances for them or just sit quietly. As soon as she starts smiling you'll know more about what she likes. Until then, do what makes you happy to be with her, she'll feel your joy.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

My late contribution to BPF...Aidan testing out his jolly jumper and having a stand off with the cat.

 

[Skippy123]

Oh my goodness, I can't help but pop in and say how Incredibly Adorable these babies are and how PS has the Best looking babies!!! Oh I LOVE all these pictures, adorable!!! You mommas must be so proud; I know I would be!!!