PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[CatLuver]

HH - before C was born you answered my question about swaddles and now I have another question about your half swaddle. After you tuck under both arms, what do you do with the excess? Do you wrap it around A's body and tuck it in, or leave it flapping? I like the idea of the half swaddle and I did it today, but after wrapping the excess around C, there is so much fabric around him.

When C was smaller, we could do the HBOTB type swaddle using the A&A folded into a triangle - but now that he's bigger and won't fit into the triangle, I'm not able to secure his arms with just folding the top corner of the blanket down. His arms always come out. The half swaddle works but then I have to use another A&A to wrap his legs and that takes longer. The MB works well but it is so thick and hot! When I take it off of him, his body is all hot, even though his head is normal temp.

Thanks!

 

[noelwr]

I went to the clinic yesterday, and Skye has gained 400g and 1.5cm in 2 weeks.
she is into rubbing her hands across her face and head when tired, so now I have to put mittens on her when she naps or she keeps scratching her face open. she is still swaddled at night for sleeping.

meresal - is C tall for his age? maybe it's just the photos, but it looks like he's got long legs!

Lynnie - love the pics of V with the "lucky" hat. he's got such red lips! hope PS doesn't eat up your post next time as would love to hear how you're doing.

turtledazzle - how old is T? usually Skye smiles at everyone who talks to her, but yesterday she started crying at the nurse at the clinic. maybe she's becoming attached to Mommy and starting to get stranger anxiety.

Catluver - thanks for telling me about your sis. I think I'm lucky in the sense that S doesn't know what's going on. I can't imagine her asking me stuff like "Why is Mommy sick?" that would be heartbreaking.

Laila - Luke is so cute. S's favorite stuffed animal is also a giraffe whom we named 'Raffi (giraffi). sometimes we put it on her and she ends up licking his face to death and getting wet. poor giraffe just isn't into French kissing. by the way, how is that little seat working out? I just ordered one for S. you must have really toned arms if you carry Luke all day. I try to carry S as little as possible and never hold her in my arms to fall asleep. I do this because at daycare no one will have time to do that just for her. regarding sleeping on a flat mattress... Skye has a well-shaped head, but a big old bald spot where her head is against the matress.

geri & bliss - isn't it funny that we (including Houie and LV) all ended up having girls? I wonder if they all have dark hair, too.

bliss - talking about hair, look at M! she's going to be as beautiful as her mama. by the way, is M part Asian? the tongue game is fun, but I stopped doing it once S started cooing. I don't want her to think that people communicate by sticking out their tongues at each other. I could just imagine what they would say at daycare!

shiny - I can just picture Lily giving a good belly laugh. she must be adorable.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

HH - before C was born you answered my question about swaddles and now I have another question about your half swaddle. After you tuck under both arms, what do you do with the excess? Do you wrap it around A's body and tuck it in, or leave it flapping? I like the idea of the half swaddle and I did it today, but after wrapping the excess around C, there is so much fabric around him.

When C was smaller, we could do the HBOTB type swaddle using the A&A folded into a triangle - but now that he's bigger and won't fit into the triangle, I'm not able to secure his arms with just folding the top corner of the blanket down. His arms always come out. The half swaddle works but then I have to use another A&A to wrap his legs and that takes longer. The MB works well but it is so thick and hot! When I take it off of him, his body is all hot, even though his head is normal temp.

Thanks!

CL, what we did was use a smaller swaddling blanket-like the size the hospital uses. You want it to be about 24-26" long. Fold it so it's 6" wide and 24" long (so quarter the hospital receiving blanket) and lay baby in the middle of it. Then take one "strip" and bring it over one arm and tuck it so it lays flat behind baby's back, ensuring that the arm is secure at LO's side. Do the same on the other side. If LO is on his back the weight of his body will keep the swaddle in place. If you're really concerned about it staying put you can wrap another blanket around the top of that to secure the "package"

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Hey Noel, I have to ask. Why the fixation with what daycare thinks, does or doesn't do?

IMO daycare and home are two different places and babies will acclimate their needs/wants based on the specifics of each. Just because d/c can't hold S all the time doesn't mean she doesn't NEED (as in physiologically AND psychologically need) you to hold her and snuggle her often at home. This makes me so sad She will learn that snuggles are for home and daycare requires other things of her.

Also, I don't know any child who has grown up thinking that humans communicate by sticking out their tongues. It's a game. She gets that, even at this young age. Yes you should be verbalizing with her and exposing her to verbal communication, but interacting and connecting on the level of the tongue game is important because it teaches her to read your face and mimic what you're doing. The act of mimicking is one of the ways our LOs learn to speak. So I guess what I'm saying is the tongue game and other "mirror" games (where you make a face and she mimics it) are important for verbal and social development. So yes, they DO learn to speak by playing the tongue game in a round about sort of fashion.

 

[Laila619]

Loves Vintage!! I meant to tell you your Samantha is just stunning! She has perfect little rosebud lips and a lovey complexion and hair color. She's just darling! Congrats again!

Noel, haha! We named Luke's giraffe Raffi too! Skye is growing like a champ, yay! Did you get Skye a Bumbo type seat? Luke really loves his. It also really helps when you're trying to get stuff done around the house.

Geri, little Claudia is so sweet! I forgot to comment on her pic. She has lovely eyes and a beautiful face!

Lanie! Hi! You asked if Luke is starting to roll...not yet. He doesn't even look close to doing so yet. I really need to give him more tummy time but he hates it! Has A rolled over yet?

 

[Lanie]

Laila -- yes! I saw him roll for the first time on Monday, but I always heard when they do it, they scare themselves. I put him on his tummy and he rolled in about 10 seconds. I was SHOCKED. He looked unshocked and like he'd been doing it for a long time. The next day at daycare, I asked if they do tummy time, and they said yes, and that he rolls all of the time. Made me happy, but at the same time sad bc it apparently happened for the first time there. Oh well. Such are the pitfalls of having someone else take care of your baby. I swear though, the night before, I thought it would never happen bc it's like rolling a brick. His shoulders get in the way, but somehow he mangaged. Do you work? From your posts, it doesn't sound like you are or that you aren't back to work yet. LUCKY if you are at home still!

HH and noel -- re: picking up your child a lot. I wonder if this is one of those points that everyone can agree to disagree. I find myself jumping the second my baby cries to pick him up, but many of my friends tell me to let him cry if he's been fed, changed, etc and he's just crying. So now whenever I put him down, he starts whimpering, therefore I would be holding him all the time. But others tell me to comfort him, like what you were saying HH. I still don't know what camp I'm in, but I can see where noel is coming from. If you pick up your baby all of the time, does it "spoil" them? And then does that lead them to be needy later in life? I don't know the answer. This isn't directed to you, by the way, HH. Just hypothetical. I'm battling with these questions right now.

 

[Mara]

re: holding all the time... IMO I think it is one of those things like sleep training/CIO/co-sleeping or whatever where people just do what's right for them. I didn't want J to be dependent on our arms for sleep so we didn't rock him to sleep much after the first 2-3mo, nor did I do any babywearing or holding/carrying him for hours of the day. Do I think that makes a spoiled child or one that can't exist apart from the parents? Not really.. I don't think that one isolated thing is going to determine something so large. But I do think that if I'm always jumping all the time to cater to my son's every need every immediate second, then he will think everyone does that and learn to expect it. As a BABY it's different, of course babies need you to care for them, but they also won't perish or need years of therapy if you wait a few minutes to pick them up. Overall I try not to rush/stress to do anything for him if he's whining or crying, and if I am doing something I"ll finish it first before tending to him. I also like that at nanny share he knows there is another kid that also needs attention so he doesn't think it's all about him.

Also I think there is something to what you say Noel re: not holding her too much because at daycare they can't function the same way you might at home. I don't imagine you aren't giving her ANY affection just because you don't try to hold her too much. We did the same thing with trying not to over-hold him and we still gave our kid a lot of hugs, snuggles, holds, carries, whatever...now I am mostly following HIM around trying to get him to snuggle with us. He also was never a super snuggly kid nor did he cry specifically when he wasn't on our bodies or in our arms, so maybe that's just his nature.

 

[Laila619]

Lanie, YAY for A rolling over!! You must be so proud. What a big boy. Oh, and no, I'm not working outside the home, at least for now.

Regarding holding babies, I don't think it's possible to spoil a little baby. If my baby cries, I hold him, cuddle him, etc. He's not going to be a baby forever! There is plenty of time for him to think he's too cool for his mom, and to push me away when he's older. I say enjoy it while it lasts. Babies really do thrive on touch and on being held IMO. After all, they were held and cuddled on their mom for nine months! It's scary for them to now experience cold, hunger, bright lights, open spaces, etc. So I really don't mind holding Luke as much as I can when I think of it from that perspective. Just another opinion though...

 

[CatLuver]

Thanks HH. What is the purpose of the half swaddle? Do you use it for sleeping and leave A’s legs free?

LV – 5 hours of sleep is awesome! Good for Samantha! I can’t wait to see C smile – I don’t think he’s done a real one yet.

Re: holding babies – for what it’s worth, my pediatrician friend says that the less you let babies cry during the first 6 mo., the less they will cry during the second 6 mo. because they will not cry as much for attention. Obviously there are other factors too.

Continued adventures in sleep…

So the night before last, C was very cranky because he only got one nap that day – so all night he was super fussy and I had to let him sleep in the bed with me. You know how babies have their normal “I’m hungry, feed me…feed me NOW” cry, and then they have the “I’m sooo angry and annoyed!!! Wahhh!!!” cry? Normally when C wakes at night, it’s the first cry, but this time it was the second cry, every single time. Fortunately after he got a good night’s and a morning’s sleep, he seemed better.

Last night…after his first sleep when he woke up around 8:30, DH and I decided to give him a bath – bad idea. He loved the bath but afterward was wide awake and DH wanted to play with him a bit – even worse idea. After that, even after feeding him, C was wide awake and would not go to sleep. He would drift off a couple times, then wake up and cry more to be fed, so I would feed him and burp him…repeat about 5 times. He was doing the crying while eating thing, and it was already over 2 hours since he woke, so I was sweating. When I was about to feed him again, he suddenly projectile vomited directly up, over and down into my camisole, right between the boobies, at least 2 ounces. There was a huge puddle of milk just sitting on the shelf of my cami!!! Then he immediately closed his eyes and became very still. I was worried about him but he was breathing fine, so after awhile I put him down. Then…he woke up again, crying for food. He must have emptied it all out, all of the hour+ worth of feeding. So I fed him some formula and he slept for 3 hours (my boobs were pretty empty by then too). He had been up for 4 hours by the time he finally went to sleep. I think the reason he vomited was a combo of all of the burping/jostling, and because his swaddle was wrapped too tight around his belly since I was trying to use a new swaddling technique. Oops! He’s fine thankfully. Don’t worry, I plan on making it very clear to DH that there is NO playing once C goes down for the night! And no more baths then either.

 

[Puppmom]

re: holding etc. N is pretty needy and loves to be held. I don't jump every time he makes a peep (but Grandma does ) but I do, for the most part, pick him up when I can tell that's what he wants. He really looks to us for security and sometimes doesn't even want to be held facing out. He'll wiggle himself around to face us if he's really unsure of a situation or particularly fussy for some reason. FWIW, I don't think us holding him often made him needy. DD was held all the time as a baby. We lived with my parents and brother so there was ALWAYS someone to jump when she needed something and she was always very independent and laid back. N - not so much!

I definitely understand where Noel is coming from. If N were going to day care, I would want to make the transition as easy as possible so I would probably try to make some of our at home routine similar i.e. putting him down drowsy instead of rocking him to sleep all the time.

It's funny this all came up today because we were really off schedule this morning so I had to do a lot on my own. I was ironing clothes while N was in his bouncy and he was fussing and grunting to be picked up. I had a conversation with him about *sucking it up*. I kept saying "Do you know what suck it up means?" in a high pitch voice and he was just staring at me with a blank look on his face.

 

[geri]

Lanie - Thanks for the support. There is so much conflicting advice about everything to do with babies but you would hope that at least the medical advice would be consistent! Congrats on A rolling!

Catluver- Claudia does have blue eyes. Both DH and I have blue eyes but the shape and colour is definitely more like DH's than mine. Good luck with the sleep issues and with keeping DH in check! I am still trying to get DH to understand that there is no playing between 7pm and 7am! The other night he came home just after I had finally gotten her to sleep for the evening and wanted to take her out of her cot and put her in the pram and take her for a walk to the beach. As much as i would have liked to, there was no way I was letting that happen and DH thinks I am such a party pooper!

Bliss - M is divine! So glad things have improved for you. 8 weeks for us today and hoping we have a turning point too!

LV - Thanks for the compliment about Claudia. She doesn't seem to be losing her hair so it may stay that way. Hopefully she'll grow a little more on the bald patch on the front though!

Noel - It's amazing how fast they grow isn't it! Claudia grew about 5 cms in less than 6 weeks and she still seems to be outgrowing clothes on a daily basis. No wonder she is such a hungry hippo all the time!

Laila - I am so jealous of Luke STTN. The longest stretch we have had is about 5 hours and that has been a rarity.

Puppmom- Very funny on telling him to suck it up. I have had a few similar conversations with Claudia about patience but sadly they seem to have failed!

And for BPF, here is Claudia at just under 8 weeks. Sleeping peacefully during the day is such a rarity that I had to capture it!

 

[noelwr]

hi HH, I appreciate you being concerned for Skye's sake. just because I don't pick up her as much as some mommies, doesn't mean she doesn't get enough affection. I spend a lot of time chatting, kissing and playing with her while she is in her seat or playpen or jungle gym. during her fussiest moment, which is between 8 and 10pm, she does snuggle with either me or DH. I don't care what the daycare *thinks*, but I am aware that my child is one in like 10 in a group and they're not going to pick her up every time she cries. and even more important to me, I want her to be able to fall asleep on her own and not need to be dependent on us for it. so far she has no problem falling asleep on her own after her last bottle and then again after her first. and if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she falls back asleep after a minute and I don't have to get out of bed. it's just during the day that she needs her pacifier to soothe her to sleep. overall, she is a very content little girl, STTN, drinks well, smiles a lot, is very "chatty" and cries only when she is hungry or tired. so I think we're doing something right.

Laila - yes, I ordered the Bumbo seat. I was reading bad reviews about it because of kids being hurt, but then it turned out that was because parents were putting them on tables and they would tumble down to the floor.

Catluver & geri - I'm guessing like me, you are still at home during the day with the baby? I think it's because our DH's are not that they want to come home and play after missing their LOs all day. anyway, we've got Skye sleeping on a 10 to 10 schedule, (she wakes up somewhere btw 6-7am for a bottle and then goes back to sleep 15 min later), and that allows DH to play with her when he comes home, bathe her, feed her the last bottle, snuggle, etc. but of course it all depends what schedule works best. again with daycare, we're going to have to start putting her to bed earlier as she will have to leave the house after her first bottle.

 

[noelwr]

question for the mommies: at what age did your baby stop needing to be burped? S doesn't burp anymore after her bottle. she kind of does it on her own during the day when we are picking her up, sitting her on our laps, etc.

by the way, I was wearing a wig yesterday as my hair is scheduled to fall out some time next week, and I wanted to see how S would take to it. it didn't seem to affect her at all and she continued smiling and acting as per normal.

and here some pics. as you can see, she is too adorable for me NOT to give her affection.

 

[Puppmom]

Geri and Noel, the girls are DOLLS! Love it!

Noel, how does the wig look? A gal at work was wearing a wig and I had no idea. In fact, I thought she got her hair cut and colored and it looked awesome!

I was thinking about how I said N was needy and realized that it’s just recently that he’s pretty clingy. He was a super easy newborn and life didn’t get complicated until he had an opinion. Anywho, maybe it’s just a stage – he definitely has a touch of separation anxiety.

ETA: re: burping. N stopped needing to be burped after the bottle at about 4-5 months. That's just when we noticed though, we may have been able to stop sooner.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Thanks HH. What is the purpose of the half swaddle? Do you use it for sleeping and leave A’s legs free?

LV – 5 hours of sleep is awesome! Good for Samantha! I can’t wait to see C smile – I don’t think he’s done a real one yet.

Re: holding babies – for what it’s worth, my pediatrician friend says that the less you let babies cry during the first 6 mo., the less they will cry during the second 6 mo. because they will not cry as much for attention. Obviously there are other factors too.

Continued adventures in sleep…

So the night before last, C was very cranky because he only got one nap that day – so all night he was super fussy and I had to let him sleep in the bed with me. You know how babies have their normal “I’m hungry, feed me…feed me NOW” cry, and then they have the “I’m sooo angry and annoyed!!! Wahhh!!!” cry? Normally when C wakes at night, it’s the first cry, but this time it was the second cry, every single time. Fortunately after he got a good night’s and a morning’s sleep, he seemed better.

Last night…after his first sleep when he woke up around 8:30, DH and I decided to give him a bath – bad idea. He loved the bath but afterward was wide awake and DH wanted to play with him a bit – even worse idea. After that, even after feeding him, C was wide awake and would not go to sleep. He would drift off a couple times, then wake up and cry more to be fed, so I would feed him and burp him…repeat about 5 times. He was doing the crying while eating thing, and it was already over 2 hours since he woke, so I was sweating. When I was about to feed him again, he suddenly projectile vomited directly up, over and down into my camisole, right between the boobies, at least 2 ounces. There was a huge puddle of milk just sitting on the shelf of my cami!!! Then he immediately closed his eyes and became very still. I was worried about him but he was breathing fine, so after awhile I put him down. Then…he woke up again, crying for food. He must have emptied it all out, all of the hour+ worth of feeding. So I fed him some formula and he slept for 3 hours (my boobs were pretty empty by then too). He had been up for 4 hours by the time he finally went to sleep. I think the reason he vomited was a combo of all of the burping/jostling, and because his swaddle was wrapped too tight around his belly since I was trying to use a new swaddling technique. Oops! He’s fine thankfully. Don’t worry, I plan on making it very clear to DH that there is NO playing once C goes down for the night! And no more baths then either.

CL Very early on we conditioned Aidan to recognize swaddle means time to go to sleep. So for a long time he needed it to settle down for naps and bedtime. One of the nice things about that particular swaddle is it's easy to remove when LO is asleep. Aidan was a tummy sleeper, so he'd need to swaddle to fall asleep in our arms or in his bouncy seat, but then we'd have to remove it when we put him on his stomach in the crib. The full body contact of being on his stomach made the moro reflex pretty much not an issue and we weren't comfortable leaving him swaddled when on his stomach. He also didn't care to have his legs bound and would constantly kick at the covering when he was in a full swaddle. So that's why we chose to do the arm swaddle.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Geri - She's such a little doll!

Noel - Love Skye's smile! She's looks like a very sweet little girl in her teapot outfit. Too cute!

******

Question for the moms who use daycare: What is your morning routine like? We currently do not have a routine, but it seems we will need one for the a.m. How long does it take you to get out the door? Do you feed just before you leave?

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Noel, I hope you realize that I was not trying to start trouble with you or say you didn't love Skye. I know you adore her. I was just curious about the d/c thing because I had seen it mentioned more than once. FWIW Aidan has always been a very independent guy, even with me holding him about 12 hours a day during months 1-3. And he had NO trouble transitioning to daycare where he's with 6 other babies and toddlers with one caregiver. As he's gotten older and his personality has developed, he's become much more independent. He likes his snuggles but he doesn't like to be smothered. Like at bedtime for example. In our house there is no rocking to sleep, he squirms until we put him in his crib and then he's asleep about 30 seconds later. But to be honest, I really didn't 'get' your comment about the tongue game and I stand by my earlier statements regarding that.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

LV-DH gets Aidan ready for daycare every morning while I catch a few more z's. He also takes him to d/c. I believe his routine is get up, get as much of his routine done before A wakes up (such as walking the dog and feeding the pets), then he gets Aidan up and lets Aidan play in his exersaucer while he gets ready in the bathroom - A's room is connected to the bathroom so A watches him shave, etc. Then after TJ's dressed he gets Aidan dressed and then they go downstairs where Aidan has a bottle and TJ gets their bags together and off they go! It takes about 40 minutes.

 

[Puppmom]

LV-DH gets Aidan ready for daycare every morning while I catch a few more z's. He also takes him to d/c. I believe his routine is get up, get as much of his routine done before A wakes up (such as walking the dog and feeding the pets), then he gets Aidan up and lets Aidan play in his exersaucer while he gets ready in the bathroom - A's room is connected to the bathroom so A watches him shave, etc. Then after TJ's dressed he gets Aidan dressed and then they go downstairs where Aidan has a bottle and TJ gets their bags together and off they go! It takes about 40 minutes.

You lucky duck! It takes my DH 40 minutes to take a shower!

 

[noelwr]

HH - I know you're not trying to start trouble as we all have more important things to do. I do worry about S starting daycare and don't want her crying there all day just because she didn't get attention. I hope she goes there and can have lots of smiles but also entertain herself a bit, like she does at home. in the long run, I am sure it'll be fine once she gets used to the new routine. like LV, we'll have to adjust our morning routine. regarding the tongue game, of course I know she won't think this is the way people communicate. I used daycare as the example as that's the first place she's really going to start interacting with people outside the home. I just get more reaction out of her now by talking than sticking out my tongue. and of course there are a million other funny faces I pull. it's not like she's looking at a robot.

puppmom - DH came home yesterday and thought I had gotten a haircut. I was like Seriously??? when did I ever have so much hair? it's not one of those expensive wigs with real hair, so I think when I am standing in the sun and you can see by how incredibly shiny it is, that it's fake, IMO. maybe I'll take a photo with S some time to post.

 

[Kunzite]

Wow, this thread is moving way too fast for me! So happy to see more of the new mamas in here!! I wish I had time to catch up with everyone.

I think we turned a corner this last week. O started sleeping 7 hours straight at night! I still can't believe it. He'll wake up and fuss a few times during that period but he can usually put himself back to sleep now. One thing he does is turn circles in his crib. He'll helicopter himself right into the side of the crib and wake himself up! That stinks but I don't know what we can do about it, short of using velcro to keep him in place. I think if he stayed still while he slept he would actually sleep longer. DH is also starting to have some luck getting him to sleep for one nap during the day in his crib. Hopefully with a lot of effort we'll have him sleeping in there for all of his naps (I can dream, right?).

I've been on my lactose/milk protein/soy free diet now for four weeks so we had O's reducing substance tested again and it didn't change at all. It was exactly the same as it was before I went on this crazy diet. That was really hard to hear. At first our pedi sort of freaked out and told us that he was going to refer O to a gastroenterologist at Children's and his nurse basically accused me of not sticking to my diet. Lovely. Then the pedi called and talked to the specialist at Children's and he said that as long as O is happy and not showing any signs of discomfort that we shouldn't do any more testing. He said that I can slowly start adding lactose back into my diet in two months and then watch to see how O handles it. DH and I talked it over and think that the two months was probably just an arbitrary number that the pedi threw out so I'm going to still avoid obvious dairy (milk, cheese, my morning mocha ) but I won't be as crazy about looking in the less obvious places (McDonald's french fries anyone? Yep, they have milk in them!). So I think that's going to help my sanity a little. I don't think I could have stuck to that diet much longer.

O's cousin was out visiting last week and they had a blast together. She's 8 so I thought she wouldn't be interested in him at all, boy was I wrong! She would just sit and talk to him and read him books. You could tell that he just adored her. All she had to do was walk in his line of sight and he would start smiling and giggling. Melted my heart to see them together.

 

[Lanie]

What cute pics Kunzite! Congrats on the longer sleeping!!! We still aren't there yet consistently.

LV -- I typed up this huge response, but PS ate it. I get up, pump while I'm putting on my makeup, then I get A up and feed him. While I'm doing that, DH gets his bottles ready for the day. We have to keep him elevated for reflux, so DH takes him while I'm finishing getting dressed, and we're all out the door in about an hour. I think the key (at least in our case) is to both get up so someone is taking the baby while the other is getting dressed, then switch. It's really stressful bc it doesn't always go according to plan, i.e. A decides to wake up an hour before, and then I'm stuck just staying awake for the rest of the morning. When do you go back to work? I thought you were getting a nanny???

 

[noelwr]

(obviously Skye is sleeping which is why I can manage multiple posts in such a short time)

Kunzite - yay for being able to start getting back to a normal diet! McD's french fries...yummmmm.... had no idea they had milk! that is a gorgeous photo of the 2 cousins! I love that they are holding hands and that those hands are in focus. perfect.

 

[somethingshiny]

Yay for all the cuties! I'm getting that uterine ache again. My friend had her little guy a week ago and I've been loving on him and remembering the newborn bliss. Looking at all these little ones just makes it worse!! I'm supposed to be getting on the Mirena IUD very soon and am reconsidering....

RE: holding issue. JT needed lots of holding most of his first year. I did put him down to get stuff done, but he was basically attached to my hip. Lily wanted to be held for the first 3-4 months. Now, if she's on someone's lap too long, she'll start scooching off to get on the floor. Babies let you know what they need. Babies are also very adaptable. My friend's little guy has to be on the billi lights and can't be held very much right now. He got used to it quickly, although I want to scoop him up and snuggle him all the time.

Had quite a scare with my sis yesterday. She's 22 weeks and called me up to tell me that she had a weird "discharge." She said it was very watery and clear. Told her to call ob asap. They had her come in and monitored her for a couple hours. I was sure her water was leaking but thank God it's not. She was able to go home last night. Scared me stupid. I couldn't even manage to make dinner.


Noel~ Oh, honey. My heart went out to you when I read about the wig. I'm glad S didn't have a problem with it. And I'm so glad that you're able to get a good treatment, but it just breaks my heart. Lots and lots of hugs and prayers for you. I can't imagine being in your shoes. We're debating holding, sttn, swaddling, and you're dealing with such a serious illness and still managing to be a great mommy.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Re: babywearing/picking up the baby.

I never did either very much with Micah. First I was sick, then he was never one of those "sleepy" floppy babies - he was always awake and alert and wanted to look around. We spent a lot of time on the couch when he was tiny because it was a good spot for both of us. Micah has never been super coddled or super ignored - he's middle of the road. Nowadays, he only demands to be picked up when he's tired or not feeling well, so clearly he's independent and we did something right.

However...I have never hesitated to come when he cries. Mama always answers him, she never ignores him thinking it's "for his own good", even if that is the case. The only time we tried CIO was when it was 10pm and the baby simply refused to close his eyes if I was in the room. I felt so bad the whole time, and even though we tried it again a couple other times, I always caved. I have no problem with the fact that CIO works for some people and in fact, I think it's great. For me, personally, it didn't work. And that's ok too.

I think my only problem with the hands off approach to parenting is when it gets to be a bit excessive. CIO (at night, in particular - not talking about naps right here) at anywhere under 6 months is just ridiculous - they have no concept of what's happening, they only know that mommy isn't coming and it hurts. I see no reason to put any baby through that just so mom can sleep. You signed on for sleepless nights by having a baby, didn't you? Fear of creating bad habits in a baby under a year is also pretty silly. I look at it like this - if this was my only baby, and I was so petrified of creating bad habits that I never carried/snuggled my baby, would I regret it when he was too big to do it with later? Yes, I would. Your baby is only that small ONCE. I see no reason to throw that away just because I'm worried about situations that will come up inevitably even if I DIDN'T ever pick him up. Babies cry, even if they don't "expect" to be coddled. If a daycare doesn't get that, then they don't get my business.

I feel like I'm all over the place here, I'm typing kind of fast between work. This is not a post meant to poke at anybody, and I hope it doesn't come off as such. I was just jumping into the conversation.

 

[Skippy123]

oh my GOSH!!!! All these Babies are crazy ADORABLE!!!! Awww, you seriously have the MOST BEAUTIFUL babies PS moms!!!!

 

[Puppmom]

MP, I demand you tell us how Micah is doing. Oh, and share a first birthday pic...only two weeks away from the big day!

 

[noelwr]

shiny - thanks for your kind words, but please treat me as you would any other mommy on this thread. that's why I appreciate HH voicing her opinion. unfortunately I can't completely separate the cancer from motherhood, but I try when possible.

it seems like we always return to the spoil/CIO/holding-too-much conversation. guess we just have to agree to disagree, but I do respect everyone's parenting views and what works best in their family. every mother and baby is different.

here I am with my new hair and Skye. (better than I look with my real hair!) Skye is into sucking her hand, lately.

 

[Mara]

noel you look so young..!! your new hair definitely gives you a different look. i just adore skye's photos--she always seems like such a HAPPY baby.

geri your little doll is so beautiful.

and those pics kunzite are adorable..!! we had some friends come to visit recently with their 7 and 10 year old and the kids LOVED J... they just wanted to play with him, carry him around, push his stroller when we went for a walk. i then decided i would have a 2nd kid only if i could pop it out age 7. LOL!! the older kids were fun to have around.

 

[MonkeyPie]

MP, I demand you tell us how Micah is doing. Oh, and share a first birthday pic...only two weeks away from the big day!

Well if you insist

I cannot believe he's going to be one...I want to both laugh and cry. I don't have a baby, I have a toddler. A walking, crazy toddler. Did I mention he's walking? Oh yeah - EVERYWHERE. He climbs steps without crawling, too. Sigh. He's so stinking cute.

This is one of my most recent shots of him, in his big boy clothes. I love dressing him in stuff like this, he looks so tall and grown up.

I'll be back with birthday photos for sure! His cake is going to be from In The Night Garden, his favorite.