PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[lliang_chi]

Also wanted to ask, anyone weaning the swaddle???? How do you do it? Ethan's having SUCH a hard time falling and staying asleep without it. J did 1 arm out at 1AM this morning just so Ethan can fall back asleep. I did both arms and legs out when I fed him @ 5AM this morning.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

LC, I know Pancake was transitioning Sylvie out of her swaddle somewhat recently. The moms in my mom group used various methods--one started with one arm out, which I think is the textbook method for transitioning. One used a magic sleep suit, which is heavy and goes over the baby's arms and legs. One used a woombie with arm holes. They all said the transition was tough, so it seems like no matter how you go about it, there is some sleep regression. I was lucky that K always hated her swaddle. One day I just stopped trying and she was happy as a clam.

Hopefully Pancake will have some good advice!

K LOVED the pool--she was skeptical for a few minutes, but then started smiling and laughing. The water was pretty warm (indoor heated pool), so that helped. A couple of times I put her on her belly (with her head out of the water) and she really kicked like a frog! I can't wait for her to start swimming lessons later this summer!

Oh, and Freke, I wanted to thank you for the head's up on the Gymboree sale. I ran out the same night I read your post and bought a couple of cute rompers. D thought they were so cute that he insisted we go back and get more. So I went back and spent way too much money.

 

[Kunzite]

Thanks for all of the well wishes ladies! We're so happy they were able to come home together. The doctor really wanted to keep Miles another day but our great nurse talked him out of it. The last few days have been really hectic, especially since it was the weekend and O was home too, but it's been great having them here with us. They're just starting to "wake up" a bit and are starting to protest diaper changes. I see a lot of O's personality in E which is a bit scary. M is a lot more chill than both of them, which is good, because then we can take the time to feed E first while M waits.

LC - Yes, we've been swaddling them with their arms out. Preemies self soothe by touching their faces so we don't want to take that away from them. I also don't want to have to break the swaddle eventually! We'll see how long we can get away with the arms out. We started that way with O too but eventually had to swaddle him in the baby straight jacket (Miracle Blanket) because he needed it. As for breaking the swaddle... the only way we could break O was to let him sleep on his tummy. So we waited until we were comfortable with his ability to roll over and let him sleep that way.

I have a ton of pictures I would like to share but I still have yet to figure out how to resize photos on this Mac. Any Mac users want to give me the skinny? In the meantime it will just have to be crappy phone pictures since they're already small enough files!

I'm not sure if I should share this here or the toddler thread! This was O's first interaction with his little brothers... he felt it was very important to show them his belly!!

 

[lliang_chi]

OMG Kunzite! That's hilarious! You should definitely share on the toddler thread too because that picture is priceless. Resizing photos: Go to your iPhoto, and under File you should be able to Export photos. From there you can resize. I normally choose Medium size and it exports to the size that I normally post (see pic on the previous page).

Hm... good point about sleeping on the tummy. I guess I'll work on tummy time more with Ethan so I can put him on his tummy. The thought did cross my mind that if he was on his tummy he wouldn't startle so much. He kicks his legs and swats his arms about....

 

[missjae]

Just a lurker! Kunzite, another option to resize photos on a Mac is to download a free software called iResize (http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13039/iresize) and you can make the pictures as big or small as you'd like, can resize in batches or one by one and is fairly easy to use. I use it all the time. You also have the option to save all your resized photos into a new location so as not to have a folder filled with duplicate pictures in every size! Good luck.

P.S. Congratulations on the birth of your precious twin boys. Three cute little boys, what a blessing!

 

[FrekeChild]

Yeah, I totally overdid it at Gymboree. I raided their stash of girls stuff in yellow, green, blue and touches of orange. It's bad. And don't even get me started on the stuff I got at Carter's two weeks ago. Good thing I'm trying to stock up in bigger sizes (Carters I went 18 months, and Gymboree I went 6-24 months).

I hit up the Lemon & Bumblebee summer collection and the Daisy & Turtle sprint collection (what was on the clearance sale rack anyway) in a big way. Yikes!

(Also, I may or may not have bought as many outfits as I could that are rompers/top and bottoms, so as to ease my poor husband in putting together outfits! I came home today to....well, it wasn't pretty.)

As for the random drive-by posts, it's because it seems as though we're going to be moving at the end of the summer. I can't say any more until everything is official though!

Small sample of Gymboree cuteness!:

 

[janinegirly]

Love all the photos!

NEL: I just love K's face - she always has this expression that is too cute! And the bathing suit with baby rolls is endearing. Great job on getting her in the water. Oh and meant to ask - what did you decide for convertible seats?

LC: Ethan is such a big boy, wow! My toddler is much better with the baby now, she is very protective, it's sweet. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have jealous moments, and also must vet (i.e. use) all toys first, lol.

Kunzite: adorable, love that photo.

Freke: some cute outfits there, next step is to have the cutie model them!

As I mentioned above I'm still deciding on our next convertible seat - Blvd vs Marathon - any feedback from you ladies?

And the Playnest is a success, but she doesn't really last past 10minutes just yet. It does help her master sitting up though, she's pretty sturdy..but just seems to want to move more so then ends up on her back rolling.and then wants out. So the nest is inadvertenty teaching her to crawl as she actually tries to crawl out after awhile, haha.
Our Family Room is now officially a playroom, mutlicolors everywhere. A is grabbing everyting and putting it all in her mouth, so always trying to make sure there're no little items in her grasp.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Janine, I ended up getting a Boulevard, but now I'm concerned that K is going to outgrow it length too soon since she's super long. Whatever, it's too early to tell since she's only 4 months old. I'm not sure what the regular discounted price is for the Boulevard, but I ended up getting it for $230 at Baby Viva. It may be cheaper elsewhere, but not sure.

Glad the nest is a (mostly) success! K will stay in there for about 10 - 15 minutes--I know because if I put her in it when I jump in the shower, she starts to fuss as I'm finishing up.

I am so with you on the family room = playrooom issue. Do you have a dedicated playroom in your house? I feel like it doesn't matter, it all ends up in the living room with you, anyway, since you spend a lot of time there. I'm hoping that when K is a little older, the toys will migrate.

Any luck finalizing the Cape trip? I think we're about 99% finalized on the Montauk trip. I pushed for September even though D really wanted July. The only issue I'm hung up on is that our cottage doesn't have a washer and dryer. I just feel like having one is really important with a baby. Especially for a beach trip.

Freke, ooooo, a move!! That's exciting. I won't pry, but I hope you're excited! And those clothes are SOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!! I loooved the bumblebee and citrus stuff, but our store barely had any. I really wanted to get her some stuff in the next size up, but I wasn't sure if she'd still be in summer stuff. I think I might go back and get more. Right now I have a ton of stuff from the poppy and ladybug collection.

LC, how did the swaddle transition go last night? Of course you're in the midst of a transition when you're about to travel

Kunzite, that picture is absolutely adorable and hilarious! I'm so glad you were able to talk the doc into taking both home. That must have been so nice to know they could both go home with you. I'm thining about you, you must be juggling a million things.

Pancake, hope you're having a great vacation!

AFU, just got back from the 4 month appt. K is 14 lbs, 11 oz. and 26.5 (!) inches long! That's the 97th percentile for height. No wonder her 3 - 6 month pants are already a little short! The ped gave her the all clear to swim (I'm glad since we already started, haha) and to start rice cereals.

 

[lliang_chi]

Freke, so smart of you to stock up on older sizes too. I'm going to follow suit and get some stuff too... Ethan has a wedding and is going to meet a few more of Daddy's friends in Boston, so he's going to need nice fresh outfits... Those outfits are painfully cute! I'm wishing I had a little girl to spoil with cute clothes like that too! Wow, a move. I hope this was the change you were looking forward to when you were talking about your work a few weeks ago. I agree with *Janine* we need pictures of A modeling these cute little outfits for us.

NEL, you too! Need cute Katie pictures! Looking forward to meeting you this weekend! I told DH I'm kidnapping Ethan. I guess it doens't count as kidnapping since he's my own son, LOL!

Janine, So glad that your eldest is being so sweet with A now. She's just super concerned about A's safety so she has to trial all her toys first to make sure it's safe. What a thoughtful older sister... I think I'm going to go with a Diono Radian as my convertible seat. It's slimmer and not as round and cushy and converts to a booster seat when Ethan gets old enough. How big is the PlayNest? I haven't pulled the trigger on it because I'm afraid it'll consume too much space. We have a tiny condo, so space is a definite premium. So cute that A's getting "crawling training" with it though.

NEL, Ethan's around 90% on his length/height. I dunno where he gets it from since James is average height and I'm totally short. The swaddle transition is going slowly. He slept last night without it, but day care said his 2nd nap yesterday he needed it to fall asleep. They're goign to try sleep sacks to see if that helps. Yay! Miss K has fantastic stats! Are you going to start K on rice cereal now? I guess she's been eating some since her AR diagnosis. How is her AR by the way? Can wait for this weekend

~LC

 

[parrot tulips]

LC - Why is it so darn cute when babies suck their thumbs!?! Best of luck trying to transition Ethan out of the swaddle. We started doing one arm out with Ava, because she fought the swaddle so much, but couldn't relax with both arms free. She eventually became such a little Houdini, that we began leaving both arms out. First with naps only, then at night as well. She was never a great sleeper anyway (averaged 3 hours between wakings), so while it took a little longer to fall asleep sometimes, it didn't change the night wakings at all, and she was still able to fall right back to sleep after I nursed her. She's sleeping beautifully now, for her at least. We have a variety of sleep sacks depending on the weather - cotton sleep sacks for hot nights, fleece for warm-ish nights, and a down Kangapouch one for colder nights. She seems to like to be warm, but doesn't like the room stuffy.

NEL - DH saw the picture of Katie in the pool and stopped dead in his tracks to say, "That's a really pretty baby!" Glad to hear her appointment went well. Ava was only 13lbs 14oz last week at 5 months 1.5weeks adjusted. Smallish, but apparently right on track for a 30 weeker. We've been trying to introduce rice cereal and some purées, but Ava just shudders and makes the most disgusted face. We've been using a spoon...though I might try using my finger to see if she'll take it better that way. Hope the "real" food introduction goes well for you.

Kunzite - Such a cute, cute picture! Oliver is so darn adorable, and now you'll have that times 3! I've got to give a lot of credit to moms of multiples, because having just one at a time can already be exhausting.

Janine - Glad to hear the play nest is working out. So funny about your toddler checking out all toys first. I had gotten a friend's daughter a Radio Flyer Bumper Car for her first birthday. Her big brother liked it so much he rode it all around th house saying that he was teaching his little sister how to share.

AFU - Ava is doing wonderfully. Her sleep is improving (going down much more easily, and giving me 5-6 hour stretches rather than 3). She has rolled from back to belly a few times, which makes her upset since she can't roll in either direction with any intention yet, and hates tummy time. And she can now sit up on her own for up to a couple of minutes. She does this new thing where she puts her hands on either side of my face and puts her (open) mouth on my cheek. I'd like to think they are little baby kisses, but they're probably not.

 

[parrot tulips]

LC - The play nest is just shy of 3 feet in diameter, so it's not small. Like a medium to large inner tube covered in fabric.

 

[Kunzite]

Thanks for the Mac help. I know Macs are supposed to be more intuitive, but I guess not for me!

Okay, just testing a few pictures since I have a few minutes before O gets home.

Taking pictures of two at a time is REALLY hard! Special shout out to Skippy for always getting such great pictures of her boys together. You must be a PRO lady!!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Okay, I promised myself I wouldn't post anymore today since I've been so chatty. But then Kunzite went and posted those ADORABLE pictures and I can't stop myself. Kunzite, the boys are so, so cute. Look how tiny they are in their little onesies. I can't take it! I want to smother them in kisses!

PT, my gosh, Ava is hitting milestones left and right! She may be on the smaller side (which is super cute, by the way), but she's a strong girl!! Rolling from back to front and sitting up! That's great! Aww, and how sweet of your hubby to say Katie is a pretty baby. Especially coming from a dad to such a cutie patootie like Ava!

LC, I'm super excited to meet you and E this weekend! We did start the rice cereal tonight and Katie LOVED it. Her acid reflux has been completely fine since putting her on the AR. I know it's still awhile before we switch to the convertible seats, but I'm interested to hear how you like your Diono Radian. I've been thinking about getting that one as well (since we need several), then just seeing which one I like more. I feel like I've been spending a ton on baby stuff lately...and I still need to order the Uppababy G-Luxe, so I hate the idea of buying another convertible seat right now.

AFU--I just wanted to quickly say that Katie LOVED her rice cereal. I'd guess she ate about an ounce, which I wasn't expecting. I fed her a spoonful thinking she'd spit it out, but she immediately swallowed it and leaned forward for more. She even smiled after she swallowed a bite...but then she'd fuss if I took too long between bites. She did end up with a lot on her bib, but she swallowed the majority!

I tried to get a smiley pic, but they're all blury.

 

[FrekeChild]

Modeling one Gymboree outfit and wearing a pair of shoes!

(Most of what we got are too big still, so this is what kind of fits right now, shirt is 6-12 months, pants are 3-6 months, Spring Turtle Daisy collection?)

 

[lliang_chi]

Omg, Kunzite, those are the cutest photos EVER! So small and squishy! I just love them!

PT, sleep sacks, yes we need to get some. Today I put a small pillow over Ethan's legs to keep him from kicking them up and waking himself. Sounds like Ava's totally crushing all her milestones and you seriously wouldn't think she was on the small side with her adorable squeezable cheeks. Those totally sound like baby issues to me.

NEL, wow! Sounds like K is all over the rice cereal. I think I'm going to introduce it after our travel so we're not switching too many gears on him. Your K has always been a good eater,I'm jealous that she's taking 6oz bottles.

Free, holy cow that s ultimate cuteness!

 

[monarch64]

Hi mommies! Alexandra turned 1 month old yesterday and I wanted to share a quick pic.

I love seeing everyone's babies here, what a bunch of cuties.

We are still working on figuring out feeding...I am breastfeeding, pumping, and supplementing with formula and it is exhausting but Alex is thriving and gaining weight so I feel pretty good about the direction things are going. I would like to get rid of the formula altogether but am having a hard time increasing my supply and pumping enough for even one bottle a day (she is taking 4 oz of formula at a time) so bleh. We got off to a rocky start with breastfeeding (long boring story) but things have continually improved so I am hopeful that things will fall into place more before I go back to work full time (working a bit from home right now and have been to several line showings but not gone for more than 7 hrs). Ok, enough rambling from me.

Freke, Miss Aralia is just so cute. I think we have that yellow ruffled sunsuit too.

 

[Skippy123]

OMG, I am so glad I looked in this thread! Soooo much cuteness! great pics Monnie, PT, LC Freke, NEL and friends!!! LC, does E have some curl? aww

Kunzite I was wondering if they both came home! How is it going? Are they on the NICU schedule, every 3 hours? How long was their stay? aww, how is O doing? I bet they are all so in love with each other! Your twins are precious x2!!!! lol to O showing them his belly!!! I am dying to hear more thanks for the shout out! lol It is HARD to get pics of them!! You did an awesome job Which baby is in green onesie? that baby looks like O!!!!

 

[lliang_chi]

Skippy, I dunno if Ethan has a little curl/wave in his hair. I automatically assume his hair will be straight since he's mostly Asian. Speaking of his hairJ keeps saying he wants to give him a haircut! He even went as far as asking his mom friends where to take him. I keep saying "He's a baby! You don't cut babies' hair." But now he's got his other friends (guys) that are like, "It's a little long..." I don't want to cut his hair just yet. It makes me feel like he's growing up too fast then...

Monnie, looks like A is doing awesome! Hang in there with the breastfeeding. Don't beat yourself up over the formula, or the low supply. You're doing an A+ stellar job with A. SHe's thriving, happy and healthy. YOu need to keep yourself happy and rested too.

Question to BFing mamas that did/are doing rice cereal: The pediatrician said to milk it with 1oz of breast milk. Can you use "old" breast milk? Or must it be "bottle-worthy" breast milk?

Thanks,
LC

 

[Laila619]

Cute, cute babies everyone!!

Kunzite, your twin baby boys are absolutely ADORABLE. Sigh. How blessed are you to have 3 wonderful, healthy boys?! So happy they are home!!

 

[pancake]

LC I would have assumed it would have to be BM that you could feed him a bottle. I am pretty uncouth about it, I just lean over the bowl of cereal and squeeze it out Re deswaddling - I actually only started the process last night. One arm out was fine, actually I suspect that getting her into a sleeping bag at night will be no problem as she's in Operation: Sleep Mode from about 7pm until the morning. The daytime naps will be harder. We are out during the day a lot this week, so I thought I'd wait until the weekend to give the naps a go. But the plan is one arm out, then two arms out (and will wait until she manages to sleep ok with one out before taking the other out, could take a few days or a week I think). Are you planning to use a sleeping bag during the day as well as night? I haven't decided yet.

Agree that Ethan's hair is looking wavy! Dot still doesn't haven't have adult-looking hair, it's all just fluff and sticks straight up!

Monnie, great to see you posting and Alex is looking gorgeous! Sorry to hear you are still having such a tough time with establishing your BM supply. Are you on any medications to try and increase it? Assume you are already pumping at night. I can see why you're feeling discouraged, but a month is still early days (as LC can attest!) and you sound very determined, so just keep chipping away, we are all gunning for you!

Freke, A is looking absolutely adorable!!! The outfits are cute, but it's that little cheeky grin that gets me!

NEL, Katie looks like she's going so well with the solids and the swimming! S wasn't sure what to make of the swimming pool, but she didn't protest. We put her in one of those inflatable seat things and she just floated around with an expression on her face as if to say, "So what's the big deal?" Think K and S are about the same size! S was 26 inches and about 14.5 pounds at her 4 month check-up. Can't believe how quickly our babies are growing up!!

Kunzite, omg, those photos! They are GORGEOUS, and how funny is O with his brothers??! E and M are looking very identical to me, I know it's hard to tell with babies sometimes but they are really very similar. Can you guys tell them apart easily?

PT, "baby kisses" - so cute! Ava looking gorgeous. It's funny how each baby has his/her own likes and dislikes and expresses them so clearly! S also hates tummy time at the moment and she has zero interest in rolling, but she loves sitting with a bit of support.

Janine, I'm amazed that it's taken until now for your kids' toys and stuff to take over your family room! I am sitting on my couch as I type and the entire floor and all the horizontal surfaces are taken up with Dot's stuff already!

AFU, Dot is doing really well. She looks to have just had a growth spurt as she is looking enormous, and she is loving her solids! She's having two meals a day now, about a tablespoon and a half or two tbsps each time. She's an eating MACHINE. Her favourites are apples and carrots; not as much a fan of bananas but still eats it all. Going to try out pumpkin and zucchini next. I know it's indelicate to discuss this, but did anyone else find that starting solids was like putting a plug in baby's bum? As soon as we started solids, S stopped pooing and did one dirty nappy in 5 days initially! I wasn't worried as she wasn't distressed but I was kind of morbidly fascinated

Still no interest in getting moving or rolling over. Going through a stage of vociferously complaining when I put her on her tummy. I can't help but laugh!

I've moved her bedtime back to 7pm and that seems to have made a huge difference to the length of her sleep overnight. The last few nights she's slept between 8 and 10 hours after going down for the night, then gets up between 7 and 8am for her morning feed. Very civilised, but I'm so used to waking up earlier overnight that I keep waking up, then lying awake waiting for her to wake up!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Pancake, I'm sure S in her floatie was adorable!! And yay for all of the solids. I'm eager to start actual foods instead of the cereal, I think K will like them more. I'm trying to decide what to start with. I think I might go with pears. The rice in her formula really binds her up, so I'm planning to start with pears or peas. Speaking of, K definitely had some constipatioin issues when she started on the rice formula. I remember when she finally went, it was the consistency of play-do and I was freaked out. K hasn't rolled over in a long time. So weird that she rolled over quite a bit at 3 months, but nothing now. She still hasn't done back to front and isn't really even close.

Oh, and did you feel that starting solids helped S with the long night stretch? K will do about 9 - 9.5 uninterrupted hours at night (7:30 - 4:30 or so), but she always wakes up and takes a full bottle, then goes back to sleep. I would love to stretch it to 12, but I feel like that might not happen for a few more months. Everything I read says that starting solids doesn't help kids sleep longer, but I thought I'd ask, anyway.

LC, Ethan's full head of hair is super cute. And I do think it's wavy. K's hair is curly in the bathtub (when wet), but then she sleeps on it and it flattens out. I wonder if E's will straighten out as he gets older. My husband (who is asian) has wavy hair. I'm no help with your BM question. I would probably go with bottle-worthy, right? How old is "old" milk? With your supply, you should just use Pancake's into-the-bowl method.

Oh, I meant to ask you: how often is E eating since he's only taking 3 - 4 oz. at a time? K made the switch to 8-ounce bottles a couple of weeks ago (5 per day), but there is one 4-month-old in my class who is still taking 4oz. bottles and eating 7x per day.

Monnie, that headband is super cute!! A is soo teeny! Don't sweat the supply issue, it will really stress you out. I was nursing + pumping + supplementing for a few weeks bofore I was able to pump exclusively. Then when K upped the amount she ate, I couldn't keep up no matter how much I pumped. Breastfeeding is so much harder than you think it will be. Just keep trying, don't stress and know that flexibility is the key. I'm such a planner, but K's birth didn't go as planned (AT ALL!), breastfeeding didn't go as planned and I had a hard time just rolling with the punches at times.

Freke, A is so, so cute in those outfits! And is it any surprise that she has the cutest shoes ever?? NO!

AFU: Rice cereal? K gives it a thumbs up. Oatmeal? K gives it a big thumbs down. I tried it for breakfast and dinner and she wasn't jazzed. Tomorrow I'm going back to rice and then Friday I'm going to try real food.

 

[Kunzite]

NEL - Please post as many pics of K as possible, she's just too cute!! I'm jealous she's already been swimming. I wanted to get O to the pool this summer but it's proven to be difficult (shocking!).

Freke - O has the same birth canvas! We're debating whether to get the same one for the twins or not, they're just so pricey.

Monnie - Cute photo! The boys are almost a month now and I'm trying to figure out what to do for their "month" pictures. Love the flower! Sorry to hear of your BFing struggles.

Skippy - They're more or less on the NICU schedule. They go between 3-4 hours, unfortunately the 4 hours tends to be during the day! I need to go back and read HSHHC again to figure out a plan to keep that from becoming a problem. They stayed for three weeks total (much better than O's 8 week stay!). O is having a rough go of it this week. He's was going through a developmental and growth spurt so he's been out of sorts for a little bit before the twins came home. So the timing wasn't ideal. He mostly looks at the babies and ignores them. Miles is the baby in green.

LC - I would use good milk for cereal.

Laila - Thank you!! I'm excited for you to go through #2!!

pancake - They are sooo easy to tell apart in person. When M was a little less chunky we leaned towards ID but they seem so different right now that we're leaning fraternal. I guess we'll see! I'm just hoping we got good enough swabs, it didn't occur to us how difficult it was going to be to swab baby cheeks! O HATED bananas when we first tried them. Now? They are easily one of his favorite foods! I do not look forward to solids specifically because of the peanut butter poop stage

 

[pancake]

LC - we have cold turkeyed Dot into a sleeping bag tonight. She's much more restless than usual but hasn't actually woken up yet. Will report back tomorrow.

 

[amc80]

Question for all of you mamas! Did you register for/buy a pre-packaged infant healthcare/grooming kit? I have one on my registry (this one http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2448217&fromRegistryNumber=47990731&product_skn=603508) but the reviews are pretty bad. I'd love any recommendations.

Also, any recommendations for first aid/medicine cabinet items? I think we are buying that stuff this weekend. There's a list in my What to Expect the First Year book, but it's really long. Oh, and we're having a boy who will be circ'd, if that matters.

 

[pancake]

amc80, we don't really have baby registries here so no, we didn't register for a kit like that. However, I don't think you need a "kit" as such. I would say the essentials for healthcare/grooming are:

- baby bath oil (the more boring for baby's skin, the better!)
- facewashers
- nail scissors (the Tommee Tippee ones are fantastic, I am going to buy them for all of my friends!)
- a good axillary thermometer (the tympanic ones are notoriously user-dependent and unreliable in small babies)
- infant paracetamol (acetaminophen)
- small syringes - used to give paracetamol/other meds if necessary, I also use the 1ml syringes to drop saline up Dot's nose when she has a cold and is very snuffly
- sorbolene with 10% glycerine cream
- nappy cream if you are going to use one

We were given a beautiful soft hairbrush as a gift, but never use it.

Edited to add: Progress report on Operation: Unswaddle! So S fell asleep last night in the grobag with no problems, but did not sleep as deeply (as expected). She started grizzling around 12:30am and needed some patting on and off for about 45 minutes, then went back to sleep properly although would stir much more easily than usual (eg when DH got up to go to the bathroom). She started grizzling again around 4:30am and I figured that after 9 1/2 hours in bed that was good enough and gave her a feed. She then went back to sleep until just after 8am. So all in all, not too bad!

She has just gone down for her morning nap and I have swaddled her with one arm out. Has fallen asleep, so it'll be interesting to see how long she sleeps for. Normally this nap is about 1 - 1.5 hours.

NEL, I don't think the solids make any difference to Dot's sleep. At the stage our babies are at, the solids don't really contribute significantly to their nutrition anyway; I think that S is sleeping longer because a) developmentally she's ready and b) I'm putting her to bed earlier. It has helped a lot with the unswaddling thing too, because eg last night when she woke at 12:30am she had been in bed for 5.5 hours, but I KNEW from previous nights that she didn't need a feed then (and from previous experience in earlier weeks, I knew that if I did pick her up, she'd have a crappy feed) so I let her grizzle and helped her resettle a bit instead.

FWIW, in the scheme of things, 12 hours is a VERY long stretch for a 4-5 monther to sleep and even though I know we hear about bubs who do that all the time, they are definitely in the minority! There are a couple in my mothers' group who do, but they are either older and have just started doing it (around 6 months), or they are younger but don't sleep well during the day.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Pancake, it sounds like S's swaddle transition is going really well! Many of my friends have told me it was the source of moderate sleep regression, so the fact that S stayed asleep even with some grumbling is great!! Hopefully she just gets more and more used to it!

Oddly enough, I gave K 2 oz. of rice cereal last night plus an 8 oz. bottle (I stopped at 6oz., but she demanded more) and she slept for 11 hours straight. She usually sleeps for 12 hours (9 hours, bottle, 3 hours), but after sleeping for 11 straight hours she was wide awake. She did take a short nap about an hour later. Anyway, I'm interested to see if this trend continues. Even more interesting is that she only had 4 bottles yesterday and will only have 4 today since she didnt' have her 4am bottle. I wonder if this is the transition from 5 bottles/day to 4.

amc, the only thing I would add to Pancake's list is a Nose Frieda. We haven't had to use ours yet, but all of my mom friends say it's a must. I'm admittedly bad about having a well-stocked medicine cabinet. I only have some children's tylenol, children's ambesol, the nose frieda, a couple of thermometers an aquafor for her eczema. Oh, and diaper cream, but I've never needed it. Plus the brushes and fingernail clippers. I meant to get the Tommy Tippee scissors, but have gotten used to my cheap clippers.

Kunzite, I'm looking forward to seeing more pics of your super cute, teeny boys! And 3-4 hours of sleep between feedings sounds really good, even if the one long 4 hour stretch is during the day. Obviously the downside is less sleep for you, but the upside might be that you get some 1 on 1 time with O during the day.

AFU, we're trying pears tonight! I'm excited. K hated the oatmeal, but loves rice cereal. Last night she ate 2 ounces in about 2 minutes. She opens her mouth really wide and leans toward the spoon. Super cute.

Not to be all Debbie Downer, but I think I'm in a personal adjustment period. Now that I've been back at work for a month, I'm finding the balance to be hard. I'm trying to squeeze everything into my days off. And my counterpart is taking off a few weeks, so work is more demanding. I just feel like I'm snippy with everybody (mostly my husband) and I'm not 100% at work, either. I make stupid mistakes. Just things I wouldn't have done 6 months ago. So at the end of the day I end up feeling crappy for many reasons. Oh well, I know I'll figure it out, but I'm tired of not feeling "myself". And it's definitely made me want to hold off on trying for #2 for awhile.

 

[moxie.moo]

LC: Sorry for the delay in answering your question, it's been a crazy week! When Lucy started solids she'd eat maybe a tablespoon of oatmeal and a teeny bit of fruit 2-3 times a day. It was so little! She's actually been on formula full-time since 8 months--after my first postpartum period it was so hard to get my supply back up and when my second period arrived I couldn't fathom doing it again every month while being back to work as well. That said she eats four 6 oz formula bottles a day and has done that since about six months. Only recently she's actually really eating food for sustenance and even now it's hit or miss--one day she is famished, the next she can't be bothered. Last night and the day before she's been more or less refusing her fourth bottle (she'll take two ounces or so) so I think she's phasing it out. I stressed early but now I'm more of the mindset that when she eats she eats, and when she doesn't, oh well. Good luck!

 

[amc80]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[FrekeChild]

AMC - I wanted to get a ready-made kit, but read less than wonderful reviews.

Here is what we always have on hand:

- nail clippers/trimmers
- 2 thermometers, booty and forehead
- gas drops
- acetaminophen
- syringes for administering meds
- diaper rash cream
- Aquaphor
- Nose Frida for REALLY stuffy nose
- blue bulb aspirator for less stuffy nose
- Cortaid (steroid cream for nasty eczema)
- saline spray for stuffy nose
- saline drops for less stuffy nose
- baby Q-tips
- kleenex
- baby wash
- tons of baby washcloths
- baby comb and brush

Also helpful to have around the house before bringing baby home:
- A LOT of paper towels
- anti-bacterial wipes (we have Medela for the pump, but they are good for toys and highchairs)
- band-aids
- ice packs
- teething rings that you can stick in the fridge (when it's really hot, like right now, I'll give one to A and she will put it on her chest/belly instead of chewing on it)
- bath toys (once they decide they don't HATE the bath, best to keep them distracted!)

There is more, but it's late and my brain is FRIED!

 

[amc80]

Freke, thank you!