Jan/Feb 05 chat - Thread #3

[HeatherC]

Deborah, please remind me about the helmet.  Has she not slept in it yet?  Have you been working up her time in it?  How is the irritated spot?  What did they do to correct that?  Glad she napped in it well.  I'm sure it's a relief for you.

Prayers please...Kelsey's echo for the heart murmur is tomorrow.  I'm praying that it's either gone, or nothing serious.  TIA

[dkjokisch]

She got it on Halloween.  She wore it for about a week (we gradually worked up to 23 hours a day over five days) when she developed a skin irritation on the side of her head.  The irritation took 10 days to heal.  Then I took her back to the orthotist to get it refitted.  She wore it for two days, but the skin got irritated again.  Then she got sick, and I couldn't get her back to the orthotist until she was well enough to make the drive (2 hours each way) to his office.  Meanwhile, she developed a nasty cradle cap type rash on the spot, and the skin and her hair fell off.  We tried numerous things to figure out what was causing the irritation and fix it and finally made it back to the orthotist last Monday.

And I wonder why I've been exhausted of late.

A couple questions though... this week, Maya has been fussing about going to bed.  This is new, usually putting her down is no trouble at all.  It started Monday.  Monday afternoon her nap was way later than normal due to our being at the orthotist.  Normally she's up by 3:30pm, but Monday, she napped in the car from 3:30-5pm on the way home.  I was actually really excited about it at the time as she has never napped more than 45min at a stretch in the car no matter how tired she is.

At any rate, she didn't want to go down, and we weren't sure why (she is also currently cutting some new teeth).  We had to go in and resettle her.  Tuesday's PM nap was back to our normal time, but the same thing happened at bedtime.  Wednesday, she fussed about taking an afternoon nap and slept only 20-30min, so I thought for sure she'd go to bed... no such luck.  She fussed, but we left her a few minutes and she went to sleep.  It had dawned on us that we were creating a bad habit by going in for extra cuddles and another story the first two nights.  We tried the same thing tonight, but she was getting really upset.  She dh went back in, and suspecting perhaps her teeth were bothering her, we gave her a dose of ibuprofen, some orajel, and a cold washcloth to chew on.  He got her all calmed down, but she started up again when he put her in the crib.  Then I went back in (several times).  She was fine when I was standing next to the crib, but as soon as I started walking toward the door, she'd start crying.  In the end, it took an hour and fifteen minutes.

So I'm thinking perhaps separation anxiety?  But she's not showing any signs of it during the day.  Except for that one nap on Weds, she's been going down for naps fine.  Thoughts?

[klt]

Heather - sending best wishes that it goes well tomorrow for Kelsey

Branwen - I am so happy for you  I actually got butterflies reading your post and thinking about CO!  Did Eirwen feel any effects of the altitude at all?  I am so excited to get back there and see some smiley faces again too! (grey skies affects the psyche, doesn't it?  :wink: ) We have another 3months to go here max     

Yesterday I got stir crazy so decided to try out my wrists again only to skid on the wet stairs and bump/slide down on my spine  :shock:.  I was so scared, THANK GOD I was empty handed as I have to make a first trip up and down to unlock the doors.  Can't tell dh as it would freak him out so luckily it's no worse than just aching all over  :?

Oh about the bf - we are doing 3 a day - morning both, post-afternoon nap one, bedtime both.  We were starting to wind down before our trip to England and I had started giving her the odd bottle of formula but since our trip she has been back into nursing so it's all kicked in again.  I'm just kind of following her lead with it.

Deborah - we are having night wakings again so I think I am not somebody to give any advice on sleeping right now!  I am so over these restless nights - seems like since she turned 7 mo we haven't had 3 unbroken nights in a row. 

 :?: Is there anyone who has good nighttime sleep?  I would really like to know! 

Kate

[Deb_in_oz]

welcome back branwen - i am glad you are settling in and i hope the time without Dh goes smoothly.  isn't it nice living somewhere with riendly people...

Heather - i will have you in my thoughts and i hope Kelsey's murmur is gone or no big deal.

Kate - i have to admit (and hope it does not jinx me) that overnight is Liv's best time.  since 4 mo she has beena  great night time sleeper and now that she has settled into life without the Df she is doing great again - our issues are related to food and (previously) naps. i do think there are very few babies with no "issues" but they vary from person to person... some people who deal with night wakings have lovely days with little stress and others of us get a break at night but deal with little dramas everyday (got to love the spirited babies and those touchy ones too  :wink: ) god willing they all grow out of their "quirks" by 1 year (she says with breath held)  :lol:

Deborah - I did not realize the extent of Maya's issues with the helmet - i hope she is OK and not too bothered by it any more. not sure about your night issues, but with sep anxiety it is quite common for the biggest issue to be sep. at night time (i think they know instinctively that you are there in the daytinme because they get reassured when they wake form their naps, but maybe at night they get nervous abou the long stretch of time without sdeeing you and need the extra reassurance) have you thought of putting something of yours in her cot so she has your smell with her for comfort.  subconsciously she might think you are there and be more settled.

about diaper/nappy sizes: we use Huggies and a couple of weeks ago i moved olivia into the same size as alex (toddler 11-15kg = 24-33lbs :shock: ) I have not weighed her in a month and a half, but she was suddenly starting to have leaks and was getting a sore at her back from the nappy rubbing her skin.  A funny thing is they are currently hugely on sale so i stocked up with 6 boxes (=432 nappies)b/c both girls are in the same size and then started potty training so only need 2 nappies a day for alex's nap and bedtime (which are wasted when she wakes up dry or near enough)  :lol:  at least i know Liv will be in this size for another year or so.

we are suffering still with the standing - it has been really bad last 3 days - she stands in the coty and calls me, she sits up and claps and gets giddy INSTEAD OF NAPPING! today it took ages to get her down for both naps and then she did 1hr 10 in the morning and only 1 hr in the afternoon and of course Dh has his work Xmas party tonight so i was on my own from 7am straight through with no help - did their bedtime routines back to back (Liv 6:30-7:10 and alex 7:10 - 7:40) was wiped out but so was liv and thankfully tonight she went straight to sleep    i ate pzza and watched a favourite DVD for the millionth time

[StrawberryAnnie2]

Hello Everyone. I haven't posted here for while, things have been kind of crazy here with the house being on the market.

We are NOT getting much sleep right now at all and I'd love some suggestions or ideas from you all. Here's the scoop:

Hannah is now 11 months old and is not sleeping through the night. She typically wakes about three times between 7pm and 7am. She is cutting another tooth and is on the cusp of walking. I think the night waking is related to the tooth pain, although even when I give her Baby Advil she still wakes, so I'm not really sure of the cause. During the day she naps twice. Her am nap is always 1.5 - 2hrs in length, but for the pm nap she has been consistently waking after 45 min. I started doing wake to sleep to lengthen it. I went in after 1/2 hour and moved her a little, she sighed and went back to sleep. I was able to get her to sleep for 1hr 5min, which is better than 45 min.

Question #1 - For the pm nap, should I go back in at the hour mark and try to stir her again to get her to sleep for 1.5 hrs?

Question #2 - What should I do for nighttime, any suggestions, or do we just have to ride it out?

Gotta run my little monkey is calling

Joanne

[thitz]

Deborah,  you've been busy!  I'm  not sure what the fussing at nap/bedtime is about, but I'm guessing teething/seperation anxiety like you said.  I would just try to make sure you don't stay in her room till she falls asleep.  I would just keep going in and out of her room as she cries and I would think this would build the trust.  Also, like you did, if Emily keeps fussing we give her Advil as she's usually pretty good and she's very pain sensitive.  Oh...and I sneaked in a couple of those arm exercises on Emily but she sure didn't like it.  She just doesn't like being on all fours.  I'm sure she'll be walking before crawling but she needs some arm strength to help her fall properly and pull up.  I'm going to try to sneak in some exercise every day though.

Heather, good luck with Kelsey's doctors appointment:)

Kate, Emily started sleeping most nights thru the night at 6 months.  We have the occasional waking but usually just a quick reposition and quick tuck in.  She's in bed by 6:45pm and wakes anywhere from 5:30-6:30am.

Debra, yikes I hope Emily doesn't start doing the standing thing.

Joanne, since your lo is older, I wonder if you should shorten the am nap in order to lengthen the pm nap.  I think that's the way the naps are supposed to go so that in the end the am nap gets shorter and shorter until it's gone and you just have one long pm nap.

JulieB, Emily's walking is progressing a lot.  She's taken a few steps on her own but I've got to follow her around be there to catch her when she falls.  Is this what you did?  What's a good way for them to fall down?

Us, dh's xmas party is tonight.  I've got the babysitter booked.  I PRAY she doesn't wake cause if she does there's no way that the babysitter will be able to get her down again.  I was thinking of giving her Advil before bed to help make sure she sleeps...but that's not exactly good parenting...but on the other hand she is teething....Hmmm.

[Leah's Mom]

Heather - Please let us know how things go today. We're praying for you and Kelsey.

Debra - What are you doing about the standing thing?!?!?!?! Ours doesn't happen so much a naps. BUT, it does happen at about two or three in the morning.  :evil: Last night I went in a laid her back down three different times. Then she started crying again, well actually yelling for me. So I left her for about 5 minutes to see if she'd try and get back down herself. Well.... the yelling turned to screaming. I rushed in and she must have just let go and fell and hit her head on the back of the crib.  So I sat with her in the chair till she calmed down, well basically till she fell asleep.  :?: Hopefully she'll soon outgrow, or learn to get back down! 

Joanne - I agree with Tarri. Try and shorten the AM nap. We usually shoot for 1 hour in the morning, then get 1 1/2-2 in the afternoon. But if the morning nap was 2 hours. We will only get 45 min in the afternoon. Do you feed her at night?

Deborah - If our PM nap ends too late (for us even past 4 is too late) she will not go to sleep at night well.

We leave tonight for our mini vacation! This is where we are going  http://www.lodgeatcedarcreek.com
Should be alot of fun!!!!

[thitz]

Oh my   Emily's practically walking.  She can take 3-4 steps no problem.  I started holding on to the back of her shirt instead of her hands and I let go for a couple seconds here and there.  But she has no clue how to stand up on her own or how to fall properly :? .  She's going to be one of those no crawling but early walking babies :shock:

Tarri

[dkjokisch]

Heather - How'd the appt go?  I hope everything is ok.

Joanne - Maya is almost 11mos, and we are at the point where I have to limit the AM nap when she's had a good night's sleep.  She's definitely not ready for one nap yet, but two long naps are a bit much, and I'd rather the long nap be in the afternoon.  I've also found it interesting that this week when she's gotten less sleep at night, she's napped better than she has in weeks.  I think we need to find a new balance.

Regarding the night wakings, what do you do when she wakes?  Do you have to go in and resettle?  Do you feed her?

Tarri - Have fun at the Christmas party.  I wish dh's office had one.  I'd like to go out and socialize with adults in a place that is NOT childproofed. 

Kate - Except for the recent fussing about going to bed and a couple rough spots during illness, growth spurts, and travel, Maya has always been pretty good at night.  Dh has been incredible in that respect.  When I would go in and try to resettle her early on, she always wanted to be fed, so he started taking responsibility for all night wakings.  As a result, she has been sleeping through (no feedings) since 3.5mos.  Tonight, however, she has to sleep in the helmet, so I don't really have high hopes.  Like Debra, usually our issues are daytime ones.

Maya has at least 1-2 med appts per week (PT, orthotist, ped, neuro, take your pick), though some weeks we've had an appt every day.  When I'm scarce, that's usually why.

[HeatherC]

Deborah-the very few times I've had to go in to Kelsey at night, I made it worse I'm sure by picking her up and rocking her, etc.  It would go on for hours until I finally just left her and she was asleep in just minutes.

Kate-what a terrible fall.  I hope you are alright.  What problem are you having with your wrists?  And I do have a good night time sleeper, but some rough days.

Deb-I have to say that Kelsey will do the same sitting up or standing in her crib at some nap times.  I have finally (at 10 months) gotten to the point of putting her in her crib awake for naps (have always done it at night) and leaving her to it.  She will generally play for up to 20 minutes and go to sleep.  Yay for me and her!  Anyway, are you staying in there with Olivia and trying to get her down or is it just the frustration of her not going to sleep (which is totally understandable)?  Kelsey will more often not ever settle for the second nap when she is usually more tired.  But if she's not crying I don't get her.  I consider it rest time regardless.

Joanne-what is Hannah's A time length before second nap?  Kelsey's pm nap is usually shorter if she is overtired and I missed the mark, or if she slept too long in the morning and is not tired enough but it's getting late and I'm trying to squeeze that second nap in anyway.  You might have to back off that 2 hr nap in the morning to get a longer pm nap.

 :arrow: Something else for the standers-it really seemed to help Kelsey when I put a small, soft babydoll in her crib.  If she's not sleeping, it keeps her occupied enough to stay seated, and she often falls asleep with it under her arm (quite sweet actually).  I was so nervous about leaving a toy in the crib, but I figured she is big and strong enough to move around as much as she does that she could keep a toy off her face.

Tarri-Kelsey and Emily are two peas in a pod on the steps.  Kelsey has gotten up to about 5 real good steps before she falls forward.  She just takes off like she can do it, and it happens so quick, too.  However, she has to really be paying attention or she just leans and falls.  But when she's playing, she can stand on her own for quite awhile.  It's so fun, isn't it?

The echo was thankfully short b/c Kelsey was of course not happy with being held down.  The tech couldn't read the results, so we have to wait about 5 days to hear from the ped.   My poor baby cried so hard one time that her lips turned blue from not breathing.  Terrible!!!!!  My mom and I both freaked out.  Thanks for the prayers and well wishes.  They are greatly appreciated.

[Daniel's mummy]

Does anyone else find this - when I read through the different posts I have so much to reply with, but when I actually come to write I can't think of what to put :?

Furst of all, Christine, the place you are going looks fabulous.  Have a grat time.  My advice would be to just realx and enjoy yourself.  When we have an outing or a short trip planned if I get anxious and worried you can bet things will always go wrong!  But when I just take it easy and try to enjoy myself and not worry about naps, bottles, eating, crawling, teeth, poo :shock:  etc, etc, things always go better.  I guess our kids just know don't they? They are happy when we are happy and probably stressed when we are stressed.

Tarri - that is amazing how Emily has started taking steps.  From what I've seen in other kids once they take a few steps the rest just seems to happen quite quickly and with little effort on your part.  Daniel is no where near walking.  As I've said before he just will not step.  His feet are suctioned to the floor I think!  But I must say I am dreading the walking thing with Daniel falling and bumping himself.  I know it has to happen for them to learn but it's just so scarey.

 :oops: Am I the only one who still puts a big cushion behind my lo when he sits and plays because I'm worried about him falling back and hurting himself?!  He does still occasionally fall when he's playing.  He doesn't sit up himself from lying down (I guess he'll start to do that when he starts hands and knees crawling).  I am determined that once he can sit up and lie down on his own accord then I'll give up with the cushion :roll:  :oops:   

Heather - praying the results are good and that Kelsey has no problems.  What did the echo involve?

We have been having really happy days recently.  Daniel is so happy crawling around and playing.  He is sleeping LOADS (7-7 and then 3+ hours each day :shock:   His appetite seems to have decreased a bit which is strange. I would have thought the increase in exercise would have meant an increase in his appetite.  To be honest I think he had a 9 month growth spurt!!!  Seriously, I'm always amazed when others say their lo had a growth spurt that started on this day and finished say 8 days later.  Up til about 3 weeks ago Daniel would just eat until the food  stopped coming.  He always seemed to be in a groth spurt :wink:   But about 3 weeks ago his milk intake dropped (by changing the times of his 2 bottles we're now managing to keep it up at about 16-20oz) and he cut his solids intake by about a quarter each meal at least.  I'm really not worried though as he is such a good weight (nearly but not quite on a par with Matthew :lol: ) He still LOVES his food just less of it which is actually possibly a good thing.
Have you all been able to track your lo's growth spurts?

Finger foods - Daniel seems to be getting lazy.  He seems to prefer to just play with the foods we put down on his tray (kind of sweeps them around a lot).  He'll happily eat it if we put it in his mouth, but doesn't do it so much himself.  Is this just a passing phase?  I'm just not making a big deal of it at the mo.  Leave him to it and then feed him the finger foods at the end.  Any advice?

This post is getting rather long so I think I'll call it a day now.

Daniel and I are off to my nephew's 2nd birthday party tomorrow.  I couldn't have asked them to time it better really (11am - 12.30).  Fits just nicely between his naps and he can have his lunch while we're there.  I love outings like this that fall nicely into our routine

Bye for now.

[StrawberryAnnie2]

Thanks for your replies. How exciting that we have a few walkers already:) Hannah stands, then crouches with her arms out like she is on a surfboard, it's really cute. Do any of you have the Little Tikes push walker thingy? I'm not sure what it's called, but it is a little toy that has wheels and baby can pull up on it then push it around. Hannah likes it and does quite well with it.

About the napping....Hannah's am nap is 9-10:30 or 11am and then she goes back down 3hrs after waking from the am nap. I try to keep the A time before both naps mellow. Our wind down is usually 1/2 hr. We sit and read a TON of books then I turn out the light and cuddle her and sing a few lullabyes. I'm wondering if I should push the pm nap later or just go ahead and start phasing out the am nap. I really think she still needs the am nap though she is really wiped by 9/9:30.  Boy I sure miss those days when all she did was sleep, though she is so much fun these days.

Anyone else thinking about baby #2 yet? Sometimes I think I want another then I think about what it would be like to have 2 under 2. I think I'd like Hannah to be 3 when baby #2 is born. What do you all think is a good space between kids. Deb, you have 2, how far apart are they in age?

Gotta go now. Thanks for your responses to the nap dilemma

Joanne

[Deb_in_oz]

joanne my 2 are 19 mo apart and i know Jaime has a similar gap. as most of the people on this thread know the first 6 mo were hellish fo rme but i moved to a new area and have no family here so that really impacted on my sitution.  it is great now though so i am thinking of it as paying a hefty price int he beginning for a big payoff for the rest of their lives.

[HeatherC]

Joanne, at first you couldn't have paid me to say I would have another baby.  Now, I surely will.  However, I think I'd like Kelsey to be
2 1/2 -3 when #2 is born.  I'd ideally like her to be fully potty-trained, but at least start on training if we decide to have the next one sooner.

[Jaime]

yup, mine are 20 months apart!  :wink:   as Deb said, the beginning is absolutely insane.  The duration of insanity i think depends on the temperment of your kids.  For me it was the first 4-5 months.  after 4 months of sleep training luke finally started to get the picture.  but looking at them now, with jaina at 31 months and luke at 10 months, they are getting along better & better.  it's so much fun to watch them interact.  and further on down the road i hope they are closer than my sister & i were when we were younger (we were 4 years apart).

Does anyone else find this - when I read through the different posts I have so much to reply with, but when I actually come to write I can't think of what to put 

yes  :oops:  should probably go back to taking notes, but i tend to read the posts at school & reply at home.

Heather - thanks for the update.  hope the visits eventually turn out a more informative prognosis.

Kate - i have a good sleeper.  (finally!!!)  i think it just needed to click on in his head.  that, and finding the right balance of white noise, darkness, and socks over his hands so he can't scratch anymore.

Tarri - walking?!?!  yay Emily!!!

Christine - am envious of your minivacation.  hope you  have lots of fun!  that looks like a great place

Branwen - glad to hear that the flight went well.  also, thanks for posting about your hair in the lounge - got some great ideas for me too.

Deborah - i forget... why are you driving 2 hours to get to the doctor?  was he just the closest after your fiasco with the first one? 

Us - got dh's christmas party tonight.  yay - date night!  am looking forward to it since my school decided no staff party for us this year!  and his office goes all out - hotel ballroom, great dinner & dessert buffet.  am tempted to skip lunch so i can have more dessert tonight!   :oops:   :lol:

have a great weekend everyone!