June/ July 05 Mom's Chat

[daisymelan]

Hi Guys,

Only a quick minute but I wanted to say we had to take Owen to an after hours clinic tonight because the tip of his penis was red and swollen.   :cry: ... and there was some whitish stuff coming out.

It didnt' bother him one iota.

But I'll tell you, dh and I were a mess.... me especailly.  He has an infection and we have to wash it out and put polysporin on it!    I was so grossed out when the dr was looking at it and showing us, that I couldn't look.  The dr then made me!!!  But I had to look to know how to clean it.

We use cloth diapers and thought that might be it, but the dr assured us it's normal and it would have happened with disposables. 

He is fine and it should be cleared by Monday.  I swear, it's been a rough few days.  I have read all posts but will catch up tomorrow morning.

[alison toms mum]

Well ive just had the best nights sleep in ages... i dyed my hair last night, and my head smelt so strongly we didnt want to poison DS lungs, so i slept in the spare room :wink:    Poor DH Tom still has a cold, so he was up with him A LOT last night, on de snoting duty (Howd you work one of those suction things anyeay... we couldn't fig it out so end up attacking him with a tissue and nose drops!!)

sorry your lo is unwell daisymelan, my friends lo has had that, the dr asked her to take a urine sample (i thought that might be quite difficult but aparently theres a special type of nappy to catch it  :oops: )

Glad your starting to feel settled Cadensmama I hate moving at the best of times so i dont envy you!!

BTW i love my new hair, i feel less scruffy and mummsy than i have since tom was born... horay for home hair colouring kits (hairdresser a luxury i can no longer afford!!) :wink:

[rebecaq]

Hi Daisymelan,

Is your ds circumsized?  I'm wondering because ours isn't and when he was about 2 months old he got an infection on his penis also.  The doc told me I caught it early but it could have gotten really nasty!  He had me wash him EVERY time we changed his diaper and then apply an anti-bacterial ointment.  I think the main thing is to clean it like crazy until it heals.  And baby boys who aren't circumsized need ALOT of special care.

I hope it clears up soon!!


BTW --  I left ds with my dh last night, and he totally forgot to do the cluster feeding.  He ate at 3 had a compote of pears at 5 had his bath at 7, and then at 7:30 fell asleep with his feed.  When dh told me I said "OH NO!!! "  :shock:  I reminded him about the cluster feeding and how that was helping him sleep through the night.  So we went to be ready for the rude awakening!  Lo and behold he slept 12 hours!! YAY!!!  When I heard him and saw the daylight I was thrilled!!  My little man in growing up!

[jswerczek]

Daisymelan- I hope Owen is feeling better! I'm always on the look out for that with Jake. When he was first born, his penis was a little blue and their was some discharge. The doctor said it might get infected in the future, but so far we've been lucky. Poor little guys!

Rebecaq- I'm glad your little one went all night without the clusterfeeding! I'm sure you didn't sleep well though We just dropped the df about a week ago and the first few nights I laid awake just waiting for him to wake up! He didn't and probably got better sleep than I did!

[daisymelan]

Owen is doing great and thanks for your conern.  BTW, he isn't circumsized so I guess I will have to be very careful from here on in.  It's almost completely healed.  I even went out last night after his drs apt because I had already planned a girls night out.  Only stayed out until 11:30 cuz I felt guilty, but it still felt good to get out and speak to adults. 

He's been napping and sleeping much better lately, so thanks to all for your help.  I slept better last night when he woke to feed at 3:30 than I did the night he slept through...   :?

Welcome back caeden's mom. 
Welcome to Rebecaq and I want your baby monitor. 

Question:  Those of you who are bfing....  Have you noticed a difference in your breasts?  I swear that in the past 2 days mine have seriously started to change shape, and I mean for the worse.

[Critter]

Hello everyone!  I want to know who has their Christmas shopping all done so I can give you a big raspberry!   :wink:

Hubby and I went out of town for one night for our anniversary.  Grandma came and stayed with Luke and they both had a ball!  She couldn't believe that I had a baby that you could put in his bed at naptime/bedtime and he would just go to sleep!  HOORAY!!!!!!!

Has anyone dropped the dreamfeed?  I don't have Tracy's second book and I can't find the first one at the moment to see how to do it.   I don't know that he still needs it, but I don't want to just take it away cold turkey.

[rebecaq]

Daisymelan, I got my baby monitor at Babies R' Us, it's by Sony and called "BabyCall", it's a real good one.  My cousin as baby monitors at her house and I still prefer to take mine when I go!  :wink:

Amystoker, Chrisstmas shopping done? Now? Not at the last minute?? Is that even allowed???  LOL :lol:  The only thing I have bought is the secrest santa present for my dh's office party!
About the dreamfeed, I had to stop them becuase ds is so acitve it was ryling him up and would take me forever to get him back to sleep.  I USED to cluster feed ( I put it in caps becuase I'm excited we stopped about 3 days ago!) but he's been sleeping fine without it!  But I have the last book and here is what is says word for word


The process of cutting out the dreamfeed - usually around 7 months - has to be done in 3 day increments, to insure that your baby makes up during the day what you're taking away at night:

Day 1: Add 1 ounce to the 1st feed of the day and take away 1 ounce from the dreamfeed that night.  If you're breast-feeding, go back to clustering so that you get more calories in.  Give the dreamfeed ( now 1 ounce less) half an hour earlier, at 10:30 instead of 11

Day 4:  Add 1 ounce to the first feed, one to the second, and take away 2 ounces from the dreamfeed.  Give the dreamfeed (2 ounces less) at 10.

Day 7:  Add 1 ounce to the first feed, one to the second, one to the third, take away ounces from the dreamfeed, and give at 9 :30

Days 10 (dreamfeed at 9 p.m.), 14 (8:30), 17 (8 ), 20 (7:30) : By continuing every 3 days to add ounces during the day and take away the same amount from the dreamfeed, you will end up doing a feed at 7:30 with only a few ounces.



Whew, my fingers hurt now!! Hope I was helpful!!

[Critter]

Thanks.
I thought I remembered that that was how to do it.  Unfortunately, I have a reflux baby and adding more to his already 7 oz bottle will be a disaster!  I took two ounces off the df last night.  He usually takes 7 oz at the dreamfeed, so last night he took 5.  Tonight I will go down to 3 or 4 and see how that goes.  He didn't wake up once.

[ry,cait&alex]

Hi everyone!!!!  I'm back!!!!!!!

Have been popping on every now and again to check on everyone, but today I actually have time to say hello.

Move is done, kinda.  Tomorrow we are going back to the old house to load up all of the stuff that just didn't make it with the original trip.  Like my FREEZER!!!!!!!  We are supposed to close on the property next monday (a week...one more blessed week), so it we can do that, Christmas this year will be SO much fun!!

Amy-only have the children bought for.  They are done.  Dh and I are not shopping for one another till the property sells just to insure that we aren't "wasting" money that we would actually need for say....property taxes, or house notes.  :roll:   I guess I shouldn't be greedy, I do have a new house.  But man....some furniture would be swell!!  :lol:

Bad mommy award goes to me.  Cait hasn't had cereal in days.  The first 3 nights of being in the new house were hectic.  She would wake at midnight and not go back down totally until around 3am :shock:   Luckily, it was just an adjustment period, because now she is back on her normal schedule, we just haven't been home to give cereal.  I am hoping this week that we can get into some kind of routine and get back into normal living.  We will see.

About dropping the dreamfeed.  Do it on a Friday or Saturday night when you dont' have to go to work the next day and see how Luke does.  You might be surprised.

Since I am behind on posts, I won't respond to everyone's old posts, but if anyone had a specific question that maybe I could help with feel free to ask me (I sound as though I am the "all knowing" don't I :roll: )  Anyway, I just try to help. 

So glad to be back.  OH...and I have DSL now!!!!  So excited.

bj

[jswerczek]

We dropped the df cold turkey a little over a week ago. I was going to slowly do it like the book suggests, but we thought we see what would happen if we just took it away. We did it on a night that my husband didn't have to work in the morning, just in case he woke during the night. He slept straight through and has since! We were only giving him 4-5 oz. at the dreamfeed and now that we are giving him 4-6 oz. of solids, I figured he was ready. I suppose if I had been giving a full feed, I may have had to do it more gradual. I'll tell you its great to be done Now my husband and I can go to bed at the same time and as early as 8:30pm if we want

Good luck Amy!

[~Jency's*Momma~]

I am the bad mommy on the board.  I am so sorry to let all of you down.  Jency is still not on a 4 hour easy and I can not get him to nap good and he is still up at least 3 times a night.  I know I have done everything wrong but with the way things are it is hard to go by the book.  I have no idea how to get him to sleep in his crib for 2 hours at a time for naps.  I have no idea how to get him to sleep at night and I have no idea how to get him to eat every 4 hours.  Okay I know how I just don't seem to be able to do it.  Right now he sleeps in the swing for naps (because that is the only place he will sleep more then 30 min when he wants.  Some times it's 30 min there too) he takes a short morning nap and a short mid day nap and I try to get a long afternoon nap.  He eats every 3 hours because if I try the 4 hours it messes up with all the short naps and stuff.  Then he is also grumpy in the evening from having to be up for 4 hours.  I don't know what to do.  I can't put him down sooner becuase of DH getting home so late I can't get hte feeds to 4 hours because of naps and I can't get his naps longer!!!!! :x  :x  I don't know what to do with his night wakes either!!
I am sorry I am the black sheep of the bunch.  I just wish my lo was as good as you alls are.  I guess I will be leaving the board since I am not doing things the way Tracy would say to do it.

[~Jency's*Momma~]

okay tell me if this is good or bad.
Jency got up around 7:45 this morning.  I got him up and dressed then gave him some applesauce and nursed around 8:00am.  Then I put him in the swing at 9:40 and he talked to himself and was out at 9:45am (he always talks to himself before he falls asleep in the swing.  in the crib he just cries).  He woke at the 45 min time but I left him there and ignored him and he talked to himself for 10 min and fell back asleep.  Is this good or bad?  Should I continue doing this?  I know you will probably say to put him in his crib and then at the 45 min mark just leave him in there and let him cry but I just can't.  If I go in he wants up and out and wouldn't lay back down.

[Critter]

The only advice I have for you is this...
Be consistent!!!  Do the SAME thing at the SAME time and Jency will get used to it and adjust.  YOU set the schedule for a while and see how that works.  It will be hard.  There will be tears.  BUT if you want Jency to sleep in the crib and you want longer naps and you want sleeping through the night, it's something you'll have to do.

[rebecaq]

I don't think leaving the board is neccesary, we are all here to help each other out, not to go on and on or brag that our babies are "good".  Being on a schedule doesn't make them good or bad, actually all babies are good!  .

I didn't have ds on E.A.S.Y. until he was 3 months and it was HELL getting him on it.  He used to nurse to sleep, eat whenever he wanted and get up like 4 times a night.  I even thought that Tracy's schedule was kind of strict.  But the more I read the book, the more I realized it was all about routine not schedule.  I also realized that it was to ensure he got enough calories during the day in order to get him to sleep through the night.  And as lovely feeding on demand is, when they get older is creates chaos.  I guess it becuase babies have so much going on internally (discovering the world, themselves, physical and social milestones etc) that if their outside world is structured it helps them out.   

If you're serious about putting him on E.A.S.Y. you need to stick with it and like Amy said, be consitent!  Also, don't try to change everything at once, it will be too overwhelming for both of you.  Go with what you consider most important.  And if you want him to eat every 4 hours, do it gradually, not from one day to the other.  I did it by pushing his feed back by 15 minutes every 2 days.

About keeping baby up for dh to see him, hmmmmmm, I told my dh I wasn't going to do that.  I thought it was unfair to keep a tired baby up.  So they have their special cuddle and bonding time in the morning.  Do you think something like that may work for you guys?

I know I just joined this forum on a regular basis, but I don't consider you or anybody the black sheep.  We all have different personalities and parenting styles!  :lol:

[daisymelan]

welcome back bj and congrats on the dsl.  I think my head would spin if I had to go back to dial up! lol

Adria, I agree with amy and rebeca...  it just needs to be consistency.  Sometimes I go mad because I'd rather be out visiting at night or go to a friends during the day, but I have to think of my lo.  Once I get him on scedule for a few days, I do make trips more and mess up his schedule a bit, but only after he's settled into his routine so he doesn't get too confused.  I think that if you are serious about using BW and want Jency to be on it, you will have to allocate a week or so and stick with it to see if he will adapt.  This is only a week, not a very long time in the scheme of things.... and I think it's worht it.  Well, I should say it was worth it for me.  I now have much more sanity as he is down for two solid naps a day. 

I also had troubles with ds using his swing, but it was worth getting him into the crib.  I think the longer you wait, the more trouble it will be.... also, he's getting older, so changing things will become more difficult.  Also, he's likely going to have to stop using it soon if it's like mine and has a weight restriction on it.

To be honest, I just think that you should either take what you want from the book and use it, or don't... it's up to you.  No one on here is judging you becuase you chose to use it or not.  I just think that if you aren't willing to go through the head aches (and there will be those) to get him on a routine, then don't expect him to go on one.  He only knows what you teach him.

You are a loving mama who is trying her best.  I loved BW and found it helped me out huge.  Perhaps it doesn't work for everyone, that's fine.  Just know that we are here for support and we've all been there.... or close to there.