BabyWhispererForums.com
ACTIVITY => E.A.S.Y. Forum => Topic started by: Nikki~Nathan&Danielle on May 06, 2005, 01:22:09 am
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Just wondering if anyone else wants to chat about where their baby's at and how you're doing (or not doing) on EASY and post your routines?
Fortunately Danielle's a cruisey baby and does 2.5-3hr feeds during the day easily (in fact I almost always need to wake her for a feed). She's also a sleepy baby so feeds right up to the next time and settles easily for sleep - great considering Nathan wouldn't be too happy about me spending time settling her! :roll:
At nights she mostly does a 4.5hr stretch after bedtime and then 3-3.5hrly during the rest of the night (although I did get a 6hr stretch out of her the other night). I haven't started with the DF consistently yet, but will do if only I can get my butt outta bed since I go to bed at 8.30pm and get DH to wake me - just dissapointing when the DF makes no difference and I've gotten up for no reason - I know perseverence will pay off though.
So how's everyone else doing?
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Hi Nikki. My ds, Elijah is 7 weeks old. We just started him on EASY two days ago. So far we're already seeing a difference. We're also doing the Pat/Shush method to teach him how to fall asleep on his own. Up until now, he's been eating on damand, and would only sleep if we held him. I had been sleeping with him at night last week because I was despaerate for sleep. He would wake every hour after 1:30 am. I would nurse him, (he'd only eat for about 5 min, and then fall back asleep).
Now we're doing 3 hour feeds, and very short activity times before we put him down to sleep. At this point, it takes most of his nap time to get him to wind down and fall asleep. We've discovered that he's a spirited baby, and gets over stimulated very easily. We didn't know he was over stimulated b/c he never seemed to complain. He could stay awake for 3-hour stretches, even when he was 1-day-old. Then he'd have catnaps all day long, usually in my arms, then wake to feed every hour or so. I don't know how we made it through the first 7 weeks!
We did EASY with our first son, and it worked like a charm. I don't know why we didn't start it right away this time around, except that I was listening to the "Experts" that say to feed on demand and carry your baby around with you all day.
So, it's only been two days, but already things are improving. I pray things continue to get better!
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Hi Nikki -
My little guy, Pierce, was born on April 3rd. So, he'll be 5 weeks old tomorrow. We just started EASY a week ago. In general, he's a pretty good baby - part Textbook and part Spirited. That makes for an interesting combination. He seems to like his new schedule, but often is so drowsy after a feeding, that I can barely wake him. He feeds every 2.5 hours. Also, he seems to resist at least one of his afternoon naps. I'm not sure if I should continue to force a nap or just let him remain awake. (Luckily, he's happy during this period.) Pierce goes to sleep at about 10:30 and usually sleeps until 5:00. Sometimes he'll wake me at 1:15, but I think he just wants company. When I try to feed him at this time, he falls asleep after 5 minutes. I wish I would have found this method sooner.
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We're having a pretty easy time of it so far. I think I may have a bonafide Angel baby, but before you all get jealous let me tell you that my second one was a pistol, spirited (still is) and touchy and she gave much awful fits as an infant I was ready to pull my hair out, so I deserve an angel baby.
I tried to do EASY from day one with the first two and with this one I keep it in mind but I've been much more relaxed about it all. We're out and about almost every morning b/c the older kids have classes and activities so he's just had to kinda conform to our existing schedule. He puts himself to sleep great so far, I'm trying not to ruin that.
At night I usually feed him at 11 when I go to bed. He then sleeps until somewhere between 2 and 4, and then will go right back down. He's done that since we came home from the hospital and I am so thankful for that! No late night party animal yet. I hopeful that he'll sleep through the night early b/c the other two sure didn't (ds was 6 months dd was 9 months).
So anyways... we seem to be in a good pattern so far eventhough we're not exactly on EASY yet. I do have all three napping at the same time in the afternoon which has just been blissful as I get a nice break of alone time.
It'll be fun to hear what others are up to thanks for starting this Nikki. Love the portrait of Danielle! I need to get my camera out and take more pics of Evan, I've been a BAD mommy so far.
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Oh cool, some mums to chat to!
Nik99, glad to hear that Elijah has taken to EASY well. When Nathan was a baby he also took ages to fall asleep and the first 7wks for us were a nightmare as well. He was quite touchy as a newborn but later became more Textbook.
Southern Mom, sounds like things are going great for you - that nighttime sounds really good.
Tanya, wow, you sound really relaxed about everything and with number 3! I think Danielle's an angel baby too, but somehow think that's changing a bit....I'm so envious you have all 3 napping at the same time. Nathan's giving me hassles and I'll get him down and then D will be ready to wake up, or she will decide to fuss or stir at 45mins and so a no-go as well. In the last two days (in fact since posting), Danielle's started only having 30min naps, soooo frustrating, things were going really well and today I just couldn't get her to resettle, admittedly I didn't spend a lot of time pat/shshing - just don't have the time with Nathan to sort out too. She fussed on and off with big quiet patches, but just wouldn't go back to sleep. Not looking forward to that tomorrow with DH back at work.
Well I attempted a DF again last night before I went to bed, it was only at 9.30pm, but I figured it was better than nothing, but the little minx wouldn't open her mouth and I gave up after 10mins of annoying her. I didn't go as far as unswaddling her or anything, but wondering if I should? Does anyone else have problems with this and what extent do you go to? As it was she ended up sleeping from 7pm to 1am and then did a 4am wake up, so it would've been the perfect night if I'd been able to do the DF and she would've only woken me once for a feed.
Tanya, how do you get much sleep if you're only going to bed at 11pm, do your kids sleep late?
I really want to do the DF because it worked great with Nathan and by 7wks he was down to just a 4am waking and by 11wks dropped that and slept till 7am.
Oh, enough blathering on by me.
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No I don't get much sleep, dd is up at the crack of dawn everymorning. Finally figured out the neighbor who's car is virtually parked outside her window feels the need to rev, rev, rev the motor on his car when he leaves for work at 6:30am and that's what's waking her up. But it gets me 8 hours and I can nap w/ kiddos in the afternoon. I was sleeping like 5 hours a night pg so this is much better!
On the nap thing when I had just the two I decided that the most difficult one would be the one to go down first. For a long time that was Kyle, then I'd put the easy one down. That has now reversed and I put Amy down first. I didn't want to spend a whole naptime putting one down only to have the other one get up.
So when Amy was an infant I'd keep her up, put K to bed, and then I was bad I shamelessly would bf her to sleep at naptime so that she'd sleep and I could have a good 2 hour stint by myself. Actually back then K was still on two naps a day so I could get a break twice a day, it was blissful!
Anyways... my advice for having more than one is to get them napping at the same time, otherwise you never have ANY you time!
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Today is the forth day of using EASY and the pat/shh method. I can't believe the difference it's made already! Elijah is now napping in his own bed! Today he slept for 2 hours at a time for 2 of his naps. I actually had to wake him both times to feed him.
DH has been doing the DF's and getting up to feed him at around 3:00 am the past two nights. (He's doing night duty as a Mother's Day/Birthday present. I get to sleep all night for tonight and the past two nights. I haven't had a full night's sleep since I was about 4 months pregnant!) Elijah is sleeping longer at night, but dh has been having trouble settling him back to sleep in the wee hours. I hope tonight is better for him.
All in all, we are so impressed. We actually had a nice sit-sown dinner tonight with company. We were so relaxed knowing that Elijah was sleeping peacefully while we enjoyed ourselves. We feel like we're getting our lives back. I hope this continues.
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Hi.
My baby is nearly 4 weeks old and I've been doing a very loose version of easy for about two weeks. It's been hard!
The day time routine seems good, I know exactly when he'll eat (he's always been on a 3 hour routine from birth), and how long his activity time will last and then sleep etc... he's always fallen asleep in his basket which is good I guess?
I too have been struggling with the night time routine, I tried the 6pm and 8pm cluster feeds but he hardly had any of his bottle on both occasions and not a great deal at 10.30pm either... needless to say, we had many rough nights! He didn't seem to know where he was! Maybe I should have contuned with them?
I've since dropped the cluster feeds as they didn't make any difference to his night time waking (2.30 and 4.30).
Over the last few days I've fed him at 2-3am, but when he's woken at 4.30, I've left him to grumble a bit and he's sent himself back to sleep as he has never eaten very much at all at these times any way. He then usually wants a bottle at 6am which works fine for me!
I'm always wide awake through his grumbling but I can't believe how he manages to get back to sleep! Is this just a fluke?
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Well I got both down for a nap today - yay! Unfortunately it was a day Nathan decided an hour was enough, so half an hour of rested eyes lying on my bed in the sun for me at least, so that was bliss.
Danielle had two 30min naps this morning unsuccessfully extended since I couldn't take the time to pat/shsh for 20mins, I know if I did she would've gone back to sleep - but we just went with the flow so had EASASE. She goes to sleep on her own without any patting required, so that's a bonus at least. But when I got her down midday she slept for 2.5hrs, so I'm happy with one big nap a day out of her at this stage. We're on the run most mornings or afternoons anyway with Nathan's activities, so I think she'll be catnapping on the run a lot anyhow.
Nik, your boys are just gorgeous!
Piggywig, my DF hasn't worked the nights that I've done it, but from memory with Nathan it took a week for him to change the pattern ie. before DF he would sleep 7pm, 1am, 4am, 7am. With DF he'd then go 7,10,1,4,7 - then after a week he went 7,10,4,7. So I think stick with the feeds that you want to offer and give it a good go (should take my own advice! LOL). :roll:
We had a 4am waking last night after she'd already had her 3am feed, so DH did the resettling for that one, have no idea what that was about. Unfortunately in this house, both kids tend to wake each other if their crying isn't responded to immediately, even grizzling.
Does everyone swaddle? Do you do it for both naps and nighttime? I've found Danielle will sleep quite well during the day without a swaddle and wonder whether to encourage it since she won't take a dummy (and I have tried and tried) and it means she may find her fingers?
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Hello all,
Nikki, Danielle and Sienna sound very similar so far...
Sienna has also been very easy for me (she is almost 6wks), Kyan was a touchy/spirited so I have been through it all the P/Shh the Pu/Pd and the sitting in dark room with an overstimulated bub.
This time around it seems so so much easier, I started her on EASY from day one and she has been content with a 3 hr BF routine and just loves to sleep...I don't want to get to excited but she has been sleeping 5-6 hr stretches at night for the last week!!! :shock: Can you believe my fortune
Thankfully Kyan is like clockwork with his nap and goes down for 2 hrs at around 12, so when there sleeps coincide it is blissful!!
I have stopped swaddling Sienna as she doesn't seem to have trouble settling, I just support her with rolled cloth nappies either side of her (she sleeps on her side). She also goes to sleep on her own without needing any help from me.
With the finger sucking I used to help Kyan by holding his hand close to his mouth while doing Pshh and he finally latched on to them, he was 3mths when I weaned his dummy. The best thing I ever did as he has never had problems self soothing, and I never had the dummy fall out at night problem. When she gets wind pain I do hold her through it until she settles. I haven't been successful with DF yet but I will post on that subject soon, at the moment I'm just topping her up after her bath and she lasts for 4 hrs usually. Got to go....baby to feed... Take care Bianca
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My good little sleeper has turned into a wake-up every three hour baby. I'm not sure what changed in his routine, but I'm now getting pretty exhausted. We do cluster feedings at 6 and 8 and a dream feed at about 10:30. Instead of sleeping until 5 am, he now gets up at 1:30, 4:30 and then 7:30. Suggestions from any of the moms out there? He seemed very hungry during each BF and wouldn't take a pacifier. Perhaps it's a growth spurt? He's gaining weight like crazy.
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Hi Everyone, this is my first time posting a reply...what a great site. So good to know that I can chat with other new mom's. Armand was born on March 24th and I think he is a textbook baby...although I am beginning to think he is a little spirited as well because he tends to get over stimulated at times.
I can totally relate to southern mom...armand started out getting up only once at night and then in the last couple weeks started to get up twice and last night I was up 4 times. He also used to sleep alot during the day, but now he gets in usually one 2-3 hour nap and several other cat naps. We have been trying to do EASY..but since he has short naps during the day it does not feel like we are getting the pattern...seems that we go on more of a EA EA S cycle. I have been trying to put him to sleep in his own crib so that he falls asleep on his own, but he usually cries and cries and then it seems to take 2 hours to get him down. Because of this I have started getting him to fall asleep in the stroller or swing, but then he wakes when the motion starts. Any tips for getting through those crying bouts in the crib?
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SoutherMom, sounds like it could be a growth spurt. But also, Danielle lost her 5-6hr stretch for a week or so and now it's starting to come back, so just persevere and go with it for now and hopefully it will readjust again.
Well did the DF last night and D went 4hrs afterwards, so that's an improvement on only lasting 3hrs anyhow. So just wanting that to increase back to the 6hrs and we'll be on track.
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My only suggestion for crying in the crib would be to swaddle him tightly - with his little hands by his sides. He may resist at first, but this usually helps my little guy when he gets overstimulated. The nurse at the hospital told me that when their arms start to move, babies can actually get themselves even more upset. I don't know if this is true in all cases, but it seems to make sense. Pierce also does EA EA S in the afternoon sometimes. The crib is also useless for me during these periods. He will, however, fall asleep in my arms or the Baby Bjorn. Go figure...
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Nikki, I'm obsessed with swaddling! I've always done it, but now he won't nap when we are visiting friends unless I wrap him up. My friends think this is odd as with their babies, they can just lay them on the sofa with vests on and they go to sleep!... however, the same babies can't send themselves to sleep like mine can! I can just put him in his moses basket, swaddled, and leave him to it! so I say "hurray for swaddling!"
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Hello ladies! First time visitor, and I need some support. I have a beautiful baby girl who is almost 8 weeks old (June 3rd). She sleeps great at night, but will not sleep during the day. Of course, by mid afternoon she is so fussy. How long did it take you to get on a good and EASY schedule?
Here is all the other info..
We co-sleep with her. She sleeps from about 1030pm-4am. She usually falls right back asleep, as I am bfing. She wakes around 630-7am for another feed. She SOMETIMES will fall back asleep.
xposted
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Hi to Mileha...Kianna's Mum
My little girl is also almost 8 weeks, on your question about daytime naps, I think that it is real important to follow Tracys advice and check out your feeding(E) first ie--how long she is feeding and how often. If all that is going well, then you may be missing her tired signs, so the next step would be to work out how long she can handle being up (A) at 8 weeks some babies can handle 45 mins or a little longer if a remeber correctly, my dd can only stay up 30 mins max after her feed(which takes about 25mins) and then I go through the steps of helping her to sleep, these are also outlined in Tracys new book...swaddle, hold until relaxed, place in crib, and either leave if you have a babe that goes to sleep on own, or do the PAT/ SHH method until asleep this can take a full 20 mins so watch the clock....if your baby cries a little just persevere they know you are there with them. Your little girl may have a sleep debt if she hasn't been napping at all during day, so it might be a little harder to get a good sleep routine happening during the day at first so hang in there.
Hope this helps :)
Bianca
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Forget everything I said earlier! Night times have gotten worse over the last couple of nights. I've Been cluster feeding as I wanted to really try that again, but he's now waking at 1.30am, then again at 3, then from 5 he wants to be awake! I'm so tired!
Are these forced feeds in the evening causing this? :O(
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Piggywig, maybe you've hit a growth spurt?
Well the DF hasn't got me back to a 6hr sleep stretch yet (which I was getting if I put her to bed at 7pm she'd sleep till 1am), I've been doing it at 10pm and D will go 4hrs max. :? Although she did two sets of 4hrs the other night so only one night waking which was fab since Nathan's up at 6am anyway, we got a good sleep. Unfortunately last night was back to a 3hr and then a 4hr...
How's everyone else doing?
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Had an interesting night yesterday. My Mom watched my little one while my husband took me out for our first post baby date. I made up two bottles of 4 ounces each and told her to give him what he wanted. Since I've been BF, I really had no idea how much he would take. My doctor said perhaps 2 to 3 ounces. So, I got home and Pierce was happily in dreamland and had finished both bottles. Amazingly, he slept from 11 until 5:45! My little guy has not gone for more than 4 hours in the past week. I don't know what to think. Perhaps he's not getting enough food at night? I hope this isn't just a one time event. My advice (which is worth what you pay for it) to Piggywig would be to stick with the cluster feeds. More food in your baby's tummy should make him sleep longer. Hang in there everyone!
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Hi all, I am new to this post, but it looks comforting to have other mothers to chat with. Alex is 7 weeks on Wednesday, he was born March 30. I also have 2 other boys, 5 and 3. So far Alex seems to be a spirited baby. He has had 2 growthspurts already, more than doubling his weight in just under 2 months. Its difficult to settle him to sleep, but lately I've found that swaddling him (using the aussie swaddle), holding him until he feels heavy, and then laying him down works wonders. He puts himself to sleep at almost every nap. Tanya, I bought one of your blankets from your website, very cute and very practical!!! I loved the instructions for the swaddle you sent with it. We use it for every nap and bedtime!!!
Days are going great. We operate on a 3 hour EASY most times. Sometimes 2.5 hours. He eats for about 20-25 minutes on both sides (he's breastfed) and then has activity for about 5-10 minutes in the afternoon and about 45 minutes in the morning and evening. He seems to like the longer naps between 11 and 4.
Nighttime is getting there. We lay him down around 7-8 and he sleeps until 12:30. He eats and then will wake up again at 4:30. Sometimes he will get up at 3, but after that last feed he usually sleeps until 6-7 and then he's up for the morning. We don't dreamfeed because we, too, go to bed at about 9. I'm thinking of doing one at 9 anyways though...any thoughts? We have a couple of rogue nights where he will eat an then be awake for about an hour afterwards. I dread those times!!! Its so hard to settle him then. I usually have my husband get up with him, but I think he's the reason he wake back up after just 20 minutes. I think he needs to be settled more and I'm the only one that takes the time to do that.
Just out of curiosity, for those breastfeeders, about how much breastmilk do you get when you express? I'm going to try a yeild this morning to see and I wanted something to compare it to.
Good to meet you all, Jamie
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Hi Jamie, your night times are very similar to what goes on here (bedtime 7pm, wakes 12-1am and then again around 4am). I attempted the DF for about 4 nights but it didn't make any difference so have decided to drop it for a couple of weeks and in the meantime see if Danielle stretches out her 1am waking a little. I think a 9pm DF would be fine if it's a couple of hours after the bedtime feed. With Nathan I used to give him the final feed at 7pm and DF at 9.30pm (started off at 10.15 and just pulled it back in to my preferred time).
I've found cluster feeding doesn't work with Danielle, she basically hates to have food offered to her if she doesn't want it and struggles and wrestles with me the whole time and doesn't take much. I've reverted to letting her set the pace and she will feed 3-4hrly, so will be interesting to see how that affects her night wakings - she feeds soooo much better and takes a lot more in, so think it will balance out anyhow. - unlike little piggy Nathan who took all the food that was offered.
I also find that she will generally have 2 x 1hr naps in the morning, then a 2-2.5hr nap in the afternoon which I usually need to wake her from and then a catnap in the early evening until time for the bedtime routine - so we're not really following EASY all that much anymore.
I haven't pumped any milk so can't comment on how much. I know when I attempted pumping with Nathan I barely got anything, but know that that's not necessarily a good guide.
My little bubba no longer looks like a little bubba, can't believe how fast that first 6.5wks has gone and all without drama either, she just slots into our lives so easily. :D
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Hello, may I join altho Luka was born 22 Feb??
We've been on a kind of EASY since birth, but am only really starting to teach him to fall asleep on his own for the past week. My fault for allowing other people to let me doubt myself.
How is everyone doing?
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Hi Shae!
Ugh, we had an AWFUL night last night. Alex went to bed at 8, but did not fall asleep until 11! I tried everything, feeding him, a pacifier, finally I brought him in bed with me, but nothing worked. He just fussed and fussed and then at 11 fell asleep. From there he was up all night. I'm going to try doing bath in the morning instead of night, so he is less stimulated before bed. anyone else do this?
Jamie
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Jamie
You're not alone in your awful night. We had a horrible night too. Luka went to bed at around 7.30 after his bath and cried and cried, nothing we did was right. And he didn't sleep during the night either.
And I also had my mom (I live with my parents.. not for long), tell me that I'm a child abuser because I was 'allowing' Luka to cry. Nice hey?
Tonight, it was a struggle to get him to sleep and we're not even using BW techniques anymore. If he cries then i'm called a child abuser, so I can't let him cry.
Hope he sleeps better tonight! :D
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Shae, With my first son I was 18 and also lived with my mom and dad. They were extremely supportive, however, I did feel obligated to be an extra good mom. I did not use the BW I had never even heard of it then, I just went with my natural instict, fed when he seemed hungry and rocked him or cuddled him if he was fussy. At night, I would take him to bed with me and we would sleep comfortably in my queen size bed most times all night through. Maybe until you are on your own you could just do what seems right rather than what the book says?? :)
Alex had an AWESOME night last night!!! One thing I did different is do his bath an hour early. Someone had suggested before that he was becoming too stimulated from the 7:30 bathtime. Therefore an hour/two hours later he was still awake and now extremely overtired. The lack of nighttime sleep was making him more sleepy during the day and thus we were lost in a cycle. SO...last night we did bath at 6:30. I fed him at 7, and cuddled with him until he was drowsy around 7:30/7:45. Out like a light until 1:30!!!!! It was blissful sleep! :) Then he was up at 3:30, and 5:45, and then 7:30. I can handle that. Maybe an early bathtime will help you too Shae?
Jamie
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Hi all,
can i join in? :lol: i have a 10 week old girl named tahlia. she was born on 05/03/05. I have only just started the E.A.S.Y schedule this week. Tahlia is a spirited baby with a touch of angel and textbook. Its been great finding out that tahlia actually has abit of a pattern before i couldnt see it. Im having a little trouble with her day sleeps though, at first i was mistaking sleepy for hungry. Now i think im having trouble getting her to sleep i must be missing sleepy signs. this evening she went 4 hours straight of just E.A.E.A.E :roll: Towards the end i knew she was overtired but couldnt get her down, however most days she has a period like this where she just doesn't seem sleepy at all is this normal? i honestly dont think she naps enough but she doesnt seem to need sleep. Also she is sleeping from 10pm at night till 4 am then till 8 am then till about 10/10.30am is this ok or should i be trying to get rid of the 4am feed? Tahlia introduced evening cluster feeds herself so sometimes i wonder if she needs it.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/suzanne672004/IMGP0221.jpg)
Thanks Suz
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Hi to all our newbies! :D
Suzanne, you shouldn't actually need to try and get rid of that night feed, it will gradually extend out on it's own. You may need to make sure you're on a 3hr EASY during the day and if that feed is still at exactly the same time each night in a week or so, then you could maybe try Tracy's wake to sleep method (haven't tried it myself though).
Well we've finally got the DF working for us. I pick Danielle up at 10pm, and she's been going till 3-3.30am and then this morning slept till 7.15am. Yay - she even managed to sleep through Nathan's screeching at 5am when he refused to go back to sleep - and here was me thinking that he was "training" her to wake at 5am. So happy that we're getting there with the one night waking - it's not every night yet, but maybe half of the week has been like that.
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Hi everyone,
I am a newcomer too, and my baby is exactly 2 days older then Suzannes - Daniel was born March 7, 2005. We started on EASY when he was about 3 weeks old, but I have to admit it was a rocky road at first. It just seemed impossible for me to both follow his cues and keep the flow of EASY going. What should I do if he woke up after a nap and it was just 1.5 hour since the last feed? Give him food or let him have A-time until it was time to eat/he got hungry?
Anyway, with time we got the hang of it, and I am amazed now in hindsight over how much things seems to change constantly as he develops. What worked like a charm last week is useless now, and what he could not do yeasterday is a piece of cake today... :lol:
I am giving Daniel a DF at 11, and he usually sleeps until somewhere between 3.30 and 6.00. It varies every night. Then he eats and goes back quickly to sleep until either he wakes or I wake him at 7. My problem is - and I wonder if any of you have some good suggestions - what do I do when he wakes at 5.30 or 6.00? There is only one hour left until wakeup and food-time. If I feed him, the whole days schedule goes out of whack. But I can't keep him hungry for a whole hour either. Any suggestions?
Kristina
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tigris, I had the same question, I just posted it on the EASY schedule forum... got a good response regarding letting baby sleep until she woke. I'm not sure what to do when Baby wakes up at 6am! Alas, I am same as you amazed at how weird babies are changing everyday and how I have to stay on my toes 24/7... as if I wasn't tired already!
Baby Reyvadee (Revy for short) was born April 19, 2005... this is a great forum to chat with everyone! She is a touchy/textbook, we're working HARD on naps. Nighttime is pretty good so far (I'm hanging onto this for dear life).
hope everyone is doing well around the globe with their new babies!
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greetings everyone again... I'm wondering if we shouldn't mention when our babies have good nights/naps... seems like our babies might hear us and decide to prove us wrong!!
last night after I mentioned nights were ok, we had our worse night to date! What happened?! up every hour or two... I was able to settle her back down each time fairly quickly (one feeding at 3.30am), but can't believe how sleep deprived I am!
Perhaps it's the 6 week growth spurt? (Although, she actually seems to be eating a little less yesterday and today... she's bottlefed) I am noticing she is getting out her swaddle more and the fabric is up around her mouth or even eyes when she was waking last night. Any suggestions?
again, hope everyone is having good days/night! kat.
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Hi Kat. I agree, it sometimes seem like Daniel can sense when I talk about him being a good boy: he immediately changes his mind:). He is a textbook baby some spirited and angel touches, and will celebreate his 3 months "brthday" next week. He had growthspurts very much like you describe, wanting to eat often (especially at night), but not taking more then usual each time, sometimes even less. I think it is the frequency of meals that keeps them going better and also increaes your milk supply.
We had ath swaddle-problem too, and for us the Kiddopotamus Swaddle-me worked great. It is like a pouh with wings, and you use large velcro areas to fasten the swaddle. Daniel liked it, and most of the time could not undo it. The "best" he could manage was to get arms and legs out, but he never ended up with fabric piling up dangerously near his head. I found the fleece one worked best for us, but other have said that they prefer the lightweight cotton. Anyone else used this product? Comments?
Kristina
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Kristina,
Yes! We have 3 swaddle me's... she's still a bit too small so I have to compensate (she's 6 weeks old) so I really worry about it... we are actually adding some soft velcro to the back to help make it tighter so she can't get out as easily. I think they are great though... we probably should've gotten the preemie size. Maybe we still will. We are using the lightweight ones which are great!
Naps and sleep times are going a lot better, but who knows next sleep time?! Crazy babies!! :D
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Judy, yes the DF did take a while and a bit of tooing and froing on my part too out of frustration. Of course when I finally decided after 4 nights of no results to give it up she started waking before midnight so I put it back in and that's when it started to kick in. It took about a week to stablilise where she was consistently on one wake up only after the DF and then last night she even went from 10-pm till 5.30am which was great (of course I was awake at 4am and kept hearing the odd noise so never actually went to sleep until she woke for that feed). :roll:
How about you get them both into their bedroom at the tired signs of the first one (or an hour maximum) and have gently quiet play with the second one but encouraging her to go to sleep too? Do Sarah and Zoe let you spend any time in their room while putting them to sleep - Nathan doesn't but fortunately Danielle rarely needs much pat/shsh.
We still seem to have 2 short naps (45-1hr) in the morning then a long 2hr nap in the afternoon the same as Nathan and then another 2 short naps before bedtime. Not EASY, but works for us since things are so on the go.
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My daughter is almost 13 weeks old and we are having some challenges. A month ago I implemented the Four S's from Tracy's new book and the swaddling and shh pat worked like a charm. However, two weeks ago she started fussing more and more around nap time. I have gone back and forth on the swaddling and, after much consideration, decided not to do it anymore as she is finding her fingers, she cries more when swaddled, and she always gets out within five minutes. I recently started the PU/PD method with her and it is working okay. However, what I have noticed is that she is consistently waking up after 45 minutes from naps (at night she goes to bed at 7:00, DF at 11:00, and wakes up around 2 or 3 to eat, then sleeps till 7:00). Tracy's new book talks about transitioning to a four hour schedule during the fourth month and that a sign of this is the 45 minute naps. My question is, has anyone transitioned their child to a four hour schedule and, is it okay to do it even though she is just turning three months now? Also, is anyone else having any luck with the PU/PD? How long did it take before baby was able to transition to sleep more smoothly?
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BL's mom - I think it may be a little eary to transition to the 4hr EASY for a few reasons. She would need to be able to stay awake for a longer period of time which she may or may not be ready for and also she'd need to be happy about only feeding 4hrly - to do so may mean that you have night wakings - so you could give it a go if you thought it would work.
45min naps can creep in any time, my dd started them from 5wks of age, and I know it definitely wasn't from going into her room at the slightest peep and me disrupting her transitioning into the next sleep cycle and she really wasn't capable of being kept awake when she wanted to sleep - they are still too touchy at this age as far as getting into an overtired and overstimulated state if kept up too long. Tracy also acknowledges that some babies just only like to take shorter naps. There are several strategies you can try: pu/pd to extend the naps, pat/shsh prior to her waking (ie go into the room before the wake up time and help her transition that way), or just go with the flow and wait until she's about 5-6mths and ready to go to two naps - this seems to cure most 45min nappers. If you check out the naps forum there is a big thread in there dedicated to 45min nappers - I haven't read it myself, but I'm sure it'll give you plenty of ideas.
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Hi Bella.
Daniel is 12 weeks, almost exactly the age of your little one. He started to put himself on a 3.5h EASY about 2 weeks ago, and now he is extending to 4h. I know this is supposed to be too early, so I take the risk of being shouted at (as I was on the YOU posting recently), but it seems to be what my sons needs. I saw this not because of shortened naps, but becasue he simply was not hungry after 3 hours - he would suckle a little, pop off the breast and play, then suck a little more and stop alltogether. If I waited 3.5 (and now 4h), he would take a really nice long calm happy feed. I was initially afraid of going to 4h since it means he will get one less feeding during the day and needs to compensate that with taking more each time. But in fact that is exactly what he does, and it works good for us. He goes now pretty regularly from his DF at 11 until 6-7 in the morning.
His first nap in the late morning is usually the best one - 1.5-2h, while the ones later in the day are more unpredictable and often those on-the-minute-45min ones, but I do not worry too much about that.
Kristina
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judy... oh gosh, sounds like craziness!!
Being a total new mom, I don't think I can help you figure out what's happening with your babies (I'm with you on wondering whether it's gas or growth spurt or just not happy with where they were!),
but I CAN say that I do understand wanting to get out of current stage/phases (even if they are just a couple of hours or half a day!) so you don't feel crazy!
It seems to me that the whole baby thing is dependent on being able to keep a clear view that "this too shall pass" ... HARD to do when you've been listening to crying for a couple of hours and haven't eaten or slept!
Best of luck to you, and vent anytime!! kat.
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Thanks for your reply. I'm going to try the shh pat method to extend her naps. I'll let you know if it works!
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Grrr, just lost my big reply.... :evil:
Judy, I really don't know what to offer for advice - the girls could have been unsettled by any of those things you mentioned - I really had no idea about growth spurts until after the fact and even now I don't really know if it was a fussy day or wanting to eat. You could try an elimination diet on possible stuff, especially if you don't usually eat the crisps it could have been a trigger. I'm cutting some foods at the moment as well to figure out our odd fussy day.
As far as bedtime. Once Danielle was a week old we started putting her to bed the same time as Nathan at 7pm. She fell into it pretty well and only had the odd 4-5am wake up and party (not incl. feeds). Now she sleeps till 6-7.30am. I found it brought some sort of normality back into our evenings to at least have both kids tucked up in bed for a few solid hours before I knew D would be up and Nathan was going through a 3-5 wakings a night stage.
Well we got another 7hr stretch out of Danielle last night after the DF, so I'm finally seeing the results of it, I'm just worried how to get past the 5am waking if it doesn't shift and she's showing that she doesn't need it, I know Nathan had a bit of trouble and we used the dummy to hold him off since he wasn't really hungry, but since Danielle hasn't had a dummy so far, I'm a bit loath to introduce one now - although she may not notice it if it's only for that time of the morning - any thoughts anyone?
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Judy
I have gotten Bella to sleep at 7 pm for about a month now. Funnily enough, this is the easiest time to get her to sleep, much easier than nap times. She usually wakes up around the dream feed time and then goes right back to sleep until around 3 am to eat and then right back to sleep until 7 am. I started out doing cluster feeds at 7 and 9 pm and then at 6 and 8 pm and then slowly consolidated those into one feed at 7 and then bedtime. I also do a bedtime ritual: feed, bath (only twice a week), diaper change with plenty of diaper cream, massage, book (Goodnight Moon), turn off light, sit quietly in chair (as much as she will stand), and then bed. She doesn't go right to sleep. She does still take the paci and often requires some shh pat. I can't imagine trying to do it with two, though.
I talked to a friend of mine last night after being very frustrated about Bella's short naps and difficulty going down for naps. She kind of gave me some perspective. She encouraged me to stop thinking so much and to try to enjoy my daughter because she is only young once. She said I should try to go with the flow more, so I am trying to work on that today.
This site has also helped me recognize that I am not alone. Thanks!
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Hi to all Mums of this age group!! Ain't it FUN :shock:
Judy you are a living legend in my eyes and all I can say is your posts make me feel that I should just keep quiet and not even dare to complain about lack of sleep etc :D
Anyway I need some opinions...Nikki you sound like you have established a good routine for Danielle..Here's a ??
Sienna is currently on a 3hr routine with her feeds but I have hit some rocky ground as far as her naps go... She hasn't had the consistency that Kyan had, as I have been working around a 2yr old and daily life is more hectic..So somedays(when out and about) she doesn't get a good morning nap ie 45mins and then she wants to have a long sleep during the middle of the day ie2-3hrs and then somehow I try to squeeze another 1hr nap in before her bedtime which is around 6:30-7pm.
Also I would like some ideas on awake times for this age, as she was awake for 2hrs yesterday from 4:30pm until her bedtime, and didn't seem to be overtired. I really tried to get her to have a short nap as Tracy suggests, but she was not into that at all...Is it possible that she can manage being awake that long?? Kyan never could have!(spirited/touchy) So I feel all confused as she just doesn't show really obvious tired signs and stays happy for ages..But I'm worried I'm taking advantage of her nature(angel) and letting her stay up too long!
At night I still haven't really established a DF, her current pattern is a 5-6hr stretch after bedtime E's at 12 midnight or 1am then sleeps thru until 5-6am..then another sleep until around 7:30am. Should I try again with Df??
Thanks Bianca
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Bianca, well to be honest, your day sounds a lot like mine - not EASY! LOL.
Danielle is probably awake 1-1.5hrs at the moment for activity and she does need that afternoon catnap - I actually do it using the frontpack to tide us through to bathtime. I think if she doesn't seem to need it, I wouldn't try doing anything differently. If she's content that's the main thing. She also does a couple of short naps in the morning, then a big 2-2.5hr one over the middle of the day when Nathan sleeps and then one or two short naps in the later part of the day - probably getting 3.5-5hrs worth of naps a day. Every day is so different and I'm finding I'm just going with the flow most of the time and just as long as I fit in the right number of feeds a day (feeds are usually between 2-3.5hrs apart) and follow her sleep cues I don't really mind when things happen as long as she's in bed at night by 7pm. I always have A before E because of the short naps.
I find the DF is great, so I only end up getting up once a night now, but we seem to have reverted back to barely 5hrs from DF whereas she was going up to 7hrs. Like I said earlier on, it did take a good week for it to kick in though. I think if you don't have a DF you could end up getting up in the night for quite a few months (fine if you don't mind that...).
Not sure if that's helped much though. :D You sound like you're doing great. I think with a toddler (or two!) it's definitely is more difficult to stick to the plan and extend naps etc and be at home for naps.
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Hello again to all...
Thanks Nikki, I can't believe how similar our days sound :D Well I have started DF this week and so far she is waking earlier around 4am after a 11pm DF, I am hoping she stretches this out as she gets used to it. I am going to take it back to an earlier time eventually, aiming for around 10:30pm. Last couple of days have been fairly consistent, she always seems to want a 2hrly feed in the late afternoon so I am not doing cluster feeding before bed as of yet, example: E 1pm then E again 3pm then sleeps from 4pm until 6pm and feeds again before bed at 7pm! Poor thing she is just trying to get enough sleep per day I think.
Naptimes vary everyday for me too.. Like you said as long as they are content life is good :wink:
Judy, I was wondering if your twins are going through the 6 week stage, where they get overstimulated easily due to the developmental changes in there nervous systems..
I know with both mine this was the crying stage especially in the late afternoons/evenings. It was just too much overload in a day for them.
Anyway hope you can go with the flow and it passes quickly for you.
Hang in there all!
Bianca
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My daughter also went through some difficulties at six weeks, crying for several hours in the evening for no (apparent) reason. I've read that the crying decreases after this time and this did happen with Bella.
Good news! After several days of frustration and crying (on mine and Bella's part), she seems to have gone back to napping for longer periods. The key was to go back to the swaddling, something I have vacillated about. When she would make the 45 minute transition between sleep cycles, she would flail her arms around, rubbing her face and waking her up. I do still have to do the shh pat, but not for as long when she's swaddled. I haven't had to do pu/pd for almost a week. Halleluah! I hated doing that. I guess this goes to show that you have to be patient (which I definitely was not) and try different things until something works.
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:shock: GROWTH SPURT !! :shock:
Hello everyone, Well it has to be! Sienna has spent all day today feeding every 2 hrs, emptying both breasts each time and sleeping short naps in between!! AAAAHHH It hasn't helped that I'm also sleep deprived myself as last night Kyan was waking up every hr from 2am onwards!! I really haven't figured out why he was so unsettled, I think he is growing too.
Hopefully my milk supply increases, it should at this rate :roll: I'm going to go with the flow today but will have a rethink if she keeps this up for longer.. By the way I would love to get some opinions on Tracys suggestion of 4hr BF at 4months if you have read through this section of her book..? Has anyone moved to this routine yet?
Back to feeding again.... :) Bianca
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Rest up if you can Bianca! I think we had a growth spurt last week, but the only way I knew about it was Danielle waking 3hrly through the night over two nights and then she made her way gradually back to a 5.30am waking after her DF. However, today she fed 3hrly during the day (up until now it's been 2.5hrly) so will see how this affects tonight. Also she's been only feeding for barely 5mins and not particularly enthusiastically....not sure what's going on there. :? So guess it will take a while to get to 4hr EASY for us, although she has extended her activity time to at least 1.5hrs after every nap and the last few days she's been back to 1.5hr naps after only having 45min ones for a good week or so - maybe all related to the GS? I don't recall ever getting Nathan to 4hrly feeds and I didn't intro solids until he was almost 6mths old, so not too sure how I'm going to go with that.
We're still just cruising along nicely though and I've given up thinking that things must go downhill at some point. Getting the most awesome smiles and chatting as well in the last few days - so perhaps there's been a lot of developmental changes affecting everything? You'd think 2nd time round I'd be a bit more clued up. :wink:
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Hello to everyone,
Just checking in...Well we are back in an almost normal routine again after our GS. I'm keeping Sienna up for approx 1hr and a half and she is having 3 good naps a day with a short one late evening, bedtime 7pm. Here is one thing that has happened though..I was singleside feeding up until this GS but now I can't seem to get back to it..Not sure why?? She took both sides during the GS and I thought once my supply increased she would go back to one side each feed as she had before, but she hasn't :? My supply seems okay so not sure how to get her to stay longer on just the one side (6mins usual) before she starts howling for me to give her the other!!
Oh well I'll try not to stress maybe I'll just have to go to doublesiding already. Kyan has his 2yr old molars coming through at the moment which is why we have had a few very unsettled nights. But all in all things are going well
and Nikki we're getting heaps of chattering and giggles aswell isn't it great... By the way Danielle is such a cutie :D
Take care all
Bianca
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Oh thanks for reviving this Bianca. Well, here's where we are at...
Danielle is 12wks on Friday, wow has time flown by fast, I kept waiting for things to turn bad and 12wks was my "we just need to get to 12wks" as far as survival goes, but it never got bad.
Danielle is also awake for 1.5hrs at a time now (almost to the minute), generally wakes around 7am (or woken by me by 7.30am), has 4 naps a day - this will usually be made up of one or two long naps and a 45min one or two - she has a catnap at the end of the day which I wake her from by 5.30pm to start bed and bath routine and she's in bed by 7pm. She's on a 3hr feed schedule too - how do we start to transition to 4hrly? I've been wondering how you do a 3.5hr schedule that Tracy talks about? Danielle's definitely not ravenous at 3hrs, but she's still getting the DF and then wakes anywhere from 2.30-5.30am (more often around 4am), so not too sure to stretch out day feeds just yet.
Bianca, I've also gone to feeding off both sides since our GS, my milk's definitely increased, but she seems to need both now - I found this with Nathan at 3mths too. What I do is offer the same side twice and then offer the 2nd side. Our feeds have increased to a nice 10-15mins (I was struggling with 5min feeds).
Nathan's also teething his 2yr molars, 2 down, 2 to go! We've had some whopper tantrums and whining and night wakings too. Here's me worried about getting Danielle sleeping through the night, I now think it's toddler stuff that's more disruptive. :roll:
So how's everyone else?
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Wanted to introduce myself- my DS was born April 27th - he is 8 weeks old today. I read Tracy's latest book and started the EASY routine about 2 weeks ago and it had made wonders! I was totally reading his tired cues as hunger cues. We are now easily able to go 3 hours between feeds and he sleeps fairly well during the day and excellent at night. My concern is the dream feed. I haven't had much luck with it, DS does not wake up and I really can't stay up past 10pm. I am still cluster feeding twice before bedtime and he is able to go from about 9pm until about 4am without eating (he wakes up around 2 and I re-swaddle him and give him his paci and he falls back asleep - a habit I am trying to stop). Since this seems to be working, do you all think I should keep trying the dream feed?
Thanks!!
Valerie and George
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George and Becca, just my opinion with the DF here...
George, unless you can stay up until 11pm I wouldn't attempt a DF prior to this since your LO's last feed is only 9pm and I would give a 2hr gap. So if it were me I'd probably consider the 9pm feed as the last and just continue as you are.
Becca, since your last feed is 8pm, you could do a minimum of a 10pm DF.
I've found that it can take at least a week to see some results with that 2amish waking shifting slowly towards morning. For a while I was stuck with the 1am feed which was there prior to the DF, then it went 2am, 3am etc.
HTH :)
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Hi all-
Been reading this thread as my Katie was born March 6 (wish I had found it sooner, sounds like lots of similar things going on). She's quite a sweetie - somewhat spirited, somewhat angel as far as I can tell and a notorious 45 minute napper despite all my best efforts to extend them. I'm thinking she's just going to be a 45 minute napper for a bit since pat/shh, extending awake time, all that doesn't seem to make a difference.
Nikki and Bianca - Tracy gives a good rundown on how to switch from 3 to 4 hour EASY in her new book (not that I've had any success with it , we were getting there and then I think we've hit a growth spurt as she was up at all hours the past few nights after sleeping 7-7ish (with DF) for almost a month. (Although she does occassionally wake at 5 - generally I just feed her then and but her back to bed and we tend to start our routine a little later that day - always seems to work out in the end.)
So nice to hear about all the babies!
-Erin
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Well last night we were a little held up so the bedtime routine did not get started until 8.pm (bath,feed,bed) She ended up asleep at about 9.00 and slept to 4.15!! (no dreamfeed)
Nikki, I have checked out the schedule that Erin M mentioned for going from 3 - 4 hr easy in the new book - it takes aprox. 15days. I could send it to you if that is allowed?? I am going straight on to a 3.5 hour routine as my lo has been sort of doing that herself (with feeds -still working on sleep!) So based on last nights times I have worked out at 3.5hr routine which I am going to start today. I chose 6.30 to start as this is what time dh gets up for work anyway. It looks like this:
E - 6.30am
A -
S - 8.00am
E - 10.00am
A -
S - 11.30am/12.00pm
E - 1.30pm
A -
S - 3.00/3.30pm
E - 5.00pm
A -
S - 6.30 catnap 45min
A - 7.15 tummy time/nappy free time
- 8.00 bath
E - 8.30
S - 9.00
no dreamfeed
The sleep times are estimated as she mainly catnaps but I am working on this with the pat/shhh method.
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Hi all,
I'm a frequent visitor of the site but only today found this message board. I'm so happy to chat with other moms of babies in the same age range. My daughter,Payton, has been ready to switch from 3 to 4 hour easy and daycare (a wonderful woman thankfully) has been working on extending her awake times for me. Payton has always been a great napper so the extended naps for a 4 hour routine are no problem. I didn't do a great job transitioning b/c of the daycare taking care of extending wake times. Its pretty much a cutover today. I hope this switch doesn't affect her night sleep tonight. She still wakes between 3-5am for one feed but goes right back to sleep. I'm so nervous about tonight. Wish me luck and keep fingers crossed that the 4hr routine will leave her hungrier during the day and maybe soon sleeping from 8pm to 7am.
I never did the df with either of my two girls and I had to break from using the paci with Payton before it became a bad habit. It was more difficult for me than her and got her to switch from waking 2x per night to just waking once. That switch happened around 12 weeks.
I'll post results soon. Thanks for listening.
Michele O
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Hi, just wondered if I can join this? My dd2, Holly was born 18 March 2005 and is now 14 weeks. Currently on 4 hour EASY and going well (should I say that!).
Hope to chat soon.
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Hello everyone, I'm new to this board too. My supercute little man was born on April 28th and is 8 1/2 weeks old. I started easy at about 5 weeks after a big struggle with reflux. He's on Gaviscon now and a much happier baby, but we still really struggle with the naps (after reading all of this though I'm feeling like that's normal). :roll:
Before EASY the poor guy would let us know that he was hungry and then have to wait while we mixed up the medication and by the time he ate he would be so mad he'd have tears streaming down his face and a hard time latching on between screams. I felt like such a terrible mom. He's on the 3 hour easy now and is starving right on cue so I always know when to start prepping his medication. It has been such a big help.
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Hello, moms! I'm a newbie as well. My little sweet pea, Jude, was born March 27. He's 3 months old today!!! This is my first baby, so I never know what to expect. We've been on a 4 hour EASY since 5 weeks because he won'tt eat before then. Speaking of eating, how many ounces are your darlings eating at a feed and over the course of a day? Jude will only eat 4-5.5 ounces per feed.
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Hi,
I'm so glad I found this! I'm a first time mom also. My Lindsay was born on 4/18/05, just turned 10 weeks today. My parents came to stay with us and helped the first 5 weeks, so things didn't seem too bad. But after they left, I realized I had no clue--baby was taking longer and longer to fall asleep at night, and not napping, so she got so cranky and cried all the time. My pediatrician recommended Tracy's book and I started the EASY 3 hour routine just 2 weeks ago. I found this site a great place for support and to know that I'm not alone! Right now I'm thinking of starting dream feed since she still wakes up at least twice at night to feed. I'm also working on her naps. I'm much better at watching her cues and get her down to nap. But it's very erratic whether she will sleep 30 minutes or 2 hours. We'll see how things go in the next few days.
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WOW! How nice to have all these new posters!! Welcome to all :)
Special welcome to you firstimers its a whole new world isn't it :lol:
I have been doing some study on Sienna's sleep patterns lately and how the DF feeds or late feed as I call it affects her.
Here goes...There seems to be a pattern of night sleep that occurs for my dd which is related to when she eats...
IE.. Last BFeed at 7pm with no DF and she goes 5-6 hrs straight sleep and then a wake up at around 1-2am then a 4hr sleep for a 5-6am wake up.
This makes it a little harder to get her to sleep right up until 7am especially if she wakes and eats at 6am...because then it is the next day and starts to interfere with her daytime routine.
Now if I feed her at 11pm(DF) she will sleep the same, approx 5-6 hrs for a 4am wake up and feed, which then helps her stretch to 7-7:30 am wakeup.
I have had to actually wake her up for the DF at 11pm as she won't eat when she is asleep and I have found that now she will start stirring around 10:30 -11 pm because her system is getting used to that feed.
So it really is just establishing a pattern that works for you and after a few days they usually will start to follow that pattern quite comfortably.
REMEMBER sleeping from 11pm until 4am -5am is pretty much as close to sleeping through the night as you will get at this age :)
For me I set my alarm and get up at around 11pm to feed her because it creates a better routine the following day for us...but Sienna is also very easy to settle back to bed again now, so waking her to feed her is no hassle for us at this time of night.
I'm planning on going for the 4hr day routine very soon, following Tracys suggestions in her new book ..... but first its paci weaning time!! :shock:
I will be starting that next week, she has found her hand well and truly and although she isn't sucking her thumb or her fingers just the whole hand, I know she will if paci is gone for good and I know it is time from the signs(waking sometimes because she wants it to help her re-settle)
I successfully weaned my son off his paci at 3 months aswell so I hoping it goes as well this time around!!
Interested to hear from anyone who has there BF 3-4 month old on a 4hr routine already..
Happy Whispering to all of you
Bianca
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Katie shows no interest of going to a 4-hour routine and she'll be 4 months old a week from tomorrow (she is BF). However, we seem to have just finished a growth spurt (maybe, so hard to tell) and now I do think she's teething (well I can see the teeth, but who knows how long they'll take to come through - I've heard it can take forever) so we've had things interfering with sleep all over the place. About two weeks ago we had started to go from 3 to 4 hours (she was going 3 and a quarter to 3 and a half hours between feeds), but we've gotten thrown off since then. And now we're off to visit the in-laws for the long weekend coming up, so I'm not really going to worry about it too much until after we get back. (Then of course we've got her 4 month dr visit and more vaccinations :( so that will throw things off for a few more days - we'll get back on track someday!) Never a dull moment!
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Bianca, Thank you so much for the information on dreamfeed! Lindsay's current night time waking pattern is very similar to Sienna's before the dream feed, so that gives me confidence that DF will help. My question is if for the first few days, she wakes up at 2am again, do I feed her or just try to get her back to sleep? I noticed quite a few postings saying this may happen and DF takes a week to fully work.
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I tried the dreamfeed the last two nights. First night she still woke at 2am so I settled her back to sleep and she woke at 3.00, I settled her again and she woke at 4.45. I fed her then and put her back to bed until she woke again at 7.00. Last night she woke 1.45,3.00,5.00 and 6.00!!! :roll: :roll: :roll: I fed her at the 3.00 waking because of what happened the first night but it made no difference. I know I have gone backwards and forwards on the dreamfeed thing and just need to be consistent but with that many wakings I think I will just stick to the old way :? My dh thinks I am crazy because I keep changing my mind but he is not the one getting up :x
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My sweet pea turned 3 months old yesterday. I can't get over how much babies change in this short amount of time. Even though I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing at times, this is the most "funnest" thing ever!
Do you all have some favorite moments?
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Hi to all the newbies! :)
Well I'm not too sure what's going on with our nights, but Danielle's woken at 2.30am the last few nights, I feed and then she goes through till 7.15-7.30 anyway or when I wake her. :? I'm wondering if that's a sign that we need to stretch out the daytime feeds? Those considering or who have done the 3-4hr transition, did you just go cold turkey or gradual? I'm not sure how to fit a 3.5hr schedule into our 7-7pm day? When I looked back at my diary of Nathan's day, when he was doing 3.5hrs his last feed was at 5.30pm and then bed at 7pm. Just hesitant to make the switch when we've still got a night waking - anyone have any thoughts on that?
Wow, so many questions!!
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Hi Becca, yes sorry I did see your other reply. I have the new book, what pages discusses it? It it in the 4/4 piece, I just found it a little vague? I guess the key is getting them to sleep right up to their next 4hrly feed time - I have trouble with that, so it fits in with our 3hr schedule ok, so not too sure how to go about it since I don't really have time to do pu/pd with Nathan in the house.
Thanks :D
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Hello girls :D
Nikki, there is a section in the chapter on PU/PD about the 4hr routine.
I was looking through it today, pages 228-231.
I am waiting to change Sienna from 3hr to 4 a little longer as she is still struggling with a 2hr awake time..Basically this routine seems to work when you are able to do 2 naps per day plus a short nap late afternoon instead of the 3 naps a day I am on currently, so I will probably try this when she is closer to 4 months, although I am afraid of getting stuck in the short nap game!! :shock:
LindsaysMum,
How's it going?
I do think you need to stick with the Df for at least a week if you can, as it has to become a new habit for your bubs, as for the wakings I used to go by this rule for my ds#1..If it was 2hrs between feeds I would feed him, if he didn't take a full feed I would then know it was just from habit and the next night try to extend the time with paci etc...If he did take a full feed and slept through to a decent morning time I just went with the flow because I felt he just needed that feed, some babes are hungrier then others. If you can do cluster feeding this also helps plus the DF to really tank them up.
Now if your baby is waking more than once at night and taking a full feed each time it may be a growth spurt(usually lasts only a couple of days) which means fill them up more in the day. The key to knowing if its hunger is how long they are feeding for and hard are they sucking.
I remember with my ds I had to do the 2-3am feed for quite a while even with the 11pm Df it was just his pattern(touchy/spirited), when he got old enough I dropped it and made a rule to only feed him after 4am, we had a couple of nights of tears, PU/PD and then he never woke at that time again. He didn't sleep from 7 until7 until he was 9 months :shock:
At this age sleepless nights for parents is just a part of raising babies and if you can just pop them on for a feed once a night and they go peacefully back down to sleep again your happy :) Make sure your day routine is going well, especially naps as this also really impacts on night wakings...overtired babies will wake up and be more unsettled at night.
Take care everyone :D
Bianca
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Hi ladies - I've got poison ivy all over my body - it's the craziest thing, I've never reacted to it before in my life and now I've got it everywhere - boobs included, making BF a little interesting - and all I was doing was pulling weeds in the garden. Dr. finally had to put me on prednisone yesterday when my eyes started swelling - so now we're watching Katie to make sure she isn't affected by it. Always an adventure, right?
Judy - in my opinion (for what it's worth, being rather new at this whole mom thing) 9 weeks seems early to me to be on a four hour routine - I feel like the girls might be hungrier at night if they're on a four hour schedule during the day. I give you a ton of credit with four little ones - one and two cats are about enough for me right now. My little one never slept that long though (catnapper all the way) though so I don't have much experience in terms of sleeping through feeds.
Katie seems to suddenly be putting herself on a 4-hour routine, although it's too early to tell. Two days in a row now she's been up, awake for nearly two hours, slept for two and woke up for a feed, and then done it again. I'm amazed. I'm sure it won't last lol! She'll be four months a week from today. What an amazing age! I love every minute of it (except for my current itchy state of affairs and my fear I'm scarring her for life by taking prednisone to clear up the poison ivy).
Hope everyone is well!
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I haven't read all of the posts, but I have an 11wk old dd, she is really easy going and an absolute pleasure.
I'm trying to implement a 3hr EASY, she seemed fine today, but then I got muddled at night time. I have a 2yr old ds as well, she will only feed lightly at night, could there be a chance that I just change her and put her back to bed? Could doing that make her feed longer during the day? I'm a little lost at all of this as my ds wouldn't bf at all, and I hadn't heard of bw till I was pg with my dd.
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Thanks for that Bianca and Becca. I've had a quick read today (in between dealing with a clingy vomiting Nathan and entertaining Danielle).
I also think I will need to wait for at least another few weeks because she goes 1.5-1.75hrs activity but I don't really want to drop a nap yet.
Well last night I decided not to do the DF because we had some weird things going on. Her night feed had been consistently around 3.30-4.30am (and as long as 5.30am) but had then crept back to 2.30am the last few nights but then slept right through till morning. So last night she was in bed at 7pm, woke at 12.30am and then slept until 7.30 when I woke her -it's like she's reversed the "big sleep". Unfortunately I sleep best at the start of my sleep and only sleep lightly after I wake up to feed her. So we dropped a night feed only it was the wrong one! Never mind, I'm sure we'll get it sorted, I may leave doing the DF a few days and then put it back in and see what happens.
Well I was intending on letting Danielle lead me today on how long she wanted to go between feeds, but it still ended up at 3hrs since she only sleeps 45mins for a couple of the earlier naps which makes it difficult to time things (I'm really not into the whole pu/pd thing).
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Hello again everyone :)
HAD TO WRITE about this interesting 4hr routine business!!
I decided to have a rethink about waiting to start it, when reading through the info again I noticed that short naps ie 45mins etc can be a good sign your routine needs some tweaking. I have been dealing with the short nap thing this last week or so with Sienna and I have been extending them with PU/PD..IT HAS BEEN DRIVING ME CRAZY..(I too have a 2yrold and this does not make PU/PD any easier :wink:)
So I decided to try 4 hr between feeds with only 2 naps and a catnap :shock:
Sienna has managed to stay awake for 2hrs before without getting overtired so I thought I'd try keeping her up for about that long give or take.
CAN YOU BELIEVE she took to this routine like a duck to water!!
(She is approx 14wks old now.)
I fed her at 700am, managed to put her down for her first nap at 9am , managed to keep her asleep for 2 hrs in between driving to my Mum's etc and then fed her at 1100am, again kept her up until approx 1pm. I started settling her down around 12:45 and she was slightly overtired(being at Grandma's hadn't helped) so had a bit of a cry but nothing major..
She then slept soundly for 2hrs with no wakeup and I actually had to wake her for a 3pm feed!
By the way every feed was over 10mins long and some serious eating draining both sides, which is really good for her.
Okay the afternoon was my major concern but she surprised me, I kept her up making sure she wasn't getting too weary and put her down for a nap at around 5pm, she settled well and again I had to wake her at 6:15pm so I could fit in a feed and bath and bed at 7:30pm.
I'm just so thrilled :D :D as this is a better routine for me and seemed to really suit little Si...So I will try again tmrw...I know I may have to adjust it and go back to 3-1/2 hrs or even 3 at times but as she is a good sleeper I'm hoping that all will go well.
Sienna is in general a very placid baby(angel) so I don't know if staying awake for 2hrs would suit all babes at this age. But I do feel that Tracys info on "a window opening up to move to this 4/4 routine" has applied in my case.
Thanks for listening to all this....
Just a quick one for Jason and Rileys Mum, When you said "she feeds only lightly at night" are you talking about before bed or during the night?
Posting you current routine may also help us give you any pointers :)
I will continue to let all know my progress with the 4/4 !
Take care Bianca
P.S So sorry to hear about the poison ivy Erin, hope your feeling better now.
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Well last night was really interesting, my dh didn't think pat/shh would work until he saw me do it, he thought it was amazing.
Last night after ahving a BIG puke, she went to sleep on her own, half in daddy's arms, half in her crib. she woke up at 9pm, ate for about 10 mins, played for a few more, and then dhh had his snuggle and she passed out, but got unsettled as she needed more room to spread out in her bed :shock: .
She slept until 2:30am, had a 25min feed. she never does that, it is usually around 5 mins of feeding and then she falls asleep.
She woke up a couple of times, me being half asleep, I was going to feed her but I told dh I wanted to see if she would go back down on her own first, and she did.
Riley next had a nibble at about 7am, and after finishing off her sleep, woke up at 8:30am but would only have a nibble as well.
I am going to try her on a three hr EASY routine today, she seemed to respond fairly well to it yesterday.
We are going away to the children's godparents for the weekend as it is Canada day here on July 1st, I am going to try to keep the rythm going but I'm not sure if it will work. I'm definitly keeeping her on the routine though, it is just finding the right pace to go at.
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Bianca- I too feel like we are at the window for the 4/4 routine as Katie has been managing it well the past few days on her own after me trying to get her there for weeks. Isn't it funny how you try and try to get them to do things and then they do it on their own?
Jayson and Riley's mum - I too am amazed at how they can settle down if you don't go running to them at every noise during the night. Do you think an earlier bedtime would help? I put Katie to bed between 7:30 and 8 (we start around 7 with bath, feeding, etc) - I know that this is not only recommended in the BW book but also by Elizabeth Pantley who is mentioned elsewhere on the site. You can check out her website http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/ where she talks about finding the right bedtime for your baby - not all her ideas go along with BW but I think you have to find what works best. Now that the craziness of the first few months has settled down, you can hopefully get your LO on more of a solid routine.
Happy 4th to all you in the US!
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I'm jealous. I've read that at the 3 month mark, things are supposed to get more predictable, calmer, but I'm having the exact opposite! My ds has been on the 4 hour EASY for quite some time because he refues to eat before 4 hours have passed. It was a dream come true. My days at home were productive because he would nap for 2-2.5 hours and I could get things done, take naps...I knew when things were going to happen. After i found her book, about 3-4 weeks into his life, being a mom was a piece of cake.
Now, I've had three weeks of total confusion. Out of the blue, he started taking 20-30-45 minute naps. He would throw a fit during wind down. I'd lay him in his cradle and he'd get so unhappy. (gets is more appropriate) He was sleeping 5-6 hour stretches at night, and now he gets up every 4 hours to eat. Wake time was always 8:00, or I'd leave him in there and he'd be fine until I got him. NOW, he's up at 7:00, and if I'm not there within 5 minutes, he starts fussing.
He used to eat so regularly, too. 5-6 ounces, and now he'll eat 3-4 and be done. Yesterday, he only ate 3 each time...which leads into night wakings.
I can't do anything around the house because he stirrs at the slightest sounds. There's no napping because he's up reguardless of how many minutes I stay in there with him. Right now my husband is rocking him..very bad, I know.
Is it possible for a textbook baby to morph into a touchy baby overnight? Is anyone else dealing with this????
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Bianca, that sounds great! So how did the night go? Was there any change with night feeds?
JudeBaby, maybe something else is going on like developmental stuff, is he doing new things like grabbing things, rolling, sucking fingers etc that could be throwing things out a little? How about post your schedule and we'll see if there's anything that can be tweaked. Does he normally go to sleep independently on his own? What time is bedtime and does he have a bedtime routine etc?
Well I had the strangest night with Danielle. I decided to drop the DF for the 2nd night in a row and was amazed! She went to bed at 7pm after a feed and didn't wake until 5.15am (and probably because I snuck into her room to check on her). Wow, don't know how that happened after struggling to maintain 5hrs after the DF. Will see what happens tonight, could have been a once off I guess...?
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Nik..thanks for your projected help.
Schedule is the 4 hour EASY. He's been doing that since about 6 weeks.
Here was Monday's schedule:
7:00 Awake/Eat
7:15-9:00 Play/Wind Dow
9-9:50 Sleep
9:50--9:57 Rock to Sleep...I know v.bad
9:57-10:06 Sleep
10:07-10:08 Reswaddle
10:08-10:12 Sleep
10:12-10:14 Rock to sleep
10:14-10:28 Sleep
10:50 Eat
11-12:30 Play
12:30-1:30 Sleep
1:30-2:00 wake/sleep
2-3:00 Sleep
3:00 Eat
3:14-4:25 Play
4:24-6:00 Sleep
6-7 Play
7:00 Eat
7:30 Bath
8:15 Bed
12:00 Eat fell asleep but would have DF
4:00 Eat
6:00 Restless and put in bed with us...sleep till 7:00
Phew...I can't believe i wrote all the down in one day. Anyhow, i did because things were changing and i wanted to see on paper what was going on.
Generally, he'll sleep about 35-50 minutes that first time I lay him down. Anyhow, for the past three nights I tried putting him to bed at 7:30, but he kept waking, and we'd have to go back there, until about 8:30 when he'd fall asleep. It worked the first night, but not the second two. When we df, he's usually up 4.5 hours after that to eat again. Only last night he ate 2 oz.
I'm thinking that he's getting overtired. I've noticed that he doesn't yawn anymore...not anymore, but that used to be my cue for his nap time, at which he'd sleep for 2.5 hours. Plus, i was guilty of putting him in the swing, and I'm not doing that anymore. i stopped about 2 weeks ago.
I am guilty of rocking him to sleep...or doing squats. That's always drifted him off to sleep. Now, the rocking isn't working, and the squats work, but I can't do them for 10 minutes. Our soothing rituals aren't working anymore, and it's happened overnight.
Yes, he is doing all those developmental things. His disposition isn't crabby. When he was in the womb, he was very gentle, laid back, and his birth was quite the same. Up until 3 weeks ago, he was a total dream.
I know I need to stop the rocking because he can't fall asleep independently, except at night, minus the past two. When we put him down for a nap, after he starts fussing a bit, we swaddle him, and he starts crying... almost like he knows it's nap time. Then, he just cries, fights it, arches his back..he'll settle, start to drift off, then his eyes pop back open, and it starts over until he falls asleep.
Do you have any clue what's going on? I am desperate.
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Bianca, thank you for your encouragement about dreamfeed, we are working on it. Now my problem seems to be frequent night wakings! Here is what's going on: prior to the past few days, she will wake at night once or twice other than for feeding generally because her swaddling blanket came undone and once rewrapped, she falls back asleep. Past few days, however, even when we reswaddle her, she would be awake and fighting, fussing, or sometimes just quiet but won't fall asleep. During the day, naps are better some days and worse others.
For example, on Wednesday, she was very easy to put down for naps and slept 1 1/2 hour each time for the three day time naps and 50 minutes for the catnap. Putting her down for bed at night was also a breeze. I tried to do DF at 11, just could not get her to suckle. I didn't want to wake her up (thunderstorm was going on outside the window, didn't want to risk not having her go back to sleep) so gave up. That night she woke up 4-5 times after 3 o'clock, moving, restless, and even after falling asleep, she never seemed to get to the deep sleep stage and would start tossing and turning again, eventually waking herself. Yesterday she was difficult to put down for naps or stay asleep past 40 minutes, again very restless through the 40 minutes she is asleep. Last night when I walked in to do DF at 10:40, surprise, she was awake which never happened at this hour before. I fed her, and at 2am she started tossing and turning. Went to check, she was actually awake but not fussing or crying, just awake and moving. Tried sh/pat to get her back to sleep for an hour to no avail. Then she was crying and rooting, so I fed her. Still, after that, she seemed not able to sleep more than 20 minutes without tossing and turning and had several more awakenings. I'm exhausted just recounting the expereience!
Any ideas why this is happening?
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Judybaby: I also think that overtiredness could definitely be causing some of your problems. Most babies at 3mths will still be only doing about 1.5hrs of activity at this age (although we are getting closer to 2hrs ourselves)- which makes it difficult with your 4hrly feeds, so perhaps start a winddown at 1.5hrs and pop him into bed without rocking and work on him getting to sleep on his own in his crib (once you've sorted out the overtiredness then gradually extend the activity time out to 2hrs again). You may need to use pu/pd to help you do this since you'll be changing the way he's used to falling asleep. Once he's doing this, you'll also need to do it when he wakes early from his naps.
That's really my only suggestion at this stage, but I think working on independent sleep is one of the main things you need to do. Do you have the new book, there is quite a big section in there on pu/pd and particularly for babies that haven't been sleeping independently.
Good luck.
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Yeah, he's still in a cradle in our room. I know he's getting too big for it because he holds onto the spindles. It's kinda funny. *Sniff*Sniff* I can't believe he's growing up. We'll try naps in there on Monday to begin the transition.
Nik...what do you think about this. I mentioned we started an earlier bedtime. 7:30. He used to go to bed around 8:30. We'd lay him in there and he'd be out for the night. Well, since we started the earlier time, he'd wake up, and wake up, and it wasn't until about 8:30 when he'd stop waking up. I also mentioned that he used to get up at 8 until this all started. This morning, he started getting restless around 5,6...and was about to wake at 6:30 until I got him to go back to sleep. Well, I decided to get him to sleep until 8 to see what would happen. Get this:
I finally got to wake him up for once. (at 8) He was cheerful, ate well, and stayed awake until 9:30 before he started to fuss. SO, I started to sigh. I swaddled him up, and before I got back to the bedroom, he was almost out. I walked him around the room, but just for a minute :( and he's still sleeping as we speek. It was like he was back to his old easy going self. Could getting up later, and going back to his old bedtime put things back in order?
I do have her latest book and am trying to find time to read it. Either way, we are starting on the independent sleep Monday when we can be consistent with it. Thank you so much for you thoughts.
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hello all! Today I took a risk and tried keeping my 14 wk DS (100% spirited)up for an extended activity period to try and switch him to the 4 hour EASY. He seemed to tolerate it okay as long as the scenery kept changing. We were having difficulties with him not wanting to eat every 3 hrs and lately waking several times a night and not interested in eating. We'll see how tonight goes.
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Judebaby, well it's really hard to say, but maybe that's his own personal body clock times? I'd stick with what works for you both and it sounds like the later bedtime and wakeup suits him better.
Independent sleep should help with the multiple wake up and the inability to self settle again. Good luck. :D
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well, we did the switch to 4hr EASY cold turkey....I think he had been giving me clues the last couple days by fighting naps and waking several times in the night. Yesterday was the first time we did the 4 hr routine and he was much easier to feed not so fussy. We put him down for the night at 6:45 and he woke up at 9:20 so I fed him and he went right back to sleep (nice cause then I didn't have to do the DF) until 4:30 when he wanted to eat again. The one difficulty I am having is that the first feed of the day at 6:45 is tricky because he's not very hungry since he ate at 4:30. So I don't know how to add in more ounces during the day so that he'll stop eating at 4:30. Any suggestions??
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HELLO GIRLS :)
I have been away over the weekend so my routine was a little topsy turvy as my Mum was doing a lot of caring for Sienna while I was participating in a horse-riding clinic! She is a great Mum I know!! :D
Anyway I tried to keep Si on her 4 hr routine but due to extra stimulation her wake-up times were shorter so her feeds came earlier but she is doing well most of the time.
Nikki her nights have been really predictable lately, she is having a 10:30pm DF and sleeps through to 4-5am. I can cope with that okay but if Danielle sleeps through all night again I am going to be really jealous :!: :lol:
LindsaysMum,
Reading through your post a couple of things came to mind that may be the cause...
1. A Developmental Leap- Your little one must be close to 12wks old now(sorry I'm just guessing) and this is around the age when they really start growing and restlessness can be one of the signs of this.
It sounds like Lindsay isn't waking from hunger, as even after you have fed her she is waking again...I would still try to up her intake of BM during the day and maybe even try feeding her more than once a night for no more than 2 nights as this is usually all it takes to increase your milk supply and will help you determine if she is having a growth spurt.
I can tell when Sienna is growing as she becomes more restless and gets really hungry :shock: Its like a wave, they go through it then they get nice and chubby and placid again and then they go through another burst of growth...and so on.
Are you using a paci? Because around now they can also start becoming more dependent on a prop to get back to sleep ie paci, you rocking them etc. Which can also cause more frequent wakings.
This is the time they really need to learn how to self soothe, this age is in my opinion when sleep training really starts...If you have set the pattern early it definitely helps, but I found that Sienna still needed help learning how to go to sleep independently at this age (10-14wks) even though I had been following BW routine from when she was 2 days old.
The reason they may need to be helped all over again is because of there increasing awareness and attachment to you.
The tossing and turning sounds like she may be trying to settle herself particularly if she is a light sleeper, but it may also be a digestive issue.
Sienna suffered terribly from wind pain for quite awhile and she used to toss and turn and snort(like a little pig) for ages sometimes for 2 hrs before she went into a deep sleep. I know this because she is still in her bassinet in our room and it was me resettling her over and over again! :cry: It can be a hard road at 2am and beyond can't it :wink:
(It was me eating choclate or having a coffee that also upset her)
Let me know how Lindsay is doing now and I hope some of this very long post will help. Remember when it feels like its all going crazy it doesn't last long and they have moved into another phase.
Take care
Bianca
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Well my dd is doing good, I don't think that she likes any more than a 15min feed, at night she is doing fairly well. I put her to bed at about 9:30 and she wole for a feed at around 2 and the again at 6. It is an improvment as she used to wake every couple of hours after 2. I think I am going to try her on something between a 3 hr and a 3 1/2hr routine. It seems to be too short of a time on a 3 hr, but I know she isn't ready for a 4 hr routine yet.
Well I have to run, Riley has just realised she is hungry, and in need of a big snuggling :wink:
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Mickymuscles - I switched my daughter, Payton, to the 4 hr routine cold turkey last Saturday, June 25th too. She is also doing great - hungrier at feeds, great long naps and nice awake times. Our issue is the same as yours - she still wakes at about 4am for a feed. I try to keep it short. As soon as she stops swallowing and starts suckling I detach her and put her to bed. I'm usually back in bed about 15 minutes after she wakes so I know she doesn't need a full feed. We don't do a dream feed though so I'm nervous about trying to extend her sleep when its already about 8 or 8.5 hrs. She goes down at 7:30 or 8 each night, wakes at about 4 then sleeps until 6:30 or 7am.
If anyone has ideas to get more calories in her during the day or thoughts about breaking this 4am waking I'd appreciate the advice. I'm nervous to play around with it too much for another month or so because its so good now (4hr EASY with one waking at night to feed). After reading some other posts on this board I feel like I shouldn't complain but my older daughter was sleeping through at 8 weeks. I really think Payton can do it its just she's learned to take those calories at night instead of day.
Thanks,
Michele
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well, I think I may have spoken to soon...sometimes he can go 2 hours awake and sometimes only 1 1/2 hours which really messes up the day....I don't know if I should be making him have two or three naps. He doesn't seem to mind having 4 hrs between feeds and then he seems to eat a lot more but now our routine is all out of whack!!
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Well, Payton still does three naps each day - and her awake times sometimes are shorter. Especially the first one in the morning. She's such a good, long napper though and usually the longer the nap, the longer the next awake time will be. What also helps a lot is she's at daycare and I know she loves watching all the kids. She seems to have no problem with longer awake times there. At home I think she gets bored. It is almost always a good awake time extender to go outside for a walk or just switch rooms. I also started watching Baby Mozart with her last week and she LOVES it.
Our day has looked like this for about 1 week now -
Awake 6:30/7
Eat 7
Nap 8:15 or 8:30 (2hrs)
Awake 10:30 or 11
Eat 11
Nap 1ish (at least 2hrs)
Eat 3
Nap 5 (45 min or 1 hr)
Eat 6
Bath 7:15
Eat 7:30
Bed 7:45 or so
Eat 4am
There's no way we'd survive on only 2 naps.
Good luck.
Michele
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Hi There
My DS was born on April 8th, he weighed 7 pounds. He now weighs 19 pounds and is 30 inched long. Lately he has started doing the 45 minute nap thing. He use to take 2.5 hoiur naps 3 times a day like clock work. Any of your little guys experienceing the same thing? I think it is a growth spurt. Also, he never eats more hten 4 ounces at a time, when can I expect him to start taking more food? This is my first child and he is very changling. Without his naps, he is definately a grumpy baby. It makes it hard because I always thought my child would be happy, not the case here. I sometimes feel like a bad parent becuase he is rarely happy. Anyone have any ideas especially for activity time that will make him happy? Thanks Chris
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Hi There
My DS was born on April 8th, he weighed 7 pounds. He now weighs 19 pounds and is 30 inched long. Lately he has started doing the 45 minute nap thing. He use to take 2.5 hoiur naps 3 times a day like clock work. Any of your little guys experienceing the same thing? I think it is a growth spurt. Also, he never eats more hten 4 ounces at a time, when can I expect him to start taking more food? This is my first child and he is very changling. Without his naps, he is definately a grumpy baby. It makes it hard because I always thought my child would be happy, not the case here. I sometimes feel like a bad parent becuase he is rarely happy. Anyone have any ideas especially for activity time that will make him happy? Thanks Chris
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Hi There
My DS was born on April 8th, he weighed 7 pounds. He now weighs 19 pounds and is 30 inched long. Lately he has started doing the 45 minute nap thing. He use to take 2.5 hoiur naps 3 times a day like clock work. Any of your little guys experienceing the same thing? I think it is a growth spurt. Also, he never eats more hten 4 ounces at a time, when can I expect him to start taking more food? This is my first child and he is very changling. Without his naps, he is definately a grumpy baby. It makes it hard because I always thought my child would be happy, not the case here. I sometimes feel like a bad parent becuase he is rarely happy. Anyone have any ideas especially for activity time that will make him happy? Thanks Chris
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Hi There
My DS was born on April 8th, he weighed 7 pounds. He now weighs 19 pounds and is 30 inched long. Lately he has started doing the 45 minute nap thing. He use to take 2.5 hoiur naps 3 times a day like clock work. Any of your little guys experienceing the same thing? I think it is a growth spurt. Also, he never eats more hten 4 ounces at a time, when can I expect him to start taking more food? This is my first child and he is very changling. Without his naps, he is definately a grumpy baby. It makes it hard because I always thought my child would be happy, not the case here. I sometimes feel like a bad parent becuase he is rarely happy. Anyone have any ideas especially for activity time that will make him happy? Thanks Chris
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Hi all - was away for the long weekend, hope everyone spent it well :D
Mickymuscles, I agree with Michele that we too could never survive on two naps (although Katie likes to think she can) - we attempt two long naps and a late afternoon cat nap, although getting her to take it is a challenge - usually I'll resort to a walk in the stroller to get her to drift off for a bit. Makes the evening a bit more pleasant.
For all you battling short naps, keep on working at it! Katie took short naps from about 4 weeks until just last week (she'll be 4 months tomorrow) and now she's suddenly started napping longer (knock wood, I will cry if I jinx myself by typing this) - prior to that we had a couple of really crazy weeks where she seemed to be in the midst of a growth spurt - night wakings, short naps, general fussiness. Seems like everything has just come together now - we have increased awake time and she's much more active now so she's wearing herself out more I guess.
Chris - I know how you feel about having an unhappy baby. Your baby is so well off already because of how much you care, so keep at it. As for activity time, we do a lot of blanket on the floor playing and lots of walks around outside to look at bushes, trees, etc. Is is possible your little one is getting overstimulated? - maybe more quiet activity would be good - and listening to music works well with us too. Once he starts getting better control over his hands that should help him too to entertain himself more.
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hi, yeah....i meant 2 or 3 naps plus the catnap!! there is no way jack could survive without the catnap. we are doing the tansition that is in tracy's last book. i think that might work more smoothly for him rather than cold turkey. the 2 hr awake period is just a little too much of a stretch just yet.
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Riley is doing fairly well, I still can't get her to feed for very long.
Today it went like this;
9am bf
awake
10am bf
awake
11am nap
12 noon bf
awake
2pm nap
4:30pm bf ( after we all had our afternoon siesta :wink: )
awake
6:15pm nap
7:15pm bf
awake
8:45pm bf
bedtime was about 9pm after daddy got home from work.
I was very impressed at dh, he got her to calm down quite well, and then she woke up when I put her in her crib. She did bf b4 bed, but I made sure she was only half asleep when she went into bed. She does well at going to sleep on her own, usually within 5mins of putting her down, it is just getting her to that point once she is tired. I think I just have to figure out her sleepy cues as she may be getting too tired b4 I put her down.
It is still the beginning, but I think because she is a relatively big baby(last check was 13lb 3oz @8wks, and she was 8lb 15oz at birth) that I will try her on a 4hr routine, I'm thinking this as sometimes I have to wake her from her naps.
I was wondering also what do you all think of df, last night I tried it at 11, after her last feed at 8, but then she woke up at 1:30am adament that she wanted more, and yet her df was about 20mins long.
If anyone has any suggestions let me know, overall she is doing really well, I just have to iron out the kinks a little.
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Well my computer's been out of action for a week, so here's our update:
We had 5 nights of sleeping 10-12hrs and then hit another growth spurt and went back to feeding 3hrly during the night for 3 nights - so I put the DF back in in the hopes that we can get back on track - still trying but last night had 2 wake ups after the dF, and she was definitely hungry. Her feed after the DF was only 3.5hrs which was a bit dissapointing, but hopefully that will stretch out again soon like it did last time.
After reading the book again, I realised our GS was a sign that we also needed to go to the 4hrly routine. So for the last 2 days we've done that and Danielle's been great going the distance during the day. It's taken a little bit of work to keep her sleeping for her two naps (the mornign one I've been going out and get her to renap in the frontpack, but the arvo one I pat her back to sleep), but not a big deal - at least the afternoon nap coincides with Nathan's which is fab - it actually frees our afternoon up with her feeding at 3pm rather than 4pm now. Just got to sort out the nights.
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Hello all,
Well Sienna is still going strong on a 4hr routine, it is flexible at the moment sometimes we have a 3hr popped in during the day. For example I may feed her at 7, 11 then 2, 6 bedtime 7pm it all depends on how her naps go and how busy we have been during day etc.
Nights are going quite well and have been consistent usually 11pm DF 3am or 4am wakeup and 7am her day starts.
This morning she woke at 6am!!! and decided to start her day but we had had a really busy weekend so I think she was just a bit out of routine. I cheated and brought her into bed with us and after her feed she had a short 40 min nap next to me which got her to 7am thankfully :)
I have weaned her off her paci HOORAY and she has been happily sucking her little knuckle so cute, actually can you believe she is sleeping so much sounder without it, the other night she actually slept a full 8hrs I was so excited I thought Danielle was sending her sleeping through the night vibes :wink: but no it was only a one off.
Glad to hear that your move to a 4 hr routine is working well by the way Nikki and I hope your nights get back on track a.s.a.p.
Take care all and keep posting your questions and advice :)
Bianca
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Judy, I'd be inclined to say if it aint broke don't fix it - yet! :D I think you'll see the signs when it's no longer working for them - ie naps getting shorter, night wakings when there weren't etc. I went cold turkey when I did transition Danielle to the 4hrly routine at 14wks, but then she's never really wanted food at 3hrly intervals anyway so it works better for her and because nights had turned into a mess anyway it was worth the risk.
Last night she went from her 9.45pm DF to 3.30am and then 7.30am, so that's more like it (of course I'd quite like my 12hrs back! :wink: ).
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Hi All
I have not yet posted on this topic but it seems that this is the place I need to be!!
My first born DS arrived on 26 March 2005. He's Grumpy/Touchy (!!) which has made life fun over the past few months but DH and I are getting used to him and I am learning that he won't be the same social, smiley being that I was expecting!! (He's still really, really lovely!!)
Anyway, just wanted to hop on and say hi, I imagine I might hang out here a bit if that's ok!
This week's "BIG ISSUE" (doesn't everyone have one every week? I know we do!) is the transition to 4 hourly feeds. If anyone has some tips etc to share I would love the advice.
Speak to you all soon
Jo
Mum to Fraser Jeremy - 26 March 05 - Grumpy/Touchy
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Hi All
I have not yet posted on this topic but it seems that this is the place I need to be!!
My first born DS arrived on 26 March 2005. He's Grumpy/Touchy (!!) which has made life fun over the past few months but DH and I are getting used to him and I am learning that he won't be the same social, smiley being that I was expecting!! (He's still really, really lovely!!)
Anyway, just wanted to hop on and say hi, I imagine I might hang out here a bit if that's ok!
This week's "BIG ISSUE" (doesn't everyone have one every week? I know we do!) is the transition to 4 hourly feeds. If anyone has some tips etc to share I would love the advice.
Speak to you all soon
Jo
Mum to Fraser Jeremy - 26 March 05 - Grumpy/Touchy
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Hi Jo! Well my only advice for switching to 4hrly feeds is to keep them sleeping up until next feed time. My dd has been in the habit of doing 45min naps, and while that worked out ok on a 3hr EASY (we'd have EASAE), it made it impossible for 4hrly. So if she wakes early from her morning nap I tend to go out to get her back to sleep (it gets my toddler out of the house otherwise we're a bit confined - she goes in the front pack at the mall or we go for a walk and she's in the buggy) - it doesn't matter to me if she's awake for 20mins after her 45min one as long as she falls back asleep for at least 20mins prior to her 11am feed. For the afternoon nap I "pat" her back to sleep since it coincides with my toddlers nap. Danielle is fine going the 4hrs as far as feeds go, so it's just maintaining the nap length that's our only issue.
Good luck.
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Welcome Jo and baby Fraser :) ,
My little girl Sienna(21st of March) and Fraser are only a few days apart so we are also just getting the hang of the 4/4 routine :shock:
My son#1 was a touchy baby so I know how much they love a good routine, he just thrived on a consistent E.A.S pattern and he still does at 2yrs :)
My advice for you is to make sure Fraser can handle the longer awake times before transitioning as overtiredness/overstimulation can be a big deal for these little personalitys. As Tracy advises increase awake times gradually and pu/pd to lengthen naps if you need it...
Nikki is spot on with her comment, it is the longer naps that will get you by on the 4/4.
If Si doesn't get a good 2 hr nap she won't last the awake time for 2hrs so that shortens the length between her feeds. We are still in the transitioning stage, she has some days where she just can't manage being up for 2hrs so she goes back to having 3 naps and a catnap instead of 2 big naps and a catnap if it is needed.
Our news for this week, she has been moved into her own room in cot and out of her bassinet(she just got a bit big for it) so I'll be doing the night walk for her 4am feed, at least its only across the hall :)
My latest personal research :idea: on the DF...
Seems that if I make it a four hour gap from her last feed ie 6pm--10pm df she then sleeps just as long if not longer than if I do DF at a later time ie 11pm but I still have to test whether this will apply if her last feed is 7pm because then 11pm will be 4 hrs :!: Hey, now I'm even confused :? Hopefully you girls will understand what I'm saying.
I am not cluster feeding so this may change things for others but if you test my theory out let me know!!!
Take care everyone
Bianca
P.S Judy, well done with getting those two little angels almost in sinc on e.a.s. I had to wake Sienna for nearly all feeds until she was almost 12wks sometimes I would let her sleep a max of 3 hrs during the day and she never really seemed to get off track with her naps. But she sure does love her sleep.
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Hi to all :) -
We are doing well here on a mostly 4 hour routine. (We are four hours our first two cycles and then things sort of vary after that.) As far as switching to it, I tried for a few weeks to gradually stretch out awake times and times between feeds and then about a week before she turned four months, we hit a growth spurt and started teething and things were all over the place. Then, when the growth spurt was over (still working on those teeth, I've been able to see them for 3 weeks now, but they haven't come through) she suddenly started sleeping longer and going longer between feeds. Silly girl, she's always had a mind of her own (NEVER slept in her bassinet, hated it from day 1 - who ever heard of a 2 day old refusing to sleep in a bassinet?) so I guess she mainly just switched herself. So I guess my only advice is to try to stretch them out gradually, but if they're not ready, they're just not ready for it yet. On the plus side, she's always been a 45 minute (or less) napper and stretching out to a 4 hour routine has actually led to her napping longer. Go figure.
Bianca - I do agree with you that the time between the DF and the last feed of the day makes a difference. I think they take more when it's been longer and that keeps them sleeping through.
Judy - Wow, sounds as if things are going well. I think I also would wake them right now to keep them on the 3 hour schedule, seems like shorter nap times are the signal for switching to a 4 hour routine.
We had our 4 month dr visit Monday with yet more shots :cry: which made for an unhappy day. Gave us the green light to start solids (rice cereal) whenever we wanted - basically she said anytime between 4 and 6 months, whenever we wanted to start them was fine. I wish she would have just told us a certain date, now I'm just not sure when I want to start. I may hold off for a few weeks as we're in such a nice routine now and I would hate for that to throw us off. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter :?:
-Erin
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Bianca, I know what you're getting at re the DF. I decided again last night to not do the DF and Danielle slept from 7pm - 1.30am - 6.30am. Whereas with the DF she was taking the DF, sleeping until 3amish and then till morning - so I'm thinking that the DF doesn't really work for Danielle and she's more "sleep driven" rather than food which kind of ties in with your theory which is possibly why she slept through those 12hrs without the DF before. :? Consequently I'm a bit nervy about being on a 4hr routine (ie only 4 feeds a day) and that night feed not being enough to keep my milk supply up, so today I'm going back to 5 feeds. I also found with the 4/4 that Danielle lost the ability to do her 2hr sleep in the afternoon and I had to pat her back to sleep every time - probably the overtired issue even though she appeared to handle the awake time fine, she settles a lot better after only 1.5hrs awake. Soooo, if you've made it that far, I think we'll go back to a 3hrly without the DF and see what happens. :lol:
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Hi again all,
Thanks for the welcome and the advice.
Today is our first day working towards 4 hourly, trying Tracy's 3 day step program detailed in the new book. So far it's going OK. Keeping Fraser awake that extra 15 minutes was a challenge but he just crashed when put into his cot with no settling needed. After 45 mins though he woke so I did PU/PD right through until his next feed at 10.15. He was trying so hard to go back to sleep but he didn't quite make it.
During the feed it was hard to keep him awake but I changed his nappy mid way through and he is now in the middle of awake time and is playing quite happily. The book says to try and hold him out until 12.15 before his next sleep which I'll try but that's another 45 minutes yet and that seems like a LONG time for him to be awake so we'll just see how we go. I guess that is ideal had he slept better this morning...
Anyway, that's the update. Will let you know how we go!
Cheers all
Jo
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Hello All,
My sweet girl was born March 11th. We have also recently transitioned to a 4 hour routine, in the last 2 weeks. I have tried it a couple of times before, but never had much luck due to 45 minute naps. One day she just started taking long morning naps (from 9A to about 11A)and that was when I knew we could transition. Even though her afternoon naps were sometimes only 45 minutes at first. After about a week of doing the 4 hour, her afternoon naps started getting longer too. Now she is doing great on a 4 hour schedule. The only time it gets a little hairy for us, is if we are out and about and it becomes nap time. She really only sleeps good if she is in her crib. I hate getting her out very much!
Thanks!
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Hello everyone :)
Nikki-I am having a rethink about my routine AGAIN aswell!!!! The last couple of days Sienna has just not been able to last for 2hrs awake and she has been so unsettled, I thought it may be a growth spurt but she is happy to go 3hrs without feeding, but her naps have been all over the place she had about 4 short naps today plus one 1/12 hr one and no amount of pu/pd was going to help..She usually takes almost nothing to settle and goes to sleep without a fuss once she is in her cot... So something is going on :shock: I think I will try getting her to bed earlier for her morning nap tmrw. She is terrific at night always asleep by 7pm at the latest so I really can't complain I'd just love to get rid of these rotten short naps AAAHHH.
Not sure if it is the 4/4 as she was so settled on the 4hrly feeds for over a week and was doing 2 big naps and a catnap with no wakeups...but as always being FLEXIBLE is the key to success when it comes to babies :) So if I have to take a step back for awhile I will.
As regards the DF I will be doing the same as you this week, lets see how it goes. :wink:
Bianca
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Bianca-
I just looked at the birthdates of your little ones and how did you manage to do that? Born on the same day of the month with just the months and years reversed! Makes it easy for people to remember them!
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Hello all,
Erin, Can you believe that I didn't realize it myself until about a week after Si was born..I knew they had been born on the same day date 21st, actually while I was in labour which started on the 20th I said to my husband "If I time this right they can both be the 21st :) " Sienna was born at 1am so it worked out that way..But the year and month thing was weird! I guess it was just meant to be :wink: Numeroligists would love analyzing this I guess :shock:
GOOD NEWS on my routine adjustment, Nikki you are going to love this..
Sienna slept 12 hrs straight from 7pm until 7am with NO feed last night!!
I went back to every 3hrs during the day which took her back to 3 naps plus catnap and I kind of did a cluster feed as I fed her 4:30pm and then just before bed.
NO DF :!:
What you said about Danielle being more sleep driven then hunger :idea: I believe my little Sienna is the same, she has been a little overtired on the 4/4 so I'll stay on current routine for a while and see if this sleep phenomonen occurs again..HOPE SO :D How is Danielle doing?
Bianca
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Interesting isn't it Bianca? Well last night Danielle woke at 10.10pm (I'd decided to have an early night :roll: ) and then again at 3.30am - I'm going to give it another few nights but if she's waking again before midnight I'll start with the DF again...I'm going around in circles with this. Nathan took to the DF and by 11wks was going 9.45-7am consistently. I'm really inclined to let nature take it's course with her, which of course could mean a night feed for quite a few more months if I don't do the DF which really doesn't seem to do much for her. Not sure... :roll: :D Hope you get another good night out of Si, it's good to know that it's possible though huh? You wake yourself up to do the DF don't you, I wonder what would happen if you did an earlier one before you went to bed so you're not having to wake yourself up and then also do another wake up after it? Or is the aim to get her sleeping from 11pm till morning and then bring the DF in earlier in the evening before you do go to bed?
Danielle went back to settling herself for naps MUCH better after only 1.5hrs activity, no fussing, she's been so cruisey up until now and it seemed a real shame that she started to fight sleep and I really didn't want to ruin her and have her associating bed as being horrible. I never got Nathan onto a 4hr EASY, he was on a 3.5hr at 4.5mths though (which I guess is still only 4 feeds a day but the last one was at 5.30pm with bedtime of 7pm) plus DF, so not too sure what I'll do yet.
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Hello :) everyone,
Nikki-My week has been a strange one again!! The nights have been great--10-12hrs straight with no DF----BUT the days have been terrible with short naps and a very unsettled Sienna---Not sure what is going on I have been feeding every 3hrs during the day because she has been going so long at night without a feed.
She seems to want to stay up longer, she went for over 3hrs awake the other evening from 3pm until 6:30pm and I tried so many times to put her down for a catnap but she just wasn't going to have one...during the awake time she was quite happy, rubbing her eyes a little and I could tell she was tired but not fussing or anything and when she went to bed she was easy to setttle.
So now I'm thinking that because she only really needs around 15hrs sleep in 24hrs at her age, maybe the long sleep at night is reducing her nap times during the day?
options...
1. try to extend her wake times and feed times again and leave nights as they are.
2.Go back to giving her the DF to see if its a hunger/supply issue. :?:
You asked my aim for the nights...well I didn't really have a particular aim, I just found like you did that the DF wasn't doing much for Sienna, so I stopped it and now I'm just giving her 5 feeds and a top up before bed and she is sleeping from 7-7 most nights, sometimes she will wake at 5am for a feed.
If you have any advice about the days going haywire let me know :)
I know I shouldn't complain as she is sleeping through at night but like you experienced with Nathan,, I had Kyan on a DF and sleep until 4am for a long time and he was very happy with that, so its just trying to get to know Sienna's pattern thats still a little hard for me. She is such a different personality and even though she is so easygoing, she is also not as clear with her signals for hunger or tiredness as he was :? He was like clockwork with his timing for awake and eating and loved a routine, still does he is such an orderly little man :) Adores his little sister which is a bonus, but she has a sunny nature so wins most people over with her smile :lol:
Hope everyone is going well with good old E.A.S.Y
Bianca
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Bianca :lol: I can't believe how similar both of our two lo's seem in personality and the way they take to routine. Nathan loves routine, very textbook and quite predictable but was tough work in the early months. Danielle is cruisey to the point that I often don't know what to do as she doesn't really cry fuss etc....
So we're kind of in the same place as you. I decided again ( :roll: ) to go back to the 4hr EASY a few days back since she was handling the awake time fine but really wasn't interested in 3hrly feeds and has been lying in her bed chatting to herself when she's meant to be sleeping :roll: . Consequently things were out of order yesterday, she snoozed for 5mins while feeding and then was rearing to go again for another 1.5hrs - so had been awake from 9.30am - 12.30pm when I put her down for a nap and she slept until 3pm when I had to wake her up. So yesterday we did 4hr EASY, plus the DF and she woke at 4am but then was up at 6am for the day but not hungry until 6.30am. I think I will stick with this for now and just hope that her first nap extends from 45min some time soon, if it weren't for that short nap we'd be doing the right thing.
How's everyone else doing?
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Hi to all :)
Well, we had about 3 weeks of perfect 4 hour EASY which ended last Monday (concidentally the same day she got her 4 month vaccinations - I wonder if they could be affecting her for this long?). Anyway, since then, the 45 minute naps have been back, which basically destroys the 4 hour routine, so we've been on somewhere between a 3-4 hour routine most days. (But not really much of a routine at all - she did only sleep for about an hour and half total yesterday during the day - made for a very cranky baby!) She was also up twice last night, so unlike her, once early around 8:30 (she had been asleep for about 45 minutes - that dreaded time frame again) and once at 4:15, took an hour to get her back to sleep. Maybe it's the heat, it's been mid-90s and humid all week here and we only have AC in our bedrooms. Oh yeah, and she won't really settle for naps anymore, which used to be no problem. So I have no idea what's going on. I hope we straighten it out soon.
Hope things are going better for everyone else!
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Okay I need some suggestions, I can't seem to get riley to eat a whole lot, granted it has been extremly humid here, the same as every where else from what I gather. She was so hungry yesterday that she took 1 1/2 oz of ebm from ME, she didn't want to bf as I was too hot as it was. I would like to start pu/pd but I am concerned as I have a 2 yr old ds, and doing pat/shh was hard enough as he kept coming in to show off his toys. I have a bit of time for myself tonight so I am going to sit down and read the section in the new book on it all. I skimmed through b4, dh is game for it as he sees it working.
she still has to wake up for a feed in the night, I'm going to try another df at midnight tonight as b4 I have done it and she has still woken up for her usual feed, but I think I was doing the feeds to close together.
I will keep you posted and look forward to your suggestions.
Naomi; mum to Jayson 07/17/03 & Riley 03/26/05
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Hi all!
Well, here's our update.....
Last time I posted was a couple of EASY's into a 4 hour routine, sticking by the schedule Tracy posted in the book. It went ok for the morning and a bit towards meltdown by the end of the day.
The next day we decided to really watch DS cues and realised that he was going the full 4 hours (or very close to it) without the stepping through like the book suggested. So since then we have been pretty much on a 4 hour routine - the days start ok although he's been quite grumpy at the days go on. I think he's still adjusting to one less nap. His naps have been going quite well - if we can't get him to go longer than 45mins in the morning then he sleeps for about 2.5 hours in the afternoon to make up. Today however were 2 x 1.5 hours (we had to resettle but it was pretty easy).
The one thing that was puzzling me until I read some of the other posts - he's started waking twice in the night. I never could get him to take the DF but he was going through from 7.30pm-ish bedtime to about 4 or 5 but for the last two nights he's woken at about 12 and again at about 5. I notice Nikki and Bianca that you guys are going through similar. What do you think? Growth spurt?? Have your LO's gone back to sleeping through? (I should mention, when Fraser wakes in the night, in my opinion all bets are off and I just feed him... :oops: Not very BW of me!)
Chat soon
Jo
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Hi Jo, we only had a week's worth of sleep throughs then hit a GS. Since then I've been flicking back and forwards on what I do. Anyhow, where we're at now is definitely doing the 4hr EASY as far a feeding goes - Danielle really doesn't like to be fed any sooner than that. Today she had a nap for 45mins (which is her usual and doesn't get extended), then was awake until 12.30pm when I put he down for her big nap (she seems to always make up for it here) and slept until 2.30 (I did have to pat her back to sleep which took 1/2hr) and then she had a 45min nap at 4.30pm. It worked out well. I have put the DF back in as she was starting to wake before midnight, so now gets that at 9.45pm and last night woke at 4am and then started the day at 7.15am. So not too sure how we're going to get rid of the night feed, but I'm just going to go with the flow at the moment since I've decided to stick to 4hr EASY and see how things stabilise.
Here's our routine from today:
7.15-7.30am wake and feed
9.30 nap (45mins)
11am feed
12.30pm nap (2hrs)
3pm feed
4.30pm nap (45min)
6.45pm feed
7pm bed
9.45pm DF
3-4am feed
So she's going the 2hrs pretty easily although does get a little grumpy and I suspect her wake up today once down for the midday sleep was because of overtiredness. I actually quite liked this routine it worked well for us and allowed me to get out of the house. I wouldnt' mind if she had a mini catnap sometime in the morning and the middle nap being pushed out to 1pm - I'm not actually worrying too much about the EASY order.
Naomi - just to let you know, it can take a week of doing the DF to see the results of the "usual" feed time being pushed out a little. When I first into'd the DF Danielle was actually taking an extra feed a night before it kicked in.
Erin, it sounds like your dd is probably overtired and it's affecting all of her sleeps. Maybe you need to start putting her down a bit earlier or have winddown that eases her into sleep mode if you don't already. Once you've got her well rested again then stretch out the awake time again.
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Nikki - You're not kidding about being overtired. Poor LO has about passed out at her nighttime feed the past few nights, so I've been watching her cues very carefully to get her to bed on time and to sleep longer. I swear she uses being on her Baby Einstein play mat as a winddown because I find if she's tired and I put her on there, she'll play for awhile and then get to the point where she's falling asleep. The other day, she did fall asleep there and slept for 1.5 hours. Anyway, she did take a short nap this morning and woke up, but I did manage to get her back to sleep, so things may be looking up (or not, too soon to tell).
Naomi - I would definitely blame the heat. I tried to nurse Katie last night when it was 90+ in our kitchen and she started, nursed for a minute and just pulled away completely sweaty. It must be tough on them, this heat, I remember it was snowing the day we brought her home from the hospital! I think they probably need to eat (drink really) more often when it's this hot anyway so they don't get dehydrated. I hear at least for us in the Northeast US it's supposed to get better this weekend.
Jo - When Katie wakes in the night I always just feed her. She's not a big night waker anyway, so when she does Im' guessing she's usually hungry (or upset about something in which case the nursing works anyway to help her back to sleep).
Take care everyone :D
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Not sure whether our winter night feeds are worse than hot summer feeding during the day? :? :D I think summer feeding would be worse with a little baby.
I think I'm going to need to limit how long Danielle feeds for at her 4am feed because the last few mornings she's not interested in feeding at 7.30am. What a pain, going to have to get the timing right though so I don't get a wake up 2hrs later.
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I don't know Nikki, these cold nights are pretty horrendous!! And I imagine NZ is considerably worse than Brisbane!! Thanks for posting your routine, it is very close to ours (most days) and I'm glad that everyone thinks it's ok to be flexible with those sleep times.
We had a better night last night - only one wake up at 4. I think the fact that Fraser fed well and didn't vomit much (he's a refluxer and there are days when I think he hardly keeps anything down!) helped.
Erin, thanks for the vote of confidence in feeding at night. I am NEVER in the mood to fight during those dark hours!
Just a quick question - any other mums here full time working?? I started back full time 3 weeks ago, and still exclusively BF (expressing during the day at work) and I'm finding it exhausting. Would love any others suggestions on how you are going with it..
Chat soon
Jo
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I don't know Nikki, these cold nights are pretty horrendous!! And I imagine NZ is considerably worse than Brisbane!! Thanks for posting your routine, it is very close to ours (most days) and I'm glad that everyone thinks it's ok to be flexible with those sleep times.
We had a better night last night - only one wake up at 4. I think the fact that Fraser fed well and didn't vomit much (he's a refluxer and there are days when I think he hardly keeps anything down!) helped.
Erin, thanks for the vote of confidence in feeding at night. I am NEVER in the mood to fight during those dark hours!
Just a quick question - any other mums here full time working?? I started back full time 3 weeks ago, and still exclusively BF (expressing during the day at work) and I'm finding it exhausting. Would love any others suggestions on how you are going with it..
Chat soon
Jo
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Riley has done better today, she feeds for about 10 mins in the day. I am happy with that, any more and she spits it back up.
The heat has been getting to her, I was out today for an hour to the shops and back, I peeked in on her and b4 she fell asleep her face was bright red (it soon went away tho).
Her naps are good, a short one in the morning an hour tops and then a fairly good sized one in the afternoon about 2 hours. She seems to be happy going down on her own, no patting no nothing :shock:
I have to get her back on a bedtime schdule as dh has taken her and ds out in the evenings and given me a break with the heat and everything.
It seems that she is about on par with everyone else, she is adjusting to a 3 1/2 to 4 hr feed by herself. I following her cues at the mo, with a little gentle guidence, each day we get a little more in sync.
Naomi, mum to Jayson 07/17/03 & Riley 03/26/05
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Hello again :)
Since my last post Sienna has hit a GS!! So goodbye my beauty sleep and hello exhaustion :( EVERY 2 hrs last night she was feeding and it was most definitely hunger!! All day today she has been the same!!! Now she is tucked up in bed and fast asleep, I'm planning an early night myself, which will sound funny to most of you as I'm posting this while your all getting up...Except the Aussie and NZ contingency :wink:
Naomi,
10 mins sounds okay to me as far as a feed time goes if Riley is lasting 3 hrs in between...My feed times are max 10mins, majority of the time around 6mins and I was really worried for awhile about this. I've figured out the reason they are so much shorter than with my #1 ds is that my breasts(they are well trained Bfed ds 18months until I got pregnant with dd) are really efficient at letting that milk flow :oops: For that reason we struggled with a very windy Si, the poor thing swallowed a lot of air in the early days. She keeps up now though and actually complains rather vocally if my letdown takes a couple of seconds longer that usual.
You also mentioned PU/PD in your earlier post, there is a heap of great information on the boards about it, if you are going to start, being confident and calm while you go through the process helps alot, those little bubs can really tune in to your vibes :)
Erin,
I found that watching the clock really helped me in the early days with Sienna as far as when to put her in her crib for her naps, ie going through the 4 steps outlined in Tracys book as part of her wind down...Sometimes Sienna would even seem fine with no obvious signs of tiredness, but if she had been up for 1hr when 3mths as an example, I just went ahead and settled her in her crib and she would then fall asleep relatively easily(you see she was tired after all). What makes Tracys BW book so helpful is that when you have them on E.A.S.Y you can work out tiredness etc before they just collapse with exhaustion.
If they put up a bit of a protest while you are doing wind down, it is a normal/natural behaviour while they are still learning how to go to sleep. Some babies will cry every time, its just there way of winding down their nervous system.
After they get used to the wind down pattern they settle faster.
Sienna sometimes starts fussing when I draw the curtains in her room(she knows what that means :) ) but as soon as her head hits the pillow, she has her fingers in and falls fast asleep very quickly without much assistance from me, she knows the drill :) already.
Consistency with naptimes and nights is the key to a baby that continues to sleep well as they get older. The hard work put in during this age really pays off later on, I have proof of that in my ds.
Keep up the hard work :D
Take care
Bianca
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So we had our first really nasty night last night since Fraser was a newborn. He woke at 10, 12, 2, 3.30 and 4.30 so this morning I am pretty tired. Like I think I said in my last post, I am a full time working mum so will have to fudge through today at work I think!!
Bianca, how long did Sienna's GS last?? I fed Fraser at 10, 2 and 4.30 - the other times I managed to settle with a dummy but I really think he was hungry for the times I fed him.
If not GS, does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing the disruption? Fraser had 4 mth shots on Tuesday and that night slept 7 - 7. The next night a feed at 4am (that's standard) and then last night's debacle. The doc also started him on Zantac for his reflux (yay!) but do you think that may be distressing him? Obviously after 1 night it's way too early for major concern but I'm so concious of the 3 day habit rule...
Anyway, anyones thoughts would be appreciated!
Chat soon
Jo
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Hi all :D
We're doing ok here - we got back into our routine, but then we seemed to have gotten out of it again yesterday. (Bianca - clock watching has really helped us to get back on track, thanks for the suggestion.) Last night, I put Katie to bed around 7:30 (as usual) and then she was awake and screaming at 8:30, 9:45, 11:00, and 12:40. I assume it was those teeth bothering her (although it is so hard to tell, she spends so much time chewing on things these days, especially her hands) so at 12:40 I gave her some Tylenol and she slept through until morning. Very unlike her. She's also gotten very screechy these days - realized she could make a very screechy noise and has been practicing quite a bit. I try not to react and reinforce it, but boy is it loud. Other than that, we're doing well.
Jo - I found that Katie was out of sorts for almost a week after her 4 month shots, seemed like she reacted to them much more strongly than the two month ones. Not sure where you're posting from so I don't know if she has the same shots as Fraser, but we had DTaP, polio, Hep B, Pheumococcal conjugate, and Haemopilus influenzae (yes, I did have to look those last two up). Supposedly they're more effective if you give them together, but it certainly is rough on their little bodies!
How's everyone else doing?
-Erin
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Erin thanks for the bit about shots, Riley got hers today and the poor darling has just gone to sleep after crying for about 45mins. She never does that, she normally whimpers to let me know something with her has to change, ie, feed or tired. But the doc says she is in the 95th percentile, she weighs in at around 17lbs or so. I feel so helpless when they are like this, it is frustrating that probably the best and only thing I can do is to hold her :cry:
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Hi again ladies :)
Jo- I'm hoping by the time you read my post things have settled for you. Usually GS last 2days max- I normally just assume it is one if I've had a night like you described with Fraser, I would feed evry 2hrs the following day(You can usually feel your supply has increased by the next day) which usually means a day of short napping aswell! This may be difficult for you if you are at work depending on if you are BF/or Bottle.(you would handle a GS differently if on formula) I would still increase the amount of feed if you can. It somtimes takes a few days afterwards to get back on track with your routine. :shock: If you are still thinking it may be the medication thats affecting him you could post question on the reflux board for info. :) (you probably have already :oops: )
Erin- I have a screecher too!! Sienna has a very high pitched squeal that seems to get louder as she gets tired :) Is this a girl thing? My ds never quite hit these high notes :lol:
Naomi- Hope Riley is feeling better :cry:
Nikki-Where are you?? :wink:
Take care Bianca
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Thanks Bianca, Riley is doing a bit better today, she was fussy through the night, dh said dhe had a lot of gas too. I figure she will probably be out of sorts for a couple of days, on top of it I think she is stating to teethe as well :( , no matter we will get through it!!!
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Well we have run into a problem, it seems that riley can put herself to sleep in the daytime, but the night is a whole other topic.
For the past couple of nights she has taken to crying for a prolonged time, say 45mins to 1 1/2 hrs (tonight). Is she too old for colic?
dh and i take turns, making sure that we are holding her so she knows that we are there, but no matter what we try, pat/shh, pu/pd, gripe water, bouncing, rocking, walking , she won't even bf. I am just a little miffed as to what I can do to help her as she has never been like this, not even as a newbie.
We have kinda fallen off of the routine wagon since dh is on vacation, so I think that could be affecting it, but on the good side she does feed every 3 1/2 to 4hrs.
When we put her down for naps and she wakes up after an hour and is wide awake and smiling, should I try to put her back down or should I get her up.
Sorry this post is so long, Riley has just fallen asleep on daddy, at this point I will try anything to help her get through this.
One final thought, she had her injections on friday, could this be affecting her this way?
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Hi All!!
Yes Bianca you were spot on - the night wakings were a one off - the following night he slept right through and since then we have been back to a snack in the early hours (4-5am). Hooray! I guess I'll have to get used to the fact that there will be some glitches along the way.
Fraser is still a little out of sorts - I think that Erin we have had a similar reaction to the 4 mth shots. Hopefully things will start to even out over the next day or so (it will be a week tomorrow since the shots). Naomi, perhaps Riley is also still feeling a bit yuck because of hers? We've been having a bit of extra difficulties getting Fraser off to sleep (for naps and at night). A couple of times we've had to get him up and leave the room for about 5 minutes. Sometimes the little break is all he needs to send him off to snooze-land (and sometimes not!!)
Anyway, Naomi, your LO is a darling! Will have to see about posting a piccy of Fraser at some stage so you can have a look (although I'm not quite sure how to go about that - not very technologically minded...)
Chat soon
Jo
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Naomi, not sure if I've got any suggestions for what your problems could be sorry. Does it happen the same time every night, is it during the night once she's been sleeping, or after a night feed? I get Danielle up after her morning nap which is always 45mins - have her up for 1.25-1.5hrs and then pop her down for another catnap to get her through to her 11am feed. That way she's then up for another 1.5hrs and then goes to bed at 12.30pm for a big sleep which takes her up to her 3pm feed. I guess it's your call, with Nathan I always got him up, I couldnt' really stomach going through pu/pd and making him upset when he was waking up happy iykwim? He outgrew his short naps at 5-6mths.
Well Danielle's pretty much settled into her 4hr schedule, the last two nights I haven't done the DF since we were getting a maximum of 4-5hrs after DF, whereas without DF she went till 2.30am last night - so 7.5hrs. So will stick with this for now.
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Naomi - It took Katie almost a week to get through her 4 month shots, so maybe that's it. Also, you mentioned you thought Riley was starting to teethe - perhaps that's the culprit? Katie's been getting her first two teeth on and off for the last month (I've been able to see them under the gums, but they just haven't broken through) and the nights that they bother her, she's really hard to settle - I'll usually give her a frozen washcloth to chew on and then baby Orajel if that doesn't work, and then Tylenol if that doesn't work. Just a thought. Riley is adorable by the way - love the picture!
Nikki - I kind of agree with you on the shorter naps - if Katie is happy and awake, I just kind of let it go, it she's still obviously tired then I try to get her back to sleep, although since she started sucking her thumb, she's better at that than I am these days.
Jo - I think it was about a week after the shots when everything finally started to get back to where we had been. I was surprised it took so long, but I have read that the 2nd shot in the 3 shot series (which is what all of hers were) is the worst. Hope Fraser is back to himself soon!
Bianca - So funny to hear you have a screecher too. My sister has two boys and I don't remember them ever hitting quite the high notes that Katie can hit. The past few days she seems to more be just yelling instead of screeching - she seems to get quite a kick out of how loud she can be. I'm hoping she finds some new noises soon :)
I have to ask - do anyone else's babies scoot around the floor when they are on their backs? When I put Katie down on the floor she arches her back a little and pushes with her heels and scoots all over the floor. I think she's going to get rugburn on her head. It's the funniest thing - she'll just be laying there and the next minute she's halfway across the room. Never seen anything like it!
Take care everyone!
-Erin
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Erin, Danielle is doing that scoot thing too - it's so funny, and she's so quick. It's making nappy changing a real challenge at the moment. :lol:
:cry: Danielle's having blood tests done to check a strange rash (looked like meningitis) but she is well and no other meningitis symptoms, so the doctor wants to check her our for a blood disorder or something. Hate the waiting. We don't vaccinate our kids, and it's times like this that it really makes me question our decision even though it isn't a vaccinatable (is that even a word?) thing (not looking for a debate, just sharing info :) ).
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Oh Nikki - hope all is well, I will certainly be thinking of you. As for the scooting, diaper changes have gotten really challenging these days, I agree. She keeps scooting herself into her wipe container and then crying because her head is stuck. Keep us posted on the rash, I'm sure it will turn out to be nothing.
-Erin
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Thanks Erin. Well got the results today and they came back all clear - so must just be some random rash.
I had to laugh when you said she gets her head stuck in the wipe container. :lol:
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Hello Girls :)
What a cutie Naomi! Hope your nights are back on track, did you mention what time this waking is occuring..if she is hard to get down at night it may be a little overstimulation/overtired?? With Si I sometimes just go a little to long at night with her bath routine(due to toddler crisis :) ) and she gets to wound up and has a good howl before she crashes, which is usually in my arms as I walk up and down in her room with the lights out! PU/PD isn't really effective if they have gotten too tired to settle themselves and the nerves are really frayed from a big day of learning. I've found that holding her tight like a swaddle until she relaxes is the only way to get her through that time...once she has had her little scream she can be put down into bed easily.
Nikki- Hope Danielle is okay? We immunize with homeopathic medicine in our house..So I don't think you should doubt your decision. But I know how frightening it is when they get sick..and rashes are always a worry when the cause isn't obvious...I'm thinking of you. Si has been a much more cold and flu baby then Kyan and I put it down to toddler germs :) I'm sure she will be a tough one for it though. :)
Jo- looking forward to seeing your little man to and hope he is back to his old self asap.
JUST READ THAT DANIELLE IS FINE---good news :)
Bianca :D
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Thanks Bianca. Just last week I actually just gave both kids the homeopathic vaccine for Whooping Cough and once that's complete have the meningitis one to give. I haven't done the whole vaccination programme though just decided on those two for now. :)
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Just wanted to let you all know that riley is improving each day, I do actually think that she may be overstimulated/overtired, I just bundle her up, hold her close and try shhh in between the crys. She has such a heartbreaking cry, it is not wound up like ds's was/is, but it is just a plain old heartbreaking " i am really unhappy"cry.
It is nice to know that everyone is doing fairly well.
Erin- thanks for the advise on riley, it was good to keep in mind through this.
Nikki- so glad to hear danielle is doing better now.
Jo- just go down to the options/attachments on the screen when you go to post, an identical screen will pop up, but if you scroll down you will see on the add attachments the you have a browse button, click on that and it will show the fiolders of photo's you have, and just double click on the one you want, it will let you know if the pic is too big, i think it is 500kb or something like that, just hold the cursor on the pic you want and it will tell you the size of the pic.
I look forward to seeing fraser soon
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Hello, I've only just found your posts and wanted to say Hi :) .
Charlie is nearly 4 and half months old now, and changing every day! He has just discovered 'screeching' too, and thinks it's very funny (favourite place to do it is in the supermarket :oops: ). Dp also thinks it's funny and joins in :roll: , whatever keeps men happy!
I haven't read all your posts - there's 15 pages! But I will keep dropping in b/c it's nice to talk to people with los the same age. It makes it seem like you're not the only one (although you all seem to be down under - was there something in the water 4 + 9 months ago :wink: :lol: ).
Speak soon, Caroline
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Hallo - I thought I introduce us as I am suddenly not able to find solutions and might need serious help soon!! still coping though. Lise is our first and spirited at that ... she is on a OK routine on most days - if we can just fix the napping - night sleeps are fine. She is a very busy little girl and wants attention and entertainment all the time - does not do well with being cuddled, held, rocked etc so this makes wind downs a little tricky. She is her moms angel though! Keep well
Nikki
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hello nikki and caroline, and welcome to our thread. I find it so nice to talk to other women who have a lo like me. Let me introduce myself, My name is naomi and I have 2ds, #1-ds- is a spirited thing, who keeps me on my toes enough for the two of them, #2-dd- is my little angel, I wasn't too hot on the idea of having a girl, I was more happy with the prospect of 2 boys, but now she is here, she is everything I could ever want and need and made me realise why I am so special to my mum.
Nikki, your lo is beautiful, I love the smile,it seems like she is smiling from the tips of her toes,so good to see my dd is not the only one with lots of hair, people are so surprised around my neck of the woods.
well I have to pop off for now, there is a pic of my lo on p14(i think that is the one). Look forward to your future posts.
TTFN :D
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Hello Caroline and Nikki and WELCOME :)
I'm one of the down unders :lol: Something is definitely in these waters!
My ds is nearly 4 and a half months, its a great age, I just love the chubby stage :) All those fat wrinkles around the thighs!! So gorgeous! Any questions,queries, stories and just a bit of a whinge if you feel like it are all welcome on this board..
I thought I'd ask all our Mum's for feedback as to where there babies are up to as far as developmental stuff...
ie verbal,rolling,grasping
Example:
Sienna is currently....
Holding soft rattle and toys(pulling towards mouth)
Screeching,cooing and almost laughing(got one real one out of her yesterday)
Recognizes family members, especially loves her big brother starts kicking like mad when she hears him :)
But not rolling from back to tummy yet!?
Just a few things...Love to hear where others are up to (I'm impressed with the scooters :lol: ) not to compare just for interest sakes..
Actually I can't remember half the time what they are supposed to be doing by now and I'm sure ds(now 2) was doing all these and maybe more things at this age, but I think I'd better get my baby diary out to check!
Take care Bianca
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A big hello and welcome to the new comers from another of the Aussie contingent! :D Nice to have you around. I've felt very welcome since coming to this board a couple of weeks ago!!
Bianca, great idea about the developmental stages.
Fraser is: putting EVERYTHING into his mouth and drooling heaps (funny how everyone, especially M and MIL, are positive he is teething - everything gets blamed on teething!); cooing and laughing a little (but no funny screeching :D); gets VERY exciting about having a bath and splashes like crazy; rolled once from front to back but I'm pretty sure that was an accident; still gets very fussy at least once a day but often more; still wakes during the night for a feed (generally just once).
Chat soon
Jo
PS - No photo yet but notice I've managed to add a Lilypie - very proud of myself 8)
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It is funny seeing where Danielle is compared to Nathan - he did some things earlier and others not. So she's doing:
Sucking fingers and hands constantly
Has just started to hold rattles etc in the last few days and gets very excited when she sees them, but not quite coordinated to do anything much with them - not really attempting to reach for things yet
Scoots around in a circle on her back - arching and trying to roll over, gets her hips flipped but her sholder's left behind
Squarks VERY loudly - she has quite a deep voice
Has been doing the greatest belly laughing and giggling for about a month, is just hysterical, the more we laugh, the more she does
Adores Nathan and is constantly chatting to him (he of course being a good male says "is that right?" while playing with his toys and not even looking at her! :lol: )
Rolled a couple of times from tummy to back when she was about 9wks old but hasn't done it since (I think it was accidental and her arms were in the right place at the right time)
OK, now for where our routine is at and any help if anyone can think of anything. Danielle is still stuck waking once or twice a night depending on whether the DF is offerred or not (if I DF at 10pm she will wake around 2-4am, but without DF sometimes only has one night feed but sometimes 2 if her first wake up is too close to midnight) - not really too sure what to do. She likes the 4hr day routine, but is a bit of a lazy feeder and makes up for it at night and feeds really well. For her 2nd night feed I try and limit it otherwise she won't eat at 7-7.30am even if it has been 4hrs. :? Any suggestions? Also, she's started waking at 5-6am for her day yet not hungry. I've been leaving her if she's just chatting, but eventually (maybe after 1/2 hr) she starts to get grumpy, so I bring her into bed for a chat and then try to feed her. It means that I need to refeed her by 8am as a top up so I know that she'll go until 11am to get us back on track. It's not a major issue, but I feel that we're really stuck with night feeds because of this.
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Hi everyone,
I have a textbook/spirited 4mo (he was born 03/04/05 - very easy date of birth) Very nice to see how everyone else is going with babies the same age. I just have one question; has anyone else noticed that their babes are not putting on weight? My lo had his 4mo check today(and injections) and he has only put on about 20 grams in 2 weeks. He is pretty much on the 4hr EASY plan, breastfed except for the odd supplement feed with formula (due to low milk supply early evening). He is a very good sleeper with at least 2 x 1.5hrs naps duringthe day and at nights will go down about 7:30pm and will only wake once during the night for a feed, will then wake at about 4am for feed then sleep till 7:30am/8am. Early evening I try and cluster feed every 2hrs and he hasn't needed the dream feed for awhile (although last night he did wake at 12:30pm). Everyone keeps telling me he is a very active baby and is probably just burning off the calories.
Sorry for babbling on but just curious to see if anyone else has seen this. He is almost rolling over and is very strong on his arms and pushes himself up very well. The doctors didn't seem to worry about it, should I?
Thanks for any suggestions.
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Hi,
Sam will be 15 weeks old this Saturday. I am wondering when you did the transition from the 3 to 4 hour routine. He still naps very well during the day with an average of 5 and half hours over the 4 naptimes. He is fully BF and has 1 -2 night wakings (no dream feed). Also, what do you do when they wake at 5 am and you feed. When do you next feed? I have trouble getting him back to sleep after 5 am feed but he will do so reluctantly with shush pat but that only gets us to 6.30 am usually. I then have the problem of awake baby, not hungry and he can only stay awake for 1 hour and 15 minutes max! So I do AEAS but feed at 7 am. He does not take much! Is that how you get back on track?
I am happy to start my day at 6 if he feeds then but 5 is too early!
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
ps: mine was born 23/04/05, also very easy birthdate to remember!
pps: james 030405, did they plot his weight on a chart and is remaining on his centile. Is he a big baby anyway?
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Well done on the lilypie jo!!
Riley at the moment is trying to roll on her belly, she gets 3/4 of the way, but the arm thing is holding her back, I think she has adlready done it once and is a little confused as to why she can't do it again.
She too like to squeal in delight, she likes to rock back and forth which makes her quite the fidgit bum and hard to hold on your knee.
I think todays new thing was that she learnt that Jay's fingers can be a good chew toy.
She is also reaching out for her toys, waving her arms at me during feeding times is a favorite. And she LOVES to smile, when she wakes up, lookong at you so you will look at her, when she is watching big brother. She watches Jay a lot, I think she is taking mental notes on how to keep up with him and give me a run for my money this time next year :wink:
This was a good idea Bianca, it makes me realize just how far Riley has come along in the past 4mths.
As for our routine, it still needs a little fine tuning, but for the most part dd eats around every 4 hours, she takes a little bit to eat after naps though, I think she just needs time to wake up! Riley is roughly doing the EAS thing, dh has been home a lot lately so our routine is a little off whack, she did better tonight going to bed, I think we were just missing her "tired" window. Nights are going well too, a feed at about 8, df at about 11 and then tues night she went from 10:45 till 5am.
Any hew, sorry it is long, there seems to be a lot to chat about to everyone lately.
chat later :)
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Hi KQ
James just sort of went onto the 4hr by himself. We were having some trouble with feeding (come on/off all the time). One day I just extended it to 3.5hrs and he seemed to eat better and gradually went to 4hrs. His naps also went longer, I think he just decided by himself. His weight has him in the 48th percentile which I guess is not too bad. His little legs just keep going throughout the day - actually his whole body keeps moving. :lol: He was 7lb 9oz born (he was full term), so I don't know if he is actually a big baby, pretty average. In Australia, they recommend starting solids at 6mths; is this the same everyone else and has anyone ever started earlier?
In regards to your 5am waking, sometimes ds does wake at 4am and I feed in the dark and no talking and put him back to bed. He just goes back to sleep (hopefully this will last!). Do you talk to your lo and interact with him? Is your room dark enough so there is no eye contact?
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Wow, thanks for the great welcome!
I also think this developmental thing is a great idea, I've been reading your posts with a big smile on my face, saying 'he does that too!'.
..Charlie is getting really into his screeching, but I've been spared the scooching so far.
..He loves to fling himself back and forth when we're holding him in the sitting position (got to have a good grip!). His head is pretty steady now, and I can see him trying to sit up (& getting frustrated when he can't quite hold it) - I've been propping him up in his pram & I think he's going to get the hang of it soon.
..Has only just begun to enjoy tummy time (used to scream blue murder), so nowhere near turning over/crawling stage yet.
..EVERYTHING goes in his mouth (and he's getting to be quite a good shot - he used to miss and poke himself in the eye a lot). Also sucking fingers all the time - only sucks thumb when tired.
..He has a fantastic giggle - piggy & train noises are the funniest!
..Still hates his bath, but at least he doesn't scream through it any more, just looks miserable :roll: .
..He's not a cuddly baby - more interested in exploring and experimenting at the moment.
..Likes to talk to himself & others a lot (even talks himself to sleep in his crib at night!).
We've settled into a pretty good routine, but there are still things I'd like to change, if anyone's got any ideas:
Wakes 5.30am :shock:
Feeds straight away (bf in my bed)
Will not go back to sleep after that
Feeds 8.30am (bf)
Nap at 10am until 12pm
Feeds at 12pm (bf)
Nap at 2pm until 3.30pm
Has a bottle at 4pm
Nap at 6pm until 7pm
Feeds at 7.30pm
Bedtime 8.30 - 9pm
Sleeps well until morning most nights (hopefully!)
If anyone has any comments/suggestions, they are gratefully received. He is generally a happy baby, and I think we're just about used to each other now.
The only problem I can forsee is that it's just him and me for most of the time - dp is at work a lot, and don't see extended family on either side (long & boring story :roll: ) - am I setting him up to be a clingy baby?
Thanks for any input
Caroline
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Hello everyone :)
Nikki- My routine is back to 3-3 1/2 hr feeds during day. Sienna can handle 4 hrs but it just seems easier for her on a 3hr routine right now.. if her naps go longer or we are out and about and she forgets she is hungry :wink: we do go 4hrs.
Nights are similar to yours.. some nights I do a df and some nights if I'm too tired I don't. If she sleeps until 4am(with df) and feeds she will then sleep through to 7-7:30am. I will always feed her at that time even if she only takes one side(if she hasn't had a really good feed then we shorten gap until next feed ie 3hrs)
If she sleeps right through the night, she will wake around 6-6:30am this is from hunger of course but it is still too early to start her day, so I feed her and then put her back to sleep even if its only 40mins or so, she needs to reach 7am at least to have her full quota of night sleep.
Because she has fed at 6:30 I don't feed her (that 6:30am feed is a big one) until after her first morning nap, so around 10am depending on how long the nap is for. This gets us back on routine okay. Maybe just playing around with your feed times might help out a bit. Getting in a few more calories during the day has helped Si with her nights, she also did a week of early wakings and then they went away again so Danielle might be growing again too :) This week Si has been napping like a dream, no short naps at all WOW am I enjoying this week :lol:
James Mum- If you are worried about weight gain I would shorten your feed routine again and if he is happy to feed every 3hrs that will put some more calories in him--But if the Health Nurse wasn't concerned and James is sleeping well and seems content I wouldn't worry too much. Sounds like you are doing a great job, and know your little guy well. As far as solids, my personal opinion is waiting until around 6months or first tooth is best. Their little digestive systems cope better the older they are. :)
Caroline- if at all possible you could try to bring your routine back a bit, making Charlie's bedtime earlier, maybe around 7-7:30pm..this seems to generally suit most babies and helps with day routine.
On your current routine Charlie is getting around 8-9 hrs at night and about 4 and 1/2 during the day, so if you can squeeze a couple more hrs in you will be getting up to about 14-15hrs in 24 which is on average what majority of babies need at this age. Its great that he is napping so well during the day for you, maybe shorten that last nap and wake him at around 6:30pm he should then settle pretty well for bed(after bath) at 7:30pm. Then if you want to try and get rid of the 5am wakeup you could add in a df at 11pm which should bring his wakeup either back to 4am(which may make it easier to settle him again) or it may lengthen his wakeup a little later ie 6:30am...it really depends on each baby as to how they respond to the df. Hope I haven't bombarded you!
:D P.S I wouldn't stress about it just being you and him for now..your all he needs and wants at this age, later on introducing more people will be good for him-maybe a playgroup or good neighbours if you haven't got family close by.
Sam's Mum- Not sure but some of what I wrote above may help your 5am wakings...hope so and welcome :)
Great reading through all the babies developments too!
Take care
Bianca
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Hi there :D
Just thought I would say hello to all the Mums in this forum. My baby is 17 weeks today, her birthday is 21st April and her name is Ruby Rose :D . She is such a sweetheart and pretty contented most of the time!
I've been doing EASY since she was about 8 weeks old and some things have gone great - like teaching her to get to sleep on her own, but of course there are problems :? Thought I'd sorted the 45 minute naps then she started them again! Was sleeping a good 7/8 hours without waking - now wakes! Has been chewing her fists like mad today and think she might have started teething - she was NOT happy :shock: . I'm trying to move to the 4 hr routine, but she has a cold and so things are all over the place!
Oh well, I'm sure we will get back on track. Would be cool to chat to some of you and share info and tips :D
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Wow - welcome to all the new moms who have joined in on our little thread! So good to hear how everyone else is doing.
Katie, my LO, will be five months on Saturday (time flies) and at the present time is grabbing everything and putting it in her mouth (when I carry her around the house, her hands just try to grab whatever she can reach - yesterday she stuffed a catalog I was looking at in her mouth and cried when I took it away).
She has now rolled over twice - just did it for the first time the day before yesterday - Bianca, my doctor said that with all the time babies spend on their backs now, they don't expect them to roll over until closer to 6 months now.
She is super chatty - makes lots and lots of noise - screams, squeals, cooes, you name it, she does it. Loves to just scoot around, wiggle, kick, splash in the bath, roll on her side, anything that requires movement! Makes changing her very interesting.
No solids yet, here in the US, they use the 4-6 month guideline - the dr said she was probably ready at her 4 month checkup, but we've been holding off, based on all the research out there that says it's better to wait. We'll probably start just past 5.5 months as they did want us to start before 6 and we'll be away that weekend and I didn't want to start something new then. As it is, she has been getting her first two teeth for the past month or so (I've been able to see them, but they just won't come the rest of the way through) and keeps making these funny chewing motions with her mouth. Makes me glad I've waited this long as she now seems more ready than she was a month ago, so I'm sure a few more weeks will help some more.
James' mom - I do agree with Bianca - if his lack of wait gain is a cause for concern, bring his feedings closer together. However, if your Health Nurse doesn't have a problem with his gain and he's having enough wet diapers (there are guidelines somewhere) I wouldn't worry.
KQ - I tried to get Katie onto a 4 hour routine at around 3.5 months, but she just wasn't ready for it. She pretty much transitioned herself right around 4 months, so I would just go with the shorter routine until Sam lets you know he's ready.
As for all your early wakers - Katie was up at 5 every day for about a month - seemed to be the last remnant of night wakings. I just fed her at that point, but she did go right back to sleep, so I'm not sure what to tell you if they don't. I found it didn't throw us off too badly for the rest of the day. I think there's a few threads on it in the sleep forum. I also found that if I would hear her start to stir at that time, I woudl go in right away and feed her and even though I know it's best to not rush in, I knew she was hungry and was going to wake up anyway, so I would feed her and she'd go right back to sleep for a few more hours. I didn't do it that many times though, and I don't think it would be a good long term technique, maybe just a way out of early wakings.
Caroline - I don't think you're making Charlie into a clingy baby. It's mainly just Katie and I and dh for a bit at night. We wander around the park and the mall and stores so she can see other people which she loves, but I don't think they really need to interact with a wide variety of other people right now. As long as you can put him down and he'll play happily and doesn't need to be physically attached to you all the time, I would think you'll be fine (just my opinion though, I have no experience to back this up!)
Take care all!
-Erin
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Thanks for the welcome and great advice! Your developmental stuff is great as Sam is a little younger but is beginning to do some of the above. I look forward to the rest! Will wait and gradually extend Sam to 4 hourly routine...He is easily distracted and although I feed him quietly and away from humdrum during the day, I suspect he is not getting enough calories as he is looking around. He also does not seem very hungry-might try 3 and half hourly and see if he stays on the breast longer.
Bianca-Thanks, I might try not feeding him again until after the 1st nap if he does 6 to6.30 am waking. I have not been DF him as he wakes up during the dream feed and I feel as if I am disrupting his sleep. Slightly confused about DF bringing back wake up time to 4 am. I thought is was supposed to extend it. I am quite keen not to have 5-6 am waking so might try DF again if it will bring wake up time to 4 am. Last night we had 11.30 pm (he woke up, not DF), 2.30 am then 6.30 am. The evening feed was a 6.30 pm.
James's mum-I agree that I would not worry about the weight gain. He sounds just like Sam, incredibly active! Sam just about pushes himself off my lap when held in a sitting position. I do feed in the dark and not make eye contact but he seems happy to chat in the dark but then begins to yell after a while.
Must dash, the 45 minute monster is rearing it's ugly head!
Karen
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Hi - Great idea on where everyone is at developmentally (We are from South Africa by the way...)
... lise was born on 04/03/05 so is 5months today!! As she is a spirited one NOTHING stops her from getting what she wants so - she is already rolling both ways, gums everything, screech all the time (this is pre-talking ... not bad manners in ones this small!!) and she gets soooo frustrated if she cannot reach a toy - she only knows that she wants it NOW but cannot get to it. I don't know if I should start praying for her to crawl early or not!!! She is sitting hunched over with a little bit of support but as she has reflux this position is usually uncomfortable as it puts pressure on her diaphram and she usually regurgetates if I leave her like this to long - hiccups as well (anyone else have this problem???)
She certainly keeps me very busy!!! She loves bath times and really enjoys music. unfortuanatly mom can't sing so we make do with some CD's. Started sollids today - some rice cereal and she LOVED it!! Was a big mess thoughAs she is formula fed since 4mths, I started solids a little earlier as she is already taking in 225ml formula 5 times a day - and I don't want to make this even more.
Well that is it! Bye for now
Nikki
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thanks for the encouragement on the weight gain - I will just have to wait and see I guess. My lo is almot rolling over from front to back (he is a tummy sleeper :( I know this is wrong but he sleeps much better). He is already pushing himself up onto his arms with them being fully extended. During tummy time, he moves in almost complete circles and then gets frustrated because he has lost his toys. He is sitting while we are holding him - if we put him in his car seat or bouncer and pushes with his elbows to sit up higher!! :P
He loves his bath (I think he loves the massage after) and we also do swimming lessons (very important in Australia) and he loves them - splashes around. We also do a baby gym which has lots of different activities for him to do as well as baby massage.
My day is usually:
3:30am/4am feed - goes straight to sleep
7:30/8am - awakes - feeds
9:30/10am - nap (sometimes 45mins/sometimes 1.5hrs)
11:30/12pm - awakes - feeds
2pm - nap (1.5hrs)
4pm - feed
5pm- bath
6pm - feed
7/7:30pm - bed
10-11 - df
Sometimes there is a short cat nap between 4 and 6 just depending on what we have done for the day. This routine is what I do I think (I am having a case of nappy brain today)
Is there anyone in Australia that uses formula for babies with dairy intolerance? After seeing a lactation consultant , she said he may have a diary intolerance. I mostly breastfeed and have pretty much cut out all diary (except where in foods). I give him formula if he is with someone else or my supply feels low. I have been using Nan 1HA Gold but this says not to be used on infants who have been "diagnosed" with diary intolerance. He does seem to tolerate it okay. I am still not sure if he does have an intolerance - just trial and error. I was wondering if this is why he hasn't been putting on weight? (Noticed something in allergies forum). Sorry for waffling.
Hope everyone has a great day.
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Wow, we have a clever bunch of babies! :D
Bianca, sounds like we're doing a similar thing at night so that's good to get confirmation. I like your idea of not refeeding at 7am if she's already fed at 6-6.30am but just adjusting the schedule later in the day - I think that would work better for us. The other day I ended up doing 3 cluster feeds before 11am since she wasn't eating properly because of her 5am feed -but it all worked out in the end.
Caroline - Danielle has also been doing some early morning wake ups and I've found if it's 5am-7am she will want to be up for the day - 5am's just way too early. But it's not the same every night and like Bianca suggested, the DF seems to bring the night feed in earlier for us and then she's likely to sleep right past the 5am point and go 6.30-7am - so prefer the earlier night feed rather than too close to morning.
James 030405 - nothing wrong with tummy sleeping if that's the informed decision that you've made - there are a lot of mums on this site who's babies do tummy sleep. Just like my non-vaccination decision, it's a choice as a parent that you make.
kq - I found when Danielle was not staying on feeding for long that for me was a sign to stretch out her day feeds, just take it gradual and see how it goes. Danielle was always a 5-10min feeder, on the 4hr schedule she now feeds 15-20mins but it's only now at 4mths that it works really well for her. When I first tried the 4hr routine she wasn't feeding long enough to stimulate my milk supply so I had a drop and went back to 3hrly feeds for a week or so and then tried again, now she feeds for longer and my milk supply keeps up great.
Erin, I also plan on holding off on solids even though we're also recommended 4-6mths. Most mums I know do it sooner rather than later though. I didn't with Nathan until he was 5.5mths. Although at our well-child visit the other the nurse suggested I do solids since she's still waking once or twice a night - my question back to her was well if she only feeds every 4hrs and isn't even enthusiastic about that (I actually have to offer her food at 4hrs she doesn't ask for it), surely food will take away her desire for more milk? she had to agree - made me mad actually because surely that would then mean a decrease in supply and the possibility of loosing my milk supply? Too bad if I accepted her advice blindly without questioning it.
I've suddenly noticed that Danielle can stay up for 3hrs or so! A few times lately she's had her usual 45min morning nap and then stayed awake till her 12.30pm nap which is her big 2.5hr one. It actually works better that way. It only works though if she's woken at 6.30am or later - otherwise she needs another little nap prior to 11am to keep her going until the big sleep (I don't like to mess with this one since it's the same time that Nathan sleeps).
Anyone's babies chatting in the night and then going back to sleep? Danielle's been doing this for the last week and sometimes after a night feed does it, but fortunately we've only had one incident of her waking at 5am and not resettling.
So last night/today we look like this:
11pm woke for a feed (I'd decided not to do DF)
4.30am feed and back to sleep after 15mins of chatting
6.30am woke and chatted to herself
7am up
7.30am feed
8am nap (45mins)
11am feed
12.30pm nap (she'll sleep until 2.30-3pm)
3pm feed
4.30pm nap (45mins)
6.45pm feed
7pm bed
Have a good day for all of us "down under" and evening the rest of you! :D
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Thanks for sharing that Judy re the vaccs - it is a tough decision huh?
See my comment above about how the 4hr routine actually works out well for my milk supply now. I did go back and forward a bit, but it's fine now.
It must really be tough being pulled all directions, it happens enough with just one other let alone thinking about a bit of "you" time.
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Thanks Nikki, did you stretch out feeds by 15 minutes every few days as the 3rd book suggests? Also, how did you know that your milk supply was affected? I worry that these 5-10 minute feeds are affecting mine and hence the 2 night wakings. Expressing is hopeless as even with the super duper hospital grade one, I only get about 20 mls (no let down!).
The immunisation issue is tough! Nikki, I am from Auckland NZ and I see in the paper today that 5 fully immunised children (meningococcal vaccine) were admitted to hospital with meningococcal disease.
By the way, did you know about the campaign to try and break the record for the most number of women breast feeding simultaneously in public tomorrow? NZ time-11 am. Check out http://www.womens-health.org.nz if you are interested.
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kq - I actually went straight to 4hrly as she had not problem doing it, when she was on 3hrly she really wasn't interested, so it wasn't like I had to stretch her out. I felt my supply wasn't too good when my boobs just never felt full at all, and in fact quite soft. When she got used to the 4hrly feeds and started feeding for longer they filled up again in a few days.
Yes, I think I'll be doing my 11am feed along with all the other bf mothers tomorrow, just as well Danielle's on that schedule huh? :lol:
That is the thing about vaccines, they're not a guarantee, so I think people can feel "safe" yet not realise they can still be at risk (esp since that vaccine is only for one strain). OK I'm done now. :wink:
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Hi everyone
Well it seems that my 17week lo has learnt to screech. He does this whilst crying and sounds awful :cry: He seems to get frustrated very quickly as well. James has always had the hiccups even in utero - I could always tell the difference from hiccups and movements. I have heard that feeding can often settle the hiccups. I have just read about 4-6months feeding in Tracey's third book and he definitely seems less interested in feeding (hence low weight gain) but she also said not to worry about it.
Has anyone else learnt to put arms up/out to be picked up? I thought this would come a little later but he definitely seems to know and tells me when he wants to be picked up. :shock:
Hope everyone has a nice weekend. :D
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Judy - Sounds like things are a bit nutty in your house, but it most certainly will pass. When my nephew was a newborn, my sister had a neghbor who was about 11 or 12 come over and play with her almost 2 year old just so he could get some one on one time. Not sure if that's an option for you. I know she paid her, but not as much as a babysitter. We are on a mostly 4 hour routine here, Katie feeds 5-6 times a day and supply has been ok (although I was nervous making the switch and kept a close eye on it for a bit)...and with your challenges right now I don't think I would be thinking much about routine at all. (Katie screamed in her car seat as well until just before 4 months when she started being interested in playing with her toys and looking out the window. That was a great day!)
Nikki - Fuuny you should mention nighttime chatting as I could hear Katie on the monitor the other day at 4 AM just chatting away and then went back to sleep. Made me laugh. I agree that most people do seem to start solids much closer to the 4 month than the 6 month mark - still planning on waiting a few more weeks here.
Personally, I'm glad people bring up things like starting solids and vaccinations as it helps me to look into things and question things I wouldn't have thought twice about otherwise. I guess it's not necessarily the best thing to always follow dr advice blindly.
I enjoyed reading all the updates. Take care all!
-Erin
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Hey all it is so good to hear that everyone is doing well.
I was just wondering as to if anyone has or is about to introduce solids to their lo's.
I am a little nervous of this, even though it is not the first time me doing this, it is however the first time I am doing it bf and on a routine.
I wish I had heard of bw with jayson, it would've saved so much hassle :oops:
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Hi all!
So many new arrivals on this board, it's hard to keep up!
Re solids, I phoned our child health line the other night to chat with them about the fact that Fraser is still super fussy quite a bit of the time (I had 1.5 hours of screaming the other day - not fun! When Frase is at home with his dad when I am at work, DH struggles with the screaming as well) So I phoned them to check that they thought all was ok and they suggested that we try solids. As has been mentioned already, the standard in Australia at the moment is 6 months but from 4 in certain circumstances. My gut tells me that Frase is not ready yet so we will be waiting until much closer to 6 months.
As for the dreaded fussiness - well, he is a "grumpy" so perhaps that is the cause? Perhaps it's still that the Zantac is still kicking in for the reflux? I'm not sure but I'm off to the GP on Monday morning (I have a lump in my breast which I'm a bit worried about, but that's a whole other story!) so I'll have a chat with her and see what she thinks....
Still no screeching here :lol: Sounds funny though and I'd like to hear it (perhaps only once!!)
Hey James's Mum - I'm also in Brisbane!! What suburb are you in??
Anyway, thanks as always everyone for being there! Enjoy your weekend and chat next week....
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Thanks for the warm welcome :D Having read your posts I now know I am not alone in the problems we are having! It's good to know, as I have been very stressed these last few weeks, wondering what on earth I am doing wrong and what I can do to fix things!
The main probs are;
Not feeding well in the day (I am breastfeeding), bobbing on and off, generally not very interested in eating, so I am trying to move to 4hr, but stuck on about 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 because of her napping.
Waking up more at night to make up for lost calories in the day. She used to sleep from 7 - 3 have a feed then wake at 7. Now we are all over the place and I have found it very demoralising. I am trying to limit her night time intake by offering her water instead, so last night she woke at 11 - I tried to get as much milk into her as possible, then when she woke at 2 I gave her water and she went back to sleep til 4, when I fed her. Then she woke at 5 wanting to get up, but I just reswaddled her and she went back to sleep ok, (which is something to be glad of :lol: !), then up at 7.
This feed she has at 4/5 am really interferes with her first morning feed. She's just not interested. What do you other Mum's do? I have tried leaving her up to 45 minutes, but then we are getting close to 8 am for a feed and it mucks up the rest of the day as then I am trying to feed her more frequently than she needs to make sure she has her bedtime feed at 7 :?
45 minute naps are problem, which I thought I had sorted but has come back :shock: . A 3 hr routine is manageable with them but we can't manage a 4hr with them. I'm just feeling a bit lost right now :?
The one thing I have to remember though is that at least she goes to sleep by herself :D ! That is one achievement a lot of Mums I know would love.
Does anyone's baby actually follow the 3 or 4 hr routine as stated in Tracey's book? Or is it unattainable to us mortal Mums :shock: Just wondered as I am putting myself under so much pressure to try and get it all right.
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Onewoman, you're issues sound VERY similar to what I've been experiencing. I've just been mostly going with the flow and it all works out at the end fo the day, things do take a little tweaking and pre-thought at the start of the day though on how to get it all to work.
Re: 4hr schedule - this definitely fixed Danielle's fussing at the breast and bobbing on and off, she started feeding for a lot longer too. The key to getting onto 4hr EASY is to having your lo sleeping right up to the next feed time or within 1/2hr of it I find.
Re 45min naps. We have one in the morning and the way I get around it to fit in with the 4/4 is to have her up for about 1.5hrs after the 45min nap and then pop her down for a catnap to tide her through to 11am (even if it means putting her in the frontpack) - although in the last few days she's actually survived without the 2nd catnap and lasts until her 12.30pm nap. That way the extra 20mins catnap will tide her over for another 2hrs of activity before going down for a nap at 12.30-1pm. It's not the proper method, but it works for me, I don't have time to do pu/pd and she's so happy awake at that time, that I don't have the heart to work on it. So we look something like this in the morning. Wake 6.30am and feed, 8am nap for 45min, 8-45-10.15am activity, 10.30am catnap until 11am then feed.
Re: 4am waking - I also find if Danielle feeds 4am onwards that it means she doesn't feed well at 7am. It it's around 4am I will limit the feed so as to not fill her up too much (it is difficult to get it right though). So as per Bianca's suggestion, if I end up feeding at 6am onwards I will treat that as the first feed of the day, but not necessarily get her up ie feed at 6am, put back to sleep, when she wakes at 7am don't refeed, but feed again 10amish. We haven't had this problem lately though. I don't mind having an 8am feeding when I know she wouldn't take it at 7am, because I will then refeed her again at 11am fine and we get back on track. I hear you about having to add an extra feed to keep bedtime at 7pm. Some days I add an extra feed and don't worry about it - it might end up right before a nap, but because we don't do it all the time Danielle's not conditioned to "need it".
Night wakings in general - ours are still all over the place and I will feed either once or twice between 7pm-7am. Last night she woke at 11.40pm and fed and then went right through until 6.45am yet other nights will wake again at 4am - I'm just going with the flow at the moment and not trying to drop feeds if she wakes (I haven't been doing the DF recently).
Hang in there, sounds like you're doing a fab job! Just when you get it all sorted out, things will change all over again. :)
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Thanks for your reply Nikki~Nathan&Danielle's Mum :D I will try your suggestions - the extra catnap to make it through to the next feed and feeding before a nap now and again. I agree it wouldn't really hurt to do it sometimes.
TOday has not been too bad actually - so far anyway :wink: I did try to limit the 4 am feed and must have got it about right (It's so hard to tell when b/f) because then she ate well at 7.30, had a 1.5 hr nap though I did have to resettle her at 45 mins and has had another good feed at 11.00 (Both boobs and she hasn't done that in weeks!)
Hopefully we can keep it on track today :) It took a while for her to settle into the 3hr routine going from 2.5 hrs, so I guess I just need to be patient while we do this transition and stop stressing! I'm not really bothered about the timings of things too much, it would just be nice to have a bit of predictablility so I can plan my day a bit and more than 2.5 hours sleep in one hit would be nice too!
Thanks for the encouragement - I needed it :D
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Hi James&Riley's mum, I have been thinking about starting James but it is not recommended in Australia until 6 months. I think I might start in about 4 weeks. I am seeing a child health nurse this week and will discuss it with her. I have a very active spirited/textbook boy and he is starting to grab for my food when I am holding him. I have heard this is a sign of them getting ready to start solids. I would be interested to see if anyone else is starting.
We have been having some problems with settling this week. He is a very good sleeper and can resettle himself if needed. His naps are generally 2 x 1.5hrs and a catnap in the afternoon. It is just the settling we are having problems with. I do pat/sh and putting him down just has the tired signs are shown (yawning and rubbing eyes) and also have kept him up for a little longer after seeing these sings but he is still getting upset when being put into cot. pat/sh usually works and he is asleep in about 10mins but that seems to have changed. Can tired signs change after 4mths? :roll:
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Hi Frasers' mum
We are in Boondall on the northside. What about you? James is a spirited/textbook baby (sometimes I think with a touch of the grumps)
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James' mom - I find that Katie has very clear tired signs for her first nap, but sometimes I do much better clock watching (at the suggestion of someone on this thread) for the second nap. (Usually 2 to 2.5 hours after she wakes from her first nap, if I put her down she'll nap without much fuss, even if she didn't seem all that tired to start.)
Ruby's mom - Yeah, I wouldn't think too many of us "mortal moms" get the routine as stated in Tracy's book. At least I know I don't. Basically we try and get the general E, A, S pattern at roughly 3-4 hour intervals, although it tends to fall apart at night where I usually throw in an extra feeding if she's fussy. If she wakes early from naps, we do EASAE. She generally sleeps through the night, but I really just chalk that up to her temperament not to any miracles that I've performed. Hang in and I'm sure things will sort themselves out as she gets older. Must be interesting having a teenager and a tiny one at once!
Regarding solids, we're giving it a few more weeks, will probably start her just before 6 months as we will be away when she turns six months and don't want to start anything new just then. She's interested and all, but the more I read, the more it seems like its best to wait. I'm glad we've waited this long.
I was awakened at 3 AM last night, not by Katie but by the bat that somehow found its way into our house and was flying around our bathroom knocking things over. Poor thing. Fortunately we were able to get it outside - still can't figure out how the darn thing got in though. Always interesting!
-Erin
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hi all,
we are fully on the 4/4 with consistent 1.5 hour naps....he wakes crying so i know he needs a bit more sleep but cannot get him back to sleep for the life of me unless i hold him...but i don't want to revert back to our bad habits!!!! Anyways, we did try starting rice cereal at 4 months (pressure from my mom-said it would making him sleep better). It caused him to have the worst constipation!!! Boy-did my mom ever feel bad for pressuring me to give it to him (and of course it didn't help him sleep longer either!) So needless to say we are waiting till he is a little older!
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Erin, a bat! How funny! :lol: :lol: Just when you think you are going to get a good nights sleep.....
James's Mum - I have noticed that Fraser's sleepy signs are not as clear now as they were when he was a little younger. Like Erin, we watch the clock as well and put him down if we are reaching 2 - 2.5 hours of awake time. We still find that he is so much easier to get to sleep if we catch him early enough. We are at Gordon Park - not far from you at all! How are you getting on with you LO's weight? Has he started gaining again after his slow spell?
Hey Nikki, have been reading with interest your observations on the dreamfeed - I tried it with Fraser for a couple of weeks but it seemed to unsettle his sleep and he would feed twice on the nights after a DF and only once without it. Very similar to what Danielle has been doing for you. It's lovely and refreshing to read your posts, especially as you are one of the (I consider) experienced mums - you always seem to write that you just go with the flow.. I think that I get far too caught up with schedules and times and clock watching so thank you for bringing me back to Earth with your posts!
Hugs to all the mums, hope everything is bright in your world
Chat soon, of course!
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Hi! I'm new to this posting thing, so be patient. My Ryan is an Angel baby (thank goodness!) who was 9 lbs. at birth. He's transitioning himself to the 4/4 schedule. He weighed 17 1/2 lbs. at his 4 month checkup, so his doctor suggested starting him on solids. He's actually been doing very well on them. I am having 2 issues with the eating, however. First, Ryan has discovered his hands BIG TIME and fusses if I try to hold them down while feeding. If I let them go to get more food, they instantly go into his mouth, making a huge mess, but more importantly, knocking a lot of the food out of his mouth. The other issue is that he cries like crazy whenever I am done feeding him. At first, I thought he just didn't like me wiping his face, but when I waited to see if that was the problem, he still screamed. He'll look at me, look at the empty bowl, look back at me, and then lose it. He is usually a pretty happy baby, so this is a bit out of character. Any suggestions? I have loved reading all of your posts and feel like this is a great place to get some advice. Thanks!
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Fraser's mum: you're not very far at all - maybe we could catch up one day. I am taking him to see the child health nurse on Thursday to talk to her about it. He is still on the 4/4 routine - i have tried to see if he is hungry after 3hrs if he is awake and he comes off and cries. I often leave it for 1/2hr or 1hr and he seems to drink better (he only drinks for about 10mins - is this normal)? I am not sure if this pulling off is due to him not being hungry or reflux. I have just had a look at the reflux site and he does seem to have a few of the symptoms - vomiting (but not always) pulling off, not gaining weight etc. I have discussed this with a doctor and they didn't seem to think he had it, I will talk to child health nurse on Thursday.
In regards to sleeping, he was awake for 5hrs yesterday between 2:30pm and he finally went to bed at 7pm :oops: I was watching for the signs and he would get so upset when put down, I would have to pick him and to comfort him. We also had an hour crying today - I eventually gave him some children's panadol because he was really crying and biting down on his hands - I was wondering if it was his teeth - he calmed down and went to sleep after this. :cry: I really hate it when he goes to sleep crying :cry: . He has been asleep for 2hrs so far, so I don't have a problem with sleeping as such it is just the settling. I have been trying to read tracey's 3rd book and cannot really see any answers in there - I have tried the 4 steps to winding down (except we don't swaddle, so only 3 steps) and he still does it. Has anyone else begun teething? :?
He is only waking once a night and feeds for about 10-15mins. I have been trying not to do the dream feed but he seems to need it as he wakes at around 12pm hungry. I am going to try and feed tonight at 6:30/8:30 and 10:30pm like Tracey says in her book and see if that can sustain him until 5am.
Hope everyone else is going well. I seem to have a great baby except for this settling thing :(
Lisa - mum to James (Textbook/Spirited)
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Hello everyone :)
and especially to any newcomers to this board.
Lisa- Reading your post I would say that you are describing what sounds alot like overtired/overstimulated baby. I'm not sure of your day routine, but the crying when put down in bed is pretty standard while you are sleep training and the biting down on hands and really getting worked up is something I've seen with my dd when she is just tooo tired...They are trying to find a way to comfort themselves and they can get very frustrated. I have written this in another post but at times like these I have had to just hold her firmly in my arms and walk up and down in dark room until she starts to relax.
In Tracys original bw book she describes overtired/overstimulated signs, and also explains that they will sometimes just scream until they are exhausted and finally crash when they are just too wound up to settle.
A couple of things to try..
1.Help your baby to learn to self-soothe ie sucking fingers or thumb
2.Try Tracys pu/pd tecnique- placing baby down and doing pat shhh, during which he may be crying(quite loudly :shock: ) then pick up and place down again slowly and start pat shhh again.
When over 4months you don't hold baby until they are calm and then put them down as this just makes things worse.
You are picking them up only to break the crying cycle and to reassure them that you are there, but you put them down again while they are still crying and continue your pat shh ...REMEMBER if you start pu/pd you have to be prepared that it may go on for up to 45mins, sometimes longer and if you end up rocking baby in your arms, you will have wasted all that crying and time. But if you successfully end up with a baby settled in there cot it only gets better and shorter(time) as they learn that bed is where they will fall asleep, with Mum always nearby offering support :)
It may help if your ds doesn't have a pacifier, to hold his hands close to his mouth and encourage him to suck them while you do pat ssshh.
Alternatively, you could hold him in your arms until he has gotten to the eye slowly shutting stage of sleep and then lay him down..but be prepared that if he hasn't learnt to settle in his cot he may cry when you put him down in which case you could try the above.
If you put your baby down in his cot when he is sound asleep he hasn't learnt to go to sleep independently.
If you haven't got Tracys first book I would recommend it as it has heaps of good tips.
Hope some of this helps and is understandable :D
Any questions please ask, I have had good practice and complete success using Pu/PD with both my children, ds was a touchy so we needed to use it quite alot in the early days :wink:
Bianca :)
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Hi all - well we are just back from a long weekend away golfing ... Lise was suppose to stay with my mom but SUDDENLY developed stranger anxiety with even people she stays with regularly (she is a very attached baby and does not like being held by strangers!!) I was torn in 2 about leaving her for 4 nights and after a week of spending whole days with my mom - me leaving for a few hours at a time and then returning - things did not get better. I would be as if she suddenly realizes I am gone and then starts crying inconsolably ... my mom would try settling her for 30 min after which she would usually call me to come home ... SO I decided to take her along and it was great. Nightime sleep was a little disruptive but we will fix that now that we are back home.
Lise is on the 4/4 and does great - Nikki~Nathan&Danielle Lise also naps only 45 min and I also then try and put her down for a catnap before the 11:00am feed ... this works great for us to!!
Good news is that Lise was able to sit unsupported for a couple of minutes yesterday ... I have her back on her LOSEC as she was defianatly starting to do go backwards again without it (She is on ANTI REFLYX formula as well).
Re Solids - I am sticking with the RICE cereal untill she is 6mths ... one recommendation is that you do it 2hrs after a milk feed - so she gets a couple of teaspoons at around 5 after which it is time for a 30 min nap before bath, massage, bottle and bed at 7:00. When starting with veg the evening cereal will move to the morning around 9 and the evening cereal be replaced with veg ... fruit can then be introduced for lunch ... will keep you updated as we go trough trial and error.
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Hi everyone, Well I could not have had a more changing week with things that have happened. James rolled over from tummy to back on Monday although hasnt done it again. I took him to the child health nurse today and they said his weight gain is fine for a breast fed baby.
Tuesday night James woke every 3hrs from 7:30pm to 5pm and wanted to be fed (apparently a growth spur) and last night (wednesday) he slept from 7:30pm till 3:45pm (with a 10pm dream feed), fed and then slept till 7:30am. The only difference with feeding is that his 11, 3 and 6:30pm feeds were formula and df was bf. He just looks so much more settled and content after formula that I have decided to formula feed during the day and breast feed d/f and first feed (and maybe 2nd) of the day. The child health nurse said that a lot of women do this and it works well. I will see how we go tonight.
In regards to settling, he has also had a break through. Instead of pat/sh now, we just put him down when showing the tired signs and he cries for about 5mins (nothing to stressful) and then he puts himself to sleep. I thinkthe pat/sh was stimulating him even more. So far,so good with this technique. If he gets a bit distressed, I just place my hand on his back talk to him and he settles down.
Re: solids, the child health nurse said that maybe in about 3 weeks, I could try him on rice ceral. She gave me a list of things to look for to seeif he was ready - he has about 1/2 of them already so I might wait till months and then try.
I hope everyone is coping okay.
Lisa
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Hi there, sorry if this post is a bit garbled, but I've not had much sleep!
There's been some chat about when to start solids, so I thought I'd share my experience with you. Charlie has been starting to get more hungry, and waking earlier in the morning (5am :shock: ), and I've been getting pressure from all quarters - "why isn't that baby on solids yet?" "you really should have started him on solids by now" "he'll sleep better you know" :roll: . So I tried him on baby rice last night for the first time. To be fair, he took to it like a duck to water, swallowed everything that went in, and enjoyed licking the spoon. I was very proud!
BUT - one hour after going to bed he woke with such a scream - very distinguishable as pain, and could not be soothed. He was upset all night, hitting his tummy, and screaming / sobbing. This is a baby who has slept through the night since 2.5 months.
This has convinced me that I was right, he is TOO YOUNG, and I won't try again for a while.
This is a good lesson learned - trust my own instincts.
Thank you for listening!
Caroline
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Well thought I would post and say hi to all. We have an annual buskerfest here in halifax, so we have been busy with that.
Riley discovered rolling on her belly, she got stuck with her arm under her but after a while she just yanks it out and lays there squealing at the top of her lungs :lol: . I am very pround, I guess this is where the change from newbie to growing up takes place.
i think I am going to wait till 6 mtns for riley's solids. the wierd thing is, is that when I had Jayson in 2003, they said to start him at 4mths, he wouldn't take it until around 6 though, and now they are saying to wait till 6mths :? . nevermind.
This is a little off the board topic, but I was wondering if any of you aussie mums would pm me, dh and I met up with some long lost friends and they were wondering why we hadn't moved moved to australia yet. things are in the planning stage at the moment, like what we need to save and do etc..,
but we are looking at the sunshine coast in queensland and wondered what tips anyone would have,
anyway, gotta run,
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Charlie's mum - I am so sorry to hear that solids did not go well - There are 2 reasons they now recommend one wait for solids until 6mths
:arrow: Babies intestines not yet mature enough and also something about the exchange between the intestines and the bloodstream ... somettmes allergies will develop because of this??? unsure of details - anyone more clarity on this???
:arrow: babies are born with the gag reflex which also includes (up to 6months!!!) the tongue thrusting reflex. While the tongue thrusting reflex is still intact it is sometimes considered as a sign that babies are possibly not yet ready for solids.
My DD is on rice cereals as an "sensory experience" and not so much for the calories etc ... we are just setting the stage for 6mths.
Hope you get some more sleep tonight!!
Have to give DF! Goodnight
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Frasers mum - I'm flattered about being considered experienced, sometimes I really wonder what the heck I'm doing! :lol: I drove myself around the bend trying to "make" Nathan fit EASY, and it's honestly so much easier this way but still keeping things in a routine, I couldn't imagine winging it though and on days when things are out of order I seriously have no idea what is hunger and what is overtired. :oops: :?
Well we're going to hold off on solids until 6mths, not really looking forward to the extra work that will bring.
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Hooray - I finally stuck an Avatar up there that is neither giant nor miniature. It was the darndest thing, I just couldn't get that inbetween size for the longest time.
Nikki - I hear what you're saying about not making them fit EASY perfectly. I've got Katie in the general swing of it, but I really don't worry if we haven't got it perfectly. (And of course there are days that don't even remotely resemble EASY.
Anyone have a thumb sucker? I'm beginning to think that if I let her, Katie would lay in her crib all day long and suck her thumb. I don't even think she'd notice she was hungry. I'm sure she'll grow out of it eventually! (At least I hope she will - I have a cousin who is 22 and still a "closet" thumb sucker.)
We are theoretically starting solids in about a week or so - we'll be just past 5.5 months at that point. She seems much readier now than she did at 4 months, when the doctor told us she was ready if we wanted to start solids. Just rice cereal though until 6 months, we'll see how it goes. I have been getting the "you haven't started solids yet" comments though.
Hope everyone is well!
-Erin
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Nikki,
So pleased to hear that you were going with the flow. As a first time mum, I was bending over backwards trying to get Sam to fit EASY. Since reading your post, I have just been going with the flow and life is so much better! Keep the advice on solids coming as we are just turning 4 months and I was wondering if it was a good idea to start. Will now wait till 6 months.
Had a breakthrough and Sam is now taking the bottle although it takes him about an hour to feed. Breastfeeding has spoilt me as he only drinks for 5-10 minutes. Have been increasing interval between feeds slowly and he seems more interested now and is going between 10-20 minutes. Still on 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 hour.
Have a nice day all,
Karen
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Hello there,
I'm a newbie to the message board and am desperately seeking some advice on how to extend my daughter's nap times. Because she only naps for such a short time, by the time it is nursing time, she falls asleep from exhaustion!
My day is usually spent fretting about how little she naps and by her late afternoon feed (3 pm or so), I give in and let her nurse to sleep. I also lay her down with me so she will sleep longer. I don't want to do this as a habit but I would really rather she sleep!
Anyways, does anybody have any advice on extending naps? Arwyn is nursing approximately every 4 hours or so. She wakes at about 6 am and goes to bed at 8 pm. I thought I had an Angel/Textbook baby but apparently not in the area of naps.
Arwyn's mom
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Hi everyone :D
Arwyn's mom - Hi and welcome. A couple of questions - how old is Arwyn? What does your schedule (roughly) look like? If you could post that, it would help us to see if we can help you.
Have a nice weekend all!
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Hello Everyone :)
Thought I'd share this great picture with you all!
Seems like time has just flown since our babies were in this place :D
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Oh sorry... I guess that would help if I outlined her schedule. Arwyn is 4 months 1 week old and is exclusively breastfed (won't take a bottle).
Roughly, it is...
5:30-6:00 am wake and feed 6:15 back into crib and she plays until she puts herself back to sleep at 7:30 am
8:00 wake! UGH!!! (She used to sleep until 9:00)
10:00 feed... notice it is two hours since she last woke up so at this feed, she will occasionally drift off and I will try to wake her up and keep her up for at least 30 minutes. If all goes well and she manages to stay up for up to the 2 hours, she is very cranky by 11:30 at which time she will nap for 30 minutes.
2 pm feed and she usually will fall asleep here for a while. Sometimes she will stay asleep for up to 2.5 hours. Otherwise, if I am desperate for her to get some sleep, I will lie down with her (I know, I'm not supposed to but I would rather she sleep)
Depending on when she wakes up, we'll play until it has been 4 hours. I will feed her again, then start her bedtime routine at 7. She is able to put herself to sleep within 15-20 minutes. I dreamfeed at 11. Lately she has been waking up between 1 and 2 only to reassure herself that I am there and then will fall back asleep.
Then she wakes up again sometimes at 4 or 5.
This is our schedule lately. We were on a beautiful routine up until approximately 3 weeks ago where she would nap 1.5 hours and could follow the 3 hour EASY. I just changed to the 4 hour EASY because she didn't really seem hungry after 3 hours anymore.
For some reason, she started to have very short naps about 3.5 weeks ago and then when we went on holidays 2 weeks ago, started to wake up every 2 hours in the night.
Anyways, I just wanted to know if there was any way to extend naps. I persisted with the pick up/put down today and finally got her back to sleep after an hour of screaming baby! Funny how successful that can make you feel.
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Hi Arwyn's Mum :D I am also moving to 4 hr EASY because of short naps, night wakings and not being interested in eating at 3 hrs.
My own experience so far regarding short naps is that I have to keep my lo up for 2 hrs after her last waking. I take her up at 1 3/4 hours and do the wind down, then she settles herself. I have also noticed that if she is up longer than 2 hrs she finds it hard to settle and will more likely wake up before she is ready to. It has been difficult to judge sometimes as when I have left her past 2 hrs as she is showing no signs of tiredness, when we get upstairs she suddenly becomes completely knackered and is overtired! Now I take her up at 2 hrs even if she is not showing any signs of tiredness and this seems to be working well.
Hope this helps :D
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Bianca. I loved the picture. the past few months have sure flown by.
I haven't posted on here in a while, we have kinda fallen off of the EASY wagon.
Riley still eats at regular intervals, over the past little while she has been all over the place, I think her teeth are starting to bother her gums, either that or it is some kind of spurt that I didn't realize.
She still does good putting herself to sleep, is amazing at that.
Welcome to all new mummies.
gotta run, bedtime is calling me
:lol: :lol:
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Hi,
it has been a rough few days. We are transitioning to the 4 hour routine. We are currently on 3 and 1/2 hourly feeds. Routine looks a bit like the following:
0730-BF
0915-nap
1100-bottle
1245-nap
1430-BF
1615-nap
1800-1830 bath
1830-1900-BF and bed
I am clock watching and ignoring tired cues at the moment and am getting 1.5-2 hour naps with brief shush-pat at 40 minutes to extend naps. he is definitely hungry at 3.5 hours and is feeding more.
My problem is that he is still waking 3 times at night-between 2200 and 2300 (i do not DF), between 0100-0200 and between 0400-0500. Will this get better? We only started the transition on Thursday last week.
Should I do an extra feed during the day and if so, where?
Will he learn to re-settle again after 40 minutes? He was doing this great till 12 weeks!
Sam is 16 weeks and 2 days old.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Karen
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Hi Karen, I'm not too sure where you can put an extra feed in your day - the days I end up with 5 feeds is when Danielle's woken early (ie 6amish) and often feeds 10am and then 1pm before her nap and then 3pm and 7pm. To me, the 3.5hr cycle is the same number of day feeds as the 4hrly unless you end up with one before a nap or the day's had an early start or late finish and you're able to get an extra one in that way.
If he's feeding for longer at each of the day feeds I would think you'll soon see a night feed dropped soon (probably the 10pm). When I do two night feeds they're often either 12am & 4am or 1am & 5am. So I think that providing you stick with what you're doing you should see a change within the next few days.
As far as needing to resettle at 40mins, some days I do and some I don't, depends on if she's gotten overtired or not (or maybe there's a noise in the house or outside that's made her stir between sleep cycles).
HTH, maybe Bianca will have some ideas for you too :)
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Thanks Nikki. I will hang in there and persevere. Will keep you posted.
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Thanks Onewoman,
Of course when I was finally brave enough to post to this forum and ask for advice, Arwyn decided to have a 2 hour nap the very next day (Saturday). Today, she even put herself to sleep in her stroller while my husband and I went for a walk along the seawall and slept for 45 minutes. Arwyn normally doesn't want to miss a thing and will stay up. Boy were we surprised!
Hello everybody,
I just finished reading ALL the posts from the beginning. It is nice to know that others are going through similar situations, especially the transition from 3 to 4 hour EASY. I went through the night wakings and thought the every two hour wake-ups were going to be the end of me!
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Karen
1615-nap
1800-1830 bath
1830-1900-BF and bed
Hi Karen - I was also struggling with nightwakings - I am wondering if your afternoon nap, which I take is also 1hr45min long is not maybe long a nap for the afternoon. Our afternoon (a good day!!) 15:00 FF .... anything from 16:30 to 17:00 we have a short nap of between 30-45min (1 sleep cycle) and then at 18:30 bedtime routine and 19:00 FF and sleep.
I do however do the DF at around 10:30pm. Hope this helps (I seem to recall something of 4-6mth olds only needing 3hr30min naps total during the day and 11-12hrs at night??)
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Hi all,
Thanks for advice. I have just had the night from hell with 2 hour wakings all night long and I am not sure all of them were from hunger. I fed on some of them and not others-cannot remember which! Our evening nap is usually about 45 minutes to 1 hour long and then low key activity, bath and last feed.
Am hanging in there and today is a new day.
Have a good one,
Karen
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Well Lise woke up TWICE last night - first time in I don't know how long and I was just so frustrated...but I know this was because her napping yesterday was soooo out of wack. I hope this is not teeth! My DH was on call as well so in between his phone ringing and the baby crying we did not get much sleep - but as Karen says - today is a new day so hopefully things will be better.
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Hey, everyone! Hope all is well with the nap issues.
Two quick chat room questions:
1.) What is HTH?
2.) What is KWIM?
I am showing my ignorance here. Thanks!!!
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Hi all - nice to hear how everyone is doing, even those of you who are just checking in. I really just visit this thread not so much for the EASY part of it, but just to see how other babies of Katie's age are doing.
Kate - HTH = hope this helps
KWIM = know what I mean
Karen - When we were transitioning from 3 to 4 hour EASY, I did an extra feed between her last two feedings, so she ended up eating around 3 PM, 5 PM, and 7 PM which seemed to work for her. I still do it sometimes if she seems like she needs it.
Bianca - loved the picture - time really does fly!
Arwyn's mom - Katie used to sleep later too (until 9ish sometimes, but it seems like since she has gotten more of her day/night sleep sorted out, she's up pretty consistently around 7:30-8. Oh well). In looking at your schedule, I think maybe you need to find the right amount of time to keep her up. 4 hours is a really long time at this age (between your last two feedings). That might have something to do with her waking up every 2 hours a few weeks back.
I also think she's kind of backwards in the morning, as in she eats, goes back to sleep, is awake, and then eats again, but is really too tired to eat. Do you think you could give her a shorter feed when she wakes at 5:30-6 and then feed her again when she gets up for the day and start her routine that way? Eventually I would think she would drop the 5:30-6 feed and if you shortened it, that might help it along.
As for the short naps, there's a huge thread on that on the napping board - I used lots of the suggestions the ladies did on there to extend Katie's naps although it did seem like she did it herself after awhile.
Take care all.
-Erin
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Erin M -- Thanks for the advice. I have not tried to cluster feed at night. I'll try it tonight. I have always dream-fed and that usually keeps her happy until 4:30 or 5:30 but not lately.
As for the naps, when I finally got up the nerve to post here and ask for help, the very next day she napped for a minimum of 1.5 hours each time (one nap was even 2.25 hours) and did it for 3 days.
After 2 good days, she woke up 2 times last night (2 & 5:30) and wanted to be fed. Both times she took a full feeding so I don't know what is happening.
Today she is not napping as I was a bad mommy and had her trapezing all over town and then to her grandparents' place. She's all knackered up (Thanks Onewoman... I love the word and am using it all the time! :D ) and is having a hard time getting a nap in.
So, as a result, I am listening to her do her mantra cry now and trying to put herself to bed. This is the second time in the same nap period! She woke up after 15 minutes and is now trying again to get some shut-eye!
Well, I'd just like to let everybody know that I am so happy I joined this message forum. I come here to feel a little better about what I am doing and to connect with some people who are following the same philosophy about routines and sleep. I feel really supported here... it's not the same when other moms haven't struggled through the same thing. They don't know what you are talking about and why it is so difficult.
Thanks.
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Arwyn's Mum - Yes, knackered is a great word isn't it! I can say that I am also, truly knackered! People keep telling me this 3/4 month time is hard and they are so right. I have been feeling quite overwhelmed with so many things that need altering, fixing, planning for.....etc.
Moving to the 4hr routine is not EASY! She struggled going from 2.5 - 3 hrs, so I guess it will be the same here. She can feed at 3.5 - 4 hrs but can't do the sleep bit yet (though I think she may be sleeping through the 45 minute mark as I type... fingers crossed :lol: )
I think I may also try the cluster feeding you describe Erin. Good idea!
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Hi Ladies,
New to the board, but soooo glad we found it! I'm a first time mom and have so many questions and worries but don't have the benefit of having anyone close to me with a new baby. So it's really nice to be able to check the boards and find scores of other moms describing the same concerns. Finally I don't feel alone knowing that my daughter isn't the only one waking up every 2 hours at night, or not eating what I think she should, or struggling with naps, etc, etc, etc.
I found Tracy's book when Kasia was two months old and have since been trying to undo all the accidental parenting mistakes I made prior! (Kasia spent her first month in the hospital and was immediately put onto a 4 hour feeding schedule so lucky for me I've never had to deal with the transitioning issues you talked about!)
I look forward to the months ahead filled with both challenges and all the new and exciting "firsts" and am glad to have found a place to share with others going through the same thing.
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Welcome Peach! :D
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Hi Peach - Must have been VERY hard the first month in hospital - hope all is well now on health front!!
To all in this thread - THANX for all the advice so far - and if not the advice - for the support.
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Hello Peach, nice to meet you!
Your lo is gorgeous and not far off the same age as my ds. I'm in the same boat as you - I don't know anyone with a baby (Have never been around one before, with no siblings or anything). This board has been a lifeline for me and I'm sure you'll find that too. Any problems let us know & we'll try to help!
Caroline
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Welcome Peach! Well Erin, tried the cluster feed and a 10 pm feed ( he woke up needing his nappy changed!) and we had a better night-2.30 am then 6.30 am! Not sure he was hungry at 2.30 am. When it comes to night wakings, all bets are off and I just pick him up and feed him. Have to try to be more conscious of what he wants...I fear I am accidental parenting by feeding him everytime he wakes overnight. Anyone gone cold turkey to get their lo to sleep for longer overnight? Someone suggested it but I think if he is hungry, he is hungry and I feed. We have only ever had a week of DF and then 5-6 am waking. Since then, it has been twice a night.
Thanks Erin! :D
Take care,
Karen
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Karen -- lately, my lo usually gets up twice a night too. She has just resumed this after 3 weeks of waking up every 2 hours. (Thank goodness that's fixed now -- phew!) I'm like you and all bets are off for the middle of the night and I just pick up and feed. Last night, for the first time, I did not pick up and feed at 2 am-- I pat/shushed for 20 minutes. And it worked -- she slept until 6:30! I am not counting any chickens yet... heck, I barely can count the eggs cuz it only worked once.
I was very hesitant to try because I didn't know if I could do it. I made sure she was fed well at 7 and then dream-fed at 11. She is on 4 hour EASY and has been doing well on it for about 5 days and I was pretty certain she was not hungry. I'll see if I have enough courage to try it again tonight for her 2 am waking.
Good luck, hope this helps.
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Hi All,
There is no way I have been brave enough to go cold turkey with night feedings - I, like most of you, feed at every waking (although usually we only have one :D :D ). The only exception is when we are having a really rough night - then I try to ensure at least 3-4 hours gap between feedings and pat/ssshh and plug with a dummy to get back to sleep on the other occassions (the other thing I haven't been brave enough to try is PU/PD, the idea scares the hell out of me!!)
An encouraging word for those of you who are still dealing with the 3-4 hourly stretch - ds had a very hard time when he was little sticking to 3 hourly feeds. We got into the bad habit of 2 - 2.5 hour snacks and it was very hard to stretch that out. However, we had an almost entirely painless switch to a 4 hr EASY - so good luck to you all, hopefully like in my situation it won't be too hard for you.
Hope all is well with everyone, chat soon
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Jo,
We have given up on PU/PD and just do shush/pat as it seems to hype Sam up even more and we then have an all out screaming match until he is hoarse. The other mums might have success with it. Maybe I am doing it wrong.....
Arwyn's mum,
Might try shush/pat for 2 am waking as well. You have given me courage.
Will let you know how it goes!
Karen
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Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the warm welcome! Well it's 1:00 am and we're having one of those dreaded nights. Put DD to bed at 8:00 pm but she wasn't able to fall asleep until close to 9:00 pm....knew that meant trouble. Since then she's been awake at 10:00 pm, 11:00 pm, 12:00-1:00 am. (Thought I had her sleeping, but I just heard her making noises again.....groan)
Kasia voluntarily dropped her nighttime feeding when she was about 3 months old (and I never did dreamfeed her either) so I'm not sure why she's been waking up so often at night lately. For the last month she's had her last bottle at 7:00 pm and slept right through to 6:00 am, but last week she started waking over and over again during the night. I'm sure it's not hunger because I'm not getting any signs that she's hungry. She's actually not even crying when she wakes up, she just babbles, moans, shouts out a few times....just enough to keep us awake and make us crazy! Eventually she'll start to cry though, and so it seems that she just doesn't have the ability to self-soothe herself back to sleep.
How do you handle this? Should I just lie in bed and listen to her chattering and hope she falls back asleep (which she never does), should I keep getting up and down like a mad-woman and giving her the soother (which I've been doing), should I pick her up and try to pat/shh her back to sleep? Should I try feeding her even though I dread accidentally getting her back on a night time feed? Every thing I do makes me worry that I'm going to make the situation worse!! Arghhhh!!!!
Hope you all are having a better night's sleep than I am tonight!
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Well we're in the boat as the rest of you. I've been doing mostly 2 night feeds (no DF) for ages with occasionally only one if she manages to make it from 7pm-2.30ish. I've been feeding every waking and she takes a proper feed. I think it's a developmental thing for this age - another board I'm on, it seems that a lot of 5mth olds are suddenly waking a lot more and eating - perhaps a sign of needing solids? I'm planning on holding off for another month though. But it could also be because they're so much more aware, learning new things etc?? Never had these issues with Nathan, so not really too sure myself! :D
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Just wanted to pop in and say hi to all, especially everyone new.
Life is hectic for us at the moment.
Has anyone tried a dreamfeed. I tried it on Riley, it took about a week or so to have an effect. I usually feed her around 8pm b4 bed, then the df at 11pm or so and lately she has been going trough till 6am normally.
Before the df she was waking at about 1 and then at 4 and then 7, so it made me absolutly exhausted. I enjoy the df, it is a time when I can have her all to myself, just us girls :D .
Just wanted to let you all know my experience with a df, it certainly has helped me with night wakings. However at first she did have her normal feeds as well as her df, but if you can get through that it is all worth it.
Keeep us posted on the progress ladies!!!
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Hey, does anybody both cluster feed and dreamfeed? I just tried this last night... does this mean I should continue to feed at 7, 9 and her 11 pm dreamfeed? And for how long? That means I am technically dreamfeeding her twice as she is fast asleep at 9 as well.
Peach -- I feel for you... Arwyn did the same thing a while back and it was terrible. It only lasted a few days and then dropped down to 3 times in the night. I just held her and patted to comfort her as I had no idea what to do. I didn't think she was hungry but I also breastfed to comfort her and put her back to sleep. I was up doing this almost every hour and feeding every other hour. She stopped doing that after a few days and gradually, after 4 weeks is back down to only once or twice awakenings in the night. (Could have been a growth spurt... didn't think there was one at 3 months but I guess stranger things have happened.)
To get her down to only once or twice awakenings, we were doing pick up/put down and pat/shushing. I was fortunate that my husband was on parental leave at the time and he could do this because dd cried harder when it was me because she wanted to nurse back to sleep.
Karen -- did pat/shush work? I chickened out and fed at 4 am when Arwyn woke last night!
OMG! Just came from pu/pd & pat/shushing for 50 minutes to extend a nap! I hate it when my precious cries. It breaks my heart and makes me want to give in and just hold her. She is so good at putting herself down for a nap but has trouble sleeping more than 45 minutes! I know she is still tired cuz she looks it and wakes up screaming. When she has had enough sleep, she just wakes up and makes little noises to let me know she is awake.
Gonna make myself some tea now... need to unwind after "screaming baby".
Take care everyone.
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Sorry but I am really pleased to see that I am not alone with night wakings. The health nurse at our 3 month visit said that Sam should be sleeping through and I should just let him cry and see...I instantly disregarded that advice!
With regards to dream feeds, I dropped that a while back as he was waking up and then had to put himself back to sleep and that seemed to disrupt his sleep for the rest of the night. Am gradually re-introducing it now that we have got him taking a bottle, previous DF was breast! DH did it last night but Sam only took a negligible 2 oz and was too fast asleep to take anymore (sigh! just can't win!)
He woke at 2.30 am and I tried shush/pat for a few minutes but by then I was awake and he looked really hungry-he was chewing on his blankets, my thumb when it got too close to his mouth! I felt awful!
Oh Arwyn's mum, I am also cluster feeding (of sorts). On Erin's suggestion, I cluster in the evenings in between naps so I do 2 pm, 4 pm and 6.30 pm or something like that depending on what time he wakes. I found that as I was transitioning from 3-4 hourly and had dropped a feed, that he was re-claiming that feed overnight. Now we are down to one night waking (fingers crossed!)
I have also just done shush/pat for 20 minutes to extend a nap and now he is still asleep and it is time for his next feed...I am going to give him 15 minutes before I wake him, I think :?
Have a good day,
Karen
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Karen - ah yes, good old plunket huh? Drives me nuts when they suggest that! :twisted:
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Hello everyone :)
Well we have finally made a permanent move to a 4hr routine.
Sienna has been happy staying up for 2hrs or more and is napping well now, we have finally kicked the 45min naps, adjusting the routine has helped this. Her EASY routine at present is:
7am BF
9am Nap 1+hrs
11amBF
1pm Nap 2-3hrs
3pm Bf (sometimes 4pm if she sleeps for 3hrs)
we might pop in a 40 min nap here somewhere if she has had a big day.
7pmBF-Bed (Always in bed and asleep by 7:30 at the latest)
11pmDF
4-5amBF
I do believe the Df is helping our nights and I also sometimes do a cluster feed ie 5pm 7pm depending on how our day has gone.
She has been settled and sleeping well for the last few weeks so I am getting used to it!! Who knows what next week brings :D
Take care everyone :)
Bianca
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Bianca, so nice to hear from you.
Well last night was fun, I tried to do a later df as one night I did it after being out and she slept until about 9:30am. So I figured I would give it another try. No luck, Riley woke up 4hrs later looking for more and again at about 6am.
Oh well better luck tonight I suppose.
I have found latley that she doesn't really eat a whole lot during the day. Her feeds are not very long, despite them being around 4hrs apart. Dd did get two big feeds in last night though, but they were both her night time feeds.
Her routine looks a little like this;
8-9am bf
10:30-11am nap ( usually only an hour)
12:30-1am awake (usually waits the full 4hrs btwn feeds if nap was short)
2:30-3pm nap ( 2-3hrs depending on am nap)
4:30-5pm awake (again she will wait 4hrs between feeds)
sometimes she has another nap, sometimes not, i follow her cues on tiredness. I find that if she naps later then it is a pain to put her to bed. Bedtime is normally about 8pm after dh gets home.
Sometimes we get the full EAS routine in, sometimes not. this morning she wasn't interested, but her nighttime feeds have thrown everthing off a little.
Do I need to be more structured? anyone know how I can get her to eat more at feeds, she has always seemed content as a snacker!
I look forward to everyones input.
Chat later.
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I'm having the same issues with Ryan...is Riley popping off, looking around, then wanting to get back on? Everyone tells me that it's just because he's getting more alert and doesn't want to miss anything. The other line I hear is that he's getting more efficient at drinking, so he is emptying the breast more quickly. Also, if she is getting ready to cut some teeth that might be the issue, too. (Don't I sound like I know what I'm talking about? :lol: )
Good luck!!!
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Hi all,
The best piece of advice was from Nikki who says she just goes with the flow! Since I started doing that, my days have been less stressful and I think that Sam is more content. I am now no longer governed by the routine and can actually get out of the house, mindful that if he only catnaps in his stroller or carseat, that he will need another nap later on in the day. We are still on 3.5 hour routine as he is only turning 4 months old in a couple of days. We are settling in (it has taken us a week to do it)! Sam had his first nap with no 45 minute waking yesterday afternoon so I think that he is adjusting to the longer awake time!
Good old Plunket...Nikki is there anyway to get out of visiting them or them visiting you? My nurse keeps making me appointments! :(
Thank you for posting your routines..gives me something to compare myself to...
Have a great weekend..the sun is shining and somehow things look so much brighter! :D
Karen
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Bianca, did that Si's morning 45min nap just gradually extend over an hour once she got used to 2hrs awake time? Danielle's pretty much still on 1.5hrs activity, she settles so much better with it, and any longer and she tends to have a really short afternoon nap and then gets overtired.
Here's our typical day at the moment:
6.45am wake (I don't feed here since she's not hungry)
7.30am feed
8.15am nap (45min)
10.30am nap (30mins)
11am feed
12.30pm nap (2.5hrs)
3pm feed
4.30pm nap (30mins)
6.45pm feed
7pm bed
2.30am feed
Last night we just had the one waking for a feed, she did stir around 11pm but resettled herself after about 5mins (I think I fell back asleep :oops: ).
Karen, you don't actually "have to" see plunket. It's more for your comfort etc. You can go to your regular doctor for well-child visits, other people just see their pediatrician if they have one. There is also often a Maori group that do visits too. So if you want to get out of seeing her you could just say that you'll start going to the doctors for weigh ins etc. Also, after the 5mth visit you probably won't get another one until 9mths anyway and often they will either book you or you could say you will phone closer to the time and book it yourself.
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Kate I think Riley has discovered the world around her, so I think that is half the problem.
She did however take a bottle of ebm today, dh and I ahve decided for me to try and go back to worl asap, as we want to move in a couple of years. The only way we will have the money to do it is by me going to work.
Her naps have been all over the place lately though, she is not irritable when she wakes up, so that is a good thing. I think that in the past couple of weeks she has discovered playtime. It is facinating to watch her discover that sh can reach out to touch her toys, she has such a look of concentration.
I guess we are all in the same place with our lo's. I think it must be the transition from newborn to infant.
It is wonderful to know that even in my hecticness I call life, that there are people out there that are going through that same issues I have.
Bianca, how is your eldest doing with the new addition. I say this as jay has discovered that Riley is not going away, but the aggravation is mainly towards dh and I as if to say look at me and not her. He loves her to pieces though, but I think it is a case that he notices that he is not the centre of attention anymore.
Keep up the good work girls, and enjoy your babies, I look at my ds and have no clue how he got from a baby to what he is now.
Ta Ta for now dahlings!![/b]
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Hello everyone :D
Nikki- Sienna's naptime did improve with a longer activity time, I wasn't able to get her to do two short naps in the AM, if the second one was to close to her feed she wouldn't settle for it and ended up overtired or eating too soon...SO I just kept persevering with PU/PD to extend this morning nap(even if she woke up happy cos she always does so I can't use this as a guide) so I could keep her on a 3-4hr E routine. But now as she is able to handle being up for longer she sleeps longer too!
If nap is 45mins-she can stay awake 1 a half hrs max.
If nap is over 1hr she can make it for 2hrs up.
I calculate her times if we are out and about if I know she will only get a short nap, I'm always working out her day routine in my head each day as I know it varies so much --because we just can't stay home ALL day.
Although I do believe for her benefit, in giving her at least one or two 'home all day' days so she will get a good rest, helps her to cope with the rest of the week :) .
Since I last wrote she has been waking a little earlier 6:30am so we are readjusting again. :)
Naomi- Kyan has been really great with Si, but just lately he has started saying things like "I can't do that I'm too little" and "Mum I need a rock" This means hold him in my arms like a baby of course :) So I'm wondering if, as she is getting bigger and so much more a personality now that he is feeling a little unsure of his place in the family.
Our two are very similar in age..What is Jason's personality type?
Kyan is a touchy/spirited and Sienna is angel/textbook, not that I'm into labelling them as they are all unique, I do believe that Tracys personality guide is quite accurate as far as how they handle different situations as babies and toddlers. I'm really glad that Si is easygoing as I know she will handle her big brothers little quirks and his leadership without getting to frazzled by him..I can just see her balancing him out nicely :wink:
BY THE WAY What do you guys think about putting them in the same room? We are moving this week and the house is a little smaller so I'm considering putting them in together, but not sure whether they will wake eachother up :shock:
Take care everyone and enjoy :D
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Bianca I think that our childrens personalities are about the same, Jay has lots of juice to keep him going and Riley just sits back takes it all in and lets out a few squeals here and there.
We too are thinking of putting our two in the same room, but I figuered not until Riley sleeps right through.
My two are about 21 mths apart a good gap, but I think I would have a bigger gap if I had hind sight.
Where are you in australia, dh and I are getting in motion to move to the sunshine coast in a couple of years. the move came highly recommended form some firends of ours who live there and have been to canada a lot.
Anyhew gotts run, the brood just all came home.
Ta ta for now dahlings.
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Naomi and Bianca - sounds like we have three sets of similar kids and age gaps! My two are 22mths apart and Danielle really is the little cruiser and tends to be more observant of life rather than Nathan who was right in there and active from the get go and at this age was already rolling around the house getting into things. :shock:
Bianca, Nathan also asks for "bubba cuddles" - quite cute really, but he now says that he's the big boy and she's the baby. He couldn't really be a better big brother, so thoughtful and concerned for her. :D
I think you'll probably find they would get used to each others night noises pretty easily and I've heard of one child having a full on scream fest and the other sleeping peacefully through it. I imagine there'd be a few rough weeks, but they would probably adjust.
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Hi All!
So I've been keeping up with the posts and still our lo's are similar with where they are at - discovering the world and that they play a part in it! It got me thinking that you might have some suggestions to help us with the current situation...
Fraser has discovered his place in the world, bobs off during feeding to have a look around or a chat to me, looks around when he hears his dad talking.. Also tries to engage us when we are putting him to bed.
We have always battled Fraser at bedtime - sometimes a quick battle and sometimes a LONG one. He hardly ever goes off to sleep without crying but we had it down to a fine art of getting him off in about 2-5 minutes. We use a kind of variation on pat/sshh, with his reflux he hated the pat but we use sshh and when he is really unsettled we gently rock his cot which is on wheels and sshh. He sometimes takes a dummy but he's not a huge fan and he sometimes sucks his fingers but when he is really distressed he can't seem to find them.
For about the past 4 days though bedtimes have become a nightmare (all bedtimes, naps and nighttime). He screams till he is red in the face and hoarse with little tongue sticking out like he is trying to make himself vomit :roll: I have no idea why and it is taking us about 30-40 minutes to get him down. Also his decent naps have dropped to 45 mins (he was doing a consistent 1.5 - 2 hr morning nap).
So what's changed? No rolling yet. We haven't extended awakes times - in fact he is giving sleepy cues earlier if anything. Still no sleeping through the night. We wouldn't mind if he woke up happy but happy just doesn't seem to work for my little boy.
BIG SIGH.
Any thoughts?
Thanks angels!
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Hello all Mar/Apr mom's!! I'm glad to see that there are so many of us. I can't believe that I never saw this thread before.
It seems that I am having a similar problem with ds suddenly bobbing on and off the boob just to look around or talk. Especially if dh is around!! He finishes eating in just over 5 minutes making me wonder if he is truly full. I started giving both sides back at 3 month growth spurt and was never able to go back to one side. I actually started solids 2 weeks ago. Mainly because he is a big baby and he was only having BM's every 14 days. He went to a couple of GI specialists who did blood work, xrays etc and decided to start him on Oatmeal (rather than rice). His BM's were always soft when he finally did go with little effort so he wasn't constipated. Since Oatmeal, he goes every 2 days which is great!! HE seems to handle the cereal great (no gas, he eats really well off the spoon too!).
As for sleeping through the night, he started going 8 hours at 5 weeks and 10 hours at 6 weeks. I never did a dream feed but I would cluster feed. At the beginning I would feed 6, 8, & 10. At the 10 feeding I would also give a bottle of expressed milk (2 oz). It seemed to work. I could never bring myself to give him a dream feed in case it woke him up!!! Now he is on a 4 hour routine (7:30, 11:30, 3:30, 7:00) and then has a feed at 9:00 with a bottle of expressed milk (3-4oz) and he sleeps through. It worked really well for us!! I know his bedtime is a little late but we are working on making it earlier. He does have 2 - hour and a half naps and also atleast one catnap sometimes 2.
It's great to hear from all of you ladies. Is anyone's lo rolling over yet. My DS doesn't seem to quite get it, he's almost there. Has anyone tried a sippy cup yet, or giving water. My ped told me to give water but DS hates it!!! I guess I will keep trying!
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Hi Cathy, nice to hear from you. I give Charlie water on hot days (just before his nap so it doesn't interfere with his appetite). He hates it from a bottle, looks at me with big eyes - "I though I was getting a bottle but you're just giving me this rubbish?" :roll: . I've started to give it on a spoon, and he seems OK with it, not enamoured, but OK.
He's not rolling over yet, he did it once, but I think that was an accident!
Just a quick question - I've posted about this before on this thread, so won't go into too much detail, but baby rice did not agree with him at all! Are you just using ordinary oatmeal, or a special one for babies? I might give it a go.
Caroline
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I tried water in a sippy cup first, then a bottle, then a spoon and even a cup but he makes this horrible face!!!! I think it might be because it is boiled water. My ped said to only give boiled water and I even think it tastes funny!
Caroline: I give Heinz baby oatmeal cereal. He likes it very much and it doesn't make him gassy at all. Oatmeal has a lot of fibre so it doesn't constipate him either. I am going to try the Earth's Best brand next. It was recommended in a book called "Super Baby Food" which is recommended by Tracy in her book. Earth's Best uses whole grains for their cereal which is supposed to be healthier. I was thinking of trying rice cereal once his BM's are more regular but a lot of people have said that they have problems with it!? Ironic considering it is supposed to be the ideal first solid food!!! :)
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Thanks Cathy, I'll give it a try.
Yes Charlie makes a face too, but he drinks it anyway, bless him.
I wouldn't bother with baby rice if you're having constipation problems - it bunged Charlie up and gave him pain (see my post on page 19 of this thread for the story). My health visitor says that starch based foods are better. I wish I'd known that first!
I'll let you know how I get on,
Caroline
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Hi Ladies,
Kasia has rolled over tummy to back a number of times (coincidentally, the first time was at the doctor's office after I had just finished saying that she wasn't rolling yet. :? ) But now, for some odd reason known only to her, she has stopped rolling . One thing that I find really helpful in encouraging her to roll, is placing her on an inclined surface where she can get her upper body up high enough to give her the leverage needed to roll.
Re: solids - I am absolutely on the edge of my seat to start Kasia on cereal (it's in the cupboard all ready to go!) but since there are severe food allergies on dh's side of the family, I've been advised to wait until she's at least 6 months old. No one has ever mentioned giving water though. Do they need the extra fluids or are you giving it because of the hot weather? (Stupid question I suppose, but I have to ask)
Kara
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Well Riley took four spoonfuls of rice cereal today, I decided to give it a go after she kept staring at our food for some time.
Her new thing is sticking her tongue out, I am finding it hard to explain to ds why dd can do things, like kick and he can't.
Also I think that the shock of having her around has hit him, he is fine with dd, but he acts up a lot so I think the lack of constant attention is starting to bother him. Riley is also up to 1 1/2 oz of ebm. Very proud. But she too has succumb to the bobbing of her head, and she has no sooner begun to roll over, we got all excited, and then that talent disappeared.
I got some pics of ds out last night, looked at him when he was Rileys age, where did my baby boy go to?
It seems like we are all teetering on the brink of solids, it is the waiting part that does me in, a bit like the final month of pg.
kara- I have no idea why they say to give water, I think that hydration is the main thing, it was with ds as he was on the bottle, but now that dd is bf, it is almost as if I am a beginner again, as they are such opposite types of babies.
keep up the good work everyone,
chat later.
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Hello Girls :D
Thanks for your encouraging replys to my last post Nikki and Naomi :)
I think I will take the plunge and try them both in the same room..who knows it may turn out a good deal in the long run :wink: I'll keep you posted on that one.
Frasers Mum- Take a look at your current E routine it may need adjusting again- if he is fighting going down for naps etc he may need a longer awake time now that he is getting older and possibly longer in between feeds..I'm not sure because I don't know your current routine but this can be a good cure for 45min naps. If you are dealing with a touchy baby, naps and sleep are a struggle for quite awhile but they do love a good routine and predictability.
Hello Carters Mum and welcome :) I have a quick feeder aswell so I can relate, but as long as they are thriving we just have to go with the flow and your boy sounds like he is for sure:wink:
Naomi- Just wondering whether Jason is also hitting a developmental stage, I say this because I have noticed that when Kyan is growing and changing he becomes very unsettled and acts out more--He has become very clingy lately aswell, but he is also in the process of getting his 2yr old molars and adjusting to a big bed!
I try to make sure we have a good Mummy and just me time every day, I usually work this around Sienna's naps. And I also try to remember to get him involved with Si--IE He helps me get the nappys,wash her feet, push the pram etc. It helps him to feel included and a part of things which avoids resentment. Oh and alot of positive talk like "Sienna just loves you so much Ky, look how she is smiling at you" "You are such a terrific big brother" and so on... Just thought I would share this :D p.s We are in Melbourne(the colder end) but Sunshine Coast is a gorgeous area, we head there for holidays :wink:
Take care everyone Bianca
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Hi all and welcome to Cathy :D
We started solids here this past Saturday - Katie was 5.5 months old, so we decided it was time - she's been showing all sorts of readiness signs forever. So, rice cereal it was - tried mixing it with water initially, on the advice of the dr (to make it easier was her reasoning) and she wasn't too interested. Tried mixing it with EBM and she loved it. So, we're working on that right now. Keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't get constipated as that seems to be a common problem with rice cereal.
Bianca - I shared a room with my sister from the time I was born until I was 7, don't think it bothered me too much! I'm sure they will be fine once they get used to it. If we have #2 while in this house, I think we'll be headed down that road as well.
Naomi - Moving to somewhere called the "Sunshine Coast" sounds like a good idea if you ask me! (But that's only based on the name, not any real knowledge of it!)
Jo - Teeth maybe? That's my only thought - Katie's been teething on and off forever now and the nights when it bothers her, she is very hard to settle.
Cathy - I have a quick feeder as well - and after those first few good minutes, she does bob on and off to look at whatever is currently interesting her. I'm just trying a sippy with her - she's interested, but not really sure how it works yet.
Kasia has rolled over tummy to back a number of times (coincidentally, the first time was at the doctor's office after I had just finished saying that she wasn't rolling yet. ) But now, for some odd reason known only to her, she has stopped rolling .
Isn't that just the truth with everything these LOs do - today I will nap, tomorrow I will not. Why? I'm not telling!
Hope all is well with everyone!
-Erin
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Good to hear from you, Erin. Too right about doing one thing the next and not on another...Well, Sam turned 4 months old yesterday and has been rolling onto his back from his tummy although he does take a while and gets frustrated when his arm gets in the way...sometimes incredibly frustrating to watch! He has also been grabbing at things on his playgym and the giggling is just priceless! :D
Naomi, lucky you, the Sunshine Coast is gorgeous although I must say I have only seen in from the touristy point of view. Lovely place for children, so close to the sea and great weather!
Sam has started to look very interested when we eat but we are going to hold off till at least 5.5 months before doing anything about it.
We are still struggling with 45 minute naps and everyday, I pray that today is the day we crack it..after the stress of the past week, I now just get him up and put him down again if he shows tired signs so sometimes we do EASASE. Thanks for the tip..Nikki. :) Makes the day more bearable as he just gets MAD with PU/PD and shush/pat unless he is exhausted. Even then, as soon as he catches my eye, he will smile and chat and then it is all over for that nap cycle.
Hope you all have a good day,
Karen[/i]
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Thanks everyone for your responses to my last post.
Yesterday we had a much better day :D although it did require a lot of hard worl. I was vigilant about watching for sleepy signals and getting Frase off to bed straight away. He is still struggling a little with settling but it was far easier than for the past few days. I also successfully resettled him after a 45 min nap during his early pm sleep so he did 2 x 1.5 hour naps and 1 x 1 hr nap (I had to wake him because I didn't want a long nap to interfere with bedtime).
Bianca, because I am a novice and a stickler (and am trying to heed Nikki's advice and go with it a little more but only succeed sometimes :oops: ) our routine is straight from the book. The only difference is we don't often make it to 7am wake up - more often it's about 6.10 or 6.15 - so the first nap is taken at 9.30am instead of 10am and so on for the rest of the day. We try really hard to stick to the routine because I am a working Mum and DH looks after DS when I am at work so he needs the help in knowing what is likely to come next. Not so easy for the Dad's I think who don't have all the right "equipment" to soothe their BF babies!!
Erin, I also wondered about teething but I am so reluctant to say it might be because I constantly get M and MIL putting DS's grumpy nature down to "teething" I don't believe they accept that he is a serious little boy. Even though he won't chat to them or crack a smile around anyone other than DH or me. :roll: Can't wait though for those first little teeth to pop through so something can actually have been teething!
Sorry my posts are always so long - I always start with thinking I'll just jot down a little note, and they become novellas! Sorry!
Have a great day everyone
Jo
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HI Everyone
Erin, you will love the Sunshine Coast. I have family up there and have also lived up there. I wish I could live up there as it is beautiful. Lovely beaches and mountains. The best of both worlds.
James rolled over for the first time a couple of weeks ago and didn't do it again till today - whilst he was trying to go to sleep. Twice I had to go int there to roll him back (he is a tummy sleeper). James is also bringing his knees up into crawling position. Anyone else doing this? :roll: I havent' had to do pat/sh for a couple of weeks, we just put him down and walk out. He often cries but it is just a tired cry and then he goes to sleep. The last couple of days he has REALLY cried and I think I need to extend his awake time. We are still not sleeping through the night either. The last couple of nights he has woken at 10:30pm and because I was going to do a dream feed anyway, I feed him. He then wakes between 2 and 3am for a feed and sleeps through till 7:30am. He always wakes up happy and likes to have a play in his cot so he doesn't usually get up until 8am. :D
I am getting ready to start solids as well. He is showing all the signs andwe have bought a highchair and sit him in it while I am making dinner so he can get use to it. He loves sitting and watching what is going on. I think I will start in a couple of weeks when he is over 5mth.
Hope everyone else is well.
Lisa- mum to James
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Hey everyone! Ryan is doing so well on solids, I thought I would share to inspire all of you who are about to start. My ds is HUGE (almost 20 pounds and maybe 27-28 inches? Always in the 90-97th percentile) so his doctor told us to start cereal and solids after his 4 month check up. He has taken to it right away, but I thought Lisa's suggestion about trying out the highchair before actually starting was a great suggestion...Ryan had some trouble adjusting to the position and fussed some at first. Now he is eating like a horse! Cereal and fruit in the am, veggies and fruit at lunch, and cereal and veggies for dinner. And, he still breastfeeds regularly, although much more quickly. We have had no digestive issues, unless you count more solid poops (or as my husband said, "It looks like cake frosting!" Add your own disgusted tone to really get the feeling of his statement!) So, good luck to you all!!!
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Well it seems like everyone is doing well. Riley rolled on her belly again today, maybe her memory came back :D
To all who are wondering, dh and I have decided that in a couple of years we will try our best to move to australia, things don't seem like a good fit where we are, and the canadian winters are so beyond making me mad. We have friends who live in and around Coolum Beach. So that is the plan.
Jo I am so glad that Riley wasn't the only one having a few problems with her settling and napping.
Bianca I do think that Jay is going through a developmental stage, I never thought of it before, only growth spurts came to mind. He is a gem with Riley, loves to try to help, but I have always been reluctant to it as I didn't want to seem like that is what I expected of him IYKWIM. He has started to try to put two or three words together lately.
Anyone have any hints on tantrums, I know it is good for him to get it out, but it seems at times like nothing will work, time outs, talking , nothing.
He is also especially hard to put to bed, screams when he realizes wht is going on, even with a wind down. Dh and I are looking for a babysitter so I can go back to work in the next few months, and I am scared that his tantrums will scare people away.
I forget who said to mix Riley's cereal with ebm, I will try that tomorrow, for some reason it never dawned on me.
Must go for now, bedtime is screaming my name.
Take care everyone.
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Judy, I'm chuckling at you feeding both girls while surfing the net! :D 8) Do you still use your feeding pillow thingy? Do they get distracted with each other?
Danielle is definitely taking longer to feed (considering she was a 5min feeder as a newborn) and will feed for 25mins a few times a day - I think she's pacifying a bit and it's generally when I'm lying down with her and I'm reading a book and get distracted - I take her off and there's generally no milk left.
She decided to roll from her back to front today - I almost missed it though and has also started to pull her knees under her when doing tummy time. We've definitely settled into one night feed only (still don't do the DF though) so been feeling a bit more rested in the last few days.
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All this exciting news! I didn't visit this site for 3 days and there are three pages of great updates! I love hearing what other little ones are doing.
We had a little meltdown on Friday. I suddenly felt as if I were missing out on Arwyn's infancy and not taking every moment to enjoy her. I felt as if I were simply moving from E to A to S and then starting all over again. In my haste and lack of good judgement, I decided to let her stay up if she woke up from her naps after 45 minutes. Up until Friday, I had been putting her back down, usually with a lot of work, upwards of 25 minutes of pat/shush or pu/pd.
As a result, Arwyn had a meltdown through the night. She woke up every 1.5 hours, just crying her head off and was very difficult to settle. This just made me feel worse as I knew it was because she was too overtired.
So, anyways, I'm just learning to enjoy her awake times and that putting her down for longer naps is good for her. Weird... I don't know why I suddenly felt that I was missing her "growing up". Hormones?
Wow! I can't believe how many little ones are rolling from tummy to back! My little one rolled from back to tummy for the first time last Monday... and has rolled from tummy to back (I think accidently) on Saturday (after the meltdown).
Judy -- At times, Arwyn will stay on my breast forever as well. I think she pacifies and I usually have to take her off. Mainly it is because I am not paying attention or have fallen asleep. :oops: She doesn't usually seem upset or anything when I take her off, just continues on...
Sorry about the long post, I just needed to vent about our little meltdown!
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This sure is a busy board :)
Jo-Just one thing from my own experience with my touchy/spirited ds. He always seemed to need to go down for first nap earlier than the other naps ie he'd wake at 7 and I'd put him down arond 8:30, it took him ages before he could handle 2hrs uptime---he just took in so much information while he was awake, I used to miss his tired window all the time and he would become overstimulated extremely quickly.
It is so interesting to me how different little Si is---her nature is the exact opposite so far..I was always slightly jealous of these Mum's who had babies that would be just lying there in the pram one minute looking all around and then fast asleep the next, no fuss!! Now I have one!! Although having a touchy first taught me SSSOOOO much about being a Mum and tuning in to your babies body language.
But little Grumpy/Touchys do need high maintenance that is for sure- as a toddler ds is such a smart and sensitive/loving boy.
I sure wouldn't change a thing--even the hours of hanging over his crib doing patshhh pu/pd with a lot of tears mainly from me :shock: Hang in there and like your doing embrace his unique nature, he will give you so much love back in the long run :D
Naomi-About tantrums, I avoid them when possible by choices, choices, choices ie You can pull the plug(bath ending :shock: ) or Mummy can?
Do you want to walk to the car or will you need help??(not coming when asked :shock: ) But in my case it a little easier for us all I think, because Ky is ahead in the talking department(already learning to read) so this has helped a great deal because he is able to tell me what he wants etc so avoids frustration-
There are some great tips on the toddler board about tantrums etc has helped me heaps. I also personally love the techniques in a book called Love and Logic you may have heard of already.
I also know what your saying about making Jason to much of a caretaker with Riley and I totally agree, I found Ky just loves to be involved though and doesn't seem to resent it at all so far. I"m careful to keep it fun and not ask him to entertain her or watch her for me..but if he is playing and talking to her I let him know that she loves it...because she can't say it of course :wink: He was playing dress up the other day and I came in to discover Sienna covered in socks and scarves--she was a princess :D Its so gorgeous to hear her crack up giggling at him!
Take care Bianca :D
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Jo - I have a touchy grump as well who never really cracks a smile around anyone other than dh and I (and sometimes we practically have to put on a three ring circus to get one!) MIL & FIL are ALWAYS saying, "What's wrong with this kid? She never smiles or what?" And they say it EVERY SINGLE TIME they see her....even if only 15 minutes have passed!! :evil: I try not to let it get to me, but as a new mom I sometimes find that the comments stick in my head and make me worry. Is this seriousness normal for touchy/grumpies?
(Maybe I should tell them she's teething!! :lol: )
Kara
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Hello All!
This definitely is a busy board!!! Everything is going pretty well here except ... last night for the first time since 3 month growth spurt, Carter woke up screaming at 1:15am. I assume he woke up screaming because when I woke up he was already screaming. Although I think I am getting better at sleeping and not listening to every noise he makes from his room! I was exhausted and I just fed him without even trying to get him back to sleep. Maybe a mistake on my part but I was tired :oops: He took a good feed and then fell asleep. Then he got up at 6:00am but he wasn't crying so I left him in his crib until 7:15. I don't know if it is another growth spurt (when do they have another one after 3 months??), or if he just needs more food (as in a second meal of solids). Are any other 5 month olds on solids twice a day? I think it is too early for him to be on solids once a day but he seems to be ok with them.
That is a good idea to get a high chair for practice!!! We put Carter in his while we ate dinner (he used to just cry in his infant seat). I think he loves it because he can see what is going on. He gets very excited every time we put him in it now and he will sit there for up to half an hour and play with his toy. I only put him in it while I prep his cereal or while we eat dinner so he doesn't get tired of it!
Peach - I notice you are from Ontario, what part? It would be nice to have other March/April babies around!!!
I hope everyone has a great day!
"You may be one person in the world but you may be the world to one person"
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I am starting to think that Riley was a little ahead of other dc's.
She has always fed for no more than 10 mins, at first I was worried, but then I thought that if she is happy and contenet and going between feeds for a good length, she is fine.
I switched her to oatmeal cereal today, I tried the rice with bm, still didn't like it very much, so I tried oatmeal, seemed to be liked a little better.
She does fairly well with it, a couple of spoonfulls before a feed, then she tops up bf. She seems more content and satisfied with having a little cereal.
Not sure if I want to do a df anymore. Lately she has been waking at around 3 after her 11pm df. Could she be going through a spurt or could the df not be effective. She used to go to 5 sometimes even 6am with an 11pm df.
Apart from that we are all good here.
Jay is kinda responding to disapline a bit better, the time out chair seems to be hitting home with him. If he gets too worked up I send him to his room until he calms right down.
Gotta run, kids are playing.
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G'day everyone,
Well just in the last couple of days, James has become more active than ever. We have hardwood floors in our house, and i use to be able to put him on a soft rug and he would play with his toys. Now he has worked out how to get off the rug and onto the floor. He then slides around on his belly (I always put an all-in-one suit on under his clothes instead of a singlet) so his belly isn't straight on the floor. One minute he is in one place and the next he is over the other side of the room :lol: I think I will have to look at starting solids in the next few weeks as he is getting more active. He will be 5 mths in about a week and a half so maybewill try then. Everyone elses 5mth dc seem to be coping well with solids. My grandfather has a gluten intolerance so I am not sure what type of cereal to start with. I have bought rice but may have to ask child health nurse. Anyone else in this situation?
Other than that and his constant chattering we are doing well. I am also not sure about the dream feed. For about 2 weeks he was waking between 1 and 3am for a feed whether or not I dfed him. Was starting to get worried about habitual waking. :? Last night I dreamfed at 10pm and then he woke at 12:30pm for a feed. He then slept till 7am but played in his cot till 8am (even then I had to get him up).
Naps are going well. I have extended his awake time to 2.5hrs and heis going down much better. The last couple of nights I have been giving him his last feed about half and hour before going to bed (usually around 6:30pm for 7pm bedtime) and he is also going down much better. having a full tummy helps.
Sorry for the short story. Glad to see everyone is going well.
Lisa - mum to James
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Yippee, Riley went from her df at 11:30pm till 5:45am.What a nice rest I had last night.
Just had to pop on and celebrate.
TTFN
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Way to go Riley! :D
I'll have my own little celebration too - Danielle for the first time since she was about a month old did a long morning nap right up to her 11am feed - woohoo (and perfect timing since I had coffee group at my house today too, I would have been so bummed waiting for her to wake or actually having to wake her early)! The only difference was that she chatted to herself for half an hour after I put her down which took her up to 2hrs of being awake without getting grumpy, usually she falls asleep straight away. Maybe it's time to gently stretch out her awake time again and see if we can get through the overtired thing.
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Hi Cathy (Carter's Mama)
We're from Northeastern Ontario. Not so very close to Windsor, but this forum has certainly been a blessing to talk with other March & April/05 moms and hear all their great ideas and advice!
(Sorry for the late reply :oops:)
Kara
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Wow, it's been ages since I checked this thread, and it's become so long. My ds is now 4 1/2 months, he's 68cm long and last weighed in 2 wks ago at 7.3kgs. I think he's an angel with a bit of spirited in there too, to be honest I haven't done the 'test' in Tracy's book properly, just read the results and compared. LOL.
It's reassuring reading what all your lo's are up to. Especially the ones who AREN'T sleeping through the night. My ds used to sleep from 6.30pm - 6am with his own wake up for a feed about 4am. I found that difficult as come 6am when he woke to start the day he wasn't very hungry. So about 1 month ago I introduced the DF at about 10.30pm. Well, this didn't solve much! He now gets the DF and still wakes most nights for another feed about 2am. Mind you, at least he's hungrier at 6am. I also changed from a 3 hour feed cycle to a 4 hour at this time, I'm wondering if he's just not getting enough during the day, so today I'm trying 3 hourly again.
DS isn't rolling without help yet, but when we help him go from back to tummy he gives us this beautiful big smile as if to say "Did you see that!!!" It's so cute. He is sitting up by himself though. He can sit for about 3 mins or so without our help. We even had him doing it in the bath last night.
Has anyone had a baby that woke too early and you managed to change their wake time? I'd love for ds to wake closer to 7am (sometimes he wakes as early as 5.15am). His times are never the same, even though his bedtime is always the same at 6.30 - 6.45pm. When he does wake, I feed him, change him, have a little play/quiet time, but then he only wants to be awake about an hour. Then he sleeps an hour. So it's not time to eat again. This totally throws any concept of a routine out the window. Even a 3 hour EASY won't work today. I've struggled all along to have a routine in place due to his erratic sleep patterns. I end up often feeding him 30 mins before bedtime. He's usually awake about 1h 45, including 15 mins of feeding. His naps now mostly last 1 - 2 hours.
Sorry this is so long, I would love to tweak a few things and hoping someone has been through something similar and may have some ideas.
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Hi Everyone,
Hope you all had a great weekend. It's great to hear that so many of our LO's are sleeping well at the moment - Frase slept 7.00 pm to 6.30 am Saturday night and 7.00 pm to 5.00 am this morning! :lol: Got to be happy with that! Although I couldn't get him to go back to sleep this morning after the 5am wake up - not sure what to do about that - but I really can't complain after getting all that sleep! But I'm with you Little Bear's Mum - I know we've visited early wake-ups before and so I'll check back through previous pages but if anyone has discovered a great new tip we'd be thrilled to hear it.
What total sleep is everyone's LO getting during the night? In the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, the author recommends an earlier bedtime to prevent early wakings. Bedtime at our house is 7 - 7.30pm. I'm not convinced that making it earlier will produce later wake up but would be happy to be proved wrong - anyone??
Fraser rolled a couple of times on Saturday but I wouldn't say is "rolling" yet. Not too long though I imagine..
Chat soon
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Well Danielle's nights have improved too and the last few she's slept till 4.30-5am and then back down until 7amish without DF. Not too sure what to suggest for those with early wakings - I only had them when Nathan hit 10mths old and have struggled on and off for the past 18mths - but the earlier bedtime definitely suits him (7pmish), later bedtime does not fix it (in fact for a while he had a 6pm bedtime to get his night hours up to 11hrs again - he still woke at 5am, but at least he wasn't overtired for the day).
In Tracy's book she says that some babies are just programmed to wake at that time and there's not a lot to do unfortunately...
Danielle's sleeping basically 12hrs give or take 1/2hr every night.
Well her long morning nap was a once off, but that's ok, some days she doesn't have the 2nd catnap if she's woken late like this morning when she woke at 8am.
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Hi all!
Had a visit from my SIL the past week, so haven't had much time to write. She's 17, it was so nice to have an extra pair of hands and some company! Katie is rolling from back to tummy quite a bit, but still hasn't mastered the tummy to back. I hope she does soon because at this point we're rolling her back over all the time. At least she doesn't do it at night yet! (And there she goes again onto her tummy...and she's crying...ok, rolled her back over.)
We're doing some rice cereal, which she doesn't seem to mind too much. Katie goes to bed around 7:30 generally and seems to wake up around 6:30-7:30 - she usually just hangs out in her crib in the morning (I am so NOT a morning person) until DH or I gets her up around 7:30-8. (unless she's upset). I can get her to take a good long nap in the morning (about 1.5-2 hours) although sometimes it is shorter, but it's rare that she'll nap that long in the afternoon. Usually with the short afternoon nap I can get her to catnap but if she takes a longer afternoon nap, she won't nap again. But at least she has mostly left the all day 45 minute naps behind, so I'm not complaining. She was up at 1:45 and then 2:30 last night when I fed her - growth suport perhaps, getting towards 6 months! Time flies, doesn't it?
Katie managed to get herself out of early wakeups on her own, not sure what did it for her. It was a pain though, I agree.
-Erin
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Hello everyone,
We too, struggle with early morning wakings. My lo gets up between 5:30 & 6:30 am. She has a 7:30-8:00 bedtime and is df at 10:30-11. She is usually STARVING in the morning so I feed her because she will not settle back down to sleep.
This is early but it used to be earlier so I am grateful. She used to wake between 2:30 & 4:30. At my wits end, I extended all her daytime naps to 1.5 hours to ensure she received between 4-4.5 hours of sleep during the day. Also, if she did not nap well in the day, I will move her bedtime up to 7 pm. She treats this as a nap and will wake again at 8 ish but is easily settled back down. Getting enough daytime sleep seems to have helped. I also started to cluster feed in the evening in addition to dreamfeeding.
Good luck and happy sleeps!
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James is sleeping from around 7:00/7:30pm and usually sleeps till 2-3am when he needs a feed. He then sleeps till 8am when he has his feed. Our days are currently looking like this:-
2-3am: Feed
8am: Awake feed
8:15am: Activity
10am: Sleep
11:30am: Awake
12pm: Feed
12:15pm: Activity
2pm: Sleep
3:30pm Awake
4pm: Feed
4:15pm: Activity
5:00pm; sleep
6:00pm: Bath
6:30pm: Feed
7:00/7:30pm: Bed
The late afternoon cat nap often depends on how our afternoon sleep went. Sometimes he doesnt have it. I have stopped dream feeding as he was still waking around 3am for a feed.
We are rolling from tummy to back but not back yet. On the change table andin the cot we have also discovered we can pull our legs up into the crawling position and belly flop back onto the matress! :lol: In the bath when he is having a swim on his tummy (I have my arms under his armpits) he pulls his legs up and turns around so he is sitting up, makes bathing a bit tricky now. We have also discovered the joys of crumpling up a piece of paper, as we found out whilst trying to read the Sunday paper :P
Havent started solids yet - we are away most of next week, so we will probably start in a few weeks although I think he is ready now.
Hope everyone is well.
Lisa - mum to James
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Hey Lisa
LOL about the Sunday paper - Fraser thinks that junk mail catalogues are the best books, and TASTY too!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Hi Lisa
Interesting reading your schedule. I only wish Daniel would sleep until 8am! LOL. How did you stop the dream feed? Did it change the time James was feeding in the early hours? When you did the df did he sleep different hours at night? Or wake earlier in the morning? Just curious, as I'm trying to work out what to do with the df at the moment.
Thanks for the other comments about early wakings, it's reassuring to know there's hope yet!!!
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Hello Everyone :)
Well, its been a hectic week for us, but we have moved into our new house and so far having both of mine in the same room is going really well :shock: I put Si down on our bed at her bedtime 7pm and then transfer her into her cot in her shared room with Ky after her DF at around 10pm..
She has been sleeping through consistently until 6 or 7am so it has worked out well so far. I have to say she is a joy to have around, her smile just melts you and she plays happily for ages while we all bustle around, sometimes I forget she is even there and then I feel so guilty :oops: Its just that she is not a demanding baby where number 1 makes sure we all know what he needs!!! :D I love it when I get those precious moments with her while feeding, just the 2 of us....she really is my little angel :)
Take care all
Bianca
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Bianca, hope that your sleeping arrangements work out well - what a great start! I also feel guilty about Danielle being such an angel and often she'll just play quietly by herself for ages or sit in the chair just watching the world go by - I was saying to a friend yesterday how different she is to Nathan since he was quite demanding as a baby (and still is :lol: ) and I really have to make a conscious effort to get down with her since she's so happy on her own .
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Hi all,
Lovely to hear that there is an end in sight to these night wakings although I quite enjoy them..away from the hustle and bustle of the day and just the 2 of us.
Sam is now 4 months and 1 week old. We are on the 3.5 hr routine as he is very hungry after 3.5 hours!! Also can only stay up 1.5 hrs max. He goes to bed at 7 pm. We have 1-2 night wakings..between 1-2 am and then 5.30 am. If we make it past 5 am without waking then it is between 6.30 and 7 am. If he feeds at 5-5.30 am then he goes back to sleep and wakes between 7.30 and 8 am. Anything after 6.30 am, we start our day. The DF did not work for us as he woke (no point calling it DREAM feed) and that made the rest of his night restless. I have stopped clustering him in the evenings as well.
We are still battling 1-2 45 minute naps a day...he starts showing tired signs after only an hour of being up. If I whisk him off to bed, he only needs 45 minutes sleep and is incredibly happy when awake but will not have another nap before his sleep..he is adamant we do EAS and can do AEAS but will NOT do SASE! :( I just have to find the magic number and I think it is between 1.25 hours and 1.5 hours but what?!!! Do any of you remember how long your lo could stay up at this age?
Sam is incredibly active and we have the same problem. He is delightful and is a lot of fun! He rolls from tummy to back and once from back to tummy but seems to have forgotten. He reaches and grabs toys on his play gym and giggles.
I am thinking about going back to work and am not that keen yet part of me feels that I need that to be a more balance mum. Oh well, will keep mulling on that one.
Anyway, must dash! It is another beautiful day!
Karen
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It's good to hear from everyone! Congrats to all of you who's lo's have figured out how to roll over!!! My DS still won't and he just turned 5 months!!! Anyone else not doing it yet??? He will however pull himself up to a standing position from sitting. Weird huh?? I guess they all learn at their own rate.
He has continued his early wake ups for the last 4 days in a row. He wakes screaming at 5:30 - 6:00 and can not be quieted without feeding and even that doesn't always work. We are not sure if he is having bad dreams or if he is in pain??? Anyone had similar experiences?? He used to always sleeps until 7:30am atleast (since 5 weeks old) so I am not sure what is going on. Hopefully it will resolve itself in the next couple of days! If any one has any ideas ....
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We had a 12hr sleep last night. Do not know how this happened :shock: . He went to bed at 7:15pm and didn't wake till 7am :D As I still bf the feed around 2am my breasts were feeling quite full. The only thing I can think that was slightly different was that he fed at 4:30pm and then again at 6:30pm. I formula feed during the day and at both occasions he drank 7oz. In regards to dreamfeed, I just stopped doing it (I think I did every 2nd night for a whileand slowly stopped doing it this way). James would still wake up at 2am for a feed whether I did it or not. I only do it know if he actually wakes between 10 and 11.
I have to admit, I did miss having that 2am feed. It is a nice time as this is the only feed I still breastfeed (am weaning as I want to stop at 6mths and when solids have started).
I too have a very happy baby - happy to watch the world go by but is wanting to get moving just cannot quite work out except for sliding everywhere and turning around.
Hope everyone has a lovely day.
Lisa - mum to James
PS Happy fathers day to all the dads in Australia on Sunday :D This will be dh's first.
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Just quickly, Karen, it may be time to move to the full 4hr EASY and ease out that activity time again to see if you can start to get some longer naps in.
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Thanks Nikki. Will try that tomorrow. No point hanging around the 3.5 hour routine as his naps are still all over the place anyway!
Karen
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Well I just wanted to pop on and say hi and well done to everyone, Bianca, so good to hear that the room sharing is going well. I am thinking of putting them in together before xmas, not quite sure when though. Thanks for the idea of putting them down seprately and then putting them in together, I was wondering on how we should approach that.
Riley is still taking a bottle, I had her take 3oz form me on mon. I have to keep at it though, I forgot today, kinda distacted with all the hurricane coverage in the US.
I was reading on how bianca and sorry i forget who else said that they had different kinds of babies, but it is amazing how different they can be. riley is so content, demands a little more time now that she knows that there is a world past her toys.
She is showing signs of wanting to sit up, likes to lift her head, her temper has also developed, got quite mad when dh put the cell phone away when she wasn't finished looking at it.
You know it is really wierd how we get just what we need in life, when I was pg with dd, I said I wanted two boys, not really comfortable with the idea of a girl, and partly dissapointed when they said it was a girl, but now, she is mine, there is a connection that i cannot explain, i never quite had it that deep with ds. he is my angel don't get me wrong, but there is something different this time, more complete. Maybe it is the mother daughter thing, who knows. There are hard days, but I couldn't ask for any better.
Must dash,
Keep up the good work ladies.
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Naomi, that was so sweet! I've started getting a bit of baby fever again, but when I do the math and realize that my lo would only be about a year and a half old, I get over it quickly. :shock:
Ryan is doing well. He doesn't usually roll from his back to his tummy, but the other night, he woke up screaming like mad. I rushed in and he was on his tummy with the blanket covering the back of his head. I think he was really scared, since he didn't know how he got there. (Don't worry, it's a REALLY thin blanket :wink: ).
He has FINALLY resumed sleeping through the night!!! He started sleeping through the night at about 6 weeks, but for the last month or two, he was waking each night. (Hard to get back into the night wakings after so long off!) We started him on solids at 4 1/2 months (per dr.'s instructions) and he now eats solids like a champ! But, the sleeping through the night didn't happen right away, like everyone told me it would. Oh, well, I can't complain now that he's back at it.
Hope you all have a great day!!!
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I just have to share all my good news. We have now had 2 nights of my ds sleeping from 6.30pm - 5.30am approx. I've left him both mornings until close to 6am before going to him. Yay! It seems to be the change in his afternoon feeds that's helped. I hope that's what it is anyway. I gave him the dream feed both nights at about 9.30pm.
The next good news is due to him waking around the same time, we seem to be getting into a bit of a routine, FINALLY!!! I've been trying since about 5 weeks when it started going off track due to short sleep cycles. He seems to be more settled now into the same length of naps at the same time of the day, give or take 15 -30 mins. And that's including a 2 hour sleep or close to it at least once a day. Wow, what a change from 40 mins that we used to get. He's feeding every 4 hours too, which is making a difference. Well actually, it's 3 hours, then 4 hours, then 3 1/2-4 hours, so it's definitely more consistent.
Finally, my ds who doesn't take a bottle (due to my not trying when he was young enough and being consistent) nearly did today. He actually did the sucking thing which he hasn't really done. I've used EBM rather than formula and let him kind of 'play' with the bottle in his mouth. IE he chewed it a bit as well as the tongue having a go. Anyway, this is a positive breakthrough, which is encouraging me to express again tomorrow and try again. I had given it a go a while back but given up disheartened.
It's funny how you said about your LO rolling Kate. I couldn't imagine my son rolling in bed. He's so well wrapped I don't think he'd be able to! And as for thinking of another one now.... I think I'll wait a little longer yet! LOL
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Hi everyone!
I haven't posted here for a while, but I have been lurking! It's great to hear what everyone's been up to.
We've just started on solids (after a drama the first time we started with baby rice :roll: ) - I've started him on sweet potato mixed with his milk - he's still not too sure, but is giving it a go. BTW sweet potato is a great weaning food, but it goes everywhere, and does it have to be so orange :shock: :lol: ?
Also, I'm still having problems with his sleeping. I've posted in the general sleep forum, so won't bore you here, but if anyone can help, I'd be grateful:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40087&highlight=
Other than that, we're great, and he really is a pleasure to have in the house.
Lots of luv,
Caroline
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Hello Everyone,
Thanks for the comments in regards to my post, I relate completely to what you said Naomi about having a little girl and I too was really keen to have another boy. When Si was born I was a little concerned about how I would go with a daughter---I'm not a real dress up and go shopping type, I leave that to my sister! Much more into horses and the outdoors, so I was nervous contemplating the future with ribbons and ballet :D Anyway I'm over all that now and my girly side has blossomed I actually love buying PINK :oops: clothes etc and am looking forward to us two girls going out for some mother, daughter time, when my gorgeous Ky has had enough of Mum and becomes Daddys little man(I've been told this does occur :cry: )
About the guilt Nikki!! I feel so spoilt having a baby that is so layback about life, and I too make sure to get down on the floor with her making sure she is involved with all of us-----But I comfort myself knowing that shedoesn't seem to worried as long as she gets fed and loved she just keeps on smiling :wink:
Here is one of the differences with my two as babies, ds fed at night until he was 9 months and wasn't on a 4hr until he was about the same age!! I know :oops: but he just needed that 4am feed to get through...dd is already sleeping 10-12 hrs straight and on 4hr routine happily!
So to all you Mum's who want to stop night feeds it may take longer depending on tempremant and if they are sleeping from df until 5am its called sleeping through :shock:
Take care all
Bianca
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Ah Judy, it sucks to be you!! :wink:
I am certainly no expert but - I would try the shift to 4 hourly. One comment that I have picked up on is "it's not logical but it's biological". Maybe fewer feeds might be what the girls need?
The other thing I picked up, on a tip from the sleep boards, was to swaddle. We had dropped the swaddle for ages but were having some night wakings too and tried that suggestion. It has worked for us (even though Fraser now doesn't have his fingers to suckle - but sounds more like your Hannah, very hit and miss) - we are back to someones one, sometimes no wakings through the night. (My DS never could get the hang of the DF so I haven't had the dilemma about perhaps dropping it...)
Good luck!
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Judy, the 4hr EASY definitely isn't logical in my mind either - but it WORKS!! Honestly, when Danielle hit around 4mths she was again feeding 2-3 times between 7pm-7am, so I made the switch and gradually she cut back the night feeds over a week. Then we were stuck with 2 and I was really unsure whether to go back to the DF or not, anyhow, it totally hadn't worked in the past, so I decided NOT to go back to it. Anyway, about 2 wks ago she went down to one night feed (it would range from 12am to 3am and then she'd go till morning. Well a week ago that one feed gradually stretched out to 4am and now we've consistently been going 5-7am - so 10-12hrs straight! I wonder if it's a combination of growth spurt and needing to make the switch. Danielle started taking longer to feed at each of her 4 feeds a day - yep, that's all she's having at the moment and my supply is absolutely fine. Like you found with the older girls, Nathan also slept through at 11wks with a DF and we never looked back (until he became a toddler :roll: ).
Take the plunge! :wink: It can't be worse right?
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Judy,
Just noticed that your girls are very similar in age to Sam (born 23 April 2005). We are having the same problem. Transitioned to 3.5 hour EASY no problem and night wakings dropped to 1-2. Yesterday, went to 4 hour routine to try to fix short naps and we had 4 hourly wakings overnight...what is the deal with that?!!! Surely he should be able to go one long stretch even if it is just 6 hours! :( He has done 8 hour stretches before. Nikki, encouraging to read that Danielle was doing this for a week on switching to 4 hour routine.
I am with you, Judy, do I dream feed? Do I cluster feed? Will give 4 hour routine a chance so will do neither tonight and will see what happens. On the plus side, naps are better, Sam slept for 2 hours after morning feed and it has been an hour into his 2nd nap and not a peep! Fingers crossed! Anyway, just to let you know you are not alone so hang in there!
Tonight is another night....
Karen
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Judy, I found that the DF does seem to cause a 4am waking with Si. But she will then sleep until 7am... So sometimes I throw in a DF and sometimes if I know she has been feeding really well all day and had good naps I don't and more often then not she sleeps roght through 7 to 7. Just wondering if the girls are trying to up your milk supply? This happened to me just before I switched to a 4hr...Before I had tried and she just couldn't make the distance then she hit a GS at around 4 and a bit months and after 2 nights of wakings and feeding plus 3hrly during the day my supply increased and after a week I tried the 4hr routine again and I haven't looked back. In your case with twins you must have to really be looking after yourself to keep there milk intake up as I know when I'm tired or not looking after my diet--it shows in my supply.
As Nikki said I would give the 4hr routine a go..I usually fit in an extra feed as I cluster at 5 and 7 so she gets 5 feeds a day.
Hang in there
Bianca :D
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Judy, I thought I would share my experience with you. I am relatively new to BW, just started 10 weeks ago and Arwyn is now 21 weeks, so... here goes.
I switched to 4 hours about a month ago when Arwyn was suddenly waking up so much. She has not usually slept through without waking at least once but it was upwards of 4 - 6 times!! When we switched though, she settled down and within 3 days, was back to only waking once or twice.
Arwyn also does things to wake herself up. She startles and kicks a rung on her crib or whacks herself with her hand when she goes to rub her eyes, etc. She is also not swaddled and a tummy sleeper. What I have tried is to hold her down (quite firmly) with her thumb in her mouth and pat/shush until she settles down and is quite ready for sleep.
I dreamfeed but when I started, she continued to get up at 2 am until I just pat/shushed back to sleep. I jumped on and off the DF wagon quite a bit when I started implementing BW. This last time it seemed to make a difference. Like you, I thought... heck, I'm getting up anyways... why make it twice as much work??
Now, having told you what worked for us... we had a terrible week. Crying to sleep, not napping and waking up once an hour until her dreamfeed. Today, that stopped and I also noticed that today, she did not drool like a mad-woman. Teething... gotta love it. Just when I thought everything was settling down!
Good luck.
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Question for Nikki - now Danielle is waking between 5-7am, how do you deal with her routine? If she wakes at 5, do you feed her then put her back down until the time you usually start her day, or do you start the day then or what?
Thismorning my ds decided to wake at 4.50am so after feeding I put him straight back to bed. He slept until 6.50am. But for some reason, all day today everything has been out of sync. I usually feed 4 hourly, but this didn't work as he had shorter sleeps (only an hour) usually one is at least 1 1/2 - 2 hours, and he couldn't stay awake for his usual 1h 45mins. I wondered if it was because his morning was mucked up.
Just when things were looking good and I could nearly predict when he'd be awake and asleep. Here's hoping tomorrow will be better.
Mind you, it was still a good day, despite the grizzles.
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Hi, what I do if a feed is between 4.30-6am is do a small feed (the smallest amount she'll let me without being grumpy if I take her off), pop her back to bed. Then she will probably wake later 7.30-8am - I'll feed about 8am at the latest (ie not on waking since she won't really be hungry), it then gives us another 3hrs until the 11am feed. If she wakes at 6.30am for the day and feeds (ie didn't feed during the night), then I put her onto a 4hr EASY and because she has a big sleep in the afternoon she will often gain the 1/2hr to put her back on target and she gets a 3pm feed - hope that makes sense!!
I just have to do a mental tally in the morning to figure out how our day's likely to pan out. I don't worry about the napping side of things so much as long as her feeds work out fine. Now that Danielle is 5mths old her activity time can be as long as 3-4hrs (usually in the afternoon only) - so if she's woken 7.30-8am she'll likely only have one 45min nap in the morning, then her 2-3hr nap in the afternoon and then a catnap in the late afternoon. Other days she might not have the late arvo catnap if we've been out and about.
We'll go for days on end where things are really predictable (in fact they were more so when she was waking 2-3am for a feed), but now that she's dropping that night feed we're a little more flexible on how things go.
HTH :D
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Thanks Nikki, what a great idea, a short feed. Hadn't thought of that! DS only last 1h 45 max awake unless it's the afternoon wake time, then like today he ended up going 4 hours, cos we were visiting. He's better if he gets a sleep in, but doesn't always happen. If it wasn't for the fact I like my extra sleep in if he does one, I'd be good and wake him at a certain time, but that doesn't happen. LOL.
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I haven't posted in a while, I have lurking around though. Judy, just wanted to let you know it sounds like you are doing an excellent job.
Keep up the good work.
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Well done, Judy! Your organisation skills are amazing!! Hope you are looking after yourself this weekend and getting a bit of R&R with dh about. Hang in there..
Nikki, thank you for advice on 4.30-6 am feeds. I was also wondering what to do..a short feed. Will try that.
Take care all.
Karen
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Hi - I tried the short feed Nikki - but it didn't work. He was STARVING. Today is so backwards he's now feeding just before he goes to sleep. I don't know, just when I had had 4 days of a routine it goes out the window, down the street, round the corner never to be seen again! LOL. Well, hopefully, but maybe in a different form.
I'm wondering whether he can now last 2 hours, as he seems to have done this by accident today. I didn't realise what time he woke after his early morning nap (6.30 - 7.50am) or so I thought. Then my MIL who's staying said she heard him earlier than 7.50am, more like 7.30am. And then he was awake until 9.40am. He slept for 1h45m, then awake for 2h10m before back to sleep. He's sleeping now, so we'll see how long he sleeps for.
I tried unwrapping him this time too, but he just cried and grizzled for 10 mins until I went in and wrapped him, then he was asleep within about 1 minute. So, he still needs to be wrapped. My MIL says he'll just grow out of it, but when???? It's winter here/coming into spring, but I want him not wrapped by summer. I just hope this happens, otherwise he'll cook! MIL says as he gets older he'll just unwrap himself, I guess he will if I loosen the way I wrap him, but my current way houdini couldn't escape. LOL Anyone else have the wrapping/unwrapping dilema, and how did you change it?
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Hmmm, ok so that didn't work! Will he refeed a full feed when he then wakes for the day? If Danielle did that I'd feed her that way, but she isn't interested, hence me doing a small feed.
As far as swaddling, I started with unwrapping one arm and then on her own she would wriggle her other arm out, so I just let her guide me. Maybe try a wrap that isn't too tight or got his arms tucked in so well he can't get them out?
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Unfortunately he wouldn't take a feed at all after his first sleep until it was time for his next bed time. So he ended up feeding before each sleep all day. But, he did seem to be okay awake for 2 hours and slept well after, so might try that tomorrow. I'm going to d/f a little earlier tonight, which might mean he'll wake up around 4 - 4.30am, or later 6-6.30am, he's done both! Go figure! It's the in between time that makes things tricky.
Who knows, there's NO pattern to anything that he does at night in relation to what I do, that I can figure out! I just go with the flow now, I can't seem to do anything about it. Next weekend we're starting on solids, so that could change everything anyway. LOL
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Judy, it sounds really similar to what I experienced when first making the switch - like Bianca, I found it took about a week to increase my supply (and we had more night feeds for a week or two) before things started to get better. I don't blame you for waking the other up if one's already up, may as well try and get those night wakings synchronised.
I really think we hit a growth spurt at 4mths, and unlike our health nurses who advise they only last for 24hrs, ours went on longer, and just as I was starting to get concerned that I was feeding Danielle and creating a bad night habit, she started to do the distances again.
Sorry, not much advise, as things just kind of came right on their own suddenly with absolutely no change in what I was doing (probably took 4wks from the intro of 4hr EASY until now where things are better than before).
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Hang in there Judy!
I too have been up unexpectedly with Arwyn 3 times tonight. 9:30 pm, 12:15 am, and just now... 4:30 am! This is after a pretty good day. ARGH!
Couldn't tell you why the poop though since Arwyn is holding it in for a few days at a time! :shock:
Sorry I don't have more advice. Just wanted to commiserate at this ungodly hour!
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Judy, I think at Katie's last growth spurt, she only woke during the night - I think I fed her more often (maybe not as often as every 2 hours though, can't remember) during that time. She had one at 2.5 and at 3.5 months, I'm waiting for the 6 month one now. She'll be 6 months on Tuedsay though and all the others were early. I would definitely continue with the cluster feed though. As for the 12:15 waking, you're right, it makes no sense. Is Hannah still getting a full feed in, despite her falling to sleep at the last feeding?
Nikki - I think you're right on the growth spurts - and it seems like most people on the board would agree with you from what I've read.
Little Bear's Mum - I had to wrap Katie tighter and tighter so she wouldn't escape and then she jsut seems to not need it anymore. It was odd. I would definitely try leaving the one arm out and see where you get with that.
Take care all
-Erin
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Oh my, this thread sure is popular, it is amazing to see how many pages get added in the space of a week.
It is nice to see all is doing relativly well, is it me or is this 6mth growth spurt getting hard to read. Riley does some cluster feeds on day and then not the next. For example thurs. b4 bed she wanted about 3 feeds altogether I think and then last night she had one at 7:30 and went straight to bed and woke up at 11:30 for another feed, and after that I think she was done until this morning.
She too has been waking suring the night, any time between 2 and 4, not necessarily for a feed, just on her belly, mad as hell as she is all wrapped up in blanket and can't get out, she looks at you and smiles with a squeal as though it is morning already. She was doing well, I would df her between 11 and 12, and she would go till 6 or so, but I stopped it as it was throwing off the whole EASY thing in the day as she varied on what time she had her early am feed.
i am going to have to sit and read a few pages of this thread as I am totally of whack with all that has been posted.
Anyhew, enjoy your long weekend.
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Judy, had the same problem when switching to the 3.5 hour EASY. Great days but 3 night wakings. Like you, I was worried about deceasing the number of feeds but stuck with it. On Erin's suggestion, I cluster fed in the evenings at about 2/4 then 6 or 3/5/7, something like that. The night wakings dropped to 1, occasionally 2 over a week. Hang in there! Don't know about the pooping, Sam only poops once every 7-10 days and has done so since 8 weeks old. They tell me this can be normal with breast fed babies so I don't worry anymore. Cannot help with supply problems but Sam will not feed for longer so I just fed more often with growth spurts and when I feel that my supply is down. This brings me to....
my next question, maybe should go to breastfeeding board is I am going back to work in October :cry: but would like to continue morning and evening feed. I work shifts and will work 2 days a week. On those days will only be able to do either the morning or evening feed, not both. I do not have much success expressing so will have to give Sam formula :( ...if I express during feed times at work even if I do not get much, will this keep my supply up? Has anyone any experience with this? James's mum, you formula feed during the day, right? Do your breasts keep making milk for evening/night feeds only? I am worried about supply stopping as I would like to do those 2 breast feeds and any night feeds till he is closer to a year old.
On the swaddling issue, Sam has always been very tightly swaddled and I have been leaving 1 arm out for naps but too chicken to do it overnight. :oops: He is double swaddled overnight so cannot excape. I hope to have him unswaddled during the day in the next couple of weeks and then I will start working on nights..very reluctant as he sleeps well overnight swaddled. If all else fails, I will have to swaddle him naked with only a nappy on in the summer.
Another beautiful day here. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Karen
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Karen, Danielle's the same with pooping - she only goes once a week and has done from about 3-4wks old. I wonder how they're going to cope when on solids? I was thinking about that yesterday and hoping it doesn't mean that she's going to be prone to constipation issues? Not sure if I prefer the regular watery breastmilk poos with mustard seeds or one strong smelling HUGE toothpaste poo once a week???!!! Sorry if TMI! :lol:
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On the poop issue :) - Katie is an every other day girl right now, even with rice cereal once a day (not that she eats all that much of it). It is quite an event when it happens, basically I just leave the laundry for then because no matter how well I think I have the diaper on her, it gets everywhere. Yuck. My sister had the same experience until she started fruits - that will be in a week or two, so we'll see.
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This thread looks a little daunting...does it just keep going and going and going...or is there a new one each week?
Just curious. I've been hanging out mostly on naps and pupd, but also here on EASY while I work getting my DS on a better schedule. He's made HUGE improvements in the past week. He had a paci before then, was held to go to sleep most of the time, was still on a 3 hour feed sched, went to bed at 9:30 or 10:00. I mean, there was a whole host of issues for me to address.
I am happy to say he has made the transition swimmingly. We are still working on awake times and short naps but I think I finally know how to read my son after plugging him up for 4 months :oops: He goes to sleep by himself now, what a huge relief. Now I just have to adjust to being home on a more rigid schedule!
I look forward to getting to know all of you. I live in Toronto and am staying home until April with DS then back to work (UGH).
The weather is beautiful here...have a great weekend!
Traci
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Hi Traci, nice to meet you!
It looks like our lo's share a birthday! :D We've had a lot of the same issues too (and some we continue to have!) Right now we're battling the dreaded 45 minute nap.
I go back to work in April as well- and although it seems like a long way away now, I just know that it'll come way too soon!
Look forward to hearing more from you....
Kara
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Welcome Traci! Congratulations on your lo's progress. It will just get better!
Nikki, I was worried about the constipation issue as well with solids. Will be interested to hear how you get on. On describing the poos, you are spot-on (no pun intended). On the plus side, no pooping in the middle of the night..Sam often does his on the weekend, during the day, don't ask me why! Thank you for giving me the encouragement to go to the full 4 hour routine. We have transitioned nicely and naps are now back to 1.5-2 hours :D . Down to 1 night waking but Sam insists that 5.30 am is his new wake up time. I try shush/pat but he thinks it is a HUGE game and chuckles and chats through it. His bedtime is 7 pm so I don't know how to make it earlier to try and get him to sleep later.
Oh well, I just go to bed earlier and roll with it. Hope he grows out of it soon.
I go back to work in October and am dreading it!
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KQ - did you notice any difference in your LO's naps when you started unswaddling one arm? I wonder if my ds will sleep less if I unswaddle. And, would that only happen for a few days until he's used to it, then start sleeping longer again. Normally my ds naps are 1 -2 hours. I find ds doesn't settle so well unswaddled so am reluctant to try. On the other hand, like you I want him unswaddled by summer.
Peach and Colesmum, my DS is also 4 months 4 weeks, born 11 April. Isn't it amazing how much they've grown in such a short time! I look at my friends who have got babies 3 weeks and another 5 weeks old, and they look soooo tiny and new. Not like DS at all. Yet it wasn't long ago he was like that too.
Well done Colesmum on the sleep settling. Doesn't it feed great to acheive something with our LO's when we know we can change something and it works! My DS got over the 40min nap problem due to my persistence and I so pleased (for him and me!).
I read on another post somewhere about the time they go to bed at night can alter their morning wake up. My DS has always gone to bed between 6.30 - 6.45pm and slept until 5am. Sometimes waking betwen 2-4am to feed sometimes not. Since starting DF is still sometimes waking. But at 5am he thinks it's time to get up. I'm going to try putting him down earlier tonight to see what happens. He slept thru last night from 6.40pm - 5am without d/f or anyother feed, but I think that was cos he was exhausted as yesterday was all out of whack! Stayed awake for 4 hours during one stretch! It was Father's Day here in NZ and we joked that he just wanted to hang out with dad (LOL).
Anyway, that's enough from me. I'll keep you posted as to whether the earlier bedtime helps. Who knows... we can but try!
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Is it me or do we all seem to be having problems with our lo's sleeping?
Riley isn't doing too bad, we have given her some cereal the past couple of days, my milk just didn't seem to be enough to last her the 4hrs we normally have between feeds. Man does she have an appitite.
She has discovered that she can roll on her belly in the crib, so that is making pd time a little harder, we get her settled good enough, but then she wakes up as she rolls in her sleep. We left her tonight instead of keep going in and doing it for her, she just grunted and groaned a couple of times and then was out like a light.
We are having MAJOR sleep issues with ds though, I thought I would put it on the sleep boards but I am putting it here first as i know a few of you have lo's around Jayson's age.
He has a hard time falling asleep by himself. We didn't know about bw when we had him, so we put him to sleep ourselves, and due to various circumstances, dh found it easier to sleep with ds to put him to sleep. We have been trying since christmas with this.
We would try sitting at the end of his bed, but with two kids, dh normally falls asleep with him, I could try it now, but dh is not sure on me staying with him. but as i explain to him, if we can teach dd to fall asleep on her own, then we can teach ds.
I don't want to try music, as I explained to dh it will become a prop and then we are back at sq.1. we have tried reading, letting him look at his books on his own.
What we need is a plan, a routine, but dh feels tied down when we try it.
Does anyone have any suggestions, we need to balance with the two of us now, but I am hoping to get a new job and go back to work in the new year. So it needs to be something we can eventually do on our own individually.
I will pop off for now, I don't want to make this too long.
TTFN
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Karen, great that the 4hr EASY is working out for you! :D
Naomi, I'm also wondering if Danielle is gearing up to needing solids, she only seems to last 3hrs after her 11am feed (if she's happened to wake early) but then will last from 2pm-6.30pm. She's still feeding once in the night, so not too concerned just yet, but did buy some pears in the groceries in the weekend just in case I decide to offer some soon - although I really want to hold off until 6mths if poss.
As far as your sleeping issues with Jayson - have you got the new BW book? I think there is quite a section in there dedicated to a gentle removal plan. So sitting next to him (or sleeping on a blowup mattress on the floor), then gradually moving away over the course of a few weeks or longer. But definitely worth the investment in time to do it, you will definitely need to get a solid plan first and then remain consistent through the transition - and your DH will really need to be on board and not fall asleep (my DH did that one night when we were working on a particular issue too :wink: ) . Just checked the book, if you read chapter 7 from pg 264.
HTH
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Thanks for the tip Nikki, I am going to pour over the chapter and see what i can pull from it.
I think what dh has a prob with is that he wants to see imediate results. Like intead of right away I need to convince him that we need to do this over a few nights. I think with us it is frustration at the situation more than anything, but I know it will be so worth it when we find the thing that works.
BTW, welcome traci to our corner of things, it is always nice to have someone new on here!!
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Hi everyone, have any of you heard of the book called "No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantely. I think it's quite in line with Tracy's thoughts. I've just ordered a copy of it and am hoping it will be here tomorrow. Aparently it's great! Can't wait to read it and get some tips. Mostly ds is fine at going to sleep without crying, except for the mid afternoon nap. But I thought it could help with sleeping through. And also, he may sleep well now, but it's not to say he always will, with teething coming up etc.... We've never done PUPD so don't know if I could. Looking forward to seeing if he sleeps longer tonight due to an earlier bedtime.
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Welcome Traci!
Jayson & Riley's mom
Is it me or do we all seem to be having problems with our lo's sleeping?
:lol: I just commented to some friends today about how obsessed I have become about Arwyn's sleep. Naps, short naps, catnaps, night-time sleep, going to sleep, staying asleep, where to sleep, how long she sleeps... etc. The list goes on...
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Little Bear's mum, unswaddling during naps did not seem to affect sleep but we were battling 45 minute naps and like Nikki said in one of a posts..I figured it could not get any worse. He seems to do fine now with 4 hour routine and naps well. Today, freed his other arm and woke up crying. Went straight back to sleep after I swaddled that one arm. Will have to wean him SLOWLY, I think.Will be interested to hear how you get on with "No Cry Sleep Solutions" book.
Too right about being obsessed with sleep, I find myself adding up the hours etc.
Hope everyone and their lo's have a good night tonight.
Karen
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Hi all,
Well yes, we've been having some dramas with the sleeps too - but I think there's a reason.
Have just got back from the doctor and Fraser has tonsillitis again.
He's been on a feeding strike since yesterday morning and has been generally miserable (well, more miserable than usual). Any way, more meds for my little boy. :(
We too are tettering on the brink of solids, but are trying to hold out til the magic 6 month mark. I just heard from a friend who spent yesterday at the hospital with her DS who had an allergic reaction to rice cereal - they gave him 6 mth + and he's only 5.5mths.
Take care all.
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KQ, interesting about the swaddling, especially what happened when the second arm was out. I think I might give it another week or so and then try one arm. Or just by loosening the wrap so he can get it out himself.
Tonight's our first early bed time, 6pm and he's in bed. He decided to do a 3hour EASY all day today. Don't know why but 4 hours just wouldn't work out due to his sleeping and he was hungry before then anyway. Fed well though, so that's all that matters I guess. He still managed a 2 hour nap, 45 minute and 1 hour which is good in my books. The 45 min nap was a result of me not clock watching properly and putting him down after 1h 30mins awake, not 1 h 45mins as usual. I just knew he'd wake early and he did (LOL).
Anyway, let's see what this early bed time brings. I'm not going to dreamfeed either, just to see what happens. I didn't last night and he slept all night without feeding.
I know what you mean about the sleep obsession... I think it's partly because it's what people always ask about, "Does he sleep thru the night" as if that's the sign of a good baby. WHICH IT'S NOT. But we become obsessed ourselves. Also, when baby sleeps, we get a break, which is great, so sleep is always welcomed!
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Hello Everyone :)
Things are going well for us lately, I have dropped the Df totally this week and Si has been sleeping straight through with no wakings so far!
I reckon this age is great, they get so chubby (Si has double chin!) and from 6-9months they are just so cute! Sienna has absoulutely NO hair!
I thought she would at least have a few more strands then her brother had, but no she will be like me aswell...bald as a badger until 2 yrs :shock: I'm not overly worried about starting solids as of yet, I like to coincide it with the first teeth and all this saliva and putting things in the mouth to me is a developmental stage..getting ready for food but not quite there yet.
Had to laugh about the sleep obsession thing, totally know where you are all coming from...but don't worry about it..Sleep is such an important thing for them and I was told once that when they sleep there brain grows!So better to be obsessed then not care at all. I see such a huge difference in babies and children that are sleep deprived and those that aren't..particularly in there behaviour! Anyone who has an overtired 2 yr old knows exactly what I mean! :lol:
Naomi- I wouldn't change what your doing with Jayson's sleeping unless you are both 100% commited because it will be a rough road to retrain him at this age and unless your dh is backing you up I would hold off a little while.. This age is a hard one for them already and getting a peaceful nights sleep makes a big difference. But if you decide to go for it then we are all here to give you as much support as we can.
Take care all
Bianca :)
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i am sooooo exhausted today. DS just didn't want to sleep last night. I think it's cause i tried to extend his feeds so one feed was cut out. i think i'm just going to stay on a 3-3.5 hour easy. That at least had me going from DF to close to 5am. last night he was up 10pm (fed-close to DF), midnight, 1, 2:30-4:00 (fed), 5:30 (fed), 6:50.
DH has had a fever since sat. night so i've been trying to keep things quiet. i'm sure that hasn't helped DS in learning to settle himself as i keep interfering.
Could you ladies please help me with something. I'm just learning his cues...and I'm not sure when to put him in the crib. Does everyone just put their lo down when they are drowsy, say 5 min. before the end of A time? I think I'm putting DS down too early. Of course, part of this is because I was hoping to catch the end of the previous window if i'd read his cue wrong, know what i mean?
I'm doing a wind down routine...just not sure how long you let them settle in the crib. Doesn't help that yesterday he seemed fine going down for first nap after 1.75 hours...and this morning it seemed closer to 2. I guess it will just take some time to adjust.
I also don't think i'm being consistent enough. Sometimes I'll let him cry for a couple minutes because it seems that I'm bothering him while he's trying to settle...other times I'll pat/shhh. Oh well, at least he won't remember and hate me when he's older :o
Encouragement needed please as I nod off at the keyboard...
Traci
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Traci with my dd i did pat/shh at every pd time. Sometimes it took me 10 or 15 mins to put her down. Sometimes I let her cry too, as long as she knows I am there and the trust is still there then I figure it is okay. If you do wither pat/shh or pu/pd at every sleeptime, then your ds will eventually learn how his naptime begins.
We are going to start ds on a proper bedtime routine tonight, DH is aboard, I told him that it will take a while, but he has done most of the looking after Riley this weekend and is seeing results from her routine, so I think he is encouraged by that. i will let you know how it goes!!
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Colesmum - I find my ds cues are not so easy to read now, and mostly clock watch! But if he's tired before time, I notice he grizzles even when I change activity, often arches his back when I'm holding him and shakes his head side to side. It's like he's saying, "get me outa here".
DS feeds are once again mucked up, because he woke at 4.30am for feeding then after another small sleep was awake at 6.30approx and I got him up at 6.50am for the day. So it was too soon to feed him then, as he is usually now 4 hourly. So ofcourse, he wasn't due to feed until 8.30am, which is when he should be asleep again. I put him down at 8.00am. Well, he hadn't been fed because he didn't want it when offered earlier, but he wasn't going to go to sleep without a feed. So back in I went and he took a big feed at 8.00am.
It's now likely he'll sleep for 1 hour, then be up for 1 3/4h so then he'd be due to go back to sleep again before he's due for a feed! Aahhhhh. This just doesn't work. I wish he'd either wake really early in the morning or sleep until sensible time, then we'd be fine!!!!
I put him down at 6pm last night, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Mind you, he did wake about 30 mins earlier than normal, so maybe it did, just in the wrong direction. I'll try for a few more nights to see what happens before going back to 6.30pm.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to have a routine.... it just never seems to work!
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Thanks for the replies ladies! Little Bear's Mum...I know what you mean now about looking side to side! The funny things they do and I didn't even know that was a tired cue :oops:
Anyway, for naps 2,3 and 4 (yes 4 because we've had all short naps today) I left the room! he settled himself each time within 10 minutes. I went in on naps 2 and 4 to say "time to sleep" and gave him a little pat, and left and he was out within a minute! Nap three i didn't even go in! woo hoo. no more being sequestered in the dark nursery during these beautiful sunny days!
I think i must have been interrupting his settling process. Probably getting all mad at me because I wasn't respecting his ability to settle down like a big boy :wink:
by the way...anyone notice there are two threads for april babies? March/April and April/May...I guess I have the benefit of posting on both!
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Traci
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Traci, cues were hard when I first started EASY but after a while it gets easier. It was so much easier when they used to yawn as a sleepy cue! Now yawns are late in the piece.
I do a bit of clock watching but Sam turns his head from side to side, scratches his face or rubs his eyes, refuses to engage or make eye contact and stares into the distance. Also his movements get jerky. He also grizzles if he feels that I am ignoring his cues and when picked up, he burrows his head into my chest. So sweet! :D I usually swaddle, sit with him then place him in his cot and leave the room. He usually talks to himself and sometimes does a bit of yelling then goes to sleep. This usually takes 5-10 minutes but if I have put him down too early or late, it takes 20 and this is when I go back in to shush/pat.
Little bear's mum, I bit the bullet and am unswaddling both arms for naps today. It was so humid last night and Sam woke up twice. 1st time he was hungry but 2nd time, I think he was hot (in retrospect) but of course, I just picked him up and fed him. Noticed this morning that he was sweaty! :oops:
Traci, I have started to do the short feeds like Nikki suggested for 4-6 am wakings and they seem to work well. Previously, I would feed at 4 am and then when he wakes for the day. Even if he only feeds for 3-4 minutes, I feel that he is topped up and can last the full 4 hours till the next feed, which he did! :) That was how I kept on track!
Good luck Naomi with sleep training with DS.
Poor little Fraser! How miserable for him! Hope he starts to feel better soon.
Take care all,
Karen
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kq,
I missed Nikki's post about 4-6 am wakings. So you just do a very short feed and put them back down? And then start the day like normal at whatever time they wake up? Maybe I'll try that tonight.
I have only been doing the DF for a week or so. Previously DS had gone down to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 :shock: I know, I had no idea what I was doing. Anyway, I'm wondering if this additional feed is throwing him off. I might try without the dream feed tonight. his schedule is messed up a bit now so he'll go down around 7:30 or so...and I'll see when he wakes. If he wakes up around 2:00 and I give a full feed, I wonder if he'll make it until morning. Who knows. If that doesn't work I'll go back to the DF and try the light feed at 4:00.
Thanks again. Love this thread :D
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Good on you Colesmum! And you to KQ with your successes. I tried giving DS shorter feeds at 4am and he wouldn't have a bar of it. As soon as he was put back in his cot he'd cry really loudly. But once he'd had a full feed he happily went back to sleep. Oh I don't know, it's just all messed up right now. I feel like I'm going backwards. But my new book has arrived and I'm going to turn off the computer (for a little while anyway) and start reading about the No Cry Sleep Solution! Roll on good night sleeps. :)
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Well just wanted to keep you updated with my two.
NIKKI - thanks for the tip on what page to read, I went through it and highlighted the heck out of it before bed last night.
We have put a nice big comforter on his bed, put more teddies around him and Jayson noticed a body pillow that we never use and wanted it for his bed, it looks so cozy in there that dh wanted to go in there too!!. There was hardly any crying too, he got up for a snack as he was hungry. He did take about an hour to go to sleep, but I was simply happy in the fact that he was in bed and not fussing. It sounded like he was singing to his teddies!
Riley's feeds are also all over the place. We figured on sunday she was ready for solids, but today, she just spat it out. So I think we too are simply going to wait. We may try it once a week on weekends, and see how things go. We have loads of baby food in the cupboard already for her, as we have been buying a little bit here and there.
Traci, I think my dd needed to settle on her own too, I would keep going in if she cried, but after a while I was simply exhausted from all of the back and forth, so I left her and when i just checked on her she was sound asleep on her belly, the first time she has done that. Maybe she needed to find what was comfy for her and not what I thought.
Anyhew, will chat later.
TTFN
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Good news Naomi! :D Glad to hear Jayson settled so well.
Bianca
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Little Bear's mum... My lo won't have anything to do with short feeds when she wakes between 4:30 & 5:30 either. I tried it once and pulled her off after 5 minutes and she woke up. Then proceeded to be awake for her 1.75 hours before putting herself back to bed. Then of course, her whole schedule was out of whack so... I just feed a full feed and then she always wakes up between 6:30 & 7. Then I top up and she is good for 4 hours. (I know... I didn't give it a chance and tried only once but why wreck a good thing?)
I know what you mean about bothering to have a routine though. Sometimes our day does not even remotely resemble what I want it to be. But, it has made my day more predictable and I like that part.
Traci... Looks like our little ones share a birthday. My little one woke up consistently at 2 am also when I first started the dreamfeed. She dropped it after about 2 weeks. The first week, I continued to feed her and she shortened the feedings herself. The next week, I just pat/shushed and only broke down and fed her once that week. Now, she usually doesn't wake up. Having said that, last night, she had a great big pee and her diaper leaked so she was very upset. I ended up nursing her back to sleep because I had woken her up to change her diaper and bed and everything! UGH!
Glad to hear that Jayson is having a good night and settling down nicely Naomi. I was wondering about starting solids with Arwyn as well. I am all prepared and have everything but am hesitant. The recommendation by Health Canada is to breastfeed (or formula feed) for 6 months... and Arwyn is not really showing any interest. What signs did you look for to see if Riley was ready? I don't know what to look for so I may be missing them?!
Karen... Arwyn has not been swaddled to bed for a long time. The only drawback I find to this is that she is very mobile in her bed. When I miss her "window" and put her down to early, she flips, rolls, squirms all over the crib before falling asleep. If I hit it bang on, no problem.
It is great to hear what everybody else's day looks and feels like. I think I have experienced one thing or another that all of you have mentioned. Thanks for sharing everybody!
Ankie
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Colesmom - yes, I only offer a short feed to Danielle if she wakes between 4.30-6am (only because she won't refeed at her 7am waking and then often wants feeding at 9am and then we're all over the show for the rest of the day). That way she feeds well on wake up and then goes onto a 4hrly cycle after that.
Naomi, great to hear that Jayson settled well for his sleep last night, how did he go the 2nd night? Nathan's bed also looks really inviting (sometimes I feel like jumping in there myself if he's not keen on sleeping in it! :lol: ). He has so many soft toys and they're arranged all around him and even above the pillow so it stops him headbutting the wall which was a problem with us for a long time until I figured out I could do that. :roll:
Anyone elses babies dropped down to 2 naps a day? I find on days that Danielle sleeps right up to her 3pm feed she'll then go the distance until her 7pm bedtime with no worries. But if for some reason she's woken earlier I will pop her down for a catnap, and with the weather getting warmer and the days longer I find we're out walking that time of day again so she'll probably get a little top up nap in before we get home for Nathan's dinner.
Well no more rolling going on here - she only did it the once going from back to tummy, isn't as motivated as what Nathan was but I'm sure she'll be right into it soon enough.
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Cole was up again from 2:30 until 4 but I didn't feed him (did the DF afterall) He wasn't crying constantly...would try to settle and be quiet a few minutes then be up again. So I shush/patted an hour and a half :shock:
Now, if he was hungry, he would definitely let me know, right? I don't really know his hunger cry but i'm 99% sure he wasn't hungry...especially since he went back to sleep from 4:00-5:45. At that point I did a light feed (thanks Nikki)...well, not just 3 or 4 minutes...I did one boob-about 8-10 minutes. He cried a moment when i put him down but I put him on his side (propped in the wedge) and he settled right down until 7am!!!
woo hoo.
also...i think i noticed people writing how their los poos are becoming more infrequent? is this due to our milk changing? and i guess their systems changing? I've thought for the last two night that he had bad gas because he was tooting so much...and he finally had a poop this morning. had only a tiny one saturday...so it was almost 3 days. he doesn't cry or anything, so as long as it's not bothering him I guess i shouldn't worry.
Traci
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Wow, this thread does move fast!
Traci - Welcome, sounds like you're headed in the right direction. I will sometimes let Katie fuss for a bit, or cry for a minute while I'm patting her. If she gets that very upset sounding cry, I pick her up. And yes, I have always found that she lets me know when she is hungry!
Judy, I've got everything crossed for you that you get some sleep sometime soon! Sounds like you're headed there!
Naomi - Best of luck with Jayson too on that front!
Nikki - if Katie takes two naps longer than 45 minutes during the day, those are her two naps and I can't persuade her to take another one, regardless of what we do. If we have one long one and one short one though, she will sometimes take the catnap. I tend to try for around 2.5 hours awake time these days. Yesterday she took a 3 hour nap in the morning :shock: - she must have been tired from something.
Katie was up last night at 3ish AM - I'm suspecting growth spurt as she is six months today - we'll see. She's rolling both directions now and making lots and lots of noise. We've been doing rice cereal for the past two weeks and she finally seems to be getting the hang of it. As far as readiness, she could hold her head up, no tongue thrust reflex, making chewing motions, so interested in what we eat - I can't nurse her while I'm eating or drinking anything, she just stares at what I'm eating, grabbing for our food, etc. She was 5.5 months when I started, we've just done rice cereal mixed with breast milk so far, but we are seeing the pediatrician in a week and a few days after that we will most likely start some fruit and maybe oatmeal as well (everyone tells me that's better tasting than the rice cereal).
Hope everyone is well!
-Erin
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Okay, I'm going out of my mind due to lack of sleep. I'm not used to this! Help! I brought my ds sleep forward from 6.30pm to 6pm, as I'd read that an earlier bed time usually produces longer sleeps. I think it's totally stuffed up ds sleep at night and made it worse. I was up with him 3 times last night!.So obviously I need to change back to 6.30pm. But I'm wondering if 6.30pm is actually too early for him, should it be 7pm?
A couple of months ago DS used to go to sleep at 6.30pm, sleep until about 2-4am for a feed, then back to sleep until between 5-6am. I introduced DF to try to eliminate early morning but that just delayed early feed to closer to 4am, now he won't feed when he wakes up. Thismorning he woke about 5am, I left him and he went back to sleep until 5.45am, I think . I don't know if he's awake or asleep, but there's no noise. Then I got him up at 6am, feeling really positive about the day and feeds, but he didn't want to feed. So I tried him in his new exersaucer and he didn't like it. Just grizzled the whole time awake, so after an hour I gave up and put him back to bed. He's been asleep an hour. So I'm thinking, maybe he's still tired at 5.45am. But he's wide awake, eyes open, smiling and happy to see me. What's going on????
As DS is going to be 5 months this Sunday, I wonder if I'm expecting too much sleep from him? 12 hours, but he seems to need it as he only lasts up an hour after I get him up. When most other babies seem to be able to do their 2 hour awake time.
Our day goes roughly like this (when on 6.30pm bedtime), can anyone make any suggestions to improve?
E 4.00am(ish) wake and feed
A 5am wake, talk, goes quiet
A 5.45am cry - I go and get him up. Eyes wide, big smiles. Change nappy. Try to feed, not very interested, try again a few more times. May take some
S 7am-7.30am - goes back to bed somewhere between this time.
A 8.00 Wake - try to feed, not usually interested
E 8.30am try to feed, may take small amount
S 9.45 - Put to bed, but may want to feed before going to sleep (lots of crying until fed)
10.00 - 11. Nap
A 11.00 Wake up
Hold out feeding until he gets grumpy for food after about an hour, or else isn't interested sometimes until it's time for bed.
E/S 12.45 - back to cot, wants feed if hasn't fed
S 1.00 -2.30
A 2.30 Wake up
S 3.30pm - may have another 1 hour nap if down after 1 - 1 1/2 hour being awake, otherwise stays awake all afternoon - gets grizzly.
E 4.30pm feed if hasn't already
S 5.00pm if walking in buggy will fall asleep.
5.45 bath
6.10pm feed
6.30pm sleep
9.30pm d/feed
Sorry this is such a mess to read, and I've asked about these things before, but wondering if there's anything else I can do. Or shall I just live with it? I've tried putting him back down at 5.45am but he's not interested.
To make matters worse, we have "daylight savings" here in about 3 weeks time, when all the clocks go forward one hour. My thoughts about this, is at leat his 5am wake ups will become 6am, but going down at night will be 7.30pm not 6.30pm. If he's not adapted to going to sleep 30 mins earlier now, by the looks of things, I won't be able to do much about it when the clocks change either! Aaaggghhhhh!!!!
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Little bears mum- what I do with Riley at night is put her to bed by 7pm or so, give or take a bit. I df her between 11 and midnight, after that she usually goes through till 6am or so. She has been waking at 4am, but that is due to the bad habit if dh snuggling with her on the couch, and I know that has to stop if she is to go completely through the night.
During the day I normally follow her cues, and by now she normally has her day down to EAS, feeds are 3.5 to 4 hrs.
I do have her on oat cereal, seems to make her a little more content.
Her bf didn't seem to stock her up enough, that and she was continuosly eyeing up our food.
For anyone who is thinking of starting solids, but aren't quite sure, what I have done for both of mine is to try a bit every now and then. If they don't like it or spit it out, no big loss, if they look interested, try a bit everyday. Sometimes Riley likes it and sometimes not.
HTH
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I am really hoping someone can help me. My 5 month old DS wakes up for an hour and a half almost every night (Saturday he didn't-not sure why). It has happened at times from 2:00-3:30, 3:00-4:30, last night was 1:30-3:00. It's not hunger as he tries to settle back but just can't because he's so awake.
We've been having earlier bedtimes for 2 weeks now. Used to put him down around 9:30 or 10:00 and he was chronically overtired for sure! Anyway, two nights ago he went down around 7:15 and woke at 2:30, last night he went down at 6:10 (due to short catnap) and woke at 1:30! He wasn't too loud or needy for a half hour so i left him...then it was shhhh/pat for an hour.
I was confident last night was going to be better because he went down really well for all three naps and started sleeping on his tummy yesterday which he seems to love.
after going back down at 3:00, he woke at 4:00 but settled back down right away...then up at 5:30 to feed, didn't go back down right away (I'm new to putting him down on tummy-not very graceful at it)
Anyway, if anyone has words of advice I'd be very grateful (even just words of encouragement)
i haven't had time to read any posts yet, i'm just so exhausted.
thanks
Traci
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Traci-
Couldn't tell you for sure, but my guess is he's probably just getting used to his new routine. If he used to wake at night because he was overtired, he's probably still getting used to the idea of not waking at night. It really sounds like you are totally headed in the right direction though, so I say keep at it!
Little Bears Mum - how's it going? Remember, it takes a few days for any sort of changes to occur, so maybe that's what you're going through with bedtime. What if you delayed trying to feed him until 8AM all together? Maybe he'd take more of a full feed then instead of the small feeds earlier? Not sure - seems like if you could get your morning more in order, you'd be in better shape for the rest of the day. Just a thought...
-Erin
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Traci -- My lo woke up constantly too for a few days when I changed her bedtime to 7 pm instead of 8 pm. She stopped after 2 nights. My guess is that she needed time to adjust. Hopefully this is the case with Cole. I'm not sure when you changed his bedtime but give it a couple of nights and it may settle down. I no longer go to Arwyn if she is just awake... she woke up crying last night at 12 so I went but she was fussing at 4:30 and I left her (actually, I fell back asleep :oops: ) and she put herself back to sleep. Perhaps Cole needs a chance to see if he can fall back asleep?
Keep your head up... I know, it's hard when sleep deprived but things do get better! :)
Little Bear's Mum -- Does your lo take a full feeding at 4 am? Maybe he is not hungry until 8 ish when he is interested in eating. Also, do you have a wind down routine for naps? He may think that eating is the wind down routine and likes to have that comfort before going to bed -- I know my lo loved to nurse to sleep.
Hang in there. The nights do get better after a change in routine. My lo is a slow adapter so I need to give everything at least a week or two. When I moved her bedtime to 7 from 8, she used to get up at 8, only to go back down after 10 minutes. Then she woke frequently for a couple nights. We introduced an 11 pm dreamfeed 4 weeks ago. She has JUST dropped her 4 am feeding for the first time this morning. :o Who knows, it may be back tomorrow.
Judy -- Whoo hoo! Congratulations.
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That's one thing I haven't tried. Of course, I don't always know if I catch him at first stir because for the first bit he seems content to babble and maybe do some mantra crying...and I'm not sure I hear it. All the advice so far is that if they are content to leave them. So I'll try your tactic if it happens tonight...hopefully it will or I'll be in there 1.5 hours where last night it was only 1 :(
Judy-I did give him 30 min. last night to resettle. I think it is just a matter of him getting used to a routine. he was on a 3 hour feed sched. until a few days ago and i'm slowly working him up to 4 hours. He had always taken 45 min. naps unless I held him longer. He's only just started to go to sleep by himself (after doing pupd/pat shush starting two weeks ago)until then I held him to sleep and put him down. He also had a paci. A lot for the little guy to change...so I guess I shouldn't rush it...I'm just so tired. Not to mention DH has a big exam coming up, has been ill the past few days so i'm trying to keep things quiet for him as well.
I'm working on his nursery environment too. Bought a grobag yesterday but it's 6-18 months and his head just fits through the hole so I can't use it yet. Not sure I want to spend the money on the smaller size when he'll outgrow it very soon. For his nap just now I dressed him a touch warmer just in case he was getting chilled in the A/C.
Thanks again ladies, you are my inspiration!
Traci
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All this excitement to catch up on!
Traci, I was thinking maybe you could turn down your monitor, if you have one. I do that at night, so I won't hear Ryan stirring or up and down throughout the night. As soon as I hear him, I can't go back to sleep until I know that he is sleeping. I keep it just low enough so I can hear any really big cries.
Ryan is doing well with eating, napping, and sleeping...although he has started a lot of whining. :roll: Not sure if it's really whining or just trying out his vocal chords. He's also doing a lot of fake coughing. It scared us at first, but then we caught on. Now, he'll start to laugh in the middle of the fake coughing when we tell him we know what he's doing. He's getting closer and closer to sitting up. He can do it, when well propped, for 10 seconds or so. (Who else but you moms would be excited about that? :D )
Hope you all ahve a great Wednesday!!!
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i turned off the monitor mid-way through the first night we moved him into his crib at 4 months. it was driving me nuts. so his door is pulled closed (not shut) and ours is open...it's a small house so i can hear him if he needs me.
btw, i just helped him from 1hr 15 to the 2 hr point for his afternoon nap.(one hand on back, one hand on bum)..i left just before two hours...he let out a sound and kept sleeping!
I'll wake him at 2hr 15 if he doesn't wake himself. Hopefully this will help the night issue if he's more rested. And his bedtime will be more reasonable than last night too (6:10pm!)
Traci
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Way to go Judy and Traci!!! Sounds like you are all heading in the right direction.
Well Sam is bucking the trend and waking twice a night to feed. I do not dream feed so i feed him on first waking. Last night, tried to shush/pat him back to sleep on second waking and he got so MAD!!! I finally gave in and fed him. The thing is, when I feed him at night, I put him back into his cot awake and he settles himself. Is this a bad habit or is he really hungry?!!! IS there a growth spurt at 4+ months? He did not have one that I know of at 3 months..He seems to be distracted during day feeds and only feeds for 6-7 minutes despite being on 4 hour routine. At night, it is more like 15!! Shouldn't a growth spurt mean that they are hungry both day and night? :?
Judy, when you pat your girls back to sleep, do their cries get louder then gradually settle? Sam's cries just intensify and after 10 minutes, I give up. In the still of the night, cries sound so much LOUDER!!! this feels like we are going BACKWARDS!!! :cry:
Wow! It felt good to vent! Thanks for listening.
Little Bear's mum, yesterday was not too bad with 2 arms unswaddled...he was a little unsettled but settled easily with shush/pat. Wondering if I should start unswaddling while we are having all these night wakings...will think about trying one arm out tonight.
Take care,
Karen
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Wow, I just have to say I had a much better night last night, and morning. DS slept from 7pm until 4am, when he started sucking noises. I went in at 4.50am when the sucking had progressed to calling out, to nearly crying. I fed him one side only then put him back to bed. I guess he went back to sleep. We didn't hear from him again until at 7.10am DH went in to find him lying awake. He had got his arm out by the 4.50am feed, so I left it out. Maybe that helped keep him happy, who knows. But at least I know he can do it. Now, to replicate this again tonight. Maybe it was because he was tuckered out too, he was awake from 2.15pm yesterday until bed at 7pm. Wasn't interested in sleeping when we put him down.
Thismorning I mucked up because I missed his tired cue. He's now been awake 1 hour past when he should have been asleep. Just won't go down now. I tried everything except b/feeding to get him to sleep, then after 45 mins gave in. He's still not asleep though. Might have to finish him off on the breast. B@gger! My own fault. Better go, here's hoping for another good night.
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Hi Everyone,
It's hard to keep up with everything going on in this thread. It's great to hear that some of you are having "wins" and keep up to everyone who is not quite there yet. It's the stories of the "wins" that keep us going right?
Well little Fraser is still pretty sick. He started going downhill on Sunday when he started refusing feeds and he hasn't had a decent once since (it's Thursday morning here now). We took him to the Dr Monday who diagnosed toncillitis and put him on meds. Unfortunately things didn't get better so we went back Wednesday and Dr said things should be turning the corner. Wednesday night was a very bad night, up every hour and refusing to sleep except on us (Agh - all that training!) plus whimpering in his sleep, it's breaking my heart! I ended up climbing in the cot with him and he got a bit of sleep then. Still hasn't fed - now about 50ml in the past 18hours. We were back at the doctor this morning and have an appointment with the paedriatician (sp) this afternoon.
This being a mum thing is HARD :cry: :cry: :cry:
Will post back and let you know how we are going.
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Fraser's mum, hang in there. Am thinking about you. Hope Fraser starts to feel better soon, poor little man! Keep your chin up and keep us posted.
Karen
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Oh Fraser's Mum, you poor thing. And I thought my problems were bad. They're nothing in comparison to having a sick child. I'm picturing you in a cot with your bubs, obviously your cot is bigger than mine. I can't imagine being in my ds cot. I hope Fraser gets better soon.
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Colesmom, I read on another posting that you had lengthened your wind down with more quiet time. Is this still working for you and what has changed? Is it the getting to sleep or staying asleep that's improved?
How have your nights been going? Any better? I'm crossing my fingers for another good night tonight.
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Frasersmum, my thoughts are with you and your family. I hope he improves soon (I haven't had a chance to read about the original illness, but i'll take the time to go back in the thread tonight)
Little Bear's Mum: I thought I totoally blew it last night b/c it took two hours to get DS down. I think after a 2.5 hour nap yesterday I put him down a pinch too early and he didn't like it at all. Anyway, my longer wind down really helps him fall asleep easier (exception-last night). I think it only applies when I hit the window or if he's a little more tired. It worked like a charm this morning. He woke early at 6:20 and wouldn't go back to sleep-tried for 20 min. but my back was so sore from last night I couldn't try any longer. Anyway, I extended his A time by 10 minutes this morning to try to get him back on track for bedtime tonight (will extend each awake time). I put him down just before 8:30 and he was out like a light. All I did for wind down was carry him in the sling while I vacuumed for 15 minutes, put him in his sleeper, sat with him a few minutes on the glider and then put him down. I didn't have to intervene at all. Not a shush or pat or any reassurance (which is a huge relief because I thought for sure I was becoming a prop with my hand on him so much yesterday)
Anyway ladies...here's to a brighter day in Toronto (sleepwise-it's pouring rain) Cole slept 9:20-3:55 and went right back down after DF at 11:00. He woke at 6:20 and took his first nap at 8:30 and didn't make a peep until 10:00am. phew.
Let's hope these night wakings are over.
btw...while trying to settle last night it was like he was swimming with his right arm...up down up down up down...this kid wants to crawl!
have a good one.
Traci
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Anyone out there experiencing this? My little one wakes up from her morning nap after 45 minutes and then is awake for 45 before she starts showing sleepy signs again. I put her down and she puts herself back to sleep for another 45! This is the second time this week (3 if you count her falling asleep during our walk).
Am I putting her to sleep too early? Or should I convince her to sleep longer in the first place? When she wakes up, she generally has two moods... if quiet and playing = enough sleep; if crying and red eyebrows = not enough sleep. Both times she woke up quiet and cheerful so... no pat/shush back to sleep.
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Hi Arwyn's mum, I wrote a big long story on someone elses short nap problem. It may or may not apply to you. My son was the same, sometimes happy but for him mostly unhappy when he woke, so I knew he wasn't getting enough sleep. Here's the link to what was happening and what I did. (sorry it's such a long read - maybe show your little one and it might help put him to sleep!) :lol: :lol:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/success-storys-teaching-bubs-to-get-past-45min-naps-vt40622.html
Sorry, not sure how to make it LINK but that's the location. Can anyone help me with how to make it link properly??
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Thanks for the reply Little Bear's Mum. BTW, it did link properly.
She has at least 1h 45m awake time before she goes down for her morning nap. Sometimes she makes the 1h 30m nap, sometimes she doesn't. Her afternoon nap is usually her longest. I have given up trying to extend her naps with the exception of clearly tired signs upon waking. She seems to be happy with a total of between 3h 15m to 4h 15m total daytime sleep. (Yes, I do add it up... I am a crazed S obsessed BWing mom.)
I just noticed the strange pattern this week. Perhaps this too will pass. :wink:
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So glad to see that I am not the only one who is having problems getting my lo to sleep. She used to be excellent at it, I did pat/shh with her, would put her down when I saw her eyes going and that would be that, I did the hands on her thing for a while, but then I re-read the chapter on pu/pd in the new book and realized there was more I could be doing.
I also think it doesn't help that she has had a lot go on with her in the past month. she has begun to take a bottle, has cereal, both of which are once a day at the moment. She has a new bedtime of 7pm and she is being pd a different way. She is doing good. It is just in the day, she doesn't seem to be tired after the 2hr A time like she used to. I was also reading on the pu/pd board that towards 6mths the naps should resemble 1hr and 1.5hrs with 12 hrs at night.
I know I have to wait it out, and let her adjust, but OMG, is it frustrating when i try to put her down. Today for example, she was up at 8:30am, I tried to put her down at 10:30, she finally did at 11:20. Within 1/2 hr she was WIDE awake. I tried later but she fussed in her crib, I know it wasn't crying as she smiled and kicked when I went in to reassure her. Do I keep going in when she is like that? or is it okay to leave her to mumble and what not?
Jayson is doing better, going down easier for both naps and bed, his bedtime is 7:30.
Funnt story though, he came into me this morning with a clean daiper, not on, his butt was naked. I thought Oh goodie, he is showing me his clean daiper from through the night. COMPLETELY WRONG. He had filled it through the night and took it off and gone back to sleep, instead of coming and getting a new one, so his bed was soaked this morning.
Will pop off for now, I just wanted to check in, it is son nice to see I am not the only one with sleep issues of late.
There is an upside, I put Riley down at 6:30 tonight so she would settle for her 7pm bedtime, she was out of it by 6:50pm and the only help she needed was finding a comfy position.
TA TA 4 NOW
Good work everyone
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Naomi, I think mumbling is fine (in fact is probably her mantra), Danielle will do that for some of her sleeps and me in there with her keeps her awake. Good to hear that Jayson's new routine is working for you all.
We've also hit quite long awake times. I read some inconsistencies in the BW book yesterday though: some places saying they need 2 naps plus catnap right up till 8mths and in other places that only 2 naps by 6mths. I think we're definitely in the latter category - she maybe only 50% of the time has the catnap now and will often be awake 4hrs in the afternoon. Nathan also switched onto 2 naps at 6mths and it fits in really well. I just manipulate NAthan's nap time depending on when Danielle needs to go down - so somewhere between 12-1pm. Our daytime total naps is 45min in the morning and 2-2.5 in the afternoon - so about 3hrs most days give or take half hour and 12hrs at night.
We've still got a wake up in the night somewhere between 3-4am. I'm really not looking forward to the extra chore of offering solids lol, so definitely holding out for another month here all the same.
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I know the feeling about counting sleep minutes. I do the same. Sounds like our little ones are in tune. DS sleeps about the same total hours and is awake about the same.
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I went and buggered up her schedule yet again!! We had another family dinner tonight and against my better judgement, I went. So... I left early and arrived home at 9 pm. Again, against my better judgement, I nursed her hoping that she would fall asleep. Then, in a moment of clarity, I thought... I'll just pull her off when she starts to soothe and not let her fall asleep. :idea:
So... guess who I am listening to on the monitor playing and AWAKE?! :shock: It is now quarter to 10 and I sure hope she is fast asleep by 11 pm so I can dreamfeed her.
Sometimes I feel like just staying home until she is finished this infancy thing and perhaps into her school aged years. :!: Yes, sounds scary but funny what I would be willing to do to get her to SLEEP!
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I've just been to visit a friend with twins who are 11 months. We were talking about routines and I was saying how I just can't get ds into a routine as such due to how long he's awake and asleep and that it's not a 4 hour cycle which is when he feeds. She thought her twins were awake about 2 1/2 hours at 5 months old.
Got me thinking, how long other babies ds age are awake for. Mostly ds only does 1h 45m before I put him to bed, but in the afternoon can sometimes go 4 hours.
How long are your little ones up for?
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We have different awake times for different times of the day.
#1. 1.5h - 1.75h (but the longer one is rare)
#2. 2h (also has the longest S here)
#3. 2h - 3h
#4. .5h to 1h
Of course, this is a rough schedule based on our "stay at home" routine. All bets are off if we are out. Then she holds out until she gets her own bed to sleep in. :!: Is there such a thing as too well trained?
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Hi Everyone,
Well, I have an update on Fraser - went to the Doctor again yesterday afternoon - at which stage Fraser had only had 50ml in 24 hours. As I previously posted Fraser has been on meds for tonsilitis since last Monday. He also has reflux and we recently upped the dosage of his reflux meds. The Dr thinks that Fraser was experiencing pain when the refulx meds stopping working and then also with the sore throat, so it got to a stage where feeding = pain and so he didn't want to do it. The Dr said that we had to get 20ml per hour into him for the rest of the day otherwise they would have to put him in hospital on a drip or feeding tube. We were syringing EBM into him which was not going that well, but late yesterday afternoon he started feeding again. YAY! So we averted hospital and now have a new reflux med which hopefully will prevent this from happening again.
Ah, the stress!!
Anyway, moving on, Fraser's awake periods stretch to a max 2 hours at any time, shorter in the morning like the rest of you and increasing during the day. He still needs the afternoon catnap everyday. This week he has been sleeping 2 - 2.5 hour stretches I think because he's been sick and because of all the medication, but as of this morning we are back to a 45min morning nap. 1st nap is usually about 1hr 15mins, second about 1hr 30mins and catnap about 45mins - 1hr (I wake him up at about the 1hr mark to preserve night sleep.
Fraser is in bed between 6.30pm and 7pm - I would like to hold him out until 7 but often he is very tired and iritable before then. His morning wake is usually 6am (ugh, again I would prefer 7 but as they say in the classics, "you can't always get what you want")
Have a great weekend all,
Love
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That's reassuring, although my ds is about a month younger than your lo's he's sleeping about the same amount. today was only 3 hours total. Struggled to stay happy until his new 7pm bedtime, but the last two nights have been successful with that time, so I'm continuing with that for now. I wonder what tonight and tomorrow will bring.
BTW thanks to all of you for 'listening' to me and answering all my questions. It's so nice to know I'm not alone out there with sleeping/routine issues and others have been thru them and have good ideas. And that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Frasers mum, good to hear he's doing much better. It must have been very worrying for you. They shouldn't be allowed to get sick until they can tell you what's wrong!!
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frasersmum-good for you! what a huge relief :D
i had more night wakings last night...this is how it went...please see my questions/comments about BM frequency at the end...
DS went down at 6:45 without a peep. Woke up screaming at 7:30. Not like him at all when he goes down by himself. Now, he hadn't had a BM since Tuesday morning and it seemed to be troubling him. Gave him some Oval and fed him one boob ( I know I know but I really felt it was troubling him and hoped more milk would force it out) Settled him in my arms (stopped crying when i pumped his legs!) Put him in the crib drowsy and settled in 20 minutes.
DF at 11:00 no problem settling.
woke at 2:50, no problem settling.
woke at 3:50...close enough to feed time. fed one boob...didn't want to settle. tried for half an hour. he'd cry, then go quiet etc...finally at 4:45 he was quietly babbling so I left. He did this for 15 minutes then cried again. I tried to shhh/pat until 5:20, still more crying and even screaming. Tried a bit more Oval. I know the magic number is 1.5 hrs....and we'd surpassed that. I picked him up and he instantly settled in my arms after a huge burp and a toot! Anyway, I just knew he wouldn't settle in his crib so I crept downstairs and put him in his bouncy chair. he has never slept in it. NEVER. nor his car seat unless we're in the car. He fell fast asleep. I am confident that I made the right decision not to shhh/pat him in the crib. I think he needed to be elevated. Anyhoo, he woke up at normal time (6:20) so he had slept close to an hour and we played quietly on the floor til 7 (well, he played while i lay under a comforter resting my aching back!)
Fed at 7:00 and I just cleaned up the biggest dirty diaper.
So my question is this...DS had runny baby like poops until I started this sleep training. Is it possible that the additional rest had changed his cycle? Is there anything I can eat to help him stay more regular. He wasn't in agony...but if I can help it so that he goes at least every second day (it had been three days) I think he might feel better.
have a good one ladies!
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Traci,
My EBF lo only goes every 2 or 3 days. I didn't notice if it was when I started sleep training... she was still quite young then and having never had the cottage cheese poos, I didn't notice when they changed consistency. I do know though that their digestive systems are maturing and this makes BMs all weird (and smellier :shock: ). We are actually considering getting our Diaper Genie out because they stink so bad. And whoever told me breast-fed baby poos don't stink must be referring to newborns.
BTW, you may notice Cole only has BMs at a certain time of day. Mine are morning events only. Quite nice to know when to expect the big clean-up. :)
Frasersmum - Glad Fraser is getting over his tonsilitis nicely. Is he enjoying his ice cream? I remember that used to be the only good part about having tonsilitis! I also have an early riser -- not what I would have chosen but... right you are about not always getting what you want.
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Arwyn's mom: you're right, he goes in the morning. I would have liked him to go last night during last feed...and he seemed like he was trying and really wanted to with no luck :(
I'll try to take in more fluids myself, and maybe more bran. It could be that I was just assuming this is why he wasn't sleeping, but it might have just been another regular night waking. Thing is though all the other nights he crashed after 1.5 hours and this time he didn't...so that's why I came to the conclusion it was a belly issue.
I am happy that he can go to sleep by himself though, as I don't feel too bad that I picked him up. I do know that he fussed a bit in his bouncy chair and put himself back to sleep...so I just hope this blip in the routine won't throw him off.
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Colesmum, I think I posted this in one of the previous pages but Sam only has BM once every 7-10 days and it does not seem to bother him. He has done this since about 8 weeks old. His BM are (quoting Nikki, like toothpaste!) He seems to go in the weekends..don't ask me why!
HTH
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HI everyone, my week has been a little hectic, so I have been mainly lurking around here.
Jo- how is fraser doing, I hope he is on the mend!
Arwyn's mum- I hope your routine is getting a little easier to handle, Riley has thrown hers out of the window, the past couple of days she likes to have 2 little naps, a half hour if we are lucky and then a big one for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
On the poop front. i think dd likes to surprise me, I forgot how gross a baby "solid" poop could be!
Jay is doing wonderful at night, we have him off of a sippy cup to go to bed :D . He settles okay, just needs a little reassurance from us every now and then.
Riley is also doing well, pu/pd is starting to take its affect. I put her down at 6:30 last night to prepare for it to tkae a while for her 7pm bedtime, and by 10 to the hour she was asleep but restless as she wasn't comfy, she likes her belly, so I had to roll her over onto it and after that she was fine.
Well I have to go, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't a stranger here as I pop in every now and then.
Keep up the good work everyone!!!
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Sometimes I wonder if it's better if they go every few days versus my ds who goes daily, sometimes twice! At least he doesn't get clogged up though like it sounds like Cole did. We sometimes have to do a full change after though as the poop explodes out the top of the nappy if he's in the wrong position when he poops. I've also learnt that when it starts to become frequently pooping out then it's time for a bigger nappy.
I've got great news still on the sleeping front. DS slept from 7pm until 5.40am. With no d/f or anything! Yay!!!! Each morning he's getting a little later. He then went back to sleep from 6.10am until 6.40am too. I went and checked just to make sure he wasn't lying wide awake, but his eyes were closed.
And even the feeding routine will sort of work out today, well thismorning anyway. He fed at 5.40am, then again when he woke at 6.40am. I was told if it's within 1 hour then it's still considered 1 feed. DS went back to sleep at 8.10am without a murmer, and even if he wakes after one hour at 9.10am (he's sleeping now) then to feed him at about 9.30am is still at the beginning of his wake up. Of course, if his next nap is a short 1 hour one, it won't be so good, but it's an improvement from having to feed right before sleep. Yay!!!! :D :D :D
Bye for now, happy pooping everyone!
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Whoo Hoo Little Bear's mum! Arwyn too has been extending her night sleep a little bit. Yesterday (night before last), she gave me 12 hours with a dreamfeed. Can it last?... I dare ask.
Arwyn's schedule is going okay. No major breakdowns except for the strange 45 min. awake time she seems to want during her second nap. She did it again today... but we were out so she couldn't sleep but sure enough, after 45 minutes, she was showing signs of sleepiness and wanted to nap. Wonder what it could be?
Speaking of pooping... Arwyn surprised me with a poop this afternoon. Just when I thought I had her figured out for something!
We'll see how tonight goes. It will be the first night all week she will go to bed at her regular bedtime. :oops: Bad Mommy had her all over town since Monday night.
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Way to go little bears mum, Riley fell asleep at 6:30 feeding on daddy, she woke 3hrs later for a feed, and went right back out.
I am thinking of meeting her half way over the next few days, watching her for tired signs, but I know she can go longer than 2hrs awake, not sure for how long as I have been trying to keep her on routine, but not with much luck.
I did read on one of the sleep forums that around 6mths, they can have 2 naps, one 1hr and one 1.5 hrs and then 12 hrs at night, so I am trying to figure out how I can keep her on EAS , let her have longer A times but still get in sufficient S time. If that makes any sense.
It s so nice to see everyone is doing well.
Arwyn's mum, how is it going with dd, Dh and I had to redo the bedtime thing in August after we had the kids down at the annual buskersfest that we have here.
Well I will chat later.
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So glad everyone is doing well...especially Fraser! We are preparing for a big weekend over here. Ryan will be six months old on Sunday!!! I can't believe it. It feels like 6 years in many ways, but in others, it seems like we just brought him home. By far the best 6 months ever!
Rough day today. I have started work for my mil, who I adore and get along with. She owns a preschool (not sure if I've already mentioned that). Since it's the beginning of school, she wanted to be there (normally, she'll watch ds at her house). Ryan could not fall asleep with all of the action, so he missed his am nap (although he fell asleep for the last 7 minutes of the ride there, which didn't help :x ). I was trying to politely suggest she put him down for his nap, but she kept saying "He doesn't look tired." I thought of you, Arwyn's Mom, because to me he was clearly tired with red eyes and eyebrows. Apparently, we moms are so tuned into our lo's cues, but no one else can see them. Finally I nursed him to sleep :oops: . But, he only slept about 30 mins. So, the rest of his day, he has been totally off. Hard to get down to nap, which is usually not an issue. Dh put him to bed while I went out to eat with my girlfriends :D and he did okay. Ryan even cried in the bathtub, which is his favorite part of the day. Poor guy. Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow, since we're doing his six month portraits and his Granny and GG (great grandma) are coming in from Chicago to celebrate.
Have a great weekend!!!
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Kate... Happy 6 month birthday Ryan! Enjoy your visit with Granny and GG. We just had portraits done with my parents on Monday. It is so special to see those pictures.
Yes, I see tired signs all the time and now, thanks to me mentioning them ad nauseum :roll: , so does my mother, father and aunts. My dad is soooo sweet... when he sees those signs and we are out, he will take her and go into a corner to try to put her to sleep. I've told him it won't work unless she is at least an hour past her bedtime but he still insists. Awww, Arwyn has a good grandpa.
Got my fingers crossed for tonight. So far, so good, but it has only been 1.25 hours. Down at 7:30 and it is now 8:45. Shouldn't be any different (fingers crossed) from this point on... I have been putting her down around 8:30-9:15 since Monday. Could we have success, ladies? Will let you know in the morning. Or, worse case scenario, there will be a middle of the night posting! :)
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Is there such thing as a 5 month growth spurt?
DS gulped down his 5:30pm feed last night. Went down like a charm at 7:15 and woke up SCREAMING at 8pm. settled back down, but woke at 10:30 just before i got to him for DF. then woke again at 12:30,1:30,2:30 and 3:30. I FINALLY fed him at 4:00 and he slept until 7:00!
He was fussing after 3 hours today instead of 3.5...i wasn't here but DH said he'd been fussy and hunger was the only thing it could have been. Anyway, I'm offering him more food today in hopes it will help the night wakings...
BTW...anyones lo have reflux? Cole does spit up an hour or more after feeding...but it doesn't seem to bother him. someone suggested reflux to me...but he doesn't scream during the day, only at night so that's why i think it's hunger.
i've barely any time to read posts...having guests over today.
enjoy your weekend!
Traci
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Judy, occasionally, I feed before the 4 hours are up, I figure, what is half an hour, and who is clock watching anyway? I wondered about the habit of feeding when awake, almost like they are too entrenched in EAS and if that is affecting night wakings. Let me know if you get a reply. Is it on the breast feeding board, maybe I will look it up now. Sounds like you are making progress with the girls' night waking. Good luck and may you get some sleep tonight.
Glad Fraser is better!
Take care all,
Karen
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Glad to see I am not alone on the EAS routine.
Riley is way off whack on hers, she likes to stay awake in the morning, take a half hour nap at about 11 and then she will have a 2hr nap in the afternoon and if she makes it to 6:30 we are lucky.
Last night I tried cluster feeding before bedtime, but she woke at 9:30, 1 and after that is a blur, she wanted to feed each time, pu/pd only made her worse.
She seems completely happy staing awake so long in the am, doing pu/pd to have her take a nap only make her mad.
I am currently contemplating on weaning her off of me and onto the bottle, I like the idea of it, but I also like OUR when she feeds.
Well my girl poops once or twice a day, I forgot how yucky the poops get when they eat solids.She loves her oat cereal, not sure on the rice cereal with a flavour, so I don't know if it is the flavour or the rice cereal she doesn't like.
Jo, it is good to hear fraser is on the mend.
Judy, how many times do your girls wake up now, is it getting any easier for you to sllep for a while at night.
Well I just wanted to pop on here and have a chat.
Take care everyone
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Hi, we do a mix of 3-4 EAS. Depends a bit on how ds sleeps. Sometimes due to when he's first fed in the mornings he needs to eat before he'll take a nap even though it isn't 4 hours yet. The last 2 mornings he's fed somewhere around 5.30am, then gone back to sleep for about an hour. THen in his next wake up, although I feel a bit mean I haven't fed him and he's actually gone back to sleep at his next wake time. But then when he's woken up he's gone about 4 hours, so I feed him. I guess the EAS routine does instil into them that once they wake up, they feed. So it is kind of a habit. You gotta wonder why at some stage they figure out for themselves if it's dark and night I don't get fed when I wake. Perhaps it's due to how we treat night time, ie dark, quiet, no or little talking etc.
Traci, my ds has reflux. He is on a daily dose of Losec. Still sometimes spills, but now it doesn't hurt. This was contributing to shorter day naps until we got the medicine. Try putting his cot on about a 30 degree angle with his head raised as this may help. If he doesn't seem bothered by it, ie not crying lots after feeds or resisting feeds, then he might not be in pain from it. A good idea to mention it to your Dr next time you see him/her.
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How often do the girls' wake? Depends how you look at it - probably just once/night usually now (this week anyway :wink: ) but if they are up at 3am and then up again to feed at 6am I kinda figure it as twice because at 6am I still want to be sleeping!
I have to say though - this lack of sleep is causing me some really crazy dreams - last night I dreamt we won $4million in the lottery!! Boy was that exciting!! Till I woke of course. :P
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We do a mix of 3- 4hr EASY. Especially if Danielle wakes early from her afternoon nap which is typically 2-2.5hrs long, if she wakes after only 45mins and it's around 2pm she wants a feed, but it works out fine.
Judy, just have to let you know after reading a few other posts I've found a few good tips for Nathan. He likes soy sauce! Also, we're tt at the mo and for a laugh I asked him if he wanted Danielle to sit on the potty - well she went didn't she?? LOL I think I might do what you did with Sarah and just start to build it in as part of the daily routine and hopefully it won't be something to say "no" to later on like he is at the moment.
I've never managed to get the "feed on waking" thing going as part of EASY since we had short naps right from about 4wks of age, so that theory doesn't contribute to out night waking. Don't know, she mostly goes 8-9hrs now, but the other night woke several times and DH patted her back to sleep the first time at 10.30pm and then I fed at 1am and she went right through. Strange.
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Judy, it sounds like you have such a happy household.
Jayson is now starting with two or three word sentances, he has also learned to say sorry after time outs, or being talked to.
Well done on the twins sleeping so long at night. Riley went to bed tonight with 5 mins of pu/pd at 6:30 and so far so good.
i must go to bed, but I just find myself popping on for a couple of mins here and there.
TTFN
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Wow... lots going on here.
I also do a combo of 3.5 - 4h EASY. It really depends on her naps though. She is usually such a short napper that I need to move up one of her feedings or else she is supposed to eat and nap at the same time. However, I found that doing this results in her not eating very well and if that happens, then she is all wrecked for the rest of the day. This usually affects her last feed before bedtime ARGH! So, after trying this twice, I just let it go and not let her nurse to sleep. She "auto-corrects" for bedtime, meaning she will stay up until 4 pm (normal nap time) and then be fine for bedtime.
BTW, last night went great! I DF at 10 when she woke up and she gave me until 5:45. DH pat/shushed back to sleep but as I woke up to pump, DH decided that was a good time to do the dishes... :? ... and woke her back up. So, I fed her and she slept until 8:45 :!: never did that before! Hopefully she is moving towards her 12 hours at night. I've never had this before so it is a surprise. Watch... probably jinxed it for tonight and forevermore!
I am so used to her getting up at 2 am and then 6 am. I am right with you Judy... when she started to drop her 2 am waking 2 weeks ago, I would wake around 1:30 or so and lay there awake, waiting for her to get up. Then of course, as soon as I was asleep, she would stir and I would jolt awake again. Bet you would continue to do this even with the 4 million. :wink:
TTFN, have a good sleep.
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Hiya Girls :D
Ditto on the 3/4 hr..I always seem to throw in a 3 and a half hr feed somewhere..but sometimes I also do a 4 and a half hr gap depending on whats happening in the day.
Here is Si's latest change in routine--she has given up on a short nap late arvo. So now doing 2 big naps and awake from 3:30pm until her bedtime which is now 6:30pm(because she is waking a little earlier)
I must admit that long A stretch in the late afternoon can get very hairy :shock: But she is holding her own and settles well for bed!
Still not quite rolling from back to front as of yet, but she sure is moving around in circles on the floor by pivoting on her head :lol:
Also, hope you don't mind I just wanted to share my proud news about Ky...He went to the toilet all by himself to do wees (now does this standing up) this morning.. I heard him get out of bed and was waiting for him to appear beside our bed as usual...then I hear him moving his stepup into place in the toilet!
He announced proudly to us that he had done a wee standing up all by himself! Okay his aim, not so accurate :shock: but WOW this is a big step towards complete toileting independence so I'm really excited :D
(p.s I have been at this tt thing since he was 18months)
Anyway take care to everyone and isn't this spring weather great for us down under girls :) Bianca
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Yeah for Ky!
Bianca... does Si get a little restless during the latter part of her long A time? Arwyn can be awake for longer too but I find she then becomes fussy and wants to be held. Heaven forbid I put her down during this time if it isn't in her crib!! Therefore, I haven't been keeping her up... it is usually by accident (i.e. out and about) that we keep her up.
This morning though, she was awake a full 2 hours before putting herself to sleep. I put her down in her crib at 1.5 hrs and she played until the 2 h mark and just rolled over and fell asleep. Maybe she is ready for more A time. How do you know?? Just play it by ear? or systematically increase A time... if so, how? Each of the 4 A times or one at a time?
Another question... I have Tracy's first book but it doesn't answer as many questions I have. In fact, I have found some good advice in these forums but would like to know what "the book says". Which one to buy next? BWSAYP? Is there another one I should read first?
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Arwyn's mum, which book do you have? What I did for Riley is I let her lead for a bit and show me what she could do, or you could maybe extend her A time by 15 mins or so to see how it goes.
Riley has had a routine resembling EASY today,
up and fed at 7, nap 9 to 10, fed at 10, A time till 11:45 when she got tired, and her last nap was for 2 hrs. What a change from her up all morning thing that we have had.
Oh yeah! I posted yesterday that she went to bed at 6:30 and I hadn't heard from her as of 11:30, well didn't she wake up 10 mins later. WTH
Does anyone know how I can get rid of this darn df, now she is waking for it, I am continuing to cluster feed her before bed, but I don't think it has been long enough for it to be affective.
Bianca, way to go with Ky, I am hoping to TT Jayson soon, he is showing signs, and we are curbing back on use of his sippy cup. I am absolutly petrifies of it for some reason.
Well must go, TTFN and keep up the good work girls.
Oh yeah, Bianca enjoy the spring weather for me, fall is setting in here, by xmas there will be snow agh!!! Oh well only a coulpe of years and we will hopefully be enjoying a down under spring too!
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I love the "Baby Whisperer Solves all your problems by asking the right questions...." It's an excellent addition to your BW library!
I read the BW before my twins were born and since they have come into this world I have been reading the second book. By using both of the books together we run on a smooth schedule.
My girls are on solids now, and doing great with it. They still wake once a night ( after 7-9 hours of sleep) and Dh and I get up together and feed them... 10 minutes later we are all back in bed. We sould probably do the pu/pd and make them sleep through the night, but we have to work up the courage and pick the right time to do it. I dont mind the one wake up though... they are so peaceful and cuddle at that time...
My younger twin cut a tooth at 5 months and just yesterday my older twin cut her first tooth! I was hoping that the opposite tooth would come through on each of them... they are identical and as they grow they are starting to even trick us!!!!
Well take care everyone!
jody
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HI there girls, I was just wondering what you all use to settle your lo's.
We have done pat/shh, worked well, but I have tried pu/pd, it seems to work once she has found her comfy place, but it does work her up if she is too tired.
What i have found to work is pat/shh her till she settles and finds her fingers, and then I let her do the rest.
Bianca- Have you settled into your new home okay, I hadn't seen you post in a while, I was wondering how you were doing! How is the room sharing with your lo's going. I was wondering how did you know they were ready to share a room?
Take care, hope everyone has had a good weekend.
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Naomi - I do patting only here - no shushing (somehow shushing bothers me ???). On the occasion that Hannah is very overtired I rub her bum while patting her back and the combination seems to be enough for her to stop crying to think on it for a bit. (it's a tough one to do though... I figure my brain is so mushy lately that it's likely good exercise for it somehow :P )
For a couple naps today though Hannah actually just settled in to sleep on her own - no fussing at all. :P
Kaia sucks on her index finger and generally needs nothing from me except her blankets put on and a quick rub of her back.
Bianca - Hurray for Ky!!!!!!!!!
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Hey, girls! I can't believe Ryan is 6 months old! My mom and grandma came into town to celebrate. Then, we had a "Halfy Birthday" party at my mil's. Can you tell he's the first grandchild? :)
I think the teething (plus the upset in routine I mentioned on Friday) have totally thrown him off. He started getting REALLY cranky and the ear pulling and runny poops are going full force. I haven't been able to contribute to the poop talk...I think it's been 4 or 5/day lately. Fun!!!
I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things this week. He goes to the ped. tomorrow for well baby checkup and shots, though. That's sure to put us even more wacked out. Oh, well...trying to roll with the punches.
Hope you all had a lovely weekend!
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Judy,
Very impressed with your ability to pat while rubbing. It is like that brain gymnastics where you are supposed to pat your own head while rubbing your tummy, somehow, I have never got the hang of it.
Naomi,
I shush/pat, more like pat as I often forget to shush. PU/PD is an effort so I don't do it although dh has done it a couple of times when ds is incredibly upset for whatever reason.
Hope everyone had/has a good night.
Karen
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Hi, I didn't know about pat/shhing until ds was into his own routine of settling to sleep. Which is great because all I do is put him in his cot and he goes to sleep after a few winding down grizzles. But, it does cause problems when he needs help to get to sleep, as I don't know what to do with him. If he's really upset I resort to b/feeding to calm him, which I know is naughty but it works and I can. It doesn't happen very often though. I did cuddle and sing lullabies the other night which worked, so that was a relief.
With the weather being much warmer now, I'm wanting to stop wrapping my son, but I'm nervous as he sleeps so well when wrapped. He got out of his wrapping today because he was also out of his sleeping bag which was being washed, and he wouldn't settle until 30 mins later when I wrapped him. He doesn't cry continuously but on and off and gets worked up if you know what I mean. If I knew that this would only take 3-4 unsettled days I wouldn't mind, but I'm worried that it might break all the good habits he has now, like going to sleep within about 5-10 mins of going to bed. Have any of your lo's been wrapped and then you've stopped wrappping? If so, how long did it take to learn to settle themselves again?
My other question is when do you know to keep them up longer? I cured the 40m nap problem after weeks of trying everything when I kept him up longer, so if he starts regularly sleeping for 40 mins again does this mean it's time to stay up longer? DS is now awake 1h 45m most times, but seems to do about 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon.
Wow, I think of you mum's with twins and wonder how you do it?! Especially the nights. Congratulations to you!
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It's so great to be here and read about all your lo's progress, and to get to learn from it! Never would have thought to introduce the potty very early so that they aren't scared. Does sitting on my lap while i go count? :wink:
DS had a great day yesterday (with the exception of bedtime). Do you ladies find Awake times get longer as the day progresses? Cole went down really well for all three naps on 2.25 hours Awake time so I tried to keep it the same for bedtime and it took him an hour to settle :!:
He had a 2 hour (unassisted!!!), 1hr 15 and 40 min (had to wake up) naps. That brought us to bedtime of 7:45 with 2.25 awake time at the end of the day. He really seems to be struggling because he's making leaps and bounds trying to crawl. Brings his legs wayyyy up under him then sometimes topples over, sometimes he's up on his arms as well. He head butted the crib last night as he toppled over, didn't seem to bother him :shock:
Now for our nights. Saturday was better. Slept until 2:30 and i was just too tired for shhh/pat so i fed him and he went right back to sleep. woke at 5:00 and settled in 1 min, woke at 6:20 and settled in a couple of minutes until 7:00!!
Last night he SLEPT THROUGH until 4:10! Ahhhh blessed sleep. So I fed him but then he stayed up until 5:30! Oh well. However...DH came into spare room where I was sleeping at 7:20 and Cole wasn't awake yet!!! OMG, i figured i'd wake him at 7:30 so i closed my eyes. :shock: :shock: :shock: 7:45 I woke up and he was STILL sleeping!
I woke him up to stay on track...was that right to do so?
now...if he'll just go to sleep right after that morning feed I'll be the happiest mom alive :)
Have a good one everyone.
Traci
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Yeah, Traci! Glad you got some good sleep. We had our first night waking in a long while over here. It was heartbreaking, since I knew he was in pain. Stupid teething!!! :evil: We gave him some Tylenol and sort of stood by his crib so he could see us. The patting seems to wind him up too much. We were only up for about 30 minutes, so that's not too bad, but it was hard to watch.
The biggest news is that Ryan is SITTING UP!!! :D :D :D We had his 6 month portraits done and were bummed b/c he wasn't sitting and I wanted this cute picture in a washtub, but they have to sit up. We practiced at home before leaving, but he couldn't do it long enough. But, when we got to the studio, he sat for a few minutes! :shock: He's been doing it ever since. He seems to love it and can reach for toys and see more of what is going on. Big excitement over here.
Here's the link to the pictures I posted in the photo gallery.
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/here-vp267525.html#267525
Happy Monday!!! (or Tuesday for those on the other side of the globe?)
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Kate, I love the pics of you lo.
Just wondering somethimg else ladies, I read that some of you have you lo's on 2 naps, how long are they sleeping for at a time? I was reading on a sleep forum that they need 2 naps, about 1.5 hrs each, and with Riley's 6mths coming up, I thought it may be something to aim for.
Also, all those with your lo's sleeping through of waking once, what do you do?
I have tried cluster feeding, normal feeding, df, which I am in the process of dropping. It seems ever since I have cut out the df she can't go any longer than 5 hrs a night. ANy suggestions would be great.
I am especially concerned with the right amount of and length of naps as I am trying to keep her on a 6:30 or 7pm bedtime.
Well Chat later, I am going to relax in my Y time as BOTH of the children re down.
TTFN
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I haven't posted here for a while but thought I would check to see how everyone is doing! Wow cannot believe how big and clever our babies are getting. My DD is sitting and crawling (not left right type crawl but up on al fours and then pushes forward an plonkes down on her tummy - hoping she will figure it out) We are struggling a bit with afternoon nap ... keeps on rolling onto her tummy!! She is a go getter and just wants to crawl! Anyway - LOVED all the pics!
Has anyone started with phasing out the DF??? I would like to start doing that but am worried she will start waking up at night again ... any help?
Well time for the DF!
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Hello there...
Can't remember who asked me which book I have but I have The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer How to... Just wondering if BWSAYP is more detailed. I'll probably pick it up anyways.
After two great night sleeps (I think Arwyn is moving herself towards 12 hours at night), she got up at 4 with an ultra full diaper and would not settle. Of course, I applied a bit of boob magic and she slept until 7.
She woke up grumpy though and has been out of sorts all day. I (I stress the I part) had to nurse her to sleep for her nap after she was up for 3 hours and super grumpy. I've been holding her a lot today. She seems to want it today. I don't mind cuz she is normally very independent and plays by herself. Just an out of sorts day today I guess.
herbst99 -- too chicken to drop the dreamfeed. I dropped it once and she woke up just screaming hungry at 1 am. I definitely prefer being awake for her DF so... I'm keepin' in for now.
Naomi -- I tried cluster feeding with dreamfeeding. All it did was make Arwyn not eat properly at the last two feedings b/c she was not yet hungry. So, I dropped that and continued to DF. This seems to work (with the exception of last night) well for us. I plan to start moving back her DF in 2 weeks if all remains the same (i.e. no night feedings). I do still expect her to wake though... sometimes she can settle, sometimes, not.
The one thing I've learned when I became a mom was that nothing is for sure, no matter how hard I try.
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For my girls... they wake once at night ( somewhere between 3-5am). I dropped the DF cold turkey because even with it they would still wake once... they never woke for it, and it never really changed them during the night.
So now they eat before their bath- and then I top them up right after... and I figured I would rather go to bed at 9 than stay up till 11 to DF. So they go from 730ish until 3-5am. Then they are fed and back to bed until 7ish.
I'm sure that if Dh and I tried the pu/pd for a few nights we could eliminate the night feed all together... but we don't have the guts yet to listen to two girls scream all night!
I just dont know if they take in enough foos during the day to drop the night feed also- I may post something in the "eating" section too...
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Thanks for the input girls. At the moment I don't really do the df, each night I see if she wakes for it, I try to cluster feed her as much as she will allow me to. She ate right before bed tonight, I think dh and I are residing to pat/shh to settle her, pu/pd did work to an extent, but dh doesn't really know her cries and isn't home enough to learn them.At least he is on board for trying though. He is very impressed to see that for the past few days she has been back on a EAS routine.
Just wondering something also, If I try to extend her A time by 15 mins each day to have her only take 2 naps in the end, how long should those naps be?
I read on a sleep board that it is recommended for 2 naps at 6mths, 1 and 1.5 hrs and 12 hrs at night, but those nap times seem kinda short IMO.
There is something in the new book, BWSAYP, and my copy is loaned out at the moment, I have a friend whose 8mth old won't go to sleep any other way apart from nursing, so naturally I tooted BW.
Is anyone else going to 2 naps?
TTFN Girls
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Naomi,
Arwyn just did 2 naps today but I think it is by accident. We have been having wacky sleep time stuff happening. She is moving towards 12 hours at night and her awake time is all over the place -- ranging from 1.25h to 3h. Her naps are also changing.
Today's 2 naps were totally incidental. I nursed her to sleep both times as we are having a really rough day. She slept for approx. 1h 45m each time.
Gotta go... will provide more detail tmr.
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Arwyn's mom: since Arwyn is 1 day older than Cole, could you post her awake times ( a typical day)
Cole is typically 2 hours before nap 1 ,2.25 before nap 2,2.25 before catnap and 2 hours before bed (just learned that tonight- i was keeping him up to long before)
I find this awake time stuff really tricky. For instance today he screamed to go down after 1.75 hrs for first nap. I think it's because I was in the shower around the 1.5 hour mark and wasn't carrying him around at that time like I normally do.
I have no idea how I'm ever going to be able to have someone else watch Cole. They'll think i'm a freak. he has to go down exactly 2 hours after he wakes and if he wakes early shhh/pat him like this on his tummy and blah blah blah blah blah. it's too exhausting to even think i have to teach others this stuff when i barely get it myself and i've been studying him for 2.5 weeks now! phew-needed that vent. thanks :wink:
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Hi, I'm the same & M&M's mum, I went cold turkey too and thankfully everything went fine. In fact, I also changed from cluster feeding about hourly from 3pm-6pm at the same time, so now ds takes bigger feeds and even without d/f he sleeps better than he has in ages.
Ohh, he's just woken up. Better go.
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Hi everyone,
Has been awhile since visiting because of broken computer - you don't realise how much you like having it until you don't!. Well James has had two completely different weeks. Two weeks ago, we had started to sleep from 7pm till 7am (I had reintroduced the d/f to make up the five feeds) and was putting himself to sleep after about a 5min mantra cry. Then we went away for a couple of days and he got sick. Came home and took him to the dr's - he also had tonsillitis but also scarlet fever!! I didn't even know it was still around. Apparently it is quite common again here in Australia. Anyway, he has been on antibiotics for a week now and has only started feeding properly again. He is now back to waking 2 - 4 times a night (I feed as I think it is due to hunger). I have started solids a couple of days ago. He is not particulary chuffed with the rice but have added pear. Still not too sure but will keep going. I might try sweet potato next week for a change.
Just a tip on sore throats - my clinic nurse suggested giving Panadol about 15mins before feeding as this could ease the throat. Once I did this, he started drinking full bottles again. I am hoping for the nights to get better. He hasn't been very good at putting himself to sleep, although this afternoon, he did it very well. He must be getting better.
His waking times during the day are around 2 - 2.5hrs - tired signs keep changing. Developmentally, he is sitting very well supported. Getting better every day. He spins around on the floor and is rolling from tummy to back altough not back to tummy.
Well must go and have a well deserved coffee. Glad to see other lo's are having settling problems too. The joys of motherhood!
Lisa - mum to James
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Danielle's fully on 2 naps now. Activity times are 2hrs, 2.5hrs, 4hrs.
7am wake and feed
9am nap (45min)
11am feed
12.30pm nap (2.5hrs)
3pm wake and feed
6.45pm feed
7pm bed
I'm really liking this routine, both my kids are sleeping the same time in the afternoon and then we go out afterwards. If Danielle does end up falling asleep for 10mins in the car or buggy that's cool with me, but she happily goes the distance without it as well. If she wakes past 3pm I just let her go as long as she wants and feed on wake up - although the other day I did wake her at 4pm.
She had a weigh in today and is 6.6kg - so not particularly large, but on the average line and I out her next size of clothes in the weekend.
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Nikki It seems my dd is also wanting to go into simialar times - except her afternoon nap is only 1.5 hrs (if I am lucky!!) I just find that she is soooo tired at around 5 and still try to put her down for catnap ... but it has resulted in a screaming session! She is very spirited with a little bit of touchy thrown in. I just find I get so tired trying to keep her occupied and to prevent her from overstim so by time I have put her to bed I don't have the energy to make supper or even be friendly to everyone else in my house! Oh well - will try it today and see. Please if any advise I would appretiate it.
Thanx all ... Nikki H
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Nikki, I just realised you're a fellow kiwi. Yay for you! Danielle is 10 days older than my son and so I find it interesting looking at your routine. How did you figure out those awake times? IE it appears Danielle stays awake 2h 45m after her morning nap. Did she slowly extend out to this, or did you just try that time one day?
I do believe that if I could have my ds on a better 'time' routine, eg naps at 9am, 12noon, 4pm etc then it must be easier for his body clock to figure out what's going on. At the moment it's all dependent on when he wakes in the morning between 6-7am and then it depends on how long his sleeps are which also vary in length between 1-2 hours. He's usually awake 1h 45 mins but I'm trying to extend out to 2 hours now.
Any ideas on how you achieved your routine would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Hello to everyone :)
Doing a bit of a rewind..to page 39- Arwyns Mom- Si does get restless after a long A time and she also gets to a point where lying her down is a no go..Further on this subject of awake times--I personally have found that if Si hasn't has a good long nap she will not manage to last the distance awake..So to all those trying to increase awake times maybe try extending after you know they have had a good long rest.
Si showed me quite clearly when she needed to stay up longer by just not settling..example- After 1.75 I would lay her down she wouldn't settle so keep her up a little longer try again and so on.
The tricky part to all this is to know when its "I can't settle yet because I want to stay up" OR " I can't settle because I am now overtired"
Here is another interesting thing I noticed with Si- She will hit a grumpy stage which seems like tried cues but then after a little time and some distraction she gets her second wind and is fine again for another 1/2 hr or more. One last thing on this subject- If you are out and about with heaps of stimulation going on awake time may also be affected(usually shorter) especially for some personality types.
Naomi- Thanks for asking-We are all settled in really well. The room sharing is going well- I can't believe how quickly Ky has gotten used to Sienna's sounds and doesn't stir. And she has heard him since she was in the womb so the tantrum cries don't register when she is asleep or awake it seems :)
I didn't really have a choice with the same room thing but I'd say it does help with them both having the same bedtime and Si sleeping through most nights.
We have just hit another growth spurt- My peaceful girl has turned into the hungry lion cub again :shock: Hope my supply picks up soon :wink:
On the 2 naps thing(pg 40) I do believe you have to take this slowly with some babies and others just make the transition a little smoother -
Ky was a late bloomer when it came to 2 naps and Si has just made the change by staying up longer in the late afternoons, so go with the flow and make the adjustments slowly.
Take care all Bianca :D
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Hello all - so many moms here these days! I love reading all the updates. DH and I left Katie with my parents Saturday night as we had to go to a wedding. I spent all week saying we weren't going because I couldn't bear to leave my little girl, but everything worked out really well. Katie was fine, we had fun, and it was actually nice to not be in mommy mode for a change. (And I have never been so happy to see anyone in my life as when we came home to her!)
Let's see - as for awake times/sleeping, Katie generally takes two naps unless they're both extremely short naps, then she'll throw in a third later in the afternoon. We have just gotten to the point recently where if she takes too late of a nap (after 6) it seems to throw off her bedtime. She does best with about 2 and a half to 3 hours awake time, and as a previous poster mentioned (can't remember who, Bianca maybe?) she sometimes has to get through a little "tired" period and then gets a second wind. She needs to do the longer awake times though or she won't sleep well at all. I did gradually stretch them out to that.
Katie also didn't have her dreamfeed when she was at my parent's house and she slept through nonetheless. I'm still too chicken to drop it completely until we're a bit more established with solids. We're doing well with cereal now, just started fruit, which she makes big faces at right now. Not yet interested!
Anyway, looks like she's about ready for a nap. Take care all!
-Erin
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Traci... Arwyn's awake times are roughly 1h 45m, 2h, 2h-3h. I noticed it took me a while to figure them out. We've been doing this for over 3 months now and it has just settled down in the last month or so. Now she seems to want to move to 2 naps and 12 h at night. So... back to the drawing board.
When I first posted to this board 5 weeks ago, we were all over the place for awake times and I couldn't get her to nap more than 45 minutes. I now dreamfeed consistently... Arwyn used to wake 2x a night, at 2 am and 4 am. She dropped her 2 am herself sometime in the last while (can't remember when :oops: ) and is starting to drop her 4 am. Sometimes she can settle herself -- I give her 10 minutes if it is not a true "cry" -- if she gets worse, then I go in and feed her. Since she is still EBF, I don't mind... however, I know she can go as long as 7-8 hrs. as she has done so a few times in the last 2 weeks. I am waiting for her to drop her 4 am feed before I start weaning the DF.
As for others looking after him, once she had a settled schedule, it was easy. My parents look after Arwyn once a week, for a short time during the day. I tell them what time Arwyn goes to sleep and she settles herself. If she wakes up crying, they have to try to put her back down... otherwise, she can stay up. I keep in mind though, that when I go back to work, she will be a different baby. The way I figure it, one day of a wacky schedule isn't so bad. I'm more concerned about later.
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All this talk of 2 naps has me freaked a bit. How did you know it was time for that? Ryan is doing 3 naps...used to be 4!
My mil suggested he might be ready for 2 naps as he resists sleeping when at her house while I work 2 am's/week. Yet, at home, he'll do 1.5-2 hrs. in the am. That suggests to me that it's not needing to drop the am nap, but excitement at being at a place other than home. It's really bright in her nursery, as opposed to the cave-like atmosphere over here. I'm bringing over a dark blanket for her to hang up on Friday. Any suggestions on that one?
Thanks, as always!!!
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Don't feel the pressure to go to 2 naps if your lo's are quite happy with 3. The only reason I figured Danielle could go the distance was really by accident - because I get distracted by Nathan or we're out and about doing "his" things I haven't been able to get her down when needed, so may have decided to keep her up for the extra half hour and get us back on routine and because she's an "Angel" I think she copes with it easier. Because she does a really long nap in the afternoon it definitely reenergises her to go the 4hr distance in the afternoon - if she for some reason only did a 45min she would definitely need some sort of nap to keep her going. I also made the switch with Nathan at this age because we were stuck with 3 x 45min naps a day so I went cold turkey with him and consolidated the naps and got onto 2 x 1.5hr naps. But if what you're doing is working, keep it up, in some parts of the new book Tracy doesn't recommend dropping the late afternoon catnap until 8mths. Also like Bianca mentioned, if I miss the opportunity to put her down for a nap when she starts to fuss, she will also get a second wind and be happy again for another half hour.
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May be it was me that started all this talk of 2 naps. I am sorry to have everyone in a thing over 2 naps.
It is just that last week Riley seemed more than happy to be awake for 3+hrs, so I figured she was ready for the next step as she was taking oat cereal with a passion and really spacing out her A time. But alas, as of sunday she has snapped straight back into a 4hr routine as if there was nothing wrong, likes her 3 naps, but with it comes a later bedtime, just when I was having success with getting them both in bed for 7:30pm, Oh well!!!
The only down side to her being on this routine again is they are both up by 6:30am, no that is not a typo.
Well must run, bedtime is my duty tonight.
TTFN, sorry once again girls! :oops: :oops:
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Naomi, how long is your 3rd nap? Have you thought about shortening it to say 30 mins? Usually my ds only does that length in the late afternoon if he has one at all. It doesn't disrupt is 7pm bedtime that way. He's happy to go down. Just a thought.
I have to tell you all how proud I am of myself. The odd time ds doesn't settle by himself I've resorted to feeding to calm him down and get him drowsy to sleep. Well, I've been making a real effort not to do this, and thismorning, once again we did it without the feeding! yay! I've been trying to keep him up and I think I over extended too far, so after some loud cries, we had cuddles and a story then back to bed. I've also been trying to leave him unwrapped, so thought I was better to wrap him again. Within about a minute after this he was asleep. He then slept 1h 20 mins. yay! When I went in he had unwrapped himself which is fine by me.
Hopefully his next nap will be easier for him. :D
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Hi guys,
Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted - things have been a little crazy around here.
Fraser is getting better I think. He surely is feeding better which is a huge relief. However we are having dreadful trouble with naps. I've posted the whole huge story on the getting back on track board so I won't bore you all with it but if you are interested in reading it it's at the following link:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40983&highlight=
(OK, hope that worked!)
It is making life really quite difficult at the moment. We also had 2 wakings last night. I said to my DH as I climed into bed at 10.20pm "I am so over babies today, I can't deal with any more today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day". Fraser then woke at 12.04am - must have known to wait until it was a new day... :) Woke again at 5am. Thankfully I had just read Bianca's last post before I went to bed and thought "growth spurt" so I just went with it.
Anyway, I am "supposed" to be working from home today so I'd better get in and get some done.
Thanks to everyone for your wishes and support when Fraser was unwell, I didn't get much support from my family (I think they thought I was overreacting :roll:) so coming on here really felt like there were people out there who cared. Thanks guys!
Love
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Hello... so, after thinking Arwyn was ready for 2 naps, she went back to having her catnap (and I mean catnap of 30 min) today. So maybe she isn't. We just had two by accident I guess. However, I do sense she is changing her awake times. She seems to be more able to stay up longer now.
Traci... in my last post I neglected to mention her awake time before bedtime. It ranges from 1 - 2hrs before bedtime. She is typically in bed by 7pm. I changed this recently from 8 pm.
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Hey, everyone! Was so NOT trying to make anyone feel bad about the 2 nap talk...just freaking out from other sources. Sorry!!!
Just wanted to let you know the big excitement over here. We started swim lessons at the Y!!! (I know some of you will think it's too germy or crazy, but I swear, it was fine. Now you know Ryan will get some crazy pool disease since I said that. :shock: ). They're not really swim lessons, more like a Mommy/Daddy and me class where we jump around, singing songs, with lots of splashing and lifting them in and out of the water. Not so easy with a 20 pounder!!! :? Ryan had THE BEST time. Lots of smiling, cooing, and squealing.
We also tried a gymnastics class this morning which would be so fun for mobile kids. Ryan was the youngest by at least 6 months so I just carried him around and rolled him, scooted him, and slid him around. The oldest one was 17 months! Way too big of an age range. I think it'll be fun in a few months. Who knows...maybe this will inspire him to start crawling. :D
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Kate - We're doing swimming lessons at the Y too starting on Friday! Sounds like the same type of class that we're in. They probably use a similar curriculum for everywhere. I'm excited! I hope Katie likes it. We're got another class we're going to that's more of a music one that starts tomorrow.
Jo - Glad to hear Fraser is getting better. I dread the day Katie actually does get sick.
All you 3 to 2 nap wonderers out there- I did read somewhere that dropping a nap is always an eventual process - as in, they'll skip it a few days in a row, need it a few days in a row and repeat the pattern until it's gone all together. Katie only seems to need her third nap if her first two are short. We've been working on longer awake time, but we don't always get there, hence the short naps.
This week we have been all over the place. Schedule - what schedule? I'm blaming it on her shots she got on Monday - took her a good week to get herself back together after the last time as well, so I'm just doing my best to keep her close to schedule right now. I'm wondering if we're near a growth spurt too as she's been up at night a bit here and there lately. Or it could be the solids. Ah, the mysteries of a six month old.
Hope everyone is well!
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Glad to hear swimming went well Kate! Arwyn is registered for swimming lessons starting in October. We can't start before 6 months... the pool won't let us. Quick question... does Ryan wear disposable swim diapers or the special "all in one" diaper swimsuit?
Fraser's mum -- glad to hear that Fraser is doing well. My husband asked yesterday when Arwyn would get sick. I replied, hopefully never. He meant when they could get sick!
More poopy-talk. Arwyn had one so big it woke her up and stunk up her room at 6 am. GROSS! Needless to say, she did not go back to sleep so our day started then. But... she was tired just 1h 15m later so, down for a nap... 45 minutes later and she is good to go.
She is playing with some peek-a-blocks and roll-a-rounds right now and it is amazing... she has figured out which one with roll far away when she tosses it off the tray. She has abandoned the blocks now, for the entertainment of throwing the ball off and waiting for mommy to pick it up. Funny, she will even look in the direction the ball rolled until I pick it back up for her. Hmm... will the novelty wear off before mommy gets tired of it?
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Judy,
Can't console you on the 45 min. nap thing. Arwyn was just over 4 months old when she started doing that and we have been trying to overcome them ever since. Very frustrating. Occasionally though, she sleeps 1.5 hours and sometimes she can be pat/shushed back to sleep. Most times now, I just look for tired signs. If she wakes up crying, I try to put her back down. If she seems happy, I let it go. It doesn't seem to affect her night sleep now so I'm okay with it. It used to affect her night sleep so I became a "nap-timer" and still am. She needs at least 3h15m daytime sleep to be a good night sleeper. I used to drive myself mad trying to get 5hrs like the book recommends but I gave up in the name of sanity.
Well, on that note, guess I'll go pu/pd my screaming child who can't seem to put herself to sleep today. We are having a "horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day". (BTW, it's a good book for toddlers!)
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Judy, my ds started that at 5 weeks and didn't stop until I extended his awake time, even though he was so tired after 1h 15m awake I didn't think he could stay up any longer. Anyway, maybe they're trying to tell you they want to be awake longer? Just a thought.
It's funny, cos I keep advocating this is how I fixed my problem with my ds napping, but I don't know if it's worked for anyone! I hope it has and that I haven't suggested to mums to try it and all it's done is made their lo's miserable. If you've tried it and it works, please let me know. Thanks.
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Little Bear's Mum - extending awake times is always what seems to work for us in terms of extending nap times, so that's definitely the way to advise.
Judy - Katie was a 45 minute napper from birth, I only worked her out of it by extending awake times - once she was awake I had a really hard time getting her back to sleep (although patting tended to do it some times along with letting her suck on my finger, but that was way back at around 3 months). Not sure if they can start being 45 minute nappers at that age.
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Judy, yep I'd also work on awake time to help with those 45min issues. Also, maybe you can be our guinea pig (or the girls can :P ) for the Wake to Sleep Method to help solve your 3am waking by going in at 2am and jiggle them a bit? I just hope they don't fully wake :shock: the thought of that happening is enough to put me off trying. When they wake are they crying? Danielle always wakes at this time and I give her a small feed, but don't really think she needs it, but if I try patting her she gets really snotty, so I always feed...
Well for a few days now Danielle has gotten past her 45min morning nap and doing 1.5hrs. Nothing I've been doing is different. She's had 2hr morning activity for a wee while now...
Danielle's definitely figured out rolling from back to tummy now - probably trying to look around and wonder where me and Nathan have gone since he runs to the toilet a million times a day before actually going! :roll:
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Hi Judy,
I feel for you. I was in a tizz with dh today as I was tired! Lying awake thinking about going back to work, weaning etc, etc :( . Since I last spoke to you, Sam has woken up again at 4 am. If this carries on, I will try wake to sleep first and let you know if it works...
As for 45 minute naps. we are doing those again so I have just increased A time by another 5-10 minutes. Your girls are about Sam's age so maybe that is what they need. Will let you know how it goes. As Erin or was it Bianca said, it usually takes a few days before working out if they are crying because they are overtired or not tired enough.
Anyway, must dash.
Take care all,
Karen
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Hi, everyone. Regarding the swimwear, Ryan wore a swimmer diaper under his swimsuit. That's what the other boys did, too. (No girls in the class).
When I was with my playgroup today I mentioned the early toilet training from the book (9-12 mo. start) and they all looked at me like I was a total crackpot. So, I would just keep it to yourself if you plan to start early. Someone on the site (or was it Tracy in the book?) said not to tell anyone until you're all done or else you'll get a bunch of unsolicited suggestions. I think that's good advice based on the reaction today.
Off to hang with dh...he asked if I was "talking to my online friends" and I said YES! :D
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Hi girls/ladies/mums, (whichever you prefer). I'm glad that others have had success with keeping their LO's awake longer to beat the short naps. Especially as I advocate it, I'd hate to think I was the only one who had success with it.
After a few days of trying to stretch my ds to 2 hours today was our coffee group at our house. The 2 hour mark would have been exactly when everyone would arrive, so I put ds down at the 1h 45m like he had been doing. Well, I don't know if it was the shorter awake time or the noise of us mums and bubs, but he woke after 40 mins! I've just kept him up 2 hours now and he went down without a peep. Hopefully he'll have a big sleep to catch up on what he missed out on earlier.
How do you know if the middle of the early morning feed is really necessary or if it's just that they've woken up and want cuddles/a snack? I've thought about wake to sleep briefly, but don't really understand it well enough to try and my friend in another city has my book with the details. My ds wakes at different times, but usually between 3-5am and takes a big feed, would do both sides if I let him, but I've been stopping after one side. Does this mean he's still needing it because he's hungry? I know if it's a regular time each day then it's more habit than hunger, but is that the only sign?
Last night he surprised me by waking at 1am and was hungry, he then slept until 6am. Could this have been because he didn't have sufficient quality during the day? I have to admit I didn't eat very well yesterday so wondered if my milk suffered because of it. Does anyone else ever notice that if their food intake isn't as good as usual their LO's notice it? Just curious....
Judy, my hat is off to you! It's amazing to see how well you cope with 4 kids under 4! I think if you have the odd day when you get grumpy that's quite understandable.
Oh no, ds has just started murmering after 40mins. I'll leave him and see what happens. If I go in to try to resettle he'll be wide awake in seconds!
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HI everyone, just popping onto say a quick hello.
Riley hasn't been doing too bad lately, last night she went down after a feed at 7:30, woke for a feed at 2:30 and then up at 7am, hey I got to sleep in for a half hour.
We are TOYING with the idea of putting the kids in the same room, dh is for it, but I know I will be the oneup settling the two of them, and also I am unsure as Riley still wakes for a feed. I am afraid of jayson waking and wanting to get up and see what is going on at 3am!!
Judy, a big hug for you, I have the same kinda thing with Jay, lately he has discovered that he can squeal and it has an affect, repeatition Oh! and the cats are fun to chase when mummy is putting Riley to bed.
You know what it is amazing how many people have not heard of BW, I told a friend of mine I had dd on the EASY routine, and she sacastically asked how it was working out, another friend of mine has an 8mth old, nurses to sleep, and only likes maybe about three things for solids food, the poor luv is getting close to her wits end, and I leant her my BWSAYP, but she is nervous on how restrictive it would be to her going out.
It is surprising how many don;y know about this wonderful way to help your children grow up.
Anyhew, the sandman is calling, well whispering, my body is still adjusting to not working a graveyard shift.
Just before I go I wanted to ask any of you NZ mums if you could pop onto a post in the lounge and say hi! to a mum I have been emailing of late, she is under HOLLYNHARVIE, he and her dh and ds are moving to NZ, not sure which part in nov. and I noticed that her post had not been replied to and I wanted to help her out, she is looking to meet other BW mums in NZ. TIA
Chat Later.
Keep on enjoying you little darlings!
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Oh judy, one more thing.
{{{{{{{{{{{ BIG SQUEEZY HUG}}}}}}}}}}
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Hats off to all of you with more than one child. I am exhausted today because Arwyn had a bad day. I can't imagine what kind of shape I would be in with two or more!!! (Judy...BIG HUG to you!)
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Judy, apparently Wake to sleep is meant to work over 3 days. Sorry I can't remember who was asking (Little Bears mum), but I think random wakings are definitely hunger. Danielle will occasionally only last to 1am and if I feed she still lasts until 7am. I have a rule, any waking before midnight and we get her back to sleep without feeding - has only happened a couple of times.
Naomi, I've a few PMs from Holly and Harvey - I live miles away.
Right, grrr, Nathan's just thrown a tanty and woken Danielle - oh well at least it's 2.52pm, so just in time for a feed anyhow.
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Hi Ladies,
I have been posting for quite a while in the April/May chat, but have recently noticed how many more lo's are a little closer to Taylor's age in this forum, so thought I'd say hi. the other moms have been great, but having so many other moms that have lo's jsut a tad bit older to talk to seems like a good idea.
Taylor will be 5 months on Monday and is on a 4 hour EASY. We had a real rough start with her being very colicky and taking 45 minute naps from 7 weeks till she was about 16 weeks. The 45 minute nap thing has started to come back the last 2 weeks, but not for every nap and not every day. I figure it is so much better than it was and she usually wakes up happy I'll take it! We have been dealing with developmental issues and night wakings after sleeping through the night since she was 9 weeks, so that is kind of frustrating. But we usually can get her back down in jsut a few minutes without a feed.
I started back to work this week and have been really missing her :cry: I never thought I could miss her so much!
Kate 585-I agree about the potty training thing. I mentioned it to my 3 sisters/sister-in-laws that all have lo's 15-18 months and they thought I was crazy and being "my typical Type A personality". they didn't say that in so many words, but that is what I felt by the looks I got. They had never heard of BW before me and many times I don't think quite understand it.
Naomi, I too find it surprising how many moms I know have never heard of BW! I feel a little lonely and wish I knew some other moms (in person I mean) that are familiar with Tracy's methods.
Anyhow, I hope you don't mind me joining in!
Have a good night everyone...off to unwind a bit before another day at the office :roll:
Andrea
BTW-HUGS to you JUDY. I really don't know how you do it!
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A note on toilet training... my friend gave me a book called "Diaper Free" for my baby shower. It advocates that you can start toilet training from day 1. The author herself has done it but it was not with her first or second child. I think it was her third before she was able to do it from day 1. I know that with me, I had so many other challenges to overcome as a new mom that I would have lost my mind if I chose to toilet train that early.
Also, my mom and aunts toilet trained from a very early age. I even got a call from my aunt when Arwyn turned 6 weeks to tell me that I could now start toilet training. I believe we were all toilet trained by age 1 - 1.5 years. It is possible but I too, get strange looks when I mention wanting to start training Arwyn soon. Don't know why it is such a weird subject.
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I was shocked and kind of in disbelief when my mom said all 4 of us were toilet trained by the time we were 1...then I read the chapter in Tracy's book and found otut she wasn't crazy after all! I told my mom sorry that I didn't believe her and she said, "see, I did do some things right!" too cute :) Gotta love our moms, esp. now that we are moms too!
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It seems it was this way over my side of the world too when I was a baby. Mum started us on the potty from about 6 weeks. She told me she used to read me stories while I sat there sometimes for 30 mins. It was because they only had cloth nappies back then and it saved on washing. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Andrea, did Taylor's 45 mins naps solve themselves or did you do something?
For some reason my ds has started these again this week. I've implemented what I advocate for others, ie keeping awake longer and he can now do 2 hours awake time, up from 1h 45m, but we've still been getting a few 40 min naps. He used to do up to 1.5 - 2 hours. He does have reflux which seems to be worse lately and I'm wondering if this is contributing to the shortened naps. Also this week was his 'shots' week so may have also caused disruptions.
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Welcome Andrea!
Naomi, just to let you know that I think that Holly will be moving to Auckland, where I live. I have just replied to her post..thanks :D Always good to meet/chat in person to a fellow BW!
Must dash. It is bath then bedtime.
Karen
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Welcome Andrea! I also post in an "older" group as Lise falls on the edge in age. I am also a type A personality with spirited/textbook girl. I found being a mom really difficult in the beginning (Lise had COLIC!!!) as I could not predict or fix everything, no schedule etc. How did your personality cope with your baby?
Alot of people was asking about 45min naps - I can't really solve them as we are still there most days. Someone mentioned on "naps" board that you can go in a little before baby's supposed wake up and just help them go through the first 45 min cycle through to the next one. I find that if I wait untill Lise is awake it will take me a little longer to resettle her. (she is very "independent" and does not like PU/PD - just put my hand on her and resettle her.) But this has been the only way she will sometimes sleep 1.5 hrs.
We still have some problems with the rolling onto tummy when trying to "settle" herself to sleep. When she woke up this morning she was on her tummy - but I could get to her before she was awake enough to want to push up. I started to stroke her back and she lay like that for a few minutes. I am hoping this might show her that she can lie down on her tummy also? Any thoughts anyone??
Our day was a little crazy. Thursdays I meet with 2 friends (babies same age! and one also believer in BW after crying out disaster!!!) and have coffee at a coffee shop in our mall. We realized today that we will have to move our venue to someones home!! with these babies now wanting to play and move the "coffee shop" atmosphere will have to wait.
OOH Just settled her after 45min - woke up on tummy - put my hands on her while on her tummy and she put herself back to sleep!! JIPPEE - hope I am not "jinxing" this now!!
Nikki
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Hi Judy, another night with 4 am waking and I read the passage on Wake to Sleep and decided I should not let it go longer than 3 nights so it does not become entrenched! Will wake myself up at 3 am tonight and try and will do so over the weekend. Will let you know how it works/ or not.
I am going to browse the Sleep forum to see if anyone has had success and what they did. Will keep you all posted.
Karen
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Just wondering, can someone quickly let me know about wake to sleep, I have leant my book out at the moment. I can hardly believe how reliant I am on it as well as this website.
I tried a df last night, to heck with it, the night b4, Riley went from 7:30, woke to eat at 2:30 which took maybe 15mins and then up at 7am. Last night when I df she woke at 4, 6 and 7.
Well must dash, just wanted to check in.
Take care, so good to hear how everyone is doing.
Oh, thanks for replying to my request for HOLLYNHARVIE. :D :D
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The deal with wake to sleep as far as I know is you go in to your baby a half hour or so before their usual awake time (it only works with babies who wake up at about the same time every night). Then you stroke their cheeks, forehead, whatever will get them out of the real deep stage of sleep into a lighter one (without necessarily waking them up). When I tried it with Katie to try to get past 45 minute naps, I would wait until her eyelids fluttered a bit. Then, you put your hand on their tummies, pat, whatever gets them back into that deep stage of sleep. The idea is it interrupts their sleep cycle a bit so when the time for their usual awakening comes, they are in a different stage of sleep and won't awake. After 3 or so nights of this, then you stop waking them up and they won't wake themselves up.
That's the general idea, I have to dig up the book and get the whole story.
HTH,
Erin
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Naomi, I can't help with w2s but fyi I had the same problem with d/f. I found my ds woke more with it. I dropped it after trying for 3 weeks and he's been fine since. Went back to only waking once for a feed between his bedtime of 7pm - 6amish.
I have noticed since leaving him unwrapped for the last three nights though, his wake up to feed time has gone from 3-4am to between 1-2am. Very strange and he seems hungrier. I need to give him both sides.
Has anyone else experienced this once they unwrapped?
Does the time they wake for their middle of the night feed relate in anyway to when they will drop it? Because he used to last until between 3-4am I had hopes that might just stretch out until he didn't wake at all. But now that he's waking between 1-2am what's the chances of him not needing it all of a sudden? Does he need to start waking later and later again before it will eventually drop?
I know every baby is different, but has anyone experienced this before and what happened?
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Naomi, we had similar issues with the DF hence me no longer doing it and I just have to roll with it.
Little bears mum, with Nathan, he was textbook in the sense that he took the DF then slept through till 4am and then that just gradually pushed out till 7am over 5wks. But, with Danielle she's so much more unpredictable - I assumed she'd stretch her wake up out too, but not a chance - the times she did sleep right through it was sudden and then just as sudden back in the other direction. Unswaddling may have cause him to stir and be more aware of it hence the earlier waking, but I think you need to go through that at some stage - there will always be developmental disturbances to sleep, so if you were already waking once anyway, I'd just go with it or pat him back to sleep if you want to. Did he sleep right through till morning anyway?
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Just had to pop on and say hi and welcome to andrea!, I didn't do that yet.
Is it me or are our days becoming more and more frazzled as our lo's grow.
This stage is new to me as with Jayson at this age I was already back at work :roll:
I think with Riley I am simply winging it at night time, no one is the same. She did however go through a few night wakings a couple of weeks ago, it is probably due to her new found freedom of movement, she loves her belly, but gets incredibly mad when she can't get off of it when she wakes.
I have a child free night friday, not quite sure how to feel about it or what I will do, MIL and DH decided I need a break. Aww someone does think of me every now and then :wink: :wink:
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Nikki - yes he did then sleep until about 6.30am, so that was great. I'm fine with the earlier waking as he actually feeds better now when he wakes for the day.
Interesting development.... I just went to Plunket (for non-NZ'ers it's like a wellchild provider/nurse who checks the baby for development, growth, answers mum's questions etc), and I was talking to her about his short 40 mins naps again since unwrapping. Her advice was to keep him up heaps longer than I am. She said at 5 months he should be down to 2 bigger naps in a day, which is basically what he was nearly doing before I started unwrapping.
He wakes now about 6.30am, so she said keep him up until about 9.30am. Then hopefully he'll sleep for about 2 hours, then once he wakes keep him up again until about 2.30pm. Then down for about another 1.5h.
I questioned what I do when he gets tired, and grizzly and she said he'll get his second wind and be fine. Also to feed him before he goes to sleep again so he's full. Not feed to sleep though.
So it's kind of conflicting with BW routines, especially the feeding bit, but she said it will become it's own routine.
Also, I found he hasn't been getting nearly enough to b/milk. Being totally fed from me, not even the bottle I've never known how much he's taking. We weighed him then I fed and then weighed him again. He took one side and was weighing that he took 100mls. So he needs to have 2 sides per feed. He had only been 2 hours since the last feed, so he wouldn't have wanted the full amount. She also said he may only take one side, then need a 15 min break before the other. Wow, totally different to what I've been doing. The poor little fella has probably been really hungry as I've only been giving him the one side and offering the second and if he doesn't take it straight away not been offering it again. How bad do I feel???? !!!!!!! His grizzling is probably because he's been hungry.
Well, I"m going to try her idea with keeping him up heaps longer and see what happens. Hey, what have I got to lose? A few days of a grizzly baby until he settles into it, or 40 min naps forever!
I'll keep you posted and let you know how I go.
Oh dear, he's just woken.... 40 mins wouldn't you know it.
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Little bears mum - I'm really weary of Plunket advice myself, I've gotten so much conflicting advice. I dont know if you really want to get in the habit of feeding before a nap even if he isn't falling asleep while doing it, he may get used to needing a full tummy to sleep well and therefore if he stirs in the night he might start wanting a top up - dunno, you've done so well so far and I think this way will also pan out - we're going through quite a developmental stage at the moment at 5mths as it is with the intro of solids soon etc. Also, 3hrs sounds a really long activity time in the morning at this age - of course, you know your baby best, and if you want to stretch it out, best to do it in short increments rather than going cold turkey on it.
Sorry to be a downer on Plunket, but they also advise on CIO for newborn babies!! :cry:
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Am with Nikki on this one. When they saw me at 8 weeks, they advocated formula to get him sleeping through the night even though I made it clear I wanted to exclusively BF. At 12 weeks, they advocated CIO to get Sam to sleep through the night... They are so conflicting and I think should be taken with a grain of salt. However, like Nikki said, you know your baby best!
Karen
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Oh I agree with you mums so badly, but I guess I'm going crazy with this 40 min napping again. He's onto his 4th nap already today! It's amazing cos he's going down without a whimper now that he's unwrapped.
I do wonder if he could be kept up longer than he is now, but maybe not just quite the 3 hours. I think sometimes I imagine the sleepy signs because the clock says he should be tired. I know BW says initially we're meant to clock watch but that's just to give us an idea when extending awake times, then after that to go by their cues. Well I clock watch to the minute instead of cues, unless they're extreme. And when I think about it, he's not really that grizzly at 2hours.
I guess I got so excited thinking the Plunket way would solve his problems I forgot about the BW techniques. And the feeding thing I didn't agree with or understand how he would feed so often anyway. Maybe I'll have a think about it between now and tomorrow and work out what the compromise is. Although the night waking and big feed is probably because he's not getting enough during the day. Hopefully now I know I have to feed him both sides to get a full feed then that will solve that problem.
It wouldn't have worked first thing tomorrow as we're off to see a homeopath for his reflux at 10am, so he'd be asleep by then if I was trying plunket's way. :lol: There goes that idea!
Oh this is sooooo hard sometimes..... there's just too many different ideas and ways to do things, and I like to find out about all of them. Which makes it confusing when ideas are conflicting. Humpppphhhh. :cry:
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I'm reading about this discussion on wake to sleep with great interest. I don't have BWSAYP yet... it is not in the library and the bookstore is out so I need to order it online.
Arwyn gets up every night at approximately 4 am. It stopped briefly... for two days (if I recall correctly). Then she started doing it again. She wants to be fed at this time (or I think she wants to be fed) and it does not normally affect her morning feed. This morning it did... she was not hungry at all, just ate kind of half-heartedly for 5 minutes. I guess I'll try wake to sleep tonight. It can't be worse than already getting up at 4 am?
Nikki... you said Nathan just kind of stretched it out to 7 am... was it then a gradual shifting of his wake time until 7 am? or did he just drop his 4 am on his own?
Should I be trying to "fix" this waking? I mean, I already feel pretty fortunate to have her waking only once now (compared to her 3 times a night before).
Little Bear's mum -- I extended Arwyn's awake time to 2 hrs. in the morning and she slept for 1h 20m on her own. I'm going to try it again this morning. I am weary of the 45 minute naps. Yesterday, I put her down after 2h 30m for nap #2 and she kept falling asleep, waking, falling asleep and waking for 45 min until she was down for 45 minutes of actual sleep.
Can I consider this part of her nap?? UGH! I feel so neurotic... counting minutes for her nap.
I guess I have been feeling pretty weird & awkward about it all. I can't explain it... just a sad, maybe frustrated, feeling about what I am doing. I look at non-BW parents who haul their children anywhere, anytime and feel like I am being a "party-pooper" somehow. I have to be home before 7 so I can put her to sleep; I have to be somewhere where she can have a proper nap at certain times of the day; if she doesn't get enough "nap time" I have to get home by 3:30 so that I can put her down properly at 4 so that I can squeeze in those additional minutes of sleep before her nighttime sleep. Is this normal? I mean... I think this may be a phase... I didn't feel so discouraged before. On top of this, I am scared to death of starting solid foods for fear that it will affect her sleep!!! Stupid or what?
Whew, that felt good... I needed to vent. Anybody having similar "awkward" feelings?
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OMG ladies... only 32 minutes for nap #1 today. Tried for 30 minutes to put her back down. Gave up due to possible impending hearing loss due to screaming baby.
Need some support please... :cry:
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Hi Ladies ...
Little bears mom I agree with the rest on that 3hrs is probably to long for your little one to be awake at a stretch ... I don't know if any of you know about sensory issues and how it affects our baby's state. Most of us adults are able to filter out sensory input (touch, smell, sight, hearing, taste, movement, body position) but babies don't have that ability and become "overstimulated" quite easily. Even though your baby might get his second wind, his brain is soooo overloaded that if he sleeps it will probably not be a restfull or long sleep (think of yourself if you had lots to do during the day and lots of new information - many times you wake up in the night and be "solving" the problems of the day) The appropriate awake times for a baby between 3-6 months is 1.5 to 2 hours. After this time you will see baby display "fussy" signals (rubbing eyes, ears, not making eye contact, arching back etc) This is an indication that he is probably getting overstimulated.
As someone else had said - only YOU know your baby!!
The peadiatrician gave me good advice - Decide WHO you believe when it comes to advise. Your mother, friend, clinic sister etc and STICK with that otherwise you will be second guesing yourself all the time!!(To many cooks spoil the broth!!) GOOD LUCK!!
Whew, that felt good... I needed to vent. Anybody having similar "awkward" feelings?
All the time!! What I have decided to do is to just accept that I will for the first year of my baby's life HAVE to do what is best for BABY and not me. I have also decided not to PLAN anything that HAS TO HAPPEN ... I have to accept that Lise will let me know in the morning if we can maybe stray from the routine for the day or if this will have to be STRICT day!!
Have to go DH wants to be on net!
Bye
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Hi all,
Sorry but did not try wake-to-sleep last night as dh is working the weekend and thought we should try on Sunday night as "there is potential for huge disaster" :wink: . Anyway, was all set to wake up at 4 am to re-settle Sam but what do you know, not a peep till 6 am this morning. We had a little cry at 11.30 pm as the one swaddled arm had escaped. The only difference was that I swaddled both arms as he was so upset. As soon as he was swaddled, it was as if someone turned a switch off and he was out again. Took me 5 minutes.
Little Bear's mum-have you gone cold turkey and unwrapped both arms? I found when I did that, the 45 minute naps returned with a vengence. I swaddled 1 arm and we were fine for a while but short naps are back again and I think it is time for extending awake time.
Judy-thanks for the tip on extending awake time. Sam gets sooo grizzly when it hits the 2 hour mark but will try and wait for 1st yawn.
Arwyn's mum-I am similarly obsessed with naps, have always been... :oops: I count the minutes and subtract the minutes I had to re-settle him with shush/pat and he was crying then add the 5 minutes he was asleep in the car seat.....it is ridiculous, I know!
Anyone else notice they don't always get emails that there's been updates to this thread?
I have found that I get an e-mail and when I check the thread, 2 pages has been added! Maybe because this is such a busy thread...
Anyway, am armed with newfound optimism re: extending naps!
Have an awesome weekend all.
Judy-big HUGS and I hope you get some sleep!
Karen
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Well ladies, it is now 4 pm in my neck of the woods.
Arwyn has had a grand total of 46 minutes of daytime sleep. No, that is not one nap, that is two naps total. 32 min the first time, 14 min the next. Didn't even try the second time as she put herself back to sleep just in time for mommy to drop her cellphone right next to her head on the hardwood floor. :roll: :roll: :roll:
We are now trying for the 3rd time to go down for a nap... she has been cranky all afternoon (gee, could it be the no nap thing?) Doesn't she realize yet that "mommy knows best"? :wink: I keep telling her she needs more sleep. :)
I've tried to roll with the punches today... kept the feeding schedule the same... she is fine with that but doesn't seem to be that interested in eating either. I don't know what's wrong or different about today than any other day. Guess she doesn't really need a reason -- it's just me who is looking for one. :(
I also don't receive the email notifications regularly. I come and check myself now. I think that you must use the link that is provided in order for more emails to come. I'm not sure but JMO.
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Hi everyone, so much has gone on over the last 24 hours for everyone. I think I get all the notifications as apart from this time, there's usually only one or maybe 2 new messages each time.
It's good to see some of you are having success with the longer awake time. I'm going to try reading ds cues more rather than clock watching as that's probably the best way. And waiting for the yawn rather than the first grizzle. Making sure he's really tired.
We were starting off well today, I didn't get the first yawn until 2h awake. Normally I've been putting him down at about 1h30m or max 1h 45. But we were off to the homeopath first thing, so I had to keep him up a few mins longer before we went in the car. He slept for 40 mins when the homeopath came out and said to come in. Bummer, I had to wake him!! :cry: Otherwise he would have kept sleeping I'm sure. I'd gotten there early so he could sleep. Oh well.
We were there 1 1/2 hours just enough time for him to be tired and fall asleep in the car for 30mins on the way home. So of course he doesn't want to go down now cos he's had a nap.
I think ds is also having a growth spurt. Up 3 x last night to feed big feeds. And he fed 2 hourly yesterday afternoon and again thismorning. Perhaps this has also contributed to the shorter naps.
The homeopath took heaps of notes and is sending me out a remedy for him this week. She said it might not cure him of his reflux but we'll be able to see if there's any improvement. Sometimes 1 dose is all it takes thou.
Just tried some apple again and 4 days in a row and D is still not liking it. Keeps his mouth closed and I can only get it in if I make him laugh. But then he kind of makes funny noises and doesn't seem to like it. Does this mean he isn't ready for it yet? Should I try another food? He didn't like baby rice either. I guess as he's only 5 months it's not essential yet, but jsut wondering. All the other signs for wanting food are there, but he just doesn't seem to like it.
Arwyn's mum, maybe there's something else going on, like teeth perhaps? Especially if she doesn't want to eat. I feel for you having had no chance to sit down with your feet up and a break. Isn't it funny how even at this young age they don't want to listen to their mums when we say "we know you're tired, now if you have some sleep you'll feel much better" :lol: :lol:
Judy that's great news about Hannah, how much did you extend it out, and how long has her nap lengthened by?
Better stop rambling on, coffee is calling!
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Life moves pretty fast on the March/April '05 thread!
Anyway, we've had an interesting week around here - Katie's been up every night, usually towards morning, in the 5 AM range, which is just not like her. So, we've been resettling, I fed her once or twice, but it turns out she doesn't need the food, just needs resettling. We've also had exactly two naps this week longer than 45 minutes, most much, much shorter. Nothing even close to resembling EASY and her normal routine. However, we had shots on Monday which is usually enough to throw her off, Mark and I were away this weekend at a wedding (first time she's ever been left) and I stuck my finger in her mouth today only to discover that those tiny little white bumps that have been below her gums for three months have finally broken through. No wonder she's been all over the place, poor sweetie.
Arwyn's mom - HUGS and don't stress that much about the sleep. I find if Katie doesn't sleep one day, she makes it up eventually. (And if she sleeps in the car, it's not the end of the world.) Your week sounds a bit like mine though - perhaps she's getting some teeth?
Little Bear's Mum - sounds like something he needs to sort through - maybe just getting used to not being wrapped at night.
Judy - can I just say I am in awe of the fact that you have four small children and you can actually come on here and write coherent thoughts. Were the girls born early? (I apologize if you've already answered this, but we've up to something like 46 pages and I just don't have the time to recap!)....maybe they're not quite developmentally ready to do the same amount of sleeping your older girls were at this age.
Take care all and have a nice weekend!
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Hi all, just popping onto say Hi to everyone.
dh has taken the lo's to his parents for the night to give me a break :shock: , so I am feeling a little lost at the moment. I am enjoying it don't get me wrong, I just sat and watched alexander with colin farrell in it, yummy!
Riley is still teasing us with those teeth of hers, she has everything else, crankiness, tonnes of drool, no teeth, no even a red gum or a bump!
She has decided I think that it would be fun to mess around with her naps, it was all good at the start of the week, a perfect 4hr routine, I think she must be trying to keep me on my toes :wink:
Riley has been sleeping unwrapped for a while, mainly cause she is too wiggly to wrap up, so I try and tuck her blankie under her, doesn't really work, but the thought is there I suppose.
Judy, you simply amaze me, I have a hard enough time with my two, I take my hat off to you for handling your family everyday.
I am not too sure if I want to attempt an input on this wake to sleep thing, everytime I think she is down to one waking, the next night it is back to 2 or even 3 at times.
Well I must dash, keep up the good work everyone, hugs to everyone, I don't think any of us mums are getting enough.
Enjoy your weekend!!
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J&R's mum, how wonderful for you having a night off. It must seem strange, especially after being used to having 2 lo's in the house. Your house will seem so quiet I'm sure.
I have to share my good news. DS slept for 1h 50mins thisafternoon! Yay, finally a good long sleep again. He woke at 30mins and cried out, but I was on the phone. About 2 mins later when I was about to go through he suddenly stopped. AND WENT BACK TO SLEEP !!! That sleep was from 2-3.50pm, then, he had another 45 mins from 5.45pm in my arms. He took a huge feed from me, then fell asleep. As he's been short on sleep lately I let him stay cuddled with me. It was soooo nice as I very rarely do this. Sometimes I think I miss out because I don't let him sleep in my arms or my bed, but I'm very happy with that decision that he doesn't. Anyway.... he slept until I woke him at 6.30. He then had a bath a final feed and into bed by 7.15pm. He went straight to sleep.
So today he's ended up having close to 4 hours sleep. He hasn't had that much since I don't know when. It will be interesting to see how well he sleeps tonight.
The other good news is DS is still sleeping unwrapped and settling really well. And because he slept for so long thisafternoon, I now know he can and will continue to keep him unwrapped. I'm soooo happy this is working out, I was beginning to think I"d have to wrap him if I wanted him to sleep longer during the day. But... he can do it! :D
Hope everyone's days go better if you've been having bad ones, and nights are peaceful and restful.
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Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I was surprised that Arwyn's night sleep was not affected by the lack of napping time. She went down with no problem at 7, woke briefly at 9:30 (as per normal) and slept until 4:45am when she had a feed. She was awake when I put her back down at 5:05 but I think she fell back asleep?? (at least mommy did!)
I fed her at 7:30...I think she had been up for a few minutes already. Now, we are trying for nap #1... keeping my fingers crossed :roll: as she was showing all the tired signs... she even started whining which is not usual for her unless she is REALLY tired. Maybe she was up at 7 and I didn't know? :oops:
Sounds like everyone's lo is drooling up a storm... could we be seeing teeth? I know that Arwyn is soaking lots of clothes and loves to chew on everything!
Little Bear's mum... congrats on getting your lo to sleep a longer nap! Unwrapped and everything! Great news.
Naomi... so, how did your "mommy duty-free" night go?
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Hi all,
I am new here. My son was born on the 10th of April. Just wanted to say hello and see if I could join you guys.
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It is still going really well. I am very impressed at MIL. I wrote down my routine for both lo's. She has been able to follow it more for Riley than Jayson, he is a little too excited to be away from home, I just talked to her and she said she was starting to feel a little worn out.
Last night was a little wierd, I couldn't sleep very well, it felt a little too empty here.
At the moment we are all sitting here in nova scotia waiting for tropical storm ophelia, I have the food in the kids are supplied for, water is done, even for her cereal, lots of fruit and veg. Basically a moose could fart and nova scotia power would loose power. they don't have a good track record, the last 2 storms we had people lost power for about a week in some places, thank goodness I live in a city.
Well I just wanted to pop in and say hi!
Shazzel welcome form all of us, feel free to jump in any time and join our craziness :D :D
Okay I am off, I am doing all of the chores I don't normally have time for, I just had a nice nap so off I go again.
TTFN dahlings
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Wow, I couldn't imagine having to prepare for a storm like that. We don't normally get storms that are really bad in NZ. In saying that, the day we got married (14 Feb last year) a storm began and continued on for a few days. We were lucky and left for our honeymoon to Thailand and left it all behind us. But the lower north island, particularly the area we now live in was devastated. Major floods with people loosing houses. We didn't know anything about it until a few days later when we jumped on the internet to email family and friends to say hello. Our friends always laugh at us, because we have the best stocked pantry, and say if there was another flood, they'd all pile into our house and could survive for weeks!
Daniel is Definitely going through a growth spurt. Up 4 times to him again last night. Starving each time. I'd put him down after one side and he'd start crying really loudly. NOrmally one side in the night is fine for him. Here's hoping he's back to normal tonight.
I've just put him down for his first nap, and I think he's been up about 2h 15m or so, I was so blurry eyed when he woke I fed him still half asleep. He came off me and stopped feeding, I opened my eyes, looked down and he just looked at me. I gave him a smile (first one for the day) and he smiled back and started feeding again. It was so beautiful, as if to say, "are you okay mummy?" I said I was sorry for being so tired and not smiling sooner. :oops: After feeding I woke his daddy and asked him to please look after him as I needed more sleep. He happily got out of bed and played daddy. I really should do this more often!
Shazzeal, welcome. My Daniel was born 11 April. Feel free to tell us all your good and not so good stories, we're all great listeners here! :D
I was wanting to update my profile but I'm not sure how to do it. Is the bit you guys have with your name on the bottom and age of bubs called the signature? Where do you find those cute little age charts from?
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Wow, so much reading to catch up on..
LB's mum, yep that's the signature part of the profile. Also you can get a lilipie signature (click on someone elses and it will take you to the place to get them), you copy the HTTP option and paste it into your profile. Hoepfully that will make sense once you look at the website.
Well we've also hit a growth spurt and yesterday and today feeding 2-3hrly and not going down for naps and then taking a full feed. Fortunately it didn't affect last night as I gave her a DF since we went out for dinner to my parents and got home at 10pm - she still woke at 4am (an hour later than the usual wake up) and then fed again at 7am.
Can't remember who was mentioning it, but we also get hassled from my parents about sticking to our routine and constantly being told to let it go for one day - so we do occasionally like last night and of course it worked out fine. Of course they also marvel at how well behaved and happy my kids are when out and about because it's always after they've been fed and had a good sleep! :roll: They're pretty good now since they see the benefits for everyone.
Well it's a yuck dreary day today. LB's mum, I'm trying to remember the storm you're referring to, and I do remember a pretty full on one lashing through and causing all that flooding - luckily our area wasn't affected. I grew up in Palmy and lived there through my school years how about you?
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Yeah I hear ya on the frustration of different sleepers Judy! I used to get away with a 9.30pm DF with Nathan at this age. 10pm sounds like a good start.
See I've just been feeding at that 3-4am wake up and I'm back in bed within 15mins - probably the lazy option and habits to break later...but works for me now.
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Welcome Shazzeal!
Looking forward to getting to know you and your little one!
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OMG, there is so much going on here and I never got a notification! I think that maybe I didn't use the link they emailed me so then they don't send you anymore :?
I have the worst memory ladies, so please be patient with me.
Arwyn's mom (and others): Thanks for the awake times. I think i've finally got Cole figured out. We had a great night last night and a great day today! Last night he woke at 9:45pm for feed (I'm letting him wake now instead of DF) then again at 3:45am. Cooed and babbled for 10 min after feed (no longer up 1.5 hrs!) and went back to sleep until 6:30 (down at 6:40pm)
Today went like this:
A time 1.75 hr, nap 1.25
A time 2 hr, nap 1.5
A time 2.25 hr, nap 1.25 (with help at 30-45min.)
A time 2.5-down for bed in 15 min. at 7:30
I know what you ladies mean by second wind. I was certain he could only handle 1.5-1.75 before bed but after two nights of screaming fits I kept him up longer and VOILA, settling much better. He's also been waking at the 45 min. mark at night and screaming for 10 or so minutes. Tonight he woke, but just a gentle cry for 3 min :D
What else...oh ya, for those with los having 40-45 min naps. I would do my very best to keep them up as close to the next scheduled nap time as possible. I read a great book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He does a great job explaining sleep and wake states. So if you have a short nap and then try to put your lo down way off schedule, they end up sleeping during a wakeful state...which ends up in fitful sleep. Make sense? I hope I've kind of explained it right. So if you have a nap from 9:00-9:45 (instead of 10:30)and your next nap would normally be at 12:30, try to stretch your lo as close to that as possible...even if just 12:00 or so instead of 11:30.
Also, he explains how the first nap is an extension of night sleep (more REM) so the wakeful period should be shorter than the others. I kept things low key for Cole in the am today and made his A time 15 min. less and he slept LONGER! worth a try perhaps???
Arwyn's mom: Hope today went better than Friday...sorry I wasn't around for support.
Shazzeal: Welcome! I've only been on this thread a week or so myself and I love it! So much useful information and great support and encouragement :D
Judy: Kudos to you with 4 los including TWINS! Not quite sure how you do it but can you see me bowing down to you :wink: Where in SW Ont. are you???
Gosh, I know there was so much more I wanted to say...I'll have to go back and read again in the morning. Just got off a boobie call and I'm exhausted. Catch up with you soon...
Traci
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Wow ladies this thread is busy!!! With starting back at work this week I have just been too exhausted to get on at night, so a lot to catch up on.
First, thanks to all the moms that welcomed me aboard! I am very excited to have more moms to chat with.
Lil Bears Mum and Arwyn's mom-re. 45 minute naps. I found that they went away when she was almost 4 months and we had achieved 2 things: 4 hour EASY and she learned to put herself to sleep. With that said we had almost 1 solid month of terrific 2 hour naps, and then 2 weeks ago they started up again. I tried for a couple of days to extend them but it is so much harder to extend them now that she is older and more aware that we gave up and have just rolled with it. That has made all of us a lot happier. She seems to make up for it by taking a longer 2nd nap or cat nap. Plus I figure that it is soooo much better than it used to be with EVERY single nap being 45minutes and her being cranky with them. Now she isn't so cranky after one. Question for you-is ds still taking a cat nap? I read on the nap forum that 45 min. naps come back when they are ready to drop a nap. Just a thought????
Arwyns Mom-so funny abotu mommy knows best. When Taylor has a short nap and starts getting cranky, I say "who's fault is it that you're cranky--you should have slept longer!" I knwo she has no idea what I'm saying but it makes me feel better!
ALso, I feel awkward with this BW thing all the time, but then when we are off it for a day or two, I feel even more confused so I figure in the end it is the best. Also, if you want to go out to eat and get your lo to bed later, it won't be the end of the world. I did that tonight in fact and she went down just fine...even after falling asleep in the car. They are more resilient than we give them credit for sometimes.
Jason & Riley's Mom-hope your enjoying your time on your own...i bet it's weird but also kind of nice huh?
Herbst 99-type A personality and a brand new baby are like oil and water! I kept saying to DH, why cant I get her to do this, why can't I get her to do that?" and he'd say, "because she's a baby, not a robot!" Oh yeah!!! :roll: I have to remind myself of that ALL the time!
Traci-that is so interesting abotu the first nap being an extension of night sleep! I have always wondered why she is sooo sleepy in the am after sleeping all night. I too have learned to keep the first A time very low key. All we do is get dressed and feed and then go for a long walk and then to bed. I have got to read that book as so many people have recommended it.
Lastly, Taylor the last 2 days has started rollign on her tummy to sleep and she seems pretty comfy so we are going with it. It is so amazing how much they change in a week. I felt so out of it after not putting her down all week for her naps. DH who works from hoem was showing me the ropes!
This post is way toooooo long. SOrry!
Thanks for anyone who actually read all of this!
Andrea
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Andrea,
Nice to hear about Taylor and her naps. I'm glad I'm not the only one who tells my daughter that she is cranky because she did not have enough sleep. Arwyn used to have GREAT naps before she turned 4 months. Then suddenly, they got progressively shorter, from 2h 15m to 1h 30m to our new favourite, 45 minutes.
Well, today's naps started off worse than yesterday. She napped for 34 minutes in the morning. Then we had a visitor... she went down no problem but woke after 44 minutes... (well, that's 30 minutes more than yesterday's nap #2 so...)
Anyways, this is where it starts going downhill. :cry: Usually, if she does not have enough sleep, she gets cranky after about 45 minutes of activity. Well, she woke up cranky as all heck. Wouldn't be held, wouldn't play, be consoled, put down, rocked, you get the picture? I basically told my friend to leave so I didn't have to feel guilty about putting Arwyn down :roll: (cuz I knew there would be lots of LOUD crying). She went down after 15 minutes of very LOUD crying and mommy patting her back. Woke up a happy baby!
Yes, Andrea... I couldn't resist... I said, "See, look what getting enough sleep does for you!" :)
I am trying not to get so uptight about our schedule. It's not so much going out for dinner, to the drop-in, etc. For some reason, I am better able to accept that her schedule will be "off" on those days. It is more when it starts off rocky -- that first nap really does me in. I "expect" a cranky day when she doesn't have a good first nap.
Anyways, I'm still trying different things... extending activity time, watching cues, watching the clock despite cues, etc. I know that "this too, shall pass."
Sorry, this is long... just gotta get those short nap frustrations off my chest.
BTW, Andrea... congratulations on going back to work. How is it going?
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I can sooo relate to you Arwyn's mum it scares me! I think our bubs are telepathically linked! And our personalities must be pretty similar too, cos I go through the same thought process as you. :lol: Even your comment about when you're out vs when you're home.
Traci, I understand and agree with the concept that the body clock gets used to awake/sleep times, but how do you figure out when these should be? Do you take a 'good' day and base them on that? Is there some scientific way of figuring it out?
Daniel slept 1.5h for his first nap, then 2 x 40m naps after that. But at least he had the big long one in the morning. We went out for brunch today, so he got a 10min catnap in the car on the way home before his second nap. So that possibly contributed to the shorter nap once he got home. Also, I think he can actually do closer to 2.5h awake during the day if at home. I don't have much planned this week at all, so a good time to really 'study' his cues and work out what's best.
Andrea, does Taylor normally like her tummy? I guess she must if she is happy to sleep on it! Daniel doesn't like tummy time much. He'll only lie on it for about 3 mins before grizzling which turns into crying if I leave him too long. But I notice Daniel moves around more on his back to side in his cot. I'm wondering if I should try playing in his cot or on our big bed rather than the floor and if he'll learn to move more. So many babies seem to dislike tummy time, yet the others seem to like it that much they sleep on their tums. I wonder why?
I've just noticed the 4 boxes below where I'm typing this which have the "Notify me when a reply is posted" box didn't have my box ticked. It was previously. I think like one of you ladies suggested, if you don't get here via the email link this box isn't selected, so you need to reselect it for the emails. Does that make sense?
I'm hoping for a better nights sleep tonight, 2 nights of growth spurt and feeding is quite enough for me these days. I'm not used to it. How you do it Judy I don't know. Do you have shares in a coffee company??? :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Judy - That's great that you actually got some sleep! :D Fingers crossed that it continues.
Traci - Hooray for Cole! :D Interesting findings about the naps too.
Little Bear's Mum - I found that Katie hated her tummy until she realized that she can roll off it pretty easily and get back to her back. Now she doesn't mind being on her tummy - it's like she's realized she's getting there on purpose and she doesn't have to stay there, so now it's ok. Of course when she's tired, all bets are off. :roll:
Shazzeal - Welcome! Happy to have you here! :D
After a week of sleep all over the place, I think we're back to normal now. Katie had long naps yesterday, slept all night and woke up at a normal time. Here's hoping it continues. She seems to do this every few months - just developmental I guess.
DH was at a bachelor party last night and got home at 4 AM! I guess we won't be seeing him for a few more hours.
Take care all!
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Judy- I'm glad to hear the girls are doing so great at night... last night my girls did the same thing, slept until 4:45, took a feed and were back down until 8am! I needed that, they have both been teething and we've had a few rough nights! Are the Kaia and Hannah teething at all? Maisie and Makaylee started at 5 months.... sooo hard because they could barely hold teething toys at the time- this time a little easier.
Take care,
Jody
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Judy, great to hear your nights are getting better.
Unfortunately ours aren't. We've now had 3 nights in a row Daniel's been up 3 times, screaming upset. It's so unlike him. He's really hard to comfort and I've had to resort to Pamol. He took some b/milk, but didn't really want it. I'm wondering if it could be his reflux. I stopped giving him his Losec last Thursday as I was going to the homeopath, and he was sooo spilly anyway, I thought maybe it wasn't doing anything anyway. But, at 1am thismorning that went through my mind. He would settle in my arms if upright, but as soon as I put him down he'd scream. He's fine during the day, just at night, so I'm not too sure. A growth spurt doesn't seem to be the answer after all, as he didn't really want to feed. Very strange.
I've given him his Losec again today. Actually I gave him a dose yesterday afternoon, but it may take a couple of days to build up back into his system. I just hope he comes right tonight.
Then thismorning as I was so tired, I didn't really hear him wake up. So I think I kept him up a bit long and I had to feed him to settle him to get to sleep. Ooops. Mmmm I wonder what the next awake/sleep period will bring.
Good news for you too Erin with Katie back to normal. Isn't it funny/strange how we're all going through sleep problems at night at the same sort of age.
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xi dtrb w qlehv,u1`BGC C (A little love note from Ryan).
I think he found the Caps Lock key. Have I mentioned how incredibly gifted he is? :wink: He is always trying to hit the keyboard now, so I usually only pop on when he's asleep. Which he should be doing now, but he's off routine again. :? I think we're going to have to go to church at 5 pm on Sunday instead of Sunday am...which is sad, b/c we know loads of people that go in the morning and there are usually only 30-40 people in the evening. But, we've had to leave early for the last 4 weeks in a row, so I think Ryan's trying to tell us something.
Glad everyone is doing well...welcome to the new members.
Can you believe we've got almost 50 pages? Yikes!!!
Yahoo!!! The little buggar just rolled over from his back to his tummy to reach the picture frames on our bookshelf. He's been rolling over for months now, but this is the first time I saw it. Glad to share it with you all. Gotta go save the frames, though! Bye!
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Morning All!!
Hope you all had a great weekend!
We are with all of you in the 45 min nap boat - it's driving me crazy! I've got a little "grump" anyway but the 45 min naps make life SO much harder... Anyway, no point in reliving the trials of the 45 min naps, you all know the drill. Have NO IDEA how to fix them, nothing seems to work so far. Am probably going to ride it for a bit and see if they start to extend. Would love to drop the catnap if it meant longer naps but it's the wrong way around - because of the short naps he NEEDS the catnap. Haven't quite worked out how to explain to him that if he has longer naps for the first two he doesn't have to have the third. :roll:
Started solids on the weekend - a bit of rice cereal. He took to it well but doesn't seem too fussed. Will have to think about introducing some veggies - might get him a bit more interested.
Now here's my "what would you do?" for the day. (Sorry, I can't ask anyone else - everyone I know rolls their eyes at the BW philosophy!). What do you do if your LO wakes at 5.45am (happens to us every couple of days) Feed and treat as a night feed or encourage playing in the cot until a more respectable morning start time? Fraser does not go back to sleep if he wakes at 5.45am - but I have been trying to preserve a 7am feed time. Means then that I have NO IDEA what time to put him back to bed... Ah, I just don't know!! What would you do?
Thanks and chat soon
Jo
PS - I don't wait for notifications on this thread, just check it everytime I log in. There's always something new to read! :D
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Little Bear's Mum: regarding sleep/wake modes, doesn't it seem like we are running little science experiments on our babes??? I am going by these times: am nap starting approx. 9am, pm approx. starting 12-2pm and catnap is approx 3-5pm.
Every day seems a little different for us right now. He had an am nap of 45 min. and I thought the day was doomed. This could have been because I may not have heard him wake up. Well, I heard him at 5:45 and left him a bit and fell back asleep, then didn't hear him again until 6:45! not sure if he went back to sleep too. he may have been up 2.75 hours for first A time :?: :shock: anyhoo, then I helped him at 45 minutes for the pm nap because i was having a friend over and didn't want him all fussy. I stayed with him about 15 minutes doing shh/pat (only really needed it for 5) and then he slept 2 hours!!!
I've been tweaking his interval before bed and it seems it just takes him 17 minutes to settle...at least the last two nights he has. I put him down a touch later tonight thinking he'd settle after 2:40 A time...but then he added on 7 minutes, so I think I just need to put him down for 2:30A after a 10-15 minute settling period!
Judy I am in Toronto, east end though...otherwise known as Scarborough. Don't worry though, I'm safe, no gunshots so far :wink: I'm actually in a really nice area by the lake. I'm practically in Pickering if you know the area at all. And I was thinking this morning that you would reply that you were in London! It's like I'm psychic!!!
I remembered the couple of things I wanted to add last night. Also from the Weissbluth book:
Up until about 21 months of age, some babies are born to be short nappers and some are inherently long nappers. Parents can interfere with a child's long naps by messing up the child's schedule, but they cannot make short nappers into long nappers. Impt. facts about short nappers. At 6 months, 80% of babies nap b/w 2.5 and 4 hours each day. 15% nap longer than 4 hours. 5% nap less than 2.5 hours. If you include babies who sleep a total of 2.5 hours or less, 18% fall into this category. They keep this pattern for 12-18 months!
Anyhoo, thought that might be encouraging to those that just can't get there los to sleep more than 45 minutes!!!
Also: It may be very difficult to establish regular naps at four to five months of age in some babies because their biological nap rhythms are maturing very slowly. Some babies don't evolve into a schedule of regular long naps until five or six months of age, especially if they had extreme fussiness/colic when younger or if their parents were inconsistent or irregular about naps during the first four months
phew, could this post by any longer!
sure it could. I have a Q. How long do you bathe your lo for? It only takes me 5 minutes or less b/c really, what can you do until they sit up?? I still wash his head first while holding him over the tub...do you still do that? Or do you pour water over your los head now? Not sure when you can do that. Just paranoid of water in eyes and ears.
okay, NOW i'm done :D
i'm gonna go have some ice cream!
Traci
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Hi Ladies
Welcome Shazeel - nice to have a new mum to share ideas with.
James isnow over the worst of his illness, he had scarlet fever and tonsillitis for a week and then last week he has conjunctivits and a cold. he is at the tail end of a cold. I started solids just over a week ago and we are doing breakfast and dinner. For bfast, we have rice ceral and fruit about 1hr after his bottle. For dinner he has been having pumpkin for the last few days so our afternoon routine looks like this:
3:30pm bottle
4:00pm walk
5:00pm dinner
5:30pm: play with dad
6:00pm: bath
6:30pm: bottle
7:00pm bed
Last night he slept from about 7:15pm till 7am (that is when I got him up). I df at around 11:30 (he was coughing for awhile and I found that this helped him).
We are down to 2 naps a day - the first being around 1.5hrs and the 2nd about 1-2hrs. In the afternoon until he goes to bed, he can be awake for around 3 - 3.5hrs but he seems to cope well. I will only put him down for a catnap if his naps haven't been very good. I found that if he had a catnap and slept till 5.45pm, he would be up for ages at night before going to bed. Frasers' mum, maybe if you introduce dinner this might help him sleep longer at night ( I think our lo's are about the same age).
James had been sleeping through the night for about a week before getting sick so I wasn't sure if it was ever going to happen again. But it did last night so maybe we are getting back on track :o
The only downside to my textbook/spirited baby is that although I know he can settle himself, he often needs just a little encouragement to get to sleep. I guess this is okay but I am getting worried that it will become a prop. He is now sitting up also and VERY aware of his surroundings. I have noticed that when I put him down in his cot, he lifts his head (he sleeps on his tummy) and looks for me :( Makes me feel bad that he can see me leave the room, but I don't want him to be relying on me to be inthe room to get to sleep.
anyway, I hope everyone else is getting more sleep. Summer is on its way to Australia which is good. I am looking forward to being able to just put a sheet over james and if it comes off, it doesn't matter.
Bye for now
Lisa - mum to James (textbook/spirited)
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Hi Traci
Ah, the bath, now here is something I can answer (finally!!) :lol:
We bathe Fraser at the end of the day - around 6 - 6.15 depending on how he is because this is his very fussy time of the day and he loves his bath so it extends his awake time a bit without the screaming!! We stretch it out as long as we can because otherwise he'd be getting into bed at 6.30 or so (what wake up time would we have then! :roll: ) So usually about 30minutes.
We get in the bath with him (either DH or me, not both of us!). I do it if I've worked that day, gives me some quality time with Fraser and gives DH a break. Vice versa on the days when I am home with him. It's lovely time - we swim and sing and play with bath toys and Fraser eats everything and sucks on the face washer :D (Hope that's safe!) We just wash his hair with the face washer (he doesn't have much at the moment) although Frase doesn't mind getting water in his eyes - when he's having a shower with one of us he loves to stick his head under (strange kid!) We don't use shampoo yet although we'll have to start thinking about that so I guess when we do we'll reassess the hair washing bit but we haven't washed it over the bath for ages.
Does that help? Oh, we also add in another bath during the day if he's really cranky and we are fed up with him (I know, we're in drought and should be conserving water! We focussing instead on conserving our sanity :wink: )
Bye!
Jo
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Hey, everyone!
Traci, just wanted to let you know my swim instructor encouraged "dumping a cup of water on his head" so that our lo's won't be afraid of the water and a bit of splashing. I don't think I'd follow that advice exactly, but I do use a cup (while he's lying (laying?) on the bathmat) and start at the forehead and pour it backwards. Inevitably, he'll splash and get some in his face or eyes. Luckily, he loves it, so it's not a problem. Also, we've been using baby shampoo since his cord stump fell off. (Remember how gross that was? :shock: )
Hope you all have a FANTASTIC week!!!
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Quick, random question: Judy, is that Zoe in your Avatar? Just curious. :D
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Judy :lol: Yes, aren't DHs just so weird? And I think you are very right in not "letting" DH bathe your twin babes.
Just a note... I was browsing the sleep forum and went to an announcement (or was it a sticky?)... anyways, it notes that a baby at 6 months needs 2.25 hours of day sleep and 12 hours of night sleep. All this time, I was convinced that Arwyn needed 5 hours day sleep. (Did I get this from the BW book????) Based on this new found info, my lo is getting enough hours on 3 x 45 minute naps. Yahoo! (Bet I can't take it to the bank yet though :wink: )
Anyways, I haven't extended naps now for the last two days if she looks happy. I only extend them if she wakes up grumpy. After Friday, (some of you will recall my cry for help) I decided I needed some balance. Not throwing the whole nap thing out the window but some balance.
We started rice cereal today. She seems to like it but didn't finish the whole tablespoon both times. The instructions say to start with 1 tbsp of rice cereal with 3 to4 tbsp of water. That makes a really runny mixture and it takes FOREVER to get a tiny bit into her. Anyways, that's another story.
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Lisa - so glad to hear James is getting better - I am so worried for the day when Katie does get sick - we've been lucky so far.
Traci - we bathe for about 15 minutes. I let her sit in the tub and splash which she loves. I also give her some toys to play with in there. She sits on sort of a big cushion in the bathtub - lays there actually, so when I have to rinse her hair I just dump it over her head and let the water run down. She gets water in her eyes when she splashes but it doesn't seem to bother her too much. I'm also with the other ladies in that it makes an otherwise cranky part of the day a bit easier to bear.
Arwyn's mom - We started rice cereal right about the same time you did (Katie is about a month older than Arwyn) - it took Katie about three weeks before I actually felt like she "got" it. We're working on some fruits now and oat cereal. I think I gradually made it thicker over the course of about two weeks.
Regarding early wakings - sorry, can't go back to the last page and see who asked about that - I would treat it like a night waking, but if your LO's not upset and just playing I would just leave them. If Katie wakes that early and is not upset I just leave her. If she is upset, I try to get her back to sleep and definitely try to hold off on getting her up until a more civilized hour.
-Erin
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okay, well I did a little more experimenting this morning to prove to myself that I believe in upholding the schedule. DS woke at 4:15 for a feed, gave him one boob and he was up until 5:00. 45 minutes better than 1.5 hours...but I digress.
He then only slept until 5:45...I let him cry until 6:15 as it wasn't frantic cry. I was hoping he would find his Ocean Wonders and just occupy himself. No go...so got him up at 6:15 and fed him at 6:30 with the intention of a 7:30 nap. I thought to myself...MAYBE he'll go down at 7:30 for two hours which would give the same waking time as 8:45 for 45 minutes. See my logic? Well DS always falls asleep for naps in 10 min. now. After 15 min I got him up and knew it wasn't going to happen. So after having only 45 min. sleep myself since 4:15 am I did what most sane women would do and walked to the coffee shop on the corner. All the people commented on what a "bright" baby he was. BRIGHT is right, overstrung is more like it!!!
Anyhoo, he went down okay around 8:30 for a whopping 10 minutes! I helped him back to sleep by 8:50 for a 45 minute nap. Okay, I can handle that. He is now down for his second nap and went down in his customary 10 minutes. Anyhoo, going to tweak his bedtime tonight. Weissbluth says if they are waking early to put them to bed 20 minutes earlier. I looked back through my week and the night DS went down at 6:45 he woke 10:15pm for feed and 5:15am for feed. After the am feed he babbled for 20 min, cried softly for 20 then went back to sleep 6:15-7:15!!! So, I am going to have him in bed tonight no later than 6:45. I really think trying to push him to 7:00-7:15pm is not working.
Thanks for the notes on bathing. Frasersmum...do you get in the bath when it's only you at home? I'd be nervous trying to handle a slippery, squirmy baby while I am also wet. It's hard enough getting him out of his tub when I'm on dry land! I guess I'll change his tub to the sitting up mode (still have him laying back but he wants to sit) and let him play longer. And you're right...at least it will kill the time at the end of the day. I'm pretty pooped by the end of the day and looking for stuff to do that isn't too boring but not too stimulating.
I used to run (two years ago) and last night I went onto my old runners forum to say hi and actually commit to starting back once DH is done his exam in October. In the meantime I'm working on picking up my walking pace so that running isn't too bad once I start. So DS and I go for a brisk stroll in the evening right when he wakes from catnap. Now I need to look for a running stroller...anyone know a good brand?
Thanks
Traci
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Traci
Lise's swim instructor reinforced to me that "clean" water will do no harm to babies ears and actually has us drawing a shallow bath and then let Lise right down on her back with her ears covered with water! She loves this as she can make "snow angels" in the tub. My husband (he is a family doc) also said this is fine and while I have not had any trouble with her ears but probably would check with your doc re same. It does make them less afraid of water I feel.
Husband just got home - will post furter later![/quote]
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I'm so mad my computer isn't working at home! I got all caught up last niht and took notes, and then couldn't post! :evil:
Now I am at work so can't really talk, but just wanted to say hi. Hopefuly my computer will work tonight.
BTW, I quit my job today! How crazy is that!!! :? :o :shock: :? :o :shock:
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herbst99 wow, that's very cool that you put her right down in the tub. I guess people do take their infants swimming don't they. I'll have to look into that.
Andrea You quit your job :?: :!: What did you do? Was this coming or did you do it out of the blue? good for you if it's better for your sanity :D I am really hoping not to go back to my previous job...it's terrible. I was a mutual fund accountant (yawn) and the busiest part of our day is from 4:00-6:30! Not good in terms of daycare that's for sure.
I had a Eureka moment today. I was in the shower just now pondering our schedule and I'm hoping a perfect day to go like this:
6:15 E (stay with me-i know this doesn't seem ideal)
6:45 A
8:00 S 1.5 hours
9:30 A
10:15 E
10:45 A
11:30 S 1.5 hours
1:00A
2:15 E
2:45 A
3:15 S 1 hour
4:15 A
6:15 E
6:45 S
with wakings around 10:15 and maybe 4:15am to feed.
I have analyzed my logs to death and it seems 6:45pm is the best bed-time (as mentioned above earlier today). Optimal A times appear to be 1.75, 2, 2.25 and 2.5. The only wrench in my plans is that I'm not sure if the morning nap is too early-I am the one afterall who said to try to stick with the schedule...but this could be DSs schedule. Of course I know I need some flexibility in there. In the event of short naps I'll go with a 6:15-6:45 bedtime range.
I just had the perfect wind down to catnap. read books 5 min., vacuumed 5 min, walked outside 5 min, sang 5 min and put down 10 min. before A time ended. He went to sleep in EXACTLY 10 min. He does cry and fuss a bit...but some babies do that though, right? I think if I put him down just before A time ends he ends up taking 10 minutes anyway.
okay, gotta go start some kind of dinner.
Wish me luck tonight. Hoping the early bedtime eliminates the long night wakings!
Traci
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Andrea Good on you, if you're jobs not what you want to be doing, then if you don't have to do it, why bother???!!!! Are you going to go for something different or be a SAHM?
Traci Sounds like you've ended up with a routine that ours usually ends up looking like. I just put Daniel to be after 1 1/2 hours awake (that I knew about) and he went down without a murmer, just a couple of minutes playing with his rabit in the cot then next time I checked he was asleep. I'm not sure if he'll do the 1 hour sleep that I hope he will, it may only be 40mins. I'm still trying to work out if he's best up 1h30m, 1h45m or closer to 2h for his first wake up. Interesting about the 20mins earlier at bedtime. If it works for you and Cole, I might have to give it a go. Keep me posted on how your routines working out.
Judy - you'll have to do an Avatar of all your lo's. Not that I've got anything there yet, maybe I'll sort that out soon.
My good news is I think Daniel is getting back on track with his sleeps. Last night he only woke once at about 11.45pm for a feed. He made noises at about 4am, but I left him, closed my door and we both fell asleep again. I woke again a bit later, but there was no noise, so I opened our door so I'd hear his morning chatter to wake me. He then slept until 6.15am. And he wasn't hungry at all. Went down for his first nap without feeding. I offered it to him 3 times, took a couple of sups, but that was it. I think this means he doesn't really need the middle of the night feed, but I don't want to push that yet, I'll try to reduce his time feeding first.
Hopefully the homeopathic remedy will be arriving in the post today for his reflux. Meanwhile, I keeping on his Losec aswell, now I know what happens when I take him off. NO SLEEP FOR MUMMY!!!
Well, I better go and get ready for whatever the day has in store for me. PJ's just won't look good hanging out the washing in!
:lol:
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Hi Colesmum - Ialso get into the bath with James. He is such a wriggly worm (or a Koala bear as I call him as he climbs everywhere) that it is much easier for me to be in there with him than trying to hold him. I think this is where he practices a lot of his "new moves". Before he was rolling on the floor, if I had him on his stomach in the bath (holding him under his arms) he would twist around so he was in the sitting position. He also practice sitting before he sat on the floor and he now sits unsupported (with only a couple of pillows around him). I do on occassion bath with him without dh at home. I just carefully hold onto him as I stand up (you could always let the water out while you are in the bath), place him on the floor wrapped in a towel and then I get dressed.
James also does swimming lessons. He has been doing it since he was 3.5mths old. He really enjoys it (well I think he does) :D . He now goes under the water and only comes up very rarely spluttering.
In regards to our sleep, Sunday night he slept from 7-7 last night he only woke once at 3.30am for a feed. He is still asleep at 6:45am. I find with our wind downs, we just stand in the living room having cuddles and he watches our dog. I then put him down to bed and he just needs a little bit of help and then he is asleep usually around 6:45/7pm. I cannot ever see james going down without his mantra cry. :(
Anyway, enough from me today, hope everyone has a lovely day.
Lisa - mum to James
My textbook/spirited koala bear :D
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Wow this thread sure moves fast!!!
Andrea-what will you do now? SAHM? Good for you
Judy-sooo glad that you are getting some sleep now!
Had to laugh about the baths and how everyone does it so differently! DH gives Sam his bath every evening. It is their time and they both seem to love it. I hear giggles and lots of chatting and I do not intrude. This has been the case since Sam was born! I do occasionally bathe Sam is dh is working late. He is fully immersed with just his face above water. He loves his head in the water and fusses and cries if we try and sit him up. He stays in it for as long as possible and that usually means 20-30 minutes. It is a great way to use the evening A time without being too stimulating.
As far as sleeps go, extending A time has worked really well in extending naps but Sam seems to be able to stay awake for quite a long time-2 hr 20 this morning. Sam has seemed to have dropped all night feeds and goes from 7 pm till 6 or 7 am in the morning. Exception: this morning at 1.30 am. I patted him for 30 minutes and he went back to sleep but woke again after 15 minutes so I fed him. He looked surprised to be fed but took it anyway. I woke this morning to find an enormous poopy nappy and I guess that was what he was trying to tell me! :oops: Oh well, we live and learn. It was sooo unexpected as he pooped 2 days ago and usually does not poop for another week.
Anyway, must dash. Have a really good day all.
Karen
PS: Pleased that James is getting better and you are getting back on track! I dread the day that Sam gets sick
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just put DS down at 6:08pm. He seemed very tired after only a 30 minute catnap ending at 4. I figure he'll settle for about 2:15-2:30 A time.
fingers crossed for the night ahead!
Edit: okay, regardless of being tired he still held out until 2:30 A time. valuable lesson learned: Regardless of last nap I'll still put him down for 2:30 A.
How long do you guys hold your los at the end of wind down? After singing while walking upstairs to his room I sit in the glider in the dark room for a minute or so. Tell him it's time to sleep, I love him and I'll see him when he wakes up. Then I stand up, kiss him and put him down. He is always WIDE awake. There is no drowsy with this boy. Anyone else experience the same thing? Just wondering if I should try putting him down closer to 2:28 A instead of 2:15-2:20 giving him his required time to settle. I thought I read somewhere though that if you hold them too long they have trouble making it through the 30 and 45 minute transitions :? there have been a couple of very rare instances since training started that he went to sleep without some kind of crying...maybe i'll look back in my notes and see what kind of magic i applied that day :D
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Oh crap looks like I didn't get any notifications lately either, the last page I knew of was 46.
Well the storm we were all expecting fell apart on the way here, so all we got was a ton of rain.
Riley is doing well at night, for 3 nights now she has slept from her df at 11 and then thru till 8am.
We found that damn tooth that she has been teasing us with the bottom right one is starting to show below the gums.
We have also been tied up with Jayson, je dropped a board on his big toe on the weekend, and we have had him in twice to the docs to have it drained.
Well when I have more time I will have to sit down and read the 4 pages that I missed. But overall it sounds like everyone is doing well.
Welcome to everyone who is new, sorry I didn't get anyones name as I am so way behind on this thread it isn't funny.
Must dash the season premiere of csi miami os on tonight I think, but I have been pretty stunned lately so I may be wrong.
Take Care everyone
TTFN
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How funny is this? We took Ryan for his 6 month portraits last week at Sears. They turned out cute and we could get a lot, since they're pretty inexpensive. Then, I found a coupon for a free sitting and free 8 x 10 at the Picture People ($$$) since they were having some contest. I figured we could never have too many cute pictures of my baby boy, right? Well, today I found out Ryan won the contest for babies this week! :D It only means that he had the cutest picture out of a few other babies, but we get about $60 in free pictures out of it. We keep laughing at him and calling him our little award winner. Don't worry, I'm not going to start joing baby contests all over the place...just wanted a free picture, really. Thought you'd all get a kick out of it.
Other than that, things are going well. He took 3 HUGE naps today (2 x 2hrs. and 1 x 1.5 hrs!) so I am really worried about tonight's sleep. (Please do not start throwing imaginary things at me if you have a 45 minute napper. We've had a really rough week with general fussiness and refusing to nap when not at home). He usually sleeps through the night, but with that amount of day sleep we could be in trouble.
Must run...my aunt is visiting on business and should be getting back from her evening meeting. So fun to have some of MY family around for a change! :)
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Traci, our wind down cuddles are pretty short. Normally the last 15 mins before nap time includes a story then walking around the house and ending in his room. Change nappy if needed, don't usually do this though at this time, then maybe another 1minute story in his room. All this time I'm holding him. Sing Twinkle Twinkle L Star, close curtains and into bed. We don't actually sit for cuddles at all. Daniel seems to know when we sing TTLS it's bed time and he snuggles into my shoulder and rubs his eyes. At this stage he doesn't want to just sit with me, he gets wormy.
Daniel had a 40min nap thismorning, so was hoping for a bigger middle of the day. After 2h 20m up I thought we'd be fine. But not exactly, he woke after 40 mins, then babbled away for 10 mins, just dropped off again, and the air siren went off at midday (does everyday) then he woke again, dropped back off again for another 30 mins. So it ended up okay, just a bit interrupted. The good thing was that I was able to leave him and he resettled all by himself.
The homeopathic remedy arrived today and I've just given it to him. I wonder if anything will change. I hope so! I'm not sure what I'm expecting but some improvement of less spilling or longer sleeps would be fabulous!
Daniel's just beginning to realise if he moves his legs when he's on his tummy he might soon be able to move somewhere. He's trying to get his legs underneath him and I can see he's gettin gso frustrated, but giving it a good go. Yay, this is some improvement on hating tummy time.
OMG.... I just had a break from writing this to play with Daniel and then look after my friends little 8 week old. Anyway..... while we were playing Daniel rolled from his tummy to his back all by himself! This is the first time. :D :D :D And it was quite intentional, by the look of what he was doing at the time, not just an accident. Of course, when I put him back on his tummy he grizzled and wanted cuddles. So he got lots of them!
Better go, Daniels down for a sleep so I'm going to have a nap too!
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Hi Everyone! After getting caught up last night I had another 2 pages to read tonight. Wow we are chatty ladies! :wink:
Anyhow, Kate 585, congrats on your cutie winning an award, and no I will not throw darts at you! :)
Judy-it was so funny I was going to post the same thing asking about who your Avatar was-someone read my mind! In all of your spare time you should update it so we can see all 4 of the girls.
Arwyns Mom-glad to hear you're going more with the flow for naps. I think it will make you guys happier. I agree though with the first nap being so important. Yesterdya she only slept for 1 hour for her 1st nap and then ended up having short naps the rest of the day and then needed an hour catnap at 6 pm! She still went down by 8 though and settled fine.
Jo-I would def. treat the early morning feed as a night feed because I read in some other book that if you play with them they will quickly get accustomed to that beign the start of the day.
Little Bears Mum-I wonder if your lo is teething? I hope the homeopathic stuff works out for you. My SIL went to a baby chiropractor for nephews reflex and it was gone within 2 months as opposed to the 6 months diagnosis the ped. said.
Lisa-glad your lo is doing better!
Traci-I have got to get that book! It sounds great and the quotes you listed make a lot of sense and are encouraging. I think a little bit of fussing is quite normal before bedtime, so don't worry. In fact in the American Academy of Pediatrics book it says fussing of up to 20 min. before bed is totally normal.
:arrow: So like I said I QUIT today!! I work for St. John (we just recently hired Angelina Jolie to be our spokesmodel!!!), a clothing company in california and I actually love my job a lot as an Account Manager. But it does require frequent trips to NYC and a lot of long hours and an hour commute both ways every day. So I decided to stay hoem but I will be working for/with DH a few hours a day with his business. He started his own company this year as a Network Engineer, and it has gone better than expected. But now he can't grow it any larger because he is too busy doing paper work when he should be out working, so I will help him with that! I am very excited but also NERVOUS about $$$$ :? :? I have faith though that we will make it work!
my next post I am going to list Taylor's schedule, as aside from a few night wakings once or twice a week, overall it is working out well for us. We just recently changed her bedtime routine and made her bedtime at 8 pm and it seems to have helped.
But for now this post is too long and I have to go to bed! Have a good night everyone! :)
Andrea
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Wow, I think I joined the busiest thread on the board!!! I last posted 3 pages ago but it was only 24 hours ago :!: :shock:
Andrea... congrats on the new job :wink: Don't worry, where there's a will, there's a way. I wish I could do the same. I have an IT hubby too but he works for a company, not himself... other than the stuff on the side... and that doesn't keep him busy enough to hire me. :cry:
Sorry if I don't respond to everybody individually... I don't mean to offend anybody... by the time I read all the posts, sometimes I can only remember little points.
It sounds like we are all doing well and our little ones are learning new tricks! Arwyn started to creep backwards today. I swear it is because she saw her little friend at the drop-in crawling back and forth this morning.
Arwyn likes her rice cereal! I wasn't going to try again today but when she woke from her 40 minute nap :roll: I was in the middle of my lunch. I was finishing off my soup and she just STARED at me spooning it into my mouth. So, I thought, let's give it a try again. She finished the whole serving! I couldn't believe it. She was so diligent and patient (with me smearing the stuff everywhere). I did make the consistency a little thicker, using 3.5 tbsps water instead of 4. She almost finished a whole serving tonight too! Anyways, guess she is officially starting solids now.
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Arwyn's mom-thanks for the note of encouragement! DH worked for the same bad/ungrateful company for 9 years :evil: all the while I was trying to get him to quit. and then I got pregnant and that finally get him teh incentive he needed! I told him I should have done this a long time ago!
anyhow, just wanted to write that I'm glad cereal going well...I am getting very anxious to try it with Taylor so soon may be asking you for tips!
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Arwyn's mum - well done with the solids. I'm going to try Daniel again on them soon, hopefully we'll have more luck this time, as they say, 3rd time lucky.
Taylor's mum - can't wait to see your routine. Can you include what you do for your wind downs before naps and bedtime. I'd be interested to see if there's anything in there that might help us.
I've tried something a little different with Daniel tonight. I normally feed him in his room in near darkness, but he falls asleep (or nearly) so quickly. So I fed him in the lounge. This time, he didn't get sleepy until right near the end of the second side. It was much more efficient feeding, not the usual suck suck stop, suck suck stop that he usually moves to pretty quickly. I then took him through to his room, sat for about 2 mins in the chair in the dark giving him cuddles then put him in bed. We don't usually use his music to go to sleep with, but tonight I thought I'd use it just to help him incase he needed it. He was wide awake when I put him down, but no crying yet. Maybe his full tummy and going down wide awake might help him sleep longer! I guess I'll know over the next 12 hours.
Daniel also slept for 1h 20m for his mid afternoon nap. Normally after the middle of the day nap, he would only do a 30 min cat nap, but today he was tired at 2hours awake time, so put him down at 2.40pm and he slept until 4pm! He woke after 30 mins, and I'd just dropped off to sleep on the couch. I left him for a couple of minutes as he wasn't crying, and he must have fallen back to sleep - just like me! Yay for us both having a good nap. I know I feel better for it. :lol:
Jo, when Daniel was waking between 5-6am I originally went with how awake he was and played with him. Then I thought how silly that was as it was far too early, so about 3-4 mornings of putting him back to bed straight after feeding and he seemed to get the message. It's not very often he wakes between this time now, but if he does I usually now leave him and he goes back to sleep.
As you can see, I've got time on my hands to write lots, hubby's cooking dinner and lucky for me I'm a fast typist. But enough of my ramblings...
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Hello to everyone :D
WOW over 50 pages---this is a very busy board!
Things have settled back to normal again for us, after a really long GROWTH SPURT...3 days! I was just about to panic when my milk supply must have finally caught up! So the 6 mth GS is a big one, she was waking every 3 hrs during the night and feeding almost every 2 again during the day!!!
I haven't started solids yet..I know, I'm probably way behind the 8 ball but she isn't sitting by herself yet and I'm a bit of a believer in timing solids with the first tooth... Took her to the health nurse this week and she is right on target for her weight etc so seems to be doing well without for now.
had to laugh reading all the bath stories..With Ky I was sooo paranoid about water in his ears etc, but with Si I am so much more relaxed, even let DH put her head under in the shower, hopefully she won't be so sensitive about this when she is older...as KY is NOT at all keen!
Take care Bianca
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I love reading about the experiments with solids as I'm gearing up to start at the six month mark! I've recently pestered all my girlfriends with older babies for their books/recipes on the subject.
Let me tell you about my night. It was great until I messed up this morning. Fed DS at 5:30 last night, bed by 6:30. He slept until 1:30am!!! yay for me that I went to bed at 9:30. I got up and checked on him at 11:30 because DH came in worried he was supposed to wake me for DF. I'm not doing DF anymore, just letting him wake when he's hungry. I then hoped he'd go until 6:30. Hmmm, he lasted until 5:15. This is where my problem started. He wasn't crying too much, and would try to settle back again and again. I let him fuss until 6:00..then got him up. Fed him and tried to put him back down-no go. So I had him up until 8:00 am trying to get as close to 9 as possible. So it's been 3 days now DS has been up 2.75 hours for the first interval :shock: In retrospect I should have gotten up to feed one boob, and he likely would have dropped back off until 6:30 or 7. I am just hoping he has a decent nap. I'll have to force him back to sleep because i am positive he's so wired that he'll wake at 45 min. If we can make it to 9:30 then our day will be on track...
anyway, i'm off to grab a hot cup of tea. i don't think there will be much chance for me to sleep this morning helping with the nap extension...
have a good one girls!
traci
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Man I really need to keep up on this thread. I went to sleep and woke up to another 2 pages :shock:
I guess everyone is busy trying to keep up with the 6mth mark.
Riley is doing good on her cereal, she had rice and banana this morning, haven't tried her on veggies that will probably be at the end of the month. Nights are fairly good, she woke for a 6am feed this morning but it is still better than 4am.
Well I just wanted to check in with everyone and say hi!, I will have to make sure I sit down and read up on everyone sometime soon. I have a freiand who has moved in with us for a while so time is not really on my side.
TTFN
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Hello all! I am new to this forum (thanks for the tip, Kate!). It's good to know that I am not alone in the things I'm facing. DD has recently regressed to short naps, too. (Last week she took a 25-minute nap at one of her regular nap times!) DD is almost 5 months old and, recently weaned to formula, and just started cereal. She also just started rolling over from back to belly and back again. I'm sure all of this has something to do with it.
She's also started staying awake at night. When she wakes up to feed, it is taking her 1hr -1.5 hrs to get back to sleep! Yesterday was a good day--she took 2 2-hour naps. Then last night, woke to eat, then right back to sleep. But this morning we were back to the 45-minute naps. She's down again, and has been down for 45 minutes now, and I'm not hearing her fuss yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Anyway, just wanted to jump into the conversation and say "Hi!"
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Hi Nancy,
My lo was doing the same thing, staying up 1.5 hours. How frustrating is that. May I make a suggestion that helped my DS? Try putting her down for bed 20 minutes earlier. If I get him down by 6:45 he sleeps way better than if I wait until 7:00-7:15. Might be worth a try.
Traci
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HI there nancy, ditto what traci said, I do that with Riley, that way he settle time doesn't cut into her nap time.
Welcome from canada!
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I hadn't thought of that. I'll have to give it a try. However, bedtime might be a little tricky...it's already a tight schedule to get dinner ready, eaten, cleaned up and do bedtime ritual (including bath) when DH gets home from work. Do you mean put her down early at bedtime AND naps?
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And thanks for the welcome!
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Hi Nancy,
I actually just meant that her bedtime could benefit from being 20 minutes earlier. I put DS down 10 min before end of awake time for naps and 15 minutes for night as that is just how long it takes him to settle. There is no drowsy with my guy, he goes down wide awake!
I was going to ask if it was feasible with your schedule. Hopefully you could tweak the routine a bit to cut out 20 minutes for a couple of nights just to see if it works. By the way, I still keep awake time the same, but I wake DS from catnap if it will cut into his optimum bedtime. I got this idea from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. FWIW!
Traci
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Thanks for the tip...I'll give it a try!
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I'm going to have to try to find that book Traci, I'm getting rather a collection of purchased books, so may have to join a library. Shock horror, haven't joined one of those since I was at school!
My exciting news is Daniel rolled yesterday from his tummy to back, quite intentionally from what it looked like. Yay! Of course, he probably won't do it again for months :lol:
Our night was not quite as good as the night before, but an improvement overall. Woke at 10.30pm as DH was coming to bed. I asked him to give him cuddles and Pamol, as I knew he couldn't be hungry. That worked. I'm sure it's his teeth (or lack of) giving him troubles. Then woke at 12.30am, I fed one side. Then again at 4am. Fed the other side. Then sometime between 6-6.30am. I heard him at 6.30am. He was really tired from about 7.30am, so I put him to bed and he wouldn't settle. He's still awake now at 8.20am. Because he fed at 4am he wasn't hungry while he was awake, until I put him to bed. So at 8am I fed him. Mmmm, he's still not asleep. What's going on??? Probably over tired. Oh great, what a way to start the day. :cry:
I'm off to the hairdressers today, I'm wanting a new style but don't know what. Currently my hair is below my shoulders, and it's quite thick with waves. I usually go between this and a short straight 'bob' but that doesn't work without maintenance every morning. So I'm going to try to find something different. Oh crikey, who know what I'll look like by tonight!
Better go and settle Daniel - again. Not sure how this time.
Traci, I might try 20 mins earlier tonight too. 7pm isn't working!
SOrry, no time to add other bits for other people, hopefully later!
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Hey, all! We've had a devil of a day today. (Must be b/c I posted about all the sleep he got yesterday. I jinxed myself! :roll: ) But, we go back for our swimming lesson in an hour or so, so there's something to look forward to, anyhow.
Man, I can't even remember what I was going to post about...have I mentioned it's been a rough day? :lol:
Traci, I went back to read my "Better Sleep Habits..." book today. Seems like it's pretty in line with BW except he advocates CIO. Is that how you read it? He said, "Don't let your baby cry for more than an hour." MORE than an hour? Yikes! Other than that, it's pretty related with schedules, sleep times, etc. and seems to have some good suggestions. Just wondered about your thoughts on that.
We'll see if I remember what the post was going to be. Ugggh! Baby Brain strikes again!
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Hi All :D
Just wanted to pop in quickly and say hi. I haven't posted for a bit but I always check in and see what everyone is up to.
We had an interesting day yesterday - only 2 x 45min naps the whole day, but not cranky. What's with that?? Anyway, I seem to have lost the whole sleep inducing touch and can't get him down so we just went with it. It actually went ok (surprisingly!). We had an early start this morning - a 5am feed and it then took me to 6.30am to get him back to sleep - but hooray because I did eventually manage it!
Still progressing with the solids here - just rice cereal once a day at breakfast. I tried really hard to wait until the 6 month mark but all indications were that Fraser was ready to go. My ped said to me very early on to "read the baby not the book" so that's what I ended up going with (and advice from a number of very smart mums on these boards :lol:). Anyway, we were only 1 week shy of 6 months so I will count that as success. Am going to introduce some pumpkin this morning which will be interesting.
Have a great day everyone! Here's to babies who nap long and often!
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Oh btw - finally added an avatar! What do you think of my little guy?
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yup, our routine is way off whack. Riley's tooth is bothering her a great deal. So this makes pd at sleeptime real fun :roll:
Is anyone else's lo showing signs of having teeth. Riley's hasn't come through but you can see a faint white line under her gum. I love baby oragel.
Well must run, she is battling sleep and at the same time she is getting harder to keep on my lap.
TTFN
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HI! I have been reading this board for quite some time and FINALLY decided to join in. I will update my profile some day. I have a son named Ben, born 4/1/05. His naps have been shortening as well, lots of rolling over, shrieking, mouthing everything in sight. No solids yet, I have tried rice cereal a few times but when I reported it to the doc he told me to wait until 6 months. We'll see if i can hold out for a few more weeks. It has been great reading and finding out that so many others are experiencing the same thing as I am. Thanks for all of the time and humor you put into your posts. I am a terrible speller so please excuse the mistakes! Good thing I only taught K and 1st grade, their spelling words are easy!
macaire
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There must be something about today...it's been a devilish one for us, too. Naps have been WAAAY off. (She finally took a total of about 1 1/2 hours this afternoon, but that was in 15-30 minute increments. I would just leave her in her crib and she'd fall back to sleep only to wake after 15 min or so.)
Now I just went to go to the grocery store, got LO and all the gear out in the car and it wouldn't start. So, now we're stuck here, and DH won't be home until late tonight with the other vehicle, and nothing to eat for dinner!
Well, here's to a better day tomorrow! :)
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J&R's Mum - yep, we're definitely battling teeth. I've just given Daniel some Pamol to see if that helps. I feel like I'm resorting to 'drugs' to get him to sleep if he's upset at night or like thismorning, but for a normally very good night sleeper and good at settling down, I don't know what else can be going on except teeth. His cheeks were rosy red, so I take that as a good sign they were bothering him.
I just went thru my logs and noticed he seems to go down closer to 2 hours after waking up for the day. Even though he shows tired signs earlier, his logs imply that 2 hours is the magic number. I'm going to try to stick with that for the next few days even if he's tired and see if it helps.
Traci/Kate - in the "sleep habits" book does it have ideal awake/sleep times or a routine example? If so, would you mind posting it here, I'd be interested in seeing what it says for a 5 1/2 month old/6 month. I'm going to try to track it down but in the meantime this may help.
FrasersMum - definitely cute!
Kate - do the swimming lessons tire your LO out? Can we expect big naps after swimming? Or does it have the opposite effect?
Hope your napping goes well everyone.
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HI there hayes, welcome to our chaos. I say that as you wouldn't believe how fast this thread grows everyday.
JO- What a cute guy, the pic of fraser is adorable. It is so nice to hear that he is better.
I am thinking of trying veggies with Riley, but she was slow and fussy on cereal, and I don't know if I have patience right now.
Our bedtime is right out of the window, we were doing so well. Riley in at 7 and Jay in at 7:30. But with his toe and her tooth it is a battle to get them sleepy at all. To top it off dh has been pulling 16hr days, no it is not a typo.
So it has been tough to say the least.
Well hope everyones day goes a little smoother tomorrow.
Take Care everyone and keep up the good work!
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Just trying out my new lilypie with a photo of James. I have finally had time to sit down and work out how this works.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Lisa - mum to James (textbook/spirited koala bear)
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No didn't work - can anyone help me fix it? :?
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Select the middle option of text and you will need to scroll down further than text than you can see.
HTH :)
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Jo---love the picture of Fraser. I noticed it right away! Such a handsome little guy! :D
LB's Mum---What is your real name, btw? If you don't want to share, that's fine, too. Just curious. Swimming seems to excite Ryan, but then give him a good night's sleep. Our class is from 5-5:30, so there's no nap after that...although today he took a 15 minute catnap, due to all the craziness of not napping today. Then, he went down right away at 7:20 or so...he was SO tired we thought for sure he'd fuss, but not a peep since then! (Fingers crossed!)
Have a great night/morning!!!
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I FINALLY remembered why I wanted to post this afternoon (probably 8 pages ago by now! :wink: ). My dh has to bring the computer in to work tomorrow so it can be checked out for his work email synching or something. Anyway, it should be back by tomorrow night, but you never know. So, you may be without me for a few days. Try really hard to make it through and I'll see you in a bit. :P
Love, Kate
p.s. Is it considered an addiction if you plan to pop over to the library just to use the free internet to check this site?
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Hi, I guess I should be polite and share my name. At first I didn't want 'the world' knowing who I was/my son etc, cos I didn't know much about the forum or who would be using it. I guess it's pretty safe though as it's only my first name......
Hayley
There we go, I've done it now. You can all call me Hayley! Silly I know....
Daniel was very out of sorts thismorning, as you know he's been a bit strange for the last 10-14 days with regards to his sleeping. Well, I'm about to go and wake him because he's been asleep now for 2 1/2 hours! He's hasn't napped that long since he was only a few weeks old. I hope he's okay and not sick. I've got to go out, so I need to wake him.
Talk to you all again soon. Off to the hairdressers! :D
Hayley
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Hi Hayley-thanks for sharing your name, as it is easier to type than LBM :lol: Anyhow, I am posting Taylor's schedule below. I am in no way sayign we have things perfected, as we still have our days, believe me! But in general this routine has been working pretty well for us the last month and a half, with a lil tweaking here and there. BTW, hope the new hair cut is what you always dreamed of! :P
Kate-totally hear you on the addiction to the site! Last week I was wondering if I could get fired for constantly logging onto the internet to go to the site, but since I quit, I guess it really doesn't matter! :D :wink:
BTW Nancy-glad to see you here in this forum as well. Nice to know I am not the only one jumping between 2 threads. Hope you got the car fixed.
:arrow: T's schedule:
wake between 7-7:30 am-feed
A-get dressed, go on a long mellow walk (we never divert from this, but with winter coming we'll have to think of something else-good thing we live in SoCal!) I always keep this A time very mellow with nothing stimulating besides the walk. We usually end up spending another 20 minutes just walking around the house talking after our walk-but no toys/videos/etc.
Windown always consists of going to room, dimming lights, changing diaper and talking quietly on changing mat for abotu 15 mins. then lay her down on her side with a blankie. 50% of time doesn't need me at all to go to sleep, 50% needs me to pat her back/reposition her for a few minutes
S-9/9:30-10:30/11 am (I basically always keep her up 2 hours since the time she woke up)
11 am feed
A-this is where we get more stimulating with exersaucer/jumper/tummy time/run errands, etc... as long as we're not in the car she can stay up about 2-2.15 hours during this A period. Repeat windown
S-1-2:30ish (her second nap is usally 1.15-1.5 hours)
3 pm feed
A-more fun activities. I also find this a good time to run errands as well because if she falls asleep in the car for her catnap I don't feel so bad, as it is a "freebie"
S-catnaps are hard for us, as she has to be pretty tired to go down for them at home, or if we're in the car she has no problem of course. also, if she happens to take a long 2nd nap she usually will not take a catnap. I do keep trying to put her down for the catnap up until 6 pm, and after that I stop trying and just push up her bath/bedtime
6:30 pm feed-this is new for us over the last 2 weeks, as I used to always feed after her bath and she was sooooo fussy she wouldn't take a good feeding. Now I feed before bath and offer more after bath too.
A-7pm bath and pj's
7:15ish offer breast again as a kind of top off
S-between 7:30-7:45 pm
11 pm DF with EBM given by DH
Every few days she will wake up around 5 am and DH goes in and can usually get her back to sleep with some patting. She also was wakign before her 11 pm DF, but since I started feeding before her bath, that has stopped.
Sorry so long-I never knew I could be so long winded!!!
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Okay LBM... a.k.a. Hayley... you have given me courage to share my first name too.
Ankie... Now, my drop-in friends who lurk in this site no longer have to speculate if I am "the Arwyn's mom they know" :wink: (I was asked BTW... that's how I know they lurk!)
We had an okay day today... I fell back into some "survival" mode behaviours but I don't mind once in a while. (Some of you will probably see my other post from today.)
Okay... anybody know how long I am supposed to be on rice cereal before switching? Well... not me, Arwyn is on rice cereal.
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Hi Ankie, I am new to this sight but thought I'd give my 2 cents worth on the rice cereal thing.
AS far as i could gather once they get the hang of eating you can introduce rice cereal up to 3 times a day ( just a couple of tablespoons) Then gradually introduce veges or fruit. I started with pumpkin at lunch. Just a word of advice. Be careful feeding them dinner just before bed ( especially banana) Mu DD had the worst pain and i have now dropped a meal. I basically give her a late lunch (around 4pm) and just breast before bed and it seems to have helped. After 2 weeks i introduced new food then every couple of days i introduced something new.
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Hi there Ankie, from what they say here in nova scotia you work through the grains of cereal. We have Riley on oat, and yesterday she tried some rice and banana. I think the reason for working through the different grains is so that if they have an allergic reaction you can pinpoint what it is.
When I had her, they gave me a booklet from public health called "food in the fisrst year".
maybe they would have soething like that near you.
Well must run, another day of choas awaits me :D :D
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Judy talking of poor nipples, now that Riley has a tooth coming yesterday she treid out her new biting technique on my nipple.
I was on the phone feeding her and the was a clamp feeling on my boob!
I was shocked, at least it wasn't with any teeth!! :shock: :shock:
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Hi all March/April Baby Mommies!!
I have been reading some of the posts here for some time and can't believe what a busy, helpful bunch you are!
I have a question that maybe someone can help me with.
I have Molly on the 4 hour EASY. She is just now getting into taking longer naps but the problem is our day begins at 6 am, sometimes earlier! She wakes sometime between 3 and 4 am and I can get her back to sleep with some pat/shhhh'ing but she will sleep for another hour or so and then is up, wide awake. I have tried letting her "play it out" in her crib which she is fine to do for about 45 minutes or so then she definitely wants up. I have tried putting her to bed later which is really difficult since she is exhausted by 6 pm, never mind trying to keep her up until 7 pm! Plus, her naps are at about 8 am/12 pm/4 pm catnap so by 6 she is ready for bed.
I am wondering should I introduce a feed at 3 or 4 am when she wakes up? Perhaps 4 oz? She normally takes 6 oz. and is exclusively bottle fed.
Any suggestions?? Help...please?! I don't mind getting up at 6 am, but 5 am is a little much, makes for a long exhausting day!
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Hi moms-
I'm new to the site and saw the category and thought I'd jump in with a reply. My boy, Andy, was born March 25th 2005. We've been on quite a ride since! I live in Tokyo Japan and don't have all the resources as in the US, but I'm figuring things out and getting to know other moms here. I bought the latest Baby Whisperer book when I went home this summer and it is SUCH a lifesaver. I have Andy on EASY and it is GREAT! He wakes at 7, feeds, play/stroller, nap from 9 to 10:30 or 11; feed, play sleep again at 1 or 1:30 to 3pm; feed, play, wind down, bathe and then feed at 7pm and then sleep. We dream feed at 11 pm (about 4 to 6 oz expressed milk in bottle) and he sleeps to 7. It is really such a great routine. Thank God for Tracy. And then...I get on this site and realize she died. Whew! That is too much. She was WAY too young with so much to give. I'm beyond sad.
Anyhow, wanted to say hi and get going on this site. Hope you are all well.
Sincerely,
Andy's mom
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Two more to our clan, welcome.
Well i will catch up with you ladies later, it is nap time here
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Hi All,
I too have been watching this thread as my baby girl was born on April 19! I'll just be a lurker (is that a word :? ) unless I have a question or something to share. So glad this was started. Its nice to see what other babies this age are doing!
Michelle (albertasweetpea) - My daughter has the EXACT same schedule as your Molly (she is adorable by the way). I have been feeding at the 3/4 am wake up and she still is getting up around 6/6:30. The other morning she was up at 5 :shock: . I just started praying that she would go back to sleep. She did, but was still up at 6:30. I'm not sure what happened. She was sleeping through until 7/7:30 until about two weeks ago. She goes to bed at the same time, nothing in our schedule has changed. I too am worried about it getting earlier, not to mention the time change! :shock: Let me know if you discover a solution!
Thanks
Jessica
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OK, ladies I have a dilemma. Olivia has been taking shorter naps (as I mentioned before) but she's also waking at night and not going back to sleep. I don't think it's habitual waking, because it's not at the same time. It's anywhere from 2:30-5:00 a.m. At first I didn't think she could be hungry (she eats good during the day and we just started cereal), so I would let her try to settle herself. (I thought it was her new-found skills of rolling over that were waking her.) But after 1-1 1/2 hours, I would get up and feed her. She would take a full feeding and go right back to sleep. Two nights ago, I fed her as soon as she woke, and she went right back to sleep.
Last night she woke up at 2:45. I waited to see if she would settle herself. She did--several times, only to wake up 10 minutes earlier. She doesn't cry, just talks and coos. (That is what she would do when I was BFing and she was hungry.) Finally, at 4:00, I thought she could be hungry (and she began to fuss) so I got up and fed her. She took a full 8 oz. I guess since she takes a full feeding each time, she is hungry. I just don't want the bottle to become a prop for her getting back to sleep. Any thoughts?
Also, this morning she woke at 6:00 a.m. (regular wake time is 7:30-8:00). She was rolling around, finally ended up on her tummy, got her thumb back in her mouth, and slept until 8:30 when I went in and woke her up. I'm thinking about trying to put her down on her tummy, because once she got there, she slept great (didn't seem to stir as much). She has great head control and can roll from back to tummy and back again. Has anyone tried this after LO is used to sleeping on back? If so, how do you do it? And do you keep swaddling? (Right now LO is swaddled, but arms are free.) Any insight would be helpful.
Thanks! Sorry for the long post! I have a lot of questions after such a LONG night!
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Thanks. I just tried to put Olivia down for a nap on her tummy, but she wouldn't settle. So I moved her to her back. She's been roling around since I laid her down (5 min or so) and now is on her tummy! So, we'll see where she ends up.
I'll keep you posted!
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well we tried sweet potatoes today, what a mess!
I am not to fussed if she doesn't like them as Jayson never did, she took about 4 spoonful, and about another 2 or 3 either dribbled or spat. Quite a show, it took me a half hour!!
Judy thanks for your post on tummy sleeping, riley has taken to it recently and I wasn't too sure on whether to encourage it or not. She seems happy.
Ankie, keep us posted on Arwyn's progress with food, as with everyone else when you all start. I forgot how messy yet fun thos can be.
TTFN
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kate585 Regarding the Weissbluth book...I agree with everything except for his CIO methods. I like it for the background and information on sleep habits etc. It did however give me the courage to let Cole cry a little bit more than I did before I read it. And now I can confidently leave him in his crib to settle in 10 minutes...even if he's crying hard. That's just how long it takes for him to settle.
albertasweetpea you just described my day. Many people have suggested to me to push DSs bedtime later to get a later wakeup time but I find he just wakes more often then. However, even with a 6:45 bedtime last night he woke at 12:30 (fine-fed both sides) and then 3:50! This was way too early. I let him fuss a while but he wasn't settling so I fed him at 4:10. After the feed it seemed he was down in about 5 minutes...then 10 minutes later he woke up and fussed another 20 or so until 5am. Then he was up at 5:45! So I hold him off until 8am and by then he's overtired so he wakes up at 45 min and well, i'm sure you relate to everything I'm saying. phew. I'm trying a 6:30 bedtime tonight and hope he sleeps longer. Sleep begets Sleep afterall!
If DS manages to go 6:30-6:30 and goes down well after night feeds, how long should I expect his three naps to be? I'll be honest, if i got 12 hours from him at night I would be happy with 2 x 1 hour and a 45 minute catnap! it's just hard starting the day at 5:45!!!
Olivia's Mommy I wouldn't be worried about the bottle becoming a prop in the middle of the night. We all feed to sleep for night feedings. That's one of the few benefits of night feedings as I see them! My DS typically wakes twice to feed. I no longer do DF as I need to go to bed earlier than 10:30-11:00 and I was generally just stressed hoping he wouldn't wake up and not go back down. I feed him usually around 5:30-5:45pm. If I get him down early enough (around 6:30) he'll wake around 12:30-1:30. I give full feed. Then it's a crap shoot from there. The other day he woke at 5:15 (after feeding at 1:30) and I should have fed him right away but hoped he'd settle back and he didn't. Last night he woke at 4:00 (after feeding at 12:30) and I responded right away but likely shouldn't have! anyway...if she's hungry i'd feed her...i don't think she'll become dependant. and if he feeds after 4:30 or so i usually only feed one side so that he'll be hungry when he wakes again.
gosh, so much going on. what else was there? my memory is shot.
gotta go enjoy the last bit of peace and quiet during catnap. Did you know only 16% of babies have the 3rd nap (per Weissbluth). Doesn't that seem low to you? So many people here mention catnap that I just don't think that could be right. I can't wait until he's down to 2 naps though. It will make things soooo much easier.
bye for now.
Traci
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Now I remember. Hayley, was it you asking about awake times in the Sleep Habits book? He doesn't go into specifics. For under four months he says 1-2 hours. Four months approx 2 hours and 5-8 months 2-3 hours. I haven't read past that section yet.
Albertasweetpea forgot to ask, how often you feed DD? What time is her last feed...just curious how long the span is until that 3-4am waking. She is bottle fed though...so I think that changes things. They sleep longer on formula (typically) than breast milk I think I read. As I mentioned above somewhere, I feed DS twice in the night.
okay, i think that was all.
Traci
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hi all!! it's been a while since i posted....i've been a lurker also!! well, jackson has feeding down pat! he love's his veggies and fruit!! he's not crazy about his cereal (oatmeal) but for the last two days we've been adding some fruit to it and now he is gobbling it up. we are feeding him solids 3xper day and he will easily eat 2-3 oz. of solids then i'll feed him about 6oz of formula usually finishes that no problem. I was wondering if I should be waiting like an hour or so between solids and his bottle??
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Wow, one night off the computer and look what happens! 3 pages later! Welcome to all the new mum's or those who have read but not posted.
Well, I've got my new look and I love it. My hair's now in a short bob but with layers and it looks much better. My hubby loves it too. He always prefers me with shorter hair. Now, the big question is can I make it look half as good as the hairdresser does!?! :lol:
Another slightly messy morning. Daniel mumured for about 45mins last night about 9.30pm which was when I went to bed. Ever since unwrapping him his sleeping appears to have become lighter as he stirs at any noise now. We left him and eventually he went to sleep. Then he woke again at 12.45pm. I'm wondering if this is becoming a habit, but he's always really hungry. Then at 5.20am. I got up and fed him at 5.45am then put him back in his cot. He eventually fell to sleep again, not sure when, and next noises we heard were 7.30a. Of course, he didn't want to feed then. Took one big side at 8am. Then didn't want anymore until I put him to bed at 9am. Finally he's dropped off to sleep now at 9.50am! 2 more feeds later.
I just don't know what's going on or what I should be doing. Has anyone got any ideas for me?
I've tried not feeding him at 5.45am wake ups, but he's hungry. And the middle of the night feed he's hungry too. But that just totally mucks up any thought of a routine for the rest of the day. I just can't make it work.
I'm beginning to think I need to just get up at 5.45am and make that the start of the day, but then it's just going to get earlier and earlier. He got grizzly after about an hour of being up, so maybe I should have put him down then, but I thought that he hadn't been up long enough. And when I changed activities from floor to bouncinette chewing on a book, he seemed happy.
I'm wanting to introduce solids, but due to when his feeding often ends up happening it's too close to sleep time to do solids. I need the perfect day to do it and that rarely happens.
I'm so confused and disheartened I don't know what to do :cry: I've tried for so long to make this work and get into a routine which I believe so strongly it will fix out problems, but I just don't see how I can or where to start.
I've wondered whether I should just do the routine of EAS EAS no matter what time has elapsed between the two E's and see what happens. Even if he's not that hungry because it's only been perhaps 2 hours? What do you guys think? How have you others managed to get a proper routine going if previously you didn't have one?
Sorry, I can't be of much help to anyone else right now. I think I"m having a down day. At least we're off to lunch with my coffee group mums.
Any advice appreciated. If you want to PM me with ideas that's fine.
Thanx !
Hayley
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off of the top of my head, I read in BWSAYP, with solids a routine should roughtly be
EAS -EAEAS-EAEAS.
That is with the 2 naps though.
What I have been doing is I feed Riley some cereal and bf, then around lunch I have been trying a veggie and bf and at supper time I treid a fruit and bf. All other feeds I do bf or ebm
I must dash, one in bed, pd wide awake and 1/2 hr later asleep with relativly no fussing.
It is Jayson's turn now, his blister on his toe broke today so that releived a lot of pressure. It should make bedtime a lttle easier now he is not in as much pain.
Well TTFN ladies, welcome all new posters and lurkers. Come and join in our fun if you lurk around, it is amazing how something so simple as this can save your sanity :D
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OMG we are sure a-movin' fast here. Welcome to all the new mummies and hope to get to know you and your little ones. And Naomi is right... this simple forum will save your sanity... it did mine!
Hayley, {{{HUGS}}} Don't worry about messing up the feed schedule when doing solids. I don't know what the book says but here is what I do...
between 3:30 and 5:00 am middle of night waking -- feed (always)
7 am wake & feed (even if she does not take a full feed)
9 am nap #1 -- 45 minutes :roll:
10 am -- solids
11 am -- b/f (she will always take a full feed)
--- life continues on here on or off schedule :wink: ---
5 pm -- solids
6 pm -- b/f
6:15 pm bath/bed time stuff
7 pm -- b/f top up and bed
We just started solids on Sunday and she has progressed to eating the entire serving already, 2x a day. There is no difference in her b/f habits and I don't see a difference in her sleep time yet. Maybe things will change when I up the consistency of her food. It is still pretty runny right now. We are also still on 3 naps although I would love to get rid of the last one and add it to the middle one. That was the primary reason I decided to do solids after the first & third nap... I wanted to preserve the first nap and felt that solids is to "noisy" of an activity for us in our morning routine.
Enjoy your new do... it looks and feels great, I bet! And don't worry... everything will work out for tomorrow is a new day!
BTW, I always feed in the middle of the night wakings (I know, not very BW of me :oops: ) but she always seems hungry to me. If she turns away when I put her to my breast, or falls off after a short time, then I put her back down and pat/shush but I always offer the breast first. :oops: :oops: :oops:
P.S. Could it be? Arwyn just passed the 45 minute mark in her nap and is still sleeping. Must be my lucky day... Nope just heard her on the monitor... gotta run!
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Hayley,
Are you feeding him both sides at the early morning feed? Someone here (Kate?) suggested only feeding one side so that they are hungry for the morning feed. I apologize if you've already tried that.
And you mention that you fed him at 8, then again at 9 before nap, is that right? Why would you feed him again at 9? Just curious. I wouldn't start feeding him 2 hours apart...then he'll become a snacker and need to feed that often in the night too. How old is DS by the way? I guess 5 or 6 months since we're in this thread. He really should be able to go 4 hours between by now, at the very least 3.5 when you need to fit it in with messed up nap times.
well, ((((big hugs)))) anyway. hope you can sort something out.
Traci
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HI everyone,
welcome to the newcomers. James is on solids 2 x day breakfast and dinner. He usually has rice ceral/fruit for b/fast and for dinner it is either pumpkin or mash potato. Dinner is usually around 5pm and so far (fingers crossed) he hasn't had any problems with tummy ache.
Oh well, we have decided to only have a 40min nap so I had better go.
Talk to you later
Lisa - mum to James (textbook/spirited koala bear)
PS Has anyone else's lo started to get on all fours and rock?
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Riley has discovered she can pull her legs up under her belly, but that is about it.
I gotta run, had to pop on and check my email, which notified me of these new posts. Brand new lost is on and I just watched the new show Invasion....WOW.
Toddles for now.
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Just a note regarding Hayley's questions/concerns...
I did not start out with EASY, but after reading the BWSAP book, I determined that I needed to get on the 4 hour routine and get Andy used to that schedule. I basically just started one morning with the example that was spelled out in the book. Andy hated naps. Fought me tooth and nail...but I persisted for 3 days with shush pat and pick up/put down. My husband helped (we started on a weekend). Now he gets it. Granted, we sometimes have to shush pat extra long...and sometimes the shush pat pu/pd goes right into the next feed...but that is ok...since we keep on the routine and the day sails along. It is nice to have a regular pattern because I can now schedule the day much better.
Andy does a feed at 7pm and then sleeps. We dream feed (my husband uses a bottle with expressed milk) at 10:30 pm and Andy is good for the night. He sometimes wakes early (5amish) and then I shush pat him down. Usually takes 15 mins or so. He then sleeps til 7am and we start the day.
If you are persistent with it...it can work. Andy was a bear to begin with...but now he knows what to expect. I have not let him CIO since it just tears my heart up. He seems good with the shush pat and pu/pd. Give it a try...it really can work. I did not believe it at first since Andy seemed SO fussy...but now he is pretty darn happy since he gets 2 naps and sleeps well at night.
We have not started solids yet since he just had a bout of the flu or something. I want to be sure he is 100% before giving him food. I don't want to confuse this flu thing with an allergy or something. It sounds like many of the babies here are doing great with solids! Thanks for the advice and info!
Sincerely,
Andy's mom
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Judy-hope the schedule helps out. after I said no more wakings before the DF, she of course woke! :roll: Anyhow, don't be so hard on yourself. I don't think anyone in this forum is in the same position as you and you seem to handle it all beautifully! re. the long bf's, you may have sore boobs, but at least you get to rest off your feet, right? :lol:
Michelle-you updated your avatar! Molly is soo cute!
JEssica-our dd's have the same b-day!
Hayley-Hugs to you! I know with these lo's it can be so easy to feel confused from day to day. just try to take it in stride and remember that they're just babies-as someone else said, they don't read the books as to what they're "supposed" to be doing! :wink: you are doing a great job and should be proud that you are taking the time to try and do the best for your lo.
So :?: regarding solids-I see that Ankie does solids twice a day and Naomi does them 3 times a day. Why the difference? Tonight Taylor was totally STARING at my food and trying to reach out for it! I think she's going to be ready soon!
BTW-for those with 45 minute nappers-check out the nap board and the post surviving 45 minute naps-lots of good ideas and suggestions. ALso, Matthew's mommy, the moderator is AWESOME!
have a good night!
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Thanks girls for all your support. I have to say my day went from bad to worse - kind of....
I got in the car to go to early lunch, heard a funny noise while driving off. Thought I better stop and check and what do I find, but the bottom of the car hanging on the ground! So I turned around and went home. Rang hubby, he wasn't available for 2 hours. I was all dressed up ready for lunch, I couldn't miss out! What to do? So I rang a friend who came and unscrewed the bottom of the car thereby taking it off. It was the part that stops bits getting up into the engine. Good to have, but not essential when there's a lunch to get to! :lol: Off I go to lunch. Drove around for 10 mins to get a park then managed to get one opposite the cafe.
Yay, I made it. Ordered and ate lunch (including an extra large latte) then enjoyed eating while Daniel sat happily in his buggy watching one of the other boys eat solids. I picked him up once I finished to give him cuddles and jumps on me knee and what does he do? He poops! Down his leg and leaves a pool of pooh on my skirt! Can you believe it?!?! :oops: :oops: I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. :lol: :cry: I laughed :lol: :lol: Off to the toilets to change him and wipe me down. One of the other girls went to my car to get Daniel a change of clothes.
I had planned to go supermarket shopping after that. NO WAY! NOT WITH MY NEW POOHEY ATTIRE!
Went home, Daniel fell asleep in the car. Getting him out, he's still asleep I thought his leg felt wet. And guess what.... he'd pooped again! I still haven't checked the carseat. Oh dear, hopefully it's okay. I brought him inside, cleaned him up and thankfully he then had a sleep. A short one, I think it was about 50 mins.
So his total naps for the day equal a maximum of 1 1/2 hours if I'm lucky. He woke up screaming, like I've never heard before. Worse than last week. A dose of medicine and a big feed off me and he seemed okay. And lots of cuddles of course. After a bath I put him to bed at 6.30pm. I also decided to wrap him again tonight to see if that helps him sleep longer without waking. I figure he's hopefully tired enough and wrapped to have a long sleep.
So that was my day. All I can do is laugh really, nothing I could have done to change any of it.
I'm going to analyse my sleep/awake logs tonight and work out a plan for what I want Daniel to do. Then I'm going to spend the next few days just focusing on Daniel to try to sort things out. I know consistency is the key, so I'm going to try to make that happen. Even if it means getting up at 6am and waking Daniel.
Just had to share that with you all. Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow.
Traci, I only feed him one side during the night feeds. Thismorning when I fed him at 8am it's cos he hadn't wanted anything when he woke at 7.30am cos he'd fed at 5.45. THen when I put him down at 9am he cried so hard the only thing I could do was feed him. And everytime I put him down he wanted more feeding. He took a huge feed, which I think was both hunger and from all the crying.
My MIL is up for the weekend, so will see if between her and hubby if Daniel is still waking at night they can try to settle without me feeding. If he doesn't see me, maybe he won't need food. That's my thoughts anyway.
Gotta go, hubby's served up dinner. Thanx for listening and your advice lady's I'll read it all again and see if I can get some more insight to what might help.
Talk to you all tomorrow!
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Oh Hayley - you poor thing but.... LOL! We too had the poop from h*ll yesterday while we were out and there's nothing to do but laugh!! Here's to a better day tomorrow!
Hey Southern Hemisphere mums - earlier today I crashed a US mums chat and it was good fun - is anyone interested in participating in a chat night for us Aussie/NZ mums? If you are, I've posted on the Lounge about it - we'll see if we can get something arranged.
Also HI to all the new mums - don't lurk, post, we love to share! I don't have much advice but I love to read everyone's stories.
HUGS to all - sounds like everyone is doing a GREAT JOB!
Cheers!
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just a quick post girls.
The only reason I do solids 3 times a day is to try and mix it up. Just a personal preferece that's all.
I just wanted to pop on and explain why I did that, so I guesss with solids it is however often you and your child feel comfortable with.
Our routine is up in the air, it seems like dd is going through another spurt, she has her feed upon waking and then she needs another one to settle her properly for sleep. She hasn't been going calmly lately.
Sleeptimes are becoming a nightmare. It is seeming like she can go anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hrs of being awake. I think she has a lot going on with her right now so that is probably why it is harder a sleeptimes.
She has found she can roll from back to tummy and back, she has a tooth coming in, she is starting solids more regularly, and to top it all off her night away really threw her a loop and both fri and sat night eneded up being super late.
Oh well, off to enjoy my chaos.
TTFN girls.
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hi everyone,
my night was a bit better. Cole down by 6:35, woke at 11:30 to feed, woke at 3:10 but settled himself in 5 minutes woohoo! He then woke at 5:15 again! I gave a full feed as the other day I tried just one side and it didn't work. Back down by 5:45. He cooed and babbled until 6:10. I was really hoping he'd go back to sleep but no go. Up we got, top up feed at 7 when he fell asleep! Then outside for a good long walk to pass the time until normal nap time at 8.
two things. I changed him between boobs at the 5:15 feeding. felt pretty wet but I wonder if i didn't if he would have gone back to sleep?
Lastly, I might try wake to sleep to see if I can get him past this 5:15 thing. He should be able to go right through to 6:15...that's 7 hours or one feed cycle (still around 3.75 hour EASY)
Traci
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Good morning all (for me, anyway!). WE had a pretty good night. Olivia refused her bedtime bottle because she was so tired (she had just had cereal an hour before, but that is the first that's ever happened!) So we just put her down and she slept until DF at 11:00. After DF, she went back to sleep great, until I WOKE HER UP AT 1:45!! (Not intentionally of course!) Something woke me up, so I went to check on her. She was sleeping contently, but her face was smashed up against the crib bumper and is scared me to death! So I moved her, hoping she would settle back down. Of course she didn't, so an hour later I ended up feeding her and she went right back to sleep and slept until 7:30 this morning!
Haley, hang in there! My LO did the same thing when we started EASY (woke early, then what?) I would try to let her play until next feeding time (as long as she would go). Sometimes she went the whole time, sometimes not, but she eventually got the hang of it and now she's on a really good 4-hour EASY.
We just started cereal last week in the evenings (at dinner time). We do cereal between 5:30-6:00, then bath and bedtime at 7:00 (with a bottle at bedtime). She's doing really well with it. I plan on adding morning cereal starting tomorrow. I started with rice cereal. Does anyone know when you can switch to Oat or Barley?
Have a great day ladies...off to check on DD
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Apparently you can switch to Oats and Barley after 3 days - 1 week, depending on how long you wish to wait to check for allergies. I am switching on Sunday from rice to one of those... haven't decided which yet.
Have a great day/evening everybody!
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Goodmorning ladies - well we had a GREAT night. Daniel slept from 6.30pm until 5.30am without a peep!
Not sure which of the following things helped: 1) I wrapped him, 2) he hadn't had much sleep during the day so possibly exhausted or 3) he'd had some really good feeds so was content and full for the night. Now I just need to replicate the sleep tonight.
I thought I'd make sure he'd had the right amount of big feeds. And hopefully some good quality sleep during the day. But I'll leave him unwrapped, that way if he doesn't sleep and then I wrap him tomorrow night and he does, then I'll know it's the wrapping thing. I hope that's not the reason cos I really want to keep him unwrapped. He didn't used to sleep right through wrapped, so hopefully it's not.
When he woke at 5.30am I gave him one side, which was very full so I think he took the whole feed from that side. Then I put him back in his cot. I listened from my bed as to what he did. Basically he babbled on and off until I got him up at 6.30am. So then I watched his tired signs and put him down at 7.15am. He took 15 mins to settle. So far he's been 40 mins asleep. I'm hoping/thinking in the past when I've put him back to bed he may not have had much sleep then I keep him up and he's been overtired. This results in him not settling down, or sleeping long.
Oh dear, he's just made the 40 min call. I'll see if he keeps sleeping though.
I drew up a chart last night to try to analyse Daniel's sleep patterns. I'd kept about 14 days of logs. There's some consistency, but not enough to really be able to say "this is what he needs". So I think I"m going to have to figure it out based on his wake up time still. If that happens to be 5.30am, then it'll be feed, back to bed and get him up at 6.30am, back to his bed at 7.30am etc. If he's awake in his cot for an hour that's fine, but I don't think I want to be up with him then! :lol:
I think he's still awake, but quiet. I'll go and secretly check! Have a good day everyone.
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hi all! Jack and I have been having a few good nights....but of course when he decides to sleep well thru the night then one of the dogs either decides to get sick or to start barking in her sleep!! We are feeding oat cereal for breakfast then finish off with a bottle. Solids for lunch and then top off with a bottle again. Solids again for supper followed by another bottle and then after his catnap...bath and a final bottle. He is probably eating 26-30 oz. of formula and 12-15 oz of solids(including cereal) a day. Before we regularly started solids he would wake at least once in the night...usually around 3-5amish. He's been waking around 6:30am for the last couple of nights but I've either been able to leave him and he'll resettle after talking to himself for 30 min. or I can get him to settle again with a little pu/pd till we get up at 8am (we are trying to get ready for time change!!). Just after we started solids he was still waking 1-2x over the night but would eat very leisurely....eventually eating a 6 oz. bottle but I decided that he wasn't trully hungry because he wasn't guzzling it like he usually did. So DH and I toughed it out for 3 nights and did pu/pd (an hour each time) and eventually Jack realized he wasn't going to be getting fed in the night anymore!! So I'm hoping (knock on wood) that his night wakings are done!!
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Hayley, that is GREAT! Must be such a relief to get a full nights sleep. I wouldn't worry about the wrapping. If it helps him sleep better I'd keep it up.
Well, my day was okay. After two 45 minute naps I thought I'd go nuts so I went to the mall! He wouldn't feed very well there, he was too distracted by the other people and one poor colicky baby that was screaming her heart out :oops: Then I put him back in his stroller for catnap. I've only tried the catnap out of his crib twice before this. Once he slept for an hour on a walk outside...and another time only 30 minutes at the mall. Now, the 30 minute one was from 4:45-5:15 and it's almost as if he knew...MOM, I don't go to bed at 8:00-what are you doing anyway :? And then we had a nightmare ride home-very cranky.
Today he cried for about 8 minutes to go down at his regular A time for that interval! I peaked in and his eyes were wide open. :shock: Quickly replaced the blanket and left it covered! When i looked 10 minutes later he was sound asleep-YAY. It lasted 1hr 15 minutes! His longest nap of the day. Of course I was a basketcase the whole time hoping he wouldn't wake up. I made sure to be moving the stroller the whole time-even while i sat for coffee i pushed it back and forth!
Anyway-put him down super early for 6:00 bed and he settled by 6:05. BIZARRE-no matter how tired he seems to be he settles at the 2:25 mark now. I'll see how tonight goes. I'm really hoping he'll go to about midnight...then right through until 6:00 or so. IF he's up at 5:15 then it's wake to sleep for him tomorrow (well, for me too I guess).
All this talk about solids makes me want to start Cole...but I think I'm just going to wait until 6 months. Talk to my ped. first and see if she has any information for me. It's just around the corner anyway. Two of my girlfriends waited until 7 months on advice from their doctors.
okay, guess i gotta get dinner ready. is a mom's work never done :?: :wink:
have a good evening.
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Hi again all!
It is really hard to keep up with all these 5-6 month old babies isn't it?? Seems like we are all going through nearly the same things so it is very helpful to get on here and feel like we are not alone.
Andrea, thanks for noticing the avatar, yes we think she's pretty cute too!
I love the new pic of Taylor too - the dress is very cute, I think you mentioned dh picked it out?? Hmmmm a man with style! :lol:
Just reading all of Carol's posts and getting goosebumps - poor thing to be in that situation after Katrina...I can't even fathom such a thing. She is such a trooper, sounds like she is holding it all together so well. An inspiration to us all that's for sure.
Great sleep vibes being sent out to all LO's tonight!
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I just have to tell you all that Daniel has been napping now for 2h 45mins! I actually had to check on him to make sure he was okay, even though the monitor is on! :lol:
I think it might be a combination of a few things; a good sleep last night, 2 good feeds today before this nap, & maybe the h/pathic remedy taking effect. I'm wondering if I should wake him or not? He's due for his next feed in 15 mins, so will wake him then. Wow, incredible. What will this mean for tonight though?
I've decided to wrap him again tonight. If it works for a few nights of consistent sleep then I unwrap him and he wakes then I know he still needs it at night. Hopefully it will enable us to get our days sorted out better to then help the nights. Then I won't be so consumed with sleeping and I'll be able to think about some other things.
Colesmum, I hope your night went well. Cole hopefully surprised you by sleeping really well. Maybe the earlier bedtime helped. If it didn't you'll have to give the wake to sleep a go. Infact, maybe that's what I'll try next.
Olivia's mommy, it's funny how you mums over the other side of the world talk about going from cereal, to oats or barley etc. Over here, it's baby rice (cereal equiv I think) then onto fruit or veges.
So far D hasn't liked his rice or apple so after about a week of either, I'm planning on trying pumpkin tomorrow. Apparently it's quite popular with a few friends bubs. I kind of feel like he's missing out because he's not on solids yet (5 1/2 months) but he didn't seem to like them. I'll try with the Pumpkin though and keep at it a bit longer than 3 days this time. Apparently it can take about a week I was told to get the hang of it. How long did it take your LO's when they first started until they were opening their mouths wanting the food?
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Hey, all!
The computer is back from the tech doctors. Virus. :evil:
I had to laugh with all the talk about the poop issues. I am so sorry for you, Hayley!!! I'm waiting for that to happen to us. We're going out of town tomorrow...it'll probably happen while I am on the road. :shock: Family trip with m/fil and b/sil. Wish us luck. Big plans with not much nap time scheduled. Someone told me Ryan will just have to have one wacky day and get back on schedule on Monday. Look for a big, whiney post then! :D
Real quick: We do solids 3 x's/day, per our pediatrician. Cereal/fruit at bkfst, fruit/veg at lunch, cereal/veg at dinner. I always bf about 30-45 mins. before I feed the solids (as long as we don't have to go anywhere), since that is where most of the nutrition is supposed to come from and Ryan is such a piggie he would each so much solids he wouldn't want any milk afterwards!
Have a great weekend everyone!!!
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I have to come on here and just whimper.
Tonight i caaled dh at 7pm told him I needed him home and hung up.
The kids are in seperate rooms at the mo, so having them both crying at the same time REALLY SUCKS.
I put Riley down at 6:30, she was fairly calm and figured that the half hour till 7 would be a good wind down time on her own.
Her screaming/crying lasted 2 1/2 hrs :shock: :shock: , no kidding, tried everything, feeding, changing, baby orajel, playing, hugging, those cold gum toys, laying with her, and finally I thought of tylenol, simply because it seems like she has started ANOTHER growth spurt, she actually feels heavier.
She feel asleep after I gave her this, on her belly laying next to daddy having her back rubbed.
So I have no clue whether she finally gave in or it was the tylenol.
Either way she is better.
I feel totally enfuriated, because nothing I did helped her, and that made me frustrated, and at the same time I feel like crap cuz my little girl is in need of something and I don't know what she is tryong to tell me :cry: :cry: .
Okay, that feels better, had to unload, thanks for the shoulder girls.
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Oh hugs Naomi!
I completely agree it is so hard when they are sick and you don't know what they need. Sounds like Riley just needed her Mum AND her Dad to make her feel better (and the orajel and the Tylenol etc etc...) You all got there in the end!
Hope she is feeling much better soon
Cheers!
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Thank you Jo, seeing her asleep in her crib makes it all worth it!!
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Hugs to you Naomi... tomorrow is a new day of possibilities. I'm sending good sleep vibes your way. I hope your little ones feel better soon.
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hugs to you Naomi and all us moms out there. somedays it just sucks huh! but so worth it I know. tonight it took T 40 minutes to get her down and I just felt mad/frustrated/sad that the only tiem I spend with her since back at work is at night when she is so cranky!
thank goodness for Tylenol! it has helped us a couple of times too
good night everyone
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Naomi I really feel for you!!! I know it is soooo frustrating and upsetting when nothing you do seem to help. Lise is a very difficult baby to console so I know what you mean. Again - thank goodness for meds.
little bears mom Lise at first didn't like solids. Our health nurse recommended that we don't worry to much of HOW much theu take in but to rather focuss on getting them used to the TEXTURES and TASTE of solids. Most of the nutritian will come from milk untill about 9mths when solids will be fed 3x per day (including protein, dairy, fats etc.) and the milk feed should then be down to about 600ml. Will see how it goes! Lise does now eat 3 meals a day - cereal in the morning (mixed cereal), fruit at lunch and veg for supper.
Re the wrapping - I continued to wrap Lise untill I put her in a sleeping bag. Now I just have to be sure I give her a lovey to play with in her hands and she is fine. I have noticed that she will sometimes hold onto the crib slates (maybe for something solid to make her feel grounded?)
Wrapping also provides some deep pressure which is calming and will sometimes help baby through the light sleep stages and this is probably why it still is working
I am taking part in research re a weighted blankie (filled with sand pockets - about 600g) and so far no "significant" improvement in day sleeps. Night sleep I now don't hear a whimper where she usually will have periods through the night she will wake and then put herself to sleep. Does help to calm lise during wind down period a little faster. Will let you know as soon as I have more details.
[/b]ColesmomAs I said earlier solids is mostly for the taste and experience at this time - I started Lise at 5.5 mths just to see how she reacted - I was a little worried she might be tactile defensive and have tried to expose her to various textures etc. No different tastes though so that is why we started earlier. We also have very few allergies in our family so I was not worried about that at all. At this time she enjoys
1. Mixed cereal
2. Veg - carrots, sweet potato, butternut, squash
3. Fruit - peaches, pear, apple, banana
She HATES avo - but again - so does I!!!
Us Going OK - Just wish this nap thing will get sorted. It seems as soon as you have the nap thing down, developmentally it changes again.
AWAKE so see later
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big (((hugs))) Naomi. This parenting thing is tough. I often wonder to myself if I'll know what to do when Cole is in pain/sick. I have been so fortunate so far that neither has happened. In the end you were there comforting her so that is what counts and you can take comfort in that :wink:
herbst99- thanks for the run down. I think I'm just going to hold off. Cole had a really really great night last night. he only woke once to feed and didn't wake at any other time (always wakes at 45 min. screaming and at least one other time and goes back to sleep)
I posted a question on the nap board and I want to post it here to: how to know when to extend A time?
I know this may seem silly, but how do you know that 45 minute naps are caused by too short an A time...or too long an A time and they overtired and therefore can't make it through the transition?
A little background. DS had his best night sleep last night EVER. He went down at 6pm (due to three short naps yesterday) and slept until 5:30am with one feed at 10:30pm, and no other wakings (usually wakes 2 or 3 times but goes back to sleep). I would like the wake up later...but that's for another thread. Anyway, the last few mornings with early wake-ups I've been keeping him up until 8 to try to maintain a decent schedule. So he's been up 2:15-2:45A. I know this is long but wanted to salvage the rest of the day. Yesterday I couldn't extend his first or second nap so we were done nap two by something crazy like 11:45!
Today I thought I'd try something different and put him down for what should be his regular A time 1:45. So he was down by 7:15. Went down without much fuss either! He woke at 8am happy and playing. Since starting sleep training 4 weeks ago he has never woken happy. He always cries. I let him play 10 minutes then he started to cry to I attempted to shhh/pat until 8:30. He was just staring at the wall. So, since he woke up happy...is that an indication that this interval can now be extended? It seems I've just gotten my A times down and now they are changing :roll:
any help/advice much appreciated. On a positive note I went to sleep at 9:30 last night so I had a full nights sleep!
okay ladies, that's all for now. I gotta go figure out how to salvage my day when the first nap ends before most babies start their first nap!
Traci
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herbst 99-will be interested to hear more about this blanket thing-when T was very young (1-2 months) I use to put a rather heavy blanket on her as it seemed to settle her more. my logic was that it probably felt like a warm hand on her or something.
thought of starting solids to me is so overwhelming :!: don't know why-probably because I feel like I still have so many Q's. I haev to admit that I was always so overwhelmed with the sleep training and just trying to get by the first few months taht I didn't pay much attention to reading/doing research because I thought I have sooo much time. Now it's almost here! I knwo I'm probably over reacting, but over the next week will really read over the tons of material I have on it.
good day everyone. it's the weekend!!! :D
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Holy cow there are a lot of posts here :shock:
We have had a busy week here - my sis had her gallbladder removed last Saturday, so we've been trying to lend a hand there as she is not supposed to pick up anything over 10 pounds and she has a 28 month old and a 8 month old to deal with at home. Anyway....
Naomi - hope things are better now - hate those nights when nothing you can do makes them feel better. :(
Traci - regarding awake time - I find that I can extend it through low key activity so she doesn't get overstimulated, but I generally have to move her around a bit so she doesn't fall asleep. Usually playing with her with some quieter toys on the floor of her room does it. I usually keep her downstairs until she first is looking tired then bring her upstairs to keep her up for a bit longer.
Regarding solids - we started with baby rice cereal mixed with breast milk at about 5.5 months and waited until just after six months to introduce some fruit. Currently we've tried apples, bananas, and pears and we've also done oat cereal as well. Right now we're avoiding rice cereal and bananas as both can be constipating and I feel like she's a bit more regular without them. Right now, her schedule is approximately (we vary about a half hour either way depending on when she gets up)
7:30 AM, wake and BF
8:30 AM, cereal and fruit
10-11:30 - nap
11:30 - BF
2-3:30 - nap
3:30 - BF
5:30 - cereal and fruit
7:30 - bath, BF, and bed
10:30 - dreamfeed
Keeping in mind of course that those times are really more of an approximation. She also sometimes will take a short nap in the afternoon, which means I try to get her to take a catnap around 5 (any later and we mess with nighttime sleep).
I still can't get her to take any fruit alone, I have to mix it with cereal or she's just not interested. It did take us about 3 weeks before she got used to the cereal.
Today I am worried for all those people in the path of the hurricane and hoping they are safe. However, on a practical note, don't forget to fill up your cars today, since if the hurricane hits the refinieries in the gulf (as it is predicted to) gas prices will go up again.
-Erin
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Us Starting with us today. I decided that I need to REREAD the book - Jip BW - and guess what - AGAIN found some great advice!! I cannot stress ENOUGH how often Tracy says - NOT TO GET FIXATED in TIMES - rather the sequence of events!!! aaaaah "lightbulb" moment
Anyway - still didn't solve nap issues but - I am now fully reading cues to see if we can get to that magic "sleep window" where she will herself sleep past 45min.
BUT at bedtime at night it takes 30-60min to get them to sleep
Hi - I am just wondering on what your routine looks like in the evening. We have a set routine starting with bath - massage (if in the mood) - dress - night time book - bottle (lights out) and then bed. She does not fall asleep with this bottle is just really drowsy - Therfore STILL putting her to bed AWAKE. Don't know if this might solve the roblem.
thought of starting solids to me is so overwhelming
I know what you mean!! I found it strange here is SA - our well baby clinic has a trained breastfeeding counsellar but no one seem to be able to give very good advice on solids. I also read so many books - decided to stick with what I found work and that is what we are doing.
but how do you know that 45 minute naps are caused by too short an A time...or too long an A time and they overtired and therefore can't make it through the transition?
I mentioned before baby gives us cues on their sleep state. I found that if I get Lise JUST after she starts pulling her hands over her face I can get her to sleep past 45min. But this is easier said than done. You must remember that the one day 1hr 45min of A will be different from another morning of 1hr45min activity. (and also remember this is not only what baby is doing but EVERYTHING else happening around them!! - dog barking, car passing, TV hissing, birds curping etc)
Hope you all have a looooong nights sleep!
Nikki
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i've just spent the last hour doing pu/pd to a completely insane baby!!! he is now just talking to himself in his crib. i can not wait to have a day off! :shock:
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mickymuscles... leave him be... I've been there. Tomorrow is a new day. I always say that because it keeps me sane... no, it did not change the frustration of today, but gives me hope for the next day.
As the mother of an EBF baby who doesn't take a bottle, I too, am waiting for my first day off. Probably won't know what to do with myself :shock: .
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I think my baby is growing up too fast :lol: Not only is he on two solid meals a day, he is now sitting independantly, rocking back and forth on his knees in crawling positon, brining his legs like he is crawling (just hasnt got the arms working yet) but he cut his first tooth today. :shock: I didn't even know. James is now over all his sicknesses, he just has the end of a cold. He didn't have any temperature, red cheeks or anything. :shock: :shock: Hopefully this will be the way for the rest of them. Although he fits the description of a textbook/spirited baby, I think he has a little angel baby as well because while he was sick, he still had smiles on his face and now the teeth!!! HOpefully your lo's will have no trouble wiht the teeth.
I had also decided last night that I was no longer going to feed during the night as I didn't think he was really hungry. Well he went down at 6:30pm and didn't wake until 4:30am. I went and did pat/sh for a bit then he just talked to himself for about 15mins and went back to sleep till 6:30am and got him up just before 7. Could I have timed it any better to stop breast feeding :lol:
Anyway, our days are now looking like this (more or less):-
7am awake
7:30am bottle feed
8am ceral/fruit
9am nap (1.5hrs hopefully)
10:30am awake
11am bottle
1:00 nap
3/3:30pm awake bottle
4pm walk
5pm dinner - veges
5:30pm bath
6-6:30pm - bottle
7pm bed
Most times he does down with only a mantra cry and sometimes a little pat/sh.
If he wakes at the 45min mark I just listen, if he sounds happy I get him up and he may go down for another catnap before his feed.
anyway, I got so excited about the tooth, I just had to tell someone. Dh had to work this morning and there was no one around.
Lisa - mum to James my textbook/spirited koala bear
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Judy I hate to laugh, but that's a lot of poop! I'm sending sleep signals your way for this evening. I was in bed by 9:30 last night...not sure if that's an option for you
Nikki Thanks for pointing out that not all A time is created equal. I kept it very low key today too...cuddles in bed for half an hour, feeding and a short walk outside.
mickeymuscles hang in there, it will get better. just remember, consistency, consistency, consistency!
Lisa congrats on the tooth, and the almost crawling, and the sitting! wow. Cole can get up way high on his toes. he looks like he's doing pilates or yoga sometimes, then he topples over. I went in to wake him from catnap and he was sleeping with his legs tucked under and bum in the air...so cute.
we ended up having a GREAT day today! after a short and early morning nap I thought the day was doomed. He had a 1:45 second nap and a 1:15 catnap. He didn't settle all that well for bed. I wanted him down for 6:15 and he didn't settle until 6:30 but he didn't wake at the 45 minute mark either! so I think we finally turned a corner as I know his sleep rythms-yay. It only took 4 weeks!
Traci
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Konnichiwa from Tokyo!
Cole's mom: Cole is so cute! What a great photo!
Lisa- our routine sounds similar to yours! Cheers!
Have to just ring in here with a suggestion regarding the many recent questions or issues. Tracy's latest book "The Baby Whisperer Solves all Your Problems" is fantastic. She addresses solid food in very good detail including what foods to start with, when to introduce them, etc. It is really helpful! Better than most websites and books I have read. So it may be a good idea to start with her book...
In addition, she addresses shortened naps, getting baby to sleep through the night (without feeding again to sleep if they wake up), behavior issues, potty training, etc. If you have not read this book...totally get it. The first Baby Whisperer book was very general...this latest edition is so specific and helpful. It is easy to read and so many common issues are addressed. It has become a bible to me. I think I've worn out the spine of the book already!
Anyhow, just thought I'd share that info...you may have all read it already. If so, my apologies. I just can't say enough good stuff about it!
Sincerely,
Andy's mom
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Yup, I had to kinda back off on the BW by the book, when I first started it I was all stressed as she wasn't doing this or wasn't doing it for that long.
I fugure as long as she doesn't go to sleep on a feed then I am good, she can have either me or a bottle, but I have made it clear that she is not to fall asleep on it.
We put both of our kids in the same room today, so far so good. Jayson knows there is a difference, we didn't exactly stick to bedtime tonight, we firgured they may as well ware themselves out and then just crash.
We didn't get around to solids today, DH had teeth out so things were a bit up in the air today. I know she doesn't like sweet potatoes, and we gave her formula tonight, she took it well, but didn't need much to fill her up.
I just realized that Riley is pooping every few days, anyone know if that is okay? I ask this as she used to be a once a day girl.
Well, just wanted to check in and say HI, enjoy your weekend wherever you are, stay safe everyone.
TTFN
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Hello to everyone! Oh the poop stories. My guy loves to have severe blowouts on the plane. I would say 9/10 flights have left me with a very messy outfit in the changing bag and lots of wipies used up! The other day I was out of the house on time for work for the first time, only to find that my sweater had poop up the arm, I decided to push the sleeve up and pretend it wasn't there for the next 4 hours. I have started solids today and a bit concerned about constipation. He normally poops 2-3 times a day and only had little squirts today. I am sure the cereal hasnpt hit yet but how long do I wait to stick something up his butt? I am dreading the day? I will get some more literature on feeding solids and pooping but some thoughts would be great. Ever since I started extending awake time, Ben's first nap is short and his second is much longer... I may go back to his old ways. Happy sleeping to everyone.
macaire
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Wow so much has happened since i was last on about 24h ago! I can't keep up. Sorry I won't be able to respond or comment on everyone's but a couple of thoughts....
Judy, have you thought about trying your girls down earlier for night time? It might be rather tricky considering how many you have to get ready for bed. But maybe it could change their wake patterns by having an earlier night. Of course, they could then wake at 2am, but then maybe you'd be able to be up til 4am then back to bed for a couple of hours :lol: :? Just a random thought to throw out there.
Andy's mum - good idea about reading the book again. I might have to borrow one from our library as my friend still has mine. I have a feeling BW suggests a different feeding routine than what Plunket advocates in NZ so I need to decide what I want to do and go with. We tried pumpkin with Daniel today and he actually seemed to like it. Yay, I'm looking forward to trying some more tomorrow. My MIL was here and she said the little amount he took was great and not to try to give him too much until he's ready for it. Just a taste to begin with.
Lisa - your routine looks great. How did you manage to get the 7am awake time? Did you ever have an early awake time to deal with? If so, how did you extend it?
Traci - again the re reading of the book. What I don't understand with not watching times, is if the 4 hour EASY means E at 6.30am S at 9.00am Then wake happy at 9.40am, do we then feed again as it's only been 3h 10mins. Or leave it closer to 4 hours?
My darling, wonderful considerate little bear slept all night again last night from 7pm - 5.45am, with just a grizzle that I left him to work through at 4am. I think he fell quiet within about 2-3 mins. So Yay!!!! Now, if we can just get him sleeping until 6.30am that would be great!
Back to normal naps today 1 hour, 1 1/2 h then 40 mins. His awake time now seems to be about 2 1/2 hours between each. Even the first morning wake up to nap time.
Better go, time to feed and down to bed.
Bye everyone!
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Hayley Unless our los conform to an exact 2 hour sleep and activity schedule the 4 hour eating schedule won't work either. I usually have to tweak it as much as half an hour (3.5 hours) in order to make it work. For instance, Cole, my darling little boy ate at 4:10 am then went back to sleep til 6:15! So this is likely what today will look like:
6:15 A
7:00-7:30 E (knew he wouldn't be hungry right away so that threw me off first thing)
8:00-8:45 S (likely 45 min. but maybe he'll surprise me)
8:45-10:30 A
10:30-11:00 E...only 3.5 hours because he'll be S again at 11:00!
11:00 S hopefully 1.5 hours
12:30-2:15 A
2:15-2:45 E
3:00-3:45 S
3:45-5:30 A
5:30-6:00 F
6:15 S
Obviously if he hadn't fed at 4:00am it would have made things easier as he would have fed right at 6:15. Another reason I fed at 7:00 is that I'm going for a massage :D from 9-10 and didn't want him getting too fussy while I was gone. You'll notice that this ends up with a day where most of the feeding is before sleep. I don't worry about this with DS because he rarely falls asleep on the boob anymore and if he does now and again it's no big deal. usually by the time I go upstairs and lay him down he's awake again anyway and takes his usual 10 min. to settle!
My main focus is on the sleep schedule and I fit the eating around it. This may become more difficult with solids...but I'll deal with that at the time.
HTH
Traci
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Way to go Judy!! Your DH handled it okay then, I take it? Let that be a lesson learned. My DH only had to do it once before he "smartened up". I constantly tell him that "Daddy games" can only happen (and finish) a full hour before any sleep time. He doesn't like if cuz he wants to play with his baby girl but... trade offs right?
I'm glad to hear you had a good night. I don't know how you do it with 4 little darlings. Your household sounds like it is very busy and very full of love.
Hayley, I also do what Traci does and "tweak" her schedule due to her short naps (and occasionally, I need to adjust for when she first ate). Arwyn is able to stretch her feeding schedule now too... sometimes she can wait 4.5 hours. I do tend to do a top up first thing in the morning (at 7) so that we can try to be on our regular feeding schedule.
Traci... Aaahhh... enjoy your massage!
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my massage was AWESOME. I extended his pm nap and he should wake up refreshed. did i mention he slept until 6:15! woo hoo!
I have another bath question ladies. I have got to get Cole out of his infant bath thing because yesterday he reached forward and almost pulled himself to standing (using the front part of the tub) and also nearly whacked his head on the tap. So, I want to put him right in the bathtub itself. How much water? He rolls over a lot...and I'm afraid he'll roll in the tub and get a facefull of water. Is this okay as long as I'm there? I can also adjust the infant tub so that he can sit up in it...but he seems to want to have more freedom to move. Is this one instance where I have to just be firm and not let him move? If right in the tub...do you ladies have a rubber mat thingy so it's not too slippery? I'm heading out to Home Outfitters (similar to Bed, Bath and Beyond for those south of the border) so maybe I'll pick one up.
Help, bath time is about 4 hours away!
Judy-silly of me to suggest you going to bed early...of course you would try but with your little army of girls it must be very hard.
Thanks
Traci
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colesmom: we are in the big bath....what i do is i have a reclining style of chair/sling that he can rest against for the most part of the bath. i have him facing me so that he is perpendicular to the bath. then i hold him sitting upright to play with some toys after i'm done bathing. Jack is also quite squirmy and tries to roll every now and again. He has gotten a face full of water twice...it scared him and me both!! It made him a little apprehensive to lie back in the water after that for the next bath...but we worked thru it. I'm putting the sticky non-slip things in the bottom of the bath so that his little butt doesn't go sliding all over the place. But you should try to look for the reclining mesh seat....i see you are in canada so i got mine at zellers or i also saw it at toys r us. definitely much easier to have them reclining still since he's not to stable yet to sit in the bath without one hand to support him at all times. hope this helps!
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Hi - isn't it funny how our bubs react differently when dad's are around. They just know dad's are for playing with. :lol:
Traci, we've had Daniel in the bath since very early on. We used the cloth seat/angled support thing too. This made this easy. Now he's too big for it he just sits and I still hold him with one hand around his back/shoulder. Sometimes daddy lets him sit by himself though. He also loves 'swimming' on his tummy with me holding his chest up out of the water. When he has done something to scare himself, like face planting the water, we just pick him up, give him a cuddle and put him straight back in the water so he knows it's okay. Oh and we have quite a full bath, sometimes, it can be half way up his middle! A few toys in the bath to splash around with make it fun too.
Thanks for your routines and tweaking ideas. This is basically what I do too so that's fine.
We were looking like we were getting into some sort of routine and it got all stuffed up today as I think Daniel woke about 5.30am (although I didn't hear him). Because after getting him up at 6.30am by 7.30am he was ready for bed. He slept about an hour, we think, but was really tired even when he'd only been up for 1/2 an hour after that. Tried to put him down again, but he wasn't interested. He's now in the jolly jumper and happy.
Last night I left him unwrapped and darn it, he woke at 11.30pm. We settled him again without feeding though, so pleased about that. We wrapped him though but when we got him up thismorning he was totally unwrapped and out of his sleeping bag! I think I"ll wrap again tonight, no matter what his hands do! That's why I didn't last night, cos I couldn't.
:( Hubby and MIL say to wrap even if he gets out, just so he gets used to sleeping through.) If he escapes that's up to him.
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well things are good here..Jay seems to be in a mood for contsant crying and screaming, I don't know whether it is a phase, because dh is at work for very long hours, usually 14hr days 6days a week, so he is rarely home.
Riley is harder to pd as well, it has been going on for a while but I reaching my limit of how much crying and screaming I can take.
Judy and Nikki - how do you intergrate you older ones with your lo's routine?
I hate to just blab out, but it feels like I am losing the routine that I have worked so hard to maintain.
I just keep going through everyday hoping that it will be better than the last.
Is anyone else's lo not really into solids, she will take it and I have kept going with it thinking that she simply needs to get used to the taste of it all, but she is simply holding out for either me or a bottle. She will take a few spoonfuls but other than that she has no interest.
Well I should go, thanks for the shoulder girls.
Talk to you soon....
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Naomi, sorry you're having a rough time. Nathan also has days lately which are particularly whiny/crying/screaming and he's even started hitting us - not in total anger, but he knows it gets attention, so we really have to give a lot more attention to him I think, some days I just feel I'm being tugged in both directions (Judy, I struggle with having only two arms and two knees, how do you cope with four girls vying for your attention at once?). He was really good when I toilet trained him a few weeks back and I think it was all the positive attention just being LOADED on him, it really made a huge difference, it's just so draining being in "praise" mode all the time (although a worse kind of draining being in whine mode all the time too :roll: ).
Fortunately Nathan is really good about playing independently and I spend one on one time with him in the morning while Danielle is having her 1st nap. I do feel though that Danielle doesn't get the right amount of stimulation since she is so undemanding and isn't really interested in moving around at all - but that probably comes down to personality more than my lack of skills so spends a lot of time lying on her back and rolling onto her tummy but doesn't push herself up on her arms at all and prefers to "fly" instead.
I tried solids out with Danielle during the week but she's not ready yet, keeps spitting out and even when she did quite like the taste of pumpkin it made her gag the first time she tried to swallow and she had a little vomit, so I've stopped again and will try in another week or so.
She's been waking up twice in the night again so I know she's getting hungry, so will just have to hang in there I think.
Sorry I haven't replied to anyone else, I've had trouble keeping up with the chat. :oops:
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Naomi... Sorry you are having a rough spell right now. I'll send my good day vibes over there.
I just started rice cereal with Arwyn a week ago. The first day, I mixed it like the instructions... 1 tbsp rice cereal to 3-4 tbsp of water. Well, it was quite runny and Arwyn didn't want very much of it. I tried it again the next day but with the "add EBM or formula" kind. I found that the different cereals mix up differently. Arwyn definitely prefers her cereal thicker. So now, I go 1 to 1 on the EBM kind and I haven't yet used the water kind again. If it is too runny, Arwyn will tire of it very quickly. Maybe Riley would like a different texture too?
Judy... my little girl reacts differently to daddy too. She is almost always more active when he is around too. I like your idea of letting the girls know what is coming up next. That probably really helps them "get ready" for it. I keep telling my husband I want 4 kids... your house seems so alive!
Ladies... some of you have mentioned wearable sleeping blankets. Any recomendations? I am thinking of getting one. Arwyn wakes up with freezing hands and feet and I am worried about when the weather gets even cooler.
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Hi, just wrote a bit of a blurb then lost it. OOps.
Naomi, I'm feeding Daniel his minute amount of solids after a b/feed so that he's basically full. I was told to begin with the solids is just like dessert, not sure when I'm meant to change to giving it to him as a separte meal but not straight away.
Arwyn's mum, I"ve just got a cheapie sleeping bag from a baby shop in NZ. Not one of the flash 'grobags' that cost the earth. I guess they're better because you can buy different weights. But I figure it's better than nothing and it (sometimes) helps him to keep the covers on too, so they do the work of keeping him warm. He can kick his legs up in the s/bag though and still manage to get the covers off sometimes. Infact, earlier today we found he'd kicked off the covers, the sleeping bag and his wrap! :lol: :? Very funny, but how did he manage it??? If only rolling over and moving was so easy!
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Littlebearsmum, in regards to 7am wake up, it use to be 8!! I have only had the odd occasion where he has woken at 6:30am but he has never been earlier than this (he is in bed by 7pm). I don't know how it happened, it just did. As James is on solids for breakfast and dinner now and 4 milk feeds a day, he is now sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). He did wake at 4:30am today but when I went to him he had turned himself around and I don't think he knew how to get back :lol: I put him the right way and patted a few times and he went back to sleep. It is now 6:50am and I haven't heard a thing. Often when he wakes at 6:30, he plays for about 20mins by himself and then I go and get him. We are coming up to summer here so I am hoping the sun coming up earlier doesn't change anything.
We bathe james in the big bath and he loves it. I just hold onto him as he "practices" a lot of his new moves in the bath ie sitting, rolling over etc. He would also practice going from his tummy to sitting position and I have noticed that he now does that on the floor, although he cannot get all the way around. He goes up onto his toes and twists his bottom around.
I am feeling a little sad today :( as I am no longer breastfeeding. I was okay with him bottle feeding during the day and bf at night, but now he has dropped these feeds as well. I really liked that time at 2am just the 2 of us, he would rub his little hand over my chest.
Oh well, I can here my koala bear now. The start of another day. Hope everyone else has a lovely day. Take care and keep smiling. :)
Lisa - mum to james my textbook/spirited koala bear
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How is everyone, things are settling down here, a little bit.
The room sharing thing is nice, we have decided to change the bed times, Riley at 7pm but Jay is now at 8. We figured Jay is never calmed down by 7:30, so by 8 Riley should be in a deep enough sleep then any slight noises Jay makes shouldn't really bother her.
I am contemplating stopping bf, I say contemplating as the thought of it makes me rather sad, but I am kinda wanting my body back. That and it is really handy in the middle of the night.
We decided to hold off once again on the solids, if she is not ready then no biggie.
Thanks for the support guys, it really did help and still does everyday knowing that I am not alone in this situation.
Oh yes! one thing that has happened lately, Jay has realised that Riley can move, albeit rolling around on her belly, she can do two complete rolls at a time. Not sure if he likes it, he is a little miffed that he doesn't have run of the house any more.
Well I should go, I have just heard little coo's coming from the bedroom and I am in the middle of making supper.
Toodles everyone, have you all seen the post in the lounge of the suishy baby pics, oh! and if you need a good laugh I posted a belly pic of me in the pg forum as belly pics were being requested.
Okay I am done, Hey all you new posters how are your lo's doing?
Oops! kids are going crazy........
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Hi, I've just tried to add an Avatar but it didn't work :? What am I meant to do? I selected the photo through the 'browse' option then clicked on submit.
Well done J&R's mum on the room sharing. I've always thought this must be tricky to avoid one disturbing the other. We tried it for 1 1/2 nights while on holiday with my cousins 2 yr old daughter and they both constantly woke each other up. 1/2 way through the second night the portacot came out and Daniel was transfered into another room! :lol:
Lisa, I nearly know what you mean about feeling sad. Only nearly cos it didn't happen. My MIL was here in the weekend and we were trying to get Daniel to take the bottle. It didn't work, but for a little while I was thinking I may never feed him again :cry: We decided that we'd stick with introducing the solids first and get him settled into those then pursue the bottle/formula. It actually seems that he's going to take it for me, but nobody else. As I managed to get him to take 20mls after feeding from me, from a sippy cup with valve so he controls the flow.
Gotta go, Daniels just woken up after 1 hour 10 nap. Yay!
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Hey, girls! We survived the weekend away...barely! Ryan took 4 30 minute naps throughout the day yesterday...all in the car. :? He seemed to rally, though, with not too much whining. We even went to a football game at my alma mater (My team is 4-0, which is unheard of!). I must say, it was sort of nice for my sil to see him whine and cry...she's forever telling me how nice it must be to stay home all day with such an easy baby...implying that my life is a breeze. Glad she got a few hours of it in the car on the way home. :twisted: Overall, a good time was had by all...although we're struggling here this afternoon.
Nikki and Naomi---love the new avatars! So fun to see some updates and to see the sibs together.
Well, since Ryan is finally down for the catnap (at 5:30!) I should go unpack and prepare to start the laundry? How does going away for a few days triple the size of your laundry pile? :cry:
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lbm-hayley right, you have to make sure that the photo is the right size, it is right picky, if it is not the right size then you have to re edit your photo.
HTH
Kate - good going on the vacation, my MIL found out my life isn't exactly roses with the two kids. Riley was up past her bedtime and she was wondering why she was crying :shock: .
Well must go, they are battling bedtime, plus Jay has recently developed a talent for not knowing what my voice sounds like...discapline is getting to be a real issue, talking, time out, bargining to show positive results, all don't work. That and he is getting really mad when i follow through on my actions.
Oh well...tis life I suppose.
TTFN
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Thanks I'm now trying a Lilypie. Not sure if I've selected the right code though. Let's find out.
EDIT: Okay, so I just have no idea what to do unless it involves straight typing :( HOw do I make my Lilypie work. Which code am I meant to select, UBB or EZcode or whaterver it's called? It's all too hard, raising babies is easier! :lol:
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Hi Haley
I just worked out how to do an avatar last week! The important thing is the size of the photo. If you want, you can PM me your photo and I'll resize it for you. With the lilypie - it's so long now I can't remember which code you need to use. There are instructions in one of the forums - hold on, I'll see if I can find it for you...
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/want-to-know-how-to-get-a-ticker-heres-how-vt38171.html
There you go, see if that works!
Cheers
Jo
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Hi all,
Just had to pop in and tell you all how much I love your new pics.
Nikki-Danielle has sure grown since her last photo and both your kids are gorgeous!
Ditto to Judy, nice to finally be able to see all your girls.
anyay, am scrolling through and looking at all these gorgeous children, Naomi, love the new one of both Jay and Riley! BTW, saw your pregnant belly pic, you looked stunning! I think pregnant women are so beautiful!
I am too much of a technophobe to even contemplate attaching a photo of any kind!
Hayley, once you have figured it out, would you mind telling me how you did it? It all seems to foreign to me!
Big hugs, James' mum about the weaning! It is very sad and I have decided that I want to continue doing both the morning and evening feeds when I go back to work. I am too sad to even contemplate not BFing at this stage so will keep doing this till he is closer to a year old.
Must dash, ds is having his afternoon nap and we are at 1.5 hours and counting... :D
Take care all,
Karen
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Hi Karen,
My offer is there for you too - if you want help with the avatar photo I'd be happy to assist.
BTW, I also love all the new pics - what a stunning bunch of children we have!
We had a great sleeping breakthrough yesterday - first nap 1.75 hours second nap 2 hours!! Hopefully this was not an anomoly and is the start of a new trend. I read another thread which commented that naps settle down at around the 6 month mark. Hopefully prophetic for us all!
Hugs Lisa, I can imagine weaning from the breast must be so hard. I think I would be sad too. But then, on the flip side - I'd never have to see that nasty pump again either!
Cheers
Jo
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I love everybody's pictures. Judy... great to see all your little ones. Naomi... great updated pic of them. Nikki... I get to see your older one!
I'm gonna work on getting one up of Arwyn soon. Jo... you may be getting a PM from me... a techno-peasant married to a techie!
Lisa... HUGS to you. I can imagine how you feel. Each time I think about weaning I get sad. A friend of mine told me to start soon because it could take up to 4 months to wean... I nearly started crying then. I am a little concerned that Arwyn is starting to wean herself (is that what your lo did?) because she drops feedings every now and then.
We are having a VERY CRANKY evening. Arwyn was great all day, got her naps in when she was supposed to even though we were out and about. She had her catnap at home and woke up cranky! Still cranky now... wouldn't take her solids, didn't want to b/f and now DH is trying to settle her down. (I think he holds her to sleep... although he tells me he doesn't.) Oh, here he is and the lo is asleep...fingers crossed for a good night.
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JO - thanks for your offer, I nearly took it up. But look, I managed to figure it out. With hubby's help of course! So there we go, you now all know my name and what our beautiful big boy looks like.
Karen, I changed the photo size in Adobe Photoshop under Image/image size after I'd cropped the photo down.
Arwyn's mum, hopefully your night goes well. Sometimes it's best we don't know what the daddy's get up to with them. :wink:
Our day was starting well with a great wake up time and 1 hour first nap, but the second nap went out the window at 45 mins. Not sure if it was the very icky poohy nappy, or DH making too much noise when he came home for lunch. Daniel would not resettle and he's now happily playing with his toys. Looking rather glazed though. :shock:
Oh dear, grizzle grizzle. I think he may be ready for another feed then we'll go for a walk.
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Hayley, How adorable!!! Glad you figured it out.
Ankie, can't wait for you to get Arwyn up there!!! Get that techie husband of yours on the case.
Well...quite a night here. Nearly 1.5 hours of fussing, moaning, and crying. He was pursing his lips and saying "Mmmmammmm" (No, not "mama" yet!). After about 30 minutes of this, dh agreed with me that Ryan seemed in pain, so we gave him a shot of Tylenol. Another 30 minutes or so of walking, rocking, snuggling, pd, and he's finally asleep. Naomi, I thought of you doing the same with Riley last week and it made me feel better. Solidarity, sister!
Off to watch my videotaped copy of "Lost!"
Edit: Had to update Ryan's pic since you all inspired me!
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Kate, I love the piccy of Ryan. Great hair colour (the same as mine). Funny you should mention the MMMMMMM. Daniel does that too, but he also says "mummmm" he's been doing it since early on, so I have a feeling it's just coincidence. Nice to hear though.
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Okay, got the techie hubbie on the case. By the time most of you see this post, it should be up.
I love all the pictures! Kate, great picture of Ryan... is this one from his 6 month pictures with the grandparents?
Judy... thanks for the link to the wearable blankets. I've looked at some Grobags and yes, they cost a fortune. I don't really want to spend that much just to try it. What if Arwyn doesn't like it?
To those of you who address me by name... how the heck can you remember? Thanks for remembering BTW... I'm gonna put it in my signature now. I need to match children to mommies each time and sometimes I need to scroll back to make sure I am addressing the right person! (Except for Judy cuz she has the number of children I want and still finds time to visit here!)
Hayley... I just read your post... you are already on the next day!!! :) Don't know why it struck me now but I just realized that as Arwyn is settling down for the night, you and Daniel are up already for the next day. Yes... I'm a little slow sometimes.
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4 pages since I posted on Friday!!! Wow a lot going on that I won't ever be able to catch up, so HI for now!
I love all of the new avatars! Judy-the girls are beautiful-you should be so proud! And Little Bears Mum-what a cutie!
I'll catch up tomorrow at work and post tomorrow night. have a good day everyone!
BTW-we tried some rice cereal today and she did okay. very watery consistency, but it's a start!
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Ankie, I'm with you, can never remember anyone's name unless it's on the signature or in the username area. And yep, we're awake over this side of the world before your side. So as we're now getting ready for bedtime soon, I guess your morning has/is just beginning.
Daniel's had another not so good day. Started off great, but gone down hill. DOn't know what's happening, maybe it's the solids, or else teeth. Very red cheeks! Just when I thought we were coming right :( Oh well, times are a changing again I guess. Actually, they've never really stopped changing :oops:
As you can tell by the number of posts I've done today I've had nothing much to do. The weather is yuck, my neighbour who I normally visit once a day is away, and my darling Daniel is become quite the little independent player! I'll try not to go on so much tomorrow though :oops: :oops:
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Well just a quick post to say crikey we have some gorgeous children, and they all look so happy to boot.
Nice to see everyone figured out the lilypie's as well. It is hard to believe that something that is supposed to make our lives easier, a computer, can be so complicated.
Well I am off my day is just beginning, enjoy yours.
TTFN
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wow, our children are all so beautiful! I was expecting one or two avatars this morning and was happy to see even more! I just did mine a little while ago so I'll update once he looks a little different. Maybe once he's sitting independantly.
okay everyone, i have GREAT news. Yesterday and last night were our best EVER. (well, after yesterday's 5:30 wake up) Here it is:
6:00 out of bed.
1:45 A 1 hour nap
2:10 A 1:30 nap
2:25 A 1:15 nap
NO intervention on naps at all :D
2:35 A (was winding down for 2:25 A but he had a huge spit up so I had to change him)
bed at 6:05 down in 10 minutes by himself :D
feed at 9pm, right back to sleep
feed at 2:30am, right back to sleep (this is a first)
woke at 6:00am and played until 6:15 :D :) :shock: :wink:
YAY for my Cole
I actually had the time and energy to make a roast beef dinner and two loaves of banana bread!
okay, off to enjoy our crummy day in Toronto...it is POURING rain. But I certainly won't complain given other areas of the world :(
Traci
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Hi everyone -
LOVE the new Avatars - all your LOs are gorgeous - Ankie, Hayley, Nikki, Kate, Naomi, Judy - just beautiful :D
I must update mine and get on the Lillypie as well.
Traci - excellent news - I'm thrilled for you :D
In exciting news around here, I couldn't get Katie to take the DF last night, so I just put her back to bed and she slept through anyway :shock: Perhaps I'll try again tonight without and see if we get the same results. That would be exciting!
Looks like rain around here too.
Take care!
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Well, no rain here... surprising as Vancouver is known for the rain! :?
I've been riding out our short nap stint (albeit a long one). I still can't get her to go longer than 45 minutes. However, I have been reading BWSAYP (just arrived, YEAH!) and feel a re-newed motivation to try again... but not today... I want to go to the drop-in mom & tots. :) But at least I am thinking about trying!
Does anyone change their lo in the middle of the night waking? Arwyn always has a wet diaper, not dirty and I am wondering if I am encouraging this waking by changing and feeding her. I am also going to work on getting rid of this waking... I'd like DH to start it first because Arwyn really starts to cry when I go in and try to pat/shush... I think she smells the milk?? She does take a full feeding here though... 20 minutes, both sides... is it habitual or does she need to eat??
Well, off to get Arwyn back to bed for a nap before the drop-in! She looks very tired this morning. I wonder if she was up at 7 and I didn't hear her until 7:30?? :oops:
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Arwyn's mom
Cole is also very wet in the middle of the night. One night I didn't change him and when I got him in the morning he peed and it leaked all over me. Last night I didn't change him and he was fine. maybe double diaper? I've considered that. A wet/dirty diaper doesn't bother him so I am lucky. I always feed Cole if it's been 4-5 hours as I feel he still needs this feed regardless of the BW advice. He always takes a full feed.
HMMM...he's up after 45 min. :roll: but maybe he'll settle himself...nope.
gotta go, he's up!
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well jack's teeth have started to poke thru....sometimes i think that they are bugging him but most of the time i have no clue as usual! :oops:
people without kids that think having kids is a piece of cake really get on my nerves!! my sister is one of them....right after we got home from the hospital with jack (i had a c-section and also a ton of iv fluids-my feet looked like the michelin man) my sister thought that i was becoming an introvert because i didn't want to go shopping!!!! :x well, i just found out that she's expecting!!! I can't wait to show up on her doorstep and ask her what her problem is!! :P
also my MIL...where to begin!! she had a baby shower for me this past weekend. Jack would not go down for a nap there. So needless to say he was an ultra crankpot!!!! :shock: so...do any of you like to be social when your tired???? No, i didn't think so and neither does Jack. But my MIL seemed to think that he needed cheering up. So as my mom was trying to calm him down by just having him look at a blank wall and not talking to him....my MIL keeps popping her head over my moms shoulder. Of course causing Jackson to scream bloody murder!! I asked her somewhat politely to stop....that she was too much for him right at that time. She gives me this look like i peed in her cornflakes. Anyways, about an hour later (and Jack still crying) one of her friends finally gets Jack calmed down by holding him tightly, not looking at him, not talking to him, and just letting him look out the window. So, what does my MIL decide she needs to do???? She pops her head over her friends shoulder and of course Jack starts to SCREAM again!! :shock: Well, I couldn't be polite anymore!! I stated in front of everyone "PLEASE, leave him ALONE". well, needless to say I haven't heard from her since. :oops: OOPs. I wish my DH was there so that it wouldn't have had to come from me! Oh well.
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I used to change LO in the middle of the night, but recently she's been sleeping through the night, so she wakes up completley soaked through (PJs, swaddle, and sometimes sheets!). Does anyone have any suggestions so she DOESN'T soak the sheets each night (other than waking her up to change her)? We use nighttime diapers (they're supposed to be more absorbant), but she's sleeping almost 12 hours now...they're no match! (I am so thankful for the sleep, though!)
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mickey muscles that was such a true and good story!
Yup I know what you mean about people w/o kids, but their time will come, glad to hear about jack's teeth though, with the pain involved it is a good amoungst the bad.
Judy - I love your new pic of the girls, really does floor me what gorgeous kids we all have.
Same goes for us here, we don't normally change unless it is really full or dirty.
Well must go, enjoy your days everyone whether starting of ending..
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I have never changed Lise at night - and it luckily does not seem to bother her. I find that when I switch over to bigger diaper she will be wet ... and I will then double diaper... hoping to catch the leak by the leg!!
"PLEASE, leave him ALONE"
I am sooo with you on this!! My MIL and FIL FINALLY got what I meant by "winding down""overstimulation""no TV"no active play before bed"etc. but it took a weekend away. My FIL probably thought I was being spitefull and didn't want him to play with dd - and after the w/e said -aaaah I get it ... lightbulb!!! Hopefully your MIL will also "get it" sometime. I found that clear instructions was all that help - and PLEASE LEAVE HIM ALONE is clear!!! Good luck!
Erin M I am starting to phase out the DF - let me know how the sudden stopping is working out! We are now down to 2/3 of her original bottle and also down to 9:00 pm - ooh and that is now!!
QUICK note - We are going for our first SWIMMING Lesson tomorrow. Hoping it will be lots of fun! The pool is 32 degrees celsius (like a tub!!). Bought some Little Swimmers diapers so - will see.
Bye for now
Nikki
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mickeymuscles I have yet to encounter this issue as we haven't seen that many people since sleep training and have yet to go out anywhere for an extended period of time. I'm a bit nervous truthfully. Of course, both my mom and MIL will pretty much follow what I say. My father is quite frail so their visits don't last very long...so it worked out fine yesterday because my father napped when Cole did :wink:
maybe you could be the bigger person and call to apologize to you MIL? Then just explain how Jack does best on his routine and that you were just frustrated that he wasn't going down for his sleep? I don't know, I just find sometimes it's easier that way than to let it fester. Of course, maybe your MIL didn't think anything of it? I was such a cow to my MIL while she was here helping me after Cole was born. She was great though and didn't say a word. I wrote her a nice note after and she thanked me for writing it. It felt good just to apologize even though I knew she understood that I was exhausted and in pain.
Olivia's mommy Wow, you're even using the nighttime diapers! Maybe double up on those? Is there another brand of nighttime ones you could try? I don't even know if we can get nighttime diapers in Canada. I haven't seen any as far as I know.
My poor little guy. I left him on the floor of the hall (often do) so that I could put something away and he got too close to the oak banister. he toppled into it and his precious little noggin hit it. It's square at the bottom and it left an indent in his skin :oops: . Thank goodness it didn't cut him. No more leaving him on the floor...into his crib he goes if I have stuff to do. I had a box in the hall forever which I guess was protecting him from getting too close. That's what I get for tidying up! I'll actually have to make some kind of bumper protector for all the banisters in the house because they are all quite sharp. Oh no...he just had a really hard time settling for catnap. All was quiet then i heard a bang. he must have hit his head again :oops: and then he just would not settle. I gave him a bit of tylenol just in case and held him for a bit. I could see the red welt on his head even in the semi-darkness :cry: He seemed okay after holding a bit so I think he was just a touch overtired. back into the crib and 10 min of pat/shush later he's out.
I don't know what I'll do when he starts running around with the potential to hurt himself.
boy, i am monopolizing this thread aren't i? I must be the only one with 3-4 postings a day! I don't have much of a life if you haven't figured it out yet. And like I said above, I'm a bit nervous about taking him out and missing naps but I guess I need to get over that.
okay, i won't bore you guys with the minutae of my life anymore...at least for today :D
Traci
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Traci, I know just what you mean about not having a life! Sometimes I spend far too much time on here. But hey, if we can, why not i say.
MickeyMuscles, that can't have been an easy day for you. At least your MIL should know for next time.
Ankie, we've left Daniel's nappys at night from early on. I have done the double nappy when I ran out of good night naps and it helped.
I have just had to get Daniel out of bed. It's the first morning nap and for the life of me (and my sanity) I can't figure out what to do. He's now sleeping basically 12 hours at night with a feed about 5am but back down until 7am. Then when he gets up he's not very hungry. So thismorning I did some jolly jumper time as thisusually helps make him hungry. Then of course he took one good side at 8am. He yawned and rubbed his eyes at 8.20, so I took him through to bed and put him down at 8.30am. He'd then been awake 1h 40m. BUT he screamed and wouldn't settle. I went in and fed him. He took a huge feed. IE the rest of the 8am feed that he didn't want at the time or shortly after. Then I put him back down and more screaming. So he's now sitting on my knee. He's been awake 2 hours 10 mins. I go through this nearly every morning. I watch his cues but I just can't seem to get it right.
Do you mums think his cues may just be a 'trick' ie, just a bit tired, but not there yet? He goes down for all his other naps fine without much of a grizzle at all. It's just this first one. I thought most babies had less time awake at this time of the day, but it's like he needs more. What do you think :?:
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Just had to be 'naughty' and feed him to sleep. Nothing else would soothe him. I was even contemplating trying to do PUPD, which I've never yet done, but hubby is asleep sick in bed so decided today was not the day to try. I am going to go in at the 30 minute mark and try wake to sleep though. Hey, the worst thing that can happen is he'll be awake at 30mins instead of 40mins! :oops: Then I know I've done it wrong and will try again next time.
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[quote="She gives me this look like i peed in her cornflakes. [/quote]
ROTFL!!! I might have to steal that saying! Sorry about the trouble...it is hard to tell people to stop, but you're right...have to do what's best for baby!
Ryan got his first flu shot today and had his helmet checked. (Not sure if I've mentioned that here. He is so good about it, it isn't an issue, thank goodness! He had positional plagiocephaly so wears a helmet 21-23 hours a day to correct it. Man, does that thing stink! :shock: ). It's only been 2 months, but he looks so great. Maybe only one month more! Hooray!!!
Here's hoping for a great night/day!!!
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Thanks for the replies about the diaper issue in the middle of the night. I don't think it bothers her... it bothers me that she has a wet diaper. We are in disposables at night and cloth in the day (sometimes, provided we are not going anywhere). I guess I'll just leave them then and see what we get at 7. :shock:
Traci... that's why Cole is doing so well with his naps and nighttime sleep. You are home to maintain consistency... I am going to choose a week soon to get rid of Arwyn's middle of the night waking and try to get her to sleep 2 naps.
We are up to 4x45 min naps now. Just ridiculous! I can't get a thing done (except for check this forum :wink: ) before she wakes up. The house is just a disaster! I am wondering if these short naps mean that she can handle only having 2 naps?? I didn't think so yet because she is still quite tired and having sleepy cues after only 1h 30m in the morning before nap #1.
I'm with you Hayley... sometimes Arwyn's cues are "off"... she rubs her eyes and I whisk her off to bed, only to have her whining in her crib for another 30 m. Sometimes I see no cues and have watched the clock and put her down without a squeek! This happens most with the AM nap and occasionally with the last nap (#3, not #4 :roll: )
Well, off to read more of the BWSAYP to see what the heck is wrong with Arwyn's naps!
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Okay, I've just tried wake 2 sleep. I went in at 25mins and checked he was deeply asleep. I tried rocking/moving him a bit, he didn't stir.... I turned his head.... he didn't stir.... so then said his name a couple of times. He opened his eys and took a deep breath, then carried on sleeping. I snuck out, closed the door and am now crossing my fingers, holding my breathe, wish on a star and all those silly things we mums do when we want our LO's to sleep longer! I'll let you know how it goes.
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me again LOL. i am just addicted to this place.
regarding cues. If I put Cole down when he rubbed his eyes I'd be in big trouble. He rubbed his eyes just before feeding at 5:15pm. He'd only been up 1:25! Not sure if he rubbed his eyes knowing that feeding would be relaxing :?: Anyhoo, I just put him down for 6:15 and he actually settled 5 minutes faster than I expected.
I just got a call from a prospective daycare place. It's home based, very reasonably priced and close by. She has 4 kids right now. She wants to expand and have her daughter join her. The only thing holding me back is she closes at 5:30 (just not doable with my job) and she takes the month of August off and a week at Christmas. She may expand her hours once her daughter starts which would be awesome. She charges $600/month whereas other places are $1000 or more. AND she sounds amazing. There is a lot of structure to the day. She's a retired teacher. She absolute LOVES doing this. I told her I'd like to come visit after DHs exam in October. She said it would have to wait until November because October is a very busy month with Thanksgiving and Halloween crafts! The kids do all sorts of crafts, get outside every day and she's very strict about napping. YIPPEE! Anyway, I am really looking forward to visiting. I've held a spot at the $1000 place just in case...but I'm really hoping we can make this work.
okay, gotta give dinner some thought.
bye for now. you might just "see" me again later! :wink:
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Hi there ladies,
Looks like you are all regulars at this forum...so I thought I'd check in.
My little lady was 6 months on the 14th of Sept and I was just curious about how long babies stick with cat naps? She's usually up around 6:30 takes two 1 to 1.5 hour naps and a cat nap before bed (between 7-8).
Also, how do you attach the pictures and create the year delineating calendar thingey (lilypie?). I haven't had much time to be a computer whiz these days.
:D ellie's mama
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HI ellie's mum! welcome to our little corner of things.
The lilypie things simply click on one of them and it will take you to the website, when you are done picking the one you want cut and paste the HTTP version into your signature in your profile, I think that is the one you will need.
As for the pics, you can also check that out on your profile too... You have to make sure it is the right dimensions though.
Good luck with that, it can be a real pain in the butt to get it to work.
Also in your signature you can add whatever you would like it to say at the bottom of every post, like your name or a quote for example.
Well HTH,
Take Care everyone....
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Guess what? It worked!!! I can't believe it, Daniel slept for 1 1/2 hours. Now whether that was coincidence because he was soooo tired from all the crying, or because he was full from the extra feeds I won't ever know. But I'm going to try it again for this nap that I've just put him down for and see what happens. The strange thing was through this last awake time (2 hours only) he yawned and looked quite tired all the way through. But I've kept him up even though normally those would be his cues. I didn't want to push him though so put him down at 2 hours. Thankfully, he's not hysterically crying, just callling out cat-like crying like he'd normally do. It's only been 5 mins so we'll see what happens.
Ellie's mum, before Daniel's sleeps got all out of sync he was sleeping about what Ellie did. It used to be about 40mins - 1hour, 1-1.5h then 30min cat nap. With 11 hours at night.
Hopefully the other advice has helped with the picture and lillypie. I had to choose UBB from the lillypie codes though.
Would you believe it? After finding he had a poohy nappy he finally went to sleep at 1.40pm. I went in at 2.10pm to find him lying awake! I left him and now after 20 mins he called out. So I didn't get to try it again. :cry: And he's only had a 30min nap when it needs to be at least an hour. Oh well, he'll definitely be having another nap before bedtime!
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Just when I think I've got this little guy figured out! He was up from 3:20-4:50 last night. back to old habits :( I think he was trying out more new moves as he's almost figured out how to use his arms to crawl. He then slept 4:50-5:45 then I patted him back down and he slept until 7:45 :!: :!: :!:
so my day is all mucked up! How on earth am I going to adjust for this crazy sleep in time (i slept too otherwise I would have woken him up)
Sometimes he naps from 7:15-8:00 if he's up early. I'm tempted to just act like it was his first nap and maybe push him until 10am :?: Or maybe he'll just short nap for me all day and we'll be back on track until 6pm. suggestions welcome!
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hi everyone,
i've seen some of you on the boards elsewhere, just thought i'd stop by and say hi!
micah is almonst 5.5mo and i feel like i have a newborn again. he's been rolling and waking for the past month or so, then they calmed, now he's waking almost every 3 hrs for who knows what reason. i keep reading that this is normal at this age, but just wondering how you moms are doing with this, how you've gotten over it, what you did to get over it. it's been an emotional roller coaster for me so i'd love to hear success stories :)
thanks!
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Hi Selena,
Every three hours sounds like a growth spurt but I know it's a bit early. I wonder if it's possible for him to go through it 2 weeks early?
Anyone...when did your lo go through the 6 month growth spurt? I was wondering this myself yesterday as Cole seemed fussy at the 3 hour mark after feeding. He hasn't woken more often though so I think he was just fussy.
Also, has anyone ever tried to increase their milk supply in anticipation of the growth spurt (by pumping?) I wonder if it would work???
Thanks!
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I have no idea about the pumping, but it sounds like a spurt. Riley had a couple of them, they went on and off for a few weeks making me think she was ready for solids.
Micah's mum - I guess the only advise I can give is really just go with the flow as it sounds like a spurt to me, Riley recently went through a stage where she needed to feed upon wakig and before going to bed, so roughly every 2hrs.
BTW, welcome to our little corner of things, hope to see more of you around here!
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Hello Ellie's mom & Selena...welcome.
I have the same thing happening. Arwyn is learning that she can crawl and move around in the crib quite efficiently. I think she is waking herself up and then gets going. She has started waking up a second time in the night... she wakes now between 10-11 pm and again at 3 -5 am ish. Both times last night, I found her on her tummy in the top right corner of her crib. And she wakes up hungry... she took a full feed both times last night (20 minutes, both sides). Could be a growth spurt.
Each time Arwyn went through a growth spurt, I just fed her more often. I didn't bother with pumping as it only takes 36 hours for your body to catch up to the demand and I didn' t know when Arwyn would want more! She seemed to get enough this way so I'm just gonna wait for the next GS. I usually end up pumping after the GS until my body stops producing so much milk!
I wanted to try wake to sleep yesterday but wouldn't you know it, she got up an hour earlier than normal. Beat me to it, I couldn't believe it. Well, I tried for about 7 minutes to get her back to sleep using pu/pd and pat/shush but she kept doing her hungry cry so, I fed her. She, apparently, was hungry.
I'm going to try to get more into her today and try wake to sleep again tonight. Hopefully she won't continue to get up at 2:30 am and return to normal so that I can try it!
Ta ta for now! We've had a good start to the day. She woke on time and fed... now we are going to have some solids!
Have a good day/evening everybody!
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hi traci,
we should start our own support group! ha. i considered the growth spurt thing too - he was "early" for his other growth spurts too. i pumped at night several nights ago and it boosted my supply, but it still doesn't seem like enough! i'm trying to wean a little anyway onto formula, so i'll let you know how it goes.
naomi - thanks for the advice, i tried feeding more often today but he doesn't seem interested. i've been trying to ride things out, but it's been so long i wonder if i've been doing something wrong! i think i'll wait a couple more weeks and if things don't settle then i might have to start pu/pd...ugh.
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hi all! I definitely can't complain lately (5 nights) about Jack's night time sleep. He has been sleeping thru from 8pm-7:30am. But I don't know what is going on with his daytime sleep!! His daytime naps are 45 min if I'm lucky then I spend the rest of the time doing pu/pd!! I think he's been doing well with his night time sleep now that he is on a solid routine for solid foods during the day.
For breakfast he gobbles down 2 Tbsp of cereal (mixed with 8 Tbsp of formula--I know it sounds like a lot but the cereal is still the consistency of glue) then he'll eat a 4 oz. bottle.
For lunch he eats 4-5 oz. of veggies/fruits then 5-6 oz. bottle
Midday snack 8 oz. bottle
Dinner 4-5 oz. veggies/fruits then bath and 6-8 oz. bottle before bed.
He is a very good eater. He did not like his cereal at first but now he gobbles it down.
I'm very excited....my DH is coming home tomorrow after being gone to work for 2 weeks :D . I can't wait to go shopping or something without having to watch the clock to make sure I'm back home in time to put Jack down!!! I'm also interested to see if he talks to his mom to see what she has to say about the baby shower!!
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i had a major AHA moment just now while I helped Cole settle for nap.
Here I was thinking that because he woke up later he would go down later tonight. DUH. when I apply the same logic to my own sleep that would mean I'd go to bed at 11:30 instead of 10 which doesn't make sense.
Anyway, today was another learning opportunity! He took his first nap from 9:45-11:00. He fell asleep on the boob at 1:30 which made sense as 2.5 hours is his normal A interval. I had wanted to stretch it a bit, but since he fell asleep I put him down. I figured he'd sleep until 3:30 when he normally wakes from catnap! He woke about 10 minutes later and it took me until 2:20 to get him to sleep....which just happens to be the time he normally takes catnap. SOOOOOOOOOO, it looks as though he'll get up around 3:30-3:45 and we'll be on track for 6:00 bed. I guess it would have been best to stretch him to the next nap time but that would have been over 3 hours so i didn't think it was wise. Oh well, let's just hope he makes it to 3:30!
I'm having company tomorrow which will be nice. A friend with a 10 month old and another joining us for lunch! It will be great to have some company. Going to hang at the park and then home for quesadillas for lunch. Funny, because she just started sleep training with her daughter about a month ago too. She took to it really well though (Angel baby) and will pretty much sleep anywhere. That's why she's coming out my way.
okay, i'm rambling again.
bye for now
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what a turkey!!! I was just in Jackson's room trying to watch him without him seeing me. He is supposed to be napping right now but instead he has figured out how to turn himself in a circle by hooking his toes on the crib rails and "walk" the rails to turn himself around. Needless to say he's not sleeping!!!
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Howdy ladies, I enjoy seeing that other mothers have similar experiences.....Too bad they haven't reviewed Baby Whisperer STuff on Oprah or something :)
Does anybody else's baby not know how to sleep on his/her tummy? My cute little lady thinks that tummy time equals FUN awake time, and even if drowsy she'll rise to the fun occasions if put on her tummy. She also doesn't sleep well unless her legs are swaddled (I'm sure it's a sleep cue for her and I'm fine with it since it makes her less mobile in the crib for now).
just curious!
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Wow, lots happened over night (for me). Traci, it really does sound like Cole is settling down with those biorythms. I'm still trying with Daniel but without much luck. He woke thismorning at 4.50am (2 days in a row the same) then instead of sleeping until 7am woke at 6.10am. We BATTLED from 7.30 - 9.10am to get him to sleep again, he was showing tired signs of rubbing his eyes and initially did some yawns. He finally went to sleep at 9.10am. I'm actually wondering if he is defying the odds and instead of wanting to sleep soon after he wakes up for his first nap, he wants to be awake a good 2 1/2 - 3 hours. We have major crying fits every morning so tomorrow I'm going to keep him up this long to begin with and see what happens.
Also, my Plunket nurse suggested giving him some apple if he doesn't want b/milk. Because he has a feed at 5am he's not wanting any when he the wakes for the day. I've tried giving him less but it doesn't work.
As for growth spurts, oh crikey, I had forgotten that might be coming up. Just when I get things sorted that'll happen. oh great :cry:
Mickeymuscles - sounds like Jackson is very clever. Do any of your babies move around if they sleep in sleeping bags? I just can't imagine how Daniel could. Maybe this could be a good thing.
Well, now that D's finally sleeping I better go and get ready for whatever else the day brings. Also going to try wake to sleep again today. It worked twice yesterday!
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Jack is too clever for his own good!!! So, after battling him for about 45 min. to have a nap I got him up.....Just didn't have it in me and he seemed wide awake. I just finally got him to nap after being up another 2 hours (4 hours total-including the 45 min fight in the dark :shock: ) So I'll see how long he'll stay down for this nap....it's a little late in the day to be having a really long nap but if he wakes after 45 min there is no way he'll last until bedtime!
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Okay just had to tell you the cute thing that Riley has done, she has taken forever to pd tonight, first she kept ending up at the top of her crib laying across the width of the bed, then after orajel she wasstill fussy, we went in and she was on her belly with her legs up under her, like a 3/4 all fours. My baby is growing so fast!!! :wink: :wink:
Oaky that is my bragging done, see you all tomorrow.....
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Sounds like we've all had battles today! I'm currently watching closely so we don't have our next battle for naps. It's been 2hours, he's only done 1 yawn but is just starting to grizzle. I think it's time for bed. Currently having cuddles with dad.
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Naomi...isn't that the cutest thing! cole did that the other day too and when I checked on him tonight he was in that position again. I don't know what it is...but it's just so adorable.
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Day from you know where today...have to get off the computer for dh's work :evil: so I'll fill you in tomorrow.
Just wanted to make sure you check out M & M's mum's pictures below:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42116
So cute!!! I LOVE my Bumbo, too!
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I'm back. The photo of the twins is just gorgeous! Daniel went down after 2 1/2 hour awake, went straight to sleep without a sound. And then slept for 1h 10mins, so this is an improvement. If only we could get it to 1 1/2 hours this would be even better. Oh well, can't expect miracles. I think the 2 1/2 hours might be the key time. A friend of mine said her little boy whos ony 10 days older than D is staying awake closer to 3 hours now.
I think if I keep to the times of 9am and 12.30pm then we might start to get into some sort of consistent routine. This is what I'm striving for. I was thinking last night about the consistencies we do have and it seems that in te afternoon things are usually fairly similar. A bit like what Traci/Cole is experiencing - waking up at familiar times. Daniel's a/noon nap usually wakes at 4.30pm and his night sleep is 7pm. So if I work backwards, then Daniel needs to be asleep at about 12.30 to allow 1 1-1/2 hours nap to be awake about 2 - 2 1/2 hours before his next nap at 4pm. Does that make sense? And sleep from 9 - 9.40/10.00am to allow enough awake time to go down about 12.30pm. So, that's what I'm aiming to do tomorrow. I'mbeginning to think he can do it, I've just been underestimating how long he can stay up. Now he's got a solids meal in there (just a small amount for now) this may also help keep him going a little longer. At least it's another activity anyway :lol:
Now, we've just got to put it into action!
No new activities for Daniel yet, but he's sitting up so well now by himself he plays happily for up to about 30 mins. Yay! No interest in rolling over yet, but it's funny watching him try to move. He kicks his feet out into thin air and gets soooo frustrated. I keep telling him to put them on the ground, but he just doesn't quite get it!
Better go, time for an activity change.
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Good morning/evening everyone! So far, our morning is sooooo much better than yesterday.
Started off fine at mil's for babysitting. Came home, had lunch, nap at 1pm. I'm all excited b/c I was worried about vacation hangover and/or flu shot hangover affecting his day. Then, at 2:00, he's up and there's no stopping him. So, 2 1/2 hours of crying, whining, nursing, etc. Finally, fell asleep 15 minutes before our swim lesson, so we had to skip this week. :cry: I decided that that was the smart thing to do...I'll try to pop over for some open swim time today or tomorrow.
So, guess how long he slept then...another hour! Ugggh! VERY fussy for the rest of the evening and not wanting to go to bed early.
He keeps moaning and making weird movements with his mouth. After all this time of hoping the teething would start, I am really praying this is not teething as I can't take this for a few days every time a new one pops in.
Okay, there's my moan for the day...I hope! :wink: I'm thinking it must be a better day today, right?
Good luck to all of us!!!
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Okay it sounds like we are all having crappy day, so everyone gather around for a group hug........
{{{{{{{{{{SQUEEZE}}}}}}}}}
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ha naomi i needed that :D
last night micah woke up every 2 or 3 hrs again and i tried feeding him, but he wasn't interested! arg. then this morning he wouldn't go down for his morning nap and was awake 4 hrs before i finally fed him to sleep.
i feel like we're regressing! :cry:
i'm getting the weissbluth book today and am so tempted to do his CC method. please talk me out of it!
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micah's mum - f you are happy on the bw method then why change, also i don't know if any of us know anything about it so we may not be able to help you.
Riley has gone through spells like that, but I just keep on trucking. If you think about it they have an awful lot going on at 5 mths, as they have just discovered that there is a world around them.
Keep on going though, we all have our major ups and downs. Let us know how micah does through the next little while!!
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i think it is thier (husbands and LO's) way of trying the heck out of us!!!!
Judy: my blood started to boil reading your husbands comments!!! :shock: I would have pushed my DH right out of bed ! :)
Kate: Jack is making funny motions with his mouth too. Kind of chewing/smacking his lips. He usually is doing this when I'm either changing his diaper or really crabby. He is definitely teething though.
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OMG!!! I've already had to break out the earplugs and it's only 10:30 in the morning!!! Only 9 hours until DH is home...... :shock:
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8 hours and counting!!!! How do they know when you put your hand on the doorknob of their room that it's time to shriek???? :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
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Judy & all... {{{HUGS}}}
Arwyn had a bad night. I went off to yoga at 8 and left DH to look after a sleeping baby (essentially, he was on monitor duty). I came back to a bleary-eyed daddy sitting in DD's room holding her while she cried and screamed. Daddy reports her waking at 9:02 and starting to cry... I arrived home at 10:18. Don't know what was wrong but I fed her (she was wide awake). I switched boobs twice and the second time, she fell asleep, only to wake as soon as I put her down.
Anyways, I guess when she finally settled down she was so tired that she slept through until 5... put herself back to sleep in 5 min, woke again at 5:45 when I fed her. I put her back in her crib and I guess she fell asleep (I don't know b/c I went back to sleep) and then woke at 8:25.
OMG... I started this post 2.5hrs ago... Arwyn is having a terrible day as well. After about 1hr of A time, she was cranky so I held her and cuddled for about 30, fed and I put her in her crib. She tried to settle herself but couldn't and I tried to pat/shush to sleep with no success... I even tried to nurse her (I started on her non-preferred side) and was not successful! Finally, after another 10 minutes, I tried nursing again on her "preferred" side and she fell asleep! Whew! Only took an hour! :roll:
Gonna get myself a shower and some food! It is now 11:15 and I am starving!!!
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There must be something in the air today! Olivia woke up this morning at 6:45. (She has been sleeping until 8:00 or 8:30...straight through the night!) I knew she was hungry and would not go back to sleep, so I let her lay in her crib till about 7:20 (she was just talking and playing). I got her up, fed her, and started her day.
She was ready for a nap at 8:30, but I had to keep her up till 9:00 b/c her swaddle was in the laundry (yes, she wet through on it again). She was so tired, I thought for sure she'd sleep 2-2 1/2 hours. But no, she was up after 45 min. I put her back down about 11:00 and she took another 45 minutes. She was fussy by 1:30, so I did a long wind down and put her down again. And guess what, yep! Now she's awake again. Of course, I've started a big project today (cleaning out my closet to give clothes to goodwill) so my room is a wreck and I'm nowhere near being done since she's not sleeping! What is up with all the kids today!!!!
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Hi all,
GROUP HUG!!!
Hang in there, you are all doing great!
Selena, DON'T DO IT!!! I read Weissbluth's book and apart from his explanation on biorhythms etc, he really is advocating CIO but without the going in and checking on them. One comment really upset me in one of the Q+A's
The question was what happens if my child cries till they vomit?
Answer-if they vomit all the time, then go in and clean them up quietly and leave them to it, if they vomit occasionally then wait till they stop crying/ are asleep and then go in and clean them up quietly :evil: :evil: :evil:
Could not believe my eyes and had to get dh to read it to make sure I was not making it up!!!
Judy, the one thing that Weissbluth pointed out, which we all knew was that formula delivers the same amount of calories as breast milk and it is a myth that it leads to sleeping longer!!! I really have no advice on your girls! Reading about your nights make my head spin and again, I applaud you!! What is with the unhelpful comments!!! MEN!!!
Anyway, hope today is a better day!
Take care all,
Karen
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Hi everyone, I think we definitely need the group hug. I can't really complain about our night as it was kind of what I expected. I tried leaving Daniel unwrapped with one arm only (he got the other out). So woke at midnight, I think I went in to put his music on, can't remember. Then again at 3am, I fed him. Again at 5.15am - fed him then put him back in his cot as he was wide awake but I wasn't. Left him to play with no sleeping bag on. Well at 5.40am I heard him crying very loudly come and get me, so after he didn't settle I went in to find him with his head stuck in the corner at the top. SO HE CAN SECRETELY MOVE! I knew he could in his cot, but not get that far! :oops: I felt really mean for leaving him to cry for a few minutes. I think I'll get the headboard/bumper thing out and attach it before next time.
So, up we got and started his day. He looked tired so I put him down at 6.45am and he slept until 8am. Yay! Not what I wanted for my new sleep plan, but we've got coffee group at 11am today, so the plan would be out the window anyway.
Because he'd had a couple of feeds in fairly close succession, he didn't want a huge feed when I tried at 815am (3 hours after previous), even though he was showing hungry signs. But then he had some more at 9am, not a lot. So, on Plunket nurse advice, tried Daniel on some apple. He LOVED it, I ran out before he'd finished.
Better go, Daniel's just peed all over himself! :lol: :roll:
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Hey! My last post was about 10 mins. before Ryan woke up. Ugggh! Another 45 minuter. But, I can't complain too much, as he took over a 2 hour pm nap and is now an hour into the catnap. Hooray!
Went grocery shopping finally...was supposed to go 2 days ago, but with crazy naps and all couldn't. Brought my umbrella just in case and came out to a horrendous downpour. :shock: What do you do with a baby and a cart full of food? We waited a few minutes, then had the cartboy watch my stuff, dashed to the car with ds, got him into carseat while holding umbrella out car door, pulled around, and paid the guy $5 to load me up. Not fun!!!
Okay, he's up now, of course....he must have his BW sensors up. :lol: Bye!
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wowsers ladies! ((((huge big hugs from me)))).
Cole and I had a tiring night, can you say GROWTH SPURT :shock: I suspected as such yesterday but wasn't certain. Well, I fed the little guy at 5pm, 8pm, 10:30pm, 2:30am (not a bad stretch) and he was up at 5:20 for the day! First nap started at 6:45 and ended as predicted at 7:30 :!: You can imagine my excitement as I had company coming and I was a zombie.
Company arrives at 10:00 and luckily Cole is down at 9:45 for second nap and thankfully sleeps 1.5 hours! My friend was here with her 11 month old. She is an angel and is quiet as a mouse unless she sees a baby! She LOVES babies and shrieks with joy at them. Poor Cole, who hasn't socialized in about 6 weeks was frightened to death of her the first hour :( He eventually got used to her but still cried when she shrieked. fortunately for me he went down like a star for catnap and slept 1:15 after stretching him 3 hours and again for bed after stretching him 2:45! I fed him quite often today just to fit in some food around naps and such. So we'll see when he wakes tonight. Hopefully I've tanked him really well.
Re: Weissbluth. I know I quote his book a lot...but I think I mentioned before that I like it for the info on biorythms, the emphasis on the importance of sleep, and how to get naps in place etc. I am NOT advocating his CIO methods and I hope you all know that. Wherever he inserts "let them cry an hour" I insert " pat/shush, pu/pd until settled" :D
Selena...it CAN be done. Cole was held to sleep for all naps and bed, he had a paci, he was swaddled, he had 45 min. naps ( I remember one 2 hour nap and maybe some 1 hour ones!)and was still on a 3 hour schedule at 4.5 months. It takes patience and consistency. Hang in there and know that it will work. I pretty much haven't left the house in weeks but it is paying off. (i am fortunate not to be working right now)
Now-I have a Q. How are your los in social situations? I am going to start taking Cole to playgroup at least 2X per week. After today I realize he needs to interact with other kids/babies. Fortunately there is one a 5 min. drive away that is a drop in and play from 10-4 and babies under a year are free! I'm going to go check it out. I like the hours as at least there is a lot of flexibility for naps...unlike playgroups that last an hour or two.
okay, gotta run and get some dinner ready. Might be back tonight.
Again, Judy, Mickeymuscles (sorry, can't remember your name), Ankie, Naomi, Kate, Nancy, Selena, Hayley...hang in there everyone...this too shall pass.
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HUGS to everyone - especially you Judy. You know we are all in awe of you as a mother and we all think you do a brilliant job. LOL at the idea of kicking DH out of bed (or out of the house) for being so unhelpful. There are times when DH and I question the BW philosophy as well (usually at about 3am!) but we never really mean it. Maybe your DH didn't really mean it either?? Parenting is exhausting and has certainly caused my DH and I to say things to each other that we've regretted afterwards. Hope everything is a bit better over there today/tonight.
Re the Weissbluth book and CC/CIO. Yes, I've read it - I've read alot since Fraser was born on sleeping and parenting. I thought he had some valid points BUT I am totally with Karen on the reservations I had with some of the methods he proposed. The only books that I have found which have completely resonated with me are Tracy's books - we've all found them, we all love them, we've chosen this parenting philosophy for us and our babies. Please think long and hard before you make any decision to let your babies CIO for all the reasons posted in the many forums on this site. JMO.
Anyway, Fraser has been great the last few days - we've had a long, hard 6 months with his illnesses and reflux and really he's been such a sad little boy. But I am thrilled to say we are starting to see progress - we get many more smiles and even the occassional giggle. He is sleeping better and waking happier. We had 6 month immunisations yesterday and he coped with them reasonably well too (and meant that he slept through from 7pm to 6am - YAY! - although he's done that after each set of shots so I don't imagine it will continue but gee it was nice!)
HUGS again everyone - will all the ups and downs of being a mum, there seems to be lots of downs at the moment for lots of us. Chins up, things will get better soon. You've all been a great shoulder for me in the past few months, it's my turn to be here for you. Here's to happy, sleeping babies and happy, sleeping mummies!
Love
Jo
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well, Jacks 2nd nap of the day was not TOO bad! :) He slept for 35 min and woke shrieking...did pu/pd 5 times and he was back to sleep again for another 45 min. Pretty good considering our last couple days!! :shock: I'm still counting the hours till DH comes home....I had a little miny meltdown on the phone with him today...and he says " don't worry, I'll be home tonight and then you can go to the Bahamas" I don't think he knows how much I want to take him up on that offer!!!! :D :D
I hope everyone else is feeling alot more sane then me right now! Especially Judy!!!!! or any other twin/multiple moms!!! I would be in a padded room for sure right now!! :D
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Judy, I take my hat off to you, I have a friend who would love to have triplets, so she can get it over with in one shot. I told her it is crazy enough with one, I commend you on your dedication to your children at any time of day, what you go through everyday blows me away.
To everyone else, I am starting to think that our lo's may be insync, Riley's day wasn't too bad, but she wouldn't really go down for an AM nap, she had a couple of good PM naps, and as for bedtime, four feeds for each hour and getting mad cuz her crawling technique needs perfecting, she finally went down 2hrs after her normal bedtime. PLUS she sat on her own today, no support nuthin'.
I simply wanted to say HI to everyone, and hope that everyone got their group hug, whether you post on here or simply watch our chaos.
For all you north american mums don't forget the chat in the lounge in 20 mins.
TTFN
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Hi Judy,
I am sorry to hear about your sleepless nights..... I just wanted to let you know that that pattern sounds exactly like what Maisie and Makaylee did aprox. 2-3 days before they began cutting thier first teeth... and the same thing happened when Makaylee cut her second. It was unexplained night wakings that were driving me mad... then there were the teeth!
Dont know if that helps???
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karen, traci, and everyone else,
thanks for warning me about weissbluth. i thought he was more an advocate of cc rather than all out cio! oh well i'm sure the book will still be helpful. it's just hard when you think BW doesn't "work" and you feel so helpless!! just watch, tomorrow we'll all have FABULOUS days...
today micah took a 45 min morning nap after 3hrs A time, then when he woke he still looked dazed so i put him down after only an hour. took a 1.75hr nap. :D !
but he didn't want to go down for his catnap and so i put him down for bed at 6 (4hrs A...oh Lord) and he rolled onto his back. instead of rolling him back i just waited with him. he blew raspberries, played, fussed, raspberries, cried...just put my hand on his chest the whole time, and finally he rolled onto his side and i gave him the paci - he spit it out after a couple mins and knocked out. of course he woke after 45 mins but at least i know he can fall asleep on his side. progress!!
re: growth spurts - not sure if micah's going thru his since he didn't seem extra hungry today. should i still feed him if he wakes often tonight?
i'm so grateful for the community here, at least just to dump and vent so that dh doesn't end up having to hear ALL of it :wink: thanks for the encouragement. dh is cooking spaghetti tonight so i'm gonna go enjoy my time off. gnite all!!
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one more thing - is it unfair to do pu/pd with these wakings? i don't know if it's teething, growth spurt, tummy ache..??
i really don't want to do pu/pd since micah is so spirited and i'm so weak when it comes to him crying... have any of you moms any success stories?
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selena, i sometimes do pu/pd, but mainly do pat/ssh.
I stay with Riley unitl she is calm, but nothing beats a good hug!
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Hi everyone, sounds like there's been a few big naps, but some short ones too. We were out most of the day, so any planned naps didn't happen. But after coffee group during a 15 minute drive into town Daniel fell asleep. Much to my surprise, when I took him out of the car and into the buggy(pushchair) he stayed asleep for another 30mins. Yay! Managed to have lunch and a bit of shopping while he stayed asleep.
I tried apple puree (home made) again thismorning and he gobbled it up. I was so pleased, especially as I made it. Obviously he likes my cooking better than the bought stuff that I tried to give him a couple of weeks ago. Then after a b/feed at 12.00 he still took some pumpkin at 12.30pm. About 8 mouthfuls, and I ran out of food before he wanted to stop. Yay!
I've decided to leave him unwrapped at night for a few nights again and see what happens. I figured that as our clocks are moving forward an hour on Saturday night then there's possibly going to be a few disrupted nights getting used to the new bedtime, so I may as well try the unwrapping thing as well and try to get him used to that at the same time. He sleeps fine during the day without it (when he wants to) so I'm sure he can learn to at night aswell.
I've never done the pat/shhh or PUPD so don't really know what to do. Not sure how I'll handle the night wakings if they happen - which I'm sure they will at least one extra time - I've got a music box that I used to use to put him to sleep which I sometimes still play, so I'll use that I guess to begin with.
Well, better go, my parents are here for the next few days, so I guess I better be sociable and talk to them.
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hayley do you have BWSAYP, if you have it, it better expalins the two methods. I mainly use pat/shh with Riley I did try pu/pd but it is kinda hard to do with #1 running around unsupervised while I do it.
If Riley is too unsettled then we pick her up, we try to settle her first, and if not then it is usually a feed that will put her back down.
Ankie and Jo, it was nice to see you on the chat last night, I think I will try it again next week as it is a nice way to meet people on the boards that you wouldn't necessarily talk to, as we all travel on here in different circles.
Well, I am off to bake pilsbury cookies with jayson, we are cheating and using the ready to bake stuff, less mess that way!
Toodles for now girls, hope you day is going or has gone well so far.
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ummm, forgive my ignorance...but what is the "chat" room and how does it work? I entered it this morning...but didn't know what to do. i feel really dumb :cry:
forgot to mention my father called yesterday to invite us to lunch on Sunday at 3:30. I explained that I would try but with Coles sleeping it would be unlikely. First, this lunch is for my brother who has been a complete %^$#&** to our family for most of his life. He asks my parents for $ and when he doesn't get it he doesn't speak to them for months on end. I guess my dad is trying to patch things up with him by having a lunch so we can all meet his girlfriend. Second, it's at a pub. Third, Cole goes to bed at 6 and it's an hour away! I'd get to spend an hour there. I tried to explain this to my dad and my dad said "take the train, he could sleep on the train he'd like the motion". He then said I wouldn't have to worry about driving and could have a few drinks. Sure dad, I'll get loaded then feed Cole for bedtime :!: I really thought my parents "got" it when they were here on Sunday because they had no problem with me putting Cole down while they visited. My dad is old school, very proud that he never changed a diaper, never did any cleaning etc...so I can see why he doesn't understand.
THEN my dad calls back because my mom was upset with him, he forgot to tell me something. Ladies, my father had an angiogram and has to have triple by-pass. :cry: :cry: :cry: That's bad, right? My father is still recovering from Whipple (cancer) surgery he had 2 years ago October. he was in hospital 6 months and has never really regained his strength. He went in at 245lbs and is now about 165 dripping wet. I know it's terrible to be mad at him in his condition...but he's also an alcoholic. When he came out of hospital the doctor said one drink a day. Why he would even allow that is beyond me. Anyway, my parents who hadn't drank for the 6 months started drinking again. It's makes me sad and angry and all sorts of other emotions I can't put into words. It's like he thinks he's invincible. I really don't think he can make it through this surgery :cry: well, i'm going to try not to dwell on this until we know when he's going in. it's still in discussion.
I think Cole is done with the spurt already. I fed him at 10pm and 2am. However I heard him on and off from 2:30-3:15 then he cried and I had to help him settle until 4! I finally let him cry a bit longer because every time I went in and put my hand on him he giggled and reached back for my hand and continued his crawling moves. I think he just wanted an audience! finally asleep at 4:00 and then I was wide awake as we had some high winds. Remembered I left the patio umbrella up and went outside to close it! I finally drifted off, not sure when and Cole slept until 6:45! Yay for Cole. Of course, he's only just woken from a 40 min. nap but that's okay because I've learned to just role with the punches. He usually has a longer 2nd and catnap anyway.
okay, gotta go, he's fussing a bit...maybe the spurt isn't over afterall
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(((((HUGS))))) to you, Traci. Parents (and sibs) are sometimes more trouble than these kids! Hope you can decide what to do...I've found when brothers get a serious girlfriend, they tend to straighten out some. It might be nice to go see everyone for a bit. Could you suggest meeting somewhere other than a pub? That would be a good compromise.
I feel horribly guilty this morning. I left for my 6:00 aerobics class late (I hit snooze!) and forgot to turn up the volume on the monitor so Ryan can wake dh, which he usually doesn't need to do. (Dh never wakes up with the monitor turned down low...I have that mommy sense and wake up immediately). When dh got up at 6:45, he heard Ryan really crying hard. Not sure how long he'd been doing that. So, I feel like we accidentally let him CIO. :oops: He seems to be okay, though a bit cranky this am.
Hope all is well!
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the chat room is on wednesday nights, there is a link in the lounge for it, it starts at 10pm for me, so whatever timezone you are in, so it would be 9pm eastern time.
They have different ones, one for the uk, one for north america and I think they are getting one going for AAustralia and NZ.
Well just wanted to pop on and let you know about that,
Chat Later dahlings.....
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traci, i hope your day is going better! i agree with kate, little brothers who are otherwise a pain in the #$@ change a lot with a serious relationship. i guess their total social ineptness is forced to change when treating a lady :)
and everything you're going thru with your parents will make you a greater source of strength for your little one, i'm sure. let us know how it goes with the visit!!
everyone else - i'm sure htis has been discussed b4, but how do you post pics on the avatar thingy?? i've tried but it comes out whopping huge.
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thanks for the hugs and words of support. And just so you know, my "little" brother is 42 years old and has never had a real job! Hence my frustration. He's divorced with two kids and can barely put food on the table for them because he's not willing to do work that is "below" him!
okay, vent over.
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selena do you have the right dimensions for the pic, go on to your profile, I know it is 120 tall by 100 wide, I think that is it, and it has to be a certain total size, you may have to crop your picture in order to put it up.
HTH
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Traci, so sorry to hear about your father. I hope everything works out alright. Please keep us posted. It is difficult to be upset with family, especially when they're going through something so terrible. So, why do they insist on being so difficult sometimes?! :lol:
Kate, I know what you mean about the monitor! I turn it down very low at night b/c otherwise, I wake up anytime she moves! But DH won't wake up unless its blaring!! How do they do that!!!???
Well, ladies, Liv is down for a nap (fairly easily, so let's hope it lasts), so I'm off for some Y time.
Have a great day, girls!
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Traci... chat times are announced on the day of usually and there are reminders around the time they start. It is 6 pm Pacific for me so... (I'm terrible remembering how many hours T.O. is ahead).
Sorry to hear about your dad. I hope everything works out okay and that your brother doesn't cause your family too much stress! And what work is "below" anybody if it puts food on the table for your own kids!
Well... I can't tell if Arwyn is going through a growth spurt or it has become habitual. She consistently gets up between 3-5. Last night and two nights ago, she got up at 9 & 5, and 8:30 & 3:45 respectively. I don't want to try to get rid of this waking if it is truly hunger but it has been going on for a while now... about 3 weeks. We are introducing more solids, now up to 2x per day, about an ounce each time. We just started sweet potatoe so one feed is now 2 ounces.
I really don't mind getting up to feed her but I don't want it to become habitual because I think she is hungry. I was thinking of getting rid of it this weekend. I need to use pu/pd and pt/shush because wake to sleep won't work because she doesn't get up at the same time each night.
Anyhow, gotta run and get a shower. Arwyn should be up in about 15 minutes... after 45 minutes of course... I no longer hope for a longer nap. I am just thankful if it happens.
Have a great day everybody!
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Hi there,
I've been reading this board for quite a while but haven't posted in a couple months. I'm now feeling desperate - and sick - so what better place to turn to besides moms who understand!
My 6mo old started sleeping from 8p - 6a in early Sept. She's had some early waking since then but since her baptism this past Sunday its been terrible. This morning she was up about 4, I think she went back to sleep until sometime before 5 then would not settle back down. I finally fed her on one side at 5:45 and put her back to bed but she didn't go to sleep. I'm thinking she's not sleeping enough during the day and its causing early wake times.
Can a couple of you let me know if you're still putting your babies down for the early evening cat nap? I can't believe what good spirits Payton maintains even when tired. I think because she's in a good mood we are missing her signals for nap. We have stopped putting her down and I'm guessing she still needs that sleep.
Thanks for your help!
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hi all!! DH is home !!! :D :D I am already taking full advantage...I went for a well deserved massage and chiropractic adjustment this morning. I feel like a new person. Jack's first nap for DH was only 25 min then 1 hour of fighting in the dark!! :shock: ( I'm just glad I didn't have to do it!!) He's now down for his second (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be a gooder-now that I'm home).
Micah's mom: we were able to stop Jack's night wakings by doing pu/pd but it took probably a week of figuring out whether he was hungry or not then 3 nights of not feeding and doing pu/pd. There were 3 nights-ish that I fed him but cut back on the normal # of oz. that I give him. Then I paid attention if he was really guzzling it back or just lollygagging. (If he was hungry he would finish in less than 15 min otherwise it was more like suck, suck, pause....suck, suck, pause...etc) Then it took both my DH and I 3 LONG nights of pu/pd. The first couple of nights were the hardest because obviously Jack was used to me coming and feeding him. The first night he woke only once (between 2-4) took an hour to settle him but then he slept till 6:30. I knew he would settle because after picking him up maybe 2 or 3 times he kindof lost power in crying for a few minutes but then would start up again....whereas if he was hungry there was no letup in him crying (we've also been doing pu/pd since 4 months-shh/pat is too stimulating for him now). The second night he woke twice around 1ish then again at 5ish. The 3rd night was the worst he woke at 1230, 340,440,540,then up for the day at 640. Although all except one of those wakings he was able to get himself back to sleep again. then a few days later he relapsed but since then we have upped our solid intake hugely during the day and also our bottle ounces. That was a week and a bit ago and he hasn't woken at night since.
traci: good luck with the family get together.....a pub doesn't seem like a wise choice for an alcoholic maybe if your brother wanted a relaxed atmosphere they would agree on maybe a cafe or something where they served food too???
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Hi and welcome mrayohler;
Just some thoughts for you, could Payton be having a growth spurt, has she recently been able to move a lot more.
I put Riley down for 3 naps, I kinda follow her cues on being ready to go down, she goes down by about 8pm, and we start at around 7pm.
it maybe a phase she is going through, try to ride it out for a bit and see if she has developed a new pattern or is going through something, Oh! does she or is she getting any teeth.
Just some ideas.
HTH, let us know on your progress.
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mickeymuscles - thanks for sharing your experience, your worst night looks like our usual nights these days! i've been trying to up micah's intake during the day but he doesn't seem interested but i've noticed he does like to gulp down his solids. !! so i'm going to try to supplement with a bit of formula since my milk supply doesn't seem to cut it for him. during the night he wakes out of overtiredness and not really hunger... i think i have to wait until dh is totally on board with pu/pd (well, and i have to totally believe in it too!)
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Hello mrayohler,
Arwyn is nearly 6 months now and I continue to put her down for the catnap... even if it is 5 o'clock, meaning she will get up at 5:45 pm to be put down again at 6:45 ish. She has no problems going down for the night. Of course, not every catnap is at this time. Sometimes when it happens earlier (nap #3), I just keep her up until her bedtime provided it is under 3 hours.
HTH
We are having a heck of a day. First, she woke while I was in the shower, then I discovered I put the Jolly Jumper on wrong and in my haste, DROPPED the blinkin' giant spring on her head, then I went to feed her solids just to discover that her high chair was sopping wet... I looked up to discover the skylight is leaking and it is just pouring buckets out here. All this before noon.
I have a massage therapy appointment booked for this afternoon. It can't come fast enough. :roll:
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Ankie, enjoy your massage for me too!
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Hi everyone, so much has happened since I last posted I don't know where to start.
Traci, it sounds like you're in a tricky situation. And although it's breaking with your routines, perhaps if you can get some compromise by an earlier time, or different location, you could be brave and have an afternoon stray from the norm. Sometimes these things need to be done, even though we don't want to do them. I've always said I didn't want to be a mum who was stuck in the house because my baby had to sleep, and so far I've gone to everything I want to. Although I admit, the night time routine hasn't been interupted of late, but in the earlier days it was. You might find Cole adjusts really well.
Ankie, what a day :cry: I've done the same with the JJ spring. I'm also learning that if I don't make a fuss, usually Daniel doesn't either. Like last night when he bonked his head on the side of the bath :oops:
Well done Mickeymuscles on your PUPD success. I'm too scared to try it as I don't really know what I"m doing and currently my friend in another city has my book. Oh, just looked outside and noticed it's in our letterbox, she was sending it back. Yay, I'll have another look at it. I think I'll be better off doing it when hubby is away. I don't know if he'd buy into it like I have and so not sure if he'd commit like I would. Although it would be easier to have him on board to help, we could only do it in a weekend as for his job he needs to be fully alert during the day, can't risk being overtired. He's a pilot. Anyway, he's going away in November, so if Daniel's still not sleeping unwrapped without waking, then I'll try it then.
After deciding at the last minute to leave him unwrapped last night, he woke at about 11.30pm, would quickly settle unless I wrapped him. So I did, and within seconds he was quiet and asleep. I wonder if this is his way of telling me he does really still want to be wrapped. I did it quite loosley so he could escape if he wanted to, but he didn't. He stirred at 4am, I went in, turned on his music, and he went back to sleep until 5.10am. At this point I fed him and he stayed awake in his cot until I went back to him at 5.40am. Up for the day until 8am, down to sleep without a peep, and has just made a couple of noises after 40mins. I think he's going back to sleep though. Phew, it's the best morning we've had in months! I think he's really alert and awake in the mornings and can last the distance. We didn't have the usual screaming fits he has been having so I was relieved. As for the unwrapping at night, I think I"ll keep going for now and just do it so if he wants to escape he can. Do they just grow out of it? IE get to the point they can sleep through? Or will he need my help at whatever point we stop wrapping?
Hope your days all go well. I've got a good feeling about mine cos it's started well. :D
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I have been soooo busy and now look at all the posts!! Sorry but I just don't have the time to go through them all!
We have been having ALOT of struggles with naps - now nap 60min and then refuses to go down for another 30min!! Well I give up! not really - will try and monitor and maybe will see something that will help me understand her cues a little better. We have started some baby sign and also swimming - so very busy!!
Well girls - Happy night sleeps and daysleeps for tonight and tomorrow!
Bye
nikki[/b]
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Thank you so much for the quick replies. We will definitely put her down for the catnap tonight - I'll have to kick the roofers off the roof but hey, my baby comes first!
I'm fairly certain the wakings are due to not enough day sleep. She's got her bottom two teeth. Her gums on top are definitely filling in but I just don't think thats the problem. She's not moving at all! Not even really rolling over much.
Its so good to feel supported and know I'm not alone in this struggle. I remember this frustration lasting through about 9 months with my older daughter. If I can only hang in there for about 2 more months! AND - I need to concentrate on whats good. She goes down like an angel and has such a good temperment. Now if I can concentrate on that at 4am.
Good luck to you others tonight and with naps!
Thanks again.
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Hayley, thanks for knocking some sense into me. I will try to talk my parents into having it earlier OR at their house. I really should get out more and see just what Cole is capable of. You're right, he's done so well so far that there is no reason to doubt he'll shine once more :D
As for the wrapping, I had one arm out with Cole at about the 3 month mark. At around 4 months or so he had me up every hour on the hour wrapping him back up after breaking out so that's why I stopped. Good on you with the apple puree! I am really looking forward to starting solids with Cole. I think I'm going to wait until DH finishes his exam so that he can be involved too. that way DH can give Cole his breakfast and put him down for first nap. He won't ever get to see him at night so I figure this will be his bonding (and my sleeping!) time.
mrayohler: we still do the catnap. In fact, all todays naps were 45 minutes long :oops: However, it's because my darling boy slept until 6:45 (after going down at 6pm) so that's just how the math worked out.
nap 1 8:45-9:30
nap 2 11:30-12:15
nap 3 3:00-3:45
bed 6:20
he seems to be able to go a bit longer before catnap and bed now...closer to 2:45 than 2:30. Did you ladies find this as they neared 6 months?
Judy...how is your day? And how was your night? I'm hoping it was teething like M&MsMom mentioned...sending you good vibes for tonight.
okay, i'll be back later after dinner. bye
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Hey, girls! Hope you are all well.
Mrayohler: We would just die without the catnap. Here was our day today (finally back on track after the mini-vacation):
6:30-ish: wake (much earlier than usual, see other post :oops: )
7:10: nurse/solids
8:30-10:15: nap
10:30-11:00: walk! (first time wearing his winter coat :D )
11:00: nurse/solids
12:00-2:00: nap (me too!!!!)
2:30: nurse, then errands
4:15-5:05: catnap
5:15: nurse, played outside
6:15: solids, bath,
7:30-ish: bed
I really good day for us! FINALLY!!! I keep thinking I should be moving to 2 naps, but if it's working for us, why switch, right?
Off to put together some bookshelves. We had some water in the basement again :evil: and some of my books got wet. The final inspiration I needed to go by Ryan some bookshelves for the basement!
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Hi, well we had a good day today when it comes to naps and feeding. Infact, I would say this is the best most normal day we've had in a while. I think I felt really relaxed too. I wonder if it was because my parents were here so I had someone else to keep me company/distrated from focusing/worrying about Daniel's naps.
Daniel woke at the 40mins after all. Quite happy, didn't want to go back to sleep. Stayed awake for 2.5 hours, back to sleep for 1.5h awake 2.25h, sleep 30m then awake for 3hours until bed. I think this is pretty much Daniels 'normal' day. This is what frequently happens. So now I'm just working on getting the 'times' consistent. If he keeps waking around 5am then I guess that gives us early sleeps all day, if with the clocks change tomorrow night he lasts thru until 6amish then I'll be able to keep him awake until 9am for his first nap. That's my ideal day. I just wonder if he stays awake a little longer still whether that naps will extend out, especially the first nap. But as it is, nearly 3 hours awake seemed like a long time. But he was happy and settled immediately so he must be okay with it. Nikki, thank you for your help in letting me see that this long awake time is possible and okay for a baby of Daniel's age. It seems so long compared with most other babies, I just couldn't believe he could do it. But he did! :)
Anyway, something else I wanted to share with you on a totally different topic is I have done something I NEVER thought I'd do. We've bought washable nappies called Fuzzibunz. This is our first day of wearing them, and we've had a couple of 'teething' problems, ie not doing them up tight enough and leaking, but hopefully I've got that sorted now. I decided I'm washing most days if not every 2nd day anyway, so whats a few ready made nappies. They'll end up costing us about the same as 6 months worth of disposables and they much better for Daniel and the environment. The set we've bought (12 of them) will hopefully last until he's out of nappies, so that's good. A friend of mine uses them and said they're great, so I thought I may as well. The washing doesn't even appear to be a hassle, even the poohey ones, just a cold rinse first before the normal wash. I'm trying the first wash tonight and there's 2 poohey nappies in there, so I'll know very soon how it goes.
Anyway off to cook myself dinner. Hubby away for the night and M&D at my brothers.
Oh and finally, I decided again to wrap Daniel, then I went in about 5 mins after putting him down for the night and could see he'd unwrapped himself already. Okay, so I didn't do the double super dooper wrap, but I didn't think he'd be out of it quite so quickly... mmmm I wonder what tonight will bring :roll:
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OMG :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
I haven't checked in here for a couple of weeks, and it looks like you guys have been partying without me :wink: .
There's no way I'll be able to reply to all posts, so just wanted to say hi, and check in really. C seems to be sleeping better these days, but he's just had a rotten cold :cry: so that's put it out of whack for now. He's getting the hang of his solids, still having to mix most things with pear :roll: but nevermind. He loves porridge mixed with pureed prunes, though :shock: :P - I wouldn't clean the drains out with it, but he thinks it's great :D .
If you haven't seen them, I've posted some piccies:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/me-amp-my-little-fella-vt41337.html
Have a look - and let's see some of your babies (I love baby pics!)
Oh, and have a look at this too, the more the merrier:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41903&highlight=
Take care, I'll check up on you all more frequently now!
Caroline
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Caroline Thanks so much for those links. What a bunch of cutie-pies. Your little one is adorable. I have to figure out how to resize pics on my pc and I'll post our newborn ones :wink:
Judy Happy to hear you got a good nights rest! I think my sleep vibes must have worked :wink: And you're right about my dad. He's had two cancer surgeries in 7 years and come out of both. Maybe it's his "I'm invincible" attitude that gets him through it!
Hayley Sounds like you're on your way to sorting out Daniel's sleep patterns. Hooray for you both. You deserve some rest!
As for us, I think I've accidentally parented Cole into a 2:30am habitual waking :( Not sure why I started thinking he needed to feed at that time. I think I read somewhere that feeding every 4-5 hours is okay at night. Anyhoo, it's been 3 nights (plus one for his spurt). I tried to pat him back down last night with no success. Fed at 3:15 and he went back down until 5:45. Tonight it's wake to sleep for us. On a more positive note, he's just waking from a 1.5 hour am nap! Kept him up about 10 minutes longer this morning-almost two hours. I helped him at 40 min. but that's okay.
Oh-he's up. Good day everyone.
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Hey, guys!
Caroline: What a cute idea for the newborn pics. Man, our kids have changed, huh? Traci, I just about died seeing Cole in those positions at 4 weeks! Loved the alien hat! 8)
I'm off to put together some bookcases. I bought 6 yesterday to hold some of my teaching books. I'm taking several years off of full time teaching, so I thought Ryan can use the books from my classroom. I literally have thousands. :shock: Ankie, are you taking time off, too? I sort of miss it, but I feel so lucky to be able to stay home for awhile.
Have a fabulous weekend, all!
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oh my goodness everyone, it's been 1 week and 10 pages since I've last posted and way toooo much to catch up on! So sorry! It's been an exhausting week at work, but only 1 more week to go! :D
I certainly don't mean to bypass anyone's problems if you are having any with your lo's! :oops: But Taylor is driving me NUTS this week with the 5-5:30 am wake up! :x :evil: She is also consistently waking up at 10:30 before her DF so I feel as if we are always feeding her to sleep (her df is normally 11pm)!
This has been going on since Monday. other than that things are normal and I know it could be so much worse, and I count my blessings everyday for such a good baby, but c'mon now!
:arrow: 2 Q's:?:
1. do you all think I should start doing the DF at 10 pm now? this week when she is waking up at 10:30ish it is because she is hungry, as she wolfs down her bottle.
2. is she also waking up at 5:30ish out of hunger as well do you think? we don't feed her when she wakes at this time, but pat her back to sleep and it usually takes about 5 minutes. she then sleeps till 7-7:30. I think since she goes back down w/o a feed it's not hunger, but who knows? is it habitual and should I do wake to sleep?
I know a lot of us/are still going through this early waking thing so wanted to see if any of you have found a solution yet. Should I just feed her...I know it is the easiest thing to do at the time, but will it only reinforce the waking? :?
have a great day everyone and I'll try not to be such a stranger!
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JUDY,
why is it TEN, TWENTY, THIRTY etc. etc. and not ONETY??? Really onety, onety one, onety two... (
:D :D :D :D
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Judy, that was absolutely hysterical! I laughed out loud. Totally something I would do. I think of the craziest things while I'm patting in the dark. I have "written" huge posts in my head only to forget them come morning.
May I brag ladies? We had the most awesome day. Well, aside from the 5:45 wakeup. Take a look.
6:15 E
7:40-9:10 S A=1:55 S=1:30 with help at 40.
10:00 E
11:20-12:40 S A=2:10 S=1:20 no help :D
then packed up the car and off to the mall to celebrate two good naps!
2:00 E
3:10-3:40 (approx.not sure as stroller closed up) A=2:30 S=30
5:10 E
6:05 S A=2:25
He barely even cried when I closed up the stroller for catnap and then babbled himself to sleep. I could have cried I was soooo happy. I celebrated at the Gap, H&M and Old Navy! I can't wait until the end of October...I'm splurging on a pair of Seven jeans! I haven't treated myself in ages.
One thing I forgot to tell you ladies. Last night Cole was bobbing on and off the breast at last feed before bed. He kept turning away and giggling and laughing. I couldn't figure out what was up until I noticed the camera sitting on the coffee table facing him! He was hamming it up. I just thought that was worth mentioning. He totally plays it up for the camera now.
I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the good naps, but I put Cole in his Grobag for the first time today. His room was quite chilly and I think that may have been why he woke early. I have a pic of it, I'm going to try to add it to my signature.
okay, gotta run. got some friends coming to drop off a dresser soon.
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Well ladies... our day yesterday finished off in chaos... but today is a new day and we don't need the toilet plunger or the buckets today so that is wonderful. :wink:
I can't believe I last posted 2 pages ago! I am exhausted today. On top of the lousy day, Arwyn decided to wake at 10 pm, 12 pm, 2 am and 4 am... I fed her each time and she took it so I thought growth spurt. Then she was up for the day at 6:20!!! Today, she is back to her 4 hour feeds but doesn't want to eat very much and refused her solids.
I think she may be taking in most of her calories during her DF and the usual 4 am feed instead of during the day. I was seriously considering not feeding her at 4 am to see if she will feed better first thing in the morning but then last night happened.
Anyhow, will be trying it again tonight (I hope) if she doesn't wake every two hours again. DH has to work late and get up early tomorrow morning and leave so I hope I can survive the night and tomorrow on my own. I know that getting rid of the 4 am feed will require a few sleepless nights. :roll:
Traci... congrats on the wonderful day!
Judy... :D :lol: :D :lol:
Caroline... great pictures... I will work on posting Arwyn's newborn ones.
Andrea... I would move the DF and I would try wake to sleep as it only takes a few minutes to settle Taylor back down at 5 am. Arwyn also gets up between 3-5 am and I am afraid I have reinforced it by feeding. She was actually starting to get rid of it herself and settle back to sleep and was successful on two nights but then I started feeding her again. :oops:
Hayley... Arwyn is in cloth diapers when we stay home most of the week. If we go out more than 2 days in a row, I use disposables because she doesn't use enough diapers to run a full load. :roll: I love the cloth diapers. I went through some growing pains with our cloths too. I bought some diapers for 7-16 lbs and tried to use them when she was newborn (8lbs 9oz) and they fell right off. By the time I tried to use them again, they were too small! :roll: So, I have 20 brand-new and washed organic cotton nappies packed away for our next child (whenever that may be).
Kate... yes I have a year maternity leave and am taking almost the whole thing. Our school district has a rule that you must return after a "natural break"... that is, Christmas, Spring Break or September. We cannot return one year to the date we left. That means I will be returning at Spring Break in March 2006 as I left April 1st, 2005. How long will you be off with Ryan?
Have a good weekend everybody... can't believe it is Friday again already! Where does the time go?
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Hi Everyone - yep, I have strange thoughts while I'm sitting in the darkness feeding, but not quite as inventive as yours Judy! I guess that's what happens when you're sleep deprived aswell.
As mentioned on my last post Daniel had unwrapped himself and wouldn't you know it, he woke at 9.45pm and 12.30pm. Both times he needed feeding to settle. Then he slept through until 5am. At which time I fed and found he was SOAKED THRU. These cloth nappies OBVIOUSLY take some getting used to, to get right. I think I'm still mastering the technique. I have a feeling all the feeding added to the problem of the wet nappy and even a disposable would have been soaked. I just didn't think about changing it at the time. So anyway, I changed him at 5am feed and put him back to bed. Well, I had to WAKE him at 7.30am! Yay! I was very pleased about that. So maybe he hasn't been going back to sleep because he was soooo wet on the other mornings. But because I've been trying to treat it as a night feed, I've not changed him. I know that sounds mean/gross, but that's what 'they' say to do, treat it like night. Well, I'm going to change him tomorrow and see what happens.
Then, like the great little bear that he is, after I woke him at 7.30am, he went back down at 9am, (because that's the time I want him to go to sleep) even though only awake time of 1.5h and he slept 1.25hours! Yay! I'm next going to put him down again at 1pm if he can last that long (2.75h) or just a bit before.
Daniel gobbled up his apple again too, and we're about to do pumpkin soon.
I wonder if he's also doing a bit of a milk supply increase day/night, as he's now feeding much better, both sides at the same time. And yesterday I was very naughty and kind of forgot to eat properly, porridge and toast was all I had all day, so my supply probably wasn't the best. He went down before my dinner, so I made sure I had some steak and rice and veges to make up for earlier. I"m going to wrap him loosly again tonight and see what happens. BUT if I hear him stir I'm going to run in and turn on his music which is what settles him so that he hopefully DOESN'T fully wake and decided he needs to feed.
Anyway, enough about me.....
Traci - well done, doesn't it feel great! And the shopping to reward yourself for lots of work getting Cole to that point is definitely well deserved. :D
Taylor's mummy - not sure on the d/feed but the 5am waking, could it be birds or the light? Our days have been getting earlier (the clocks change over tonight). I generally find I have to feed. Also, if Taylor is taking more in at night, maybe her nappy needs changing (like I'm wondering about Daniel).
Kate, how fantastic to have soooo many books.
Great photos of Charlie!
Better go, enough rambling from me, can you tell I"m happy with how things are going? I've got time on my hands to babble, also my parents are great and reading stories while I type :lol:
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Hayley, that sounds great, we're also on track for 2 again today, she stayed awake the full 3hrs this morning after her 5.45am wake up. Do you boost your nappies up with anything extra for nights (sorry I haven't read any of your post with you going to cloth etc)? Nathan's in cloth at night (I haven't yet started Danielle, only days) and he's boosted up so far that he walks like he's ready to straddle a horse LOL but doesn't leak!
Judy, maybe you could start chanting the nursey rhyme "1, 2, buckle my shoe, 3, 4, knock on the door...." LOL.
It's still a no-go here for solids, sigh, not too worried, but she makes this noise "arrrrrrrrr" really loudly as if to say "I don't like it".
D's 6mths old today! She's just starting to pull her knees under her when on her tummy which she loves and can be there for up to a 1/2 hr and when her neck gets tired, she lies it down for a wee rest. Yesterday she started to move backwards and off her mat (I was also doing nappy off time) and her ONCE A WEEK POO decided to come! All over the carpet, me, her - OMG what a HUGE mess LOL!
Well have a good weekend everyone.
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Hi All!
Again a busy couple of days on the boards. Some good news too by the sounds of it for many - hooray for you all.
Just a quick post to say that Fraser is sick AGAIN.... Will this never end...
He has a fever which started yesterday morning and has lasted now 24 hours. It's low grade - 38.5 or so (I think about 101??) and responds to Panadol but I need to give it every 4 hours because it wears off towards the end of that time. He had his immunisations Wednesday so the GP thinks it may be a reaction - also DH has a cold so it could be that. We had an horrible night where he didn't manage to sleep for more than 30min spells and we were up with him for hours at a time.
Can I check with you all - how worried do I need to be about holding him to sleep when he's sick like this? I panic about AP but I can't leave him to cry without me when he is unwell. Also, any tips on managing the fever or expected duration? DH and I are both exhausted...
Thanks everyone, take care
Jo
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Jo, sorry to hear he's sick again, but IMO, don't worry at all about holding him to sleep if that's what he needs (if he doesn't fine, maybe pat/shsh etc) when he's sick. Stick with your routine as much as poss, but don't stress over it. Just think, if you're sick you'd probably rather someone comforted you rather than leave you on your own. Let your mothering instincts do what they need to do and you'll be fine. :wink: As far as duration, it really depends what it is. Nathan's usually gotten over fevers within 1 day, we usually sleep in the same room as him (when he was younger he had a single bed in his room that one of us would sleep in with him so we all got more sleep). It did take a little work to get back on track but within 3 days he was back to normal as far as independent sleep.
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her ONCE A WEEK POO decided to come! All over the carpet, me, her - OMG what a HUGE mess LOL!
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm laughing WITH you, not AT you, Nikki. I'm waiting for our turn with the poop all over!
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HI girls, looks like everything is going fairly well with everyone.
Things are relativly good here, I am slowly becoming exhausted as ds is pushing every limit he has, and dd is learning to move and gets mad because it won't work.
I watch this thread daily, but I have needed to sit back for a bit and relax, so I will talk to you all later, it is just dd and I at the moment so I will try to make the most of it, we don't get girly time too often round here!
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Hello to everybody :D
I can't manage to catch up with all this reading !!! So I'll just pop in and say HI :) Sienna doing well, I have tried her on some oat porridge and she smiled at every mouthful...also apple softly stewed was a big hit.
But for now its all just taste and sensation experience with BM being her mainstay.
Naomi- hang in there with the "terrible 2" stage all us Mum's of this age group know how draining in can be :shock: Get as much rest as you can as I find tiredness never helps with my patience levels :wink:
I have been going to bed way earlier then I used to these days, my poor dh feels like he is living with Grandma I'm sure, but for my own sanity its a must for me.
Sienna has lost her lovely sleep pattern and is now doing a 10pm wake and a 5:30am wake for feeding which I can't seem to shake...Nevermind I feel I have been spoilt with her so far so I can handle this for awhile. And it is bringing back memories of ds at this age, before he really started moving around he was also more unsettled than usual.
She is also pulling her legs under her and is really starting to talk now with her gggeeee and gggaaa and the hissing snake sounds..
Take care :D Bianca
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Hi, we're having a great day here. Daniel slept really well last night considering he was unwrapped, just 3 night wakings which we managed to resettle him for 2 by just turning on his music box (mozart/bach etc). I fed him a shortish feed at one. THen he slept on thru until 7.30am. Our clocks went forward thismorning, so that became 8.30am. Then, we put him down as he looked tired at 10am and he slept for 2 hours! Up again for 2 hours only and he was looking really tired and now asleep for 50 mins. I'm not wanting to give him his catnap thisafternoon, as when he goes down at the new time of 6.30pm, his bodyclock will be thinking it's 5.30pm. So I'll keep him going until then and hopefully he'll be tired enough to sleep all night.
Daniel's also doing really well with his b/feeding now, taking both sides at once. And still managing his solids. While I was out thismorning DH gave him his pumpkin just before I came home and he was due for b/m. But after his 4 mouthfuls of pumpkin, (which is all he normally eats if fed about an hour after b/milk) he still took both sides of me, and that was immediately after. So I was rather pleased/relieved about that.
Well, better go, gotta go find something for my dad.
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Well... I did it. I managed to pu/pd and pat/shush Arwyn back to sleep at both 2:07 am and 4:45 am and she slept through until 8 am!!!
I was tired but it feels good to have a little success. Also, I extended her middle nap on Thursday (the day of chaos around here) to 2 hours and both yesterday and today, she had unassisted 2 hour nap #2s!!! Yesterday, I was perched ready for her to wake up and got nothing done but today, I headed straight for bed and got myself a 2 hour nap... also getting nothing done but boy am I ready for some more patting and shushing tonight!
Jo... hope Fraser is feeling well again soon!
Have a great remainder of the weekend everyone!
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Yeah, Arwyn!!!!!
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yay for Daniel and Arwyn! great to hear Hayley and Ankie. Good job taking a nap Ankie, you'll need it tonight.
After Cole's great nap day Friday he also had his best night ever. 6pm-6am with a feed at 11pm. I woke at 1:30 to do wake to sleep. when I opened his door it creaked and I heard him shuffling about and scratching the mattress so I left him. Didn't hear another peep until 5:00 with a short phantom cry. Back to sleep until 5:30 and then he entertained himself until 6:00! That is a first :D
Last night he woke at 3:30. He took an hour to settle for bed so i'm wondering if his 2:30 wakeup just pushed to 3:30. guess i should try wake to sleep again, i'll do it tonight for sure. he didn't settle back so at 4:20 I fed him and he slept until 6:30. I wonder if I'd fed him right away if he would have slept :?:
today he's been fussy. I think he's starting to teethe. Hasn't been feeding all that well, bobbing on and off the breast even with all distractions removed and chewing on his fingers (and everything else) On a positive note, I just tried a bottle for the first time in a couple of months and he gulped it down! That's very good for my spa day at the end of the month :wink: I was worried he wouldn't take it.
Naomi...sorry to hear about your frustration/exhaustion. I hope things get better for you soon. I can't even imagine having a second one right now!
gotta go all and take advantage of catnap.
OOPS-I gotta shrink that pic...it's way too big
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Traci, Cole is sooooo cute. Love the dimple. Is it yours or Daddy's?
Well... long naps may be back. Unassisted 1.5 hrs this morning and now, one that is approaching 2 hrs. Could it be the solids? No matter what it is, I'm not complaining!
Another successful pu/pd and pat/shush last night. She woke at 4 ish and I let her "play" until she started to genuinely cry (approx. 45 min.) and then it took less than 10 minutes to put her back to sleep until 7 am!
We started apples this morning. I feed most of it to her before mixing in some cereal. Same with the sweet potatoes at lunch. We are up to 3 times a day now, with each serving being approximately 2 oz. She seems to like it but I have to get the consistency just right or she is fussy. She also wants to have her spoon in her hand. Then she'll sit and play and eat forever!
I wonder if she is weaning herself from the lunch BF. She is very fussy and only stays on for less than 5 minutes and today, only on one side. She refused the second completely today. Up until now, she at least latched on... but today, she fussed and vocally let me know that was NOT what she wanted. Oh, well... roll with the punches I guess.
Now, she has slept past the 3 pm feed by 15 minutes. I guess I should wake her up. :roll: Gee, I hate waking my sleeping baby. All I want her to do is sleep well and then I have to go and wake her up? :!:
Ta ta ladies... enjoy the last of the weekend!
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hey Judy,
I think he really really loves his Grobag. His sleep has definitely improved the last couple of nights. I likely should have fed him at 3:30 last night because although his 11pm feed was good, his 5pm wasn't. He was bobbing on and off a lot...then he took an hour to settle for bed so I'm not sure what was up.
Today he was fussy at the breast again, but his last feed was really good and he went down well too.
Hoping for sleep here as well!
Only a little over two weeks until my DH is done his big exam...then I'll finally have a life!
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Hi everyone. Wow this thread moves fast I havent had a chance to read to much just the last couple of pages so i can catch up. Just owndering if anyone could share there experience if their bub has had any teeth come in. Is diarohhea (I know its spelt wrong!) a sign she seems to have all the signs one minute then gone the next. On a positive note Marli is loving her soilds and is currently on 2 - 3 meals a day + breast and 1 bottle. Her sleep seems to improve although she stirs probably at least 3 times a night with 2 of these for feeding at 10 is and 4-5am ish.
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I know that teething can affect the bowel movements of a baby, ds had terrible bum rash from all the drool his body was injesting.
Things are relativly good here, dh got frustrated tonight, he was trying his best to settle R down, and I walked in and he was walking and rocking her
:shock: :shock: , he looked at me stunned when I said not to do it, it only makes my job that little bit tougher if that is what he always does.
That said I did have her fall asleep on me today, there was no way in heck I was giving up our hug.
How is everyone doing, Bianca it was so niice to hear from you I was wondering how you were doing!
Well I'm off to bed, Take Care Everyone!!!!
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Hi ladies, another good day with Daniel. Things really seem to be settling down for us. Maybe it's the solids (as little amount as it is). We had a great night last night 12 hours straight through! Not sure if it was a fluke or not. I guess we'll find out tonight. And it was the first day/night with our new times. It hasn't effected Daniel at all.
I'm not so sure about the new fuzzibunz cloth nappies. He seems to be getting bad nappy rash from them, so I've gone back to a disposable tonight. And, his pumpkinsoup pooh nearly always escapes, and now I've not only got to clean the clothes but the nappy. I'm kind of having second thoughts. I guess once he's on more solids and changes to forumla the pooh will be different and much easier to clean up. But if it's causing terrible rash, I don't want to put him thorugh that. I'll give the company a call tomorrow and talk to them.
It sounds like some of you guys are having some great successes to, especially with the PUPD and wake to sleep. Well done.
Traci, I could be wrong, but don't bubs often get fussy when they're teething as the sucking action hurts their gums? Maybe there's a little surprise waiting to pop out!
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Just a quick one from me...
Hayley, have you checked out this site for nappy info. THere is a message board where you could ask some questions with the issues that you're having.
http://www.thenappynetwork.org.nz
HTH
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I think you're right Hayley. I asked about it over on the feeding board as well. He took a good bedtime and middle of the night feed though so i'm happy. He slept 6:30pm-5:30 am with one feed at 1:50am :shock: Good thing i went to sleep early and didn't wake for him to wake at 11:00!
I think if I had him to bed by 6:15 he would have slept a touch later, or woke happy and played until 6:00. I let him sleep longer for his catnap yesterday(1:15 instead of 45) because he was so fussy...but in retrospect that was a mistake.
Then this morning he was so tired I put him down for A=1:45 and he had a 45 min. nap. rats. should have stretched him even 10 min. longer and I'm sure i would have got 1.5 hours out of him. that's okay though, he'll make it up in the next nap I'm sure.
oops, i forgot to get rid of the pic. I'm going to make an animated avatar today instead. Gareth said he'd help if I couldn't figure it out. yay!
SUGGESTION EVERYONE! We all have pics of our los on the site. Would anyone be up for posting pics of ourselves? I'm curious to see what you all look like. I'm game (obviously)
Traci
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Hi all :D
We've been busy around here, but I think this thread has been even busier LOL !
Sounds like everyone is doing well for the most part. We seem to be in and out of some craziness here, another tooth perhaps, I'm not quite sure. Katie has been waking some at night and usually manages to put herself back to sleep without minimal fuss. However, sometimes she doesn't quite manage and then it takes about an hour to get her back to sleep again (never fun in the middle of the night) and it's not like she even needs anything. Just can't get back to sleep. She's also rolling around all over the place and scooting around on her back, so I think that gets her too. It seems like she needs to either turn over to her tummy or wedge herself in the corner of her crib in order to sleep. Also having a hard time finding the balance between not enough and too much awake time yet again. So, lots of 45 minute naps or lots of overtired fussing at naptime. We've been doing solids at breakfast and dinner, perhaps we need to add some lunch as well.
Just remembered I wanted to add -- we tried to drop the dreamfeed last week, as one night she was too asleep to eat and slept through anyway. However, with all the night wakings we've been having, I decided to just keep it for now and try to drop it when things have settled a bit. In the meantime, I did push it back to 10 PM, so more sleep for me. Hooray!
Hayley - if it's any help, Katie's poop has gotten way more solid the past few weeks being on fruit/veg and cereal twice a day. And WOW, does it smell now too. I now understand what people mean when they talk about BF babies having nice smelling poop. I never thought it smelled nice until I had something to compare it to.
Jo and Judy - hope everyone is feeling better in both your households.
Traci and Ankie - Hooray for good sleep!
Traci - sounds like the time change has gone ok for you - I know it's coming up here in the next month or so and I hope it doesn't throw us off too much. LOVE the new picture of Cole. Anyway, here's a pic of Katie and I from last week. Take care everyone!
-Erin
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yay, thanks for the pic Erin...so cute.
Here are two. One of Cole and I in the last two weeks. Not the most flattering of me so I posted one of DH and I on our wedding date (two years ago Sept. 26) I shrunk them and they're a bit fuzzy...oh well. Not sure if DH would appreciate his photo on the net!
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a338/TraciandCole/cap054a.jpg)
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a338/TraciandCole/DSCN1017a.jpg)
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Okay here goes nuthin with me, this pic is of Riley and I going home from the hospital.I try not to make it a habit to have my pic taken, feels kinda awkward to me.
Take Care everyone, I will chat when I have a little more time on my hands!
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Hey, girls!
:cry: :cry: :cry: Took Ryan for a re-screening for his hearing today (standard and FREE! around here). The first time his right ear was flat, due to fluid in the ear or wax build-up, they thought. He turns to sound on his right side and does not appear to have any hearing problems, but it's hard to tell with a little one, KWIM? They wanted to test him again just to be sure it wasn't a problem. But, today, it was flat again. :( So, now we have to go see his pediatrician on Wed. to make sure it is wax build-up or fluid. (TMI alert: Dh had some issues in college and thought he was going deaf, but just had a LOT of earwax, apparently. We're hoping this the same thing with ds). Keep your fingers and everything crossed that it's all just minor and not real hearing loss.
On a happier note, here is a family shot from my brother's wedding weekend this summer. It's a bit fuzzy, but I've just spend 15 minutes trying to get it looking better and have given up! :roll:
Great idea, Traci! Who knew I was chatting with such gorgeous women? :D
Have a great day/night of sleep!!!!
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Hi Everyone,
I feel like a bit of an intruder but I am living in the Cayman Islands, far from my family, don't really have a mom's group to join and am the 1st of all my friends to have a baby. I have been reading through and posting questions for a few months now and didn't realize there was a 'chat area' for mom's of lo's of a certain age - how great!!
These los are such a mystery sometimes and heaped in with the hormones :oops: what a ride!
I truly think that our house would be in shambles if not for easy and all the support on this site.
Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself - Richelle and my baby Sophie born April 24th, 2005 and hopefully I will be able to support as well as get to know you all!
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Hi there Richelle and sophie, welcome to our chaos.
In no time at all you will or probably already do feel comfy here, things get chaotic around here, but it is all good.
I have distant family in the Caymen Islands, it must be wonderful to live in such a tropical place.
The ladies on here are fantastic, it is so nice to be able to come here and say how crappy your day is, leave it at that and know that you are not alone,
Well my two are erupting, welcome once again, and I look forward to hearing more from you and sophie!!!
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Welcome Richelle and Sophie! I ditto what Naomi said... the women here are great!
Traci... will work on the picture thing. Last time I asked my husband to help me, he took over and just did it so I don't know how :oops: and will ask him tonight.
Well... wouldn't you know it? My friend call exactly at the 45 minute mark of Arwyn's first nap. She woke up mad as all heck because someone woke her up! Then she wouldn't go back down so we went for a nice long walk. Upon returning, I thought she would go down for sure but I guess she was so overtired that she couldn't do it herself. I ended up patting/shushing a quite hysterical little baby :cry: who had been up for 3 hours :shock: and not quite sure what to do with herself.
Arwyn has droppped her catnap now for 2 days since the long naps have miraculously re-appeared. Could she be moving herself towards 2 naps? I know... this discussion has taken place before but our little ones are older now. Anybody else experiencing the same thing? If so, how are you spreading out the A time?
Also, for those who have little ones who eat solids consistently, doesn't it feel like you are feeding all day long? Here is what happens here...
7 am BF
8 am Solids
9 am nap (45 - 1.5 hrs)
11am BF
12 pm Solids
1 ish nap
3 pm BF
5 pm Solids
6:30 pm BF
6:45 Bed
I feel like she is newborn again and feeding her around the clock. Except now, it is messier and takes longer... up to 35 minutes to get 2 oz. in :!:
Okay... chat with you all later... she is up!!! Can't believe it... 35 minutes!
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Ankie - I have been avoiding starting lunch for that exact reason :lol: but I'm guessing I can't hold off on it for that much longer. Generally, I just shovel food into Katie until she stops showing interest and then we stop. Solids aren't the primary source of nutrition anyway at this age. I think I might have mentioned it before, but we definitely don't catnap here if Katie takes two long naps. I read somewhere that when babies get ready to drop a nap, they go back and forth for a bit needing it, and then not needing it, so it's normal to go back and forth.
Richelle and Sophie - welcome and jump right in whenever!
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Thanks for the warm welcome Ankie & Naomi!
For the whole feeding solids thing I know how you feel! I decided to diverge from the book's advice and feed my dd solids then formula right after. I also find that if she is hungry she responds better to eating and it doesn't take forever!! She fusses a bit sometimes but I just get the food into her mouth as fast as possible :oops: !
I may be very lucky that she has a huge appetite - she started on solids at 4months. I have just started introducing veggies and fruit and she loves it so I am not having too much trouble.
She is also not doing the 45 minute nap thing anymore so that is good so she is having a catnap still. I thought maybe she was ready for 2 naps but now she sleeps straight through the night so I am not going to mess with success.
Thanks again for the great welcome!
How many of you ladies are working moms? I have been now for a month and am still having trouble adjusting :( ...
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Welcome Richelle. I love all the boards on BW but this chat thread is definitely the best. It's great to have moms to vent to that have los the same age as you! It has been my lifesaver the last few weeks.
Thanks for posting pics everyone. It's so much fun seeing what everyone looks like. Naomi...I love that pic of Riley. She had so much hair when she was born! You look great too. There is NO WAY I would post the pic of me in the hospital. I looked horrid.
Erin...we haven't had the time change here yet. I think we pretty much had to follow suit with you guys and do it later. I think it would have messed up too many things with stock markets etc if we didn't co-ordinate with the all powerful US of A :wink: I don't even know what day they do go back!
Judy-I just saw your post as I was writing this (I scrolled down to look at something and voila, there you were). How many hours are the girls getting at night? 7pm til ? To give you an idea, Cole is typically getting 11-12 hours at night, and his naps are 1.5, 45 and 45-1.25 for a total of about 14.5-15 hours. IF the girls are getting 12 hours at night and 5 during the day I think that's a lot of sleep, but what do I know :?
Last night he slept 6:40pm-5:30 am and I think if he was down earlier he would have woken happy and played until 6 like the other day. I am now waking him from catnap by 3:45 for a 6:15 bedtime. I'm really tempted to say that your girls could do with two naps and an early bedtime. I experimented with Cole's bedtime starting at around 8pm. He used to go to bed at 9 or 10 so I figured 8 was a good start. It just kept getting earlier and earlier. I find if he goes down after 6:15 he wakes in the night or early in the morning.
Could you stretch your girls just a smidge (5-10 min.) during each awake time to get them to go down by 6pm? I KNOW it's crazy early and I don't know how that would work into the sched. with the other two girls. I've heard you need to have an earlier bedtime at first when getting rid of the catnap anyway.
What time do they wake from catnap? maybe they aren't tired at 7:00 when you're trying to put them down if too close to when they woke and hence not settling for an hour? coles last A time is 2.5 hours. Yesterday he was so tired and 2.5 A would have meant a 6:40 bedtime (because I let him take a long catnap-oops). I put him down at 6:10 and he settled pretty well...BUT woke at around 6:35 and cried a few minutes until 6:40. It's like he's not ready until being up 2.5 hours even if he had a 30 min. catnap. not sure if any of that helped...maybe, maybe not!
I am going to work out now on my Bowflex which has been dormant for months! I decided it's time to get back into shape :D I'm going to try to do weights 30 min. M/W/F and run 30 min T/TH/Sat. I'll run when DH gets home since Cole will be sleeping :D
alright, I've babbled enough as usual. keep the pics coming!
Traci
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Thanks again for all the warm welcomes!!
Oh my Judy-Twins?!!? You are my hero-I couldn;t imagine!!
And might I add that these are some goodlooking babes (los and moms incl)
Judy, about your sleep question, with Sophie, when I finally did sort out her day sleep she would sleep for 2+ hour stretches then she stopped sleeping well at night so I adjusted until we had it good and now it is GREAT-knock on wood!! :roll:
May I venture to say, in my very limited opinion, that maybe your girls are sleeping too long in the day? I found once I cut Sophie's naps she could stay awake longer- I know Go Figure! She has 2 - 1.5hour naps and a 30-40min cat nap. She now sleeps through the night with no dream feed. Bedtime is at 730PM sleeps until 6 or 630AM, her naps are usually very good a few 45 minute ones here or there and a tooth and solids haven't thrown us too out of whack!
Hope that helps!!
Richelle
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Judy, I also feed Arwyn just before bed. If she stays awake fully and I put her down awake, she will fall asleep immediately. If she starts to fall asleep on my breast while feeding, I try to keep her up and then put her in her crib. BUT, she then wakes up and stays awake for a LONG time, up to 1 hr! This is the case tonight... it is approaching the 30 minute mark.
I don't have any suggestions for you as this is a hit and miss thing with us. Sometimes she stays awake, sometimes she doesn't. I hate it when she doesn't as it is difficult to get her to fall asleep and often I need to go in there and pat/shush (which, I think, is becoming a prop :roll: . Just when I finally get it to work, it works too well!?)
Sending sleep vibes your way, Judy!
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Oh boy girls no way I can catch up, but I read the last couple of pages, and since the lo's change so much so fast, I figuer I'm current!
Anyhow, it's happened! Taylor has caught her first cold! She has a runny nose, cough and is all congested. We just gave her pediacare and some tylenol because she woke up all coughing and sniffly. poor thing! :cry: I wish I could stay home with her tomorrow and cuddle :(
I got Super Baby Food in the mail today so I'm so excited to read it. I don't know why, but I am confused as h*!# about this solids business! I have read a lot of conflicting advice-for instance Tracy says to start with fruit first and everything else I've read says cereal. also she says to feed solid first then bf? I've also read the opposite. I think I will post some of my Q's on the solids board. anyone have any advice I'd love to hear it. I plan to start full force this weekend since I will be done with work.
Judy-Taylor gets about 4 hours of daytime sleep and then 12 hours at night...if she takes 2 long naps though she won't take a catnap, but 2 shorter naps and she needs it. how long did you say they are sleeping at a stretch at night w/o a feed? I've read taht up until 6 months some babies still can only go 8-9 hours w/o a feed. re. the feed before bed, I find that if she is too tired, she fusses a whole lot so doesn't take a good feed at all. she is not the type to fall asleep at the breast because of comfort. if she doens't feed well she will ALWAYS wake up before her 11 df.
Welcome Sophie and Rachelle! it's hard to keep up with these ladies, but definitely worth the try! :wink:
Traci-totally unsolicitated advice so if you don't want it tell me to shove it! I read in the Girlfriends Guide to Surviving the 1st Year of Motherhood not to lift weights unless you are within 5 lbs of your prepregnancy weight, or else it will just be bulk muscle. If you are at the weight though, good job and have at it!
Erin-I looked back at your reply to my question on solids schedule and you indicated Katie took 2 naps and is up from 3:30-7:30. How do you keep her happy for that long? Taylor has not cat napped the last 2 days and she has been SUPER GRUMPY!
It feels good to post again-haven't had time the last week! Enough for now though.
Good night-Andrea
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Hi, welcome Richelle, as the other 'girls' have said, this is a great place to chat, vent, ask questions and tell everyone how wonderful you little one is! Enjoy! :D
Judy, I'm agreeing with the others, I"m wondering if the twins are getting too much sleep during the day.
Traci, I do just what you do, think to myself, "if only I'd done this..... then that might have been different..." :roll: Like at 5am thismorning when I jumped out of bed to try turning on Daniel's music to find he wouldn't settle unless I fed him, because he knew I was there. If only I"d left him, maybe he would have gone back to sleep without me. And then, if only I hadn't put him back to bed and let him sleep until 7.30am, so he had about 13 hours sleep last night, he might not have screamed intensly when I tried to put him down for his first morning nap, so much so I had to put him in the buggy and push him to sleep. At least he then slept for 1 hour. Later today he then had a 1.5h sleep. No catnap today though, as he didn't wake until 3.30pm from his 2nd nap, so too late for a catnap. Hence he's screaming as DH tries to dress him from his bath now.
Ahhhh..... if only.........
Apparently Daniel nearly rolled by himself from his back to tummy just now while on the bathroom floor, trying to reach the rubbish bin. Yay, nearly there!
Better go, very tired boy needing my cuddles and love and food supply.
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Hello, got the picture...
The woman in the background is my mother. You can't really see Arwyn... she was napping, wouldn't you know it, through the whole wedding ceremony!
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Cute pic Ankie! Here's a pic of me and the kids - it's quite old though!!
Judy, Danielle's getting 11-12hrs sleep at night (mostly 11hrs but with daylight savings arriving last weekend she's been taking the extra of sleep so up to 12hrs again). During the day she gets an average of 3.25hrs (45min + 2.5hrs). Maybe start to work towards 2.5hrs activity time if you can for the middle activity of the day - for us the morning activity was the last to extend, but D can now make it 2.5hrs 1st and 2nd activity and 3.5-4hrs for the last one.
Well Danielle's been sitting fully independently today - for a good 10mins or so. She's suddenly gotten a lot of upper body strength in the last week.
Urrghhhh, don' t know what to do about our solids issue. Anyone elses bub not take to it and just poke their tongue out and not try to swallow and gag if it touched the back of their throat?
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NIKKI - YES - Fraser is NOT INTERESTED in solids... We've been trying for about 2.5 weeks I guess and he's just not fussed at all. We've had slightly (very slightly) more success with sweet potato than rice cereal, pumpkin and oat cereal. That's all we've tried so far. For an idea - we freeze in ice cube trays (doesn't everyone?) and he takes almost a whole one of those of sweet potato. Yes, that's our success story!!
I'm not too worried I guess - still plenty of milk for him. We'll keep persevering. We're currently trying twice a day. I can't really see any point in pushing the third meal without any interest from him. Although anything to try to eliminate the night waking feed right... That's a whole other story (a whole other post in fact!)
So good luck, let me know how you get on.
In other news - Fraser had his high temp for 4 days - yuk! Not much sleep either. But it's back down now so we are focussing on "getting back on track". A fair bit of work required :roll:
I've never put a pic before so I'll try now. This was about a month ago I guess - and yes, that's my little serious guy! Don't crack a smile now...
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OK that didn't work. I'll try again on Thursday when I'm in the office - that's where I worked out the avatar. Yes, at work... :oops: Working hard!
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Good Morning Everyone,
The one thing my lo loves is eating so we have had no problems with solids, she took to it right away! I never did rice cereal though, I started with whole oats organic cereal, it is the Earth's Best brand. It did take at least 2 and a half weeks to get the hang of it. My sister in law turned me on to it b/c my nephew would get so constipated on rice cereal. Sophie loves it and never got constipated, I was worried about constipation as she did struggle with constipation when I introduced formula at 4 months. We have just started introducing fruits and vegetables and the girl LOVES peas - more than the fruit - it is really fun watching her try all the new things!
Nikki and Jo, I diverged from the book's advice and fed Sophie cereal first and then a bottle, I found trying to feed her solids when she wasn't hungry was futile. Another thing I did that helped Sophie was have a bottle ready of EBM or formula beside me and if she fussed while trying to eat cereal I would give her some botlle while sitting in her high chair. I think that helped her realize tha she eats in that chair and that the cereal was food too. :wink:
I am still very new at this solids thing though and am confused about this #1 AND #2 foods etc...I don't have time with work etc... to make my own food so in the store they have all sorts of weird things in jars with numbers :roll: I stood there for 10 mins the other day trying to figure it all out!
Judy- you may find that if you do try and limit the girls sleep in the day they may go longer at night. Sophie didn't drop her 4AM feed until I had Solids established twice a day, even then I am surprised she can go so long (11-12hours) without eating - maybe it is just a phase? :shock:
Haley - isn't it strange how these los make us second guess ourselves all the time? I always put Sophie to bed wide awake, even though sometimes at night after her last feed she is pretty dopey. She usually talks to herself for a bit and then as soon as I think to myself 'that kid is never going to fall asleep' all goes quiet!
Richelle
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Andrea go shove it! LOL. I didn't know that so thanks for the tip. I am within 5 lbs of my prepregancy weight (about 2-3lbs over). I can thank sleep training for taking off about 4 or so pounds :D Sorry about Taylor's cold. I am so dreading the day Cole gets sick. I am not sure I'll know how to handle it.
My girlfriend has Super Baby Food and said it's awesome. good luck!
Judy So after the girls wake for the 1.5 hours...how long do they go back down for? In my limited experience with Cole...when his bedtime was too late he wakes and stays up 45min-1:30 like your girls! I am crossing my fingers for you that the shorter naps work...if not I am still going to suggest an earlier bedtime if you can manage it.
Interesting point about the BF before bed...I think there has been times when Cole has fallen asleep feeding and then not settled right away. It doesn't happen often though.
Ankie I love the pic. Of course she slept through the service, she's in your cozy arms :wink:
NikkiHave I told you how much I love Danielle's chubby cheeks! Cole never took on that baby fat...sometimes I wish he had more. As for the feeding...I read (maybe in Tracy's book :?: ) That if they are sticking out their tongue and gagging then they aren't ready yet. Maybe try again in a week? Not sure there is any sense in forcing the issue if she's not ready.
Jo (((big hugs))) Sorry Fraser is sick yet again. You just don't ever get a break do you? As for the pics...at the suggestion of another BW mom elsewhere I use http://www.photobucket.com. I upload the pic and then copy and paste the image code. It's soooo easy.
Now for us. Cole woke early last night and wouldn't go back down. Fed at 9pm! So when he woke at 2:30 I tried to let him settle but he was hungry again. If he wakes before 3 he'll go back to sleep no problem. It's after 3am that he'll stay up for an extended time. He woke at 4:15 but settled JUST before I went in to rescue. yay for me for holding back. Then woke at 5:20 and played until 5:50. phew.
made sure he stayed up 2 hours and napped 7:40-9:00. yay.
gotta run...he's fussing in the exersaucer.
Traci
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Well it seems as though everyone is eitherin the midst of or about to start solids.
Riley has had cereal twice today, and yesterday, so far so good. I think I see her left bottom front tooth coming in, so we are up with night wakings again.
I tried pu/pd, pat/shh, repositioning, but nope none of that, it was food or nuthin'.
At least dh got up and made me a hot choc while I was up though, he has mysteriously pulled his head out of his @## lately :D :D . He has been ordered to take me out for dinner friday night, so I guess I am going out!!
Judy- Riley has only been wanting to do hour long naps lately, but she does go down better at night as she is more tired. Now whether this is a phase I have no clue, but it does make my nights easier.
WOW!! aren't we all some really gorgeous mums, judy, andrea and richelle, you should put yours up too!! I know we would all love to see how beautiful you are.
Well I am off, toodles for now everyone, enjoy your day or evening where ever you are.
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Lovely pictures all - and Traci, love the new Avatar. What a cutie you've got :D
Judy - we operate here on about 11-12 hours of nighttime sleep and 2-3 hours of napping during the day.
Jo - So sorry that Fraser is sick again - poor little guy - and poor mom to have to deal with it :(
Andrea - Katie sometimes gets super grumpy too in that long stretch between 3:30 and 7:30 - she'll only stay awake that long if she's had to 1.5 hour naps during the day - I tend to shuffle her around from one thing to the next to keep her interested, or we'll sit outside or go for a walk. She's always been pretty stubborn about when she will/won't sleep so if I take her out in the stroller and she doesn't want to sleep, she won't. Sometimes if she really does need the sleep I'll drive her somewhere just to get her to close her eyes for 10 minutes or so which is enough to keep her going. I generally just have to get her to 7 because once I start getting her ready for bed, she tends to stop being cranky. On good days, her dad is home around 6 too, so he plays with her and keeps her happy.
Richelle - What I have figured out is that the #1 foods are a bit more pureed and are the single foods (just carrots, apples, etc). The #2 are sometimes mixed (apples and pears) so you want to wait with them until you have tried all the #1s to make sure of no allergies. (At least that's what it says on the Gerber website). I think you're supposed to hold off on meat for awhile too. (Not sure until when.)
Andrea again - about solids - we started with rice cereal and then moved to fruits (bananas, pears, prunes, and apples) and are now working on vegetables (sweet potatoes and squash so far). I have Super Baby Food, though I haven't quite worked up the nerve to try making it myself just yet. Strange that I feed more secure giving her the stuff in jars. I feed her twice a day, once about an hour after her morning feed and then again at 5:30. She's really only mildly interested in breakfast, doesn't take much. At night I can get her to eat a good amount - especially if apples or prunes are involved. I haven't given bananas much because she seemed a bit constipated. We've also moved on to oat cereal instead of rice too, so that seemed to straighten things out in the pooping department.
Have to run - Katie's about to pass out on the floor. :D
-Erin
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OK, ladies. Sorry it's been a while since I posted. I've been following along, just haven't had a chance to post. But now I'm at my wits end and needing some advice. Olivia has taken good naps since she was 6 weeks old...until about a month ago. I didn't really try anything specific to try to expand them, hoping they would take care of themselves. I thought they might as she had a few days of 2-hour naps again, only to go back to 45-minute naps. Now they're getting shorter. This morning she only slept for 30 minutes. And I've been in and out for the last 45 minutes trying to calm her.
I have tried the longer wind down and that does help her fall asleep, but she still can't get past the first sleep cycle. Yesterday she was able to calm herself down and go back to sleep, but she usually doesn't. I've tried pu/pd (granted I haven't been very consistent with it), but its seems to upset her more the more I try to calm her. Today I even took her out and tried the whole wind down from the beginning, but that only made her more upset. I know she's still tired, b/c she's fussy and rubbing her eyes. She's just very spirited...especially when it comes to naps.
I know some of you have gone in before the first sleep cycle is over and hold them while they settle themselves back to sleep. I've not tried that. For those of you who did that, did it work? And how do you go about it? And has anyone tried anything else? I'm open to suggestions at this point. Someone please tell me I will get past this and she will take long naps again. I need to get things done!!
Sorry for the long post...needed to vent!
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hello girls, it's been a few days since i've posted. DH has been home and has been helping me tons to keep my sanity!!! :D :shock: We are currently living like Fred and Wilma Flinstone!!! I'm sleeping in the spare bedroom with earplugs and NO MONITOR! :D I've been having problems getting to sleep and staying asleep so I hope that I'm getting caught up on some needed zzzz's. My DH thinks he's a comedian...the other night as I'm kissing him goodnight (before I went to my own room :D ) he says to me " I hope I don't get you pregnant tonight".....funny. Anyways, I don't know what was up with Jack last night but (according to my DH) he was up at 2:45-3:45 then every 45 min after that until 7:30!!! luckily it was DH dealing with him :D :D :D Jack hasn't woken at night for 2 weeks now so last night is a complete mystery!!! so sad though....DH goes back to work tomorrow for possibly another 5 weeks :cry:
As for the solid thing: we first started with rice cereal...1 hour after morning bottle. It constipated Jack big time!! Then we moved on to oat cereal. He wasn't too keen on it so I started feeding it to him before his morning bottle so that he would eat more. Once he started taking to the oats better then we introduced veggies. I started feeding them to him an hour after his "lunch" bottle. Once he was taking 1-2 oz. easily we moved the solids to before the bottle and added in a "dinner" feeding too.
Gotta go DH just brought me home a latte.... :D
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whoa! been a long time since i've posted too...
mmm latte. i miss those.just a quick note, mickeymuscles - micah's been waking up around the same time too. last night i was so fed up that i just gave him the paci around 5:45 and he slept another 45 minutes. he used to be able to sleep right thru all the sleep cycles at night but for the past several weeks it's been crazy. we're working on dropping the last nap but i still dont' know what's going on. someone please tell me it's all jsut developmental and it iwll magically go away one day :D
i don't have any good pics of myself but i'll post one of my lo since i can't figure out the avatar thingy./
oops gotta go micah is scooting backwards all over the place!#
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Hi, girls! Doesn't it seem like we are all in sync? Lots of good days/nights followed by some bad ones. It's like in high school where AF comes to visit you all at the same time. (Totally random observations, sorry! :oops: )
Welcome, Richelle!
Michah'smom: Sorry about the Cubbies. I'm a Chicago transplant to St. Louis and have been brainwashed to be a Cardinals fanatic. We are winning our first NLDS game right now. Yahoooo! :D :D :D
Things here are going well. Pretty much as soon as I posted that "we'd just die without the catnap" Ryan has decided to stop taking them. :shock: He's actually doing quite well, but it's just like I jinxed myself or something. He's started taking longer morning and afternoon naps to make up for it and is going to bed a bit earlier. Too bad, since we've got daylight savings coming up. (Traci: Ours is on Oct. 30th (I'm 97.2% sure), if that helps).
Wish me luck...swimming lessons today and last week we had to miss b/c Ryan was too fussy. I think that was the beginning of the catnap strike, now that I think about it.
Have a great day!!!
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kate, must feel nice when your team actually wins :D
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Judy, I can't believe that you have had 4 children, you look fantastic!!!
I simply do not know how you do it, I go out of my tree at times with my two!!
And you say you are nursing in the pic by the pool, okay that's it you are my hero!!!! :D :D
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Judy, that is a great picture of you and your twins. All your girls look like you (mind you, I haven't seen your DH)
I ditto Naomi... nursing in double front carriers standing up at the pool while watching two other kids. OMG... hero status is an understatement!
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Judy, that picture is the BEST :lol: - thanks for sharing
Nancy - have you tried extending awake time? - Katie's awake times are between 2.5-3 hours right now, otherwise I can't get her to sleep at all past 45 minutes (if that). We're almost on a 4+ hour EASY these days. Also - when things go wacky like that around here, it's something developmental, like teeth, increased mobility (our current battle), etc.
-Erin
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Hi everyone, I feel like it's been ages since I wrote anything. I'll have to sort out a photo of Daniel and I to put up for you all to see. It's so nice seeing all you guys, having a face to a name is great.
I've been going thru some interesting situations with Daniel lately and I hope you don't mind but I'd like to share my thoughts here with you guys. Any feedback on my ideas are welcome.
We had a really good few days while my mum and dad were here with Daniel, I thought we had everything sorted. Then it all turned to custard yesterday. So, I'm accepting the fact I need to keep him awake and I need to stay up when he wakes early (ish) - closer to 6am then 5am. Or if he wakes and feeds at 5am then get him up by 6.30am! I've let him go back to sleep until 7.30am for 2 days and it's caused real problems getting him back to sleep for his first nap. Basically I think Daniel was getting too much night sleep (equiv of about 13 hours) and he doesn't need that.
Secondly I have decided no matter how he struggles to get his arms out, I must wrap him at night for a couple of weeks longer to get his bodyclock adjusted to sleeping through the night. He doesn't wake (well - he didn't wake) for the 2-3 nights I wrapped him again, so I let him loose, thinking we'd cracked it. But alas.... no..... He's started waking at midnight and 5am and as it's around the same time each night I know it's a habit. But ofcourse, he won't settle without feeding. He kind of did thismorning, but just for 30mins or so. I'm hoping if I get him sleeping thru for a good couple of weeks, when I next try to unwrap him, he might be okay. Has anyone had experience with this?
Thirdly with Daniel's solids I've been giving him breakfast (apple) and lunch (pumpkin), but since the apple was introduced, he's only taking a few mouthfuls of pumpkin. So I'm going to try apple (about 9 mouthfuls) for breakfast, then pumpkin for dinner instead of lunch. I guess I'll have to introduce new foods at breakfast though, so he'll be having some veges at 8am. Oh well, he doesn't know the difference at this age I guess :? I'm going to puree some kumara (I think you guys call it sweet potato) to try tomorrow.
Oh great, he's just woken up after 45mins, not a good day, it's 2pm and so far all he's had is 30mins and now 45mins. If he doesn't go back to sleep I'll put him in the buggy for a walk to get him to sleep longer. :cry:
Sorry, can't keep typing, crying going on that needs me, but just quickly, Olivia's mummy, how long is Olivia awake for, maybe she can be extended?
Ohhhh he's gone quiet.... Mickymuscles, hope you're getting some more sleep. It's not good when as mum's we can't sleep when we need to. I guess it's similar to what our bubs go through, the less sleep they get, sometimes the harder it is for them to sleep.
Kate, yay for Ryan, how early does he go to bed out of interest? The best night we've had followed by the good day was when Daniel went down at his body clock time of 5.30pm (due to new time of daylight savings it was now 6.30pm). Then he slept all night. But if I put him down at 5.30pm everynight, it just seems soooo early. I guess he wouldn't need a catnap though! Normally he's 6.30pm.
Judy, it sounds like things are really coming together for you and sorting themselves out at night. That's great.
Enough from me, I'll check in again soon and try to keep up this time.
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Judy You look awesome and I love the standing BF pic. That is just NUTS! I have said this before but I bow down to you :wink:
Last night Cole fed at 9pm then at 2:20am. Should I try to eliminate this 2am feed? Thing is, there is no way he'll go from 9-6...and if he did settle back down at 2 he'd be up at four and I'm afraid he wouldn't settle right away. He'd likely feed until 4:30 then stay up until like 5:30 or something crazy. It just seems easiest to feed if he'll go back to sleep. If I don't have a problem with it...is there anything wrong doing it? And I don't DF, I let him wake. Sometimes it's 9pm, 10pm, 11pm or 1 or 2am :?: :?: :?: Who knows with my little guy. I guess I don't mind the feed since I'm not working and I've got him on a 1.5 hour morning nap and I nap at the same time! Maybe if he feeds later tonight (closer to 11) I'll try wake to sleep at 1:30 and see if he makes it to 6.
I am hoping he'll sleep through once we start solids...but I'm in no rush there. I want to wait a couple more weeks until DH is done his exam so that he can be involved and feed Cole his breakfast. He'll never see him at night with his early bedtime so I figure it would be nice for him to give him breakfast and put him down for first nap :D
okay, time for bed. It's a whopping 9:30 pm here but who knows what the night will bring!
mickymuscles sorry to hear about DH off to work again. is he in the army or some such thing? not sure if you've mentioned it before. hope you catch up on your zzzz's before he goes.
Traci
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Hayley: Ryan goes to bed between 7 and 8:30, depending on his daytime sleep and our schedule. Tonight, he went down at 7:30.
We had our swimming lesson and he had only had an hour nap this afternoon (jinxed myself again! :evil: ) so he had a short catnap while I nursed him (me too :oops: Don't remember doing that before.) from 6-6:40 or so. I had to wake him up to give him dinner and to see his daddy for a bit. (They both need that time...and so do I!) Thought that random nap would totally throw him off, but he seemed to go down fine.
We'll see what tomorrow brings. Bye, girls!!!
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Traci... I can't remember if you were doing the DF before and had dropped it. I know that when I started DFing, Arwyn still woke habitually at 2 and then 5. I started DFing at 11, which gave me the courage to pat/shush at 2. It didn't take very long... I can look back in the pages of posts to see exactly when but she dropped the 2 am waking with no problem after a few days. You have naps down pat (shush?? :D ) so I'm thinking that Cole can handle dropping the 2 am. He sounds like a textbook/angel baby to me... correct me if I'm wrong. JMO but it worked for me. I didn't do wake to sleep because if there was a chance Arwyn was not going to wake up, I wasn't going to either :!:
So, we are now working on dropping the 4 am waking. I started on Friday night (the 30?) and last night, she stirred but put herself back to sleep!!!!!! Could it be? My goal was to have her sleeping through the night by the time she was 6 months. She is 6 months tomorrow... dare I hope?
We are also working on having 2 long naps (well, 2 naps of more than 45 min.). Today, nap #1 was 1hr 30m. Nap #2 was 45m plus 45m pu/pd & pat/shush resulting in an additional 1hr 30 min unassisted!! Holy smokes people, the crowd goes wild!!!! And the skeptic in me says, Let's see what happens tomorrow. :wink:
Having mentioned that Arwyn dropped her catnap for 2 days, she needed it back today. GRRRUUUMMMPPPEEE! So, down at 5:15 pm, woke at 6 pm, down again at 7 pm.
Ta ta everyone... off to yoga. I hope I don't return to a bleary-eyed Daddy sitting on the futon with DD again.
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hi gals,
great pics of you all! Love the one of you BF both girls at the same time Judy. I think every single one of you look AMAZING!!!
Naomi and the rest-I will post a couple of pics later tonight as well as a longer post to catch up...I know which ones I want to post but of course need DH's help! I tried to figure it out on my own this morning at 4:30 (taylor was up with her cold), but not happening! :x :roll:
Erin-thanks so much for all the advice/info. on the solids...really appreciate it!
I started to read Super Baby Food today and it is GREAT! can't wait to delve in more.
talk to you soon!
ANdrea
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BTW, whoevers idea it was to post the pictures of ourselves was great! If we feel comfortable I think it is nice to put a face to teh name...and familiarize eachother not just by our lo's pics.
have you all ever noticed that often times when you meet a mom on the street teh first thing we do is ask our kids names, ages, etc...and many times don't even introduce ourselves or do it as we are saying goodbye? I think it's sad sometimes and always kick myself afterwards.
sorry for the philosophical rant! :lol:
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AAAHHH the computer goons just stole my post. It was a long one too (who, me?? :oops: :lol: )
So instead, I'll just post my quick question - for those of you who said you give your LO's peas and prunes - how do you prepare them? Do you use frozen peas? Dried prunes? This solids business is doing my head in!
Enjoy your yoga Ankie (I'm completely jealous!)
Bye for now
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Hey Ankie...I didn't go to bed afterall because Cole was up to feed at 10:10! I did the DF for about 4 weeks I think before Cole started his super early bedtime of 6pm. I suppose I could DF at 10 but the problem is that his last feed before bed is 5:30 and he still might wake a bit earlier than 10. He SHOULD be able to make it 7.5-8 hours...but that is still kind of a stretch. He's done it a few times for the first part of the night (Friday from 5:30pm-1:50am!) I might try wake to sleep tonight since he fed after 10. He did something new tonight though and was up after his feed. His eyes were open when I put him down. I think he might have some gas. He hasn't cried out though so there is no way i'm going in. he's been babbling a bit here and there.
now it's time for bed. 11pm. sooo tired and 5:30 will come too soon.
good night/morning everyone.
Traci
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Hi, I just went to post a pic of me and Daniel, but the one's I wanted to use are still in the camera, and we gave my dad the little download card reader thingy. We're getting a new screen this week which can read cards, so hopefully next week I'll be able to sort one out. There's hundreds of photos of Daniel by himself, loads with hubby and D, but hardly any of me and Daniel.
When I was writing my last message and Daniel started crying, he ended up putting himself back to sleep very quickly (with his music playing). It makes me wonder could he do this at night?? It just seems soooo loud and much longer at night, although today it took about 2-3 mins. I know I should just try it, but I can't bring myself to leave him for even a minute when it's more than a whimper. I'd never to the CIO thing, but I wonder should I try just a couple of mins....
In the meantime, I'll wrap tonight and see what happens.
Ankie - good on you for getting out to yoga. I keep talking about doing exercise, but it doesn't happen.
Frasers Mum - why did they goons steal your post???? Will they post it eventually?
I was reading the nap board today and did you guys realise that at 6 months, babies need only about 2.25hour sleep for naps during the day and 12 at night? So, going by that, most of us are probably trying/wishing for longer naps when maybe they don't need them? Daniel often only does 2.25-2.5h sleep per day plus 11-12 hours at night, so although I didn't realise it, he's right on track! Ahhh my textbook baby with a bit of touchy thrown in - he knows what he's doing better than I do! :oops:
Oops, I'm rambling again, see, now I'm back I can't shut up! :roll:
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Well glad there are others still feeding in the night too!
Danielle has crept her feed up to about 12-1am now. Weird, she's doing a shorter stretch than when she was a newborn. BUT, it's the only feed, so she basically does 6hrs sleep, 15min feed and then 6hrs sleep. I'm wondering whether to intro the DF again so I'll also get the courage to pat back to sleep if she wakes at midnight. :? I have a feeling I did CIO last night :shock: I was so tired and I could hear her starting to wake and just fuss, but think I fell back asleep because it was 2.30am when she woke again...dunno, surely I wouldn't have slept right through her crying and maybe she resettled after a few minutes (there was a really loud downpour at the time so maybe it kind of made the noise not so loud?).
Anyway, all is fairly predictable here, I'm so loving having an Angel baby this time around (except for the night feed!).
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Hi Everyone. I really want to put some pics on but i don't really know how! Marli is going a bit hay wire in the day and i'm not sure if she's cutting down to 2 naps. on Sunday it was a dissaster she would not goto sleep and had a total of 1.5 hrs sleep all day..Not good. by 5.30pm she was absolutely exhauseted. Since then her naps are only 1 hr max at a time she seems to look like she is tired but i cant get her back to sleep. I give her cereal with pears or apples mixture for lunch she loves sweet potato and pumpkin and dinner either fruit or veges most days i only give her b fast and dinner. I made up some peas by steaming frozen peas and puree them then push them thru a sieve. I did the same for sweetcorn which i just read they shouldn't have yet..but she really likes it. I feel like just when i get the hang of things the whole thing changes again to keep me on my toes. Any suggestions on a 51/2 months day would be great! Hope your all having a great week. Just want to say how much I'm loving this site i'm addicted! every question i think of is on here somewhere..
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Debprins if you go to http://www.photobucket.com (free registration) and upload your pics to the site, you then copy paste the image code underneath the pic right into your post. It's easy. Let me know if you have questions.
Nancy I wonder if you're holding Olivia too long towards the end of wind down? Is she really drowsy in your arms? I read that if you hold them too long and they go through too many stages of sleep in your arms then they can't self soothe back at the end of the sleep cycle. HTH
Selena Micah is such a cutie-pie.
gotta go and nap. Cole just went down really well for first nap. He slept 6:20-6am with feeds at 10:10 and 3:15am. I tried patting for 15 min. as he was up at 3 but didn't have the stamina. He didn't really seem as hungry as he usually is, so I didn't feed as long and I'll try to gradually reduce the number of minutes I feed him and maybe he'll start to sleep through. On a positive note he went back to sleep! He usually stays up if he's up after 3...AND he slept until 6 and played until 6:15. Maybe I'll try to keep bedtime closer to 6:15-6:30...
happy day everyone
Traci
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Well I have tried my best to read the last posts. I went to bed on p.76!!!!
On the sleep thing, Riley has begun to do 3 1hr naps through the day, bedtime is a little rough though as she has a tooth that is trying to cut through. I thought there was one before but I must have been seeing things.
She is doing well on solids, I gave her rice and banana cereal today, it made her better last night I think, she only woke at around midnight and then at her usual 6am and got up at about 8:30.
For bedtimes we aim for between 7 and 8, that is for both of them.
My son has just informed me he is "making tea" with crayons for spoons and mega blocks for cups :D :D
Well I should pop off for now, Riley has her 6mth check up today and I have an appt for an iud insertion, Oh Yippee Yay!!, isn't my night going to be fun tonight, teething and shots!!!!
Oh! don't forget the chat tonight ladies, check out the lounge for more details!!
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One thing I forgot...Happy Birthday Arwyn!!! :D
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Hi Ladies,
Wow - this thread really does move quickly!! I will try to dig up a photo of myself with Sophie-there don't seem to be too many..hmmmmmm
No kidding this solids thing is enough to do your head in!! Kudos to you ladies (most of you I think) that are making your own baby food - I am even confused with the jars!
Sophie now sleeps through (Cereal has been well established) but when she was still waking at 4am, I would give her some water from a bottle - while she was still in her crib - and if she gobbled at it I would get her up and feed her and if she wasn;t hungry (which was most of the time) it seemed to give her enough comfort to go back to sleep. This only took about a week and she sometimes stirs and wakes but puts herself back to sleep and I have yet to go into her room to get her before 6AM :P !!
Nancy, What really helped me with Sophie's naps was having a really dark room and I have to put her to bed wide awake. If she doesn;t put her self to sleep she can't get past 45 minutes and this has been since she has gotten older. Hope that helps, I know how frustrating the nap thing can be!!
My days off are over so I will try to keep up!
Where do you find the schedule for the chats?
Richelle
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richelle, there is a chat room link in the lounge, it starts at 10pm for me, I in the atlantic time zone, I can't remember if the caymen Islands are in the eastern or central zone, but basically it goes back an hour from my timezone.
Have a peek in the lounge, there should be something in there. It is wednesday right!!!
Oh, happy 6mths Arwyn!!!!
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oops, that's what i meant...happy half b-day arwyn :oops: :wink:
Does it go against BW forum etiquette to post jokes and stuff on here? My friend just sent me the most hilarious little snippits on marriage and I'd love to share them but don't want to if it's not allowed. Anyone know?
thanks
Traci
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Yes, Arwyn is 6 months today and she was so excited she got up at 6:30 instead of 7. :) Thanks for the b-day wishes!
Well, Arwyn didn't wake up at 4 am last night. That was my goal for 6 months. BUT... she woke at 9 and midnight :shock: . And... I want to know why she does this only on the nights I go out somewhere. Last week, she woke at 9pm as well, while I was at yoga. Same thing last night. Also, the other day when I tried to dash out to the grocery store, she woke up too! DH thinks it is planned :wink: for when he is home alone with DD. Can't possibly be separation anxiety in her sleep :?: You can't tell me that she knows I leave the house while she is asleep. (Well, you can but I'd have a hard time believing it.) Anyway, I guess it is DH's problem!
We have had pretty good days around here lately as we are staying home to get in all her naps and such. Sometimes I feel like a party-pooper when I don't join my other mommy friends for our walks or for coffee. Inevitably (sp?) the times always land on when I need to feed her. Ironically, when she was having short naps, I could work around it but now that I am working on her having longer naps (and it is working!) I can't go.
Oh well, can't have it all!
Traci... I have seen jokes on this forum... I think in the Lounge.
Hope to see you guys in the Chat Room tonight. I'll be late... I can't make it when it starts as we are still in "awake baby mode".
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well...DH still home...yeah for rain!!! ( he works on the oil rigs) I'm so thankful that he is so helpful....I wish I could figure out why I can't sleep!! :shock: I've made an appt. with my doc for next week to go check out my thyroid....maybe with any luck it'll be an easy solution!!
I'm going to try and post a pic of me and Jack...I don't have very many pics of myself either. DH said it was because it was because they would all be semi-porno since I always had my boob out when I was holding Jack :roll:
P.S. my name is Micky :D
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/mickymuscles/105_0521.jpg)
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well...DH still home...yeah for rain!!! ( he works on the oil rigs) I'm so thankful that he is so helpful....I wish I could figure out why I can't sleep!! :shock: I've made an appt. with my doc for next week to go check out my thyroid....maybe with any luck it'll be an easy solution!!
I'm going to try and post a pic of me and Jack...I don't have very many pics of myself either. DH said it was because it was because they would all be semi-porno since I always had my boob out when I was holding Jack :roll:
P.S. my name is Micky :D
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/mickymuscles/105_0521.jpg)
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Hi everyone - I've been meaning to say to Traci, that I love all your photos, my hubby was most impressed that you had multiple photos up. It's taken me long enough to get one there! And great photo of you Micky and Jackson.
Ankie - I have the opposite happen if I go out, Daniel will sleep for AGES. I don't mind if he wakes and daddy has to entertain him till I get home, but it seems to work the other way around. Daddy gets a cruisy couple of hours while I rush around out of the house. I was helping my friend/neighbour pack up her house the other day and hubby thought I had Daniel with me for 2 hours!
We had a good night last night, Daniel managed to resettle himself (with his music playing) at 2am (first wake) and then at 5amish until 6am, then I got up to him. But he seemed so tired he's back in bed at 7.30am. So if he does a 40min nap I guess he'll be having 3 + a catnap, but if it's a long one then we may be able to do 2 + catnap. It seems crazy to think he needs so many naps at this age, but if he's getting up so early and tired after 1.5h then I guess I have to put him down. I wondered if I should have kept him up until 9am as that's my goal, but he just didn't look like he'd survive a total of 3 hours awake. He went to sleep without a sound, so must have been tired.
Off to make a coffee now, if I want to stay awake all day, I'll need it. :oops:
Happy 6mnths Arwyn ! :D
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Wow...I haven't checked back since my post yesterday (4 pages ago!) So sorry to those of you who responded...I was waiting to get an e-mail saying there was a post. When I never did, I thought it was odd that no one had posted here for so long (I know how busy this place is!) so I decided to check and I just got caught up on all the posts (I think).
Last night was bad...Liv was awake from 3:30-5:30. I fed her at 3:30 and she usually goes right back to sleep, but she didn't. I finally had to get DH up because I didn't know what else to do. Today has been better thought, she took a 2-hour nap this morning and is now on her 2nd 45-minute nap. I've decided to be happy if I get one good nap in, the others can be short.
Erin and Haley, I've thought about extending her awake times. She used to go 2 hours on the nose, but when her naps got shorter, she started getting sleepy around the 1.5 hour mark. So I've been starting the wind down at 1.5 hours and putting her down at 1 hr 45 min. I'd like to get back to 2 hours or even longer. How long are yours up? She's been on 4-hour EASY for almost 2 months now. Of course her naps have got her schedule messed up, but I try to keep feedings on schedule unless she's hungry another time.
Traci, I've been trying to reduce the amount of time I hold her at the end of wind down. I've gone from 5 minutes to about 2-3. She seems to fall asleep quickly. She goes from fighting it to asleep in seconds, so I'm not exactly sure when to put her down. She used to just let me put her in her crib and she'd go to sleep on her own. I'd like to get back to doing that but I'm not sure how.
Richelle, we do keep her room very dark and quiet for naps. I even turned off her night light last night when I was trying to get her back to sleep. It does seem to affect her.
Thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate the insight. If you have any more suggestions, I'm open. I'll try to get a pic of Liv and me to post sometime soone.
Someone's awake...gotta go. Hope everyone has a great night!!
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Hayley...thanks for the compliment on the pics...but I didn't do the avatar. Gareth (the site admin. guy) was nice enough to create it for me.
Nancy. What kind of cues does Olivia give you? Cole goes down wide awake. During wind down he *might* yawn or rub his eyes. It's not until we walk in his dark room that he really starts to get down to business yawning, rubbing eyes and inchworming against me. When I walk in his room I sit in the glider for about a minute max. Otherwise he's fighting me and trying to settle. You might want to try putting her down a bit earlier so she can settle herself...even if it means having to pat her a little bit while she's in the crib.
I would also try to stretch her to 2 hours (except maybe before morning nap). I first thought Cole couldn't go very long but it turns out he could. He seems sleepy after an hour sometimes but then must get a second wind. I'm trying to think back 4 weeks ago and I was pretty new to this...but I received a PM from someone saying her DD did A times of 1.75, 2, 2.5 and 2.5. Hopefully if you can move your way to something similar it will eliminate the short naps. And lately Cole at 6 months tomorrow is at 2,2.25,2.5,2.5. HTH
For us we had two BIG developments today.
1) my little boy isn't so little anymore. He graduated out of his infant seat :cry: into his new Britax Marathon. I can already tell it's going to be a pain in the bum. It used to be so easy...get him out, set him on the ground and get the other bags etc out and then go in house. Today I could barely manage him and my purse!
2) Cole refused his catnap! this might be for three reasons a) he hadn't settled and after 10 min. I went in and his arm was caught in the rails :oops: b) I left his door a little bit more open as a test to see if he needed a cave to sleep in. I'm worried about him always sleeping in such a dark room and then him not being able to sleep when we go out places. He's going to have to sleep in his pack n play a few times in the next few weeks so I need to see if he can sleep with a little bit of light.
c) he had 12 hours of sleep last night and went right back to sleep after both feeds...so no real night waking. he had two 1.25 hour naps...so maybe that's enough sleep.
Anyway, i popped him in the stroller for a long walk, then a long bath. He handled it all very well...not much fuss at all. Then at feed he fell promptly asleep (Judy-did you jinx me :wink: ). He woke on the way up the stairs and getting him into his grobag and it took 10 min to settle and was asleep at normal time of 6pm thank goodness. Woke at 45 and cried 2 min. then back to sleep. Not bad considering he was up 5 hours. I guess he is part angel after all. Now I need to deal with transitioning away from catnap. sigh. I just got our routine in place!
Anyone else having wrestling matches with their los on the change table? I cannot get him to sit still. I give him stuff to play with etc and it doesn't work. Today I had his feet in my left hand, my left forearm trying to pin him down while I handled a huge poopy diaper with my right. he STILL managed to roll right over on the table! Next time I tried the floor...but that just gives him more room to roll and I was wiping his bum as he creeped along the floor LOL!!!
okay, gotta get dinner together. i might try the chat later if I can figure it out. I know how to log in...but not sure where I type or how it works. still feel kind of dumb. I know naomi tried to explain it but i'm still confused. I'll check it out though. :?
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Hi All,
Ah, can't keep up! I'll type what I remember
Nikki, we still have the middle of the night feeds. No success like Ankie with achieving sleeping through by 6 months... :roll: Fraser is, like Danielle, inching his feed earlier and earlier - last night 11.30pm. What's with that??
I notice that a number of us have increased night wakings at the moment. As I said, we had an 11.30pm wake (I tried to get him back to sleep for 20 minutes but - well - I don't have to tell you all about the screaming!!) He may have woken again at 2am or thereabouts and I may have fed him but honestly I cannot remember :oops: Neither can DH. We are all struggling with colds at the moment and sleep deprivation obviously - I am functioning on autopilot... :oops: He then woke again at 5am and didn't want to go back to sleep. DH went into the room with him and he finally fell asleep at about 6.30am - I had to wake him at 7.15 to feed because I am at work today and had to feed him before I left. I guess the 6 month growth spurt is here in full swing (that's what I guess anyway).
Traci - Fraser is all over the place with his cat nap - needs it some days, doesn't others, some days refuses even when he needs it (yesterday :roll:) When will it end.....?
Sophies Mum - was it you who posted ages ago (well, probably 2 days but about 9 pages!) about any other working mums? I'm a full time working mum and have been back at work since Fraser was 3 and a half months. It is hard I completely sympathise with you. Feel free to post questions or PM me if you need to chat or vent.
OK, that's all I can think of. I'm going to try and post that pic again....
Chat later
Love Jo
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Hey it worked!!
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I'm sorry I just can't get over how hot we all are!! :D :D
We are one gorgeous bunch of mummy's.
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Hey, girls! Just wanted to check up on our pages...can't miss more than half a day or you're sunk! :wink:
Jo: ADORABLE!!!
Hayley: (Hope this doesn't seem too pushy!) I was thinking that you might want to get some sort of remote control device for Daniel's music. Then, you could just stand out in the hallway and turn it on when he needs it and he wouldn't see you. Or, you could just run it all night with a repeat feature (if you're music system has one).
Off to babysit for a friend who is going to the theater. Must be nice. :? So, no chatting for me tonight. Have fun without me!
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YAY JUDY!!!! :lol: And go girls - send those sleepy vibes Fraser's way!
And how funny is that photo!
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Judy - YAY :D Here's hoping for a repeat tonight!
Nancy - Regarding longer awake times - when Olivia starts getting sleepy at around an hour and a half, bring her somewhere else and interact with her and it should wake her up somewhat. Even if she fusses a bit initially, try it for a few days and see if you can keep her up longer and sleeping longer. Anything under 2.5 hours awake now and Katie seems to be awake after about 30 minutes (if that!).
Jo - love the pic of your and Fraser - I love how happy everyone looks with their LOs - I feel like I have never smiled so easily in pictures as I do now :)
Traci - I hear you about the wrestling matches. I brought DH upstairs to help hold her down as I changed a nasty poopy diaper and she still managed to wriggle away and get poop all over herself, me, the wall, the changing table, etc....seems like since she's not crawling yet, she's not even mobile...lol...can't even imagine what I'm in for when she really starts moving
Take care all!
-Erin
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Judy, love the pic.
what did you change yesterday, daytime sleep?
okay, back to the chat...
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Traci and Erin--thanks so much for the advice. I'm going to try to extend her awake times. I hadn't even thought that could be it. I was afraid she was getting less and less sleep, so I kept trying to put her down earlier. Her cues are usually rubbing eyes and fussy. But now that I think about it, she's usually fussy after she's been doing one activity for awhile. So maybe a change of scenery will give her a second wind. We're at about 1 hr 45 min now...I'll try for 2 hours tomorrow then keep increasing it by 15 min every few days. Is that how you guys did it? Did that work for you?
Thanks so much...we'll let you know how it goes!!
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yep. 15 minutes increments. good luck.
remember...you might just have to do something low key if she's fussy. walk with her in a carrier or play in the nursery with low lighting...
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traci you were too much fun tonight on the chat, the rest of you girls should try and catch us next week.
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Thanks, Traci!
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ya, the chat was a blast. had a lot of fun.
i pm'd you...i used a bad word..well, not that bad and it automatically changed it to ^%$& characters! didn't know it did that.
Cole has to be going through another spurt. He ate at 8pm...I thought because he fell asleep eating at 5:30...but he just ate again at 11. Long night ahead I think.
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Ah Traci - sounds like my night last night..... Good luck!
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Just came from the chat... sorry to have missed you Naomi... and sorry I missed the fun! Traci, how is Cole... you had to dash off to feed?
Judy... That picture is SO very cute. That makes motherhood worth it, doesn't it? Those AAAWWWW moments.
Well, Arwyn had a crappy, oh, and cranky day today. I even tried to NURSE her to sleep and she was having NONE of that! Yes, I was shocked that the magic boob no longer works it's magic. Anyway, still got 3 hrs total daytime sleep though... don't know why she was so darn cranky all day! That's more than she was getting with short naps... although it is less than she gets with long naps. Perhaps this is the problem.
Judy... my DH thinks that it is possible that Arwyn knows I am gone. He says that when he goes in to put her back to sleep that she looks around when he picks her up. He thinks she is looking for me. Possible I guess... maybe it is the start of separation anxiety? And how do I prevent/solve/remedy this? She woke up today at 8:30!! No reason and was back asleep in 11 minutes.
Well, tomorrow is a new day... I can hope I have a happy baby then!
Good night all!
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Ankie - this is no help to you I'm sure but I am SO glad I'm not the only one with a cranky baby :wink: Might be because he has a cranky Mummy! :wink: (Only sometimes!!)
Can you tell I'm not motivated to work today.... Tired, headache :(
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Hello to everyone :)
You are all a great bunch of goodlooking Mum's I must say...
Sienna doing well, still happy on two naps a day and a 4hrly feed routine. Sounds like eveyone else are all in there happy place at this time aswell!
Our nights are still a little erratic with usually at least 1 waking..and I have been feeding then because I'm not sure if I can handle some crying and risk Ky waking up as they are sharing the room..but may have to go for it soon as I really don't feel she is overly hungry and I may be creating a little habit!! :shock:
I will try and get round to posting an updated pic of Si soon :)
B :D
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Jo and Judy - I love the pics. And well done Judy, was it an earlier bedtime than you had been giving the girls? Did you keep waking expecting to hear them? I know I do sometimes.
I can't scroll back far enough to see who suggested I get a remote for Daniel's music. We actually bought a mobile with a remote for that very reason, but you have to point it directly at the mobile for it to work. (otherwise I'd be doing it from bed and not even have to get cold!). So we've moved the music part of the mobile and sat it on his bookcase by the door so I don't have to go in, that definitely helps. I tried wrapping Daniel again tonight, but it was hopeless. I just couldn't. So that's it, no more wrapping. I'll just have to deal with the night wakings if they happen with his music and hoping he'll self settle. Otherwise I might have to start PUPD. :cry:
Ankie, isn't it devastating when the magic boob doesn't work?!? I had that the other morning, I felt helpless, it's always worked! To help prevent the separation anxiety starting, does your hubby get Arwyn out of bed after naps when he's home even if you're there? If my DH is home then I'm 'not allowed' to get Daniel out of bed. Also, sometimes DH puts Daniel down for naps and night sleeps, just so he's not only used to me doing it.
I keep changing my mind about when to get Daniel up in the morning, but tomorrow I'm going to try feeding him at 5ish when he wakes, putting him back down and then getting him out of bed at 7am. Then keep him up about 2.5-3hours and see what happens. I decided I'd rather start conditioning his body to those times, not like thismorning's 6am start and back in bed at 7.30am. That sort of timing just makes everything too early. I think the reason he's been getting soooo upset is that I was trying to put him back to bed way to early. Perhaps after 12hours sleep he can stay awake 3 hours. I guess I'll know by this time tomorrow night!
See you later.
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Oops, forgot to say
Happy 6months Cole
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well, I think he was going through a spurt. I remember reading yesterday Jo that you couldn't remember if you fed Fraser at 2am and I thought-how do you not remember??? Now I get it...because I fed Cole at 5:20pm, 8pm, 11pm, and then 1:30 or 2:30 (don't remember) and I don't remember at all if I then fed again at 4 or something :?
The only other thing is he was way overtired from skipping catnap and that caused the waking? but it seemed pretty routine and he ate pretty good at each feed so i'm not going to worry about it. the other few times he's woken at 8 he's patted down easily so it must have been hunger.
Of course...right now he's going on four hours this morning *insert extremely confused look*. AND had a 45 min nap! so much for my advice to Nancy LOL. Cole woke at 5:20 but played until 5:50. He was very tired so i put him down for 7:30 but in retrospect should have stretched him until 8. As a result we walked DH to the train and went to the coffee shop as I had run out of cream. Good way to kill 45 minutes.
boy am I rambling today. i had a question for you ladies too...and now I can't remember for the life of me. I'm sure it will come to me while i'm feeding.
see you in bit.
Traci
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Two exciting events over here:
1.) Ryan passed his hearing screening at the doctor's office! 3 days (and 10 pages :wink: ) ago, I mentioned he had failed a re-screening and he was referred to his pediatrician. They said he couldn't have better hearing. :) Hooray. The culprit: (gross warning) a TON of earwax, including a piece the size of my pinkie nail. :shock: SICK!!!
2.) Had to go back to his orthotics doctor to get his helmet loosened again. His head is getting so rounded and big (0.4 cm in a week!), they told us his next appointment will be his last! Wahooooooo! Three more weeks and that stinky thing is out of here!
Other than that, we're doing well...catnap yesterday, then trouble going to sleep. :roll: I've got to just go with the flow and see when he'll drop it for good.
Have a great day!!!!
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Alright Kate, that is fantastic! I am fanatical about Cole's ears, but how are you supposed to get at the wax when they say not to use Q-tips :?: :? Now that he's getting more wet in the bath I find them better but still it irks me when i see some i can't get out. I don't think it's as bad as Ryan's though. And that is just awesome about getting rid of the helmet soon. That must be such a huge relief :D When is the next appt?
I must have an angel baby ladies...because I decided to keep Cole up to what would be his regular nap time if he had a normal morning nap. Well, within 15 minutes anyway. He was up for 3 hours (normally 2.25)Since he woke we've gone for a walk, fed, played in exersaucer and hung out on the floor. He went down for nap #2 in two minutes flat! I think he might drop the catnap without much problem if I extend his first A time quite a bit. To be honest, I only just extended it to 2 hours and now I think he's already ready to go longer. I really think at this age you have to go by the clock just as much as by their cues (as Hayley is experiencing)So...I am hoping for a really good nap right now. Should be at least 1.5 hours.
Oh, and my MIL is coming to hang with me and Cole tomorrow-wahoooo, i'm going to head out and have a nice lunch on my own and do some much needed shopping and errands without lugging a baby.
Has anyone noticed that I'M the reason this thing is like 80 pages long. So when you see you haven't read about 4 pages...just assume i've taken up at least two pages :wink:
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me again. LOL. i remembered my question.
how many of you with 6+ month olds are still shhh/patting? I heard that around this time it stimulates them rather than calms them. I HATE pupd. I really do...and it's going to be so much harder to teach DH and MIL than patting would be. I did pupd last night before i realized he was hungry at 8pm. gosh...was it only 4 weeks ago that i was willing to do that for an hour at a time :oops: and his huge long Grobag doesn't make it any easier. okay, let me know. thanks
oh, and kate...LOVE the new pics and avatar!
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Glad to hear things are going so well with you Traci.
I have good news...I extended Olivia's A time this morning to a little over 2 hours (I was in the middle of something at the 1.75 mark and couldn't quite get ready for wind down.) I also cut the wind down from 15 minutes to about 7 minutes. I put her in her crib, and she was awake and talking and I thought for sure we were in for a long day. Since she was happy, I left her and went to put a load of laundry in. When I came back she was still asleep and she's been asleep for 1.5 hours now!!! I'm sure there will be more short naps to deal with, but this is the 2nd day of a long nap #1....Wooo-Hooo!!!
Thanks to all of you who suggested extending nap times...I would have never thought of that on my own.
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Nancy - woohoo! :D Hope it continues
Kate - That's great about Ryan's hearing and his head too. Great pics!
Traci - When I read one of your posts the other day I was thinking about how far Cole has come and the huge slew of problems you had at the start, so hey, you make have taken up lots of room, but at least you've gotten somewhere :D I do not pat/shh - and I'm just no good at pu/pd, so if Katie is fussy I will hold my hand on her tummy, not make eye contact, and just leave it there until she falls asleep (or is close to falling asleep) - I like to think I send her "go to sleep" vibes through my fingertips, though now that I have written that down it sounds really dorky. Of course, I pick her up when she is crying, though I do leave her to fuss sometimes - seems like as she's getting more mobile she has to roll over the place until she finds a comfy spot/position.
Take care!
-Erin
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Goodness gracious... I posted before going to bed and woke up to 2 pages?? Well, having slept through the night once, Arwyn decided to wake at 5 am. I left her there after she stopped crying and then my DH decided to get up so I asked him to put her back to sleep. She slept through until 7.
Any advice on whether I should just let her naturally wake up for this early morning waking and then put her back down using pu/pd or pat/shush? OR, should I do wake to sleep? I mentioned before that I don't want to use this because if there is a chance she won't wake, I don't want to be the one waking her up completely. She stirs even when I enter the room for the DF... I am nowhere close to her crib yet.
Erin... doesn't Katie move all over the place? I couldn't do that with Arwyn... once she is awake, she is mobile and twisting and turning all over the place. It really p!$$es her off when I hold her down... although I have literally placed my whole upper body on hers to keep her still. That doesn't bother her as much but still makes her pretty upset.
Olivia's mommy... Congrats!
Traci... Happy 6 Months Cole! I love hearing about what is happening with Cole. You have had such success since implementing BW techniques and I love hearing about them... gives me hope!
Kate... good news about Ryan. A hearing loss is scary... I have one and I fear Arwyn will have one too. We had a hearing screening at 10 days and will have another at 9 months.
Hayley... :cry: don't know what I'll do if the boob magic completely goes away. I have a BWing friend whose boob has lost its magic. It has kept me sane for so long I would be lost without that last resource.
Okay, gotta go and entertain my child. She has been up for 40 minutes and motoring along in her walker while I browse the site. :oops: [/b]
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yippee ladies! Only one more day of work! eventhough I am so happy I am a little sad. this place has been a part of my life for 5 years now :cry: Amy I crazy or what?
Anyhow, so sorry I have been a bad poster lately and not keeping up/commenting much on your lo's. it's just exhausting working w/ the commute and battling Taylor's cold.
just wanted to pop on and say that Taylor sat up on her own last night and i was the first one to witness it! I have so far missed many of her developmental milestones so was ECSTATIC to see this one myself! :D she looked so cute sitting like a grown up girl!
have a great day everyone!
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Andrea... Yeah Taylor!! It is very amazing isn't it?
Arwyn sat up for just a few seconds on her own for the first time this morning but when I moved, she turned her head to follow me and fell over. It is very cute... her head just kinda kept adjusting for the fall until she was on the ground.
Alright... what is up with the screwed up awake times and naps? I pretty much had given up on extending naps when the long naps suddenly came back a week ago. Now we are down to 1 long nap (I extend it no matter the length of time it takes me to pu/pd) and it is always the middle one.
HOWEVER, I watch her cues to let me know WHEN to put her down. So... this morning she was yawning at 1hr 30m. I put her down and poof, asleep after seconds. The problem is... sometimes she yawns when I think she should not yet be tired. OR, she rubs her eyes. Sometimes this happens only after 1 hr 15 min of A time. I know that she can go longer but if it is just her and I, she gets bored and whiney and continues to rub her eyes.
All this is recent so... is it a growth spurt? Is it all the activity from learning how to sit, creep, etc.? This has been going on since long naps came back. So... for a week, I have been second-guessing when to put her down. Any suggestions?
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Hello ladies!!
I am so excited to have found you. :) My lo, Sophie was born April 11, 2005.
I have so many questions and am looking forward to joining your chat next week, hope there's room for one more!
I am going to browse this conversation and see where you all have been with your babes. I tried the site about 2 months ago and didn't really find my niche, so i am really happy to be here thanks to Naomi!
I want to sit here writing and reading for hours, but Sophie should be waking up any minute, and I am sorry to say i have not even showered yet!!! It's 1:00pm here...yikes! It's been one of those days. I really needed to feel connected today. thank you.
:D
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Great news Kate! :D
Well Danielle slept through the night last night from 7pm - 6.30am! :shock: It must be 3mths since she did that. Bizarre, that 12.30 waking is totally habit. The night before I only fed her the minimum amount although I was worried that I'd be up to her again later but she didn't. I am tempted to do the water in a bottle idea - but she's never had a bottle and doesn't use a dummy, so don't think it would be a natural transition to weaning it out. I think she'll hopefully just start to break the habit - don't really fancy doing wake-to-sleep after only an hour of myself being in bed. The only difference was yesterday she did 3 x 45min naps so maybe because she had a catnap that took her up to 5.30pm she wasn't too overtired. Oh what to do. If she has her big nap in the afternoon there's not enough time to do a catnap as well... :? I'd rather have my two sleep for 2hrs together during the day than wake her after a short one and have her sleep all night - seems I can't have it both ways at the moment.
Anyone elses baby shaking their head for fun? Danielle often does it when we're out and she looks up at the ceiling at the bright lights of shops. I guess she's found it looks funny seeing the light flicking fast??
Sorry can't remember who asked (I can't view all past posts today?)...but I don't pat anymore and have never done pu/pd (just doesn't sit right with me). If D's not settling for a nap I generally just give her a jiggle and she seems to know it's there to help her calm. I just jiggle for a few seconds and leave the room and she nods off.
Naomi, how's things going in your house? Strangely, I've found myself being a lot calmer with Nathan myself in the past few weeks - things were starting to get out of control there for a while and my yelling was starting to escalate and I hate when that happens (seeing some of these TV programmes with parents yelling at their kids freaks me out since I do the same :cry: ).
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I just re-read my last post... I did not mean that I extend each middle nap no matter what. I only extend them when she wakes up crying and clearly needing more sleep.
This was of course, not the case today... wakes up after 1 hr 10 min happy as pie so... I got her up. Now, she is down again after only 1hr 45 min. She is very tired. Can't stop rubbing her eyes and is very fussy. So, if she takes her usual nap of 45 minutes, we will be done all our naps by 3 pm!!! Insane, I tell ya. Murphy's Law will occur today and she will have her long nap now, forcing me to wake her to go to her 6 month shots. :roll:
I mentioned before that Arwyn is a slow adapter and needs more than 3 days to change any behaviour. Well, Arwyn is apparently also a slow adapter to food. It takes at least 4 or 5 tries before she takes a new food willingly. She loves her yams now but a week ago it took forever to feed her 1 oz. Now, she gobbles it up.
Nikki... have you tried jiggling for the 12:30 to put her back to sleep? You could try it for a short time so that you don't wake Nathan up too. I know that Arwyn's wake-ups are all habitual so I no longer feed her when she wakes.
Okay, off I go to enjoy some "me" time.
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OMG - so much to read/comment on. I actually took notes!
Traci - good on you for trying the longer awake with Cole. Isn't it funny how they surprise us sometimes with what they can do. I know I underestimate Daniel sometimes.
Kate - yay for Ryans head. It can't have been easy having the helmut on for so long. But worth it for Ryan I'm sure. Oh yeah, I love the photos.
Nancy - sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference. Just a bit longer awake and a big nap - wahhoooo!
Ankie - a word of warning, don't let the 5am wake up become a habit. I was kicking myself thismorning because Daniel is still waking at 5am, he's been doing this for months. I wished I'd somehow stopped it sooner, but like you I keep thinking he'll grow out of it. I'm going to try wake to sleep tomorrow. I've got to do some reading up on it first to make sure I do it right. I've tried it for naps and it worked a couple of times, but if I recall correctly we need to do it about 5-7 times in a row to get it right, even if he does wake as per usual at 5am. I'll keep you posted on how it's going. What do you do when Arwyn wakes in the night now if you don't feed her? Do you just leave her to resettle?
Andrea - how wonderful you saw Taylor sitting up. Very exciting seeing them do things for the first time. I can't wait to see Daniel move by himself instead of cry when he wants something that he can't get to! :roll:
Welcome Hannah - Sophie's b'day is the same as Daniel's! And, if we'd had a girl, I really wanted to call her Sophie, now wouldn't that have been funny! But no, we've got a Daniel instead!
Nikki - isn't it wonderful when they sleep all night. Daniel shakes head head, but it seems to be he knows it means no. Like when he doesn't want any more solids to eat :cry: Not that he's eating much at all.
I hope I haven't missed anyone.......
As for Daniel, he's on his first nap for the day and it's been 1 1/2 hours. Yay! Does this mean we'll only get 45 mins thisafternoon though? He woke at 2am for a feed (huge, I think he was down one feed yesterday due to his waking/sleeping and us being out, so it was a catch up last night). THen again at 5.10am :evil: But I only gave him a tiny amount, about 2 mins feeding, changed nappy and back to bed. He slept until 6.45am, so I was pleased with that. Then I put him down at 9am and he's still asleep.
I'm really tired of this waking at night though and know he doesn't normally need food. I could not wrap him last night totally fights it, so that's fair enough, he doesn't need or want it anymore. So, it's wake to sleep for us.
QUESTION: The only other thing that has gone thru my mind as he sleeps now, is maybe he's a bit cold causing him to wake? The room is about 15-17degrees Celsius, and he's got a couple of cotton layers of clothes (long sleeve) and a sleeveless sleepingbag/grobag, plus sheet, polarfleece blanket and quilt. I'm wondering if his arms are cold as they are always out. The reason I'm thinking this, is that as he's blissfully sleeping now, he has a woolen jumper on aswell as his pyjamas.
Nikki you're down our neck of the woods and anyone else in southern hemisphere, how much are your lo's in at night?
Wow, this is a huge post, sorry ladies. Traci, I think it's a close competition between the two of us as to who fills up the thread the most :oops: I just find it so helpful thinking out loud to you ladies, you've got such good advice.
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Oh gosh, I feel I need notes too! I'll try to make this short this time.
I want to say thanks for remembering how hard it was at the start for us...and I'm happy to be a source of motivation. I'm just so lucky Cole is such an easy little guy.
Nancy-yay for you and Olivia. I was ecstatic the first time someone clued me in on A times.
Sophie-welcome to our madness!
Ankie-not sure what to tell you about the naps. I think if the first A time ends up a bit short it's okay...but maybe not the other ones? I've said before if I put Cole down when he yawned/rubbed his eyes sometimes we'd never make it to 1.5 hours and hello 45 min. nap!
Nikki-it was me asking about pat/shhh...thanks for the tip, i'll try to jiggle instead. And no, Cole doesn't shake his head yet.
Hayley-On my Grobag thermometer it says 15 degrees is "cool" and recommends 2.5 tog Grobag (thicker of the ones available) bodysuit and pyjamas. So it sounds like you might have it about right. boy, that's chilly. brrrrrrrrrr. coles room is 23 degrees. I know, on the warm side. Fall is just around the corner though and it will be closer to 20 very soon.
As for us, our second nap was 1.5 hours (yay) then we went to the mall again. He was sitting right up in his stroller like a big boy (no more infant sit). was a bit fussy on the way home and i'm happy to say he had a 45 min. catnap. went down like an angel just now for bed.
QUESTION. What do you ladies DO with your little ones. Just curious. This is a typical day (okay, so this post isn't so short afterall)
first A time: cuddles in bed with DH and I or if DH needs to sleep then I lay on LR floor while Cole creeps around and plays. feed. 30 min. walk in carrier and more floor time if needed.
second A time: 20 min. in exersaucer while i drink coffee and post here about our morning/night :wink: more floor time. feed. more floor time. how boring am I??? usually some music on during floor time. a story or two before next nap.
third A time: usually out to run an errand or two lately. I find myself going a bit nuts if I don't get out. feed. a story or two.
4th A time: floor time, long walk in stroller (40-50 min.), bath, feed
okay, time to make dinner.
i'll likely be back tonight because i am totally addicted to this place.
Traci
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Ankie, I have tried the jiggle once or twice but she gets quite snotty, so think she's using me to go back to sleep definitely. It probably would wake Nathan, but then he's been waking up to 4 times a night lately and needs a quick retuck and he's back to sleep anyway, so maybe worth risking it. :roll:
Traci, our typical day goes like this:
6.30am wake and feed and snuggle/lie in bed with me while DH gets Nathan breakfast
7am sits in infant chair and watches the boys while I have a shower
7.30am her and Nathan play in my room while I get ready for the day
8am she has floor play while I clean up the kitchen
8.30am I play with Nathan and she sits and watches/laughs etc - we roll a ball around/play catch etc
9am nap
10am we often go out and about
12pm sits on my lap while I check in here and Nathan has lunch/stories before nap
12.30pm nap
3pm we go out again shopping/walk in the buggy or playdate
4.30pm she will either have floor play/jolly jumper time/watch a Baby Einstein movie with Nathan/we sing songs and I'll do arm actions (like wheels on the bus)
5pm watch Nathan eat his dinner/have floor time
6.15pm bath/feed/bed (I need to incorporate story time here as well now)
That's about it really.
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Hello my friends :)
I need help... again. TIA!
We have been using sshh and slight cot rocking to help Frase settle when needed for sleep/naps. A lot of the time he goes off without any intervention but when he needs intervention that is what we have used.
Like a lot of other babies at the 6 month mark, the ssshh rock is now frustrating him and it works him up. When I try and rest my hand on him he pushes my hand away. He trashes, kicks the end of the cot and tosses and turns. I don't really want to pin him with force because he is just starting to roll over to find his comfortable spot before he goes to sleep and I want to let him get into the position he finds most comfortable.
This morning he screamed every time he was laid down in his cot and nothing we did soothed him. He is at home with DH who told me that any time he went into the room Fraser would get more worked up so he just stood at the door and eventually the scream turned into a cry and he then settled himself.
I am concerned that this is CIO and I don't want to leave Fraser when he is so upset. But - I don't know what intervention is now appropriate. I am uncomfortable with the idea of PUPD and really don't want to do that so I'm interested in any other tips you may have.
Thanks Ladies you are my lifeline
Cheers
Jo
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Jo, did he start his day off overtired maybe (was anything different in the night or start time today?). Has he eaten a new food in the last few days? How's his reflux?
Sorry, a million questions, but maybe it's just an off day rather than anything that you're doing with his sleep routine.
Does he have some sort of soother? Danielle has a blankie that I give her to suck on that instantly calms her down. It lays down the side of her body tucked under the blankets so it stays put, it rests over her arm so she can easily push it into her face as she needs.
Hayley, Danielle goes to bed with a shortsleeved all-in-one, pyjamas, thin woollen cardy then I wrap her body (from under the arms) in a woollen blanket (it's actually a thin wool shawl), then have 3 layers of thick cotton blankets over her which come up to her neck (she's in her safety sleep so she can't move under the blankets). She's still got the same number of layers as what she's always had since our nights are still quite cold. I'll probably drop a cotton blanket first and the woollen cardy will be the last to go since it keeps her upper body warm.
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(((hugs Jo)))
Not sure I can be of much help. Was DH in view of Fraser? I think that as long as he knew he was there I wouldn't be too concerned with trust issues.
Your situation is so different from mine. I'm not sure if Fraser needs more leniency/comfort because he's been so sick recently. I remember reading in Tracy's book that if they are sick not to bring them to your bed but to move a mattress or whatever and sleep in their room. I can see why you want to stay consistent and not start accidental parenting though. Is it just today that he screamed? Maybe he was overtired as Nikki suggested. How long did DH say it took him to settle? When Cole is overtired (like yesterday) he takes up to 20 minutes to settle...and sometimes crying very hard. My going in seems to make it worse/prolongs it so I let him be.
Hopefully it's just a one time thing. I'm sure he'll wake up and be the same happy guy you're used to.
Traci
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Jo - is Fraser screaming for every sleep or just his first morning one? I was going thru this with Daniel and I realised 2 things. Firstly, because of the early feed at 5am he often wouldn't take much when he woke up, then I never really felt like I got a good morning feed into him. I'd try a couple of times before his first nap and he wouldn't want it. Until I put him to bed! Then he realised he was still hungry. So, could this be the problem? Is Fraser still hungry? Secondly, I realised I was putting Daniel down way too early, as most babies seem to have a shorter awake time first thing. But it appears Daniel can usually do at least 2 hours before I put him down. It's only been this last week I've realised this and our mornings have become a lot quieter! Basically, he was protesting that he was not ready for bed! :oops: Just some thoughts for you to ponder....
I've just scrolled down and read Nikki's and Traci's comments, mine seem to be the opposite! Oh well, between all of us something might click!
Nikki, it seems like Daniel is way underdressed, perhaps he is cold. I know I like my arms snuggly under the duvet and mohair blanket, and I wake if I"m cold. Mmmmm might put a jumper on him to sleep tonight and see what happens. I just hope I don't cook him! I'm make sure the heater in the room isn't too hot. When I think about it, his arms are as about exposed as they might be in summer, so that's not probably warm enough for now.....mmmmmm He did take a 2 hour nap with his jumper on and that's unheard of for that time of day!
Traci - our day is fairly similar to yours and Nikki's. Although Daniel doesn't get to watch any siblings (yet). But we often visit a friend across the road who's got a 3month old and nearly 3 yr old, so that keeps him entertained. He's also discovered the joys of the exersaucer and spends a lot of time in that now. I find the Jolly jumper doesn't get used as much as he gets really spilly in that and so I can't do after feeding. He loves watching the cats too! :lol:
I suddenly decided to try to give Daniel the bottle again today. We keep trying and keep giving in after a few hopeless attempts. He's soooo determined NOT to take it, it breaks my heart. Then I got really upset thinking I may never b/feed him again. And as it's DH 30th birthday tomorrow I decided I couldn't do it. What if we had a bad afternoon today which would lead into night. Then maybe tomorrow..... it was all too much and I ended up in tears :cry: So, I've decided to really focus on the solids which he's not really into that much yet, then in November when I"m in Auckland with my parents and DH is there too, we've got a couple of days without anything special on, and we'll do it then. I can be mentally prepared for letting go and ready for the difficult couple of days. Who knows, he may even be happy to take it in a months time? YEAH RIGHT! I just wish there was a magic trick that really worked. I've tried everything I think!
Anyway, he's happy now, I"m happy and not so full (phew) and I won't worry about it for now.
We're off to Wellington for the weekend, so I'll wave to you Nikki as we're heading thru the Kapiti Coast! :lol:
Bye!
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Hayley, just a quick thought before I go to bed, we have Riley between me and the bottle. I tried the playtex advanced nurser kit, hope you can get it there, dh feed riley for most of one weekend while I pumped and then I fed her before bed.
I am contemplating not bf anymore, but it upsets me a little too much as she may be our last child.
HTH for when you do try the bottle again, also make sure the milk is as near to your milk's temp as possible, even if it feels a little hot, mine does, but once daniel gets a taste of the milk maybe the temp. may help him to feed better.
Not sure if you were looking for any advice on it or if anyone else was for that matter, but I thought i would share our success seems the topic came up.
Night Night to all in my end of the world, good morning to you Jo, Hayley and Nikki.
I wonder what page number I will wake up to tomorrow? :lol: :lol:
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Naomi - what's the nursing kit? I have an express pump so I can do that and give him ebm in the bottle, which I'll try to do when I decide to finally do this once and for all. But if there's some other mechanism that helps let me know! I'd rather do a bit of both, but I know once he takes the bottle it's too risky trying both. He's such a determined wee boy he'll probably decide he won't want me anyway as I understand the bottle is easier to take?
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Also just a quick note before I am off to watch a really ridiculous television show (the sillier the better these days) I am so excited to inundate you all with my millions of questions tomorrow during Sophie's first nap, and to give some feedback on a few of your posts. (watch, Murphy's law, I'll be so excited to post, she won't sleep)
That's neat that Daniel could have been a Sophie...and the same bday, wow!
Can't wait till tomorrow.
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Hayley, I don't have a heater on in Danielle's room, so that's probably why she's got more layers on as well. But, I did get the jumper tip from my plunket nurse when Nathan was a baby. Basically Danielle's upper body ends out of the blankets, so to me it's a "blanket" layer. The PN nurse said not to worry about cold fingers as long as their chests are warm. Also, because I feed in the night I know that she's not too hot, so I'm confident with the layers she's got on. Definitely add another layer to his chest and see how that goes.
You idea about not enough time in the morning is good too - Danielle's now awake for 2.5hrs after her morning wake up. So as always, I think it's trial and error to find the right solution.
Have a good weekend everyone! :D Wish me luck for a sleep through tonight as well.
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Wow!
So many pages and so little time! I have finally read all 13 pages I missed out on and now cannot remember anything to comment on...sorry, breast feeding brain. :oops:
Welcome all newcomers, in fact I feel like one myself...
Nikki- does the safety sleep work? Sam has recently been moving all over his cot and I found him out of the blankets and freezing, the other morning when I went in to his cries. How old can you use it till? Am contemplating getting one.
Hayley-Sam has a heater in his room and we try and keep it at betwen 18-20 degrees. He is in a singlet, pyjamas and then has a sheet, 2 cotton blankets and a quilt. He had a woolen blanket on at the height of winter but it got too hot and he was waking up very flushed. His hands are freezing in the mornings as well and I put mittens on him once but he was not having a bar of that and I found them flung on the floor in the morning. As for taking a bottle, it was a very difficult 2 days with a lot of tears from both him and me. I have a long winded post about how we did it on the breast feeding board under how to get your lo to take a bottle. Sorry but don't know how to post a link as everytime I leave this page, I lose my whole message.
All of you are gorgeous! Will have to try and figure out how to post an image. Cannot even work the Avatar out!
We are having good days here with only the occasional 45 minute nap. We do quiet last 30 minutes of A time and then as soon as I see cues, I put him into his cot and he usually goes to sleep after a couple of minutes of babbling.
I have stopped feeding at night. I realised that it was a habit as Sam was not interested during the day and was feeding 4 hourly overnight. Took 2 nights of dh soothing him (I think it was pat/pupd combo). After that, whenever he wakes overnight, I pat him back to sleep, actually just lay a hand on him. Usually takes me about 10-20 minutes. I wait till he is in a deep sleep. I have been getting up to him about once a night in the last week and it is usually because he has managed to get himself wedged at the edge of the bed or kicked all his blankets off and is cold. He wakes for the day between 6 and 7 am.
My activity during A times are very similar to Nikki's except no sibling. Oh, we do a walk in the evening between catnap and bedtime routine.
We have also dabbled with solids for a taste only and Sam seems to love it! Will have to think about doing it more than once a day.
Enough from me! Must dash and watch a mindless TV program.
Have a great weekend.
Karen
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Ok, I promise, my last post for the day :oops: Just wanted to share my good news. Daniel and I went to a friends house for dinner tonight while hubby is at the bar having pre birthday drinks. I put Daniel down on her bed surrounded by pillows and he went to sleep! Yay! Since very early on his nightitme routine has been exactly the same quiet(ish) time, bath, feed cot. Even if away, it's been into the portacot. Well tonight it was different, surrounded by chatting girls pre bed, into a room that was very light even with the curtains closed, change into pj's on the floor, feed then into his s/bag and under a strange blanket. No tears and 5-10mins later he was asleep! He did wake up about 1.5 h later though, but I think that was because a 3 yr old was running up and down the hallway! That's okay, I was pleased with our first attempt at something totally different for night time. So I bundled him up and brought him home, a quick b/feed top up and back to sleep.
Here's hoping the rest of tonight goes well. I'm still going to do wake to sleep although I'm not looking forward to if it backfires and I'm up 3 times. Assuming he may still wake early hours because he can/does. Mind you, because he's had about 30mins awake between 8-8.30pm it might not happen. I've also put him in a thermo bodysuit/singlet which may keep him warmer. I might try the jumper tomorrow night. It's a 30% wool one, so not overly hot.
Better go, enough rambling.
Happy sleeping everyone! :D
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just a quickie post for now as I have just woken up for the day.
Hayley, I used the avent pump system but I used the PLAYTEX ADVANCED NURSER SYSTEM. I found that the nipple were perfect, nice and squishy, and the bottle liners empitied without a lot of air in the so Riley wasn't too gassy afterwards.
KQ-post in the lounge about wanting an avatar, and some one shouls be able to help you out, I know harvey's folk's have done a lot of them for people, you email them your pic and then they will do it for you.
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Just a quick post -
Hayley - we had the bottle battle here for ages as well - we use Dr. Brown's bottles and the milk has to be really warm - close to body temp (I've only ever fed EBM). I offered the bottle at nearly every feeding for almost two weeks straight - if she refused it I just put it away and gave her the boob. No stress, no fussing. (Though I was getting a bit tired of it!) Finally, she took it and she's been fine ever since with it.
HTH,
Erin
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Hello again. Sophie is sleeping, we seem to be somewhat back on schedule today after a day of being completely off.
I have been tring to catch up on this strand...there are so many women here. It's awesome.
It sounds like many of you are introducing bottles and maybe having a tough time. For whatever it's worth, I have been a pumper since day one with Sophie. She would never latch on. So it has been Dr. Brown's bottles for us with EBM. It took me a really long time to get over the fact that I would not be a BF mom. Very sad. SO I guess I am offering this up to those of you who are starting bottles to say that any struggle you are experiencing now is worth all those months of breast feeding. Not to minimize your efforts. :| My husband and I recently looked into the cost of formula, because I am basically getting tired of pumping all the time. Once we found out how expensive it is, we decided to wait to switch until I go back to work! I have deemed myself the "cash cow" :lol: Too bad I can't actually make some money instead of just saving it...I could quit my job!
Traci- I had to laugh about the ear wax thing...I am so particular about that too. The other day we went to a friends and as she was holding Sophie I couldn't believe how much wax I spotted in her ears! Needless to say I attacked it that night in the bath, yes with a Qtip. I am just really careful not to insert the qtip into the ear canal but just to swab the wax that is already on it's way out. gross eh?
So, I don't want to appear selfish but I am really looking for some advice. I am wondering if all of you are still doing df, and if not, how did you phase it out?
Also, who's doing solids already (Sophie is) and how is it going? How has it afffected your lo's liquid intake?
I am no longer feeding Sophie during the night, haven't for a few months, but still not sure she's getting neough calories in the day...she is waking several times in the night. I am starting to think it's just habitual, around 1:30, 3:30, 5:30am but I'm not sure. I am thinking of trying wake to sleep at least for the 1:30am time...Do you do it for each wake up? that sounds awful.
Funny how much of this comes down to your level of commitment and willingness to lose out on the little bit of sleep you are actually getting (to sacrifice for the hope of more on he future!!)
OK, I'll stop there.
All you ladies who though YOU were long winded-Ha, ha! :oops:
Sorry!! As you can see, like I said I am just so happy to be here.
Thanks for listening!
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hannah, so nice to see you on here.
We simply dropped the df, I know others here have been able to drop it by gradually making it earlier and earlier at night.
I commend you on your pumping, I did that with Jay as he would not latch at all, and after a few weeks I was too tired from it that I said no more, but to do it for 6mths, you are up there in the league of Judy for me.
Riley is kinda doing solids, well she is and she is very messy, but it is that way with everyone I guess.
Well I should go for now, dh is home in the day time for the first time in ages.
Take Care everyone.
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Hi Hannah,
I consistently do the DF and am in the process of dropping it. I have moved it back to 9:30 now. It used to be at 11 pm. She began waking up for it so I moved it back to 10:30... when she began waking for that, I moved it back again... etc. So, now currently at 9:30 pm.
The reason I really stuck to the DF is because I wanted to drop the 2 am waking. I need to know for myself, that she doesn't need food. Basically, it gave me the reassurance to pu/pd and pat/shush without thinking she was hungry.
I have been doing pu/pd and pat/shush to put Arwyn back to sleep each time she wakes up for the past week. She has been able to settle herself before and we continue to work towards this being consistent. She was sort of settling last night but I think due to her 6 month shots, I think she needed some comforting so I fed her. (She also woke at 3:00 which is not her normal time so... I figured, she was hungry as she did not eat very well after her shots.)
Okay... solids... Arwyn has started solids and it has now been almost 3 weeks. Some days, she takes them well, some days, not. It does affect her BF. I am still working on figuring out if I should BF first or offer solids first. Every source, website, book out there has a different view. I am consistently offering the breast at her usual 4 hour rotation and offering solids in between. Sometimes this is thrown off if she wakes from a nap early. HTH, it is still trial and error over here and I apologize if it is vague.
I pulled a muscle doing pu/pd!! I am quite short and even with the rail down in the crib, I need to stretch to reach Arwyn. On Wednesday, my back was sore but I ignored it. Yesterday though, the muscle under my right shoulder blade started to REALLY hurt and by last night, it was keeping me up. (This is the other reason I fed her last night, I couldn't sustain pu/pd any longer due to the pain.)
Sorry I haven't answered anybody else's post... we teachers are in illegal strike action over here so I have been following it very closely.
Have a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving weekend!
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Well I'm up for the day. Yay, Danielle slept from 7pm-6.30am again - woohoo! Think we've cracked it for now. Now I better try and get solids going again before we hit another growth spurt. Boy, were my boobs aching this morning for her to wake up. Unfortunately NAthan's coming down with a cold so had a particularly bad night for wakings. :roll:
So those that did struggle with solids and their bubs didn't take to it straight away, how did you go about getting them to eat? I know I can't really do much if she's just not ready and keeps poking her tongue out... I'm just hoping her 4 feeds a day will sustain her??
I might go buy some rice cereal today - I really wanted to do the fruit/veg thing first and follow the BW plan like I did with Nathan, but she's not been into any of the foods I've tried so far.
Well off for some shopping today, might even check out some fabric for block out curtains since the mornings are going to get light soon. I'm not brave enough to venture into the city during the week without DH, so we'll time it to leave by 9am so Danielle can have her nap in the car on the way there.
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Hannah, I've had Olivia on cereal for about 3 weeks now (breakfast and dinner). At first it didn't seem to affect her liquid intake (formula) and she started sleeping straight through for 12 hours! That lasted almost a week. Then her naps got all wacky and she started taking less formula during the day and waking up more at night (and taking a full feed). I don't know if it was all related or not.
We now seem to have naps back on track, but she's still not taking much liquid during the day (only 10 oz by dinner time yesterday). She did wake up last night, but I knew she wasn't hungry since it had only been 2 hrs since DF. So I changed her diaper, put warmer PJs on her (we had a cold spell last night) and put her back to bed. She slept until 8:00 this morning.
I did try giving her a little less cereal this morning and she took more of her bottle an hour later (almost 5 oz instead of the normal 2-3). But she wasn't interested at all in her next bottle feeding. I've tried giving her the bottle before the cereal, too, and she isn't interested in it then, either.
I read on the feeding forum that some babies drop a feeding at 8 months. Olivia is not even 6 months, but she's already not interested in her "noontime" feeding. I've thought about dropping it, but I want her to still get enough calories during the day. I guess we'll just see if she keeps waking at night. She's off the charts in weight, so I'm not as worried about the nourishment, I just don' t want her to get used to eating at night instead of during the day.
Anyone else having trouble with this? Any suggestions?
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Nancy are you giving Olivia her solids before or after her bottle? My thinking is if you give the bottle first you'll ensure she takes in the liquid calories she needs to sleep all night. Leaving the solids as an extra only.
Just a thought, but you may already be doing things that way anyway.
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Hi Hannah. I'm not much help as I haven't started Cole on solids yet and I don't really DF. I let Cole wake to feed.
Last night he fed at 5:45pm, 10:10pm and then he woke at 1:40am! Way too early. I tried the jiggle Nikki but it didn't work. I just don't have the stamina in the middle of the night. Fed him at 2:10 and he went back to sleep until 5:30, played until 5:45. I would give anything for him to just sleep until 6. Of course about 3 weeks ago I said I'd be happy if he just went back to sleep after feeds and went until 5:30! LOL so I'll try to remember what it was like walking around like a zombie for about 6 weeks before sleep training and be happy with what we have.
MIL here today. Cole took his bottle! wahoo, to the spa I go on the 29th. He didn't take it at first because I put a faster flowing nipple on. I called from the mall and told MIL where the other nipples were and when I arrived home (just in case he still hadn't fed) he was nearly done. I had estimated 7 oz. and he took 5.5. I think he's anywhere between 16-17 lbs. I wandered around aimlessly for about 2 hours. Ate some lunch, wandered a bit more. Really didn't know what to do with myself but I was out, baby free and it felt pretty good.
We're trying to occupy Cole as this is normally our walking time and he's pretty fussy. His naps today were 45 min(darn A time too short again), 1:45!!! and 1:00 catnap! I think he was pretty tired for the last two because he's excited to see grandma :D
I should go. Don't want to be rude as she hasn't been here for a couple of months.
Just wanted to say- YAY for Judy, Nikki and Hayley with the good sleeps!
tata ladies.
Traci
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Hi everyone, it sounds like some of us have the sleeps mastered and others still having to prop our eyes open with matchsticks. I've got my matchsticks handy! :shock:
Hannah - good on you for ebm for a bottle all this time! That's amazing. As for the DF I didn't do it, then started and after about a month went cold turkey as all it did was cause more wakings. Since then Daniel's been waking inconsistently in the early hours for feeds. At least I can go to bed early if I want to though. He's been on solids for 2 weeks now, and it's going slowly, he seems to love apple, but not so keen on veges yet, but I'll keep persisting. Do you guys heat your veges for them? Or give them to them room temp? I've wondered if he doesn't like them cold.
Traci - how wonderful that Cole took the bottle. I've decided to go and get another couple of teets to try and offer it to Daniel with EBM once a day and see how we go. If that doesn't work then we'll pick a time and go cold turkey.
Judy, that's great news about the girls sleeping all night. You must be feeling so refreshed in the mornings! :D
Nikki, excellent news for you too, how about I drop Daniel in to you on the way through to Wellington and you can have a word in his ear about sleeping allnight!! :lol: Have you been doing anything different with Danielle? Did you do PUPD at her night wakings or what?
I did wake to sleep last night (or should I say early thismorning). I set my alarm for 4am and went in. I'm not sure if my alarm and disturbed him, but I have a feeling he was not in fully deep sleep, but I was not going to try again 15-20mins later. So I wriggled him a bit, made sure he made some noises then went back to bed. I think he murmured a bit then I didn't hear from him until 5.45am. Lately it's been 5.10am every day nearly! So, whether it was coincidence or because of W2S he woke at a different time. I'll keep doing it for a week and see what happens. If we have luck there, I'll then do it for his early early waking, if that continues.
Better go, just found out we're having visitors in about 30mins and I need to finish the housework! :oops:
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Judy, right now I give solids first, then bottle about an hour after. I've tried the other way around a couple times and it didn't seem to make a difference. I might try it a little more consistently if she doesn't start eating more just by cutting back slightly on the amount of cereal. That seemed to work better today.
At least her naps are getting back on track...whew! I think I can handle anything else, but short naps and night wakings kill me!! I'll keep you posted!
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Judy, when I have been offering solids it's been about 12.30pm when Nathan's having his lunch, so 1.5hrs after her previous milk feed. It's like she can't even bear the feel of it on her tongue. :? Oh well, I brought her some rice cereal today so will try that tomorrow.
Hayley, I didn't actually do anything different. I was concerned maybe it was her being on 2 naps and really long afternoon stretch that was affecting nights. But she's slept through 2 nights now - one with a third nap since she only did 45mins in the middle of the day and one was her usual 2 naps. I did feed her the minimal amount the night before and put her back to bed within 5mins - but I really wouldn't think only one night of doing that would have made her not bother....who knows.
Lets hope I haven't jinxed myself for blabbing about it. :wink:
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rats! I was so excited about Cole's good naps yesterday (45, 1:45, 1:00) that it backfired.
He was up at 3:20 to feed and didn't go back down until 4:20! He usually eats for 20 min, then takes 10 to settle to sleep. Since it took 40 to settle to sleep I'm thinking he had about 30 min. too much sleep for naps. AND that is exactly the extra time he slept. Bizarro I tell you. He slept 15 min. extra on naps 2 and 3.
So, limiting naps like you today Judy!
yesterday was miserable here...pouring rain. Thank goodness MIL was here or I'm sure I would have gone nuts. And today fall is upon us. I had to put Cole in his fall suit (lightweight snowsuit) for our walk this morning. He looked so grownup in it though :D
i'm having another massage today. yippee! I'm actually enforcing a 45 min. morning nap so that he'll go down just before my massage so DH can study. Big exam is next week on the 18th and 20th then we can have our life back.
I MIGHT try rice cereal tomorrow! wanna see if it helps the night waking.
any quick tips?
Traci
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Katie's got a new tooth on top! - and I think it's an eye tooth - either that or the one next to the front tooth - she's only got that one and one on bottom - how funny. So much for getting the front ones first!
Traci - for us, cereal had to be mixed with breasmilk and nice and warm. Mix it really thin at first, don't worry if he spits it all out right back at you. At least for Katie, it took a few weeks for her to really start being interested in it - and it's only been this past week where she leans forward, opens her mouth, looks for more, etc. I tried it in the morning originally, about an hour after her morning feed, but had the most initial success with it in the evening. I just did evening feeds for about a week or two before adding the morning feed...and that's where we still are a month and a half later. I think I'm going to finally take the plunge this week and add lunch - and try to cut out the dreamfeed in the process.
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thanks for the help Erin. I'm quit excited to see his reaction!
Judy...who knows with these los sometimes. I would bet it was the late bedtime. Could you get DH to commit to only very quiet activities when he gets home. Save the fun play for weekends or early morning? Or do the girls just get all wound up regardless?
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Judy, what is it with DHs sometimes? When mine gets Olivia ready for bed, he insists on playing coochy-coo with her, tickling her, dancing around with her and chasing the dog around the house with her. Then he'll hand her to me to feed and put to bed. I swear, they just don't get it! At least mine is just one...I can't imagine it with four! My hat's off to you!!!!
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MEN! :wink:
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Well I was up at 4am feeding last night. Tried the jiggle but it wasn't going to happen. I did limit her feed though, she did protest a few times I took her off, but I managed it eventually and she still fed well this morning.
Tried the rice cereal this morning and it was the same thing - tongue straight out and making a loud arrrrrrrrr. I think I will just persevere with it for a good few weeks solidly.
I hear you Judy about the just sitting on the couch and letting it happen and same sort of reply! :roll:
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Oh boy, am I going to have a long night ahead. I think Cole is cutting a tooth. I went out to run errands after he went to sleep and DH called me saying he was hysterical for half an hour. he had tried patting, jiggling and needed me home. poor Cole, he was huffing and puffing. I gave him some tylenol, applied some boob magic (still works!) and he was asleep in 30 minutes.
We're supposed to go to a thanksgiving dinner tomorrow with 14 people. do you think i should cancel? hmmm, guess i'll see how his night goes.
any advice on how to make it through the night? i thought i held him til he was sleeping but he woke up and resettled himself so I guess that's good.
Traci
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Hi Everyone
Well the nap problem has been getting increasingly worse. Yesterday morning there was no nap at all, even though we were in the car and usually that gets him to sleep with no problem whatsoever. He then fell asleep during the 11am feed but woke up when I lay him down. Then he had a short sleep in the car driving home around 1pm but woke when we arrived home. He had a 1 hr sleep in the afternoon after falling asleep at the 3pm feed. He was a bear to get to bed at 6.30pm.
This morning - again no morning nap :roll: Seems we have a complete nap strike on our hands. I (of course) am going nuts! He'd better not fall asleep at the 11am feed - I will be wiggling him and jiggling him to keep him awake...
I am thinking that maybe I have the morning A time too short - for the last 2 days I have had to wake him after 7 (7.30 and 7.15) so I'm wondering if expecting a nap at 9ish is too early. Then if I'm getting him up and trying again at 9.30ish he worked up too much during the first attempt.
What is everyone's morning A time at the moment? Anyone else having such a bizzare nap strike - or had one and worked out how to get through it??
Thanks ladies
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Hi Jo,
Cole has to be up longer than 2 hours now in order to have a decent morning nap. Anything less and it's 45 min. We haven't had anything like you're experiencing though...sorry I can't help.
Traci
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Hi everyone!
Welcome Hannah, I just found trhis thread as well and think it is great AND my baby is Sophie as well!! What great taste you have!
I have been trying to keep up but with work being so crazy this week (well all the time!) and heading to the doctor yesterday with a sore boob only to find out I have mastitis :cry: . My SIL had it so I went to the doc straight away and got antibiotics! I am also doing turkey dinner tomorrow for 10+ people.... I haven't had time to post! Plus I feel like crap
My DH is the same-they just don't get it, chalk it up to men I guess. I make myself feel better knowing he can cheer me up and get me hyper too :) !
Arwyn, my mom is really short so we used a small tool when she was visiting so she could not hurt her back picking Sophie up and good excuse for you to get a massage!! Hope you feel better...
Jo - It has always been too short of A time that has caused Sophie's short naps. If she gets up after 630 she always has a shorter nap at 9. So, if that helps - Sophie's A time needs to be at least 2.5 to 3 hours for her not to have a short nap.
Traci - I didn't do the rice cereal, I did organic baby oats and Sophie never got constipated and they taste way better. Sophie also took to cereal best when it was warm and really smooth (lots of formula)!
Happy Canadian Turkey Weekend, hope all is well. :D
Richelle
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Just checking to see if the lilypie worked! They are so cute!!
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Sorry ladies i have ended up with 2 profiles and do not know how to delete one or why is log in and out as either or!!! Any ideas on how to fix this?
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Jo, sorry can't really help with your nap problem either. But, Danielle is up for 2.5hrs before her first nap now.
Richelle, I had mastitis with Nathan and it was the worst feeling I've experienced. Didn't realise it would be that bad. Hope you're feeling better. Also, very bizarre about your 2 profiles, I didn't think the system let you do that? Maybe post about it in the Glitches forum.
Traci, urgg teething! We fortunately haven't started with that yet. I hope Danielle's like Nathan and just wakes up with them one day (it was great until he started on his molars - just as well we're done with them all now!).
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well it looks like we are all in the midst of another bump in the growing up road.
Riley' tooth came through during the week, her bottom left one. She had a couple of nights when only crying and tight hugs would do. She seems a little better now though,
I have noticed too that Riley can handle being awake longer that her usual 2hrs, but with this whole tooth thing and her shots last week sometimes A time can be 3 hrs. Not something I like, but everything that is going on with her I don't really want to push it and make everything worse.
just wanted to pop in and say hi to all of you, I am off to bed, I will chat with you fine ladies later.
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Oh gawd... Arwyn fell out of the futon yesterday. I felt so bad. :cry: :oops: :cry: :oops: And she woke up twice in the night. DH was on duty for pu/pd because of my gimped muscle. Still woke up though... and listened to her cry, thinking it was all my fault cuz I let her sleep on the futon. She was at my parents' and I put her down for a nap on the futon... she rolled right off...ironically, my parents and i were just telling me I should put pillows on the sides of the futon (I had put them on the edge so she wouldn't get stuck between the futon and wall.)
Anyhow, she seems fine. Just kept waking up in the night. The only thing that is any consolation to me is that her memory is short right now and hopefully, the fall won't affect her sleep for long. :roll:
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Hi Everyone, it has been ages since I have been on and the pages just keep getting higher and higher :D Everything is going pretty well with James. He is how on 3 solid meals a day with cereal for b/fast, veges and fruit for lunch and dinner is meat, 2 veges and fruit. He is doing very well with them. No constipation yet!! He also has his 2 bottom teeth. We have had a bad day with him today so I am thinking that maybe his other teeth are moving around. Luckily we have had no trouble with them coming through. I didn't even know that had come through except for when we were playing and he put my finger in his mouth and he bit down :shock: I haven't had to use any gels or pain relief for him and it hasn't distrubed his sleep at night.
James is generally down by 7pm and sleeping through with only the odd waking which only takes a few pats and he goes back to sleep. Nap lengths are still all over the place as is his settling. Sometimes I can put him down and don't hear a word out of him and then other times he screams andI have to pick him up. Don't know what I do differently :?
His waking in the morning has become earlier - not sure why. He would always wake around 6:30am and happily play till 7am. Now he is awake at 5:45am and gets up around 6am. AT least it is summer here so the sun is up. I have found that James needs to be awake at least 2.5hrs for A time. The only thing I have noticed with his naps, is that if he goes down with little fuss this is when he has a good 1.5+hr nap. If he goes down kicking and screaming and needs a lot of assistance, this is when he only has a 45min nap. :? :? Is this just a spirited baby thing?
Well, enough from me. I hope everyone is going well. If anyone has any ideas about the settling that would be great. We do the same thing everytime. I am wondering about making his bedtime about 1/2hr later but he has already been up for 3.5-4hrs. So confusing.
Have a good week everyone. Talk to you on Thursday night chat.
Lisa - mum to James
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Richelle, I am fortunate not to have had mastitis but have heard it is quite painful and draining. Hope the antibiotics kick in fast for you.
Ankie-don't beat yourself up. Just be more careful next time. These little ones are very resilient. I was just playing with Cole and he dropped his head on my cheekbone. I fear I might have a black eye...but he didn't even flinch :!:
Lisa-not sure what to tell you about the settling issue. Cole does the same thing...down in a few minutes when I have stretched him longer than usual and a bit more fuss if I put him down early. How long before the end of A time do you put him down? I used to think it just took Cole 10 minutes to settle because he always took that long so I always put him down 10 min. before he was supposed to be asleep. Well, I think the long settling time was him telling me he wasn't ready to sleep yet and I needed to extend his A time. He typically goes to sleep now in less than 5 min. with minimal crying for naps. Nighttime he usually cries...I think because he has to shut off from the whole day!
The one thing I will say is that if his last A interval is 3.5-4 hours that maybe he's overtired and that is causing the early waking. Pushing bedtime later won't make him sleep later. I would suggest moving bedtime 20 minutes earlier and see if that eliminates the early waking. Doesn't seem to make sense but it works!
Our night was okay after hysterical bedtime. I think it was a combination of tooth (not yet showing though), DH comforting him (first time since sleep training!), and the fact that DH was shushhhhhing. I had told him not to but I think he was desperate and thought it might work.
Cole was up at 10:40 and 1:40 to feed. I know he wasn't hungry at 1:40 but he seemed to need comfort. he fed well anyway! Then he was up at 5:10...would settle down so I fed him one boob. He then slept until 6:45-yay! Went down at normal time for nap and slept 1.5 hours...so he was a bit pooped!
this morning when I changed him I popped him into his crib so i could wash my hands. when i came back he was practically sitting up! kind of leaning over on one arm :D
gotta run, time for feed.
Have a good day, and happy thanksiving to my fellow canucks
Traci
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:D Oh my gosh!! Thank you all for the wonderful responses. Definately needed to hear what others are doing with the solids/liquids thing.
Hayley, did you try wake to sleep again? How did it go?
My lo slept from 7:30-5:30 last night! I was thrilled. I went in at 5:30 gave her the binky back, and she slept until 6..did it again, then slept until 7:30!! Wow, I feel really refreshed.
Went shopping all day yesterday with friends. DH did daddy day care all day, including shuttling my stepson, Brendan back nd forth to his mom's, soccer and back to mom's. He is truly a saint. Unfortunately, she was completely off schedule yesterday...only one good nap the rest were in the car enroute. Then she sleeps so well last night??! Strange. And, not helping my campaign for keeping her on schedule during the days!! DH is slightly more "go-with-the flow" then I am with parenting. SO I have to really advocate for lo to have her schedule. Any one else have this issue with their DH? It's good somtimes because it helps me keep things in perspective, otherwise I thik I might just hole up with her every day only sneaking out for an hour here or there between naps, and life just can't really be lived like that!
Oh, BTW after reading all of your posts about warmth at night, I started thinking that maybe Sophie was cold...and dressed her more warmly and turned a little heat on in her room the last two nights, and she has definately slept better! Funny, I wasn't even thinking about warmth as an issue! :oops:
Hope you all are having wonderful weekends...even though stay at home mom's don't REALLY get a weekend :)
Can't wait to chat on Wed. Can someone remind me what time?
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Woops! just got caught up on all the posts...should have done that BEFORE my post.
A couple of things:
Sophie has been teething too. One day, before her bottom two came in, was the worst. I used lots of tylenol and some oragel. She really hates both but they seemed to help. I held her alot and let her sleep at odd times. I don't know if that helps...
For the cereal thing, I think mixing with ebm is definately the best (if you have it) and letting your lo sit on your lap while you feed, it's a bit messy and hard to manage, but it seemed to help Sophie with the transition.
I am confused now, when is the chat, Wed or thurs?
Richelle, yes..good taste on the name :) Hope you are feeling better.
Traci, hope you dinner went well or is going well, or that you cancelled it and feel good about it!
Ankie, what is illegal strike action? Is it still going on? Will you be working when it's over?
Who is working now? How is it going?
DH's... :roll: I can definately relate. Mine doesn't seem to get the overstim issue either...thankfully we have an easy going lo who is still able to settle after their escapades. My new joke ...when DH comes home I will proclaim "Sophie! The circus is in town!"
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hannah, it is so nice to hear about you and sophie.
The chat starts at 10pm for me and I am in the atlantic timezone, so I think you are in the easter timezone ao it would start at 9pm for you I think.
Rley is doing superb with her solids, she woofed down 6tbsp for her breakfast thing morning, and then 1/2 jar of peas and carrots for lunch. She has apples and bananas for her next meal.
I have found today that she does good with her solids and then an hour later her milk, be it me, ebm or formula.
I need to get her back on a routine I have been a little slack lately.
Is anyone going longer than 2hrs for A time. We are experimenting right now with what is a good amount to extend to, 2 1/2 hrs worked good today , so I think I will try that for a few days or so and see how I go.
Well I guess I should go and enjoy my long weekend, no family around so no real celebration thingy for us, simply enjoying having dh home for more than his usual one day off a week!
Enjoy your weekends dahlings....
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(((Hugs))) to you, Judy. I'm just impressed you TRIED to go for a walk with 4 lo's, so 10 minutes is better than I would have gotten.
(Btw, I think I have a short attention span and can only comment on the post directly ahead of me or a few ahead if I'm feeling more alert. I'm not trying to be rude...just baby brain big time! Sorry!!! :oops: )
We went for Ryan's first trip to the pumpkin patch today. HOW FUN!!! I think I'm going to try to post some pictures in the photo gallery later. We'll see if that happens or not. We all had the best time...we being Ryan, dh, mil, fil, and me. We got one big family pumpkin and a cute baby one for Ryan. It made me all nostalgic, b/c last year we were there thinking, "Next year will be so fun with our baby. Will it be a boy or girl?" I sort of missed that excitement. No...not baby fever yet, but I can see why some people want to have them right in a row...already our kiddoes getting so big!
Hope all the Canucks (sp?) had a Happy Thanksgiving and that everyone else had a great weekend. Welcome, Hannah!
:D Kate
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Hi everyone.
We're back from dinner and I have to say that Cole stole the show! He had two decent naps at home...then off to dinner. It was at our friends parents place. And it was a FEAST! Cole was so great. they had set up an old high chair for him and he sat the whole 35 or so minutes while I ate without any fuss. Chewed on his teething ring and a wet washcloth and just hung out. He looked totally cute in a new button down, vest and khaki pants. I'll post a pic later. Also, he slept for the first time in his pack n play since sleep training. He's only slept in his crib and stroller. The room was fairly dark and I draped a blanket over top too. He went down in about 5 min. A bit of crying but mostly babbling. Then he was great before we left too. Our friends had their boxer their and he wasn't afraid of him at all. I am just so proud :D
He surprised me again today. There is something to be said at this age going by the clock. he woke up at 6:45 so I thought our schedule would be all thrown off. He normally is up around 6:00 and goes down at 8:00 for first nap (30-45 min. later than normal) Well, wouldn't you know he was really tired at 8:10...less than 1.5 A time and he went down without a peep for 1.5 hours. Same with the next two naps, shorter A time but asleep according to the clock times. hmmmm, interesting.
Lisa...I was thinking about this while getting ready today. If your little one used to get up at 7:00 and go down for nap at say 9:30, and now he's getting up at 5:45...are you trying to put him down at the same 2.5 A time? therefore 8:15? That could be why he's not settling...because his body is used to being awake at this time. Maybe if you stretched him closer to his normal clock time he might settle better? Just a thought.
Naomi, our typical A times are 2:00, 2:15, 2:30, 2:30...when he wakes at normal time. HTH
Judy-sorry about your night and day! boy oh boy you sure have your hands full. Was DH with you on the walk...or was it just the 5 of you? JUST the 5 of you...that's is CRAZY...hope tomorrow is better.
gotta go. So full from dinner at 2pm that I don't have to cook-yay. DH is studying so i'm going to curl up on the couch with a hot cup of tea and watch Finding Neverland.
Traci
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Hi Traci, yes I have been taking into account the different A time so putting down earlier but it always seems the way that as soon as I write on this page, things go back to normal. J woke around 4am and DH patted back to sleep, he then woke at 5:00 and I patted but I also changed nappy and covered him with blankets (although it is spring here, earlier mornings can be quite chilly) and he slept until his usual time of 6:50am!! Not quite sure what to make of it all.
I was also thinking of brining his sleep forward 30mins at night, although he doesn't show any signs of being tired this timeof night. I guess because there is a lot of going on with dinner,bath etc. I thought tonight I would try something slightly different and see if it works. I will give him his usual bath at around 5:30pm and take him into the lounge only to say hi to dad and make his bottle, so hopefully just after 6pm I will take him in his bedroom and give him his bottle in there, let him have some quite play in the bedroom for awhile and then cuddles and see if this calms him down a bit. Can only try.
Thanks for the response though, I think my little spirited koala bear just needs some tweaking.
Bye for now.
Lisa mum to James my textbook/spirited koala bear
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Hi Everyone
We have had an horrible weekend and a particularly rough night last night. I don't really want to post about it in any detail because I'm trying to have a few moments of denial at the moment.
Just wanted to come on here and say I'm very :cry: :cry: :cry: , so tired and frustrated. I knew that this was the very best place to come for support so here I am.
Judy, I read your post about if your twins had arrived first, they wouldn't have any siblings. You couldn't pay me to have any more children! My hat is off to you mums with more than one or who are planning to go again - it will not be happening in my house :cry:
I feel the love already everyone, thanks for listening
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:( Jo. I felt EXACTLY the same after having Nathan. I swore to anyone and everyone that he was now going to be an only child. As he got older and things calmed down I did change my mind. :)
Well I shouldn't have written about Danielle sleeping through for those two nights. Last night it was back to 2.30am from 4am the night before... :?
I keep forgetting to try the rice cereal...I really don't want to do solids since she isn't into it, but I know if I don't keep trying it probably won't get any better.
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Oh Jo :( I'm so sorry you're feeling down. Sending you big hugs from the other side of the globe. Hope things turn around for you soon. You've been through so much with your little guy it only makes sense that you're frustrated and exhausted. Just know that you're doing the very best that you can and that's all you can ask of yourself.
(((hugs again)))
traci
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{{{{{{HUGS}}}}} to you, Jo! Sorry for the bad weekend. I know you've had a tough go of it with all the illnesses and everything. Know that we are all thinking of you and sending such positive vibes your way. I know it's cliche, but this too shall pass. They have to start sleeping through sometime before their 10th b-day, right? :lol: Lots of love and (((hugs))) from here!
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LOL! That's what I'm counting on Kate - if he doesn't start sleeping through I'll have to ask him to move out as soon as he turns 18...
Thanks Nikki and Traci as well!
You know, being a full time working mum I don't get to mothers groups or health nurses etc. You wonderful people are the only people who are always there with understanding, love, a shoulder, an ear, a helpful hint...
I hope you all know how grateful I am to have found you all.
Thanks!
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Ankie-don't beat yourself up too much abotu the falling. I swear every mother I know has had their lo drop/fall at one time or another. We haven't had an incident yet, but I'm sure that it will happen sooner or later, no matter how careful we think we are.
Richelle-hope your mastitis is doing better. My SIL had it and she said it was very painful, so I am sorry.
Judy-great job on getting all 5 of oyu out for a walk! very impressive considering that I was 30 minutes late today for meeting my girlfriend at the flee market and it was just T and I! :oops: I swear my tardiness is just getting worse and worse!
Anyhow, I am finally posting a picture! sorry it took so long. the first one is the picture we took the night before my last day at work. I taped it to the front a card with the words "goodbye, I'll miss you!" printed inside for all my coworkers/friends. they got a kick out of it.
Updates here in our house...Taylor is rolling around like crazy! It is the cutest thing to see. She rolls front to back and vice-versa multiple times. We are now having to spread out a couple of her blankets so she doesn't roll on the carpet (we have 2 dogs). when she starts crawlign we are going to have to vacuum everyday! :roll:
Nights are pretty much back to normal after 1.5 weeks of developmental stuff (I'm assuming it was the rolling thing) and her cold. so down to bed at 7:30 and up around 7-7:30 am. We have moved her df up to 10:30 now though after she kept waking up for it.
someone was asking, but we too have stretched out Taylor's A time to 2.15-2.5, although her first A time is usually max 2 hours still.
stranger anxiety has kicked in, but mainly just with men?!?! :? :?: she does the pouty lip and then screams the last 2 days when men talk to her (ie, the neighbor, dh's friends, BIL). anyone else experiencing the same thing???
Lastly, we started officially on solids yesterday! pears first (we know she can do rice cereal because we added it to her bottles for months because of her reflux). she seems to like them a lot, but isn't quite eating much yet. I'm sure as we progress I will have more Q's. Is anyone reading Super Baby Food? I started reading it and was a little shocked about the whole super porridge thing...brewers yeast and liver oil? :shock: :? :?:
T was so cute today...after teh flee market we went to lunch with my friend and she was on her best behavior...my friend let out a sigh of relief to see her behaving so well. She had come to visit my several times in the first 12 weeks of her life and every time I filled her in on the "joys" of parenthood and she said she was SCARED to DEATH of having children after hearign me tell her how hard it was. funny how i had forgotten how hard it was until she reminded me!
have a good night!
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Crikey, where do I start. I think the best way to cover everyone is....
{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}
to EVERYONE.
It looks like everyone either needs a hug because there's been a hard night or two, or you deserve a hug for good news!
The last few days have been going well for Daniel's naps, generally 1.5 -2h for the main 2 naps and 30-45mins for his end of day catnap. So I'm wrapped with that! Nights are still pretty unsettled, waking around 2am then again about 5am. I've tried wake to sleep 2 out of the 3 nights (missed my alarm one night) and so far the first night he slept an extra half hour, but thismorning he still woke at 5.10am. But I left him and went back to sleep until 5.45am, so that was good. I fed him, then back to bed and sleep for another hour.
I managed to persuade DH to look after Daniel thismorning from 7am so I could have some extra sleep. Well, I went back to sleep until 10am! Daniel woke then too after an hour or so nap, I got up fed him etc until 12noon. Then he went back to bed and i fell asleep on the couch. The two of us had a 2 hour nap! I obviously really needed it. 5 hours sleep more than normal today for me.
I've cranked up the heater in Daniels room tonight so his room should be about 18 degrees, and put him in a light polar fleece s/shirt and the big difference for tonight is I've taken him out of his sleeping bag. I have a feeling his night sleep became worse when I put him in the s/bag which coincided with a few days later going on holiday to Auckland. I put all his night wakings down to the Auckland trip and sharing a room which disturbed his sleep, but I've just had a :idea: moment that the sl/bag could be making him feel restricted. Perhaps he's wanting to move around more than he can in the bag. I know this could cause wakings of course, if he can move, but hey, what have I got to lose? Well, I will know in a few hours time I guess.
Not sure who was asking but as for Daniel's awake times now, he's about 2-2.25 awake each time. I thought he could do longer and sometimes he does, but 2 hours is about ideal this week. Also, I think it's the time/clock thing that helps. Lately he's been down to sleep between 8.30 - 9am and then his next sleep goes down between 12-12.30pm mostly. Sometimes it's as late as 1pm, but things are definitely more consistent. So I'm relieved about that.
Andrea - love the picture.
Ankie - I've donked Daniel on the head while getting him in the car a few times, and hit him with the spring from the jolly jumper. Oh dear, I sound terrible! I do take care... honest!
Well, that's enough from me. Now we're back from being away I'll be able to keep up again.
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Hi Everyone! I cant believe how much I love this site. I have not read the Bw purely because of financial reasons so i have read as much as i could on internet and have been chasing librarys all over the place. But what i am gathering in bits and pieces is all so relevent. Marli was an absolute %#@! for 3 days :x and would not nap so i went back to basics. I was thinking how bad a mother was by not recognising her cues but she doesn't give out to many until it is too late. I have toned down her A time and limit her activities by giving one toy and not pushing her under her gym with toys everywhere. The difference has been pretty amazing . I have always had touble getting her to eat as soon as she wakes from a nap and is usually ready about 1/2 hour in or when she is ready for bed but today for some reason everthing just gelled :D . And My baby became the happy little girl i knew she was.She has been so overtired i couldnt even get a smile from her! From what I can gather is Marli is a spirited baby??Had a great experience today, I was walking bub waiting to pick up hubby when a lady with a 2 yr old asked if i'd have a coffee with her as we were both just killing time, I was shocked and a little embaressed.I had a lovely afternoon and made me feel guilty that i have never reached out like that. its so easy to get caught up in your own bubble when if you look around and swallow your pride you might just make a great new friend. we are planning to meet at a play group in the area this week.. Just a turn in my day i didn;t expect.
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Hi everyone,
Jo - Big Hug!! I do know how you feel - sometimes between work and trying to figure these los out, much less just mother them is so overwhelming. Sometimes I LONG for the days of comng home from a long days work and kicking it with my feet up and a glass of wine!! LOL - those days are LONG GONE and of course you are right that it is so nice to have these ladies as I don't have time for a moms group etc...
Ankie - don't fele bad. I was bathing Sophie the other night and had her on her belly washing her back and i didn;t realizes I had her face in the water - yikes :oops: !
My mastitis feels alot better, I caught it early with the antibiotics. I ended up having 14 people over for turkey dinner - it was great but I am beat today - probably not the best way to spend my day off, oh well!
Judy - I still can't get over taking the 4 girls for a walk, hats off. I have trouble getting dh and Sophie out the door much less 4 los!
Hugs to everyone else - and if it helps inspire those waiting on solids - sophie has slept straight throught the night(730-630) 17 days in a row :D !
Richelle
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Hi Debprins - and Richelle, if I haven't said hello and welcome to you both yet. Nice to hear from you.
Glad to hear Canadian Thanksgivings were fun - you've made me anxious for ours here in the US. Traci - I want to see pictures of Cole in that getup - sounds too cute. Nice of him to show off for the family/friends.
Jo - Hang in there! I looked at your lilypie and Fraser is 6.5 months - at 6.5 months, Katie went completely wacky - not sleeping as much, fussy, waking at night - I still don't know why - she has one tooth and one on the way - developmental stuff maybe - it was right about when she started moving more - but anyway, I just did my best for a few weeks and she's more or less back on track now - with longer awake time too - so maybe that was it. Just do your best to ride it out, stay as close to on track as you can and if Fraser's anything like Katie, he'll get back to normal (whatever that is) soon.
Ankie - I feel like I have bumped Katie's head on more things than I can count - that and during the summer when she was just in a onesie, I pinched her leg in the stroller buckle - how bad did I feel when she had a bruise on her leg for the next week - and then I did it again :shock: a week later. Haven't done it since though.
Awake time - around 2.5 - 3 hours around here.
Andrea - that's a great picture. I just love it!
Take care all!
-Erin
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Hi, well something made a difference to Daniel's sleep last night. He went to sleep at 7.10pm, woke at midnight for a small feed, then back to sleep until 7am! Yay! I went in at 4.10am and did the 'jiggle' for wake 2 sleep, so maybe that's helping. Who knows??? Who cares??? So long as he improves. I fed him for 5 mins last night, so I'm going to try reducing his time feeding at night to see if that helps too. Should I be doing 5 mins for 3 nights, then 4 mins for 3 nights etc? Or do I drop 1 minute per night?
Deb, it sounds like things have got back on track for you. That's great, isn't a nice feeling when you sort things out. Don't feel bad about not reaching out, you've been really busy just being a mum. But now that you've been 'touched' when the time is right I'm sure you'll do the same for someone else.
Daniel is 6 months old today, so we celebrated by having Vanilla Custard for breakfast. He loved it. Ate about 2 teaspoons worth. That's a lot for him! Now, I just need to get him eating his veges better.....
Have a great day everyone.
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Hi everyone
Jo: hugs to you. I know what you mean about only having one baby. james is a relatively good baby and I still only want one :shock: Hopefully we can catch up soon and you can see that you do have lots of friends.
James is doing really well on solids. 3 meals a day now. I hadput off introducing lunch because it makes going out just that littlebit harder,but I was finding he wasn't lasting the four hours between 11 and 2 just on milk. There has been a couple of days where he hasn't had it due to his sleep and I just give him a littleafternoon tea of fruit and that and his bottle helps him through till dinner. He is finally opening his mouth which is good. We tried red meat yesterday and so far he is tolerating everything. :D
I think he is going through another illness as well. The last couple of days he has been really grumpy and sad :( - he has also been sleeping a lot. Yesterday (Monday) he woke up at 7am fell asleep at 9 for an hour, was awake for an hour and then went to sleep for nearly 3 :shock: :shock: :shock: He also had a catnap at 4:30pm and then went to bed at 7:15pm (with little fuss - thanks Traci for your encouragement). It is now 6am Tuesday morning and I haven't heard a peep out of him. Even though it is warming up here, I think he likes to have covers on him - when he was in shorty pj's andonly a sheet, he would often wake a couple of times a night and had to be patted back to sleep. Last night put him in warmer pj's and so far so good........
Is everyone still on 4 milk feeds a day? I don't know if it is because he is sick but the last few days the 11am feed he hasn't really wanted. I am starting to think maybe I should try this feed with his lunch. Any suggestions?
I am sorry I cannot remember everyones post - I only come on every few days and there are so many pages. :oops: But I will be on line chatting if I remember this week :P
Have a good day (and night) everyone.
Lisa mum to James my textbook/spirited koala bear
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Hi ladies,
Just a quick question, when is the chat?
Richelle
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Richelle.. I was lol at the face in water. I know not funny but i did a similiar thing i thought it would relax dd by putting on her belly i heard a splutter and she coughed and sneezed bubbles!! OMG dont want to jink myself but put marli to bed at 6.45pm. a bit later than usual and normally i'm up at least 3 times a night dummy etc but last night she woke once yes once and i figure she was probably cold as she had herself outof her blankets at the top of her cot so i quickly fed her (it was 2am and she woke again at 6.45 this mornign its a miracle I'm trying to duplicate yesterdays routine because it obviously worked hope its not a fluke!! we'll see...
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Hi Richelle,
There are a couple of chats - one for US/Canada mums, one for UK mums and one for Australian/NZ mums.
Being geographically retarded :oops: I have no idea where the Cayman Islands are, but you will find posts about the chats and chat times in The Lounge.
I "think" US mums are Wednesday nights, Aust mums are Thursday nights and UK mums are Friday nights.
HTH
Jo
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Richelle,
I'm as geographically retarded as Jo. US/Canada chat is on Wednesdays and it's at 9:00 for me in Toronto. Not sure where that would put you.
Here is the link http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/chat-room-link-vt41311.html
I couldn't find the list of times...but maybe this will help.
http://www.worldtimezone.com/.
Ladies...I'm posting the thanksgiving pics of Cole and I in a moment in the photo gallery...I'll post the link back here.
here it is: http://babywhisperer.com/forum/cole-and-i-dressed-for-thanksgiving-vt43064.html
Traci
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Just so we can all be envious of Richelle, the caymen islands are in the western carribbean islands.
The chat for the us and canada is on wednesday nights and it starts at 9pm eastern time.
Anyone have a clue why Riley is all of a sudden not settling herself any longer. The noises she makes are borderline mantra/real crying, and she is really fussy when we put her down, so bedtime is becoming a time that I dread. Her tooth has come through and she has gone through a spurt lately, so that could be it. Any other suggestions!
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Thanks Jo,
The Cayman Islands are in south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica.
I am from Canada but closer to the states hmmmm.... is there a dregs chat?
Hope you are feeling better...
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Naomi - perhaps Riley needs to be awake a bit longer. She's telling you she's just not quite tired enough yet. Try keeping her up another 10 mins maybe.
I might have to look into the chat thing for Aussie/Kiwi mums.
Bye
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Hey Naomi...I don't remember, is Riley on 2 or 3 naps? when does her last nap end? Maybe ready for more A time? Other than that I'm no help at all.
Okay everyone. Not sure if you remember I was supposed to go to lunch at a pub last week? Well, I never went. Why you ask. My father was rushed to hospital with Panreatitis on Thursday night. He got a day pass believe it or not for Sunday...but I just couldn't justify going all that way. Anyhoo, after what transpired at that family event forced me and Cole to go there today anyway. My parents are renovating their house and have hired my no good brother to do the work. He called them up sobbing 3 weeks ago apparently because he needed money. Shall I remind you he's 42 years old! And he's getting paid a pretty penny I might add after treating my mom and dad like crap for years. My older brother and I are executors of my fathers estate so we had the joyous task of discussing my fathers financial affairs today - Thanksgiving! anyway, the talk went well, all my brothers turned up (there are 3) and everything got settled away I think. Oh ya, and about the pancreatitis...dad is still drinking. *sigh*. I told my dad he shouldn't be drinking and he said "thank you for your concern". I said, as long as you know my position then this is the last time I will bring it up. Phew. thanks ladies. needed to vent.
Cole of course was great all day. Two 45 and a 30 minute nap though which resulted in me feeding him to sleep for bed. He was great at the pub (the house is now under renovations!) and at a friends place that I dropped by on the way there. And also great in the car. Meltdown at bed as I expected but that's okay.
Lisa...was 7:15 bedtime earlier? I think it was 7:30-8:00 before. Glad to hear it worked!
Andrea-Cole isn't really experiencing stranger anxiety...but a touch of separation anxiety. Doesn't like it when I leave the room. He was handed around to about 10 people yesterday and was pretty good after being in the environment for about 15 minutes. He LOVES men. I think because he sees so little of DH he really craves that attention. Oh-and I love the pic of you guys. totally cute.
Richelle-great lilly pie..love her in the hood.
Hayley. not positive about reducing the night feed but I'm tempted to say to reduce it each night..should be done in a few nights.
okay, I think that's all.
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hey...i guess there is no reason we couldn't just go chat any time right? If you ever want to chat ladies...just post and maybe we can hang out :D
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Traci UGHHH Families and Cole is adorable in his outfit!!!
Naomi - I find Sophie is hard to settle when she is tired but not quite tired enough if that makes any sense. She has 2 teeth coming in and I haven't noticed anything different with her except a new habit of pulling her ears.
Sophie is starting to fight her evening catnap so we will have to see. Same problem as Riley, won;t settle.
I love the hood on Sophie too. It was when we were visiting Canada this summer and we could not only hang out outside longer than 1/2 an hour without melting but we could wear cute little sweaters!
I look into a chat this week!
Richelle
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Richelle...not sure you know but pulling at the ears is associated with teething. wasn't sure if that's what you meant by the new habit.
as for being cool in Canada over the summer...are you crazy! we had our hottest summer on record. I didn't take cole outside for about 6 weeks! but i guess compared to the caymans it was cool!
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Hey, if you're little ones don't like tummy time I've just found a great way to get Daniel to enjoy it. Put him infront of Baby Mozart DVD on his tummy! Amazing, he's transfixed and happy on his tummy! Now if only I can get him to start wriggling around while he's there he'll be even happier. But as everyone says, try not to encourage them too much as it's much harder work once they start moving. :lol:
Traci, that's not good to hear about your dad. I hope he's going to be okay. It couldn't have been an easy conversation to have on Thanksgiving. As for brothers.... well, you can't choose your relatives. Hopefully your other brothers make up for the not so fabulous one IYKWIM.
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Hi all!
I read a couple times a week and had to jump in tonight.
Jo - I have to agree with your feelings about another. I have two and I keep wondering - how in the world did Judy ever think to have a third and OHMYGOSH then she had twins!!! And - how in the heck did my MIL have 9??? I'm so tired after 6.5 months of night wakings that there's no way I want more. Thankfully my husband is on the same page. Hang in there. It is so rough - its a good thing the babies are so darnd cute.
Thanks for the tip about the ear pulling. We've had a couple trying (bad naps at home, night wakings, difficult to settle etc) weeks after the baptism two Sundays ago and a bad illness for both me and Payton last weekend. Finally this weekend was back to good sleeping but very crabby baby. I think its her top teeth coming in because she started with the ear pulling. I was originally worried about an ear infection after our colds. She seems better today thankfully. Oh, and her appetite seemed to have really shrunk - does anyone know if that happens with teething too?
Payton is generally awake 2-2.5 hrs but tonight, no catnap and she was up and happy for 4.5 hrs! Wish me luck tonight!
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Traci - You and Cole both look great! I love the pictures. Cole is really cute in his adorable little clothes. Sorry the family situation is so yucky right now.
Naomi - I posted about this earlier, but right at 6.5 months, Katie just became a different baby - crankier, sleeping less - I think it was a combination of teething, increased mobility, solids, and needing more awake time. She's still a bit harder to settle than she was (too interested in rolling around her crib) but much better on the whole.
Take care all - will try to get to the US/Canada chat this week!
-Erin
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Mrayohler - I haven't experienced it yet as Daniel hasn't got any teeth thru, but I've heard they often don't like sucking because the gums are swollen and sore and sucking action can aggrivate it. Sooooo, could be those teeth! Try giving Payton something cold in muslin to suck on, like grated apple or carrot.
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mrayohler-not sure about appetite...but apparently it can bother/hurt them to suck. If she seems fussy while drinking maybe give her something cold/hard to chew on for a bit between sips. Might help relieve some of the pressure. I thought Cole had an ear infection too until I look up ear infection and it mentioned that ear pulling isn't a symptom of that, but of teething. You know how the ears and mouth are kind of related? I know Cole opens his mouth when I dig in his ears with my finger to clean them! LOL
Hayley...Cole didn't like tummy time for the longest time and then it got better around 4 months. It still baffles me that Daniel can sit up...but not roll/crawl. I always thought babies rolled first! Cole sat up unassisted today for a bit! Yay. I can't wait until he can do it for an extended period of time. I think it will make him more independant.
Oh ya, I've got to tell you ladies this. I was sitting Cole up on the change table to put his diaper shirt on. Not sure why but my arm was kind of in front of him and before i knew it he was standing up hanging on to my arm WTH! :shock: :shock: :shock: This spells iminent trouble and need to run out and get a gate for our stairs.
okay, i gotta go get some sleep. Cole is getting faster at feeding :D his night feed only took 15 minutes.
For those that posted not too longer ago (maybe 20 pages LOL) about weaning...I am already thinking of how much i'll miss it and I won't be weaning yet for a couple of months. I just love how his little hands wander around while he feeds, caressing my arm, grabbing my bra, the funny positions he put his hand on his head like he's thinking of something really important. *sigh* and he looks so peaceful.
now i'm going. good night and good day everyone
Traci
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So I can't wait to chat on Wed....I just finally figured out that it is 5 oclock here. So I guess I am not only geographically challenged but also time zone challenged...and this from a 4th grade teacher.
Can someone help me with an avatar? I don't have adobe photoshop so I wasn't able to follow the tutorial. I love all of your tickers too...they are so helpful to be able to check ages etc. Can someone help me with that too?
Thank you thank you.
I will write later to tell the story of dh's bday party at MIL. Sophie's cousin and great aunt were seriously over the top, overstimulating her. And it cracks me up that people always say "Oh, she's gonna sleep well tonight!" Right! She was up at 2:30, 5,6 and finally 7 for the day. How do you explain this to people?
Hugs to all. I enjoyed reading all of your posts!
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wow you ladies have been busy!
You know what erin I think you may be right, she seems more content but she is different, getting a little cheeky in her own way! Lots of goo's and tongue play.
Traci seems you brought it up I think Riley maybe weaning herself, I know it sounds wierd as she is only 6 1/2mths, but we got the next floe up on the nipples for her bottles and she takes my breast, but she pulss on and off, and seems a little impatient at getting the milk. No biggie really for me, i was trying to get the "balls" up to do it, but we must have wierd connection or something and she beat me to it. That and now she has a tooth the thought of bf with teeth scares me, as she has already clamped down once without her teeth.
We are in the midst of finding that ideal awake time, but I guess it will just take time and lots of patience to figure it out. THank you so much for the suggestions though, very much needed. I guess the saying is true that great minds think alike!!! :D :D
If you ladies want to chat outside of the usual times, let me know, it is always good to have a break!!
Anyhoo, I have to go to bed, dh is sick and I think the two lo's are aswell :shock: , gee isn't life just full of such joys!!!
sleep tight or enjoy your day, wherever you fine ladies are!
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I promise this is my last post before bed, but I had to get back to you hannah about the tickers and the avatar things.
Tickers- click on one that you like and it will take you to the site where they are, when you make one that you like simply cut and paste the code, I think the one I used was HTTP, paste it to the box called signature in your profile.
Avatars-Post a question in the lounge, I am sure there is someone from admin who will help you if you can email them a pic, I keep meaning to do the same as i would love to have one like traci(cole'smum)
Okay, my eyelids are heavy, off to the hills I go.
HTH you out a little hannah!
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Okay, so here's my thought for the day.... I'm sitting on my couch with Daniel 'climbing'/cuddling me with Tracy's BWSAYP book infront of me, and I thought to myself....
Isn't it amazing how one woman has brought so many mums throughout the world together. I wonder if Tracy ever really knew the extent of how she had helped so many people.
I just wanted to share that thought with you all. And thank you for all the ideas and suggestions you've shared with me.
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Hi all,
Mrayolher and Erin - Sophie started getting really impatient at the breast around 3.5 months. I got really bad at 4 months and i was out of my head trying to pump and up my supply, not eat strong foods and trying to get back to work. I finally relaxed enough to realize that she jst seemed to prefer a bottle (less work I guess) with EBM or formula. Besides having really hurt feelings that Sophie was already pushing me away and not being ready to wean her onto a bottle - getting that breastfeeding going was alot of work!!!! After getting over myself, I decided to do what was best for Sophie and make the move to bottles. We gradually cut back the breastfeeds - another thing she did, she would not take the breast if she was really hungry and the last time she nursed was at 4am 18 days ago (she now goes straight throught the night!!). My ped told me it was probably a combination of a growth spurt and teething causing her to reject the breast. I really wanted her to go for at least 6 months but I had to let go - it won;t be the first time I guess!
Traci - I figured the ear thing had something to do with her teeth - considering she has 2 through at basically the same time but knock on wood, she hasn't been cranky ect...and yes Canada was cool comparitavely to Cayman and Sophie is definately a caribbean baby-she gets cold really easily!!
I am in the same boat as Naomi I think with the settling thing. Sophie sleeps really well and has lately been fighting her evening catnap but I am really afraid to move her sleep times around and i don't think she is ready to go to 2 naps. has anyone gone to 2 naps officially yet and did you move the bedtime up? Sophie does not do the dreamfeed, never has and I LOVE that she goes from 730 to 630 at night and sorta don;t want to mess with this by switching her bedtime, I think it would be pushing it to expect her to go longer than 11hours without eating!! Any thoughts or advice?
Richelle
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Richelle it was so nice to know that I am not the only one with the bf/bottle issue. It seems that Riley seems to like the bottle over me. I am kinda sad, but having her leading the way has made it easier emotionally. I have the fact that I did get her through 6mths of bf. I didn't even think that I could bf with her as ds would not latch whatsoever, so it was a complete mind blowing experience when she latched right away for 1/2 hour after she was born, all the nurses had to do was check her latch was good!
We have also won the battle of the fingers, she loves to have the middles fingers of her left hand in her mouth, making solid feeds nice and messy fun, but she has now firgured out that if she takes them out, I put food in her mouth.
Well I will chat later today ladies, enjoy your morning/evening.
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Hayley...I'm sure Tracy did know how much she has helped all of us. This website was thriving long before she left us. Thank you for the reminder though of how wonderful it is to be here. I sometimes forget that without you ladies and everyone on this site, Cole would probably still be going to bed at 9pm, waking several times a night and finishing his sleep in my bed!
Cole had a rough night as expected. Here I was celebrating how fast he took his 10pm feed. Well...he woke at 10:45 and puked a significant amount of it up. thankfully DH was around and he held him while i changed the sheets. Hats off to single parent families...they'd have to put lo on the floor or something to change the sheets :cry: He then didn't settle until about 11:15 after a few pupds.
I'm battling the 45 min. naps again. Q ladies. If you lo plays for 30 min. in the morning before you go to them, when do you start A time? Cole was awake at 5:30, I put him down for sleep at 8am and he still only had a 45 min. nap. I wonder if his body is starting his day at 6 :? :?:
gotta run, he's not enjoying his practice in his high chair. been pretty mellow since he got up though so that's good.
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Naomi - It sounds like Sophie and Riley are 2 peas in a pod! Sophie sucks her 1st 2 fingers on her right hand and yes it does make solids very messy but I think it helped understand eating /swallowing ect...and she sucks them to put herself to sleep as well or when she is upset, we oficially threw out her paci's last week yeah :D !!!!
You should be so proud that Riley has gotten 6 months of BM and we should sort of count our lucky stars as we won't have the weaning and bottle rejection to deal with.
On the plus side I can't deny that although it took some time, I am now really enjoying my freedom from the pump and rushing home for feeds :oops: !
Traci, sorry to hear about Cole's (and your :shock: ) night, you are right about single fmilies and I couldn;'t imagine how they do it!!
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WOw...you ladies have been busy! It's been several days (and pages) since my last post!
Richelle, my LO (Olivia) is in the process of phasing out the 3rd nap, I think. If she gets 2 good naps, she doesn't need the 3rd. Bedtime remains the same, although we might move it up 15-20 minutes if she's cranky, or start the routine early and just draw it out a bit. Also, iI noticed your Sophie is 1 day younger than my Olivia!
Traci, I'm glad you asked about early waking and 1st A time. Olivia woke at 6:45 this morning and played until 7:30 (normal wake time) when I got her up. She went strong until about 9:05. I wondered when to put her down, so I just watched for her cues. It's now 9:15 here and she's sound asleep...we'll see how long it goes. Her normal wake time is between 2 and 2.25 hrs, so I wasn't sure to keep her up. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Wow... one Thanksgiving holiday and 6 pages ago, here we are... I had to take notes this time and I apologize if I missed anybody but 6 pages? :shock:
Jo... {{{HUGS}}} to you. I hope that Fraser has better nights and sleeps soon so he can hope for siblings!
Judy... A friend of mine is having twins soon (this week, I believe) James and I were just commenting about how a mom with twins would have a difficult time going out in a vehicle because it would be hard to get both down to the car at the same time. Congratulations on getting out with all your girls! Even though it was probably an eye-rolling 10 minutes.
Traci - When Arwyn gets up early, I count A time from waking. So... this morning she got up at 6:30 am... she went down for a nap at 8:30 am. I hope your father takes it easy... sometimes family members don't think about how it affects the people closest to them. Glad to hear about the lovely Thanksgiving. And it is no surprise Cole stole the show, he is so very loveable!
Andrea... very cute picture of you and Oli.
Hayley & Erin... Sometimes being careful still results in bonks on the head and bruises. :roll: I poked Arwyn in the eye this morning while feeding her and have scratched her leg when buckling her down in her highchair. :roll: At least I am trying to be careful... couldn't imagine what shape she would be in if I didn't. :shock:
Lisa... I am doing 4 milk feeds during the day. I also do a DF for a total of 5 BFs daily. I will be dropping the DF soon... I hope with the time change that I can eliminate it completely by the end of the month.
Richelle... Arwyn switches from 2 naps to 3 naps occasionally. I don't know what causes it... it has nothing to do with the length of naps but sometimes she has 4 :shock: short ones and sometimes a combo of them so??? Who knows?
Well... like the rest of you who posted about good nights, I jinxed myself and am recovering from 4 nights of multiple night wakings!!! Holy smokes we were tired this weekend! I can't believe it, she has been getting up 2-3 times a nights... I think it is because she has discovered how to get up onto her hands and knees and "rev". She rocks forwards and backwards like she is getting ready to go somewhere :D and then drops down onto her belly.
She is doing that in her sleep and waking herself up! She is still sleeping (I think) and then she pulls up into this "table" position (for al you yoga fans out there) and then wakes up crying when she falls over. Sometimes I walk in there and she is crying with her eyes closed and seems to be still sleeping! Is there such thing as "sleep-crawling" or whatever she is doing that happens to infants?
Wouldn't you know it? On Friday, I wanted to get out early to the picket lines to show support to my colleagues and Arwyn decides to have a 2hr 15min nap. Today, I wanted to get out there too (teacher strike happening in B.C. -- Day 2) and she is fast approaching the 2hr mark. :roll: Don't get me wrong, not complaining about long naps, just her timing of them :) .
Have a great day everybody!
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Judy, good question about my dad. He didn't mention surgery for the pancreatitis...just the triple bypass :shock: No update on that either. And he thinks he's going to travel to Paris soon. France, not Ontario :wink: I think he's arranging all this travel and renovating the house a) to keep him busy, b) to give him hope.
I am really upset about it all but angry at the same time because he is basically drinking himself to death. What can I say to a 65 year old man to make him change his ways? He's lived this life for 30 years now and nothing I say or do seems to matter.
My mother doesn't say boo because my dad is a stubborn old fart and he won't listen to her either. It's terrible because my mom will be so lost without my dad. She doesn't have a clue financially. Of course, he doesn't have a clue about running a house. Very traditional family situation. She is the stronger of the two though so if dad has to go first it's probably best..............................gosh, did I really just say that :oops:
okay, i think that's enough depressing stuff for now. going to go give my babe a big hug to make myself feel better.
bye
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Hey, girls!
((Hugs)), Traci! Dads are dumb, sometimes. (I was considering this as my new family motto for a while, but didn't think it'd be fair to dh. That's a whole other LOOOONG story!). Hope you are doing okay about it all.
Ryan is getting a cold, I think. :( He's slept A LOT the last 2 days. Got him up yesterday after 1 1/2 hrs. played for 1/2 hour and he was sooo cranky, put him down for 45 more minutes! I had to wake him up. Then, he had over a 2 hr. nap in the afternoon, getting up at 4. So, no catnap, right? In bed at 7 and up and ready to play by 7:45! :shock: Apparently he missed the memo about not catnapping. Finally down for the night at 9:45! Ugggh!
So far today, it's been a bit over 2 hrs. at mil's this morning and we're in the middle of nap #2 now. His catnap would fall right in the middle of our swim lesson, so we'll have to see how it goes.
Ankie, good luck to your teacher friends. In Missouri (or maybe just St. Louis) teachers are allowed to strike. Not sure how they got that law passed...I know they've done "strikes" where they only work their contracted hours and everyone is shocked at how much CAN'T get done during that measly time. (Sorry...teacher rant!)
Off to start packing. Family wedding this weekend! I can't wait!!!!!!
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Well, it seems as though Sophie is back on with the catnap! She has been fine going down for her catnap the past few days. It is hard to sya as when i come home from work i think I may be getting her too excited as I am excited to see her? Hard to say....
It is also hard to say if the nanny does everything like i do. I mean it is in her contract that she is never to leave the baby to cry but I think that maybe she takes that too seriously. This AM I put her down at 9 and at 945 she was gab gab gabbing to herself and I was in the middle of a conference call overseas (working from home today JOY) so I left her and 10 minutes later she was sound asleep until I woke her at her usual time (1030)! I also stray for BW advice and follow a schedule instead of routine, Sophie has Maximum 3.75 hours of naps that always begin at the same time, my DH calls it the 'regime' but he can't argue success. I also think the nanny finds me too strict with her schedule and now i am starting to question things.
Sorry for the long post but I obviously have too much time on my hands when working from home!!
Richelle
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thanks for the good wishes regarding my father. I can simply hope for the best, that he makes it through his heart surgery and that maybe, just maybe that will be his final wake up call.
Now, back to the babes! Regarding wake to sleep. I was going to see if cole started sleeping through once we started solids this weekend but since he likely won't take much at first I've decided i must try wake to sleep again. He wakes at 1:30 or so to feed. Sometimes later. And he wakes at 5:30. Now, is this really an early wake up since he goes to bed at 6:00? I think it might be pretty normal. My Q is, do I do WTS for both times tonight? Or should I be more realistic and just work on the 1:30 one?
Thanks
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me again. I just wanted to post to say I can't believe how important clock time is becoming with Cole. I used to think he had to be up 2.5 hours for last A before he would settle. I think it might be the case if he's overtired and that's just when he'll shut down...but if I don't let him get overtired then he goes to sleep at 6:00.
Catnap ended at 4:05 today when I woke him up after an hour. So he wasn't even up two hours and he simply babbled for 2 minutes and went to sleep!
tomorrow i'm going to aim for nap 1 8:30-9:30, nap 2 11:30-12:45, nap 3 3:15-4:00, bed at 6...we'll see how it goes.
okay, i'll likely be back later to see how you're all doing.
Traci
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Hi Everyone
Traci - just a quick question - with a 6pm bedtime what time does Cole get up in the morning? I have read Weissbluth and I understand the prinicple but I'm curious to know how it actually works??
Thanks!
Jo
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Judy/Jo
Judy, I think the principle Jo is referring to is watching the clock at this age as much as their sleepy cues. At least...that's what i think you were referring to Jo??
Cole typically wakes at 5:30 and most days will babble and play until 6, but not always. This certainly isn't ideal for me, as I'd love him to be a 7am waker...but that would entail a later bedtime and it just doesn't work for him. I might try to start pushing him later...maybe in 5 minute increments over a number of weeks. I've been meaning to pm MathewsMommy to see what she thinks. Even if he went to bed at 6:30 and woke at 6:00 that would be so much better. That time before 6am is just a killer :!:
Judy...is your earlier bedtime working? If so, don't post out loud...wouldn't want to jinx it. Just reply with a smiley emoticon!!! LOL
Traci
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Oh sorry that wasn't very clear was it :oops:
Like Tracy, Weissbluth suggests that an early bedtime does not mean an early awake time - in fact, he suggests that the earlier a baby goes to bed the closer they will get to 7am wake up (ie not overtired at bedtime). However almost everything I read suggests that a baby's overnight stretch will not exceed 12 hours so I was curious to see whether a 6pm bedtime means a 6am wake time, which it seems to in Cole's case.
I ask because we also struggle at the end of the day with getting Fraser to a 7pm bedtime - in fact, he goes down around 6.30 - 6.45 most nights after a bath and crying throughout getting him dried and dressed. But I am hesitant to start the bedtime ritual earlier in case it adversly effects our 6.30 - 7am wake up time. BUT we still are still dealing with a night waking (or two or three :roll: ) so I am questioning whether we are hitting the right bedtime.... Ah, repeat after me, this too shall pass....
Cheers
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LOL Judy! Our day starts at 6am too, Nathan then seems to wake Danielle with his talking (when do they really learn about quiet voices? :roll: ) or tantrum if he happened to wake prior to 6am cranky so she's up around 6.30am.
Well her night waking was back to 12.30am - I am soooo confused what she's doing!!! Patting her just makes her mad.
Not sure if I reported in with solids - anyway, she's been having a water cracker at lunchtime and the texture is fine with her. She slobbers her way though it. So maybe she's going to miss out the puree stage and go straight onto finger foods. Maybe I need to make her some oven vege fries or something. Although yesterday she did hold a teaspoon in each hand which was coated in avocado and sucked on them (but when I tried to offer her some I got the tongue out and "arrrrrr") - so this girl's independent already!!! (just like her mum), Nathan obviously takes after his father......LOL
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Oh, I gotcha Jo. yes, many people think if you keep babies up later they will sleep later but in fact the opposite happens and they wake early because they are overtired. That does happen with Cole. On the nights he's overtired he wakes for extended periods in the night or way early like 5am. Mind you...he didn't do it last night :?: But he did have that half hour from 10:45-11:15 when he puked so that was likely the extra awake time due to overtiredness.
okay, i am totally monopolizing this thread. i'm going to nap before the night feed.
bye bye.
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Oh please don't anyone worry about monopolizing the thread. I love reading all of it and comparing it to our days.
Payton had such a rough night. She was injured 3 times and recovered rather well each time. 1) Lauren zipped her neck in the sweatshirt (2) I let her play with a plastic hangar (bad mommy!) and she tugged it out of her mouth and caught her lip and 3) the window frame fell out of the window (25 yrs old ugh!) and hit her on the head. Poor baby!
When I mentioned not much interest in eating it was more on the solids side. She always loves her breastmilk. She is feeling much better now though and seems to be slightly more interested. She's just not the eater Lauren was. I know - I'm not supposed to compare.
One fun thing is to give Payton the little fruit/veggie puffs that I think Gerber makes. They are a little bigger than a Cheerio and they melt in the mouth. They also stick to clammy baby hands so she can usually get one with the rake grasp and will try and try to get it in her mouth. Its very cute to watch and so funny to see when she drops it on the floor, looks for it momentarily then moves on to the next item within reach.
I know the night wakings and bad naps do stink but aren't the babies just so darned cute? AND so very kissable! I still don't know how anyone would have a third but that's my world.
Good luck to everyone tonight!
Michele
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I am sitting here with tears running down my face as I write this :cry: :cry: I hope you don't mind if I cry to you. I have had my 2nd "fight to sleep"with James. I know I have done some accidential partenting of late because a lot of the month he has been sick (he is on another course of antibiotics) and teething. While his naps and night time sleep are great, it is just the settling that is causing the big problem.
James has always been difficult to get to sleep (his spirited part anyway) but we had been making a break through wiht him only doing his mantra cry and then he would go to sleep. Because he has been sick, I have rocked him on occassions (not all the way to sleep) as I haven't wanted him to aggravate his throat as he has had tonsillitis. It is now getting to the stage where even when I put him down nearly asleep, he starts to scream. I went and saw a child health nurse today and she said "let him have a spak attack and let him cry - you may have to let him go for 30mins, just pop in and let him know you are still there". I assuming she is advocating "cry-it-out". I tried today and he screamed/cry for about 15mins before I had to go into him (he was all hot and sweaty :(
I eventually went and did pu/pd which I have never done before and it took picking up 3 times and then ending wiht pat/sh and he is now finally asleep. At every nap/sleep time we do the same thing, I try and watch for cues (rather than the clock) as to when to put him down. Has anyone done pu/pd and been successful? I am wondering if this is what I need to do to get back on track. :? Is there a special trick as to when to put spirited babies down? I have tried when he first shows signs ie. yawning/figeting and I have also tried putting it off for about 10mins and then doing it. Nothing seems to make any difference. I think I get upset because I know he can do it because on the odd occasion, he has done it. He is sleeping through the night and on wakes if he is at thetop of the cot etc and all it takes to get him back to sleep is repositiong him and a few pats (this child health nurse also said not to do that anymore :shock: )
Anyway, sorry for rambling, I feel better having written it all down. I have come to accept the fact that james will never go down without crying and that is fine, I just wish he would just do his mantra cry and go to sleep. I want to be able to leave him with grandparents etc but at this stage I am to scared to that.
I hope everyone else is happy and well. Talk on chat tomorrow night
Lisa my to James my textbook/spirited koala bear
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Oh big hugs Lisa. We have all been there - I remember all to well (well, not since the last nap about 45 minutes ago!!)
I will PM you
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Lots has happened as usual so I'll just pick up on what I can remember.
Michelle - it sounds like Payton was in the wars :( I hope she's okay now. I'm sure you made her feel lots better with cuddles.
Judy - how did your different night routine go? It sounds an interesting idea not feeding right before bed. Come to think of it, I never used to but a friend did, so I started doing it too hoping Daniel would sleep later. Even though Daniel goes to bed awake, I wonder if he does relate his night time to needing b/feeding to get to sleep. Infact tonight I kind of dropped/delayed a feed thinking if he took more right on bedtime he'd sleep later. The opposite of what your thinking is. I gave Daniel his solids at 5pm instead of a 'cluster feed' and he gobbled up lots. But then come 6pm for his bedtime feed he was a bit fussy and didn't drink much. I"m thinking I'll DEFINITELY be up in the night for a big feed.
Jo - we have the same prob with Daniel crying through getting dressed after bathtime, unless he's had an afternoon nap. If he's had a catnap he doesn't cry ie not overtired. BUT along with my thought above re bigger feed for last feed, I"ve also wondered if Daniel doesn't need the catnap. He goes down for it fine, but I'm wondering if he really only needs about 2.25h naps per day. As I think the nights he's done big all night sleeps are the nights he's had less sleep during the day.
Traci - how did you come up with the 6pm bedtime? Was it trial and error? Daniel's is all over the place at the moment between 6.30 - 7.15pm and it doesn't seem to make any difference. The weird thing is the best night sleep he's had in ages was the day our daylight savings took effect and he went to bed at 5.30pm his body clock time. So I'm also wondering if 5.30pm is the ideal time, but that seems sooooo early. Maybe I could try 6pm again though.
Lisa - how long is James awake for between naps? I try not to watch Daniel's cues too closely as if so he would be down to soon. He stays awake about 2 - 2.5 hours. Like Traci, I've noticed he's getting a lot better at going to sleep at set times. Infact, even while out he falls asleep at 1pm now if he's in his buggy, and that's about the time he goes to sleep at home. Daniel cried really hard when I was putting him down too soon even if he looked tired. Well done on such a successful PUPD. Only 3 times! I've put off trying it for D's night sleeps as I'm scared it's going to take an hour or two!!!
:oops:
finally, I'm pleased to say Daniel is LOVING his solids now. He's taking them 3 times per day and now up to about 3 icecube fulls per meal! And enjoying his veges too! Maybe, just maybe this will help with the night sleep. When does the quantity of food start effecting how much milk they take? Could this be why he didn't want to much b/milk tonight?
Enough from me. Take care everyone, happy feeding and sleeping and even happier awake times! :D
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thanks for the encouragment everyone. James A time is usuallyaround 2.5hrs and it is pretty close to the same time everyday.
I did have a bit of a break through tonight. His bedtime is 7pm so we went into his room at 6:15 when he started getting grizzily in the loungeroom. We played on thefloor for a while and then I put him in his cot around 6:30pm to play. I just had the lamp on and I sat beside him on a chair. Every 10mins I put a towel (sorry for a fire hazard) over the lamp to darken the room. He was just lying in his cot as I cleaned up his toys etc. I then turned the lamp off with just his night light on and sat down beside his CD player while having classical nursery rhymes playing. He started to cry a bit so I just said "it's okay, mummy's here". This was okay for about 5mins and then he started to cry so I just went to him put a sheet over him and did pat/sh. He then calmed down so ther was no crying and just played with on of his toys. I stayed in theroom for another 5mins and there was no crying so I went outside. No sounds for about 10mins and I went in and he was asleep :lol: :shock: I will try this again tomorrow night although I don't know about the naps. Even if I get this right maybe it will follow on. The only thing about bedtime is that he has usually been awake for about 3.5hrs instead of his normal 2.5hrs. I am not sure how to work in a catnap with him now having dinner. If he doesn't have a catnap, it would mean his dinner would be around 4/4:30pm. Anyway, I am too happy that it worked well tonight. That is what is so frustrating, I KNOW HE CAN DO IT!! :? :?
Talk to you all tomorrow.
Lisa
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well Lisa, I was going to respond with big hugs...but now I'll say a big HOORAY! for both you and James. There is a spirited thread support group here in the EASY forum. They might be able to help with how to adjust PUPD for spirited babes. I think people tend to hold their los a little longer but they should be able to help.
Hayley. Cole's bedtime was trial and error. He used to go to sleep really late so I started with 8pm and it just kept getting earlier and earlier. It's not always 6 right on...but I try not to go past 6:30 for sure. 90% of the time it's 6:00-6:15.
I think I have to shorten Cole's naps. It seems he's moved his night awake time he used to have in the middle of the night to after his 10pm feed. He was up from 9:30-10:45. I'm worried about separation anxiety so I kept going in to comfort him but I think I was interfering with his settling. I finally let him cry a full 10 minutes then he went to sleep.
Michelle, I saw a woman at the mall the other day with the Gerber finger foods...we can't get them in Canada :cry: They looked so cool.
okay, i'm off to shower and have my coffee. praying he sleeps an hour. I couldn't stretch him until 8:30...made it to 8:15-he was up at 5:30!
Traci
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Hi all, well lasy night was fun, we went out for a walk, traci I walked for an hour yesterday, very proud of myself as it was mostly hills :D :D , and with the kids in the stroller thst is an additional 50lb to push!! :shock:
Well I am playing nusre at the moment, dh got sick sunday with a cold and now both Jay and Riley have it too!! So Ri was in with me last night, I had to put her on a pillow propped up for her to breathe properly :cry: , and dh had Jay and he was all moopy and "nose huts" for a while. Needless to say he is now siniging and dancing to his tv shows and running around with a receiving blanket around his neck like a super hero :D :D , he justs gets to be more fun as time goes on!!
Riley is good, Lisa, I just wanted you to know that Jay still has a little cry before bed, he always has, and I have come to accept it and give him lots of love and comfort.
Bedtime is still a major work in progress, it was going well, Ri at 7 and Jay at 8, that way I am not up at the crack of dawn and they are not sleeping in too late, but with the colds they have that is pretty much out of the window.
Hey it is chat night tonight ladies, hope to see you all there, i was laughing so hard last week I had tears in my eyes!!!
Take Care everyone, enjoy your day/evening.
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Hi all,
I am intrigued with everyone's lo's having such an early bedtime and that it sounds like most of you do not feed your lo's before bed. Sophie has a FULL bottle at 730 then goes to bed, by the time she finishes talking to herself and kicking around in her crib she's asleep in between 745 and 8PM. She sleeps through and this AM I had to wake her at 645AM. Then I suppose if I cut out her 3rd nap and put her to bed earlier that would work? Has anyone done this to get to the early bedtime?
I went throught the settling thing and problems with Sophie settling a few months ago and found that pupd was too much for her - she has some spirit in her - so I modified pat/sh (Would let her hold one of my hands and gently pat her butt - no shh it was too much) and stayed consistent through the crying, it took a few weeks (not 3 days)! I also found that whenever she would cry I would react, taking BW advice to the letter. I would never leave her alone to cry but if she cried full stop I would stop what I was doing and pick her up which is NOT what BW advises. I am now to the point with Sophie that she knows the bedtime score. HTH Jo and Lisa as I know I was at my wits end with Sophie not settling then it sort of came together once I took a step back and I had some help and made sure EVERYONE was on the same page that would put Sophie to bed.
Nikki - that is great about Danielle helping herself. Q-When did you start giving her baby biscuits, ect... Do you think Sophie is too young or can you start those right away?
I put Sophie to bed by the clock also not by her signs.
Richelle
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Richelle thanks for the info on sophie's bedtime routine, we also found pupd to be too much for her , patting works, but the shh is a little too stimulating for her as she wakes up once we stop.
I think I might try to work things a little like what you do once she feels better and see how she goes!!
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Hi,
I was just reading my post and what I meant was that I was making a mistake by reacting to her crying and picking her up, just FYI.
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Q ladies. Does teething come and go? I thought Cole was teething when he was hysterical with DH on Saturday...but he's been fine since. It must have been that DH was shushing him. I told him not to shush anymore! He must not have heard me. Either that or it bothers him more at some times than others(the teething, not the shushing). He poops at every feed too and very runny so I'm assuming it's diarrhea associated with it too. I can't see or feel them coming in though. Guess it might just take a bit.
Do you guys go to play groups? I was just reading Tracy's book last night and I want to take Cole in order to get him used to socializing but I'm having trouble finding a place that works with his naps. Maybe I'll post a note at the community centre or something.
He slept 1:20 this morning and woke and played for 15 minutes! Okay, I know I said I was going to wake him...I'll do it for nap 2 and/or just be sure catnap is short. It likely will be as that good nap really pushed our day forward.
Oh-not sure who asked about catnap and early bedtime. As you can see Cole still has catnap and 6:00 bed! Obviously I have to work on getting him to bed at 6:30 so that when catnap goes out the window he's not going to bed at 5:30. The one day he skipped catnap I put him down at 5:45!
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Hi all :)
This week I'm saying it too ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - this too shall pass, this too shall pass....Why are babies born without teeth and why do they have to (painfully) get them in the middle of the night for nights on end? OK, I'm guessing if they had teeth to start with breastfeeding would be tons harder than it already is. I try not to complain since I know some of you ladies have been dealing with much worse in the way of night wakings for a long time now, but the past week or so, Katie's been up pretty much every night at all sorts of different times - not interested in eating, not a growth spurt, just wants cuddles and hugs and not to sleep. Poor sweetie, I'll pick her up and she'll fall asleep on me, but then I'll put her down, she'll sleep for a minute and then wake right back up. So after she wakes up, I'll pick her up (as she's usually crying pretty hard) comfort her, put her down, and then try and reassure her in her crib, as that seems to work the best. More often than not, I'll think she's asleep, go back to bed, and then she'll be crying again 15 minutes later. It ends up taking an hour or more to get her back to sleep most nights. I do feel badly for her poor thing. And DH is NO help these days - last night I had gone to bed and she cried around 11:30 - he was up reading his book and didn't get up, so I got up and gave her some Tylenol - thought she went back to sleep, of course she was up again - and he comes up with - "Why don't you just bring her back here?" We never co-slept, just not comfortable with it - DH is a thrasher in his sleep - rolls all over, talks, sleepwalks - I'd be afraid of what would happen to her as he rolls over on me on occassion and I have to wake him up to get him off. Though I have brought her back to bed a few mornings when she's up too early and she'll fall back to sleep - but trying really hard not to make a habit of that as tempting as it is at 5:30 in the morning. *sigh* - but this too shall pass...anyway, enough of my rant, just needed to get it out
Naomi - I LOVE the image of Jay running around as a superhero - made me smile :D
Lisa - glad to hear that you got James to bed more easily - Katie is a bit spirited and I find that sometimes if I throw a toy in her crib with her to play with, she sometimes falls asleep with less fuss. I generally clock watch when I feel like we're having a bad day, but Katie seems to be lengthening her awake time these days, so I have no idea what to even watch the clock for these days.
Traci - Katie used to have a 7PM bedtime - we've lengthened it a bit just because she's better able to stay up for longer periods of time I think. It goes seem to help her sleep longer in the morning. 5:30-6 AM is a rough time to start your day!
Michelle - hope Payton is feeling better. Rough night!
Hayley - It sometimes seems to me that if Katie takes a lot of solids, she's less interested in her milk. She seems to vary by the day with the amount of everything she's taking in though.
Judy - I used to feed Katie before her bath and all that, but I've gotten into the habit of doing it right before bed. Wonder if it's part of the problems we've been having the past week? I keep meaning to switch it, but it's just so much easier the way it is now.
Ugh - it is so rainy here today. Hope eveyone has a good day.
-Erin
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Oh, I should mention i've been feeding Cole before bed for a while now. It's just the way the day works out. He's up at 5:30 but I don't feed until 6...so I can't have his last feed at 6 and get him down for 6 so he feeds at 5:30. Doesn't seem to be an issue, he's always wide awake going down.
OMG, I almost forgot to mention. You will never believe what he did today. He is creeping/crawling around really fast. We have two steps from our LR to DR/kitchen. Last week he pulled himself up on the step. Today he climbed it! Of course I was there holding his bum...but I didn't show him at all how to bring his knees up or anything. This is craziness. I've got to get our gate today!
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Just wanted to let you ladies know of a book, the baby book by Dr Sears, it does advocate for attachment parenting, but I got it as a reference guide for my 2. They have an extensive section on teething, and traci, the runs is a sign of teething, I guess it is a way of them dealing with all of the extra saliva.
Well had to pop on and write that, it is double nap time here at the mo, I try to put them both down at the same time, usually it works....
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Hello all. Finally feeling better here today after two days of being down with stomach flu(?) DH stayed home from work yesterday to help with Sophie, thank goodness. I begged him. I didn't know how else I would manage. Now I am just praying that she doesn't get what I had..and that dh doesn't get it either.
Have I mentioned yet that I am sooo looking forward to the chat tonight? :lol:
I am just hoping that lo and dh cooperate as it is at 5pm my time and this is usually dinner time/wind down bed time etc. Hopefully I will get a few minutes with you all. How long does it usually last?
dh helped me with the lillypie ticker and the avatar last night. He was very cute-proud papa-ish about it...he wanted Sophie to have her picture on the site as well. This is such an improvement considering he wanted nothing to do with the baby whisperer info at all when I first got hooked! He can still be very skeptical, but getting better and more on board all the time.
Naomi- thanks for your help with the ticker and avatar. Sorry to hear about your sick family..hope they are well soon...hope you have a "good" sick husband, some can be such a pain when they are down :P I too had to laugh when I read about the superman thing. I love it.
Erin- I hear you about the teething and the this too shall pass mantra. It always seems like just when things are settling into some kind of routine/schedule, something happens to flub it all up. I can't remember who posted that their child slept through for 17 straight nights..I dream of that time.
Someone else said they have to sleep through when they are ten right? Can I wait that long? ten years of interrupted sleep? I keep telling my dh that I don't know what I was thinking having a child...that I have the wrong personality for this...I value sleep and regularity way too much.
I am learning to go with the flow much more as mom. I suppose that's a good thing.
Hayley- I noticed too that Sophie's bm intake went all wacky when she started solids. It seems like it is starting to get more regular now. I have been considering cutting out a feeding in the daytime, but she is still up so early to feed. I guess this isn't too helpful, just wanted you to know that yes, I had experienced the same thing.
Richelle- I too am wondering about the finger foods..I keep wanting to give Sophie a teething biscuit, but every time I get ready to buy them I read the box which says they are not to have them until they are crawling. She is not fully crawling yet, but getting close...Does anyone know what the deal is with finger foods? Has anyone been giving them before crawling?
Ankie- How's the strike going? Washington teachers NEVER strike, though we definately should. We never get what we want...we pay more for health care each year and get no raise..not even a cost of living!
Everyone-I am so curious about who is working and how it's going...what kind of child care do you have etc. How is your energy level with night wakings and work? How do your mornings go? Just a FEW questions :roll:
Talk to you all tonight.
Hannah :)
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Hi, ladies!
Just on to check up before going for my massage this afternoon. :D :D :D I can't wait!
Lisa, so glad it went better with James. It seems like you may have cracked that nut.
Hannah, I think the chat might be at 6 pm your time. (I might be wrong, though). I think it starts at 8 pm Central, and I know this b/c it's the same time as "Lost" is on. :( When I checked in after the show 2 weeks ago, people were still chatting at 9:45-ish, so at least 2 hours later. Some of the other moms were there longer, so they might know. Hope to "see" some of you NA moms there!!! (Duh: Where is the chat link again? :oops: )
Regarding work: I work at mil's preschool two mornings a week. (I am taking a year (at least) off of full-time teaching). She watches Ryan at her house, then drives him to school so she can work the afternoons. It is SO easy for us. She went and bought all the same stuff we have so I only have to bring his bmilk and blanket each morning. And, she does all the BW stuff and lets me know when he went to sleep, how long, what he ate, etc. It's the best of both words...a bit of interaction and $$$$ and a good, safe place for Ryan...and his grandma is LOVING this!
:evil: The 45's have hit today for some reason...the only drawback of working in the morning is he is sometimes thrown off in the afternoon. Gotta run!
Oh, yeah...not sure who asked...Lisa, I think. When I did pu/pd with Ryan I did it over 30 times the first night! :shock: 3 times is GREAT!!! In the new book, Tracy talked about when is a good time to stop pu/pd as it is too stimulating and just do the pd part. Not sure if you're there yet. I can look it up for you if you don't have the book yet.
Okay, really gotta go. Little man is not too pleased with me!
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I just thought of something, I know there has been talk of finger food, like bicuits etc, here we have baby mum mum's. They are a rice cracker made by a company called Hot Kid, they are in the baby food section. They disolve in the mouth and are good from 4mths.
I have attached a pic in case you have to go looking for them, the yellow is plain and the green is vegetable. They are a little messy, but it is a good starting point for finger foods!
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Gosh! You have all been busy! I am going to launch right in as baby brain does not allow retention of info for long!
TRACI-when you clock watch, do you do it for naps as well ie if he awake at 7 instead on 6, do you still put him down for naps at the same time? I must say that the only clock watching I do is for bedtimes and Sam goes to bed at 6.45 except if he is overtired then it is 15 minutes earlier. I also feed right before bedtime and after his bath or his feeds will be too close together.
HAYLEY-when do you give dinner? We are on 2 meals at the mo and I am worried that if I give dinner before the milk feed before bed, he will not drink as much at bedtime.
We do not do night feeds so I do not want to jinx it!
LISA-big hugs and I am pleased that you worked it out! Well done!
JUDY-hang in there, this too shall pass.
NAOMI-the vision of supehero Jay made me laugh!
Q-when do you give fingerfoods?
Anyway, must dash. Take care all.
Karen
PS: Avatar still has me stumped. Will have to PM Gareth!
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hi all,
i can't catch up with all the posts!!! i haven't posted for almost 2 weeks....DH got to stay home a little longer than expected!! YIPPY!!!! :D But now that he is gone....i've gotta get caught up with my BW addiction! We just started biscuits as a finger food....SOOOO MESSY !!! but jack loves them.
Coles mom (sorry forgot your name :oops: ): I'm amazed at how much he is moving!!! Jack isn't even rolling yet. He HATES being on his belly. He will roll from his belly to his back sometimes. He forgets that he needs to bring his arms infront of him so then he'll just lie there SCREAMING hysterically!! He definitely won't go on his belly on his own...so I'll be surprised if he ever crawls!!!
I went to the Dr. yesterday to find out why I haven't been sleeping and she decided to put me on meds for PPD. My rational half of my brain says its a good thing but the other half of my brain thinks I dumb for having to go on them. But I think the lack of sleep is starting to get to me...I've never been so teary (not since baby blues) and I hate myself when I get frustrated with Jack and my dogs. I'm just looking forward to having a good sleep soon!! :shock:
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Hello everybody,
I woke up today with an uber-cranky baby. Don't know why, just that she screamed her head off at 3:30 in the morning and took 35 minutes of pu/pd and patting to get back to sleep. The shushing makes her mad now, and scream even louder. She is still getting into the all fours position when trying to settle down to sleep and getting all worked up about it.
Also, today is definately a "growth spurt, I need to eat and I'm also teething" kind of day. It is now almost 2 pm here and she has had 4 BF and 2 solids since 6:30 am. Keeping me insanely busy as I am feeding her around the clock. Of course, with the timing, I have also nursed her for both her naps as she was inconsolable both times.
Yes, everybody, I too, am repeating "this too, shall pass, this too, shall pass" over and over again. We went from no wakings through the night to multiple wakings now. Can't wait for that part to pass!
Some of you have been discussing early bedtimes... Arwyn used to have an 8 pm bedtime. We gradually moved it back and now it is between 6:30 and 6:45. Even 7 is too late for her now. She just gets so cranky and the difference of 15 minutes means up to an hour of settling time if I miss her window. She generally sleeps through until 6:30 am. If she wakes at 5:30, I will put her back to sleep. She will fall asleep again until 6:30. It is a lot of work :roll: and I don't generally like to do it but I keep thinking, I don't want her to make it a habit so... now, she doesn't wake-up at 5 very often anymore.
Hmmm... just woke from a 45 min nap screaming and putting her hands in her mouth. I want my textbook/angel baby back... I demand that the teething gremlin bring her back!!! Yes, this too, shall pass. :roll:
Update on the teacher strike out here... apparently there seems to be no end in sight. Day 3 today and our union goes to court tomorrow to find out how much we will be fined for everyday we are out. :roll: We are in contempt of court so... will probably be steep.
Kate... you have a great thing going there with Grandma!
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Micky - hang in there. If meds is what you need then you take them! Remember, what matters is that you and Jack are happy, and if you're tired then how can you be happy? Also, having a hubby who goes away is not easy, speaking from experience (I'm an 'airforce wife') so life isn't always as easy as it is for an 'always there' two parent family. When it's just you and bub with no-one else to turn to for a big hug emotions can run high. Just ask my hubby when he walks in the door from being away for a few days! :oops:
Karen - I tried something new with Daniel last night and I'm hoping it worked (ie helped him sleep longer). Normally he'd feed about 7am, 11am, 3pm, 5pm, 6.15pm bed at 6.30pm. Solids at 8am, 12noon, 5.30pm. But last night I changed the 5pm b/feed to his solids then he took a bigger b/feed at 6.15pm. So basically I dropped a b/feed, but he increased his last feed right on bedtime. He slept from 6.30pm - 4.30pm! Yay! Huge improvement, then back to sleep until 7.15am. Because he had an hour between solids and b/milk I think he was okay. So, not sure if that will work for you, and there is the chance it could muck up your nights, but I guess you can give it a go and see what happens. Also, whether having the bath after the solids uses up a bit of energy I'm not sure. At least there were no tears while getting dressed. :D
Naomi - it's moments like those you need your camera ready!
Traci - just go for it! Playgroup/coffee group outings that is. We have one day a week that naps go out the window and Daniel is fine. He usually gets his first morning nap in and the rest is in the car or buggy. He's become quite accustomed to sleeping while I'm having lunch with my work colleagues in a cafe! We have our antenatal coffee group morning tea at someones house where there's all the other bubs around the same age, which he WILL NOT miss out on, stays awake no matter how tired. Then I ususally go out for lunch or a bit of shopping. This is when Daniel takes his nap. He doesn't get grumpy because there's different stimulation and when he's in his buggy he can go to sleep if he wants to. I like to think he enjoys these days. And he LOVES being with the other bubs. They are starting to really interact and watch each other. And well done Cole!!!! Wow, stairs!!! Great stuff.
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Hi Everyone,
Lets see how my night goes tonight. He had naps of 1:20, 1:15 (or 1 hour, not sure when exactly he settled as I heard some extra noises) and 30 min. catnap in stroller. The 30 min. made him cranky coming home from mall-oh well.
Hannah-hope you're feeling better soon. Sophie is so cute in her Bumbo. I'm a SAHM right now and don't even ask about my work. I hate it and don't want to go back but I have 5 weeks vaca and get paid pretty well. It will be hard to get home to pick Cole up though and that's why I need to leave.
Kate- massage-you go girl. aren't they wonderful! I get one almost every week right now (covered by work benefits) here is the chat link. It's in the lounge I think for future ref.
http://www.thebabywhisperer.com/chat/phpMyChat.php3
Naomi-thanks for the tip on the Mum mums
Micky-hope you get some rest. Good news you got extra time with hubby :)
Ankie - hugs to you...sounds like a rough day over there.
Karen-I'm starting to clock watch more and more. Cole typically gets up at 5:30 and plays until 5:45-6:00 in his crib. I was putting him down around 7:45 or so based on A time and getting 45 min. naps. Today I put him down at 8:15 (was aiming for 8:30) and he slept 1:20. So yes, I'm aiming for the clock most of the day now. I think the biggest thing with naps is that if you get a 45 min. nap, try to stretch your lo as close as possible to the next normal nap time. Their biorythms cause them to have wakeful and sleepy periods and if you try to put them down during a wakeful period (due to short nap or whatever) then they may sleep but it won't be as restful. Cole did sleep in the other day until 6:45 and he was still ready to go down at 8:15 (I was planning on waiting until 8:45). I'd have to go back and check how long he slept.
I'd better go make dinner so I can be ready to chat later!
Traci
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Hi Everyone, thanks for the wordsof encouragement - they really mean a lot :D Well James was asleep at 7pm as I said and didn't wake till 4:30am which was only because he was at thetop of the cot. I went and rescued him, put the sheet over him and patted a couple of times and he slept till 6:45pm :D :D :D
We have just gone down for nap #1 at 9am and after a little play in the cot, he cried so i did pu/pd for about 5mins and when he was keeping his head on the mattress, I did a bit of pat/sh and he settled himself (is it okay to pat/sh after pu/pd?). I think i said it before, it gets frustrating because I know he can do it himself. :shock:
I am not sure who asked (sorry :oops: ) about playgroups? James and I do swimming one day which he loves but we also do Kindyroo which is a baby gym of sorts. We do baby massage/exercises, dancing and singing and there is also play equipment which he can use ie trampolines, swings slides etc. Hereally enjoys it and he also just go promoted to the "mobile babies" group as he was everywhere yesterday. In regards to that he is all over the floor now lookinglike a worm - hasn't quite got the arms there but he can go from lying on his stomach to the sitting position as well. yesterday when I went to get him up from his nap he was on his knees holding onto the top of the cot :shock: :shock: I wish he would slow down - he is only 6.5mths old. Talk about spirited!!!
Well must go, talk tonight at chat.
Lisa mum to James (I think it will drop the textbook) spirited koala bear
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OMG-I am know there is a chat soon but I do not know what time!! I am GMT-5hours if that helps. Maybe I will keep popping in periodically as I am about to put Sophie to bed!
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I think it is at 9pm for you, it is at 10pm for me and I am -4hrs GMT. Hope to see you all there dahlings.
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Sorry, this is just going to be random ramblings....
Well Danielle sucked baby rice off her cracker today, so we're making progress! Yay. No longer the face and tongue saying that she doesn't want it. Still nothing much actually making into her stomach though. LOL
I feel a bit sorry for Danielle that she won't have her own playgroup like Nathan did/does. She just tags along and we just wing it for that day. Fortunately ours is 10am and since she only does her 45min nap in the morning and is awake 2.5hrs it actually works in perfect for us. I've even managed to transfer her out of the carseat into her bed a couple of times if she's fallen asleep before we get home and has still gone on to sleep another 2hrs.
I also feed Danielle right before bedtime which is 7pm, have with both my kids and it's never been a problem. But, I do wonder sometimes if it could be why she wakes in the night still? Dunno, she goes down awake most of the time but in a very heavy drowsy state. But I would have thought if it was a problem she'd be waking more regularly "needing" me to help her back to sleep. She always goes down for naps without a feed, so that probably keeps her on track.
I fully clock watch now and Danielle is on set nap times and bedtime regardless. I think it mostly works because of her personality and she never seems to lose it or melt down. She wakes pretty much always at 6.30am and 1st nap is 9am, 2nd nap 12.30pm and bedtime 7pm.
I can't believe Cole is crawling! Wow, what a mover, Nathan was on the go too by this age, but Danielle is content just hanging out on her tummy and still stays put in the one spot. Loves her jolly jumper though and when I ask her if she wants to go in it, she looks at the ceiling where it hangs from and her body leaps towards it with a huge grin on her face!
Micky - Danielle also for ages wouldn't put her arms out the front of her when doing tummy time and would just "fly" (in fact until about 2wks ago). Well I started working with her to train her muscles that they could actually go out the front, within a few days she was propping her body up and was much happier. I'd just gently show her where her needed to go. How is he if he's lying on his tummy across your lap or on top of you when you're lying down? Those are still considered versions of tummy time. Hope your meds kick in soon and you start feeling better, hang in there - sleep deprivation sure does make me cranky and short tempered. :oops:
Naomi, those rice things look great, shame we don't have a lot of the cool things. Not even Cherios that you all seem to have (well we have cheerios, but they're little cocktail sausages! :lol: ).
Right, maybe I'll check into the chat and see who's there, I remember Friday night chats and they were great fun.
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LOL it bleeped me. I wrote c o c k tail sausages.
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Just tried the chat room for the first time. It goes soooo fast! Very confusing with so many conversations going. Fun though!
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must have missed you hayley. there are a lot of people tonight. very confusing.
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Hi there
A quick questions regarding solids and bowel movements - what is "normal" now. Being a BF baby, Fraser's BM's were infrequent but not worrying. However, I don't know what is expected now that solid food has been introduced. I've looked at a few web sites which say that food may pass undigested etc and gave me the impression that there should be BM's every day or several per day (like after feeding). However (TMI warning) Fraser has just passed his first "solid" poops after no BM's since last Friday (6 days) and strained and cried throughout. So I wonder, is this ok, and if not, some suggestions for appropriate foods to prevent constipation would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Jo
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not sure on what foods to avoid, but try some prunes, or there are suppositories that you can but to put in their bums, we had to do that with Jay.
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Hayley, I must have missed you too!
Nikki-that is too funny about the sausages!
Jo-Our ped. told us that bm's can be very infrequent which is no problem unless they are straining. Hugs to you and fraser. I remember reading something on the site about making a soap suppository?? Does this ring a bell for anyone?
i don't know if I myself would be able to do it, but I suppose if my lo was in pain I'd try anything!
Good luck.
The chat was a bit crazy but fun to see some of you there.
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Just quickly..Sam went from once a week on BF to daily or twice daily poops once on solids.
You could try a Q-tip dipped in KY jelly a little way up his bum when he is straining. I also read about the soap suppository but it involves carving up soap and who knows how big or how long to make them!!! :lol:
Anyway, must dash..thanks Hayley, will try solids before bath and bedtime feed.
Karen
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Hi, I just have to let you know about an image going thru my mind re bm and soap....... to lighten the conversation up a little....
I'm picturing a big soapy bubble coming out of a cute little b0ttom! And then it pops!!!!!!!!
I've just spoken to my cousin's nanny about tricks to get Daniel to take a bottle. She's suggested I put Bonjela (teething gel stuff) on the teet and Daniel's gums etc and put cooled boiled water in the bottle. Give this to him every day at the same time (eg after a solids feed) then when he drinks between 30 - 50mls then change to formula. SO I'm gonna give that a go. But if I can't get him onto this before 1 November when we go to Auckland she's said she will happily take Daniel for the day if I would like and do the transition for us. Although that will be harder on us all, so hopefully we won't have to.
Anyway, off to give Daniel his dinner. Happy nights/days everyone!
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Hi all,
Fun chat last nigth-sorta confusing though!
Jo, Sophie had a few problems with constipation when she started having formula. On the solids board there is a constiaption thread that talks about the soap ect... but I think food and water can work. Like Naomi said prunes work a treat!! I gave sophie prunes and cereal yesterday moring and a few hours later had a DIAPERFULL!! I also used a tbsp of brown sugar in 2 ounces of warm water. My ped also said drinking water helps. I just spoke with the nanny and Sophie wouldn;t touch the prunes this morning so make it worth your while if you try, you may only get one chance! Poor Fraser - I hope something works for him - hopefully once he gets used to all the new foods he will become more regular!
And gone are the days of the simple BF poos, they are a reaking nightmare these days - sorry had to share....
Richelle
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good morning,
quick post before i get ready to go to the doc's with Cole.
Not sure if he was having a spurt afterall. Fed at 8:30 then not again until 1:00. Then up at 5:00, wouldn't settle, gave one boob and he slept in until 6:45. Yay for me! Put him down per the clock at 8:15 and he only slept 45 min. but he woke happy and is playing/babbling happily in his crib. Last time he woke that late and I put him down at 8:15 he slept 1:20 but I think he had had an extended night waking. Who knows...every day is different!
Can't wait for the stinky poops :D Starting solids as soon as Cole recovers from his shots.
oh, he wants me now. bye!
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Hi all -chat was fun, sorry I couldn't stay longer.
Jo - I pretty much ditto what everyone else has said - I think you worry if their poops are very dry and hard. Katie was not an every day pooper when BF and it took us over a month of solids to get on an every day routine. Like Judy said, avoid rice cereal and bananas at first and feed him prunes if he'll eat them. (I mix them with cereal.) The thread on the solids board is called something like "You little one constipated? Try this! and it has lots of suggestions. If you're feeding cereal, you can try mixing it with water instead of BM/formula (though Katie wouldn't ever take it if it was mixed with water).
Richelle - You're not kidding about the stinky poos. Yuck! (Where's the emoticon holding its nose?)
Hannah - About the teething biscuits (a few pages ago I know) - seems kind of strange the box would say to wait until crawling, since there's such a huge age range in when babies crawl and some of them never crawl at all (does that mean they're never allowed to have teething biscuits?)
Traci - Can't believe Cole is crawling. Katie just almost got up on her knees a second ago. She's trying REALLY hard to get somewhere these days!
Micky - Hope you feel better soon. It must be really hard to have DH gone so much.
Judy - Just had a question - what kind of front carriers do you have for the girls? I used to carry Katie around in a Baby Bjorn, but she just got way too heavy for me. I just got a backpack carrier which I'm very excited to go out and use....if it ever stops raining around here.
Ankie - Hope the teacher's strike gets resolved soon. We worked a whole year without a contract in the school where I used to teach and it was such a pain. Teachers in a district not too far from here went on strike a few years ago and they arrested a bunch of them and put then in jail :shock:
Currently I work two days a week (part time) - Katie goes to the day care where my husband works. It's very nice. Hats off to you full time working moms.
Hope everyone has a nice day!
-Erin
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Hi, girls...fun to chat a bit last night...especially seeing Hayley there...unexpected fun. I must say we March/April '05 moms are too cool! :) Fun to ask some random questions I've wondered about.
Big news around here: I think Ryan has learned to clap. :D (Where else would this be big news?) He's been trying so hard and still has one hand in a fist, but he'll do it when I say "Clap, clap, clap" and he gets a look of total pride. Simple pleasures, I tell ya!
I'll probably not post again til after the weekend....between laundry, packing, getting notes for the babysitters (while we go to the wedding), and all that I'm sure I'll be crazy busy today. Who am I kidding? I'll be back, I'm sure. If not, have a GREAT weekend!!!
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HI all nice to see everyone on the chat last night, there were tons of us, nice to see most of us could make it. Judy you should pop on one of these weeks, it'd be a nice change for you at the end of your day, it's the most socializing I do all week, well I have more in common with all of you than I do to the ones near me.
Jo - If prunes don't work try glycerine supositories(??) we have them on hand for our two, thankfully haven't needed them in a couple of years, I found them in the pharmacy here, maybe they would be there in AUS too.
Micky - how are you feeling, my hat is off to you for going it alone while dh goes away to work
Well Riley's landmark is having her kness under her belly and swinging her bum, not sure if it is itnentional but it is cute all the same, also she can stick her tongue out a bit curl it up and make noises, quite cute, but a little cheecky at her 6:30 wake up this morning. I ma definitely going to have my hands more than full by xmas. Right now it is manageable.
Well must dash, bum duty awaits me, I really have to get off my lazy butt and potty train Jay, just too scared about it for now.
one last thing, traci, I hope cole is doing okay after his shots today.
I will talk to you all later, we should all coordinate and chat together sometime, all of us.
Anyhoo, TTFN
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Morning ladies. If only my dh knew i was on here AGAIN! Thank goodness he's off to work and is none the wiser :)
Hayley-I lve the soapy bum bubble thought...any catoonists out there? That would make a great one.
Traci- I also can't belive COle is crawling already! Sophie is getting her knees under her belly with some encouragment from dh (perhaps too much?)but that's all for now...life is really going to change when she is more mobile!
Erin- the teething biscuit thing--I know, I thought that was strange too. No teething biscuits until they are ten :) I think I am going to go ahead and look for some of those melt in the mouth finger food things, like the Hot Kid Baby mum mum's...although i'm not sure what we have in the states that might be similar. Also, I too switched from the Baby Bjorn to the backpack recently and it is MUCH better. The Bjorn just doesn't really do it for me anymore, though it was great for a little while. It's pretty rainy here too. I am currently using the stroller with the "rain fly" as we refer to it for runs and outings.
I can't believe they sent the teachers to jail!!! How crazy! In WA the teachers Union is the second highest funded and we are the group least likely to get what we want...go figure.
Kate- that is so cute that Ryan is clapping. Sophie is absolutely fascinated with our hands, and her own...maybe she'll clap soon too.
Naomi- thanks again for leading me to this thread and the chat last night, that was the most fun I've had in weeks! Lots of laughs...I was still chuckling long after I signed off.
I have sort of been avoiding talking too much about my lo because I feel like I have so many questions but yet the more I read the more I realize that it is different every day and I am probably never going to "figure it all out" and "get her squared away" she's a child not a stack of papers to grade :)
Thanks for the feedback on working. Is anyone working full time...you part imers and SAHM's have it really good. I am jealous Part ime would really be perfect for me. I have a lot of anxiety about going back in Dec. can you tell? :) (Ankie-why oh why wasn't I born in canada?)
In the bw, she talks about staying with your lo until they are almost asleep. But it seems like you all talk about putting them down, then letting them babble etc. (not cry) to drift off. Are you there with them? What's your typical nap put down routine and time? I am wondering if I am doing too much at nap times therefore becoming a prop. In the night when she wakes, all I have to do is go in, give her the binky, pat her and she's back off to sleep...but why do I even have to do this? With proper sleep training, shouldn't she be "learning" to help herself go back to sleep? Any ideas?
Thanks. You are wonderful.
Hannah
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Hi Girls,
Warning that this may turn out long.
Appt. was at 10:15. I got there 10 min. late because I always have to wait. As I arrive at 10:25 the secretary was just showing up and Dr. didn't show up until 10:45! So, long story short we were seen at something crazy like 11:25. Thankfully my textbook son has turned angel on me and was quiet as a mouse the whole time, sitting contendedly in my lap while we waited, charming all the other moms and babies. He might have even waved hi...but I think he was just moving his arm :wink: Dr. wanted to discuss sleep routine LOL :D I told her he was taking 3 naps a day, sleeping 6-6 with 2 wakings for feeding. She wanted to discuss making him soothe himself! again LOL, got that covered thanks. Told her I started that at 4.5 months. She wanted to know how I knew to do that and I touted BW! Don't think she'd heard of it.
Cole cried for about 2 min. after his shots then babbled happily all the way home. I couldn't believe it, it was 1 hour past his nap time. I brought him in the house, put him in his grobag and he was out after 10 min. of babbling!
It is crazy that he's crawling. He's wanted to be a mover from day one. I can't even remember when we first stood him up and he beared (sp?) his own weight. OH YA, he did the CUTEST thing at the dr. He rolled on the exam table and I had left his socks on. He held his bum in the air and was trying to crawl but because of the paper his feet just kept going forward and back, forward and back. The dr. thought it was hilarious!
okay, enough about us.
Erin and anyone else that is curious about a carrier. I bought a Baby Trekker http://www.babytrekker.com/ at a garage sale and it's really good. The straps are a bit cumbersome so I only use it to go for walks in the neighbourhood (don't take it to the mall). My other carrier is a sling and I love it. Was great when he was really little and it's still good now and will be up to something like 35 lbs. Very versatile. Here is the link for it:
http://www.newnativebaby.com/orders/prodtype.asp?cookiecheck=yes&strPageHistory=cat&PT_ID=70
Kate-so cool about the clapping. I haven't even tried to teach Cole that. Thanks for the idea!
Hannah- Where to begin? Let me start with the finger foods. In the US you can get really cool finger foods by Gerber. That's how we got on the topic yesterday...we can't get those in Canada.
As for naps and bedtime. Well, I think most of us used to be with our little ones longer around the 4-5 month mark. I think that's when many of us taught them to sleep independantly. The biggest thing for you might be to get rid of the binky. It will be HARD, but worth it in the end. If she wakes and you have to give it back for her to settle then it's become a prop for her. I spent about 4-5 weeks with Cole getting his naps and night sleep in place. I didn't know about New Orleans until the Friday after it happened. I was either holed up in his room or on here asking questions!
I do the same routine for naps and bedtime and fortunately have learned recently that my routine doesn't need to be as long as I thought. I used to carry him around in the sling etc for a while first and do just quiet activities...but I realized that as long as I sing to him (you are my sunshine) for a few minutes, then sit in the glider for about 30 seconds in the dark he knows it's time for sleep. Whatever routine you choose, if it is consistent then she will know it's time for sleep at the end of it. He will take anywhere from 2-10 minutes to settle. sometimes he just babbles, sometimes he cries. I only go in and comfort if it takes him longer than 10 minutes. Some babies need to cry and as long as it's a settling cry and not a hysterical need me cry then that's okay. It's okay too if your bedtime routine is a bit different from you nap routine...but keep each consistent KWIM?
The key to sleep training is consistency, patience...and one more but I can't remember. Someone help me out! LOL
okay, time for lunch. i'll be back later, you can pretty much count on it!
Traci
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Hello... it was great to see some of you on the chat last night! I won't be there next week... it's my anniversary!!! My sister has volunteered to babysit (brave, considering the last episode was really rough) and we are going out for dinner.
Traci... Go, Cole, go! Can't believe he can crawl already!! Baby gates, here I come! (cuz you know, he'll only crawl where he isn't allowed :) ) Hope Cole feels okay after his shots. Let me know how solids work out!
Erin... I have looked into teething biscuits. Most of them have wheat or sugar or something in them that isn't recommended until one year. I gave Arwyn an Arrowroot before I read the ingredients :roll: and she seemed fine but??? Does anybody know?
Hannah... Each day is a little different with Arwyn in terms of sleeping. This week started out great, Monday and Tuesday, she went to bed, no problems, independently. I just put her in the bed, gave her a kiss, told her I would see her when she woke up and within seconds, she was asleep.
Yesterday and today is a different story... first, I think it is teething and a growth spurt happening simultaneously. She wants to eat every 2 hours (I know because she is screaming and when I ask her if she wants milk, she stops) and as a result, has been nursing to sleep due to the timing.
As for staying in the room until they are asleep, I think the book recommends this when you are starting or when your lo will wake up during a nap, only to be patted back to sleep. I tried this once - I stayed in the room until Arwyn was fully asleep and she slept for 1 hr 30 minutes after I put her back down during a nap (needed 45 min of pu/pd). I also have friends who have done that and it worked for them too. But, I have never tried it with night sleep.
As for night wakings, by putting her soother back in for her and patting, you are teaching Sophie how to self-soothe. She will eventually be able to do it independently. Keep it up. :)
Hannah, you can move up here for your second child! Maternity leave is one year and you can apply for unpaid parental leave, which will guarantee you a job with your employer but not your position. I know I am fortunate to benefit from this relatively new one year mat leave. My friends who had children earlier only had 6 months and before that, 3 months. I believe this changed only in the last 7 or 8 years? Any fellow Canucks out there that can confirm this?
Kate... so cute about Ryan clapping! It must be so rewarding to know he can understand what you are talking about!
Hmm... constipation. Can't say that Arwyn has been for over 1 day or so. I just breastfed more often the next day after she didn't poop and there it was. I also avoided rice cereal that day.
Update on the teachers' strike... yes, the courts are threatening jail time for the executives of the union. There is also talk of jail time for individual teachers. Sad really... the government says we are breaking the law. They neglect to say, they created this law and rammed it through to legislation on the day we went on strike. (They debated it through the night so that it would be in effect when we started out walkout. :shock: ) So, therefore, we are breaking the law. Before they passed it, we were acting within the law, one they themselves created 4 years ago... making us an essential service -- therefore limiting our ability to strike but not making it illegal. It is a long story... the seeds to this confrontation were sown 4 years ago... it has been a struggle since then to get the government to listen. Not that it was easy before, just that they would at least be open to having a meeting. Now, they blatantly refuse to meet with us at all. BTW, the premier of this province keeps lecturing the teachers about obeying the law but he was charged with Drunk Driving in Hawaii. (Don't know if the Hawaiian government stayed up all night to ram legislation through just to charge him?)
Anyhow, I don't think we are being unreasonable but the government does. There are many arguments out there but overall, there seems to be public support. Once it goes on though, we may lose this support as parents want their children in school, not daycare.
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Hallo all - well I haven't posted since 29 Sept!!! cannot believe it ... Things with us are going well - latest news is Lise's cut both her bottom teeth in 1 go!! so was super cranky baby. Back to "normal" now!! I will try and keep up a little better from now on. goodnight for now! NikkiH
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OMG, hooray for you Judy! congratulations on your outing. and good for the girls for staying close by. What on earth do you drive? MUST be a minivan or some crazy huge SUV!!!
what type of sling did you order?
I am happy as I think the rain might hold off here and Cole and I can go walking. His nap after his shots was only 45 min. (he woke at regular time) but he went down early for catnap and I'm going to let him sleep until 4. Would you guys believe he pretty much climbed that darn step by himself today...i barely even held his bum. Going to walmart tomorrow to pick up a gate and cereal!
tata ladies
Traci
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Hey judy,
we posted at the same time! i do love my carrier. I hope you can carry both of them once they are this big. 13 lbs isn't too bad though...cole is over 16 so I have to have him facing forward now, not in the cradle position.
I have had so many people ask me where I bought my sling that I called them and received a wholesale application. I might actually send it in. Doesn't seem like they are too fussy. I just have to have a min. order of $100...and the slings are 50% of retail. I've often thought of running my own business so maybe this could be a start.
I guess I should be happy with my ped as there aren't many around here and she was hard to find. I wish I could have stayed with my delivering doc who is a GP but she's too far away. She was amazing. There is no other word for it. She is compassionate, concerned, caring, takes as much time as you need and brilliant all rolled into one. She left OBGYN in June though so I have to find a new one for number two :cry:
okay, gotta go get the stroller out and get ready for our walk. it's been a few days of rain so i can't wait to get some fresh air.
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HI everyone, sorry for my little "meltdown" the other day. Feeling much better especially after our chat last night. :D
I am glad Cole was okaywith his injections. No more for another 6months. YAY!!. Iam not sure who was asking, but I give James the teething rusks (he has his two bottom teeth) and they don't break off he just sucks on them.
Just a quick question in regards to A time - how long is everyone at the moment? I had J up for 3hrs today (between 10:30am - 1:30pm) not intentionally, and when I put him down he did mantra cry for about 5-10mins and went to sleep by himself. Is anyone else up for 3hrs yet? Other naps/sleeps have been getting better. I have been using a combination of PU/PD and Pat/sh. I only seem to need to pick up about 3-5times and then a little patting and he goes to sleep, I even managed to resettle after a 45min wake with pu/pd.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend. I know what you mean about crawling, james is now everywhere. have you noticed that now they are crawling around and eating solids you have to actually wash them in the bath now!!! :lol: James is also starting to pull himself up. I caught him theother day on his knees holding onto the top of the cot!. In regards to the slings, I use the baby bjorn and J loves it.
Once again, sorry for my meltdown on Wednesday. have a good weekend.
Lisa mum to James my spirited koala bear :wink: :wink:
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Hi everyone,
I am tryingt to fit in a post before I go to bed as I am back to work in another 6.5 hours - I believe they are trying to break me. Lisa I am very close to a meltdown and have no one to turn to at the moment on my end so don;t feel bad!
Naomi - what a great picture I have in my head of Riley swinging her butt in the air, lol - thanks it perked up my night!
Kate - Wow, that is great about the clapping!!
Traci - It must be so exciting / scary to watch Cole be mobile but wow - good for him, Sophie has always been a mover and shaker from the get go and is not far off from crawling - yikes!!
Hannah - I think that Sophie will catch on to whatever you set up as a routine (these lo's are very clever) and I don;t think that lenght matters unless she is really tired. I have different routines for bed and naps for my Sophie. She gave up her paci in favour of her fingers as I stopped giving it to her except bedtime and 3 weeks ago I chucked them altogether but like I say I think I was lucky as she started sucking her fingers.
Judy - Well done!! As much as these lo's neep to nap and have consistency, i think your peace of mind is way more important.
Our big news here is Sophie will mimic me if I say dadadad and babababa, it is very exciting and I am secretly pleased that she does it only with me ( not dh or the nanny!) - bad mommy! It actually is so nice as I have this guilt that I am away from her working and now am no longer breastfeeding so I am glad she still knows mommy...
Wow - i must get to bed, talk to you all soon...
Richelle
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Hi everyone
So much going on as per usual. We are busy mums and LO's aren't we. Cole crawling up stairs, Sophie mimicing words, Ryan clapping, Judy going shopping with all four, Lise with bottom teeth! Sorry if I've missed anyone. Well all I can say is well done all mums and LO's!
Nothing too exciting in our day today, although I mucked Daniel's naps up firstly by putting him down too early so he only napped 40mins. Then I went in to cover him up as his sheets had been kicked off and I woke him up accidently!!!OOOPs :oops: :cry: :oops: :cry: It then took another 45mins and big feeds to get him back to sleep for only 40 mins. So, we went for a drive in the car to the shops after he woke. A very messy nap day resulted. Oh well, he ended up with about the same length in nap time, so hopefully it won't muck him up tonight too much.
Solids are going well and it's time for me to make some more pureed veges for him. Mmmm what next, we've had pumpkin, kumara (sweet potato) and tinned pureed carrots. I think I'll make some more kumara and do my own carrots. I might try some avocado soon. What are some other good foods to cook yourself?
I'm off for an early night as I'm rather tired. So goodnight to you all.
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Just a thought: wouldn't it be fun for our lo's to be able to read this thread when they are older? (if they have any desire!) It is such a telling saga of the trials and tribulations of being parents, and a great "journal" of their in and outs. This might sound crazy but I wonder if there is any way to print out a hard copy of these posts...I am so bad at scrap booking/journaling etc. for my lo, this might be an interesting alternative. It is so fun and cathartic to WRITE. You are all such good writers too, it's so fun to read! I have to say, Judy your stories are especially entertaining. Your writing has such good "voice". I feel like I can really see your days.
Back to the lo's!
Thanks for the feedback about Sophie's night wakings and my staying in the room. I have been now leaving WAY before she is asleep and she has been fine, falling asleep without me after about ten minutes of babbling, looking at her hands, taking her soother in and out etc. (I spy on her from the hallway of course).
She is still waking in the night unfortunately. Although I am starting to think (once again---I go back and forth) that they are habitual wakings and I need to try wake to sleep. Traci-have you been doing that still?
I KNOW I need to get away from the paci sooner or later. We have at least limited paci use to sleep times only...actually she has really done that herself. She just doesn't want it any other time. However, she is definately dependant on it to help go to sleep. At one point she was sucking her fingers. I should have probably taken it away slowly then, but now she seems less interested in the fingers.
So...the experiment continues. There are so many possibilities..like I said, I am wondering if it is habitual waking,(Or dependence on the prop of the paci) but then again it could be hunger. I am still doing the dream feed but lately she has been waking early like 5am and I have had to hold her off to eat until 6.and she is definately HUNGRY...this is new. She used to sleep until 7 and be fine to wait to eat until 7:30 or so.
Orrrrrr, what about the possiblity of too much sleep during the day? I know that the idea is that the better they nap the better they sleep at night. She is a really good napper (maybe too good?) she usually takes a solid two hour morning nap, a 1.5hr-2hr afternoon nap and a 45 min cat nap. Sometimes I let her sleep longer than 2 in the morning if she had a partciualry bad night's sleep. Is that too much napping? Maybe her A time is too short...like Lisa was saying, I have kept her up for 3 hrs of A time and she is definately tired, but will still go down easily for a nap.
I have unleashed the beast of all of my questions on all of you!!! Thank for listening. I would love o hear any and all ideas...sorry to be the newcomer hijacking the thread :oops:
Richelle, I love that Sophie is babbling syllables! How absolutely adorable. I completely understand the enjoyment of the fact that she only does it for you. I too fear my Sophie not "knowing" mommy as well when I am back to work. We need those little (or big) afirmations. :D
Hayley, we have only tried the orange vegges...really fun for the mess created. Sophie is not a very lady like eater. We have done winter squash...which I think is butternut. That might be another one to try. I want to try avocado too. Tell me how Daniel likes it.
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Arwyn fell over from sitting while naked on her bath towel and whacked her head on the faucet. We were in the hospital waiting for 2 hours and then it took like 30 seconds for the doctor to glue her cut closed.
I am having a bad mommy moment. I can't believe it happened. Both DH and I were there. I was even holding her and it happened so fast. Needless to say, I became very distraught when I saw blood. My DH was very calm (thank goodness) and he stopped the bleeding, then somehow got us both ready and to the hospital.
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Oh Ankie!!! I am sending you lots of hugs right now. I am so sorry that happened!
Thank goodness it wasn't any worse and that doc. could fix it up so quickly. The wait must have been really hard though.
It's bound to happen to all of us at one time or another. I don't know, maybe you can be somewhat relieved that yours has now happened and you probably won't have any more accidents/injuries for quite a while now (you've filled your quota). Accidents happen, don't beat yourself up for it!
Hey...here's a thought :D I am probably causing Sophie more long term damage by feeding her Gerber baby foods (as opposed to cooking her food like you do) then that one little accident could ever cause Arwyn. :)
It's a trade off.
Hope your day goes well today.
Hannah
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hi all...well day 3 of meds...feeling better but still not sleeping worth a hill of beans. I woke last night at 1 am then tossed and turned until 3:30. I finally got up and went to try a different spot to sleep...the floor of Jack's room :oops: ...and fell asleep within minutes!!! What's with that???? :?
Well, on other news-we heard from the OR yesterday. Jack is scheduled to have foot surgery on Nov. 9th. He has a very mild case of arthogryposis and the bone that connects the ankle to the foot formed pointing to his arch rather than toward his toes so it makes it impossible for him to point his toes. Sooooo, in order for him to learn to walk properly he needs his feet operated on. :cry: Poor guy!! We've been waiting a long time to get booked into the OR so I hope it doesn't get postponed! He is to be in casts for 6-8 weeks after...taking us right to Christmas!! :( We are going to California to visit my sisters and I'm not sure if my DH will be able to come with us. It would be nice to have the casts off before then so that he isn't so heavy and he could go swimming. But on the other hand if he gets the casts off before we go he might be miserable because I'm sure his ankles will be sore. :(
I'm sure the stress of waiting for this surgery has something to do with me not sleeping :shock: !!! I'll be very glad when it's done! I'm also glad that DH has already booked himself to come home for the surgery to help me and Jack cope!!! :shock: :cry: :shock: :cry:
Just curious.....anyone else brushing their LO's teeth/gums??? We do it just before he goes to sleep as part of our ritual (naps and bedtime). Jack loves it and he is starting to grab the toothbrush and rub his gums with it.
I can't remeber who suggested tummy time on my lap or my belly....(I think Judy??) anywhoo...we tried it yesterday....he's happy a little longer but still doen't like it and starts to complain shortly !!!
Sorry for my long ramble....had to get a few things off my chest!
Oh yeah solids...Jack is almost agreeable on everything that we've tried so far except pumpkin. He hated that and homemade carrots! :roll: We have tried Squash, sweet potato, green beans, peas, wax beans, avocado, pumpkin, carrots, banana, apple, pear, peaches, creamed corn, beef and turkey. He wasn't a fan of the beef either...but I don't blame him!!! I gave him the jarred baby food stuff....YUCK!!! it smelled like dog food to me! He gobbled down turkey! (leftovers from thanksgiving).
Those are some smelly poops!!! Meat poops! :shock:
Talk to you all later!
Micky
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Ankie - many, many (((hugs))) to you - that must have been super scary. Katie has whacked her head on things so many times by now I'm surprised we haven't made it to the hospital yet ourselves. She'll be fine though, and don't beat up yourself over it. It's so hard with all the moving around all our LOs are starting to do to keep them totally safe all the time - it was so much easier when they just used to lay there!
Judy and Traci - Thanks for the carrier feedback - I just got one of those great backpack things so I can go out hiking again (yay!), but I definitely want to get a sling whenever #2 comes along. Will keep that one in mind. Traci - too bad you're in Canada - I'd contribute to your wholesale thing, but I think by the time we worked out the currency difference and the postage it wouldn't be any cheaper!
Hannah - My guess is if you took the paci, she'd definitely become more interested in her fingers, but I don't speak from experience since Katie always refused the paci and has sucked her thumb since she was able to get it in her mouth. I'm not sure about your nap time - seems like a lot, but Katie has always been a good night sleeper and a terrible napper (I'm not complaining about that) so maybe cut back and see what happens?
Hayley - we have tried winter squash too, which Katie likes - so far we've done squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, pears, prunes, and peaches. She seems to like it all except for the peaches. I think we're on to some green veggies tomorrow!
Lisa - our awake time is around 2.5 - 3 hours at the moment. Glad you're feeling better!
Richelle - almost the weekend! Hang in there (and feel free to vent if you need to).
Have a good weekend all - the in-laws are headed our way as we speak.
-Erin
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Hi Ladies,
I have been away for a few days as we had to go up north for my great aunts funeral which involved a 7 hour car ride both ways in jsut 2 days. I am feeling really down adn could sure use a pep talk :cry: I really don't mean to be selfish as I know I haven't posted in a few days...but after the tears came this morning I knew jsut the place to come!
I did manage to gather in reading through a couple of the posts that about Arwyn-so sorry to hear about that Ankie, but I'm sure all is well now! also, are you the one going through the strike right now? I forget but I think it was you. My parents went through a 7 month long strike last year...they both work for the grocery companies here in California. It was very tough, but hang in there!
Micky-sorry to hear about Jack's surgery :( I know he will be just fine though, so HUGS to you!
So ladies, it appears Taylor is back on 40 or less minute naps!!! I jstu can't go through this again after battling them for 8 weeks when she was younger! Yesterday in the car ride she took 3 30 minute naps and I just kept getting so aggravated that she wouldn't sleep longer. My 17 month nephew was in the car and he slept for 2 hours straight! I am sitting her bawling right now about it!!!! :cry: :shock: I don't know why this is upseting me so much. I just can't do this again! And the thing is that she is such a different baby now that she doesn't respond to the old tricks anymore to extend the naps. No more wake to sleep, pat/shush, etc...she is just way too alert now.
I know I am being irrational right now and need to just sit down and take a deep breath and take stock into what is going on. I feel like this is my fault though because I have been too lax lately. Not keepin take of her naps, running errands with her on the weekend, etc...
Later after I have gathered my thoughs more I will write down what I think is going on, but for now I jsut needed to vent and get this off my chest.
thanks for listening!
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hi andrea!! vent all you want!! it helps keep me sane at times!! :D i hope taylor starts cooperating more :shock: the thing that has been helping us for the 40 min- 45 min napmonster is ignoring the first set of sleep cues (A~1.5 hours) if we can keep him going till about 2.5 hrs then he seems to sleep for 1.5 hrs (without letting him get too over tired).
HTH
Micky
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hi,
I don't have much time, have to run to an appt. I just want to say hugs to Ankie (I'm sure Arwyn will be fine), Micky-best wishes for a successful surgery and recovery and Andrea. Andrea...You've got a LOT going on right now...and I'm wondering if Taylor is picking up on it? Between the funeral and your emotions over leaving your job she just might. Something to think about. And I'm sure that's why you're feeling overwhelmed right now too. Hang in there!
okay everyone, I'm off. DH is home studying and Cole is sleeping. By 5:00 next Thursday DH will be done exams and we'll have our life back. The countdown has begun!
I think one or two questions were directed at me but I will answer them later.
bye
Traci
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thanks Micky and Traci, it helps a lot to know there is a shoulder to cry on! I think you are right Micky about the longer A time. she is getting older so it makes sense that she would be moving to more of a 2.5 hour A time. and Traci, you are right as well. I do have a lot of emotions going on right now. For starters I don't really feel like I got to say goodbye to my aunt because for the funeral I was in the mothers room nursing Taylor and then for the burial I stayed in teh car with her because she was napping.
The other thing taht doesn't help is that I started to read yet another sleep book, Healthy Sleep Healthy Baby, which a lot of moms have recommended. But I think it has just totally thrown me for a loop because a lot of the info. is conflicting with BW. ?!?! :? :shock: :x
she is down for her 2nd nap right now after 2 hr. 25minutes of A time. so keeping our fingers crossed!
:arrow: BTW, have you seen the Jan/Feb thread #3? They just started a new thread because their other one got too long and the first post is from Debinoz with soem "guidelines". Do you all think we should do that here as well?
BTW, Micky, is Jack's surgery outpatient? Taylor had an outpatient surgery in August to remove an anal polyp she was born with. It was hard but I think harder on us than her! Hang in there! :)
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My heart goes out to you Andrea.
I was thinking, after I read your post I looked at the Jan/Feb mom's #3 thread and I realized that I don't think I have done a very good job of introduing myself and here I have just inserted myself into what is obviously a very intimate group of people. I hope I have not been rude. You have BTW all been extremely helpful and welcoming.
Just in case you want to know...
My name is Hannah. I live in Olympia, Washington. I am 32 years old and a 4th grade teacher. I have one child, dd Sophia born Apirl 11, 2005. I also have a stepson, Brendan who is 6 years old. He lives with his mom. We have visitation every other weekend. My husband Mike and I will have been married one year on Nov. 26th...yes we were pregnant before we got married :) Sophia was a complete surprise and I am truly loving it, as difficult as it can be at times. I am on leave from my job until Dec. at which point I will go back full time. I read the BW when dd was about 4 months. She slept with us up until I read bw....then we started sleep training. It was rough at first, especially getting Mike on board...but had gotten much better.
I love coming here, venting, getting advice, sharing stoies and reading your adventures.
Thanks for being here.
Hannah
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Hi Hannah! I don't think you have been rude at all! I sometimes feel rude too though after being absent for a few days and then just popping in to vent, but these ladies are always here for that and have been amazing! Sophie is a cutie for sure and seems to like daddy playing the guitar!
Judy, after I read your post I really got to thinking and I feel like such a loon! Here I am a grown woman cryign because my 6 month old won't take a long enough nap! :? :shock: And here you a mother of twins and 3 other girls all under 5! After a logn shower and a vent session I feel much better. Taylor has been down for over an hour now so maybe she is just going through a phase though, but I do need to keep my eye on things more and realize taht she is not as portable as some...too much shock to her routine and it seems to upset her (and me obviously! :wink: )
With all my drama, I did have to tell you all how cute T was yesterday at the receiption after the funeral. She was being tossed back and forth with total strangers (to her that is) and she was nothign but smiles and giggles. Everyone loved her and thought she was such a happy baby! She really is amazing, even after a 30 min. nap!
thanks again for listening everyone.
:?: :arrow: SHould we start that new thread soon since we are on pg. 99???
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Hi all,
Micky and Ankie, thinking of both of you and sending out hugs!!! Well Ankie, like someone else said, you have had your quota of accidents while the rest of us are just waiting for them to happen. I am at least.
Micky, how very stressful, let us know just prior to the op and we will send thoughts and prayers your way...
Andrea, know what you mean about 45 minute naps, sometimes we have 4 naps here of that length and it gets really stressful as ds is sooo cranky and will not let me put him down. I keep trying to extend A time but he cries really hard when he is tired and its just too hard to ignore. We have a sling that we use and it is a godsend!! At least, I have my arms free!
Sam is getting sooo mobile and it is scary. Not crawling yet, well he moves backwards but has figured out that if he rolls like a log, he can get places. Found him stroking the heater the other day with the power cord in his fingers about to go into his mouth. YIKES!!! :shock: I was only gone to answer the phone!
I must not be very adventurous with solids as we have only tried-sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots, apple and pears. I puree my own. Might try peas next. Thanks for ideas guys!
Just read the Jan/Feb thread, do you think we should start another one as we are just about at 100 pages...
Also, I am Karen, 33 years old. Married to Des for 5 years. Sam is our first child. We discovered BW when Sam was 8 weeks old and prior to that, he had to rocked for all his naps although night sleep was good. I work at the Emergency Room as an Emergency Physician but child rearing is a complete mystery to me! Am going back to work part time in the beginning of November.
Will take a recent photo of the both of us and post later.
Karen
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Hi Karen,
Like Judy said, it is such a fine line between long enough A time but not getting them too overtired.
As far as solids go we barely started last Saturday so we have only done pears, which she loves, and sweet potatoes which she doesn't really care for, and avocadoes, which she hated! Funny cause I LOVE Them and ate a ton of them when I was pregnant.
If you all don't mind, I think I will go ahead and post a new thread to get started.
THanks ladies,
Andrea
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Hi everybody,
Thanks for the kind words. I do feel a little better about it as Arwyn seems no worse for wear. She took her normal morning nap and is down for her second... extended by DH after 35 min. (Thank you Daddy!)
Micky... I'm sending speedy process vibes over there for Jack. I know it is easy to get bumped up here for surgeries so I hope Jack's goes as planned. I am sure he will have a speedy recovery as they just seem to heal overnight.
About the brushing... yes, we brush Arwyn's gums every night (when we remember :oops: ) with a special little rubber brush I bought. It is made by "Safety 1st" and it looks like a rubber toothbrush. She loves it... I think it feels good on her poor teething gums. I run it under very cold water and then brush her gums for a few seconds.
Andrea... Hang in there! I know it is very frustrating to battle 45 minute naps. I've been there and am still fighting them. I just resigned myself to getting nothing done while she naps. If I really wanted to get something done, I would just bring her and some toys to where I needed to get work done and that would become part of her awake time. It's a bit of compromise on the lo's part but she is part of the family and as a family, we need to get certain things done. It wasn't until I accepted this though, that I could stop feeling so stressed out about it.
And... I also have a child like yours who can survive just beautifully on a 30 minute nap. Enjoy her and her interactions with "strangers" because it is truly a wonderful thing. I love watching Arwyn with others because it is rare that I just get to look at her interacting as I am usually the one interacting with her.
Hannah... you fit right in! Don't apologize, you have nothing to apologize for! Like you, I jumped right in about 2 1/2 months ago and I can't seem to leave!!! I am totallly addicted. Never chatted or belonged to a forum before in my life and I am in here like a dirty shirt!
Karen... back to work in November? How old will Sam be?
I'm gonna do an introduction too... I'm Ankie :) and will be married to James for 3 years next Wednesday. Arwyn is our first child (hopefully of 2) and we live in Burnaby, B.C. (next city over from Vancouver). I am an ESL and Learning Assistance teacher in an elementary school. I will be returning to work in March 2006. We discovered BW when Arwyn was 11 weeks old and have not looked back since.
Thanks again everybody for well, everything! I love coming here to see what everybody is up to and how their little ones are doing. I don't know what I would do without this avenue to vent, learn, cry, share... and the list goes on.
SO... how do we start a new thread as we fast approach 100 pages?
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Yep guys feel free to start yourselves a new thread. I haven't really been able to keep up with you all and it's great that you're a support to each other but I will still try and pop in and see how you're all getting on.
Just create a new post and title it whatever you want and away you go. :) If you want guidelines like that other thread, maybe just cut and paste it in.
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Andrea...go ahead and start the new thread. I'm waiting so I can do my intro. So everyone...hold off on your intro...and if you've already done it here, copy and paste it over so that any newcomers will see it!
by the way, did you girls see that our thread has had over 12000 views!!!
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Hi all - as Andrea has told me you are starting a new thread I will lock this one for you.
Deb
Co-Moderator - EASY Forum