Babies of Oct-Dec /04

[Gigismom]

jill-hope connor is feeling better soon, especially for his party.

momtoree-gianna also has more trouble sleeping on the nights when she has napped poorly during the day.  like weissbluth says, "sleep begets sleep", so the overtired child will have much less restful sleep.  don't feel guilty for having your dh get up with her!!!!!!!  geez, i've been making mine do it since day one!    i think if you trade off 50/50 that's totally fair.

phoebe-gosh, gianna has done that weird night waking for the past few nights where she is awake but not really.  she flops around when i hold her, but cries when i put her down.  i am going to post something in the "night waking" board and let you know if i get any response.  i must be totally stupid, but i really and truly thought once you got them to stop eating in the night, the night wakings are over.   :roll:

jodi-how is morgan?  how are YOU?  hope you're feeling better.

[pdb]

Lindsey - I'm just glad to hear Susana is not the only one to do that weird flopping around while half-asleep.  The only thing I could figure is it's either nightmares or tummy aches.  With the exception of the past two nights, she would also wake up just shrieking at least twice a night.  Sometimes she'd fall right back asleep after two minutes without me going in, other times I'd have to go in and resettle her which would take anywhere from one to two hours. 

I don't know if it's related or not, but  Susana started real walking Sunday and her sleep has been good since.  I have read that their sleep can get disturbed just before a big milestone so maybe Gianna is about to do something new???  Of course, just because I wrote this, Susana will probably be up several times tonight. :?

Happy birthday Connor!!!

For those of you who have already done birthday parties, did you all serve a meal?  What time did you do your parties?  I was thinking of having it around three to try not to interfere with naps.  I figured that we wouldn't need a meal then since it's kind of late for lunch, but some family will probably be coming from out of town, so I didn't know if I should have it around mealtime and just forgo the afternoon nap.  I am really dreading it because Susana doesn't like to be around lots of people, but the party will end up being kind of large even if we stick to just family.   

Does anyone have any tips for traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday?  The last time we went anywhere with Susana was 4 months ago.  We went to my niece's birthday party.  We had planned to spend the night, but Susana only took two 30 min naps and screamed most of the day because being around so many people freaked her out.  Then after two hours of screaming trying to get her to go to bed, we ended up giving up and driving back home at 9:00 pm.  We are supposed to go back to my sister's Thursday and spend the night, but I'm wondering if we should just make it a day trip.  It's only a two hour drive.  I am so tempted to just hae the three of us stay home and have a long peaceful weekend together.  I just don't want to ruin her sleep since the last two nights have been the only peaceful nights of sleep we've had in a couple of months.

[Gigismom]

phoebe-i know what you mean about overnight trips.  i get SO stressed about it because gianna doesn't sleep well away from home so because of this,  i know she will be overtired and cranky for the whole trip.  we rarely go anywhere overnight.  does susana sleep in the car?  if so, could you just drive to your sister's during her am nap, give her some sort of afternoon nap while you are there (rocking her or walking her to sleep), then leave around her bedtime at night?  that is usually how we handle short trips to san diego, l.a., etc.  it works out good for us though because gianna sleeps in the car seat.  i can relate to the stress with a lot of people too.  gianna HATES strangers...and when you get a crowd of them together...it's not pretty.  dh's family were here over the last weekend and we have more family coming in tonite to stay for this weekend, so she is going to be a nightmare.  she really is the sweetest, funniest little girl, i just wish she'd show that side to all our relatives!  they must think she is such a brat!  i am wondering if all the people have anything to do with her night wakings.  when i get more time, i will try to pm you about the night wakings...if we put our heads together, we MUST be able to figure it out.

[Gigismom]

i forgot to ask...do you all brush your lo's teeth?  we have been brushing for a few months, and she always liked it and thought it was a game.  but lately, she downright refuses to open her mouth to get brushed.  we have tried 3 different toothbrushes, tried letting her hold the brushes, tried distraction...so far, she is still screaming her head off.  any ideas?

[pdb]

Lindsey - I'll look for your pm on the sleep stuff.  As for the teeth brushing, my pediatrician just recommended wiping her teeth down with a clean washcloth.  This worked great when she had two teeth but last time I was at the doctor with her I told him he was welcome to get his finger bit off each night if he wanted but I'd rather not.     I have a little toothbrush for her and I usually let her chew on it before bed.  I don't always remember to and she has a bottle after that so I'm kind of starting to worry now that she has 8 teeth.  I have a feeling the next time we go to the pediatrician, he is going to recommend I drop the night bottle - not looking forward to that. 

[jillybeansmith]

Connor's b-day party may be cancelled this weekend too...

We are having a real tough go of it...Everything I read on the web, calls it a 'mild' illness...seems like much more to us...I also see that it's typically found in older children, wonder if it affects babies harder...

Anybody dealt with croup yet?  I have a feeling we are heading down that path now...

A month or two I was almost bragging about my child never having a cold, now he has a rash, sleeps all the time, has a cold, doesn't want to eat anything (but is drinking), and is starting to bark....

I'm just sad about his b-day...I wanted it to be special...

Anyways, enough whining from me...talk to you later,
Jill

[jillybeansmith]

BDay party is cancelled...

Now, we have Bronchitis.  He's on antibiotics...

He didn't even have a sniffle while he was home, I take him to daycare, he ends up with fifths, croup, then bronchitis...ugh....

[pdb]

jill-Sorry to hear about Connor feeling bad and having to cancel his party.  I hope he's better soon.

Well our Thanksgiving travel wasn't too awful.  Although we haven't made it through the night yet, so I don't want to speak too soon.  We decided just on the day trip.  Susana took a good nap this morning and we left after it.  She didn't take an afternoon nap.  She slept in the car on the way home and was quite when I laid her down in the crib.  She was just making some noises but not crying so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I hope we can get back on track tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! (in the US )

[MomtoRee]

Happy Thanksgiving to the US moms!  Hope that the travels went well.  To avoid this we had all the family at our house  :shock: Turns out Reegan skipped her afternoon nap anyway.  Everytime she heard someone downstairs she perked right up.  Oh well, she still did really great all day.  Unlike you little ones she loves being around people.  She didn't use to like crowds but now they don't bother heard.  There were lots of babies here and she loved that.  Plus she loved all the great food and we have lots of leftovers.  I got lots of good ideas to fix for her now!

Everybody going shopping too?  I am addicted to shopping after Thanksgiving.  I went to Meijer this morning at 4 to get the deals and heading out at 3:30 to shop.  I know I am crazy but I can't pass up the great deals.  Gives Daddy some morning time with Reegan. 

We do brush Reegan's teeth.  When she doesn't want to I don't push it.  I figure that if she misses a few days it isn't a big deal, for now.  We nurse after I brush the teeth, but I don't think that it is a big deal.  We use a regular baby toothbrush.  I used the fingerbrush thing but was tired of having my finger biten off!

Jill - sorry Connor is so sick!  I can't imagine going through all that.  Hopefully he will get better and he won't pick up so much at daycare.  That is horrible that you had to cancel his party because he is so sick 

So are any of you getting a little frustrated with the sleeping thing?  I did the BW to get her to sleep all night and take the good naps.  Things are getting better but I never thought that after a year we would still be having problems.  OK, just my little vent!

[hannah'smom]

hello everyone

I am  sorry to hear about connor being so ill that's way to much at once poor thing....how is his night sleep?
We have a dentist in the family and her daughter is 1 month younger than hannah.  I was asking her about  brushing and she said it was most important to clean there teeth at night so all the stuff isn't sitting on the teeth. ALso, she said limit juice. HUGE INCREASE in tooth decay in kids who drink a lot of juice. Even 100 percent juices need to be diluted well.

JBS-can you post one or two of your favourite recipes from your book. That would be great


MOM to ree- I think you are the one that recommended the DVD in the car. WOW thanks. Hannah doesn't watch a lot of tv but when we are travelling long distances and she is in the middle of a melt down throw on a move and we are good for a half hour. thanks would never have though of it

Hannah is still doing fairly well...knock on wood we haven't been sick lately or had to many routine problems.
Today was the first day with a lot  of snow so we put her snow suit on which is 18 months and way too big for her. We went out and played in the snow and she thought it was great however she really couldn't do to much but move like a worm too funny I will take a picture and post it to show how funny she looks

take care

ange

[jillybeansmith]

Ange, his sleep is crappy...since he only wants to have his bottles (he's been off his food)...it doesn't sustain him to drink only, therefore, he has at least 3 bottles in the middle of the night...
Last night, I managed to get in some mushroom soup and toast into him (of all things)...I'm just trying whatever to get him to eat something...This morning he had a little yogurt...Good thing he's a chunky baby, he hasn't eaten much beyond his bottles in a week...

I will look up some recipes and post them for you later today...

Have a good day...

Jill

[MomtoRee]

Jill - so sorry about Connor.  Poor little guy.  I hope that he is better soon and getting some food in his little body.  So, have you been off work this whole time with him? 
Ange - I did talk about the DVD in the car.  Glad that it worked for you.  I know that we are going to use it for Christmas travel.  I don't know how my parents use to travel with us! 
Reegan has taken to getting up at 5/5:30 again.  Don't know what to do with her.  She just screams when you go in her room and won't get her out of the crib.  Then I get her up at 6:30 and take her into our bed like always to feed her.  The past few days she has went to sleep.  We have always done this and she never went back to sleep!  I don't know if I should let her go to sleep or make her stay up.  Any suggestions?  Since she does this she sleeps in and then only takes one nap.  Did you all ever think that at 1 you would still be having sleep problems?

[Gigismom]

glad everyone survived the long weekend!

jill-so sorry to hear about all of connor's sicknesses.  it's hard enough to deal with that...then you have the disappointment about his party.  hope he's feeling better soon!

ange-looking foward to seeing hannah in her snow suit.  sounds like fun!

momtoree-i can totally relate to your frustration with the sleep issue.  i think i made a similar comment a few pages back about how i truly thought the night wakings were over once they stopped eating in the night.  it seems they just get worse and more complicated.  the worst part for me is that i feel i have given up the past year of my life to establish good sleeping habits for gianna.  i am ALWAYS home for naps and we never keep her out late.  i am consistent in my sleep training methods.  but she continues to wake!  i could totally handle just doing the feedings in the night when she was younger, but now when she wakes, it is for HOURS...and i have no idea why.  last night she was crying from 11:45 til sometime after 1:30  .then she woke at 5:00 and cried for about 30-45 mins.  she did go back to sleep, but only til 6:30.  as for reegan's early wakings...just do whatever works for you guys.  if it were me, i'd just make her stay up until her usual first nap time.  i read somewhere that if they wake early you should not let them take an early nap.  this seemed to help us.  gianna rarely wakes before 6:00.  that's early, but i have learned to live with it.  oh yeah, i drink lots of coffee too!

phoebe-i'll pm you today about the sleep issue.

[pdb]

momtoree- Have you tried letting her cry with you in the room, but not getting her up until six?   In one of my sleep books, it suggests this for early wakings.  Then if they are still up at six you leave for at least two minutes and then do a dramatic wake up.  I don't know if it works, I haven't been able to try it because I leave for work at 6:30 so I wouldn't have time to do that and get ready for work.  Lucky for us Susana has started sleeping a little later, usually 6:15 or so.  I never thought I'd consider 6:15 sleeping in!!!!  I'll say a little prayer that Reegan will start sleeping "late".  :wink:

Lindsey - I sent you a pm.  Please tell me you got it since I've been writing you a novel for the past half hour. 

jill-How's Connor?

[MomtoRee]

Phoebe - thanks for the suggestion but that is what we do. 
I actually just got her up and took her to bed with me and feed her at 5:40 this morning.  I stayed in her room a couple minutes but just couldn't deal with it.  She feel asleep at 7 only to have dh wake her up at 7:15  :x So she was a grump all day until her morning nap.  I really do think now that she needs to go to one nap because she has a really hard time going down for her second nap and I can't extend the wake time any longer or she puts up a fight at bedtime or lays in her crib playing until 9!  I think that this is the in between two and one naps where she is not ready for one but two is too much.  KWIM? 
Everybody say a prayer for Reegan that she doesn't have to have the tearduct surgery on Friday.  They said that we still need to come to be sure but I told them that I think that it is ok now.  It just got really bad when she got sick so they still come.  I am just praying that it is ok.