Babies of Oct-Dec /04

[Jadynsmom]

Hi guys,

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  I've had to work the last 3 days and I'm feeling so bad about leaving my lo!! She is teething with a vengence these days.  She cries in her sleep and it's breaking my heart.  I've been giving her Motrin at night times and I think it's helping.  She woke up at 5:30am this morning and my husband gave her the paci & she went back to sleep til 7:30am.  Thank goodness.  She has pretty much decided that she does not want any fruit day or night.  Only eats sweet potatos & barley cereal or oatmeal. She hates green beans, pears, apples, peaches, etc.  She will eat avacado once in a while. 

Jakes mom - When Jadyn dropped her catnap I extended her wake times to 21/2hrs & 3hrs for her naps & 4hrs before bedtime.  It was kinda tricky because she was sooo tired.  I would extend it by letting her watch Baby einstein videos or going outside and just sitting in our swing or just walking around.  A couple of times she just got really tired & would wake at night after 45mins, but I would give her the paci & she went back to sleep always.  Her winddown is down to about 2mins these days.  Basically since one song & dance during it & just laid her down.  She would kinda scoot on her knees and I would let her.  She always falls asleep within 5 mins.  I don't even flip her back onto her tummy any more.  I just leave her on her back if she ends up on her back. 

When your lo wakes at 5:30am, just continue to treat it as nightwaking and just pat or give paci & leave for them to try to go back to sleep.  It will take a couple of times, but continue to try to settle them back to sleep.  Hopefully they will reset their bodies to wake at a more reasonable time.  I do think it's because of the 3naps that they are waking so early.  Btw, what time are they going to bed?  If I put Jadyn to sleep before 7:30pm, she seemed to wake around 6:30 or 6:45, but if I put her down 7:30 & she falls asleep about 7:40, she wakes right at 7:20am (exactly), which is right at 12hrs.  You might want to play with the bedtime by 15mins to 30mins & see if it's any different.

Hopefully they will sleep through til 7am soon.

Sharon - How's Ella doing these days?  I haven't seen any posts from you here.  I haven't had time to read any other posts these days.  This is the only one I've been checking regularly.

Hope everyone's doing well.

Kathy

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Hi all, I'm here! It's funny Kathy because I was wondering where you were!    I feel so behind though in the posts! I agree with what Kathy said. though early wakings seem to go with the territory around 6 months don't they? I think it's probably time for both lo's to drop the 3rd nap. We have the same amount of awake time as Kathy. As far as figuring out Ella's bedtime... if it's around 7:30, 7:45 we can get her to go until 7. Usually. It seems she's an 11 1/2 hour girl. Though naps are sucking again!!!! It's always somthing isn't it? Maybe you guys can post your schedules and we can go from there.

Jill, it's normal to have regression when starting EASY. Just keep at it and keep consistent and it should straighten out. Always allow for some flexibility and "read" your baby but just keep going and it should get better.

We too think we've finally found a sippy for Ella. An Avent trainer that pours a bit out of the spout and the handles go on the sides of the bottle. She just wouldn't suck on the no spill ones! I think maybe because we gave her an "open" regular cup so early.  Oh and we dropped the 11 am bottle! That's our big news. We've just bumped lunch to 11:30 and now she is eating so much better... at all solid meals too. So she's drinking 24oz over 3 bottles and a few oz. with lunch in her sippy. Plus cereal, etc. Dd's almost 8 months now so she had her first cheerios today too! It was the cutest thing! She has just started trying to "chew" her food for a few days now. Love it. I also put my hands out today when she was sitting up in her bouncy seat and she grabbed them and pulled up to standing. I got sooo excited! Then so did she. She started laughing away! I didn't pull on her but dh and I were thinking it still doesn't really "count" as her pulling herself up for the first time... but it was still so exciting! These days I feel as though we suddenly have a wee girl living here and not a baby!  :cry:  Boy, mixed emotions on that!

I hope I haven't missed responding to anyone... please let me know if I have!

Hope you're all well...

Sharon

[Jakes_mom]

okay, so we had a great day yesterday.  Jake took 2 naps, 1-1.5hr and 1 1.15hr.   He went to bed at 7pm and woke at 530.  we struggled with him for a while and got him up at 7am, but not sure if he actually slept.  he went down for his first nap at 930.   We tried a bigger diaper and it still leaked, i think its from him moving around too much. 

Kathy,  i think you are right about the bedtime but everytime i would extend his bed time he would wake the same time, whcih was 6-630 but we will definitly try it, probably wait till he gets used to 2 naps.  is jadyn getting close to crawling? 

Sharon, heres jakes schedule when he was on a 3 nap\day:

6-630 wakeup (before the current 5-530wakeup)
630 bottle
8 solids
830-930-nap
1030 bottle
12 solids
1230-130 nap
230 bottle
430-5 nap
530 solids
6bath
630baby einstien
7bottle&bed

We are now working on:
7-730wake up and bottle
830 solids
930\10 nap
11 bottle
1230solids
2\230 nap
3 bottle
530solids
6bath
630 baby einstein
7bottle&bed

thanks girls :wink:

[Gigismom]

our schedule is very screwy because her wakeup times and nap lengths are soooo erratic.  but here is a sample of a "normal" day:

5:30 wake up (cannot extend this for the life of me!), bf, solids one hour later, activity

8:00 nap for usually 45 mins

8:45  snack, activity

11:15 nap for usually 1.5 hour

12:45 bf, solids one hour later, activity

3:15 nap for usually 30-45 mins

4:00 dinner at 5 pm, activity, bath, books, bf

7:00 bedtime

10:00 df

anyway, is it really possible that she can survive this very long day with only 2 naps??  if i keep her up longer than usual, will she have trouble settling for a nap and staying asleep?  i am just a big wimp and scared that if i try it and keep her up too long, she will go ballistic.  she is 7.5 months, so she should really be able to stay up longer.  should i expect resistance from her at first, or take that as a sign she is not ready for 2 naps??  thanks for all your help!

[Gigismom]

our schedule is very screwy because her wakeup times and nap lengths are soooo erratic.  but here is a sample of a "normal" day:

5:30 wake up (cannot extend this for the life of me!), bf, solids one hour later, activity

8:00 nap for usually 45 mins

8:45  snack, activity

11:15 nap for usually 1.5 hour

12:45 bf, solids one hour later, activity

3:15 nap for usually 30-45 mins

4:00 dinner at 5 pm, activity, bath, books, bf

7:00 bedtime

10:00 df

anyway, is it really possible that she can survive this very long day with only 2 naps??  if i keep her up longer than usual, will she have trouble settling for a nap and staying asleep?  i am just a big wimp and scared that if i try it and keep her up too long, she will go ballistic.  she is 7.5 months, so she should really be able to stay up longer.  should i expect resistance from her at first, or take that as a sign she is not ready for 2 naps??  thanks for all your help!

[Gigismom]

our schedule is very screwy because her wakeup times and nap lengths are soooo erratic.  but here is a sample of a "normal" day:

5:30 wake up (cannot extend this for the life of me!), bf, solids one hour later, activity

8:00 nap for usually 45 mins

8:45  snack, activity

11:15 nap for usually 1.5 hour

12:45 bf, solids one hour later, activity

3:15 nap for usually 30-45 mins

4:00 dinner at 5 pm, activity, bath, books, bf

7:00 bedtime

10:00 df

anyway, is it really possible that she can survive this very long day with only 2 naps??  if i keep her up longer than usual, will she have trouble settling for a nap and staying asleep?  i am just a big wimp and scared that if i try it and keep her up too long, she will go ballistic.  she is 7.5 months, so she should really be able to stay up longer.  should i expect resistance from her at first, or take that as a sign she is not ready for 2 naps??  thanks for all your help!

ps-kathy...gianna goes on food strikes too, but i find if i keep offering the rejected food, she usually takes it 1-2 days later and then it becomes her favorite food!!

[Jadynsmom]

Gigi's mom - When your lo wakes at 5:30am, do you wait or do you feed right away?  I wonder if you could hold off & let her play quietly in crib & bf around 6:30am?  As far as wake time, I think you could add 15mins to all her naps and see how that goes first.  I don't know if I would count her first nap as a 'real' nap, kwim?  What does she do if you were to feed & put back to her crib?  Would she just play quietly or yell for you to get her out? When Jadyn wakes a little earlier, I usually wait about 30mins & then bf.  I just let her lie in my bed and talk very quietly and let her just roll around for that 30 mins.

Jakes mom - I read somewhere about diapers leaking and a mom suggested doubling up (using 2 diapers at night)?  Could be worth a try?
Jadyn is soo close to crawling.  I think she might have taken a couple of scoots today in our bed.  She has a little bit of help on our bed since there's some resistence on our mattress.  She cannot sit still at all!!!  Gosh, it seemed like yesterday she was just lying around & sleeping all the time!!  Honestly, she is constantly moving, scooting, flipping, rocking on all four  :lol:  :lol: So busy!!  Also she's doing this thing where she tilts her head to the side.  Anyone's lo doing this?  It's so funny to see. :lol:

Sharon - I wish Jadyn would do something with the sippy cup besides chew it! :roll:  She would prefer to drink out of my glass any day. 
Wow.  That's big,her dropping her 11am feeding.  I know what you mean by them growing up :cry:  I get really sad sometimes because I want her to be a baby forever.  Ok.  Not forever, but for a little while longer.  I gave Jadyn some Cheerios but I realized afterwards that it was Honey Nut Cheerios!! My ped said no honey!! I'll have to go shopping for some plain ones.  Anyway she loved it.  I tried to trick her and give her a bite of the Cheerios and when she opened her mouth, I put her solid food in.  She caught on real fast & kept her eyes on my hand with the food!! Then she would open it only when she knew it was Cheerios, and not the solids!! Clever girl.
I bet it's cute to watch Ella eat those things.  Sounds like she's such a happy little thing!! Yay! Ella's trying to pull up by herself! I would count that as pulling up all by her big self!

I am sooo glad today was my last day to work for about a month.  I felt horrible for leaving her while she's teething sooo bad.  Since she's not eating much during the day, she's very constipated!! My girlfriend watched the girls today and she did this trick with a some soap & a Q-tip and Jadyn had 2 good poop today :oops:  She said it's a trick her mom did.  I don't want to know too much detail on that one, but boy did it work!!  She pooped again before bedtime.
I'm kinda concerned about Jadyn's appetite or the lack of these day.  Yesterday, she did not take her 3pm bottle.  I was at work.  Then today I had to skip 2 bf (11am & 3pm), and babysitter tried to give her bottle and some solids and she would not take nothing.  So she nursed at 7am and nothing til I came home at 4:30pm!!! I mean nothing.  No milk.  No solids!!  I was freaking out.  I don't know if I could go to work again if I know she's not going to take the bottle.  I know she's miserable for the teeth, but wow... She made up the nursing at the 4:30pm and at 7pm.  She's so clingy also.  If we leave her to play in her favorite, exerciser, and leave the room, she starts crying & yelling.  If I put her down, she starts yelling & crying.  They say the top teeth are the worst.  I agree.  I saw a white bump on her top gum.  She hates it when I try to open & investigate. :?

I hope your lo's will not wake early but sleep til 7:30am tomorrow!!   I know Jadyn will probably wake early tomorrow since she didn't take her bottles today :?  I have my sling ready.  I can always put her back to sleep in that thing.

Kathy

[Pete's Mom]

Well I don't have any helpful advice, but just thought I would say these babies sure do know how to keep us girls hopping!  I feel like just when I get one thing dealt with, along comes the next - oh well, I am having a lot of fun in the process.

Kathy - I totally hear you on the top teeth, I think they must hurt so much more seeing as they are so close to their little sinus cavities and such.  Peter cut his bottom two with no trouble but now he has been biting everything in sight for a month and still no sign of those top ones  (at least I believe those are the ones he is working on - it is near impossible to get a look in there!)

Wishing everyone a good night's sleep without any early wake up calls!

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Hi ladies,

Don't know why but I haven't been receiving notifications that there's new posts here!!!

At any rate once again I agree with Kathy's advice. The thing that jumps out at me about the schedules is too much awake time between the first and second naps. Here's our ideal schedule.

7 wake and bottle (8oz)
9:30 nap (usually these days just over an hour)
11:30 solids and 2oz. in sippy (before it would be bottle at 11, solids at 12)
 1:30 - 2 nap (3 hours after awake time) again, just over an hour.
3 -ish bottle 8oz. (it was at 3 before dropped bottle now it's whenever she wakes up)
5:30 solids
7 bath
7:30/7:45 bed time

Again, ideally it should be 2 1/2 hours awake time between morning wake up and 1st nap, 3 hours awake time between 1st and 2nd nap and anywhere from 3-4 1/2 hours awake time between last nap and bedtime.

Does that make sense? Does it help at all? Like Kathy says if you do it in increments you can play with their awake times a bit.

Oh and Kathy the finger food thing is killing me!    Dd has had cheese bits, sliced banana and cheerios already and she LOVES it!!! Doesn't want anything else. And now that she can pull her self up with our hands that's all she wants to do. ANywhere and everywhere. She's also been real big on the crocodile tears lately. If you take away a toy, or don't help her stand, etc. She cries long and loud!!! Then turns to you and blinks over and over while whimpering until you do what she wants!  :lol:

Hope to hear from you all soon...

Sharon

[Mum to Ella Rose]

oops. I forgot to put the last bottle in my schedule... it's after the bath and usually 8oz.

[Jadynsmom]

Hi ladies,

Well, I just posted in General Sleep concerning Jadyn's new sleep pattern!! I'm pretty sure it's separation anxiety as she will not let me put her down or leave the room, even for a minute and I am talking loudly to let her know I'm just going to the kitchen to get some coffee!!  She cries when I put her down for sleep and leave the room.  While it is flattering that she loves me sooo much that she can't be without me even for a second, it's kinda taking a toll on me, esp at sleep times.  Boy, does she have a stubborn side, too. 

Sharon, I'm with you on these crocodile tears & pitiful cries when she doesn't get what she wants.  We are in BIG trouble if they are doing this already and they're not even a year old!! :?  That's so funny about wanting to stand up all the time.  I thought that was just Jadyn :lol: 
I wonder if Jadyn is too young for fingerfood.  I gave her regular cheerios today and she just went wild trying to grab them & eat them.  Do they dissolve quick enough? She coughed a couple of times and I got scared and didn't give her any more.  She loved them.  I figured out that when I give her cheerios, she opens her mouth wide open, so I would sneak a couple of bites of veggies :wink:  She catches on pretty quickly so I can only do it for about 3 bites. She clenches her mouth so tightly that there's no way I can put a spoon anywhere near those lips. :?  She's so calm about it, too.  Just clenches & turns her head and acts very interested in the light or the fan.  She only likes to eat sweet potatoes & apples now.  It seems like it's different each day.

I sure hope she gets over this separation anxiety thing quickly and goes back to sleeping within minutes without crying for me to be in there!  She still sleeps in til 7ish but it just takes me now anywhere from 30mins to an hour now to get her to sleep at bedtime!@  I guess I got spoiled to 2min winddown & her sleeping within 5mins.

Hope your are all having a great weekend.

Kathy

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Kathy, even though dd is a month older, it sounds sooooo similar! It definitely sounds like seperation anxiety and dd is doing the same thing. Won't sleep without many backrubs, gets very distressed if we leave the room and takes a good half hour somtimes more to get to sleep.  :?

As far as the food goes, I don't think she's too young. It depends on the babe. One thing I read that helps us is only putting a few finger foods in front of them at a time. We'll put out 2 or 3 cheerios, etc. and slowly add more. Because she's the same way. If there's a pile... she'll shove them all in as fast as she can!!! And as far as using it to spoon feed her at the same time, that too is part of growing independence. Do you give her her own spoon? Ella will eat more if we alternate finger foods and spoon feeding and she loves to have her own spoon. She also likes when she can stick her hands in the bowl and mush stuff around. She will open her mouth while playing. I think... :shock: they're just trying to grow up a bit. It's messy and frustrating but...It's funny..dh is more concerned with the mess than me... and I'm usually the anal one!  :lol:

Talk to you all soon,

Sharon

[MomtoRee]

Thought that I might join in on this thread.  Reegan is a November baby and it is good to see where she fits in with other babies her age.  I think that she is a little behind most in that she is not even close to crawling yet!  She's not really big into tummy time and I think that might be part of the problem.  I'm not worried about her and know that she will get it in her own time.  Righ now she is fine rolling to get to where she wants. 

I was glad to see that there are others out there wiht the 5:30 wake time.  She slept through the night for a week but now I am back to feeding her around 4 after a 7:30 bedtime.  I found that if I do this she will sleep until about 7 and if I don't she is up for the day at 5:30.  I know she doesn't need one but I like that extra sleep in the exrta sleep in the morning!  This is our approximate schedule right now. 

7:00 Wake and BF
8:00 Oatmeal with fruit
9:30 nap
11:00 wake and BF followed by lunch
1:30 nap
3:00 wake and BF
6:30 Dinner and BF
7:00 Bedtime routine followed by a top off BF
7:30 Bed
4:00 middle of night BF

[Gigismom]

HI
as for our early wake-ups, when she wakes early, i do not go in to get her for about an hour.  she always plays quietly for about that long.  and when i do get her up and try to bf, she is not even really hungry.  so she is not waking early out of hunger or to play because she doesn't get any of those things right away.  on the bright side, for the past few mornings she slept in til 6:30 or 7:00!!  except today she woke at 6:00.  but i think that when i put her to bed later, like 7:30 or 8:00, she wakes later in the am...so we are going to try keeping her up later from now on.

mom to ree- don't worry, my dd doesn't crawl either...or scoot...or show any signs of independent movement anytime soon!  in their own time i guess.

kathy-gianna did that weird crying before sleep for about a week or so a while back...i had to rock her or jiggle her to sleep each time, for naps and bedtime.  and then she started waking in the night for about 2 hours at a time and wanting me to stand next to her crib the whole time.  she has stopped doing both those things...(at least for now)...but i think it was sep anxiety too.   one day she just went down without crying.  i don't know if this helped, but i made our wind down routine longer, about 20-30 mins.  we read books, hear music, and just play quietly on the bed together so she gets lots of my undivided attention.  it seems like as soon as i did that, she started sleeping better...maybe that will help you??

anyway, have a good weekend everyone.

ps-sorry for that post that went on 3 times...don't know what happened??

[Jadynsmom]

Welcome Momtoree!!  I wouldn't worry about her not crawling yet or not liking the tummy time.  I'm sure she will whiz by those things in no time, when she's ready.

Gigi'smom - Thanks for the advice on longer winddown giving her my undivided attention.   The child gets 24/7 attention as it is!! :lol: I definitely don't mind reading her an extra book or two.  Tonight I had my husband put her down and don't you know it, she took 10 mins to go to sleep  & no crying.  He did get on his hands & knees and snuck out of the room while shushing the whole way out.  Now that's a visual you guys can appreciate.  The things we do  for our babies. :lol:

Sharon - Jadyn likes to chew on the spoon but not eat anything off of it.  Today she bf a lot less than usual and she ate lunch & dinner like she was hungry!!  She was very constipated and was turning all shades of red & purple grunting for 4hrs.  She wasn't even fussy, just straining sooo hard!!  I felt so bad.  So I called my friend that watched her last week & asked her exactly what she did to make my lo poop.  She told my husband(I couldn't do it) to get a shaving off of a bar of soap and mold it into an inch long suppository & insert to her bottom.  He did it and boy it worked within 2 seconds!! SHe cried during but she was so happy afterwards.  I think I will post this tip in the weaning & solids forum for babies with constipation. :lol:

Her separation anxiety is sooo bad right now, I literally have her glued to me the most of the day.  We had lunch with friends, and she cried when she held her.  I had to lay down with her for naps because she wouldn't let me leave her.  When I lay down with her she doesn't cry at all.  I sure hope this accidental parenting is not going to backfire too much later on.  I don't know what else to do. :oops:

Kathy