Babies of Oct-Dec /04

[MomtoRee]

Reegan has been going through the seperation anxiety for over two months now and it is only getting worse!  She clings to me and cries even when I sit on the floor beside her.  She wants to be on my lap or me holding her all the time.  I don't think that it helped that I give her 100% attention and when I am at work there is a nanny that gives her 100% of her atttention.  I jope that she gets through it soon and I know that DH does too.  She won't even let him hold her when he gets home!

Before returning to work I would suggest a trial run with you there and out of sight.  I know that I did and it was good for my peace of mind.  It was horrible leaving her the first few times but it was better knowing that she went down for naps and ate well for her.  Good luck with it!  I started leaving mine at six months and I know what you are feeling.   

Here we are having problems with my milk supply.  She doesn't have too much interest in being spoon fed but loves feeding herself the Gerber fruit and Veggie Puffs.  I just wish that she would eat more dinner so maybe she would sleep through the night. 

Good luck to everyone getting through the night!

[cazao]

alli..we`re not crawling yet either...i`ve never been too diligent with tummy time and georgia`s so happy sitting to play right now i`m more than content she`s in one place and am not doing anything to encourage crawling... :oops:

[Gigismom]

hi
it is so funny to read these posts, it's like i wrote them all myself.  it is nice to talk with moms of babies of similar age because i can see that all the things my dd is doing are normal...(if not annoying!)  she is still not crawling or attempting to move.  she is eating solids like crazy but hasn't had a drop of breastmilk from breastfeeding in over 2 days.  i am pumping and adding it to her cereal.  the sep anxiety is still terrible.  when my mil or anyone she doesn't know well tries to hold her, she screams until she is hyperventilating.  my mil insists on holding her anyway, although i think it makes it worse.  but i try not to butt in and take her back as much as i want to!  she is doing well playing on her own though.

kathy-are you still having trouble with jadyn's solids?  i remembered something from my childhood that might help.  my sister when she was a baby would not touch fruits/vegs except mashed potatoes.  so my mom started making bread/pancakes with fruit, veg and/or cheese baked into them so she would get her nutrition.  we had apple bread, carrot bread, zucchini pancakes (yes, they were green!), etc.  you get the idea.  maybe if jadyn will eat bread peices and is not allergic to the ingredients you use, that may work..?

jakesmom-are you still having trouble with early wake ups?  i think that we have (dare i say it) cracked this problem.  we used to put gigi down between 6:45 and 7:15 and she would wake at 5 or 5:30.  now we are keeping her up til 7:45 or 8:00 and she sleeps til 6:30 or 7:00!  if we put her down earlier than 7:45 she wakes up at 6:00 or so.  weird, but maybe you can play around with his bedtime.

sharon-that is wonderful you are trying to quit smoking.  i hope you have lots of support at home...good luck!

hope everyone has a good day.

[jillybeansmith]

Well...Connor is on tooth number 5 & 6....The fifth one is nearly through, and the sixth one is just starting...

This kid is going to have a mouthful of teeth before he's 1 year old!!!

Needless to say, he's a little irritable, but with him, once they start they seem to come in over night.......

[alligirl]

Well, big news on this end!  Yesterday, Zachary started to scoot (commando crawl) AND he started signing!!    He only scoots a few inches at a time and it's not at all coordinated and he combines it with rolling to get get where he wants, but he's getting better each time he does it.  And at lunch, he started signing "more"!!  I couldn't believe it!  His brother was 9.5-10 months old before he finally started signing, but I've been more consistent on working on it with him.  He did it all through dinner last night because dh was feeding him biscuit and cheese and he couldn't get enough of it! :lol:   Too cute!

I've been too scared to really say this out loud (or in type :wink: ), but he's consistently sleeping through the night for a few weeks now!  I think I've finally figured it out!

He's got two teeth, not sure if I've mentioned that.  I thought  a third was coming through, but not yet. 

Hmmmmm, I guess that's all of the update on us for now!  Keep up the great discussion, ladies!

[Jadynsmom]

Alli - That's great about him signing and scooting/crawling!!! Are you just teaching him yourself from a book?  I'm really interested in starting teaching Jadyn to do a couple of signs.  Nothing too extensive, maybe just like, 'more', 'all done', 'hurts', etc.  Where do you suggest I start? 

Jillybean - wow, that's a lot of teeth!  I hope Jadyn's come in 'overnight'!!! I can't wait.

Well, I had to post in the Breastfeeding forum because she's not nursing like she used to.  She literally bf for 2mins and arched her back & pushed me away!! I didn't know what the heck to do!!! Tonight, I had to rock her & stand & nurse her :roll: The only reason she finished nursing was because she was almost falling asleep.  I woke her up & put her in her crib and she was out!!!  I think I'm going to drop her solids til she starts nursing better.  I'm really scared of her trying to wean herself.  It's not like she's eating all that much solids but I just want to be on the safe side.  She loves to eat Cheerios & bananas as long as I give it to her whole & let her bite it.  She is chewing everything!! Where the heck are those darn top teeth?  I want them to go ahead & come in!!! 

Her separation anxiety is getting better, I think.  I pm'd Matthew's Mommy, and she suggested when you leave, let her know you're coming back & talking the whole time you are leaving and when you come back, say 'See, I told you I was coming back'.  And giving her a lot of one & one during the day.  So she's been stuck to me all day long.  I did leave her once in her exerciser & talked the whole time and she kinda made a little noise but went ahead & played by herself.  Yay.  My sister came over and she didn't even cry & was laughing with her.  Whew.  Although she cried with my husband's family yesterday.   :oops: I always feel like I'm not being a good mommy when she cries & won't let them hold her because I'm not teaching her to be more sociable.  Of course, his sister's baby who is 10mos had just woke up from her nap & was being very calm & holdable. :roll: Mine just cried & whined til I held her.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Kathy

[alligirl]

Kathy-I'm just teaching him myself without a book.  I did it with Stephen and I'm so glad I did.  I just start using the signs whenever I say the word (in the beginning, I use the words I want him to learn ALL the time).  I've started out with just a few important words like "more", "eat", "drink" (and I've been doing "light" too, but that's just for fun). 

Your lo might be teething if she's not interested in bf...I think that some kids drop one or the other (bf or solids) when they teethe.  I hope that's the case for you!

Separation anxiety is hard, but keep this in mind....separation anxiety IS normal, but it's a security issue.  So I think you are doing the right thing by "keeping her to yourself" when you are with family or a bunch of other people.  She's learning alot about the world in your arms.  She'll get more sociable as time goes on (if that's her personality).

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Hi all,

Sorry to hear Jaydn is out of sorts eating wise Kathy!! I don't know if it'll help but dd is now very happy with less feeds. Was not drinking hardly anything but once we dropped that 11 am feed she eats 3x 8oz now plus a couple with lunch. (usually only one or two 0z at lunch but...) I'm sure the bf mums will be able to help you and you should have a better idea once you try slowing solids down and see if that helps or not. Plus as Allie said it could be teeth...

Congrats on the crawling/scooting thing too Allie! And the signing! We too sign with Ella. (bath, bed, milk, eat, drink, finished, and more) though nothing back yet she seems to understand most. It's great!

Dd has her two top teeth poking out a bit so hopefully we'll be through it soon as well...

Must run, have company in town...

Hope everyone is okay! 

Sharon

[cazao]

wow alli, that`s amazing about the signing...you`ve got a genius on your hands...it`s pretty early for him to sign back..well done!! we`ve been signing, but probably not as diligently as we should have been..i`m now inspired to recommit to it. how many times a meal do you do the sign for `more`?

on the separation anxiety i posted a question on the general sleep board about how to deal with bedtime/night waking problems and got a helpful answer if anyone wants to check it out. i`m doing the hand on her back till she`s calm then leaving the room, then hand on back when she wails again and then leave thing, and it`s working....last night she only took half an hour of in and out of her room and then she was good for the night..i`m still a bit confused about sneaking out of her room vs staying in there....i don`t want to break her trust (see, i was scared mummy would leave and she did vs i`ll fall asleep but only if mummy`s right here with her hand on me for the rest of my life... :roll: )

we`re back to 2x 45minute naps but from what i can tell that`s pretty normal and she seems fairly happy on them so i guess i`ll have to get used to not having that beautiful couple of hours of me time any more  :lol:

oh, and is any one else`s lo`s stretching our wake time?...this morning we suddenly went to 3 hours before first nap (normally it`s 2.5), and she`s stretching out her next stretch to more like 3.5 hours now...guess she`s getting bigger

hope jaydn`s drinking more now....

[jillybeansmith]

Hi...we've been having some pretty rough nights with the new teeth...
I know I shouldn't but both of the last two nights, I had to give in and bring him into bed with me..(finally at 1:00 or 1:30)...prior to that, he would sleep for 1/2 hr, then cry for me, fall back to sleep for a 1/2 hr, then cry...and he has a runny, stuffy nose from the teeth as well.  It's the two top teeth on either side of the two middle ones...He in general feels crummy...

Tomorrow, Connor is getting baptized...wish me luck.  He is such a spitter-upper, I'm envisioning he outfit being white for 30 seconds...oh well...
It's going to throw off his naps as well.

We've had to go back to the 3 naps instead of 2 as well since he hasn't been feeling good...

Hopefully we will get back on track once he is done with these teeth, and runny nose and stuff.

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Just had to post.... dd stood up in her crib for the first time all by her self!!!
Yipeee!  Now we're definitely in for more sleepless nights as she hasn't a clue how to get back down!  :lol:

Cazao, we too do the back rub thing... works well but I swear she just calls out for a back rub now..  :wink:

Good luck with the baptism! Bless you little Connor!

Sharon

[Jakes_mom]

Things have been pretty good here, Jake is as active as ever!!! :roll:   :lol:
Sharon, thanks for the advice on skipping the 11am bottle.... it seems to have worked.   He now eats a few more oz's  from his other bottles, and it also gives us some time to do errands. 
Alli, congrats on all the progress (signing and scooting) you must have went through the roof when he signed back :lol:
Kathy, so sorry to hear Jadyn's not nursing.  First off i have to congratulate you for making it this far.  i nursed for the first 3mths, it is extremely hard work.  Try what sharon suggested, skip a feed and see if she eats more the next time around.  I am glad to hear she is getting better with the anxiety, jake seems to be getting worse and we are going on a road trip to visit family in 2weeks.   :roll:
Jillybeanssmith, so sorry to hear about your nights, hope you get your sanity back soon.
Gigismom,  i am happy to tell you that he has stopped the early (430\5am) wakings but still wakes around 530\6 and stays in his crib till at least 630.  i tried changing the bedtime but it didnt make a difference for jake other then have him nap a little longer during the day.   Congrats on the late mornings with your lo.

Have a great weekend ladies.

ohya, i start working monday :? wish me luck!

Jenn

[Gigismom]

well, i spoke too soon about beating the early wakings.  she has woken up before 5:30 for the last 2 days!  i am so bummed.  also she stopped breastfeeding...sounds like a few other ones are doing that too.  i see her top teeth are almost through, so i really hope that is why she is refusing to bf.  i am pumping to add it to her cereal, but my supply is so low now that i am lucky to get 4 oz.  very reluctant to start formula if i don't have to.  i really hope she resumes again soon.  she is even refusing to df while she is sleeping!
on the upside we are having good naps.  she had 2 -two hour naps today.  so we are going to try and skip the 3rd nap.  we tried that yesterday and she was ballistic before bedtime...so tired!  is that normal?  do their bodies just adjust?

alli- that is so exciting about the signing.  we sign to gianna but she doesn't have the coordination yet to even attempt doing it back. 

have a nice weekend.

[Gigismom]

i forgot to post this question:  my mother in law has offered to take us to europe for 3 weeks in oct 2006 when gianna will be 22 months.  the time difference is 9-10 hours i think.  so basically her days/nights will be reversed.  i really do not want to go as i have been to europe several times already, and i am deathly afraid this will cause MAJOR sleep problems for me to deal with while we are there and when we get home.  does anyone have any input?  experienced this or know anyone who has?  i am getting a lot of grief from my inlaws and dh, but am still VERY reluctant to commit.

[pdb]

Hi!  Is it too late to join in?  I was just reading through some of your posts and I sure wish I had found this earlier.  My dd was born Dec. 26 (I saw someone else has a lo with the same birthday(':D')) 

I noticed some of you were discussing dropping the 11am feed.  I couldn't find the original posts regarding this.  My lo has stopped drinking as much formula.  I breastfed for 31/2 months exclusively, then breastfed and supplemented a little because my supply went down after returning to work.  At 51/2 months, I weaned her because she would only nurse for 2 min and then want a bottle.  She used to always take 6oz. and now sometimes it's a struggle to get her to take 4 or 5.  She's having two meals of solids a day and I've been wondering if a change in feeding routine would help.  Any advice? 

Anyway if you don't mind another person, I'm looking forward to having others to share the challenges with.