Babies of Oct-Dec /04

[lil'monkey]

Lindsey - I hope Gianna is okay and that she isn't afraid of Bailee now.  We don't have any pets but dd loves animals and would reach out to them.  I'm always cautious around pets when she is with me.  thank you for the warning.

Jilly - i think that dd is working towards one nap.  DD is really fighting her naps and her awake times are just too bizzare.  I have noticed that she sleeps better at nights on days of just one nap (2+ hrs.)  Now if only I can get her to take 2+ hr naps consistently.  A tip that I got from another mom is to avoid car rides or the stroller during this time.  DD's consumption is down as well.  I think that it is b/c she would rather play/explore than sit still to feed.  I feel like a bad mommy b/c the I sometimes bribed her with the TV just to get her to feed.

Gotta go.  Have a good night everyone!

[Luisasmum]

Hi mums...I'm new to the site! My daughter Luisa was born December 14, 2004 but was due January 1, 2005.

I have just bought the first book, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer after reading several good reports about it but I have some questions. I have only just flicked through it while my daughter has her nap but I can't seem to find any reference to "wake to sleep" and "pick up, put down". It sounds like these methods will help my daughter to sleep past 4.00am. Have I bought the wrong book or have I just missed the chapter?

[jillybeansmith]

Yes...Connor for the most part is moving towards 1 nap...BUT, he then crashes hard at 7:00, but then wants to play at 9:00 for an hour???

I'm going to try to get him to go to one nap if that is the direction he is moving in, as our sitter (where Connor will be going to every day in a month...boo--hoo!!!  :cry:  :cry: She has 1 nap time that all the kids adjust to eventually from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm..(any anything in between).  I was worried about this, but he might be gearing himself naturally to this anyway...

Connor slept okay last night...no longer fearful of his bedroom with his light on, however, I find that when he does wake up, (like at 4:00 am this morning), he's revved up and wants to play...I brought him into bed with me, just to play himself out then put him back in his crib.  I was drifting off, and Connor wasnt' saying a word, he then started touching my hair, and saying 'mom?'....'mom?'...as if to say are you awake?  It was cute, so bizarre to hear from him though, you would expect mamama mixed in with other babble...

[MorganLeigh]

YAY ! One more month to my babies first bday! Wow, I made it this far! lol

Im so sorry about the dog bite, I gasped so loud and quickly DH came in asking if I was ok. My heart goes out to all of you even Bailey, but it scared her as much.

Well my Morgan is a genius! When and if you say hello she will put her hand to her ear like it a phone and try to say hello. She waves bye bye when you say bye. Of course she also does the "How big is Morgan?" and throws her hand up way high and I say "So big!" Also when ya start singing "If you're happy and ya know it..." She starts to clap! I mean she does these thing EVERY time! Its so much fun!

Well Im sounding sleep prayers to all my beautiful mothers out there. I hope all of you are safe from the storm.

Jodi

[Gigismom]

jill-no, gianna isn't scarred.  yesterday the wound was a visible red puncture, but today looks much better, just a small scab.  yes, gianna is also cutting down milk consumption.  she only bf's 3 times a day now for a few mins each time.  i can't get her to take anymore!

momtoree-we are signing with gianna.  she hasn't signed back yet so far.  but she seems to understand what the signs mean when we do them.  gigi is also working on tooth #8.  i don't see an end in sight with these teeth.  they just come one on top of the other.  good luck with the 5:30 wake ups. we still haven't beat those entirely.  has anyone??

phoebe-i am glad our little story helped you guys with your dog.  we too had become lax with the dog and gianna.  although one of us was always sitting next to them, we had started not paying as much attention to what they were doing.  i still don't know what we will do.  basically if we keep her, it will be under the agreement that they can not have physical contact until gianna is old enough to respect bailee and recognize her "warning" signs.  as much as i love my dog, i am not sure i will be able to do this.  and then i think of when we have more kids, or gianna's friends come over, how will i keep MULTIPLE children away from her?  i really think it was a freak thing, seeing as how she has been so tolerant, but i am still reticent.

luisa's mum-definitely buy tracy's other book "the baby whisperer solves all your problems".  i has a lot more in depth and detailed descriptions of her techniques.  and welcome!!

jodi-wow, morgan IS a genius.  i bet it is so cool watching your baby develop like that.  i can't wait!!  so far, no signs of brilliance on gianna's end...

[Jadynsmom]

Yay I'm back!!! We had gone to Florida to visit our sick friend and had 2days of just chilling in Orlando.

So many things going on and I don't know if I can catch up.  I won't even try!!  But congrats on all the standing, crawling, teeth, sleeping, 1 nap etc...

Welcome all the newbies here Lisa, Luisasmum, Laura.

Luisasmum - Do you have the Baby WHisperer Solves All Your Problem book?  That has all the things you were asking about.  It has almost half of the book on p/u p/d. Also there is a Forum just on P/u P/d.  Wake to sleep is when you go an hour before, which will be 3am for you, and gently nudging them to stir so that they will wake but not completely awake and hopefully she will go back to sleep on their own.  Does that make sense?  I would set an alarm for 3am.  Are you feeding her at 4am when she wakes?  I would personally not feed her and hope that she will get the hint that she won't get it even if she wakes for it. :wink:   Let us know how it goes.  Also if you could post your routine, we might be able to figure something out if that doesn't work.

Lindsey - Congrats on the crawling. Yay Gianna!! Yes, you will have to keep the floor fairly clean because she will put everything she finds in her mouth.  Jadyn always has something in her mouth and she tries to crawy away really fast when she sees me coming.  :lol:   But so sorry about your dog biting her.  Hope you can figure out what to do and it will all work out.

Mimi - Could you keep us posted on your schedule for her naps and also I think you are dropping a feeding?   Jadyn kisses me on the lips with her mouth open but she also tries to bite me when I try to get too many kisses from her and she gets agitated. :roll:

Phoebe - Hope your dh is getting better.

Jodi - All I can say is wow :shock:  She is older but still.

Mom to Ree - I am still signing but still nothing back yet.  She is clapping now and she does that when she's singing along or sees somthing she likes.  She also is waving and putting her hand up like she's saluting!! 

On sleep, she woke up at 5am crying this morning and went right back to sleep til 7:20am!!  I was so happy.  She's been waking at 6:15am for the past 2wks!!

Teeth - Her 3rd bottom tooth is completely out.  She has her eye teeth coming out on both sides.  She is a bit clingy and does not like to be left alone even for one second.  She is ok with strangers if I let HER decide how to approach them.  Yesterday my sil watched her and I put her down for nap before I went to work and when she woke she screamed because she was in a different place and I wasn't there.  She was ok after a little bit.

I think this is probably enough for now.  I have sooo much catchup work on the house I'm overwhelmed!!

Hope everyone gets great sleep over the weekend.
Kathy

[Gigismom]

a few tears, but finally first pigtails...what do you think?

[jillybeansmith]

Ah...too cute, Gianna!!!

I bet I could do that with Connors hair too....although daddy wouldn't appreciate it... As Connors hair gets longer, he's getting a think head of blond curls at the back...and long blonde eyelashes....I (and most women) would die for!!!!

Glad there is no serious injury to Gianna...that could have been very, very bad....

[pdb]

Oh my gosh Lindsey, that is sooo cute!  On the wakeups...we are still dealing with 5:30 wakeups.  I am so dreading the time change.  Susana did wake up at 5:20 the other day, babbled a bit and went back to sleep until 6:15.  But sthe still poops most days around 5:30, so there's little hope for her sleeping in anytime soon.

Kathy - Glad you're back.  We're also having some MAJOR separation anxiety issues. 

Tonight I put Susana down in her crib and left.  The past few nights she has done a whiny cry for awhile, but then gone to sleep.  Tonight she was overtired and would not go to sleep.  She got louder and louder until after 30 min. I went into her room.  I tried sitting in a chair near her crib, but that just made her mad.  She was holding onto the side of her crib bouncing up and down and screaming for me to pick her up.  I stood right by the crib until she settled down then picked her up for a little while until she calmed down.  I just can't believe she's already throwing temper tantrums.  Anyone else having this?  I didn't want to pick her up at all because I didn't want to reinforce the screaming.  That's why I tried to get her to stop crying first before picking her up.  I just hope this is a phase that passes soon.  I'm afraid I'm in for it when she hits the terrible twos.

MomtoRee- Weare also doing a few signs.  She seemed to be signing for milk for awhile but I haven't seen her do it lately.  She definitely understands the signs we use regularly.

[MomtoRee]

Love the pigtails!  She is such a cutie!  that is my favorite way to put Reegan's hair up.  we've been doing it for 4 months now!  she has really long hair.  just to let you know the easiest way that I have found to do it is to put in a Baby Einstein movie and she sits perfectly still! 

Just wanted to know if anyone else feels trapped by their schedule.  We went to a friends today to watch the football game and I am at home early because it was nap time and she was a mess.  It stinks, I wanted to stay and watch the game too!  I feel like we can't do anything because we have to work around naps and eating.  I feel like I have backed myself into a corner.  Am I the only one?

[Gigismom]

kathy-welcome back!!

momtoree-MANY times i have wondered if i did the right thing by putting her on this "routine".  most of my friends are the kind with kids who get dragged around anywhere, anytime and thus have become used to being able to sleep in different places.  so almost none of my friends understand when i say i can't do this or that because it will be g's nap time or bedtime.  (she has never missed a nap!!)  she will sleep when we are out, but only for 30-45 mins, so we rarely have her sleep anywhere other than her crib.  in my heart, i know it is better for her being on the routine and getting her sleep.  but i can't help but envy those moms who take their babies out to dinner and shop til 9 pm.  i think i may feel a bit selfish though if i did that consistently.  i just consider this "house arrest" as one of the many sacrifices of parenthood and can't wait til it's over.  one of the reasons i wish dh would let me have another baby right now is to get this house bound phase overwith.  by the time gianna is more portable, i will be starting over again with a new one.  but i think i will be a bit more relaxed with the next and help it be a bit more adaptable than gigi is...

btw, what are you guys planning to do for the time change?  i put a post about this on the "general sleep issues" board, and so far have only received responses from equally confused moms.  tracy's book says to keep them up an hour later.  is this possible?!  do we keep them up later gradually or do the whole hour in one night?

[lil'monkey]

Welcome back Kathy!

Welcome to all the new ladies.

I have the same thoughts as Lindsey regarding the "routine" as well.  Some of the moms I know have babies that sleep anywhere.  We were at a wedding today, and this mom just transported her 1 yr old son from the car to the pew and he stayed asleep!!!  I couldn't help but give her the evil eye  :twisted:  throughtout the ceremony.  I like the routine but I think that next time I would try to get he/she to sleep in any environment.

As for the time change, I don't know what I'm going to do yet.  But in Tracy's book she did say to keep them up that extra hour.  I'm thinking taht if they wake up at their usual time (ie 1 hr early), we use pu/pd or wts or whatever to get them back to sleep again. 

Ahhh...I wish dd has enough hair for pigtails!  Gianna looks sooo cute!

Kathy - Currently I don't have a schedule as dd 's naps are really messed up!  The schedule used to be:

6-6:30 wake & bottle
7:30 drop her off at my mom's
8:30 solids (very little at the moment)
10  1.5 hr nap ( now her naps can be anywhere from 45 - 2+ hrs)
12 solids & bottle
2:30  1.5 hr nap ( now she is fighting it.  Depending on the am nap, I can somtimes make her nap for about 30 - 45 min)
4:30 solids & bottle
6 bottle
6:30 bath & bed by 7 pm

I want to drop the 4:30 bottle but she is not eating enough solids and I hate to have a hungry baby in a traffic jam. 

I feel bad for thinking this but I'm glad to be leaving dd with my mom for the entire day every day, starting this Monday.  I'm hoping that dd will finalize her 1 nap transition with my mom.  Having raised 4 kids and 4 grandkids, I'm sure that my mom will make this transition more smoothly than I can. 

Kathy, how did you do it with your first dd?  Could you share your experience?

Bye for now!

[lil'monkey]

She took a step!!!!!!  I'm soooo proud of her!    I think that she was surprised that she did it too as she had this  :shock:  look.  Then she was all smiles and laughing with dh and I.  We tried to get her to do it again but she wouldn't.  I can't believe it!   My mom was soo right,  it is moments like this that you forget all the sleepless nights and crying spells!

[pdb]

Mimi - Congratulations on the first step! 

Lindsey - I'm not sure what we're going to do either.  If I keep Susana up an extra hour, she is soooo hard to get to sleep.  I am hoping it's not going to be too much of an issue.  This morning she woke at 5:15 crying, but I let her cry a little and within 5 minutes she was talking to herself then was back asleep in another 5 min.  She slept until 7:15 !!!!!  That's the first time she's lept that late in months.  I'm hoping that might continue and then the time change adjustment won't be so bad. 

Momto Ree - I feel the same way about the routine.  I've always thought my dd had so much trouble with change because even though I've tried to keep her on a good routine, she has had to deal with a lot of change.  I kept her for her first two months, then my mom kept her during the day for the next 3, then I was home with her again for 2 and then she started with a sitter.  Throw in the mil visiting about once a week and totally throwing everything off and the terrible reflux and digestive issues she had for the first 6 months or so and I just felt like she would never have any consistency.  But listening to you guys, I really think it probably has more to do with their personalities than anything.  I think some babies are very adaptable and some are not.  I know my sister has kept her child on a good routine since birth.  She can take her child anywhere and her dd adjusts very quickly.  I still feel that we are doing what's best for our babies, even though it is sometimes frustrating.

[Jadynsmom]

Lindsey I am so jealous of the pigtails!!! Jadyn has Daddy's hairline and is more of a middle of the hair mohawk.  If I don't put pink and frilly stuff on her, she looks just like a mini version of Daddy, a little boy!  I did try to put on a hairbow on that fuzzy pieces of hair and it stayed on about 5 mins. :lol:

Phoebe - You just cracked me up because you just described our Jadyn before her bedtime the last week.  She gets so mad if I don't come and pick her up.  I try to hide on the side of the bed but she peeks around the crib to look for me and gets really mad and just screams.  She's also going through the most awful separation anxiety.  Whenever she's around someone she's not as familar with, she turns her head & clings to my neck and holds on for dear life, like they are trying to snatch her away from me.  Sigh, people must think I never go out to meet different people.

Mimi - I feel you on the eating and milk consumption.  Jadyn is just acting crazy the last 3 days!! She nursed in the morning just 5mins!!!!! Yikes!! I was too lazy to pump so I was lopsided til her next feeding.  She's eating her solids erratic as well.  She will not eat anything but yogurt & fruit, and of course Cheerios.
Lexi was 14mos when we adopted her from China and she slept great from day one.  She took 2 naps til she was 18mos and one nap at 2yrs old.  She was one of those that slept anywhere and I had no clue as to what to do as far as routine.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm making things way too complicated with Jadyn.  Of course in an orphanage that's all Lexi did was sleep.

I am finally going to bite the bullet and drop her 11am feeding.  I decided to do this because she nurses for no more than 6mins for all of her feeding, including her morning one, after 12hrs of no milk!!  Also, she went for her 9mo checkup and she's gaining weight pretty well and her ped says she can do alright with just 3 bf.  I think this will give me a little bit of freedom as far as leaving her with a babysitter or daddy.  So this is my goal for her schedule.

7am Bf
8am Solids of fruits & cereal
10-11:15 nap

12 Lunch of fruits & veggies or yogurt
1:30pm Bf before her nap
2pm-3pm nap

4pm Snack of probably just a cookie or Cheerios & fruit
5:30 Dinner - Pasta, cheese, veggies & banana
6:15 Bath
7:15pm Bf and to bed by 7:30pm

This is my ideal schedule.  She usually wakes around 6:30am and I hold off bf til 7am.  I think I will put her to bed 30mins later for the time change the first night and the next night, another 30mins later the next day.  We'll see how that goes.  She seems to be able to stay up longer in between her naps, sometimes even 31/2 hrs so I think she will adjust well.

Kathy