Babies of Oct-Dec /04

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Holly, dixiedutch, erin and noelle. that's who I missed. You all still around?

[alligirl]

Hello all!  I'm here....thanks for wondering about me Sharon.  My computer died and I was offline for a while.  I didn't read all the posts that I missed from this thread, but it sounds like you all are doing great.  It's awesome that this has seemed to become a wonderful place of support for all of you!

THings with Zachary are good.  He's still not sleeping through, but I'm not stressing out that much.  Last night he slept till 4:30 which was an improvement, so maybe he'll keep doing that.  We tried the dreamfeed, but I haven't done that in a long time.  Not worth it for me since I go to bed early, anyway.  His naps are generally pretty good.  He takes 2 2-2.5 hour naps and refuses to take a third short nap, but that's okay with me.  Sometimes he doesn't nap that great during the day, so I make sure I find him some sleep elsewhere (in the car, stroller, etc). 

At our last doc appt he weighed around 14-15 pounds (I can't remember), I think.  He's rolling around like crazy and he can sit by himself for about 10 seconds before planting his face in the floor.  :lol:   He's also babbling quite a bit which is so cute to hear because Stephen never really did that.  I love it.   He's nursing about 4 times a day and I think I'm gonna up that to 5 to see if that  helps his nights.  He has 2 solid meals a day.  He eats like a pro.  No sign of teeth, yet....I guess that's a blessing since I still nurse him.  How many of you are doing three meals a day??

If you ever check the Health boards, you might see my posts on Zachary's health.  He's got this noisy breathing thing and we're still trying to get it all figured out.  We've been to an ENT and a GI doc and we have an appt in a couple weeks with a lung doc.  He's had lots of tests and it's been determined he has reflux which might have been causing the breathing thing but even with meds it doesn't get much better (although we cut back on his dosage and the noisy breathing immediately got worse).  THe GI doc said he didn't think it was life threatening ( :shock: um, thanks, I never thought it was :shock: ) and whatever it is can either be fixed or he'll grow out of it.   I'm tired of seeing doctors (I'm supposed to take him to see an opthamologist for something minor, but I just can't bring myself to make the appt yet....so tired of it all, KWIM?) but I'm so thankful for him.  We go to the Children's hospital in HOuston and going there makes me realize just how blessed we are with our relatively healthy babies. 

I guess that's it, ladies.  It's great to read about all your kiddos and to chat with you.  Take care!  {{{HUGS}}} all around!

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Hey Ali, how nice to hear from you!

Just a quick note as I have to get dd up but I wanted to say Ella has always had noisy breathing from her reflux.  Especially after she's been lying down. She then sounds very congested. Our paediatrician told us that's because the acid pools in their throat sometimes and kind of "bathes" their vocal chords in the acid.  Maybe that's some help? I know what you mean about being sick of doctors!! It gets so tiring and frustrating but I also know what you mean about feeling lucky. When we had to spend a week back in our Children's hospital our eyes were really opened to how much worse it could be. Take good care and we hope to hear from you again soon! 

Sharon

oh and we do 3 meals/day but she has a relatively small lunch of just an avacado cube.

[Jakes_mom]

hi all,  just thought i would say hello.  it is so great to have so many people going through the same ordeals you are going through.  our ds is a pretty good sleeper but since we stopped swaddling him it has been a major challenge.  he is a very spirited baby and the second we lay him down his arms and legs fly about and he grabs the paci out of his mouth.  unfortunatly we have resorted to rocking him with a blanket close to his face and putting him down pretty much asleep.  any suggestions as to what to do know.  this was all so much easier when we could swaddle but he now breaks free and that wakes him up.  thanks ladies

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Hi Jennifer,

Have you tried one arm swaddling?  Dd would always break free too. We found using sleep sacks at least contained her legs somewhat...

Sharon

[Jadynsmom]

Hi ladies,

Alli - May I ask what kind of noise or breathing sounds he is making?  My lo has always had a sound in her throat, almost like she's got allergies or a cold.  People always say, "she sounds like she's congested", and I tell them she's been like that since a month old.  I know I shouldn't worry, since our ped didn't seem too concerned about it but still.....

Jennifer - your lo has alot of teeth.  Once the first one came out, how long did it take for the others to come in?  Were they two on bottom first, then top two?  She's starting to get  a little fussy and she gums her mouth a lot and acts like it's bothering her and I"m wondering if the next ones are coming any day now.

Sharon,  Thank you so much for your schedule on the Weaning forum.  I will use it as my guide when I start solids in the next 10 days when she's officially 5 1/2 mos.

Cazao - I hope your lo is past the night waking stage!! I know what you mean when you would do anything to get them to sleep, bf or giving meds.

Well, Jadyn is getting better each night going to sleep.  I put her down fully awake now with paci (naps also) and I still take it out after about 5 mins.  She rolls to her back and talks for about 10 mins and I go back in and flip her back to her tummy.  I just gave up swaddling as of today!!  She is too mobile and gets out of the swaddle every time.  I figure if I go ahead and not swaddle her she won't try so hard to get out of it and sure enough it worked and she slept the same as if I did do the swaddle.   She wakes from her naps so happy!! She wakes in the mornings so happy, too.  I love going in to get her after she sleeps (even if it's sometimes only 45mins).   I've pretty much figured out she's going to take 1 1/2 hr nap and then two 45 min naps and I'm totally ok with it, esp since she's so happy & content.

[alligirl]

Kathy, that's great to hear about your progress with Jadyn's sleeps!!  Keep up the good work.

Zachary's breathing thing does sound like congestion sometimes.  Sometimes he sounds like he's grunting like a pig and sometimes, it just sounds like he's snoring, even when he's awake.  About 20% (or less) of the time, he's not making any noise at all.  The pedi said that it might just be that his anatomy (some parts in his airway) just might be immature still...."floppy" he said.  So he sent us to an ENT, who did a laryngoscope (a long tube up his nose, down his airway) and said his voice box looked inflamed, probably due to reflux.  So, we went to see a gastroenterologist, who said he DIDN'T think it was caused by reflux, but that the tests we had done for reflux came back "grossly abnormal", so he definitely has reflux.  GI doc thinks it's something with his lungs (possible aspiration of acid?) and is sending us to a pulmonologist.

You wanna know what's funny about this???  If he hadn't had this breathing thing, we might have never known he had reflux.....he's such a happy baby and when he wasn't on meds, he was only mildly cranky and I would've thought it was just his personality!

If you are concerned, talk to your doc.  Zachary had been doing it since birth and I had him at the doc several times before I made the appt for taht and the doc never mentioned it until I did and even then, he didn't do much about (it was hard, though, there was so much other stuff going on at the time).  It wasn't until I made a specific appt for that that he referred us to an ENT.  Your doc might think it's just congestion, too, if you don't mention it to him.  It's probably nothing, but if you are worried about, have it checked out!  Let me know how it goes.

[Jakes_mom]

Sharon, thanks for the advice, i will try that. 
Kathy,  although no one believed me, ds began teething at around 2mo.  He got his first tooth right before he turned 4mo so you can see how long it can take before you see a tooth pop through.  Once he got the first it seemed like a couple of weeks before the second came through.  Before the 2nd was fully through, a top one popped through and he now has his 2nd top tooth cutting through as we speak.   i think the amount of time between teeth depends (the books say expect 6wks)  on your child.  Have you tried baby orajel?  it seems to work with ds, especially during mealtime.

[cazao]

hey there all. and especially Sharon..thanks for your thoughts...sounds like georgia and ella rose are twin sisters. we had 2 nights of no wakings and now back to all over the place. i`m pretty convinced it`s teething although i`m taking her to the doctors today just to rule out ears. can`t stand going to the doctors, so ali, you have my sympathy....gotta run...

[cazao]

ps jennifer. did you find the oragel really difficult to actually get on the gums? dd`s such a squirmer i have to put a big wodge on my finger and then with all the biting and the sucking it off before i`ve even got to her gums, i have to hope at least a little gets on the gums instead of everything going straight down her throat. i tasted it the other day and swallowing a whole lot is probably the wierdest sensation for a baby..

[Jakes_mom]

cazao... very difficult to get the orajel on his gums!!!! the one thing i try,  he loves to suck on my finger so i try to trick him but he is learning quick.  i feel like i dont always get much on but it seems to be enough to calm him shortly.

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Lordy Cazao, I don't even know where to post this for you!  We too are back to night wakings.    Last night she went down at 7 no problem. Then she was up again 8 times!!  :shock:  The last being at 6:45.  I am so thrown for a loop... I think as you said in your other post it's a growth spurt combined with teething but instead of a cold like you it's reflux for us.

~sigh~

Can you tell I'm confused and grasping?    And yes Georgia and Ella are right in the same place aren't they?!  Hope it works out for the BC-er's get together and we can comiserate it person.  Where abouts in Vancouver are you anyways?

Ali glad you're on top of it with your lo.

Looking forward to hearing more updates!

Sharon

[Mum to Ella Rose]

p.s. what did the doctor say about a possible ear infection?

Sharon

[cazao]

she`s completely healthy (i guess i knew that..just grasping at straws. the doctor did think she could feel something under one gum, but said a tooth was still a couple of weeks away... :roll: oh well, it helps to know that`s what it is. last night was had wakings for the first hour or so, and then 4ish. and then she slept till 9.15am, so she`s all over the place but i`ll just keep going with the meds...tried hylands teething tabs last night and they seemed to help...

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Where did you find the Hylands? I need to try ANYTHING with dd as I'm just at a loss.  It's so comforting Cazao to know you are in the same place. It reassures me that it may just all be normal and we'll get our great sleepers back yet.  I have now posted on the reflux thread as I'm starting to get paranoid dd's reflux is acting up again. I just can't put my finger on what's going on and it's sooooo frustrating!  :cry:

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Sharon

And a big thank you for letting me vent here and receive support. It's very much appreciated!