looking for Jan/Feb 05 moms to chat...

[Leah's Mom]

Heather-
Kelsey is adorable! It's great to see her at the computer, Leah sits just like that sometimes. The hair!!!! My DD has a hat on in her picture - there is nothing underneath though!!!! I also bought Leah an exersaucer and she loves it. i bought the Leap Frog one, it's great! Just like you, I am soooo nervous to move to a four hour schedule. I have no idea where to begin becuase Tracy's suggestions won't work with naps and such. How many naps does Kelsey take a day? Seeing they're so short, I was just wondering. Leah takes more when she has short naps. Tylenol makes my DD very sleepy. She slept thru the night once when I gave it to her for her shots.

So I just heard this really weird noise so I went into Leah's room (she was napping) and she is sucking so hard on her hands that it's making this smacking sound.  She's awake, now I jsut wish she would suck on her hands at night instead of waking for the paci  :?

EVERYTHING goes in the mouth! The other day DH came home form work and was poking Leah with his tape measure. She grabbed the end of it and tried to put it in her mouth.  :shock: DH freaked out and looked at me like I was going to kill him!

DD is still happily sucking away on her fingers in the crib. I wonder how long she will stay in there....  :wink:

[Schae]

Hello everyone

sorry i've been a stranger...

The babies are so gorgeous!!
Good luck to everyone who is trying the 4 hour transition. Luka is still on 3 hourly, sometimes 3.5 hourly which is a big improvement because a couple of weeks ago (at the start of this thread) he was on 2.5 hourly! 
PU/PD has worked for us when I'm not too exhausted in the middle of the night.. so thanks for that suggestion Branwen.  :wink:

I must admit that we've been cheating with the naps. We bounce on a birthing ball till he's drowsy and then we put him down in his carry cot (his crib is in our room which is outside..we still live with my parents unfortunately) And if he wakes up mid nap, I try pat/shh first, but usually resort to swinging the carry cot till he goes back to sleep.  :oops:
I'm aware that this is going to backfire on me very soon because he is getting too big for the carry cot. I'll be in trouble then! But I think we'll just do PU/PD since it works at night.

Last night he had his last feed at 11pm (not a dreamfeed) and woke at 1am. I knew he wasnt hungry, probably cold since it's winter here, and I gave him my finger and he went back to sleep.
I've decided to not let him regress. He's shown me that he can sleep from 11pm till 4am and then till 8am, so if he wakes before 4am, I simply don't feed him. Do I sound mean?

Congratulations Deb on Olivia sleeping through!

How much does an exersaucer cost over where you ladies live? In South Africa, the only place that has them available is charging ridiculous prices. R1500 which I believe is 125 pounds, or 187 USD. I don't know the exchange rate for SA and Aus.
Expensive eh?

Hope everyone has a lovely night tonight!
I'll click on the email notification too!

[branwen]

Schae- Nice to hear from you!  No you are NOT mean.  I did the same with Eirwen.  Once she started sleeping through 9 to 5 at 3 months (yes I'm so lucky! don't hate me!) I would not feed her if she woke in the night, which was very rarely anyway but I felt she had proven that she could go without until morning.  The only acception I made to this was when she was giving me obvious hungry cues-usually coincided with growth spurts.  She is very easy for me to read so we haven't had any "regressions" which I was so worried about at first.

Oh looks like 60 to 100 USD over here on Amazon.com.  I wonder why they are so pricey in SA?! :shock:

Heather- as long as you are happy with the schedule and Kelsey is good I wouldn't worry either!  And yes on tylenol and the sleepies.  One day Eirwen was so fussy and I didn't know what was up.  She seemed warm but had no fever and was mouthing everything frantically but wasn't hungry.  I suspect teething so I gave her some and she quieted right down and had a long nap.

I'll be out for awhile- travel to CO to introduce baby to our families.  Wish me luck and pray our routine doesn't all go to pot while there!  I'll be thinking of everyone!

Here is a much happier picture!

[HeatherC]

Christine-It's so funny that our daughters have the same bd and are so much alike.  She takes 4 short naps a day; the 1st one is about 40-45 minutes, the rest are 30 mins.  I know that when we go back to the ped at 5 months she's going to tell me that she needs to be on 4 hours, but it just won't work yet.  Most doctors here don't know about babywise or baby whisperer, but still suggest feeding increments.  Also, this morning when Kelsey woke at the 45 minute mark she was cooing and sucking on her hands, and I prayed she would put herself back to sleep, but after 5 mins or so she gave me the "hey I'm up come and get me" fuss.  When I do transition to 4 hour, I'm going to try pu/pd to extend her naps.  Also, I saw your post about "flat head syndrome", and Kelsey has the same thing.  I've heard that once they are sitting up more that it will reshape on it's own regardless of them sleeping on their backs.  This is another reason I got the exersaucer.

Schae-I was doing the same "song and dance" to get Kelsey to sleep for naps, but pu/pd really worked in honestly 1 day to get her down with minimal wind down.  Most of the time I still put her down drowsy, but she's gone down awake before and still slept.  And, no, it's not mean to not feed him when he wakes like that.  You did exactly right.  Otherwise he'll develop a habit of feeding all night which is what you're trying to move away from.  Our exersaucer cost 58 USD, and it has an animal theme.  I thought I was buying the kind that converts into a walker with wheels, but only after I had it all together did I realize it doesn't.     It's still nice, though, and since she hates tummy time at least this way she'll get some time off of her back and head.

Brawen-Good luck on your trip and my prayers for your safety.

[Leah's Mom]

Heather- Our DD's are alot alike. Leah will also take a "good" morning nap (45 mintues), then the rest are 30-45 minutes. The part that is hard is that she can only stay awake about an hour and a half, MAX two - but she's really overtired then. Then feeds become all over the place and EASY turns into EASAESA etc. Oh well, someone told me it can be modified as long as they are not falling asleep on the bottle or brest. Maybe we'll have to tackle the four hour transistion together. That way we can tell each other our ups and downs etc.  Not sure I'm ready to start yet altough I know I should.....  :wink:

Schae - I will confess too. Leah takes some of her naps in the stroller outside becuase she sleeps so well there. Give it time and it should all fall into place.

Have fun on your trip Branwen. I hope all goes well. We are taking Leah camping next month......I'm very nervous about how that's going to go!

[HeatherC]

I just know that every baby is sooooo different, and they are not going to fall into the routine we would like all the time.  The book is just a guideline, a helpful one, in my opinion, and we should use it for what it's worth.  I know so many people with babies, and none of us do the same things in terms of feeding, sleeping, etc.  I think we are all doing great because 1. they're still alive, 2. we're still alive, and 3. no one has removed the children from our care!  :wink:

[Deb_in_oz]

just a quick one as i said i am having limited access to computer lately but:
Olivia has slept through 6 of last 7 nights!    unfortunately i have been waking and having trouble falling back to sleep (? meds)
Olivia also has flat head and i am trying not to think about it - she loves tummy time but i have not been good about turning her in cot or movinbg her head - hoping it will all be fine later on (naive??)


FWIW I thought i'd give my take on BW since you guys seem to be unnecessarily beating yourself up if you have them nap outside the cot, etc. and i agree with Heather (ignore me if i am out of line)   I noticed that a lot on other boards/threads and that people are often trying to follow a timetable/routine set in stone...  When i did BW with Alex i did not have a computer at home and had no idea about the boards.  I chose to follow BW because it seemed the most balanced approach (not a set routine, but with clear information about cues and obsevation techniques).  Dh and I used to run to the book in the first 3 months to decipher what she wanted from the charts on cues and body signs... and we always got her to bed when she yawned - sometimes this was in the car if we were heading out somewhere, sometimes in the stroller and rarely in the pouch.  i never once thought BW meant that all sleeps had to happen in the cot - it is more about self settling so as long as you are not USING the car/stroller/etc as a prop to put them to sleep all the time then i think it is fine - if a bub falls asleep on their own and sometimes it is in a different environment it is no big deal in my mind.  HTH

Christine i will want to hear all about your camping trip b/c Dh has been desperate to get us all camping agaiin - i have not allowed it since alex was born as i don't see how you do it with under 3yo, but i will be interested to hear from you.

will get online later guys and chat more - glad to hear many of you are having successes (even if some of them are small ones)

[Leah's Mom]

Oh yes Deb, camping is totally DH's idea. We have done it every year since we've been together (10 years now!!!! - Married 5) He thinks she'll do alright, but I am really nervous! I plan on having her sleep in the pack-n-Play which she is used to from the sitters house, plus I will bring the sound machine. I am hoping to make everything seems like home (even bringing the portable CD player so we can play the sleepy time music!) We'll see, I'll let you know next month. Thanks for the words of advice about following BW to the tee. It's nice to get expert advice from someone whose been there already! Take care!

[HeatherC]

Christine-okay, too weird.  Our babies are born on the same day, and we've both been married for 5 years.  Not May 20 by any chance :?:

[IsaMum]

Hello everyone

I'm new (just registered), after having heard about the book & this forum on another website. I've got a baby son who's 100% breastfed - born 17 feb, so he's 4mths today.

DS' schedule was OK until we moved from France to China 3 weeks ago, after which his routine seems to have turned haywire - mixture of jet lag & change in environment I suppose. He's now only getting 10hrs sleep in 24hrs & he hardly naps during the day & has started to wake up in the night again. I'm worried about the adequacy of my breastmilk quantity-wise due to move-related stress, so had taken to nursing him whenever he cries - which is often ie every 2hrs or so.
 
I haven't got the book yet - in your opinion, is it too late to start on EASY ?

[Schae]

Hi IsaMum and welcome!

To answer your question, it is never too late to start on EASY.


Happy Monthday to your baby! And I look forward to hearing more from you!

[Leah's Mom]

Nope, June 24th - But still very close!!!! I don't want to say anything, for fear of jinxing myself - but DD slept from the dream feed till 5 am for the past few nights, then ate and went back to bed till 6:30 or 7!!!! Yah!

[sedona314]

First of all, Christine, congrats on a few nights sleep.  Did you do anything different?  Where does Leah sleep?

Welcome Isamum. 

All the baby pics are terrific, keep them coming.

I think you guys are right about maybe trying Matty out in his own room for sleep.  I've been hesitating because if he wakes up the 4 or 5 times a night and I have to run to the nursery, I will be even MORE EXHAUSTED. But I'm hoping that he sleeps better in there.   Im concerned I'll hear every noise on the monitor and keep running in there a million times instead of just being able to peak over at every noise  :lol: and see he's fine.

Guess I'll have to do it at some point!  Anything to get some sleep.

I've been reading the sleep boards and a couple of mothers mentioned that when they went to the 4 hour easy, the babies slept better.  I understand your hesitation with trying it out though.

Julie

Matthew - 1/31/05  Spirited (boy is he!)

[HeatherC]

Christine-I'm sure you're feeling much better having had some decent sleep yourself.  Best wishes for more good nights to come.
Julie-Don't fret.  I know we worry about our lo's, but just try to hold back from checking on him unless it's an urgent noise.  I promise you will feel much better after a few nights.  It's best for both of you.

[Schae]

Well, our new routine is going well. Thanks for the encouragement about not letting him regress in terms of feeding in the middle of the night. It really makes me feel better!

Thought I'd share a photo of Luka too! 



I don't know quite how to add an attachment yet..give me time!