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

[dkjokisch]

Heather - thanks for the tip.  I think I'll give her another day or so, and then maybe give it a try.

[Deb_in_oz]

HI all - have been scarce lately as things are up and down as usual - last 2 days were DOWN (Olivia likes to throw a spanner in the works and skip a nap every few days and stay up for 3+ hours!!).

i have been reading everyone's "schedules' and am wondering how consistent your lo are.  I mean, Olivia is pretty consistent about feeding every 3-3.5 hours but her nap lengths really vary which throws off any idea of a "schedule".  her naps vary from 45 min - 2hr 15 min and whereas she used to always have a great 2 hr first nap sometimes this is actually only a 45 min nap (or like today - NO NAP).  she usually has an AVERAGE total of 3 1/2 - 4 hrs of naps but the breakdown is really inconsistent (and some days she can take 5 + hrs of naps).

i don't know what to write as our "typical" day - i could tell you an ideal day....what we are aiming for but that is not truly reflecting our situation.  am i alone in this one?

[branwen]

Deb- You're not alone- my schedule varies every day, usually depending on when she gets up.  I can be anywhere from 1 hr or more off.  I try to make adjustments.  My lo in addition to being in a growth spurt has also begun to stay up longer stretches so we're pretty off as of late.  She also is very random with her eating.  Before our trip she really liked the 3.5 hrs- now it is 2.5 to 3.  Some days she naps 6 hrs (3, 2 hr naps) but now it is more like 4 or 5 hrs with an earlier bedtime.  I just try to stick to our usual if she wakes at 6 or 6:30.

Deborah- saw your post about the BM here and on the other board!  I'm happy we're not alone too.  I am so happy Eirwen finally did after 10 days- watch out though...it was sooooo much that I literally just tossed the outfit she was wearing. TMI probably but up to her shoulders in it :shock:   I'd dress her in pants or something too for awhile  :wink:  Your dd just really loves your milk so much that every bit of it is absorbed and digested.  I wouldn't worry.

Heather- thanks for the warning.  That is so scary :cry:

Dh gave Eirwen a 7oz bottle of breast milk last night before bed around 6.  She downed the whole thing. :shock:   She'd just had a full feeding at 4:30 :shock: We were trying to tank her up to go the whole night.  Well, I think she would have except her diaper leaked out (I had purposely put her in a huge diaper- 1 size up- go figure!) and it made her sleeper all wet, which made her cold.  So we got a new outfit at 2am.  I tried feeding her to calm her down, was wailing but she pushed off rubbing her eyes. 

I used PUPD to put her back to sleep, only took 10 min. though it seems like forever when you do PUPD in the middle of the night.   Anyway, now that it is the weekend dh and I are going for it. We figure 3 nights of PUPD will get her back sleeping through the night- I HOPE!  It's been a week of night wakings and lately she's only been barely eating from one side in the night...I don't want to start a habit now...and I don't think she is really hungry, at least not anymore.  She slept until her regular wake up and took a full feeding so I figure we're good to go!  Wish us luck! BTW- it really makes me grumpy how dh can sleep through her wailing! What is up with that!!!???  I came back to bed and he was snoring!  It worries me that if I ever have to go away for some reason he won't hear her???

[Leah's Mom]

Branwen - TOTALLY agree with you on the whole DH thing. The other night Leah was up at 2, 3:15, 4, and 5. At 5 when she cried DH rolled over and said: "Is this the first time she's gotten up?" I wanted to smack him! I am partially at fault though. I'm one of those people who think it is just easier to do it myself. I need to let go and let him start taking more responsibility, but I'm so afraid he'll get her all excited in the night and then I would have to end up putting her back to sleep anyway!

Heather - I just gave DH the lecture the other day about buckling her into everything. I had her in her baby papasan chair the other day, not buckled in. I turned around and she was literally sitting up with her head down by her feet. I freaked out even though if she would have fallen out it woulnd't have been a big deal - so close to the carpet. BUT we buckled her into everything now!

DD has decided rolling over isn't so neat anymore. It's like she has now realized that if she rolls to her tummy she doesn't like it. So she'd rather just stay on her back! Not so great for the flat head!

We're still stuck at three hour feeding intervals. I stretched her first feed to four hours yesterday. Fed at 6 and 10, then she was literally screaming at 12:30 (noraml feeding time) so I fed her and she took another full bottle. I may have to post a question about this. Are there some babies who just can't do four hours? She is so big though so you would think she could. But, she will just never take more than 5 ounces at a time. Even at 6 in the morning when she hasn't eaten since 10 the night before!

Deb - Our schedule is way off wack too. Every day is differnt. Like you she usually feeds at the same time everyday. About the only thing that stays the same is her afternoon naps. 12:30 - 2:30 and 4:30 -5. Those are the same everyday. But I do all I can to get that long afternoon nap. I rock her back to sleep if she wakes at the 45 min mark. If she wakes at 2:00 I will even hold her for the rest of the nap so she sleeps till 2:30.  :shock:

[Leah's Mom]

So I was reading the Oct/Dec thread on this forum. It's neat to see what we will be talking about in a few short months! Crawling, sitting up, seperation anxiety  :shock: I hope when I go back to work in September we don't have the seperation problem.....

[dkjokisch]

Branwen - We have poo!  10 days just seemed like such a long time.  However, I realized that she started on vitamins with iron about two weeks ago, so that probably slowed her down as well.  But as luck would have, the diaper contained it all (I love WalMart diapers - they fit her way better than Pampers or Huggies). 

Deb - Our schedule varies too, but when she gets off, I just try to keep her feedings spaced such that she gets to bed roughly the same time every night.

Christine - We are already dealing with stranger anxiety.  Maya is getting quite skittish with strangers (including grandmas).

[Deb_in_oz]

DD has decided rolling over isn't so neat anymore. It's like she has now realized that if she rolls to her tummy she doesn't like it. So she'd rather just stay on her back! Not so great for the flat head! 

Christine - i was going to post today and see about the flat head - olivia's still is too.  se has tummy time, etc but it does not seem to be disappearing - will it take until they are sitting up around 6 months for it to really start changing??  anyone else with flat head syndrome (since the kids are so alike already  :lol: )

We're still stuck at three hour feeding intervals. I stretched her first feed to four hours yesterday. Fed at 6 and 10, then she was literally screaming at 12:30 (noraml feeding time) so I fed her and she took another full bottle. I may have to post a question about this. Are there some babies who just can't do four hours? She is so big though so you would think she could. But, she will just never take more than 5 ounces at a time. Even at 6 in the morning when she hasn't eaten since 10 the night before!

we are in the same boat - occasionally if she has a great nap she wakes up and can wait the extra time to go 3-3 1/2 hrs but usually 3 hrs exactly is it.  her intake ranges from 6-8oz + at each feed and still not there yet - most of this is due to nap issues as said yesterday - they vary so much that if she wakes after 45 min there is no way she can stay awake for ages and then feed.  as it is we end up giving her a lot of calories right before bed at 3 hrs if she woke at 45 min.

Deborah - glad to hear about the poo  :lol:   we used to stress about this when dd2 was BF, but on formula she goes every day now - and if she wants to go and is strugling it throws us off for a couple of feeds/naps until she goes.

[Leah's Mom]

Deb - I too worry about my DD's head. Here I attached a picture of her from the side. This is her bad side. The other side does not look as bad. Some people say it will start to round out around 6-7 months, but I have heard form other people it may not round out.  :shock: There are helmets they can wear to help, but we probobly won't go that far. I guess I'll keep putting hats on her till she grows some hair! 

[Deb_in_oz]

looks very similar to olivia.  i have asked dh to promise to help me resize and upload photos this weekend - want to show you all clear photos of my girls.  alex turned 2 on the 1st and olivia is almost 5 months already!!! must learn how to resize. i tried uploading once and nothing happened so i am a bit techno-idiot!

[HeatherC]

Kelsey has flat head, too, but she has so much hair that it's not too obvious.  Still, I know that it is and it worries me.  I asked her ped. twice, and they assure me that it will round out on it's own, but even if it's not perfectly round that it will be okay.  Kelsey hates, hates, hates her tummy, so when she's on the floor I try to play with her in a sitting position.  We also put her in her exersaucer frequently, or I hold her in my lap to play.  The more that I've been doing these sort of things the less flat her head has looked lately.  She still sleeps on her back for naps and night time, but some babies will start to flip all around in their sleep once they learn to roll around.  I think the helmets are for severe cases that were present at birth, or for those wanting to correct it for cosmetic purposes.  I would wait until about 9-10 months to see if it corrects itself before taking further action.  That's just me, though.

[thitz]

Hi Everyone,

I love reading everyone's posts And looking at everyone's photos

Last night was the best night we've had in a long time .  Emily woke up several times but it was kind of like she cried out in her sleep and didn't actually wake up.  So I only ended up going in at 5am because she was doing a kind of a cry that was ramping up and I found she had turned completely sideways with her head up again the side slats.  I shifted her and then she slept till 7am.

Also, Emily wakes up completely for her dreamfeed.  She's looking at me with her eyes wide open for at least 5 mins.  I've been giving it anywhere between 9-10pm and she drinks 6oz.  And so far she still makes it till 6:45-7am.

Leah's mom, I haven't noticed if Emily has a flat head or not.  I'll have to have a good look.

Maya's mom, my dd is also getting stranger anxiety with her Grandma and Grandpa.  She's good with them looking and talking to her when she first wakes up from a nap.  But later she'll start to do a pouty face and go into a real hard cry instantly.

Branwen,  I had my dd buy a pack'n'play.  So we're all set for travelling.  I'm thinking of going up to my Aunt's cottage for overnight.  But I'll be in the car by myself with Emily for 4 hours.  I think she'll just sleep? 

Debinoz,  my dd is pretty good with staying on schedule if we spend the whole day at home.   By the end of the day we're usually within a 1/2 hr of what I was aiming for.  Sometimes I have to work hard to keep her activity going long enough.  But the key is consistency with the naps.  Usually I don't have napping problems and she does a 2hr nap in the morning, 2 hr nap at lunch time and 1hr in the late afternoon.     

Have a good day everyone!  Tarri

[Schae]

Hello ladies

It's lovely reading up on all the babies.. so many girls.
Just wanted to share that today we have moved to a four hourly routine.. Luka did this on his own today. We have been working very hard on EASY, thanks to your inspiration. I haven't really been posting, but I had to share this with you.

Our schedule looks like this (as of today)
6h45 Wake and eat
7h00 Activity - singing
8h00 Sleep - he went down so easy for this one.
10h45 Wake and Eat
11h00 Activity
12h30 Sleep - this was a difficult nap and we really struggled. He fell asleep at 13h00
then woke at 13h20 and I used pu/pd and managed to get him to sleep at 14h00 :shock:
15h30 Wake and Eat (I had to wake him)
then things got wonky :roll:

I don't know much about the flat head thing, since Luka has always been a tummy sleeper.

And stranger anxiety is a visitor in our house too. MIL gets very hurt 

Well done on Emily sleeping so long!

Christine (Leah's mom) - Luka has also decided that he doesn't like rolling over (after doing it on father's day)

Deb (in Oz) - thanks for the solids advice. We've decided to wait a while longer.

Hope all goes well for everyone else..

Schae

[Jaime]

hi ladies,

haven't posted here in a while, but have been lurking for ideas.  love all the new pictures of the babies.

Schae - congrats on the 4-hr schedule!  hope he keeps it up.

Debra - like Tarri said, if we're home all day, consistency is easy.  course, then we have happy baby & stir-crazy mommy!  i find that i manage to get him in order, so then i get brave & we go places, then he gets out of whack & i have to stay in for a few to fix it. 

Christine - no, some babies don't go to an exact 4-hr schedule.  dd never did.  i think you just want to make sure she doesn't associate eating with going to sleep. 

Branwen - your avatar is fantastic!  did you all take that photo yourselves?

concerning the flat head... yeah, luke's got one too.  i agree with what heather said, work on sitting, the exersaucer.  i have another one of the babies who all of a sudden hates his tummy, so not too much of that - and subsequently no more rolling (like he ever did it more than twice!).  if you don't need a helmet, that's a good thing.   it should go to normal when they're more mobile.

(sigh) most of our issues have been medical lately.  finally figured out luke has allergies at his 4-month checkup.  so now he's on zyrtec, which is helping, but this past week he's been beside himself coughing at night.  so i've had to put the humidifier back in his room & re-elevate his mattress.  hate doing that, cause he always ends up rolling down & then screaming for help.  slooooowly getting better.

all this stuff is wreaking havoc with his afternon nap.  he keeps waking up early from it.  so we're playing with when he goes down & how much he eats.  it just stinks cause then i don't get very much time by myself at all - this is when he's supposed to sleep great cause jaina's in bed too!!!  blah...

[branwen]

Jaime- Thanks for the compliment!  I am an amateur photographer- I set the shot myself.  I'm so proud of it!  Sorry to hear about the allergies.  my SIL's baby has been on zyurtec since that age also, it's rough for him!

Tarri- Eirwen was always awake for her 9/10 feed...for us she just had to be awake to latch.  I think it's okay that she's not completely asleep, esp if she goes right back to bed.

I have been examining Eirwen's head...I don't think she has a flat head, but there is definitely a big patch with no hair :lol: I think it is so cute!

I think Eirwen is happiest right now on 3 hr schedule so I'm not beating myself up about our slip back to it.  I have however ended clustering.  So we are not doing that anymore!  I think her growth spurt has subsided a bit.  She did not wake in the night the past 2 nights.  (I secretly think it is because she knew PUPD was coming- just kidding). I did a yeild last night, got 7 oz so that is quite a lot for baby- 6 times per day.

I plan to start solids again next week.  Think I've been making the cereal too thin after advice from another board.

Just a note of caution- be careful on stairs while carrying your lo!  Baby and I fell yesterday...no worries we are both fine.  I did not let go of her- THANK GOD!  It was very scary and I did take her to doc for a check just to be safe, but she was just scared and I think that is why she was crying so much.  My dh was home which was also good  Anyway, I"m just 'limited' now in certain activities.  I have an enormous line/bruise across my midback from where the stair hit! Seriously feels like someone smacked me across the back with a 2x4.  Anyway, mind slippery socks :wink: [/b]

[Leah's Mom]

Wow! So much to catch up on! It's great to hear that so many other babies have the flat head issue ....we'll not great for the kids, but it makes me feel better!  :wink: Actually it used to bother me more than it does now. She's a girl, so eventually she'll grow hair - maybe! She's pretty bald right now!

Jamie - THanks for the info on the feeding intervals. I am just going with her cues. Maybe once we get serious about solids she will start taking the bottle every four hours instead. She never falls asleep taking it, so that's not an issue.Sorry to hear about hte allergies. DH has bad ones so we're hoping DD will take after me in that department.

Schae - Isn't it funny about rolling over? I was braggin to everyone how she rolls like crazy about a week ago. Then we were with DH's family this weekend and they wanted to see her do it, but of course she wouldn't!

Tarri - Yah for Emily! I hope it keeps up for you!

Branwen - So sorry to hear about the stairs. YIKES! I tripped awhile back with Leah, but caught my balance. It freaked me out though to think about what could have happened to her.


We had Leah's pictures taken a few weeks back. I posted a few on the photos board. You'll have to check them out. Very cute, if I do say so myself!