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

[Leah's Mom]

Schae- He is sooo cute!!!!!!

Julie- Leah sleeps in the crib in her own room , which is right across the hallway from ours, so I don't even use a monitor - that way I only hear her when she is really awake - I don't want to hear the sleep noises. I really didn't do anything different, I changed to a faster flow nipple which has helped with getting more food into her during the day. That could have been the problem, but I am not hoping for miracles! One day at a time. I would definitley try him in his own room.

[HeatherC]

Schae-too cute!!!
We have had a weird day.  Kelsey usually takes her 1st nap at 9:45 am for about 40 minutes (the longest one she takes).  However, this morning she cried for an hour and wouldn't sleep.  So I fed her at 11 as usuall, and she fell asleep toward the end of the bottle.  I sat her up to burp her and she was fast asleep.  I put her in her crib thinking she would pop right up awake, but she didn't.  She slept from 11:45 am till 2 pm when I woke her!  I know she was purely exhausted, but I didn't want her to sleep too long even though that sounds weird because I complain about her 30 minute naps.  I just had a fear it would throw off her whole day.  Anyway, she took her 2:00 bottle, then we ran out.  No nap after that feeding; she wasn't tired obviously.  Then she took her 5:00 bottle, and got sleepy, but woke back up and played.  I tried to put her down at 6:30 for a quick nap, but she must have been overtired.  She got so upset that her nose got stopped up.  I had to suction it, which made her even more mad, and I didn't get her calmed down until 6:50.  She's sleeping now, it's been about 20 minutes.  I still have to feed her at 8, and I pray she sleeps as usuall tonight (9pm-8am).  What a weird day, huh?

[Deb_in_oz]

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.

Julie - when we were having issues early on the first thing the child nurse said to me was to get her in her own room (olivia had to be THE noisiest sleeper ever - she would grumble and grunt up to 45 min before a feed) so at 7 weeks we did this.  she is on the opposite side of the house - we have a monitor and i can hear her, but no longer hear the really quick or low level noises that are really part of sleeping rather than "waking" and needing us.  it was amazing how quick it improved things because i kept thinking she was waking for food and was intervening too fast... they are more likely to resettle themselves if we are not right there.  also everyone kept reminding me to wait for an actual cry rather than just a stir or grumble.  i still struggle with that sometimes.  it is freezing cold in our house at night and i dread night feeds, but the monitor really is fine!! you'll probably sleep better 

I need help with a couple of connected issues - hope someone can offer ideas:  although we are not ready for 4 hourly yet we struggle still with the end of the day.  in an ideal world olivia would feed around 4:30pm and then go down for a catnap from 5:30-6:15.  since she often refuses it we get into a situation where she is overtired after her bath and then doesn't feed well. we put her down knowing we will have to probably top her up 45 min later when she rests and realizes she is hungry.  should i be transitioning somehow to 3 naps only??  what kind of timings shoudl, i aim for? she rarely takes a full feed at the first feed even after sleeping through the night (generally takes 4 oz/120 ml or so) so will not go longer than 3 hrly til the next feed (sometimes 2.5hrs), later on she can go 3-3.5... so confusing!!!  any ideas?

she has also caught her big sister's cold so we are also suctioning her nose (fun!)

welcome Isamum if i have not said so already - we are getting into a big group and i am terrible keeping track of people.  will try to get Dh to upload a photo of the girls to attach - i tried and nothing attached not sure what i am doing wrong (not too technical here  :oops: )

[Leah's Mom]

Deb- I have the same issue as you do. Leah will not take a large morning feed, thus cannot go more than 3 hours till her next feed. I ahve been wanting to transision to a four hour routine, but I keep waiting for the day when she will take a full feed at 6:30. I'll have to think on this one. Maybe it would work out to go 3 hours, 3.5, 3.5, no that wouldn't work either....

So we NEVER set an alarm in our house becuase DD has always been up by 6:30 am at the latest. That's when we start our day. WELL.... yesterday I resettled her at 4 am and then she didn't wake up till 7:15 am. Ahhhh! DH was WAY late for work, but I got some more sleep. The problem was it threw the enitre day off! If it's not one thing, it's another!

[HeatherC]

I think it's okay to have different time lengths between different feeds.  Who knows, maybe one day they'll surprise us and go 4 hours on their own.  Things change so much and so often, we just have to do the best we can.

[Schae]

Leah's mom - your poor dh! but good for you, getting those extra minutes of sleep really makes a difference hey?

Deb - wish I could help with the nap issue. But I can't think of anything.  :?  I thought that formula fed babies generally go 4 hours between feeds.. shows how knowledgeable I am huh? lol!!

Luka went to sleep on his own tonight! I am over the moon, I'm even having a glass of wine.  :lol:

Hope everyone else has/had a good night!

[sedona314]

Well, I wish I could say I had a good night, but Matty was up about  5 times.  Now to make things more interesting, he is refusing my breast during the day (but still taking it at night).  Now Im worried he is weaning himself!  I hope not.

We had a sitter today and dh and I were looking forward to going out and having lunch and doing some shopping, but even after a morning nap for two hours, I was just too darned tired and went to bad all day!!!

Im very frustrated by this. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Julie

Matthew - Spirited 4.5 months

[HeatherC]

Julie, what does Matty do when you try to bf?  Is he just too interested in looking around, or does he act mad?  Have you checked the bf forum?

[Deb_in_oz]

we also had a bad night and then a bad morning - what a great fathers day gift  :roll: we did not get to bed until 2am after the dream feed started at 11 as she would not eat nor would she sleep - it took a team approach from us both and in the end i got another 55ml into her and dh pat/shh her to sleep - we were so exhausted but as usual he fell right to sleep and i tossed and turned until 3 or so and then heard her at 6:30 (i refused to get up and assume she fell back to sleep as i got up to her at 7:30).  then after a crappy 1st feed as usual, she would not go down for her 1st nap in spite of tired signs... so was up from 7:30 or earlier until 12:15  :evil:   thankfully she then slept for 2hr15 and we are hoping we are back on track

BOTTOM LINE - THEY LIKE TO KEEP US ON OUR TOES!! what fun. how boring would it be if they actually did the same thing every day  :lol:

[thitz]

Hi Everyone,

Looks like I'm not the only one who had a bad night .  Although it wasn't nearly as bad as yours Debinoz.  My dd woke at 9:30, 2:00 and every hour after that till 6:30am.  I was just in and out quick though so I'm sure it wasn't hunger.  For some reason she just couldn't get into a deep sleep :? .

Deboniz, I know I might sound like a broken record, but if your bottle feeding, have you tried a fast flow nipple? :idea:

Tomorrow my dd gets her second set of shots.  I hope we don't have to wait too long at the doctor's office.  And I hope she doesn't get sick.

For those thinking of switching to 4 hr EASY but afraid it won't work cause of the short naps, one good thing is if your willing to perservere with pu/pd or pat/sh, you only have to do it 3 times a day instead of 4 .  Also, don't worry too much about it only being a 3.5 hr EASY, I would just really try to get at least one 2 hour nap out of them and then the day will probably just end early.  Even Tracy's transition schedules have one schedule I think where the baby's in bed by 6:00pm but still gets up at 7:00am.

have a good night everyone, Tarri

[Deb_in_oz]

Tarri - the teats for our bottles come in S/M/L and we use the M - with a colic flow regulator insert.  not sure if we should move up to the largest teat yet - isn't that for when they are older??  i thought medium was pretty fast. maybe we'll try it.

[dkjokisch]

My name is Deborah, and though I have been browsing the message boards for awhile, I just found this thread.  My daughter, Maya, was born Jan 13.

I still have not finished reading all 15 pages of posts, but several of them caught my eye.  In particular, several of you mentioned having two children about 19 mos apart.  My husband and I were contemplating this, but I was wondering how Maya would take it (would she be ready to give up her crib?, how would a new one in diapers impact potty training?, etc).  And from my standpoint, Maya is what I would call a high-maintenance baby, though she has definitely settled down some as she has gotten older.  I don't know what I'd do if I had another one like her and a toddler.

How are the older kids taking having a baby around?

Deborah
Maya 01/13/05

[Heather_Samantha's Mummy]

Hi Everyone,
I am fairly new to this sight and have done a few postings here and there. I have a 19week old dd who is spirited. I have enjoyed reading this thread because it helps me realize how normal my situation is.
Leah's Mom: I have noticed a huge similarity between your little one and mine including sleep times and temperament. They would be one day a part in age. Mine was born Feb 5, 2005. Samantha has been alert from day one and has kept me on my toes with short naps, settling issues, poor night sleep, etc.
I have done lots of accidental parenting including co-sleeping for the last half of the night as well as a few naps per week with her. She can generally do a 4 hour stretch from about 10-10:30 to 2-2:30 AM at which point she needs a feed (she is exclusively b/f). She then wakes again around 4:30 or 5 AM for another feed. Some nights she is up several times after 3 AM and is hard to settle. Anyways, today is a new day and I am trying a 3.5 hour EASY this week. So far so good, she got up at 7 AM for a feed and I put her down at 8:50 AM for a nap and she is just waking now at 10:35 AM which is unusually good so I will feed her now. Gotta go!I will write back later.
Heather

[Leah's Mom]

Welcome Deborah and Heather! I have no advice for you Deborah, I still only have one child and plan to keep it that way for awhile! 

Heather- Another spirited baby! As you can see we have lots of them on this post. Your DD does sound very similar to mine. Last night I fed her at 10:30, she woke at 2:30 for a feed, then again at 5. Some days I feel like I am regressing back to when she was first born!

We look forward to hearing from the two of you and hope to help you in any way we can, and maybe you could offer us some advice too!  :wink:

[HeatherC]

Wish me luck...I'm starting pu/pd to extend Kelsey's 30 minute naps so we can move to 4 hour EASY.  I just spent about 30 minutes with her and she's been lying there maybe asleep for almost 10 minutes.  We're 30 minutes shy of 4 hours.  I know she can make it, she bf and had 5 oz of formula at 8.  I think she's trying to drop the only 2 bf I now do with her-morning and night.  Speak of the devil...she's crying.  Oh well.  :cry: