any april/may 05 moms want to chat?

[Katet]

Andrea... I wake Liam at between 7 & 7.30am everyday, I found if I don't keep within 1/2hour of the cycle I get 45 min naps... I had the short naps & more with my first as I demand fed him, I found BW when he was about 1yo & so decided my #2 would be a BW baby & it is going pretty well, although I don't do a df as Aiden sleep talks in the second half of the night so I get my best sleep before 2am & Liam now goes from 7pm until about 1ish, so if I get to bed by 9pm I get a good sleep & then disturbed 2nd half... works for me!

Krice... I think 4am ish is prety good at this stage, particularly with reflux, he will get to 7am, but adjusted age he is only 6weeks.
Not sure what to suggest re constipation, I do know bf babies can go up to a week without a bm, Liam goes about every 2-3 days, which is a big change from Aiden who was every feed, but if you are giving rice cereal, that changes things. Was that on medical advice?

Lilachawk... I have never bottle fed, but it is my understanding that you can go longer between feeds, so unless 3 hours is giving you longer at night, 3.5 hours might be what works for your lo. Re the day sleeps, my only suggestion is a longer wind down, I try to give Laim 10mins of quiet time in my arms (usually read books to my toddler at the time) before naps & so he is pretty calm or almost asleep when I put him down... I never have him up for more than 1 hour, usually it is only 50mins before he his back in the basinette & he is a big (6.5kg at 6 weeks) & allert baby, I just learnt the hard way with my first... less awake time = better settling & sleep. We still have our moments & I have at least 1 if not 2 naps that are short or hard to settle, but I live with that as it is 100x better than what I had with my first at this age.

[marlowho]

hello all....
Not much advice here... I'm still trying to figure out our routine dealing w/ 2 & trying to work from home.  Plus on top of it all we've been battling thrush for the past 2 weeks! :x  :cry:   It is quite painful, but i'm trying to stick it out- I'd really like to bf Noel if we can just get past this.
Yes, I'm getting a little sleep, though we're still very inconsistent.  (Sleeping a 5 hr stretch one night, but not the next.)  I just tried the Aussie swaddle, and it seems to settle her pretty well-so I'll have to see if this "improvement" will be consistent.-Daytime naps are the worst- especially mornings.  And starting early eve. she seems to want to power feed until around 10 or 11! 
Sounds like a lot of us are battling a lot of the same things- in different ways... but hopefully we'll figure these lo's out soon!
HUGS to you all & kisses to these sweet babies- don't you just love how precious they can be?  They do make up for these sleeepless nights with their smiles and coos...

[Lilachawk]

Started to realy work onwind down as of today and we have done great, only problem was that it was my nices 10th birthday today so we had to go out in the afternoon to go see her and give her her gifts, we went out after the 2pm feed and got home about 4, Hether MAe only slept for about 20 mins in that time (when we were driving) so as I had expected she was very overtired by the time we got home and I took her upstars to start the wind down and atempt at least a short nap, I didnt manage to actuly get her to sleep, she kept geting to the 3ed stage and then waking right up again and crying, I know this was because she was overtired so havent let it go to my heart, fed her as planed at 5pm, changed her nappy and went back to the bedroom to start wind down, we were sucsesfull but she woke about an hour later and for the first time ever I managed to settle her back down to sleep in her crib after she had woken eairly from a nap, I am very pleased with myself lol! Having said that she woke again 20 mins later having broke out from the swoddle, got her back down but she woke again 10 mins later, by that time it was only 20mins to go untill the 8pm bedtime feed but I perservired and even though she didnt go down to sleep again she was at least carm and resting. I gave her her feed at 8 and took her right up to bed (changing nappy on the way) and she has gone down beautifully as she most;y does at this time.
I am really pleased with the way the day has gone, been so nice not having a baby on my chest for most of the day! I only wish I had started this sooner, the main reason why I didnt is that I always seemed to have a baby on my chest and never got to the sleep chapter of BW solves all your problems lol!!!
I know its best to go out and do erands in the morning rather than the afternoon but what I am unsure of is when to go, streight after feeding? After activity so in nap time or should I wake her eairly from her nap and go out and do things before the next feed?

jen

[marlowho]

Jen- My plans are always to go just after a feed because I'm bfeeding and I know that I have a short window of time.  Since Noel falls asleep literally the second the car starts to move and stays asleep fine in her carseat, it hasn't been a problem yet.  (Though I've yet to go anywhere except doctor's and a friend's house by myself with the 2 yet!)
But if she doesn't sleep well when she's out, it might be better to limit the outings until she's older and your schedule is more intact.  Just my thoughts...  But going out could be part of the "awake" time- or if she sleeps well in the car, you could let the car be where she does wind down- and hopefully she'll sleep the whole time your out!
-And, btw, keep fingers crossed- we had a wonderful day today- keeping up with the Aussie swaddle for every nap.  Here's hoping for a good week for all of us!!!:)

[cambeladamom]

it is so good to hear from you all. it seems that everyone is struggling with either naps or short nights (or both). i really worked hard on naps with cambel, and he seems to be doing better now. it was (and sometimes still is) so frustrating when you know your lo is tired and needs a longer nap, but they won't go back to sleep. i read in another post that some nap issues are developmental and babies will outgrow them. but it seems to have helped us to consistently work on taking longer naps. the past week has been great--he is generally taking 2 hour naps, and he has had several naps where he doesn't even wake up halfway. now that i have announced that, he will probably never do it again:)i think my main problem now is getting him to sleep more consistently at night. he has a great night, and then is up a lot the next night. this makes it difficult to have a consistent day time schedule as his wake time is different every day.
someone mentioned having a grumpy baby and feeling a little disappointed b/c they imagined having a very happy baby. i have felt this too as cambel is a little touchier than i imagined my baby would be. but it is getting better as he gets older, and i am learning to accept him just as he is. it helps that he is so cute:)
tomorrow cambel gets his 2 month shots...anyone have any advice on how to handle this. i am expecting a grumpy baby.
judy--i hope activity time is getting better with your twins. cambel just started reaching for his toys, and this has helped his "independent" time tremendously.
so good to hear from you all. here's to a good night's sleep!

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi everyone, isn't it funny how as new mums (or second time for some of you) we focus so much of our energy on trying to get our lo's sleeping or eating better. Oh yes, I can definitely join you on both those topics! We have a 40 minute day nap pattern with my 13 week old son, but luckily he sleeps from 6.30pm until 5-6am approx with only one wake up for a night feed somewhere between 2-4am. I'm beginning to think this could be dropped also as thismorning after feeding at 2.15am, wasn't at all interested in breakfast at 6.10am when he woke. After 30 mins I put him back to bed. An hour later he woke famished. Go figure! What I would like to know, is how to extend out his day feeding pattern as he's always hungry after 2 - 2 1/2 hours. I think this is due to the fact his 40min naps confuse his pattern. THinking he should be feeding as he's had a sleep and some play, so perhaps now I should b/f. He doesn't feed for long, 5 mins strongly on one side, not usually interested in the other. He's a long boy 65.8cm and weighs 14lb 6oz. I would like to put him on an EASY routine, but can't figure out how to when his sleeping and hunger cues are all over the place. I'm trying to set times down for sleep, but how do you do that when they don't play the game right and are grumpy/tired/hungry at the wrong time? HELP!!!

[krice]

Katet - it was doctor's advice that I thicken my EBM with rice cereal to try to  help with Matthew's reflux.  It seems to help . . .other than the side effect of decreased BM's.  He's now only having 1 per day - down considerably!!!  Poor little guy also seems to really have to work to get it out too.  At least we have poop!  I never thought I'd be happy to say that.

Cambel's mom - my little guy had his immunizations last week.  4 needle pokes to his thighs.  I've never seen him turn that shade of red before.  It made my heart break.  I brought children's tylenol with me (on the advice of another mom).  The health nurse who gave the shot also suggested that we give him a dose to help.  While we waited the standard 15min. to see if he had a reaction we pulled out the tylenol and gave it to him.  He was pretty tired for the remainder of the day, but overall faired very well.  His routine was hardly disrupted.

On a side note, I've really noticed that a good wind down routine makes all the difference for naps/bedtime.  I was missing his window by only a few minutes before and since bumping windown up by the 1st/2nd yawn I've been able to get DS down soooo easily.

Any of you had your little ones in the pool yet?  I'm a die-hard swimmer and can't wait to get my guy in.

[Katet]

Kathy, Aiden has been swimming since 6 months & now at almost 2 is swimming a few metres with a bubble. I won't be taking Liam in until after his 3rd round of immunisations (6months in Australia), Some say you can do it once they have their 4month (2nd lot), but I think it is safer to wait, as their immunity & temp contol is still not good.

Jen, I must admit, I get out & about almost everyday (unless visitors), I try to make it at the same time ie between the 10am & 1pm feed. we either go for a walk to the park, got to the shops, Aiden's swimming, friends or Dr's appointments, on the weekends we do the same. I had PPD with Aiden & find I need to get out every day for mine & Aiden's sanity. I think that as it is rougly the same time, it is just part of Liam's routine. I also know Aiden naps from about 1pm & so most of the time, Liam has a longer nap at this time too.

Little Bear's Mum, to extend out the feeding times, after a 45min nap, try to get your lo back to sleep, with Aiden, I sometimes used to have a short actvity time & then back off for another 45mins so sort of EASASEA etc. Also your lo may also want to suck, try a paci, at this young age you can control it to get rid of the extra need to suck... I do it with Liam & having used it badly with Aiden, I just use it to help get Liam back off or as he is a quick feeder to give him extra sucking (which is helpful for speech development apparently)


I sort of feel after the problems I had with my first time, I am much more relaxed about it & as I was saying to my dh this morning, sometimes I use a paci, sometimes Liam ends up feeding to sleep, sometimes, he falls asleep in the car or pram & others in someones arms & then others he goes off on his own or with pat/sh... As it changes from nap to nap, I think well he won't get used to one thing & as long as I get him to go off from awake at 7pm then I'm happy. Liam is also slowly starting to find his fingers/thumb & that calms him, so I'm encouraging that as one Paci addict in the family is enough!

For you first time Mum's try not to get obsesed about sleep/feeding, as I did with Aiden & really feel like I missed so much of his first few months... cuddling off to sleep on occasions is not going to set up "bad habits" just don't do it all the time. You never get the time back & they are so special... I just had a beautiful moment, with both boys on my lap/sholder, Liam fell asleep with Aiden stroking his hair

[Taylor's Mommy]

I see there are lots of new posts in the last day and can't wait to read them all but it's getting too late now though!  anyhow, before I forgot I wanted to tell JUDY-Baby Einstein videos and her crib mobile by Sassy have been great for independent time with Taylor.  She loves both of them and can sit with them for at least 20 minutes by herself!

Talk to you all soon!

[Taylor's Mommy]

I'm back again!
Katet-I am on day two of waking Taylor up at the same time everyday (8am) and still no change in the 45 minute naps, but it may take soem time.  Hey, I've been battling them for 5 weeks now so I'm willing to try anything at this point!  :roll:   I like your advice about not being afraid to start bad habits, as I know I was neurotic the first few weeks about this, and didn't hold Taylor as much as I should have. :cry:

Krice-I too give Taylor rice with her df bottle of ebm everynight (the only bottle she gets).  I have been doing it since seh was about 6 weeks old for her reflux and it does seem to help.  I also took her in the hot tub on 4th of July.  I made sure it was under 100 degrees of course.  The only thing that was different was that it was a salt water hot tub (and pool) at our friends house, not chlorine.  Don't know if you have ever heard of it.  Anyhow, she LOVED it and slept till 9 am with no feed (her last feed was her 11 pm df)!!!  it must have totally relaxed her! :wink:

Cambel's mom, hope the shots went well.  Taylor got hers at 6 weeks and the poor thing she was so exhausted she slept till 6 am (the first time she 'slept through the night'.  she then ate and went back to bed until 10 am!).  I'm sure he took it like a champ.

I love this thread we have going...it's nice to see how all the other lo's in my dd's age range are doing.  If only we could conquer the darned 45 minute naps!!!  I went to my OBGYN check up today and she suggested I let her CIO, checking on her every couple of minutes to reassure her.  I know this is total anti BW and I don't feel quite right about it.  what do you all think?

Also, any of you thinking of maybe switching your lo's to 3.5 or 4 hour EASY?  I can't help but think that a longer awake time will conquer the 45 minute naps?

Hope everyone else is doing well!
ANdrea

[krice]

Taylor's Mommy - I do know the type of pool water you are talking about.  When I spoke with my doctor about taking my LO swimming she indicated to make sure our LO can hold his head up.  Which he does quite easily!  We have access to a 'baby' pool heated to a soupy warm temperature that is meant for little ones - I'm hoping to get out sometime later this week for our first dip. 

As far as extending the EASY routine - I've been giving it a go.  I'm starting out small.  Increasing each cycle by 15 minutes.  I've only done this for a three days now and plan do it for 2 weeks before I increase it again.  My LO is an excellent napper (usually between 1hr 30min to 2 hrs 15 min).  I'm hoping with the increased activity time that he will make it a little longer in the night.  Right now he goes down at 7:30ish, has a DF at 10:30 and wakes up around 4-4:30am. 

However, I'm not sure if I'm messing with a good thing.  DS is 9 1/2 weeks (born 3 weeks early).  Just today he has been waking up from his naps 1hr 10 min in - something he never does.  I've been able to go in a pat/sh him back down (but having top do this a few times- again something I've never had to do before), but not sure what is causing this . . . perhaps it's the 3:15 EASY???  He did so well with it the past 2 days so who knows.  I'll keep you posted.

Any LO ones going through their 3 month growth spurt right now?  I'm wondering if it happened early and what to expect.

[Taylor's Mommy]

Taylor went through her 3 month growth spurt starting last Thursday (she was 11 weeks and 2 days).  She woke up every couple of hours that first night which she hadn't done in weeks, and then the next day she took extra feeds before each nap, and then took 5 ozs of ebm at 9pm (after beign fed at 7:30), and then another 5 ozs at her 11 pm df!  So it was definitely a growth spurt.  all those extra calories must have been enough to get her through the night because she slept till 6 am.  since then she has been taking more at her feeds includign 6 ozs at her df and still sleeping till 5 or 6 am.
BTW, she is exclusively bf except for her df, but I gave her bottles for the additional feeds during her growth spurt so I could see how much she was taking.
Andrea

[cambeladamom]

oh, the shots were terrible! i almost cried when the nurse gave them to him. he cried so hard. he was really fussy when we got home, but it did not seem to disturb his nighttime sleep and he is doing okay today (just a little more fussy than usual).
andrea and kathy--i was thinking too about when to begin switching him to 4 hour easy. he is 11 weeks on sunday...maybe we should wait a few more weeks. or should we start 3.5 hour easy first? i am not sure how to do this. right now he can only be up about an hour, then he takes a 1-2 hour nap. i don't want to mess with his routine too much, since it is working well for us now. any suggestions?
someone(sorry-i don't remember who-) wrote about going out during the day. i have found( and this goes against the bw) that it is better if we go out later in the day. he takes his best naps in the morning, and his naps in the afternoon are shorter, so i have more time to take him out then, plus i am not worried about him missing a big nap.
here is my big question ....
i have been trying to get cambel to bed a little earlier (he was going down at 9 after a feed at 8:30). we now are starting his last feed at 8 and he goes down at 8:30. i would like him to maybe go down at 8 instead. the problem is, his nights are still inconsistent, so he wakes up at a different time every day. this puts us on a different schedule, and makes a consistent bedtime difficult. so i end up feeding him closer together so that we can get him to bed earlier. should i start waking him up at the same time every day? i just hate to wake him if he is sleeping and i could be resting:) i noticed some of you are waking your lo up in the morning...how is that working for you? and would you suggest it? what time are you all putting you lo's down at night?

[krice]

Cambel's mom - I do wake my LO up if it is time to eat/get up.  I absolutely love doing it too . . . he wakes up so slowly and is very mellow - once he's a little more alert then come the smiles   . The odd time he will start to cry immediately, but I find once he is more awake he will calm right down and grin. DH and I comment how much nicer it is to wake him up than have him wake us up!!! 

I wake him up to try to stay consistent with our routines.  It has worked extremely well for us.  It was going so well in fact that I was going to try to extend the EASY cycle by 15 minutes for the next two weeks.  Don't know what has happened though - the first 2 days were awesome, then every nap yesterday only lasted 1hr 10min (something VERY unusual for my LO).  It's happening again today too (except his naps are only lasting an hour today).  I've gone back to a 3 hour EASY but DS is still not the same.  In fact, he's been eating less too.  Anyone have any suggestions as to what might be going on?  He's almost 10 weeks.  I sure hope I haven't jinxed a good thing.

Cambel's mom- our bedtime is 7:30.  I wake DS up at 6:30ish for his last feed, have bath time/massage, then windown, swaddle, pat/sh, and a DF at 10:30.  He then gets up at 4/4:30 for a feed.

Does anyone know what the average weekly weight gain should be?  My DS has been going up by leaps and bounds - 15oz last week, 12oz the week before, 11oz and 9oz.  It took him 3 weeks to gain back the weight he lost at birth (a full 10%).  Does this seem like too much?  He's gone from the 13th percentile to the 50th in a month.

We're hopefully going to the pool today - it'll be a first!!!!  Yippee.

[Lilachawk]

Heather Mae is due to have her first set of jabs next week, its only two shts in the uk but I am still dreding it, I just keep remembering when we were in hospital and she had to have her blood taken a couple of times a day, poor mite had so many holes in her little feet, she used to cry if you tuched her feet, she is over that now but Ijust feel bad having to put her through people sticking her with neadles again!!
With swimming, here in the Uk they now say you can take your baby swimming anytime, even before they have had there first set of imunisations.
Heather Mae is doing great with her naps now, even if she has gotten over tired because we have had to go out somewere, I think the real key has been swaddling, she is sleeping so well now I have started to miss her in the day lmao!!!

jen