any april/may 05 moms want to chat?

[jjstar]

Thanks Maria...I thought it might be a growth spurt but I think he did that last week. I'm afraid not to feed him when he wakes at night. I try the paci first but he always crys more so I assume it hunger then. I'm thinking about going back to the tanking up in the late afternoon/evening to get more in him. But doesn't Tracy say not to do that after 8 weeks? Has anyone else done it past that age? The other thing I did start doing this past week is putting him one on breast at each feeding. Thought maybe if he got more hind milk that would help. It seemed to the first day but I think it might have been a fluke. (He slept that night from 8:30 - 4 with a DF at 10:30.) I haven't quite gotten it fully figured out yet. I really wish I would have found this book before he was born.

[krice]

JJstar - it does sound like a bit of a growth spurt (I think - I'm also a first time mum).  My LO is also doing some strange things lately too.  Waking up early from naps, and for 2 nights now has woken up/fussed at unusual times.  I've noticed today that he is starting to take more food (I pump, but also supplement with formula, so its easy to tell because he's taking extra ounces).  I've read (on this site) that a lot of women who strictly BF increase the times in which they feed their LO's during a growth spurt.  So perhaps going back to a 2.5 hr routine for a little while may help.  I don't know how long it will last . . . could be anywhere from 1 day to a week???  Any moms out their with more experince that could fill us in??  How long do growth spurts last?  I'm getting tired from waking up in the middle of the night - I hope it is a growth spurt and not something else.  When do things go back to normal???

Cambel's mom - Glad to hear that you've had a few good nights.  Yup, we bought the miracle swaddle.  I wish I purchased 2.  My LO has reflux and usually will spit up on it at some point so I wash it daily.  I swaddle him in the blanket at night time and use regular receiving blankets for his daily naps.  When he gets his arms free during his naps he always wakes up, then I go in and reswaddle and settle him back down.  At first he didn't like the miracle blanket.  I now find when we go to wrap him, he has no problem keeping his arms down by his side and doesn't struggle.  He is happy to watch us wrap him up like a snug bug in a rug!

I hope everyone is well and getting sleep.[/u]

[Katet]

OK some comments on the last few posts... I can't quiet remember who wrote what but you will know what you asked...
you could go back to 2.5 hour feeds BUT in a bigish baby that could also encourage snacking if your lo is not in a growth spurt (BTW getting towards 3 months was where I got really unstuck with Aiden) Liam is a very big baby over 15lb at 2 months & he started wakeing up more frequently & only did small feeds about 10 days ago, what I have done is give a bigger stretch in the day, so my day now goes 7,10.30, 2.30, 5 & 7, so that he snacks less, but tanks up too then (apart from last night due to his immunisations) does 7-8 hours & 4-5 util 6 or 7am   The theoy is that as their stomachs get bigger they fill up more & more frequent feeds result in snacks...it worked with Aiden & now seems to with Liam
Just remember the book is a guide, all babies are differernt & it takes some tweeking to get things working & then they change again anyway!!! Trust me you will never get it perfect... if you do you will have a very dull child... adjustments  are part of development!

re solids, they are often very good at disrupting sleep not improving it esp if your lo still has an immature immune/gastro system... I was fortunate/unfortunate to be dealing with Aiden's introduction to solids after my dh had intestinal surgery for a tumour of the pancreas & so spoke heaps to dieticians & gastroenterologists at the time... they gave me heaps of info on re-education of the adult intestine as we had to re-introduce food to dh as he didn't eat for 3 weeks & they likened a lot of it to the introduction of food to a baby. Most babies it is not to problematic, but the increase in adult obesity & gastro problems seems to be strongly realted to solids being introduced in the first 3-4 months through the 40's, 50's, 60's & 70's... gave me "food" for thought. I'm happy to pass on the info I have, but not willing to give it untill babies are at least 4 months & preferably closer to 6... I consider giving anyone support earlier as possibly setting your lo up for health problems later in life... now I'm off my hobby horse!!

Was thinking my last few posts make me sound like a know-it all & like everything is great with Liam.... It's not by any means, but what I have is sooo much better than what I had with Aiden (PPD, baby who never slept more than 2 hours in a row at night & 45mins in the day until 3 months & I had insomnia, so spent weeks "surviving??" on 2 hours sleep in 24. So I kind of think I have it good having a decent stretch of 2 - 3 hours in the day with a few catnaps the rest of the time... so it is by no means working to the book. I also still have lots of problems with my toddler & he has an ear infection, so the last few nights has been up every 1.5 hours. Also I guess being second time around (Marlo you probably agree) you kind of know you can fix things later on & they keep changing, so even if you get it working well at 2 or 3 months, it all goes out the window when they learn to roll or start solids or crawl, teeth etc. Sure it is easier to get back on track when you are in a good routine, but I guess for me it is a bit about the juggling act of a baby & toddler & knowing the things that matter (night time sleep!) & those that you can fix later, or are likely to sort themselves out.

Gosh this was a long post, I must get back to Aiden & have a shower & get things going for the day.

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi, sounds like a growth spurt to me. Especially if you've changed feeding from two sides to one, as you may not have enough milk currently being produced in the one side for a full feed. So bubs is trying to increase this. In saying that, I've seen somewhere that milk is produced while they are sucking, but I think it takes longer to come out than if it's already there.

My LO is doing something similar too. He had his growth spurt at 9 weeks, then again at 12 and seems to be doing another at 15 weeks. He's a big boy (long, but not overly chubby) and is wanting to feed every 2 1/2 hours. Even woke himself at 10pm last night for a full feed. He normally sleeps from 6.30pm - 3am ish without waking. I don't dream feed. He does cluster feed constantly ususally in the afternoons from about 3 - 6.30pm may have 3-4 feeds. Yesterday he had 2 bigger feeds and he woke at 10pm. Go figure!

Question for you all, LO isn't normally very spilly, and last few days has been very spilly! Yuck! all over me thismorning. I'm not used to that. Any ideas why this could happen? My foods the same as usual. Do you think it could be his increase in food?

[Taylor's Mommy]

Little Bear's Mum-it could be overfeeding, esp, since you said he takes a lot in the afternoons and is a big boy?  My dd does this too after a very long bfeeding session.

the last few days have been pretty decent with Taylor.  As of Monday she is putting herself to sleep at night!  Yeah!  I am so proud of her.  Pat/shush had stopped working to help her go to sleep, so over the weekend we worked on pu/pd for all nap and bed times and by Monday she had really got the hang of it.  This BW stuff really does work!  It has also been a HUGE help that she has found her thumb and sucks till there's no tomorrow!  We have started to only swaddle her legs now.  Her naps are still a problem and are very inconsistent.  Some she wakes at 30 minute, some at 45 and some at 1 hour.  Today and the next few days I am going to try wake to sleep and see if that makes a difference. 

We are also on day 5 of the move to a 4 hour easy, so her feeds and awake time are extended by 15 minutes.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that this doesn't ruin a good thing.  Who knows, after her surgery in a couple of weeks it may all go to hell anyhow :roll:

JJSTAR-I agree that it is probably a growth spurt.  the feeding at 10 weeks may have been a fluke and not the true growth spurt? 

Hope everyone is doing well and you're getting lots of coos and smiles out of your lo's!
Andrea

[krice]

Can anyone answer a question(s) about the transition from pat/sh to pu/pd?

Should your LO be able to suck his/her thumb before you begin?
 - my ds seems to suck his tongue to sooth himself.  He is finding his hand/fingers/thumb but at this point generally gags on them if he gets them to his mouth.

Should you progress to pu/pd even though pat/sh usually (err sometimes/most times)works?
 - getting a little tired of pat/sh, I want him to be more independent in going to bed/sleep. 

Andrea - how was your transition to pu/pd?  About how many times did you pick your LO up?  Are you doing this with your LO swaddled (are the arms out if your are)?  By saying pat/sh not working what exactly was you LO doing?  I'll have to read more about pu/pd but did you wait until your LO was truly upset and not just the mantra cry?

Thanks for your help ladies!  We're still in the growth spurt stage over here.  My LO is piggin' out!

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Kathy,

About 2 weeks ago Taylor started to become extremely difficutl to put down for naps and bed time (see my post under naps titled "feeling very frustrated please help" on page 2 and "do I have to resort to pu/pd?" under general sleep issues).  Pat/shush was not working in that she was screaming louder than we could shush, even with 2 white noise machines going!  This girl was now definitely able to concentrate on more than 2 things at once!  So I read the post from Theo's mommy, followed the advice from Matthew's mommy in my naps post, and re-read teh chapter on pu/pd in Tracy's new book. 
We started last Friday and by Monday night she started putting herself to sleep on her own!  She has done this now 3 nights in a row and has slept all the way through from 8-ish to 7am (with her df at 11).  This mornign she did wake at 5:30 am but dh went in and patted her back and she went back to sleep till 7.
The longest session was 45 minutes and I had to pick her up over 20 times.  Overall it was not as bad as I had read, partly because we already had a good foundation with putting her to sleep awake in her crib and using pat/shush to calm her.
She became a pro at thumb sucking over the weekend too.  She really wanted to soothe herself during pu/pd, so she worked really hard to find it!  We still always swaddle her legs, and at least the left arm out so she can suck her thumb.  We lie her on her left side so she has better control over her left hand.  She prefers to have both hands out, but if she is worked up the top arm flails about and she can't calm down, so we have to swaddle it.  If she is calm though we leave both arms out.

I think that is it!  We are going to cherish these days while we can because you never know when something else is going to change to screw everything up!

Andrea

[Taylor's Mommy]

one last thing Kathy.  I did pu/pd almost exactly like theo's mom did, and only picked her up when she was really screaming.  If she was crying hard but then the crying would calm, and then escalate again, I would leave her to be and continue to talk to her and reassure her in the crib.  I would put her down immediately when her back would arch or she would burrow her head.  And I kept sayign the same things over and over again like you can do it Taylor, I know it's hard, it's jsut time for your nap, I love and I'll see you when you wake up, etc...

[cambeladamom]

jjstar- we still 'tank up" cambel in the evenings. it works for us. but we don't do a dream feed. so he eats at 6 and then 8. i haven't read that you are supposed to stop cluster feeding, but i also haven't read tracy's new book.

[marlowho]

Just popping in. 
Things are going ok here.  We have good days and bad days -today was good- yesterday I was about to pull my hair out!  But Noel seemed to have lots of gas yesterday, so I think that was her problem.
As you can tell from my avatar, she is quite a smiley little girl.  That has been exciting.  She's even trying to laugh.  (I'm sure you're all noticing the same things...) It's so sweet!
To answer some of the questions I've noticed in some of the posts- those who are breastfeeding- I wouldn't feel like you are completely messing up the schedule if it seems your lo wants an extra feed.  Remember, the schedule is a guide (I think someone else said this!) -But if you are breastfeeding and your lo wakes up "early" from a nap- and seems to be giving a hunger cry- or what you think sounds like a hungry cry- then don't feel that you have to "hold them off" until their next scheduled feeding.  My feeling is I'd rather do more feeds in the day than be up at night!   Plus, I seem to have a very sensitive system when it comes to BFeeding- it seems to waver and lessen  pretty easily- so I know the more we bfeed the better my supply. 
Anyway... it's good to see so many 1st time moms here- this site is such a great resource.  And it's great that we can help each other (1st time or not- even second time around it's still not all that easy!)
Kiss those baby cheeks!

[jjstar]

Thanks for all the advice ladies!

I do need to remind myself that the book is a guide and that I don't have to be so hard on myself. I had to come back to the board and talk to my sister (who had twins two weeks after my LO)...that is how I'm staying calm. Or at least trying to. We did have a great night last night. He went down about 8:30 and didn't wake until 4:30 (he did have a DF at 10:30). Today we were out and about all day and he went to sleep at 7:00. I'm crossing my fingers that he stays down all night and doesn't want to wake for the day really early tomorrow morning.

cambel's mom...I think in the new book it says to stop the cluster feeding after 8 weeks. I'm with marlo that I'd rather feed more during the day than at night. I just have to try to keep him wake after any feeds so that I don't teach him to eat to sleep. That was my big mistakes in the first few weeks before I read THE book. No one had told me it was wrong but as soon as I read it I figured out why he would wake up as soon as I put him to sleep.

Well I'm off to get some rest just in case the little man decides to make it an early morning.

[Katet]

Little Bear's Mum... I found with Aiden & now with Liam that they spit up milk after a growth spurt, it is a combination of eating too much & them having increased my milk supply... I worked out (eventually) with Aiden that if I spaced the feeds out after a growth spurt & dropped a feed as well, they stopped spitting up, has worked beautifully with Liam.

[jjstar]

So excited...Jameson went down last night at 6:50 and slept through until exactly 7:00 this morning. He did wake twice to eat plus a dream feed. I figured that he would though so I was somewhat expecting it. He must have been real tired, I think I'll try to put him down earlier than I had been tonight to see if that works better for him. We hadn't gotten the routine really figured out late afternoon evening anyway.

[krice]

Another busy weekend - I guess that is why no one has posted . . .

How is everyone managing?  I can't remember if it was Kate, Cambel's mom or Taylor's mom that was on the 4 hour EASY.  (I'd check back, but I'm being a little lazy right now).  My question is how is that going for you?  We have just in the past 3 days made the switch to a 4 hr EASY and the Eat part is going very well.  What changed is the sleep portion - during the naps, my LO always wakes up now (usually 45min-1hr into the nap).  I can usually get him back down, but don't know why he's waking.  He gets plenty of sleep at night (a good 10-11hrs) and for his naps shows sleepy cues . . . I just don't understand why he's waking - and sometimes he's pretty frantic.  It isn't hunger - he won't take a bottle to calm down.  Any suggestions?

[Katet]

Well last night was a bad night for us with Liam (the past week it has been Aiden due to a nasty cold & ear infection), but then I think Liam slept about 2 hours the whole of yesterday, which was ok as he was happy & it was his big brother's 2nd Birthday & that only happens once. Today was much better sleep & feeding wise so hopefully only the normal wakeup for feeds tonight.
Dh & I have nicknamed Liam "Mr Smiley" because as soon as he sees us he smiles & when he wakes up he chats away in a happy voice, gets whingy if you leave him too long... far cry from Aiden who had the nickname "Little Sh**" at about the same age... partly as he as a very difficult baby &crying baby &  also he must have pooped about 10 times a day as opposed to Liam's once a week... which he decided to do yesterday during our picnic for Aiden's birthday... that was fun to clean up in the park!!