June/ July 05 Mom's Chat

[Critter]

YEA!  I missed you guys!  Good to hear that everyone is doing well.
Our nights are getting better.  He has his last bottle around 8, has another one around 2, and then goes until 6.  He's pretty consistent about eating every 4 hours.  That 6 hour stretch from 8-2 is the longest one...too bad we can't move it, but I hate to wake him up to feed him....actually, I CAN'T wake him up to feed....even a dream feed doesn't work on this kiddo.  When he's out he's out.

School starts tomorrow and I am NOT ready since I lost a day staying home with Luke yesterday.  He's much better today.  The doc said that he would either get over it quickly or it would last for up to two weeks.  Thank God for miracles.

Meet the teacher night went well, thanks for asking :-)  Please say some prayers for me, as tomorrow is the first day of school.  I am not doing well with leaving him.  I would love more than anything to be able to take him to work with me.  I am hoping that isn't so far off...there is a possibility that I will be interviewing for such a position in the very near future. 

By the way, I know exactly where Cy-Fair ISD is.  I grew up in Katy and taught there for two years :-)

[ry,cait&alex]

Hi all!!!

Just had a question....Cait has gotten a LOT easier to deal with when it comes to bedtime and naps in general.  However, I put her down these last couple of nights between 9:30 and 10pm and like clockwork, the child is up at 5 am!!!  You can set your watch by her.  In fact, I am so confident in her getting up, I may not set my alarm tonight to get up for work in the morning.  Do not get me wrong, I am not griping, exactly, because I am getting some good quality sleep, I am just wondering if anyone else's lo is doing this?  She generally takes about 3oz and then goes back to sleep and sleeps to about 8:30/9:30 depending on how loud her bull moose of a brother is.  :roll:

Hope everyone is doing great!

By the way, welcome zofia.

bj

[Critter]

I'm at a loss.  Just when we thought we had it all figured out over here, things got all thrown out of wack.  I am thinking it has something to do with the projectile vomiting episode on Monday.  He didn't sleep very much at daycare and his eating was thrown off by his upset tummy...we're STILL not on schedule.  He used to eat 4-6 oz every 4 hours consistently....now he might have 1-2 oz and then go for 4 or 5 (at night sometimes 7!!) hours and then suck down a 6 oz bottle like he's being starved to death.  What gives?  We go to the pedi on Friday for his well check.  He doesn't have a runny nose, but it's definitely a snotty one, and the snot sucker has been in use over here!

[ry,cait&alex]

Well that sounds consistent with Cait....here lately she just takes 3 oz and then literally pushes the bottle away and WILL NOT eat anymore.  So I burp her and put her in her bouncy seat, and in 30 minutes she is screaming the roof down because she is hungry.  WELL!!!  If you would eat when I offered it the first time, you wouldn't be screaming Mimi now!!  Geez.  We go from sleep issues to food issues.  And I know this is ridiculous to say about a 10 week old....but with her being a girl, I am already worried about causing "issues" with food and what her take will be with it when she is a teenager.  I know, I'm crazy.  I find/make up things to worry about.  As if having two children and a cop husband isn't enough. :roll:  :oops:

I hope Luke's wellcheck goes well.  Let us know what the pedi says.  How is school going?

bj

[Kayna]

Just had to share.........Avery rolled over today  :lol: . It was from tummy to back, it was so cool. ds never really did roll over until he was already sitting up so I'm all excited.

For the bad news......I can't get the little booger to sleep at night for the life of me. She cries and cries for hours sometimes. Luckily when she does finally zonk ( out of exhausion  :cry: ) she sleeps a good 10-12 hours. But in the mean time YIKES!!!!

[ry,cait&alex]

woohoo Kayna and Avery!!!  That is great news to share.  The only way I have managed to achieve sleep with Cait is putting her in "sleep sacks" and getting her warm.  I call them her "sleepy jammies" and she knows when I start zipping her up that "night night"time is upon her.  I do it for all of her naps too.  It has really made a difference in the amount of sleep in this house, let me tell you!!!  I actually had to scour walmart for some bigger ones, and the only ones I could find were for boys.  So, I bought them.  I figure, we know she is a girl, so it doesnt' really matter.  She won't be going out into public in them.  Of course, I don't know how I will explain it to her if she is doing something really cute while she is IN one and I take a pic of her.  :roll:

I guess Cait's on achievements for the moment are she is "talking" (so damn cute!!) and she gives away smiles now, you don't have to coax them out of her.  You walk in the room and she will look at you and smile the biggest cutest toothless grin.  She just tickles my tummy.        :lol:    :wink:

bj

[Critter]

Yea Avery!  I think Luke is trying to roll over from back to tummy.  He's almost got his neck all the way around.  I imagine it will happen soon.

Glad I am not the only one with major eating issues.....as for the sleep issues, we don't get through the night yet.  he still wakes up for a bottle around 2, but then goes RIGHT back to sleep.

Just when I think I have it all figured out, he changes it up on me :-)

[Critter]

Oh, and school is going well, thank you :-)  I have moved down from junior high to elementary (only one grade lower) and the difference is AMAZING.  I am just afraid that they think I am Cruella DeVille....I am so used to junior high, it's hard to come down.

[Kayna]

bj, do your sleep sacks have arms or are they like a grow bag? We are really struggling and trying different things. I've always just swaddled but one time stuck her in her grow bag out of frustration. She did stop crying but she sat in her crib staring for over 1/2 hour and never did fall asleep, what's up with that? Oh well, thank you for suggestions. I'll take anything. I finally got her to take a Nuk this weekend. Woohoo, major achievement in my opinion.

[rooby-rooby-roo]

Hey ladies...

Yay Avery, i can't belive we are starting to hit these huge milestones, where are our tiny babies?? Kayna, what is your pre-sleep wind down routine? Maybe that needs looking at to help Avery relax??

Bj and Amy - Red is taking less too, he has gone from 10-12 mins per feed to like 4-6mins!! Now either he has become even more super efficient or he is taking less!

Red has also become a lot more smiley and chatty recently, so cute!

He has consistently been going down at 7pm, df at 10-10.30pm and waking about 5am ish. Today he woke at 6.30am!!!!!!!!!!!! :shock:  :shock:  :shock:          Yay RED!!!!!!

Napping is ok, he goes down no problem but 45 minute naps are the norm and i can only get him back down about 50% of the time. This of course means that he is awake to long before his next feed and so then 45 minute naps again as he is so tired!! bleh!! and of course the child is the biggest paci addict in the world!!!

[Kayna]

Here's Avery's pre-bedtime winddown:

Bath and Massage (Usually takes about 15-20 minutes)
Go into dark room, swaddle, and bf
Burp and kisses goodnight
Lay her in crib

The entire process takes anywhere from 30hr to 45min.

I worked all day on Thursday with Noelle (johnandzoesmom) also EASY board Moderator to pound out the cause and figure out a strategy for her crying spells. She was very insightful and we came up with a lot of different approaches. Since then we've had our ups and downs. Now last night she went right to sleep after her winddown, yay! She did wake up at 45 min mark but I just popped her pacifer back in a couple times and she was all good.

A couple things I have been doing different:

-longer winddown in dark bedroom before naps
-completely dark room (unplugged her lava lamp)
-finally convinced her "pacifiers are a GOOD thing"
-do NOT pick her back up (unless needs burping) after in crib (this was just too much stimulation)
-when she is crying we just lay a hand on her chest to calm her
-keep her swaddled tight
-if she wakes from a nap after 45min I pop her in the baby bjorn to finish out her nap

So far we've been making steady progress and like I said earlier she did perfectly last night. I'm sure we're not free and clear yet but we'll just keep plugging away at our plan until it either works itself out or it's time to readjust our plan.

I'll keep you all updated but if you have any more suggestions please feel free to throw them my way.

[CaedensMama]

I am so glad I am not the only one with a 45 minute napper!
We have been working on it, but it is hard. He so fights going down, I am thnakful for what I get usually by the time he is down. It is frustraing though - cause often I know he is still tired.
I think we are getting into another growth spurt - when is the next one suppose to be? He'll be 11 weeks on Sat......

We are still doing pretty good on nights, so I am glad for that. I still wish he would consistently nap in the afternoon though so maybe I could get a nap too! But that never happens. Oh well - I can always get caught up on my sleep when he goes to college right! 

Where have you all found the sleep sacks? I checked Wal-Mart and couln't find them. Do they have arms - like a swaddle blanket, keeping arms in or are the arms free to fly all over (like Caeden loves to do!)?

[Critter]

I saw some sleep sacks at Babies R Us the other day and thought of you guys.  Do any of you do that?  I swear, I think about your problems and concerns as much as I do my own....what a great little family we all are
 :roll:  :lol:  I don't know that the sleep sacks would work for us because Luke's arms have to be pinned down.

We're 11 weeks on Friday and we MUST be hitting a growth spurt.  Chubbo over here had seven (SEVEN!!) ounces at both feedings today at day care.  As for his naps, he usually gets in one good nap in the afternoon and then crashes when we get home for two hours.  He's pretty consistent with his 4 hour EASY.  We go to the pedi on Friday and I am going to ask when he thinks I can take Luke off of Nutramigen.  That stuff is EXPENSIVE but it has worked wonders with his colic.  I'd have taken out a second mortgage on our house for the miracle that formula gave us.  Last time we were there he said that colicky babies usually grow out of it by three months....I sure hope so!  I guess we can always try the regular Enfamil and see how it goes and if he starts screaming, go back to the Nutramigen.

[CaedensMama]

I'll have to check at Babies R Us - Caeden hates to have his hands pinned down, but often times I think that is what wakes him up. He gets out of swaddles so fast and I haven't bought any swaddle blankets yet. I am debating if I should go ahead and get some and try that, but I am thinking he may be able to get out them as well..... I don't know!
I am still struggling with getting Caeden to go a full 3 hours between feeds. When he wakes up - especially if he had a decent nap he will not do anything but cry till I feed him. He is so cute it is hard to resist..... he leans down rubbing his face against my shirt - I know what he wants! If he wakes early from a nap I can usually put him in his chair or swing and get another 20 minutes or more out of him before he fusses too much.
I guess I just have a typical male - hungry all the time and loves to eat!

[Critter]

Ok, we had an 11 week check up today.  Luke was 12lbs 12 oz and 24 inches long.  Dr. Horne thinks we will be able to ease him off of the Nutramigen.  Enfamil is now making a formula with the proteins half-way broken down (as opposed to Nutramigen's all the way broken down) and it is the same price as regular formula.  Cross your fingers!