June/ July 05 Mom's Chat

[loliac]

We had a horrible night last night. I'm just venting... dd cried all evening, even when held and cuddled. She went to bed at 9:30, woke up at 1:30am and then at 4:30am. I know for some this would be a good night but for us, it's bad. I was crying at 5am.  :cry:

[Kayna]

Awww, big hugs loliac. Not any help but we've had a rough couple nights here too!! It sucks..........here's to a good night tonight.  :lol:

[rooby-rooby-roo]

Not to gloat in any way...we have had some really cr@ppy nights too, but the last 4 have been great, a df at 10.30pm then through till between 4-5am, then awake again at 7am - YAY Red!!

Kayna and Bj, how are you doing with getting out of the house with two of them? I find just the getting out of the house and closing the door quite stressful! Once we are out and doing then it seems to go ok. Ruby is behaving ok so far, long may it last!!  I can manage outings but i generally find that it screws up the rest of the day :? It obviously means that he doesn't nap (as he hates the car seat and wakes up in the pushchair) and then gets overtired and won't go down again for more than 45 mins at a time. Today i went to playgroup for the first time, it is a small one, with lots of people i know and i arrived in time for his 10am feed. After he ate i put him in the sling as i knew this would allow him to sleep at least a little. Is this ok, as longs as it is not everyday? Again, this afternoon we went to the IL's as it is MIL's birthday. In anticipation of going out i put him down in the car seat (as if i have to transfer him he wakes) and he fell asleep by himself jjust in the seat. I suppose i am just worried about 'accidental parenting'!!

One thing that is 'worrying' me is how much he is getting to love his dummy. He does not need it to go to sleep, but if he is at all fussy, having trouble getting off to sleep, or wakes from sleep too early he then needs the dummy. I try to stay with him until he is just about asleep, and then pull it out, and reaasure if he needs it...sometimes he does and other times not. I do not mind him having the dummy at all, i just do not want to end up in the situation where every time it falls out i have to go and put it back in - is there any way to avoid this??

He had his first bottles and too them like a champ, to be honest and i find this a little disconcerting, he fussed so much less when feeding and seemed happy afterwards, whereas he is such a fusspot when bfing, bobbing on and off and puking and fussing afterwards, why could this be - do you think it is something i am eating? Wouldn't formula be worse than that???

OMG...MIL pulled out some baby photos of DH today, and Red is the spitting image of him, at least i know what he is going to look like in the future!!

[ry,cait&alex]

Well Clair, sounds as though you have fallen right into step with having 2 children!  High fives to you  :lol:

Okay, I have a bit of a confession...I haven't read Tracy's books, Alligirl turned me onto the site as a bit of reassurance that the behavior that Ry was having was the same as every other little boy.  So with that said, I am not really sure what "accidental parenting" is. :oops:   Alligirl gave me her copy of the BW to read, but I just never sat down and did it.

I agree with you about the whole dummy thing, though.  Cait gets fussy or if she wakes up to early, she needs to "suck", I guess to soothe herself, but like you, I DO NOT want a dependence to the darn thing.  I do not need "dummy aerobics" to lose more weight...up, down, up down. :roll:   If only there was a "dummy keeper" to keep it in their mouths!!!  I contemplated duct tape, but I think DH would shoot me :shock:  :wink: (just kidding about the duct tape)  Of course, I am a bad mommy, Cait is currently in her swing, with a dummy, sound asleep!  :oops:   We will just call this "mommy time"  :lol:

Getting out of the house hasnt' been too bad.  I always try to restock the diaper bag as soon as we get home so that I am not running around 5 minutes before we are ready to leave again trying to gather stuff up.  Also, it is fresh in my mind what supplies I have used while we were out without having to totally empty the bag and take inventory.  I think my biggest hurdle with the two of them out shopping is keeping track of the "walker" while making sure the "rider" isn't harmed by throwing a gallon of milk on top of her.   :lol:    However, coming home...twice I have left my keys in the door, only to get frustrated when I can't find them.  Dh has had to pull them out twice.  Of course, I can't blame that solely on having two now....while i was pregant, I left the keys in the door all freakin' night and when dh got off duty and came home, he walked right in. :shock:

You said that you started bottles today.  Do you mean that you "pumped" and filled bottles or you gave him formula bottles?  I have never bf, but based on what I know about Alli's exp. there are certain foods that she can not eat or it just messes up her lo.  I think at the time she had to avoid peanut butter and chocolate.  You might PM her and see how she eliminated what foods were upseting Zachary.  Have you tried holding Red in different positions to bf?( I am sure you have, I am just trying to be helpful.)  He has a good latch?  (again, just basing what I know from Alli)

Yay, Red for sleeping so well!   I am so looking for long stretches of sleep since I go back to work on her 7 week mark.  I will be a walking zombie if she doesnt' do something soon.  Keep us posted on your progress.

bj

[Critter]

Hello all!  I have a beautiful baby boy, born June 10.  He was six weeks old yesterday.  I am trying to figure out the Cluster Feed since I go back to work in two weeks and would LOVE to skip the 3:30 am feeding.  Luke is doing very well on EASY, and taking very good naps and staying awake for an hour or an hour and a half until the evening.   Last night you would have thought we were torturing him b/c he cried and cried while we tried to keep him awake.  He woke up at 6, we fed him and bathed him and then we went back down at 6:45.  He slept until almost 11:30, woke up for a bottle and went back to bed and was up again at 3:30.  The book says to feed at 6, 8, and then a dream feed.  I can't wake him for ANYTHING once he's asleep, and almost feel like I shouldn't anyway.  His dream feed was actually his scheduled feeding, so should I not worry too much about the cluster feed unless his schedule gets off?  What works for you?

[rooby-rooby-roo]

I cannot believe you guys have to go back to work so soon, i just could not leave my babe so soon   :?  How do y'all feel about it??

Amy, this is what we do for our evening, this is copied from what i wrote in another post in the general sleep issues board on eveving schedules:

After the 4pm feed, i put him down to nap as usual (at 4.45pm-5pm), i then wake him at 6pm for a feed.
This is when we start to differ from what the book says. After the 6pm feed i put him straight into the bath, then dried and dressed and at 6.45pm he gets another feed. (I tend to think of this as a split feed, but offer him as much as he wants both times.)
He then goes down straight after this feed. He is still getting 'tanked up' as he is feeding at 4pm, 6pm and 6.45pm. I then df at 10.30pm. He is going through till 4am-5am.
I personally feel that this keeps us more on track with EASY as it is just the last cycle of the day that we do EAESY.

Hope that helps, i just found that this worked better for both my babies, fiddle around and see what works for you and your family. My priority was, and still is, bed by 7pm!!

Bj, accidental parenting is when you use methods of parenting that perpetuate bad habits (eg. feeding to sleep, rocking to sleep etc) and that can be tough to break.

If only there was a "dummy keeper" to keep it in their mouths!!! I contemplated duct tape

glad i'm not the only one!!!!

The bf is going very well, good latch etc, but he is just so fussy. I have found that he doesn't fuss so much if i lie down to feed, but i can't do that in the middle of the park! :lol:  :lol: I have just about cut out dairy and caffeine but no change, had a curry one night...big mistake :shock:  :lol:  :lol:  Lots of farting and crying, won't be having one of them for a while!!

Kayna, how are you doing?

[Critter]

Last night he slept until 9:30.  Took a full feeding and I thought I would try to top him off before he went back to sleep, so after three yawns at 10:30 I offered him a 2oz bottle.  NEVER AGAIN!  It completely threw him off.  I should have just let well enough alone b/c he eventually woke at 12:30 for a full feed anyway, but in the two hours b/t he cried and cried.  I guess it threw off his internal clock and upset his schedule.  I definitely have a baby that likes things predictable.  So, I guess I am not going to worry about the cluster feed.  He sleeps for good stretches...usually 4 hours at a time at night.  If I were breast feeding I might have a different opinion, but since he's on formula, I think I will stick with what works.  "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" right?  Have a good Sunday!

[Kayna]

Hi everyone, we just got back from camping this weekend. It went pretty well. We have a camper so I was able to keep Avery on a fairly good routine (bath, massage, naps, feeds, etc).

My biggest problem right now though is I believe I have Thrush. Ouch! It hurts bad. I never had any problems with ds while nursing so I'm completely thrown off by this and wonder if I should just quit nursing all together? I do like it but I was reading that it's really hard to get rid of once you have it.  :cry: I hate it when things creep up to make having a newborn even MORE difficult.  :evil:

On a lighter note......Avery is starting to go down for some naps on her own. If I catch her before she's overtired, sometimes, just sometimes, I can take her into her room, swaddle her tight, hold her briefly and lay her down wide eyed. She usually looks around for about 10 minutes, starts to fuss for a couple more minutes and drops off with in 20 minutes or so. Of course it's not very consistant which is so frustrating because I can't figure out what the difference is. I usually only wait for one yawn and then start our wind down ritual but like I said sometimes its no problem and sometimes I can try for an hour. She eventually gets overtired and I resort to nursing her in order to save the rest of the days routine.  :oops: Night time has been going good. She usually goes around 5-6 hours the first time and then another 3 1/2-4 the second.

As for getting out with two :?: Well, most times are good if I time it well with Avery. If she is sleeping I can handle having Daikon. Our trips are usually short and sweet but I am able to get grocery's, diapers, etc. It is always hard for me to get out of the house too, Clair. I can't seem to get anywhere on time anymore. By the time I get all three of us ready, then feed Avery, Daikon has gotten dirty again or I forgot to blow dry my hair or Avery won't stop fussing long enough for me TO blow dry my hair. What a mess..........not sure how people do it!!

Well, sorry a little bit of a rant there but so glad to hear from everyone else. Off to give a bath...................

PS: Clair, I too resort to the Baby Bjorn sometimes if Avery desperately needs a nap or if I need to get something done. Not sure if it's OK or not (meaning BW friendly) but sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do. :wink:

[Critter]

It's good to know that I am not the only one who feels like I can go anywhere :-)  I applaud you all who do it with TWO, especially when both are under the age of five! 

Today was a little overloaded.  First we were all a little tired after our failed cluster feed last night.  We took ds to church for the first time and he did very well, except that the lights on the ceiling of the Sanctuary were so interesting that he couldn't go to sleep until the last ten minutes  :shock: .  Thank goodness for blankets to shield little eyes.  Then we went to lunch, where he slept the whole time, but I don't think he sleeps as well in his carrier as he does in his crib.  As a result, we had a complete melt-down when we got home.  Too much stimulation I guess.  Next time we will sit in the cry room until he is old enough (in my mind) to stay in the nursery. 

We have our first round of shots tomorrow.  I don't know who is going to need more Tylenol...him or me!

[foxy2279]

Hi there i was wondering if i could join you? I have a 5 week old girl megan. She is my third child others are 2 and 4. I am having problems with her at the moment. Breast feeding did not work and now only bf twice a day and shes on formula the rest of the time. She has a very bad sleep patten and is driving me to dispair. She does not sleep all day. Goes to bed at 9 o'clock sleeps till 4am then is awake until bed time. Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep longer gratefully received. I look and feel like a zombie. My other two children were great sleepers and still are.

[loliac]

Do you think it's okay for one of dd naps (morning, before it gets too hot) to take her out in her stroller? I feel bad because it's her best nap time and she's usually in her crib but I just have to get out and exercise!!! What do you all think??? Am I being selfish?

[Critter]

Well, you can always try it and see.  Do you exercise as long as she naps?  If you do and she has good shades on her stroller, then I suppose it never hurts to try, I guess.  Personally, I am not taking ds out for walks while he naps simply because it took so long for us to get on a good schedule and now that he's on one, I don't want to mess it up.  Maybe I am being too cautious....

[loliac]

Okay, we went out for a walk and I purposefully walked for an hour and a half so that it would be her whole nap. When I got home, I jumped in the shower, left her in her car seat (it snaps into the stroller) in the bathroom with me. She slept through it! Then I fed her and  basically, she was ready for sleep pretty quickly after I fed her. Diaper change and that's about it. So, I'm sure she didn't sleep as deep as she normally would but hopefully it will work out. She did fuss a little bit before the second nap. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. If it works, I'll be thrilled!

[Kayna]

Loliac and Amy, I'm so jealous that you have such a handle on your naps. Good for you.   I on the other hand pretty much struggle everyday with it. :cry: I try to put her down after her first yawn but she won't fall asleep and then after an hour or so will get overtired and get super cranky. At that point it's practically impossible to get her to sleep. It's soooo frusterating.  :roll:

Foxxy, wish I could help but I'm struggling myself with naps.  :oops: Hang in there. Hope someone has some words of wisdom.

[Critter]

I found that putting him down after the first yawn was too soon.  I wait until the third yawn and down he goes.  Try it and see how it works for you.