Jan/Feb 05 Babies chat!

[Leah's Mom]

I'm with you Julie, I want to comment on everyone's posts, but get sooo confused by the time I am done reading them. I MUST bring a pen and paper with next time!!!

Welcome Michelle! Leah also dislikes fruit right now. Weird huh? Sweet potatoes are definitley her fav. She loves all veges, peas can be a problem at times! Can you give me a breif rundown as to what you give Kinlagh at each meal? Right now we are doing two meals but want to go to three before I have to go back to teaching later this month.

Julie B - Leah has been waking early too. I have the bad habit of bringin her back to bed with me though....  :oops: I do so after 5:30 or six, then I can get her to sleep till at least 7. Bad habit, but I just love this cuddly time! Plus then we play in bed for ten minutes or so when she wakes for the day!

Julie - I hear you with being tired all the time. I just told someone today: If someone would have told me when Leah was a newborn that I'd still be getting up two or three times a night at six months, I would have killed myself! Now it just seems like life! I hope you are able to find some help, then maybe you can help us all! 

Deb - Sorry to hear your sister left. My DH is gone in Alaska hunting, so it's just me and DD for a week and a half! We coping alright.  Lots of carry out.... :wink: Leah is teething, I can see them. She also will NOT let me in her mouth for anything. I also waited until she screamed to get orajel on her gums and tylenol down. I think it is fine to put it in the bottle as long as they drink it all? It sounds like everyone wants more sleep! Hard to belive some day we will be fighting to wake them up.....


TEETH, TEETH, TEETH! Seems to be affecting everyone right now! Anyone know how long is actually takes for the whole tooth to cut thru? Leah's had her two bottom teeth partially cut thru for a week now. (little razors!) How long till the agony is over!?!?!

Sorry to all I didn't respond too. I will be back on tomorrow to catch up. Right now I am going to go and have a glass of wine and relax before bed!

[HeatherC]

Wow, I've certainly missed out on a bunch.  It seems that when time goes by, it goes quickly, and you miss a lot.  I've been busy getting ready for 2 showers I'm co-hosting.  I've checked in on the posts, but haven't had time to put together any useful comments.  I've mostly used my spare time to clean, work on my scrapbooking, and make party favors/ mail invitations/ buy and package gifts.
Anyway, I'm so sorry for all the hard times most of you seem to be having.  I can't offer much except my thoughts, prayers, and {{{HUGS}}}.  I hope the #$%# isn't going to hit the fan with us because Kelsey has been so great lately.  She doesn't seem to be teething, so that might come late for her.  She does sit unassisted well now and plays with her toys, but I am usually sitting with her for interaction, and just in case she gets too excited and looses her balance.
After spending most of our summer days with my mom, she has returned to school teaching.  And since Kelsey has been taking a great afternoon nap (and an ok morning nap), I've just tried to hang around the house so that she can get these much needed naps.  If I have to, I go out in the evening, and she can catch a catnap in the car before the last bottle and bedtime routine.  Dh has been working alot, and sometimes doesn't get home until after 9 or 10, so it's just me all day.  It's okay though; we're blessed that he has a job to provide for us so that I can stay home.
As for solids, she has had the following:  applesauce (with rice cereal too), pears (also with cereal sometimes), carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas today.  She didn't like the peas needless to say.  Oh well, it's okay.  I have peaches and squash to try next.  Her ped. said I could start the meats between 7-9 months, and for some reason that sounds fun to me.  I believe she will really love them.  I have been told that I could give her the "yo-baby" yogurt around that time, too.  Have any of you considered this product?
Well, thanks for reading my boring post.  Sorry I can't help with night waking problems, etc.  I truely hope things start getting better for each of you.  Remember...this too shall pass.

[HeatherC]

Christine-is Leah's flat-head getting better?  Kelsey's seemed to have been, but now I'm not sure.  It almost looks worse on one side, but I always thought she slept looking up and not to one side.  And I feed her with the back of her head and neck resting on the boppy.

[Schae]

hey there

I've actually started taking notes, coz there's no way I'll remember all the posts, especially on 4 hours sleep. :roll:  :lol:

Deborah: No bleeding gums this side, but very very cranky. I feel sorry for them, can't be easy having all these nasty teeth cutting through your gums eh? I hope the Motrin helps. What exactly is Motrin? We dont have that in SA.

Branwen: aw, the lip smacking sounds so cute! Luka doesn't have any teeth yet, but I'm convinced that is the cause of his being so miserable.
I hadn't considered seperation anxiety, not sure exactly what I should be looking out for. PU/PD seems to make him even more angry. I think it's pain that is waking him, so I'm not sure PU/PD would work anyway.  :?
Well done to Eirwen on sleeping through noise. I think that's a good thing. Hope the moving is going well.

Vidya: well done to Diya!! Luka also crawls backwards, although the last couple of days he's discovered that he can move forwards too. lol!

Debra: Good luck on being by your lonesome. We're all here as an ear...
Still not sure if it's teething or seperation anxiety? The screaming can be really trying, coz you try everything you can and it still does not work. Good luck!

Julie: Luka is sleeping a little bit better. Thanks for asking. Good luck with the baby whisperer lady.. please keep us posted.

Last night was not too bad. We (dh, luka and I) live with my parents in a cottage on their property. So, Luka goes to bed in the main house at around 7.30 or 8pm. Then at 11pm for his dreamfeed we move to the cottage. This isn't working well anymore, as he has on several occasions tried to sleep through the night, but is disturbed by being moved. And when dh wakes for work in the morning it disturbs Luka's sleep as well, but there isn't anything we can do because there's no other room for him to sleep in.  :?
We are planning on moving out as soon as I find a job. So, hopefully that will be the end of our sleep problems.

[Leah's Mom]

Hey Heather! Good to hear from you. Hope the showers go well. Some days I think her flat head is getting better and other days I realize I must be seeing things? She now sleeps on her side and it is always the same side, so she's probobly going to get better on one side and not the other..... :?

Leah is also sitting up. But I have to stay with her or put pillows behind her becuase her head is still just a little too big for her body and she loses balance easily. 

[branwen]

Well, we have a little blood blister- ouch   She screamed for 3 hrs this morning.  Gosh...I didn't know how lucky I was but this is true teething...I can also feel squishy skin in there, before was just hard, so I'm pretty sure the bottom teeth are arriving...rumor has it could be forever.  I did everything I could, Tylenol, oral gel and even offered the breast, but in the end I did let her cry it out some, so tired!!!  and nothing works except exhaustion after a certain point.  My poor honey!  At our next feed I gave Motrin and seemed to work, she took a 2 hr nap.  I breastfed over 8 times today :shock: because she was so off...currently whining in her crib...

Heather- you always have a way of putting things in perspective for me!  I so love how you describe your days.    I too am very blessed to be a SAHM.  I love your lilypie photo

Christine- Yay! Leah is sitting up!  The head thing is also Eirwen's difficulty.  I use the boppy for lower back support and she does really well with that- it also catches her if she goes to the side.  She does best though when I am not trying to be involved and I just notice she has moved away from it and is supporting herself.

Deb- let us know if we can do anything for you- feel free to post lots of vents if you need too- I cried so much when my mom left in the early weeks  :cry: 

Schae- backwards AND forwards!!! WOW! :shock: 

Julie- do you still have a night person coming in?  that was you right?  yes totally keep us informed on the BW person.  what is your routine now?

Anyone else noticing the pincer grasp?  Eirwen shocked me so much today by holding her spoon with thumb and forefinger!  :shock:

[Schae]

Just thought I'd share a photo of Luka crawling:

[julieb]

This week must be some sort of 6 month voodoo baby thing.  Asher has been SO weird.  Either that or more teething.  I give up!   :shock:

Tried solids for the first time this morning -- pears.  Not eventful.  Took two eager bites and then did the "icky head shake" thing -- like we were giving him a sour lemon!   :roll:   We'll try again tomorrow!

FYI, to remember posts: I right click on "post reply" and "open in a new window."  Then I have my reply open while I read and can flop back and forth, writing my post as I read.

Branwen: Dh helps how he can (as I direct  :lol: ).  Have no clue what's going on.  I think he's posessed sometimes.   :lol:

Julie: Asher prefers the sling during outings as well.  I've found that he just doesn't like sitting for very long (15-20 min most), no matter where, stroller, grocery cart, restaurant, boppy, at home, etc.  He'd much rather move or stand.  But he's absolutely fine in the sling, go figure!  :roll:

[thitz]

Julieb, thanks for the window tip.  I'm doing that right now.

Everyone,  my dd is doing all the same teething and crying stuff.  I had no luck with tylenol and tried infant Advil last night and it worked way better .  Also I rushed out this afternoon for Anbesol and I'm not sure if it helped, I ended up letting her play with me to get her out of the crying and got it in my mouth too.  It definately makes things numb but just for a few minutes.  I think pu/pd is going to fly out the window with this teething thing.  Which is a big thing for me to say because I haven't rocked her to sleep since she was 2 months old and before starting her reflux meds.  I hope we don't loose all that sleep training we both worked hard on. :x 

Debra, my dh always says one day at a time (his bday was Aug. 9th).  And in some cases, try to think just one minute at a time.  Sometimes I have to put Emily down in her crib even if she's crying and turn away and take two deep breaths before plunging in again.  And oh man was I exhausted last night with being up a billion times settling Emily.  Thank God she had one awesome solid 2 hour nap this morning and I napped at the same time:)  Also, I'm not sure if you saw but my dd drinks about the same as yours, only 27-29 oz a day.

Schae, I can't believe Luka's crawling picture.  Emily is not even close to crawling yet.  She doesn't even roll over one way.  But she's pretty good at sitting.

Branwen, your day sounds horrible.  I hope it gets better soon for both of you.

Michelle, my dd got one eye tooth at 4.5 months.  Now she's got one bottom tooth thru.  Very sharp. 

Vidya, we kind of do a wind down routine every nap or bed time.  I hold her facing outwards and I pace back and forth on the deck doing a little bounce and sing songs for about 5 mins then I change her diaper on the change table.  Then I pick her up and she watches me pull the blind down and close the curtains.  After I lay her down I throw a blanket over her and give her a few pats on the bum quickly and say 'have a good sleep, have a good sleep' for naps or 'night night, night night' for bedtime and leave straight away.  It usually works.

Deborah, I was showing my dh baby pictures on our chat and he thought your lo is a super cutie!

Also, a long time ago someone mentioned Nature's Bliss for hiccups.  Could you tell me what the main ingredients are?  I can't seem to get that brand here.

I hope all this teething stuff doesn't last forever, or at least we get some breaks in between.  Hang in there everyone!!!!!  Please keep writing posts, I'm starting to think of you guys like family now

Tarri

[HeatherC]

Schae, how cute of Luka crawling!  Can you explain perhaps how it was he came to discover he could do that?  I can't get Kelsey on her tummy so I don't know how to help her learn to get on her hands and knees.  It may sound premature, but I'm assisting her in standing while holding on to the couch or exersaucer to prepare her leg strength and balance for "cruising".  She may never crawl and may go straight to that.  :?:   I don't want to rush her, but I'm not sure what to do for her.  I love to hold her, but of course she wants her independence, and sometimes even seems discontent stuck in one place.  I have her sitting either on the floor or in the exersaucer to keep her off her back (and back of her head) as much as possible since that's her sleeping position.  I don't want to accidently limit her mobility.  I know I tried to reassure someone once before aobut this; I think it was Branwen, but now I need reassurance I suppose.  Dh husband has always told me to enjoy the time that she will let me hold her because soon she won't.  :cry:

[Leah's Mom]

Tarri - I also think of everyone as family!  If I can't check in I feel lost, especially if there are more posts than I can catch up with! I hear you on regressing with rocking. I had to rock DD tonight. She had been up for almost 4 hours and she just wouldn't settle. Rocked her and she was out in a few mintues.  :shock:

Julie B - The window thing is awesome. Can you tell me how you get the white quote box in your posts?

Schae - Wow Luka!!!!!!!!!!! He looks so old! Leah is not close to crawling yet either. I try and put her in the crawling posistion, but she just falls back down. She rolls like crazy though!

Branwen - This teething thing is aweful! DH said in a real serious voice: "Is she going to be like this for all of her teeth? If so, I think I'm going to move out till she's two!" I have also noticed the pincer grasp. Leah also has a new game. When we walk in the stroller she throws stuff off the side - they learn cause and effect much too quickly!

[HeatherC]

Oh, yeah, the pincer grasp.  It's so cute to see those tiny, yet chubby fingers working so hard to grab on.  It makes me teary to see her concentrate so much and put so much effort into doing the things that will soon come so easily.  Oh, our babies are growing too quickly. 
I LOVE BEING A MOMMY!!!!!!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[julieb]

Heather:  When you say you can't get Kelsey on her tummy, what do you mean?  She doesn't like tummy time?  Will she tolerate it for even short bursts?  Asher always preferred his back, but would tolerate his tummy for 5-10 minutes at a time.  We'd do a series of activities and rotating positions so he wouldn't get bored doing one thing in one place for too long.  He finally started trying to roll to his tummy, as if reaching for things on the side.  Once I figured out he could roll both ways, I gave him TONS of floor time and he perfected the rolling in a matter of days.  Once he was good at that, he didn't seem to mind his tummy as much since he could get to his back on his own.  I continued to give him tons for floor time (which isn't hard, because I don't own any upright things besides a bumbo seat and bouncer  :lol: ) and I noticed he eventually spent more and more time on his tummy.  Then he naturally started to try to drag himself closer to toys with his arms and get his feet going too -- which led to the army crawl.  It was a month before he started getting up on all fours one day, which led to a funny inchworm type crawl.  Then he'd rock back and forth.  And eventually he'd take steps with hands and knees.  There was no real way to "show" him how to do these things or teach him.  It was a matter of giving him the floor time and letting him figure it out.  Don't worry about it!  It will come when it's time!  I know several kids that crawled for about a week before just getting up to walk instead!   

Christine: You can copy & paste text from someone's post, then select the text and hit the "quote" button at the top of the text box OR in the top right corner of everyone's post is a "quote" button.  Right click that to open in a new window to start your post with someone else's quoted post (which is what I did).  Then I just deleted out the text I didn't need.  Make sense?

Oh, and my DH said the same thing as yours!!  "Is this gonna be like this for every tooth?!"   :lol:   :lol:   :lol:

[Deb_in_oz]

HI all - very active the last 24 hours  :lol:

Julie - so far we just feed Olivia formula (was BF until 3 months and having mucus problems, but definitely worsened over last 2 months).  she has been on thickened formula for the past month or so - not sure if there is any issue with that.  we are in the process of switching over to the unthickened formula that she was on previously. she has only had rice cereal 3 times so far so that is not it.  no other solids yet.  am wondering if it is some other type of allergy or a milk allergy? will ask about it at the doctor's on Thursday.  Also Olivia is not far behind matty - she was 18 -19 pounds at 5 1/2 months! she is even bigger than Alex was (and shorter) and i had not thought that possible!

Christine - hope you are doing well in Dh's absence.  Leah sounds like she is doing ok in spite of the awful teething. - tell Dh it won't be this bad (hopefully) after 12-14 months or so...then we can think ahead to when they start having loose teeth and need us to pull them out - ugh!

Heather - good to hear from you and that things are going so well (touch wood!).  Olivia also has the flat head and it seems to have rounded SLIGHTLY - still flat though (as a friend pointed out today  :roll: ).  My sister spent 6 weeks here and insists it has rounded a bit (maybe she's just being nice :lol: )

Schae - I hope you are able to move out soon so you can get some night sleep!!!  is the cottage a 1 room place with you sleeping in the same room as Luka??   Congrats on the crawling though - very cute photo

Branwen - so sorry to hear how bad the teething is.  it is great whent he pain relief actually helps them though!

Julie b - THANKS FOR THE FANTASTIC TIP OF "NEW WINDOW" loving it  .  i might try some pears on Olivia tomorrow and see if that will entice her to open her mouth.  Asher looks great crawling around.  Alex started crawling at 5 mo so it is strange for me to see Olivia not even rolling around - I tell myself never to compare the 2 but i only have her as a reference.  it is good to see everyone is at different points with the crawling and sitting...

Tarri - Dh's bday was the 11th - we are leading parallel lives right?  ha ha. thanks for the support on the feeding - i have relaxed about how much she takes since i know you have a similar amount.  today she has actually fed fantastic and has already had 28 oz and still has the Df to go. not that i am counting  :lol:   :wink:

Thanks for the mention about thinking of us as family.  i think i am spending more time with you guys than Dh  :oops:  he understands though that i need the support and i think he is grateful that i can come here and chat (as long as I don't discuss sex or say anything bad about family members  :lol: )

For us - today has been great.  good feeds.  much less sep. anxiety crying (and none of it in the cot, just once or twice when i left her playing to go do something).  she only took a 45 min nap this am, but then a 1 hr 30 and then we went to friends' this afternoon and by the time we brought her home for catnap she had been up 2hrs ++ and went to sleep in 10 min and slept for  1hr 30.  unfortunately we shoudl have woken her at 5:30 (she slept til 6:10pm) because she was hyper when we put her down at bedtime (7:20) so obviously needed longer awake before bed.  i might try extending her awake time in the am to 2 hours tomorrow which is better for me since i have to do daycare drop off for Alex at 9am.

Thanks everyone for all the support.  i am trying not to get ahead of myself and start stressing about problems before they arise.  I just have to keep telling myself that I can do this!!! we are trying to get my mom to come back out in October for another visit so Dh and I can maybe go away for a night (oh the thought of 24 hours to go at my own pace and enjoy being a couple - rather than parents)  A friend with a good babysitter is going to give us her details so maybe we can at least get out to dinner once in a while!

[Schae]

Julieb: thanks for the tip!  :wink: I'm employing your technique as I speak. Good luck with the solids. They're very sure of what they don't like hey? Your tummy time advice sounds good, we haven't perfected the moving forwards thing yet. A lot of the time he ends up on his tummy.  :lol:
Love the picture of Asher! They're definitely going to keep us on our toes hey?

Tarri: So it seems like we're all in the teething boat. Here's to all the teeth making their appearance sooner rather than later.

Heather: Luka has been a tummy sleeper since he was a couple of months old, so he's used to being on his tummy. He did the almost crawling thing one night after his dad had bathed him, and ever since he's keen to go on all fours. At the moms and babes class I attend, they suggest putting your baby across a birthing ball if they're not fans of being on their tummies. Or lie down in front of them while they're on their tummy so that you're at eye level, or roll a ball in front of them too.
Your dh sounds like a wise man.

Christine: I'm with your dh on this!! The teething thing is hectic. At least we get breaks. Hope you're coping.. in fact, I'm sure you are.

Debra: Congrats on the better feeding. I think of you often. Thanks! I also hope we move out soon. The 'cottage' is one huge room. Cannot wait to get a place of my own, hopefully before I turn 25! hehee! It must be hard not to compare, even amongst ourselves here. I guess we just have to remember that our babies are individuals with thier own timetables. Enjoy your dinnerdate, I think it's a fantastic idea.

Us: Well, my poor son has caught a cold. We've been having funny weather this side of the world. Windy and cold-ish. My mom was ill, and Luka has caught her cold. So, we have a cold combined with teething. But suprisingly enough he's not too miserable and hasn't had a fever. It's the first time he's been ill, so this is all new. Not quite sure what to do.  :?