Jan/Feb 05 Babies chat!

[Daniel's mummy]

Boy am I tired!  We had a strange night last night.  Daniel went down to sleep fine at 7pm.  Didn't hear anything from him until 1.40am when he started making his morning waking noises.  I looked at the clock thinking it was about 6am.  He just seemed wide awake (kind of singing and babbling).  Finally went in to him about 3am to try to settle him. He had what we call the wide eye stare so I'm guessing he's just way over tired.  Actually cuddled him til he fell asleep (was nice as he never usually cuddles )  Didn't hear him again til 6.50am.  Just feel soooo shattered today.  Must get an early night.

I'm going to post his schedule here.  Shout if there's anything that jumps out at you as very different.  We may just be missing something.

Anytime from 5.30 - 6.30 currently: wake and play in cot.
6.45: nappy change and cuddles
7am: 6 oz bottle
8am: breakfast
9am: 1st nap (1hour 15 mins)
12pm: lunch
1pm: 6 oz bottle
1.30pm: 2nd nap (yesterday it was 2 and half hours  :shock: but I'm guessing it'll usually be about 1.5 hours)
5pm: dinner
6pm: bath
6.30pm 6oz bottle
7pm: bed

I'm actually wondering if he has just been getting too tired in the day between naps and bringing his naps forward a half hour (they were 9.30 and 2pm) may help.  It's like detective work this parenting business!

Deborah - Daniel also has a flat right side of his head.  The doctor checked it out at his 8 month check on Thursday but said there's nothing to worry about and that it will fill out in time.  You just want what's best for them don't you.  I know what you mean about not wanting to leave it and then finding out that it doesn't fill out after all and then it's too late.  I really hope that you get some good advice next week.  Sounds like a busy week for you.  Will be thinking of you.

Tammy - all the best with babysitting tomorrow.  Will definitely be good practice for when no 2 comes along!  My neighbour left her 6 month old with me for about half an hour the other day while she nipped to the shops.  Just that half hour nearly killed me :lol: But there's only 2 months difference between them so I guess that does make it harder.  (No different than having twins I guess though)

Julie - great new avatar.  I think Daniel is quite similar build to Matty.  Chunky and cuddly!  He was 10.8kg at last weigh in (Thurs).  I think that's about 23.5 pounds.

[sedona314]

Hazel:  The only thing I noticed with your schedule is how far apart the naps are.  BUt if thats what you normally do, that shouldnt be a problem. Matty rarely goes more than 2.5 hours without getting too sleepy and needing a nap.  He also has had that middle of the night waking, but not that often. I know its tough but I think its just how it is at this age. He should settle right back in tonight unless he is teething.

Glad to hear another baby weighs around what Matthew weighs!  I was beginning to think I had the largest baby on the planet!!! lol

He is already too tall for his exersaucer which is a problem because it was very helpful to put him in there. I had to buy a walker as it is the only thing tall enough to hold him, but I prefer the saucers as they are stationary and more entertaining.

Let us know how it goes.

Julie

[Tammy: Ethan & Kaden's Mom]

Had to post quickly...
boy am I exhausted after babysitting my 2 year old niece all day, along with keeping Ethan!  Of course, Ethan decided he needed to scream bloody murder at 6 a.m. this morning, instead of waking up nicely at his *usual* 7 am.  And then he took a good morning nap, but a 45 minute afternoon nap.   :evil:   So I had to revert to the old 5 pm catnap to get us to bedtime. 

Niece was great, just your typical 2 year old that you have to watch.  Plus, our house is not babyproofed for a toddler yet (that will come with time...), so we had to watch her closely.  She took a fabulous nap for 2.5 hours, so at least that gave me some time to try, and I emphasize TRY, to get Ethan back down for his pm nap. 

Oh, and I really hope this is it... but the past few nights, Ethan has woken up off and on through the night.  Usually resettling by himself, but the wakeups were weird.  Anyway, saw tooth #3, one of the upper middles poking through a teeny tiny bit.  I suppose that he decided to get these all out of the way at the same time!  He just cut the bottom two in the past week and a half or so!  Guess he's making up for time.  Anyway, hope that was the cause for the nightwakings (I didn't realize he was teething - so no Motrin this go around - oh well).

Anyway, off to bed, I'm exhausted!   

[HeatherC]

I'm behind, but I'll try to catch up.
Tammy-I did the same thing with quiet time in the nursery while Kelsey was getting used to no catnap.  It really helped, but she wouldn't actually rest on her own anymore if I really needed her to.  KWIM?  Are you down to the end of the df yet?  Kelsey also likes to be outside, and that is usually our salvation for cranky evenings.  But now it's in the 60's when the sun goes down, and almost to chilly for her to be out.
Christine-how's Leah?  Better yet?  Kelsey only wanted to be held when she was sick, which caught me off beat because she usually won't snuggle except at sleep times.
Hazel-did I read correctly that Daniel takes 3 bottles a day?  That's what I'm going to attempt around 9 months.  Kelsey is starting to take 4 oz of solids and still take all 7 oz of her bottle.  Also, I agree with Christine about keeping an early bedtime of 7:30-8.
JulieB-you're so right about yesterday being a memory.  I remember complaining in the past weeks about bad naps, but now I honestly don't remember a thing. 
Deborah-I'm so sorry about the doctor.  I was just wondering how the lo's with flat spots were doing.  Kelsey's is rounding out a bit, except that I'm still guilty of always cradling her on the same side, so it leaves it a little less round.  I hope you can get the help you want.
RE:  Early risers-maybe it's a boy thing b/c my mom said that my brother always woke at 6 am on the dot, of course until it was time to go to school!!
RE:  Night wakings-Kelsey usually stirs once before midnight (she just did it) with either a quick cry or a babble, then the same somewhere between midnight and 5 am.  I never have to check on her and I just assume this is a part of her sleep. 
Here's a funny from today:  Her morning nap was going past 2 hours.  It was the first sleep I have ever put a blanket over her.  So, I was of course getting worried that she had possibly smothered.  After talking myself into this frenzied state, I barged through the door that makes a terrible crack noise (which is why I rarely check on her during sleep times), and rush to her crib.  The blanket was still placed over her feet where I put it, and she was turned on her side away from me.  She turned over, fussed at me with a "eech" and turned back over!!!  I stood there in shock and holding back laughter.  I think I had a flash back of my childhood!  It was a good 5 minutes before she turned back over and she still wasn't happy about it.

[Daniel's mummy]

Heather - yep, Daniel does just have 3 bottles now.  In fact he has done for about a month now.  We did it by moving breakfast a little later (8am instead of 7.30) and his lunch forward a little (12 instead of 12.30) so he only goes 4 hours between breakfast and lunch.  I offer him some very watered down juice after his morning nap (He will NOT touch water!).  Then he has lunch at 12 followed by his bottle about an hour later.  He's usually happy then til teatime at 5pm.  I actually followed advice on this from one of the boards here where someone suggested having a bottle around 1pm so then it's halfway through the day between the other 2 feeds.  (Did that make sense?)  We're actually gonna start putting his 1pm feed into his sippy cup next month (or at least try :wink: ) as a start to weaning him from that bottle.  A friend of mine has a 13 month old and she will NOT take milk from anything but her bottle.  She drinks water from a cup but just won't take milk that way.

Tammy - Daniel did just the same thing and had 3 of his front teeth all come through at the same time.  Like you said it does get it out the way (but it must be very painful for them )  Hope he is happy now with his 3 front teeth!

Us - well last night wasn't too bad, but saturday night was possibly the worst night ever, even worse than when Daniel was new born :shock:   He had 2 good naps on Saturday and we put him down at 7pm.  He fell straight to sleep and we felt happy.  (Little did we know what he had in store for us!)  He then woke up at 9pm, 10pm 11.10 and then countless times through the night.  At 2.50am he woke up babbling and seemingly wide awake.  Nothing we did could get him back to sleep.  He didn't have hot or red cheeks and he wasn't in pain so it can't have been teeth.  But eventually at 5am I gave him some pain relief and he was asleep within about 5 mins (maybe the calpol worked or maybe just sheer exhaustion).  Either way I wish I'd given him the  calpol at 3am :lol:   6.50am he woke up.  Seemed happy enough.  We usually make time for him to have at least an hour's nap before church, but he only took 25 mins :evil:   By the time we were at church he was obviously sooo overstimulated and tired.  I went to the back to try to just rock him to sleep but people kept on ciming over to play with him :evil:  :evil:  :evil:   Do they just not understand?

Anyway, to cut a long story short he had a much better night last night.  Still woke up a few times but went back to sleep quite quickly.  Boy do I hope we get our angel sleeper back soon.  I think he might just be trying to make us appreciate what we had rather than worry about trying to make him sleep in longer. :idea:  Suddenly the idea of him sleeping right through til 6am doesn't seem so bad anymore.  Any early wake up is better than what he's done the last few nights.

I was also thinking - it would be interesting to see what others' schedules are now.  Seeing what works for others does sometimes give me ideas etc...  Thanks
(I've included mine that I posted a cople of days ago.)

Anytime from 5.30 - 6.30: wake and play in cot.
6.45: nappy change and cuddles 
7am: 6 oz bottle
8am: breakfast
9am: 1st nap (1hour 15 mins)
12pm: lunch
1pm: 6 oz bottle
1.30pm: 2nd nap (about 1.5 hours)
5pm: dinner
6pm: bath
6.30pm 6oz bottle
7pm: bed

[Tammy: Ethan & Kaden's Mom]

Heather - we are down to 2 oz. df around 8:30 now.  I always did the df at 10 pm, so right now I give the 2 oz about an hour after he goes to bed.  Of course, we have been having a lot of restless sleep since about 3 ozs., so I'm not sure if it's in relation to the df or not.  He is eating more solids during the day, and I'm giving him four 7 oz bottles during the day, so I don't think he's hungry.  Sometimes he resettles himself at night, and every once in a while he cries so I have to go in to him.  And he's decided to start having his wakeup time anywhere from 6 to 6:30.  That was literally overnight.  He was doing a 7 am wakeup, then he moved that back to 7:30, and then one day it was like, bam!  6:30, then 6.  I don't like this trend!  And it doesn't even get light here until probably 7:15 or later, so you feel like you're up in the middle of the night still.  I'm puzzled as to why he all of a sudden has started having such restless nighttime sleep, and early waketimes.  I don't think it's teeth, he shouldn't be hungry, and while he is starting to learn to pull up a bit, he hasn't started that too much yet in his crib, at least not at night.  Who knows.  He just wants mommy not to get so much sleep! 

Hazel - that's pretty good having Daniel down to 3 bottles.  There is no way I am anywhere near that point.  I'm just now trying to get rid of #5!  I'll post Ethan's schedule, if it's any help, but since you're down to 3 bottles, it might be a lot different.

This is his schedule since he's starting waking up at 6 or 6:30!!

6:00 - 6:30:  wake
6:30 - 7:00:  I come get him sometime during this time, diaper change
7:00:  solids
7:30:  bottle
9:00:  nap #1  (usually sleeps for 45 min, wakes up and babbles, eventually falls back asleep - so this is not all sleep time!)
11:30:  solids
12:00:  bottle
2:00 - 2:30:  nap #2 (same as nap 1  :roll: ) 
4:00:  bottle
6:00:  solids
7:00:  bottle
7:15:  bath, lotion, jammies, story
7:30:  bed

[Leah's Mom]

Whoa, don't check in all weekend and three new pages!!!!!!!  :shock:

Julieb- Thanks for the compliment on the website. We do alot outside. DH HATES to be inside. He's your outdoor hunting, fishing, camping man. It is difficult to be outside though when you're still in triple digits. We were at 32 degrees F this morning. Brrrr.... Fall is here! Thanks for the website. I also got some good deals for Leah. She is in need of Fall and Winter clothing. Everything she got when she was born is now too small!

Hazel - How is the earlier bedtime working out? Weird!!!! Leah has been doing the same thing, waking and babbling in the middle of the night. She’s never been a good sleeper though, so I’m used to getting up! Does Daniel have a bottle at 1 pm, then again not until 6:30? If so, does this go well? I am going to try this with Leah as she is still getting a bottle around 4 too, but then is too full to eat supper.  :?

Nikki- When Leah came out she looked like her father, now she looks like me though. If it's any consolation, even though she doesn't look like you she is VERY beautiful!!! At least she won't have to worry about "keeping up" her blonde hair with highlights. Her hair color is awesome! 

Julie - YES you can complain! I think everyone should be able to hold thier babies RIGHT away and it sucks if you can't. It wasn't so bad with this one, becuase she was my first and I didn't know any different. If it happened again you can bet I would FIGHT to have her transfered with me!  :twisted:

Deborah - Sorry to hear about your issues with the doctors. Please let us know what happens this week. I understand your concern. If it bothers you, I would do something about it.

Schae – Are the night wakings getting any better? With us, just when we seem to get it, she teethes or gets sick. I can’t remember the last time I had a full nights sleep. So, I can’t be of any help, sorry!!!!!!

Heather – Leah is better, thanks for asking. She still has a runny nose – but isn’t waking as much in the night!

US: Well, I have created a problem that I now have to fix.  :roll: I used to give Leah her bottles after her naps and before her bath, to eliminate feeding to sleep. Well, she was always such a horrible bottle drinker and I found that if I gave them to her sleepy she would drink much better. Well, she never really falls asleep drinking the bottle but she does get very sleepy. The problem is now she will wake at 1 and 5 in the night and the ONLY thing she wants and the ONLY thing that will get her to go back to sleep is her bottle. So, I created the problem and now I have to fix it! My plan is to reread some of Tracy’s second book this coming weekend and figure out what to do. This is her current schedule:

6:45- Wake up
7:00 – Solids
9:00 – Bottle and First Nap
11:30 – Solids
1:00 – Bottle and Second Nap
4:00 – Bottle and Catnap (unless second nap was long, then no catnap)
6:00 – Solids
7:00 – Bottle and Bed (sleeping by 7:05 or so)
(Lately 1 and 5 bottle – only a few ounces though, so TOTALLY a habit  :oops: )

So I need to move bottles around a bit. Well, better run. More later.

[Daniel's mummy]

Christine - yeah he has a bottle at about 1pm before his 2nd nap and then the last one about 6.30pm.  He is really into his solids now and has 3 really good sized (I think?) meals each day so these easily get him through til the next bottle.  I do make sure I offer him lots of liquids in between though as I'm aware he could get dehydrated.  Has never been a problem yet though.  He does take quite a bit with each meal.

I figured out all this night waking actually could have been because of teeth.  Nothing to show for it yet except REALLY red cheeks and lots of dribbling and chewng.  Oh and LOTS of crying today (you know the ones where you can tell they're in pan     ).  He has just gone down for a catnap (hasn't had one of these in about 2 months) so poor thing must be so tired.  It's horrible isn't it when there's nothing you can do to take away the pain.  But he's done this before and survived so I know we'll get through.

Off to go put the shopping away.  Yay what fun! :wink:

[Bella's Mommy]

Our schedule doesn't seem to be working anymore since our lo isn't sleeping through the night anymore. Any suggestions?

[StrawberryAnnie2]

Hello All.

We have been super busy for the past week with selling the house and getting ready for a 12 day trip (leaving this Friday). I'm so nervous about being away from home and our routine for so long. Any tips? We will be staying in a hotel, but my family will be there to help, so I hope things will be OK.

We are having a very tough time with Hannah as far as night sleep right now. She wakes evey 4-5 hrs and is starving, so I nurse her. I have tried upping her daytime food, but she is still waking. She nurses every 4 hrs during the day and has 3 meals of 4-6 oz. Tried giving her yogurt and cottage cheese and she broke out in rash around her mouth, though it went away after about 1/2 hr. I am SO tired from not getting a full night's sleep, though Hannah seems cheerful during the day despite her broken nighttime sleep. Advice anyone??

Joanne

[thitz]

Christine,  I had a look at your website and all of Leah's photos.  Is that one with a real black bear?  Is he dead or alive?  As for accidental parenting, I remember what JulieB wrote and that was to bring a mattress into the lo's room.  Also, I think Tracy says somewhere that it takes 3 days to form a habit.

Hazel, Emily often wakes early, could be as early as 5:30am.  Half the time she goes back to sleep without me going in her room and the other half she moans and groans till I get her up at 6:30.  Either way I stick to our nap times of 9:00am and 1:30-2:00pm.  And amazingly she's usually pretty cheery for all her A time.  Of course she goes to bed by 6:30pm latest.  Also maybe try to get some more solids into Daniel at dinner time to hold him over till breakfast.

Deborah, I hope you get some answers in Orlando.  And hopefully if she does need the head gear she won't have to wear it for too long.

Schae, I'm not sure what to suggest about Luka's night wakings.  It kind of sounds like teething to me.

Julieb, Emily is often stuffy.  I usually have to suction one side of her nose a day.

Tammy, I would maybe try to make the df a bit later and a bit more.  It seems that his night wakings might be related to the df weaning.

Joanne, I don't know much about your routine but if you lo's waking hungry that much, I would give more solids during the day and maybe nurse more often to up your supply.

Us, Emily is doing really well.  Even though she wakes early some mornings and doesn't always have a long afternoon nap, she's mostly happy all day.  She drinks her bottle with no fussiness and eats her solids no problem.  I'm starting to think she's becoming an Angel baby :shock: .  She still doesn't roll much or can't even get up on all fours to crawl but she loves standing and holds onto things for a couple seconds before falling over.   Oh...and I've been giving her puffed wheat cereal for finger foods and she's now got the pincer grasp down pat .  Now I sit her in the high chair with a few puffs and it gives me time to warm up her meal.

Good night everyone, Tarri

[Leah's Mom]

Tarri -  :lol:  It's a real black bear and he is dead! DH is an avid hunter and killed this one not too far from our house. We live in the woods in the country.

[Tammy: Ethan & Kaden's Mom]

Only have a moment, but wanted to say that we had an excellent night last night.  Went down at 7:15, did the 2 oz. df around 8:45, and he slept until 7:00!  Let's hope the early wakeups were a fluke, and that this morning was not!   :lol:   Especially because dh is back to traveling Mon thru Thurs, so I'm on my own again!

Oh, and a picture is worth a thousand words...

[Jaime]

yikes!  i have been so busy lately - so many new posts!

Tammy -  :shock:  what a great picture! 

Christine - great website.  i love all those pumpkin pictures.  reminds me i need to find a patch around here!

Tarri - sounds like things are going much better for you.  yay!

Julieg - great new avatar!

Joanne - could be an early growth spurt - there is sometimes one around 9 months.  has she ever slept through the night?  if not then when she seems to be through the spurt you may want to check the night wakings forum for tips on night weaning, etc.

re the traveling, if you don't have a portacrib i would highly recommend one - although sometimes hotels will have one.  they are kinda freaky looking to me but they work great!  if you will all be in one room i would consider draping towels or something over the sides; that way she can't see you if/when she wakes up.  also run a fan/white noise to help mask you & dh moving arouond.  make sure you have the monitor so you can leave the room every so often if you need to.

Hazel:  here's our schedule
7 wake up
7:30 bottle
8:15 cereal
9-10:30ish - nap
11:30 bottle
12/12:30 lunch
2 - 4 (working on longer) nap
4/4:30 bottle
6pm dinner
7:30-8 bath (sometimes) bottle & bed

hope i didn't miss anybody there...

Us - we had a good weekend.  dh's work paid for a dinner & a movie friday night.  had the kids, so we got dinner & skipped the movie.  but the theater was at Universal Studios, and they have fountains to play in, so we brought the kids' suits & let them play in the water.  too funny!  luke was surprised every time the water shot up in front of him.   :lol:

in yucky news, luke's cough has suddenly returned -after 2 months of peaceful sleep.  doesn't seem to be sick, so now i'm worried that something isn't ventilating correctly in his room.   :roll:  oh well, we'll figure something out!

[thitz]

Hi Everyone,

I was rereading some of BW and found a spot where Tracy says that by the end of the first year that their liquid intake should slowly be cut in half and the other half replaced with solids.  What do you guys think?

Tarri