March/April 05 Thread #2

[Olivia's Mommy]

Wow...everyone has been so busy! And I've only been gone for the afternoon and evening!

Andrea--I agree...I think we're all doing well on sleeping "through." I was really stressed out the Liv wasn't sleeping 12 hours WITHOUT waking, all the time. Until I learned that "sleeping through" is considered missing one feed. (Did I read that in Tracy's book?) Anyway, now I feel better that she sleeps from 7:30-7:30  most of the time, and sometimes wakes for only one feed. And I'm with you on Kate Holmes...not a big fan either!!

I don't make my own baby food, and I don't buy organic. I figure I've got enough other things I'm trying to figure out as a new parent. I don't need the added stress. But good for you guys who do!!! My hat's off to you!!

Hannah---I'm glad you liked my comment. It does make me laugh when people talk about what a "good" baby Liv is. I just want to say, "Do you know how long it's taken us to get here?" We were at the ILs a couple of months ago, and my SIL was there with their newborn (3 months younger than Liv). They are a "fly by the seat of our pants" family and have nothing resembling a routine. It was funny to me b/c everyone kept commenting on how "content" Liv was and how "fussy" the other baby was. I wasn't gloating or anything...I felt really bad for them and wanted to help. I tried to mention BW and how much it helped us. But they didn't seem very open, so I dropped it. My BIL's philosophy is "No baby has ever died from crying too much." It broke my heart.

Has anyone left their LO overnight yet? We're supposed to leave Liv with my ILs for a night in a couple of weeks. We're hoping to go camping on my ILs property with some friends (they have 120 acres on a river). So the ILs offered to keep Liv overnight so I could camp, too. We would be 10 minutes from the house. But it still makes me nervous...she's so young. I'm mostly nervous about the routine, b/c I don't think my MIL gets it. I'm pretty flexible with it. For example, tonight we went to a friend's b-day party, so Liv didn't go to bed until 9:00!!! I hope we don't pay for that later tonight!! Anyway, wanted to see if anyone else has left their LO overnight yet and how it went.

Sorry for the long post...I guess I had a lot to say! Going to bed now...G'night all!

[Olivia's Mommy]

OK, just read my post and realized I made it sound like we're a lot more flexible than we really are. We don't regularly keep her out so late. What I meant was, we try to stick pretty close to the routine, but we understand that there will be occasions that we can't, or times when we make exceptions. We just try to make them truly exceptions rather than the rule!!

OK, now that I've cleared that up...I'm off to bed.

[Taylor's Mommy]

HI Imagainary Friends!   :lol:  :lol:  That's funny Hannah!  T's pics went okay....she wasn't too smiley like she usually is.  In fact she was kind of off all day, she had a screaming fit for her last nap and then slept for 1.5 hours (her cat nap! :? ) 
I did want to mention that and see waht you all thought...for the last couple of days she has taken an 1.15 minute am nap, then a 1 hour pm nap then a 1.5 hour cat nap!  I don't know what's going on with this chick.  She will go several days with no catnap so I think she is raedy to drop it...then this.  I swear they are a never ending research project!
And yes Hannah, you can give yogurt starting at 6 months.  I am reading Super Baby Food (someone asked for a book recommendation on making your own baby food).  It is pretty strict though, so not following all of it.  but it has great info. on what to give at what age, amounts, etc.

Also, anothher Q?  Any of you experience a 6 month growth spurt?  I'm not sure if T is having one right now actually because she seemed starving all day.  Just seems like this 6 month growth spurt is not as obvious as the 6 week and 3 month.

Nicki-glad to see that someone else is doing sort of a flexible EASY.  Lately with the 2 classes I've joined it seems like we are as well, and sometimes I feel guilty...but she seems to be so adaptable I am not being as strict as I once was. 

Traci-glad to hear the MIL visit went well.  Hope Cole didn't get too much dog hair on him! :lol:

Goodnight all!

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Well we had a lovely day out and Danielle did fab!  We left just after 9am to time in with her nap and we were going about 40mins away, so she slept for about 30mins of that than we left the animal park about 1pm and she should have slept all the way home but only napped for 10mins, was awake until her 3pm feed and I popped her into bed at 3.15pm and needed to wake her at 5pm.  So all in all she did well, very unEASY LOL, but I find it a lot easier 2nd time around to "let it go" LOL.

It's always facinating to see what the different countries have for their recommendation for introducing some foods.  I think tomatoes and yoghurt here are from 8mths onwards.  Of course, I'm not too sure really what difference it makes - what makes 8mths the magic number iykwim?

Andrea, not sure about the 6mth GS, Danielle's are never clear, she only ever seemed to wake more at night with her days unchanged?  I only saw one GS with Nathan at 5wks and that was it.

Traci, sorry your night out wasn't the best, Nathan always seemed to need a day at home the next day to resettle into his normal routine.

Micky,   :shock:  at the mum only feeding solids to her 5.5mth old, I don't know if I could have kept my mouth shut. :roll:    (But then I'm probably one of those annoying interferring know-it-alls. :oops: )  In a nice non critical way of course. :wink:

Night all.

[Jayri]

well my fine ladies, I had it out with dh last night, I basically if I don't start getting any help around the huose,ie, cleaning and routine then I won't go back to work.
So this morning I woke up late to find he wrote down what she had for breakfast, and the cats were fed, something he never does. The way I put things to him, is I can do it by myself so how come the other two adults can;t help me do it.
Jay is feeling better thank you everyone, just made me feel like crap cuz I thoguht I had gotten the rigth medication for him, and he got sick anyway...
He is alot better temperement wise, his words are cracking me up, and he is mastering the bewildered look, quite cute I can tell you.
We never got the pics done, he was screaming half the morning, i didn't think it would be fair to him.
I must dash for now, Riley is rocking and doing her "clap" to the wiggles and they sing, smiling away as per usual.
Take Care ladies....

[mickymuscles]

hmmm...so should I not be giving Jackson tomatoes???  I have no idea.  The only thing my ped. said to me last visit was to wait on dairy type products (yogurt, cheese) until 9 months.  How about letting him try citrus type foods like mandarin oranges??  I'm so clueless!! :oops: 

[Taylor's Mommy]

Oh Micky it is so confusing!  I read no citrus until at least 9 months, maybe even a year! :?   funny that none of the books can agree!  the only consistent thing I have read is no homemade carrots, leeks, kale until at least 7-9 months.

DH asked me this mornign, have you talked to your pen pals yet this morning?   :roll:   he thinks he is so funny!

So I'm setting my alarm now and going to be a little more consistent with T's wake up time...believe it or not but 15-30 minutes difference is making a difference in her naps.  so I am getting her up by 7:30.  Finding that 9ish is ideal time for her first nap...like this morning up at 7:30 and she was down by 9:05! :shock:   only 1.5 hours A time!  then 2-2.5 A time in the afternoon so she is down for her second nap by 1ish.  I'll let you know if I see a difference in more consistent naps again.

Have a good day!

[Jayri]

Andrea, it is so funny how much we rely on this thread, I swear it keeps my sanity.
When Riley was born, we were given a book from the public health sevices called "Food in the First year" did anyone else get something like that?
It just says to give them a variety of friuts and veg, I have n clue at times. I am lazy when it comes to Riley's food, it is store bought.
Her naps are changing too, with her on a routine of EAEAS, she is down to 2 naps, usually about 1hr or 1.5 hrs.
Things are sooo much better here today, Jay is squealing away, you'd never know he had an ear infection.

[Arwyn's mom]

Hello everybody,

I finally have time to post! I have been lurking as this thread moves so fast that I only have time to catch up on how/what everybody is doing and then DD needs me!

I posted before that I was dropping the dreamfeed (having moved it back to 9 pm) and that I was not feeding at any time during the night. Well, after 2.5 weeks of random wakings, I threw in the towel. I went back to DFing at 10:30 pm on Friday night and she didn't wake until 4:45 am at which time I fed her and she slept until 7 am. Last night, same thing, DF at 11 pm and she slept through until 5:45 am. DH put her back to sleep and she slept until 7 am.

SO... my conclusion, she is not ready to have her DF moved or dropped. I was totally being selfish anyway... I didn't want to have to feed her anymore and was rushing her as a result. Anyway, I am feeling a bit more rested the past couple of days so... if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?

Her normal bedtime was 6:45 pm but she is getting earlier and earlier due her dropping her catnap. I found that 6:30 - 7:00 is the best bedtime for her because then, we can usually count on her sleeping until at least 6:30 or 7 in the morning. IF she wakes up at 5:45 or 6, it is DH's duty to put her back to sleep because that is the normal time he gets up for work anyway. Most of the time, he is successful. He has an amazing success rate for putting Arwyn back to bed. WAY better than I do.

To all of you who have DHs that don't help out... FYI, I have it out with DH on a regular basis about the housework. I simply can't clean, feed DD and myself, do laundry, cook dinner, wash DD's dishes and ours, etc... without help. DH's reply? We better get "The Maids" in Grandma & Grandpa get here.  :roll: So, guess who will have to phone around for the maid service. Don't get me wrong... I am not complaining about a maid service but we can't afford it long term. I know it is going to be a one time thing so what about the rest of the time? post-maid service??? Anyhow, DH is pretty good about it all but he is a BIG TIME procrastinator!

Andrea... about other moms coming to this site. I know that my drop-in friends lurk here. Sometimes they know stuff about Arwyn that I only post here  :wink: about sleep and routine. Quite funny because they both follow BW and it's not like I don't tell them about our days. I also hang out with them quite regularly. I am sure there are other people out there that know me and have read my posts. It is hard to hide with names like Ankie and Arwyn.

Baby food... I make my own using organic fruits and veggies BUT only for this first round to introduce foods. There is a history of food allergies to some fruits and veggies in my family so I want to make sure that it is the food Arwyn is allergic to, not the pesticides. My sister swears up and down that her allergies are to the food itself but I want to make sure. I have also purchased jarred food for convenience.

I don't know how much longer I will keep making her food. She is on a solid strike right now and I feel I have been wasting food cuz I have to throw it out. DH has "tricked" her into eating solids by putting a Cheerio atop her spoonful of food. She will eat Cheerios until the cows come home and knows what cookies are. DH and I are both cookie freaks so she sees us eating them alot  :oops:  and definitely knows her Arrowroot cookies.

As for the sequence of foods to be introduced??? I follow the one in Pure & Simple Homemade Baby Food but it does contradict with other sources. I figure that if I vaguely follow it, it is good enough. I pick and choose as you may be able to tell cuz I have already given her Cheerios and Arrowroots, both which contain wheat products and sugar.  :roll:

Okay... long post, sorry... AND I apologize to those I have not addressed. I do love hearing about all the los and have been diligently reading about everybody. I just can't seem to get on here as much as I would like lately.

Ta ta...

[Olivia's Mommy]

Andrea, Liv just went through what I think was a 6-month growth spurt. She tends to hit her GSs about a week before she hits that age. She started waking at night and needing a feed to get back to sleep. She wasn't interested in eating much during the day for a couple of days, then she wanted to eat every couple hours for a few days! She was also very fussy and clingy, but I don't know if that was due to the GS or to her teeth coming in...yes, they happened at the same time--lucky me!

[Erin M]

Hi everyone - we're back    ...and I have caught up on my 14 pages of reading.  I was thinking on the plane on the way back how I was looking forward to coming back and catching up with my virtual BW friends.

Richelle - So glad to hear you weathered the storm OK - I brought all sorts of blankets on the plane and ended up BF in the airport on the way there and then constructing a tent on the way back and BF on the plane.  She was better than I had hoped both ways, so I was happy about that.

We had a great time in Puerto Rico, though it's sad to come back to chilly weather (and it's not even that cold yet!).  Tried to keep Katie sort of on schedule while we were away - at least in keeping with her eating at roughly the same time and then getting her naps in as well.  (The eating definitely went better than the naps!)  Our nights also did go pretty well too - the first and the last were a bit rough, but not too bad at all.  I've got a picture below of her in the sand and another one we took just about a week ago.  I LOVED everyone else's pictures and enjoyed looking at them. 

Hayley - happy belated birthday!
Ankie - happy Anniversary!

Hooray for sleeping babies and eating babies (so many on this thread right now!).  What else....oh, I LOVE British Columbia - DH and I honeymooned there and had a wonderful time. 

Would love to chat sometime - will check to see when everyone is around.  Oh, Katie has a Taggies book which she loves and we've had some success with the Nuby cup.  Think that's about it - looking forward to hearing from everyone!

[B&BMommy]

Hello all, I'm new to this group. I just joined.
Wanted to say hello,

My name is Holly, my son is 7 months old (Born March 20) and his name is Brady.  I am so looking for help in establishing a routine with him. Is it too late to start one.  I was told at the hospital that I feed, let sleep and everything inbetween on demand. I now have a very spirited baby boy, who won't nap longer than 15-20 minutes and wakes constantly through the night. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  We all need sleep.  I now realize that babies need routines and I'm afraid its too late.

Help!

Holly

[Colesmom]

girls, this is going to be loooooooooooooooooooooong.  there is just so much to talk about that I don't know where to start.

hannah-was it you who thought you were getting your period because you were overly sensitive or something?  i thought it funny that you apologized thinking you'd upset me for saying that yesterday went well.  LOL  It did go well, aside from the ride home.  Cole was fine after and had a great nights sleep thankfully.

Whomever asked about the growth spurt.  Cole was 6 months on a wednesday...and he had a spurt on the wed. the week before, the day of and the week after???  Basically took I think two extra feeds at night.  Fed at 8pm and maybe one additional middle of the night feed.  days stayed the same.

as for solids, my ped told me to start with the grains, go to veggies then fruit, then meat.  I was surprised that meat was allowed after 6 months...i thought it would be later.  Egg yolk wait until 8-10 months, egg whites wait until 10-12 and dairy after 12.  I want to start Cole on a veggie tomorrow but it would have to be potato as it's the only thing in the house.  I have Annabel Karamels First Meals and it says not to blend potato or sweet potato as it gets gluey but to use a sieve or food mill :?  :?  :?  I think I'll just mash it through a strainer.  Nikki-great to hear than Danielle is finally getting the hang of it.

I went shopping today!  I left the house for 3 hours.  I was supposed to be gone longer but I called home to check on the boys.  It took all my willpower not to call for the first couple of hours.  I figured no harm.  I left when Cole was down for nap 2.  It was only 30 minutes long :?   I think because DH didn't listen to my instructions AGAIN and held him too long so he couldn't transition.  Then he only took 2 oz. at his bottle.  Then he crawled away while being changed and peed all over the carpet.  DH was fine but a little worried that he hadn't eaten.  He also didn't hear me say to give him cereal if he didn't take the bottle.  Oh well.  I came home and DH had successfully put him down for catnap. We had to wake him at 4:45.  Cole keeps taking shorter 2nd naps and longer catnaps and i'm not sure if it's a big deal.  He still went down okay for 6:30 or so tonight so i guess it doesn't matter. 

Anyway, I spent $500!!!  It was so great.  My future SIL has great taste in clothes.  She is soooo stylish.  Keep in mind that I have worn 11 different coloured t-shirts (Old Navy) and two pairs of capri pants all summer.  I had one other pair of pants and a skirt that I wore (with the t-shirts) to summer functions.  And my pregnancy wardrobe was pretty meager too.  I deserved some clothes. 
I got a green twead coat and cute little floral top (H&M), dark jeans and dark teal velvet fitted blazer (gap), cream hoodie, silk belt/scarf, black v neck sweater (Old Navy) and green V neck sweater (Club Monaco).  Was supposed to get boots, handbag and necklace too...but I'll have to do that myself with Cole.  I'll have to take pics in my new duds on Sunday.  We're going to brunch.  I can't wait to surprise everyone.  I usually look so blah and like such a frump.  I have to admit that the jeans look super sexy :wink:   And they are the "long and lean" style.  I never ever in a million years would have tried them on without Marta there.  I usually go for curvy because my legs are bigger than everything else.  Funny though...I think they are smaller than they used to be.

Oh, and I guess Cole doesn't sleep through by definition.  No biggie.  As long as he goes right back down after feeding at sleeps until 6 I consider the night a huge success.  Last night he fed at 10:30 and 3:00.  He latched on like a madman at 3 but I only gave one boob and he settled right back down until 6:30.  yippee.  I think I'll try to reduce the number of minutes on the boob and if that doesn't work I'll try water at night.   Not sure about the bottle though since he wasn't too impressed to drink from it today.  I wonder if it's because I've introduced the sippy too with a different "nipple"?  OR I could try wake to sleep again.  It seems he wakes pretty much around 4 hours after his night feed. 

oops, ILs are here.  They went to an Elvis show hee hee and were passing through so they are staying for dinner.  I just want to ask one more thing...

how much cereal do you give your los?  The box says to work up to 3 tbsp.  Cole is already up to 3 after one week and he gobbles it up.  So now do I give him 3 tbsp and some veggies?

I wonder if he didn't take more than 2 oz this afternoon because he wasn't hungry?  After he woke from catnap I offered the boob and he ate but not with as much muster as I would expect :?   I guess I won't worry too much.  If he wakes up extra tonight them maybe I'll know he didn't get enough milk.

alright girls.  see you tomorrow.

[Colesmom]

Hi Holly,

Welcome to BW!  Hopefully we can help you out.  It's never too late to start your little one on a routine.  It may take a little longer to establish it because he will have certain habits ingrained...but it will be well worth it in the end.  Maybe to start you could give us an idea of what your day looks like?  How often to you feed and approximately the times?  The times you attempt to put your lo down for naps, even though they are short?  And what time do you put him to bed at night and what time does he wake for the day.  By looking at your day we might be able to offer suggestions.

You may also want to look at the top of this forum for sample EASY schedules for 6+ month olds.  You'll see how often people breast/bottle feed, offer solids and put their los down for naps and night sleep.

If you don't have Tracy's books I suggest you buy her newest one The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems.  There is a lot of valuable information in there, including I believe a section on putting your lo on a routine when they've never had one.

By the way, I'm just around the corner in Scarborough near the Rouge Hill GO Station

I'll check in the morning to see if you've posted again.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific Qs and I'll do my best or at least help you post your questions on the appropriate forum.

[B&BMommy]

Thanks so much for your post Traci....wow you are close by! 
Okay so as for our routine, or lack of I should say... changes from day to day, as I mentioned before, Brady makes his own schedule, which was what I was originally told to do at the hospital etc. Being a first time mom, I thought they were right, I don't know anymore, as we just can't seem to establish a routine at all.  Thanks for your help in trying to get Brady onto a schedule. I appreciate it greatly. 

Our day starts around 6:30am, bf, plays for about an hour then back for nap around 7:30-8:00 am.  Naps for only about 15mins-30mins
Back up , plays. At approx 10:30am, cereal  and bottle.  Nap for about 15-30 mins.  Back up again.  Fussy at about noon, try to put back down, maybe will sleep for half an hour.  Eats again around 2:30pm - cereal, and fruit and bottle, won't sleep after this meal.

Won't sleep again until around 4pm, this is usually his longest sleep, maybe for about 45 minutes.  Up again, and then  will eat around 6:30, cereal, and veggie, then bottle. only 4-5 oz this time as I do one bf before bedtime again.  Plays, had daddy and him time, bath, bed routine, then bf at about 8:30pm and then to bed by around 9pm. 

Now as for his night sleep habits.  Bed around 9pm. wakes about half an hour later. After picking him up and rocking with him, he will fall back asleep till around mindnight. Then hes' up fussing quite intensly, hard to calm him down.  He will go down again in about an hour for about 45 minutes, then back up, and this is truly our routine until 6:30 am again. And we start all over again. He doesn't seem to want to sleep in his crib, but will sometimes be soothed by sleeping lying on me.  Problem is I can't sleep that way. :!:   Also I should meniton that I am at fault, I give a night time feeding sometimes around 3-4 am in hopes he will fall back asleep, so as you can see, I am in need of getting a routine going and sticking to it.

So that is our day. I'm so hoping I can establish a routine with him soon. I will be going to get Tracy's new book for sure.  Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.  Thanks Traci.

Holly