Babies Born April 1st - 15th 2008 #1

[Beatrix]

just a quick drop in


MJ has croup so dont have much comp time atm

BBL

[mgm]

Hi everyone

Not much to report - still tired, and DD still has that damned cough. She's suddenly really good on her tummy though, despite my not being the most diligent tummy-timer. She can now lift herself quite high up and smiles and enjoys herself instead of collapsing onto the floor crying.

grubi does your dh go out often at night? can you ask him to do some of the nighttime parenting? i so often wish my dh would help but in reality there's not much he can do at this stage, especially since waking him would mean waking ds (they're in the same room) and that's the last thing i'd want to do.

beatrix how awful, hope MJ is better soon.

shoegal congrats on the dummy-free sleep!

fire i second your mum's comment on night parenting. does your dd sleep alone now? if so, is she happy with that? my 4-yr-old ds still wishes he slept with me - and he could, except with dd waking all the time it wouldn't be so great right now. but i do feel very bad about having had to evict him from my room, even though he has dh with him.

mummymeg the raspberry trick sounds cute! aren't the little baby noises just gorgeous. my dd has a very sweet way of making little 'ah!' noises when she wants me to 'chat' with her.

nettie i can't remember where you are, but here in vic it's definitely hot food weather! i've started to put an extra layer on dd 'cause it's so chilly.

bw and steph, you're obviously much better at wrapping than i am. i have a grobag swaddle and also an escape-proof velcro-ed thing, but the velcro one makes dd a bit sweaty and she wriggles right out of anything else very quickly, so i only swaddle for the first part of the night now.

all right, now to see if dd will let me shower... have a good day everyone .

[bellelass]

Precedent tells me that the disturbed sleep patterns means a big grow is coming. Lila still doesn't sleep like she was, I'm beginning to think its not that I moved her to the cot. Last night she fed/comfort sucked for hours and hours, if I took her off she'd get very upset. Luckily DH has hooked up the wireless net, so I can lie in bed and feed and do net stuff. I'm feeding right now. Anyway, last night she was down for the count at 8pm which is three hours early and I knew I was in for it. Tried to sleep but couldn't since I'm used to going to bed at midnight. Finally drifted off at my usual bedtime only to be up again at 2am. Up for three hours, then at 5 went back to the big bed to do what's become the usual doze-eat pattern. Bah. I don't like this at all.

At least she's a happy little bear. When she was up last night she was smiley and giggly and bright eyed, could have been fussy. She spends more time laughing than crying so that's something. And the crying is always solved with a cuddle and/or boobie.

Cracked it the other day at DH, I was already pretty upset about stuff and then the last straw broke the camel's back as it were. The next day I had heaps of me time, did some shopping for extremely silly things (lacy things and sweet smelling things) and had lunch out with a friend. Made all the difference.

Am looking to get a Mei Tai. Does anyone else have one? Heard anything about them good or bad? They're so cool/nice looking, I think I have my fabrics narrowed down. And I want a good sling that doesn't kill my shoulders after an hour. The one I have now is ok, but I can't have her in it the way I used to and when I have her upright it puts weird pressure on my shoulders and slips down.

Janine- I'm interested in this continuim concept, could you sum it for me in a few sentences maybe? If you don't mind that is... I had a really messy, unhappy upbringing and I'm determined to do everything in my power to raise a happy, well-adjusted little girl who knows her mummy loves her.

Beatrix- You poor thing. Its just one thing after another, you're wonderwoman to me. I wish I was closer, I'd offer to come help out or something.

MGM- I never could do those ready-made swaddles. I'm hopeless. A gay mid-man (?) in the hospital showed me how to wrap, its never done me wrong. And gave me a lot of confidence that I could handle her less than gently without her caring too much. I had been touching her like she was made of gold-gilded crystal.

Grubi- I guess it would be ok if she continued to sleep with us if MIL would take her. But Dh and I have adult time nearly every night and doing without it really throws us both off for the whole next day. I suppose if she sticks to half and half that would be an ok compromise.

Ack more personals to do but gtg.... hope all is well.

[Beatrix]

Steph- i have a meh tai!! from ABA is fantastic!!!! love it!!!!!

well its not croup its broncilities (not broncitis) so nothing that i can do cept for humidifier and panadol as she has a temp

[BabyWrangler]

Beatrix,
Im so glad its not croup, not the boncilitis is much better really...still a hacking cough and poor miserable baby!
Hope you're coping ok!

As for the sling...I dont do the sling thing, I don't carry him around with me at home, if he;s up we have a play on the floor then I go do stuff and come and visit him, if we are out he is in his pram, or for quick trips into the shops I put him in the Baby Bjorn active (with lumbar support) best thing since sliced bread I reckon!

MGM Bj is loving tummy time more and more and is pushing up a little too...mind you, I've been a tummy nazi since day one!

[bellelass]

BW- I think I would lose my mind without slinging Lila as she doesn't sleep during the day. Won't go in the pram, hates hates hates it. She's perfectly happy to be close to someone, usually me. I figure if that's what she needs then I'll provide it. My mother has some rather antiquated ideas about child rearing and assured me that if I keep her close to me like that she'll end up clingy and needy. I'll take my chances...

Beatrix- Hey thanks for the input. Is there anything you don't like about it? How is it for wearing for a few hours at a time? I hope your little one feels better soon.

Gah I was watching this show on SBS this avo called "Rescue Parent" all about new parents and the help they get learning to take care of their baby. They had one woman (who had a very similar baby to mine- no sleeping during the day) who came into the center to ask for help on how to deal with her little girl not sleeping in the day. I'm thinking pop her in the sling and go on with your life. No no, they had her check into one of those 24-7 parenting clinic things and forced her to CC her baby. Was saying that the crying was temper, blah blah and she should not "give in" to it and that if her baby wasn't sleeping during the day her brain wasn't developing right. A weeny little baby. All that stupid crap a nurse was telling me at Lila's 8 week. They did it for days and days. The mother hated it, the baby cried unheeded until it gave up. Awful. Awful.

I think about things like that and I wonder what are the far reaching effects? Probably impossible to tell but there's no way that sort of bull has no effect on the kid. *end rant*

[Butterfly_Princess]

Hey Girls,
Just a quickie, just loading up a piccie of my engagement ring, it was my Bday yesterday and Ben proposed!!
Isabell was a good girl for the IL's yesterday and last night, im very proud of her.

[Sharon19270]

Meg Happy birthday for yesterday, and congratulations on the engagement, how exciting

[alittlegrubi]

grubi does your dh go out often at night? can you ask him to do some of the nighttime parenting? i so often wish my dh would help but in reality there's not much he can do at this stage, especially since waking him would mean waking ds (they're in the same room) and that's the last thing i'd want to do.

My DH was going out at least twice a week, but we had words a while back and he has cut back on how often he goes now. He does his share other than the sleeping thing and that is largely because DS just won't let me evict him. DH asked DS if he wants to sleep with Daddy but the answer is always the same - "No thanx, I sleep with Mummy."

fire i second your mum's comment on night parenting. does your dd sleep alone now? if so, is she happy with that? my 4-yr-old ds still wishes he slept with me - and he could, except with dd waking all the time it wouldn't be so great right now. but i do feel very bad about having had to evict him from my room, even though he has dh with him.

I don't find DS is disturbed by DD waking at all during the night, it is only if it is after 5.30am that he might get disturbed, but three in the bed can be a bit too much sometimes. MGM Has your 4yr-old given you a reason for wanting to sleep with mummy?
Meg - Congrats on the engagement and too.
GTG DS is making too much noise and might wake DD, got to see what is going on.

[mgm]

congratulations meg! how exciting.

wrote a post last night and put it in the other thread by mistake. this split-thread thing is too confusing for me in my sleep-deprived state!

[Fire]

meg - congratulations!
dd begged for her own room so she got it,btw. we don't see her all night (and i miss her). she even gets cranky the nights dh sleeps on the floor of her room to get quiet sleep. we have told her she is always welcome back but she just high tailed it outta there (doesn't like sleeping with the baby). so it is true that when their need for dependence is honored and they can progress at their own rate, they do become more independent and less fearful in the long run compared to others their age. she isn't afraid of the dark or being alone and goes to bed before her bedtime. it worked out well.

steph- continnum concept take a look around. the book is amazing but i've found The Vital Touch to be just as good if not better.

My mother has some rather antiquated ideas about child rearing and assured me that if I keep her close to me like that she'll end up clingy and needy. I'll take my chances...

ask her if she thinks those huge tribal men in the jungle are needy and clingy and dependent. they all cosleep and are carried constantly and comforted by the breast in childhood. so are gorillas! nuthin' weeny about a gorilla!

i'm in eczema hell right now so haven't got long. doing gut healing on myself to heal ds. it just sucks. i'll come back when i'm feeling positive.

[Fire]

double

[alittlegrubi]

As always... thanks Fire for sharing your research, I am beginning to see where I am going so tragically wrong. It is my inactivity that is causing my problems by the look of it and why DD is fine at night, but not during the day. Am going to make an effort to be more active and see if it makes a difference.

[Beatrix]

well just thought i would pop in quick

Been at the hosp most of the day with Mj, poor thing needed to be put on some oxygen. This bronciolitis is really knocking her about. she hasnt been feeding well for the last 24hrs and i had gotten so engorged. Luckily a good dose of oxygen and she was able to get a really good feed in.

ok best be off

[Sharon19270]

~Beatrix~ poor MJ hope she starts to get better soon, poor little sweetheart.

[Fire]

oh no beatrix! well wishes for mj.

[Sequoia]

Ness - Much love to you and MJ, hope she is feeling better soon.

Meg - congrats! I notice you are in Perth, good luck with the wedding planning. We got married at Aquinas, then reception at Altitude 9 in November 2005, was great fun planning.

Me - Baxter goes to sleep with no worries at about 10.00pm, but for the past 4 mornings has woken at 5.00am and won't go back to sleep regardless of the countless dummy returns we do (definitely not hungry), so we bring him to our bed and he slept until 9.00am today! Little rascal! DH and I enjoy him being in our bed, but it makes me nervous that one of us will roll on to him, plus, I feel secure when he is in his cot as the Babysense monitor is on.

Hello to Grubi, Janine, mgm, BW, Steph and Sharon.

Have a lovely weekend all. My Dad is coming over (lives 90 mins away) to help DH with some more of our house building, the roof went on this week! Hopefully we will be in by early next year. ATM we are living in a tiny 2 bed unit, I am literally tripping over myself with how full this little place is!

SG
xo

[BabyWrangler]

Beatrix I hope MJ is feeling better soon!

Meg CONGRATULATIONS!! Wooohooo!!!

I have uploaded photos of how I wrap benjamin, they are in my gallery under the heading my wrap...hope everyone can find them!!!