Babies Born August 1st ~ 15th 2009 #2

[Saffi]

Hi all

koru - what a relief that your sister is ok. Not good about the DVT tho. Any plans for her to go back to NZ? Yay for the garage sale. I'm too lazy to do something like that.

AFU - major cranky bub here! She's not sleeping much, not feeding much, crying a lot and doing really yucky poos. She has 3 teeth coming through so I think she's in a bit of pain. To top it off I think she's got some kind of cough. Its really frustrating as I'll feed her to sleep, transfer her to the cot and she'll wake up immediately or within 20 mins. So she slept with me last night and pretty much used me as a human dummy all night! Don't hold much hope for her sleeping today.

On the upside the shelves in M's room are up and some cute canvas prints. I really should move her in......

Anyway, the screaming has begun....

[nicjay]

Saffi - M sounds like E was when she was sick last week, poor little thing I hope she's better soon and that you can get some rest.

Rach - Yay for Eli cruising! Wow you're going to have your hands full soon aren't you? LOL Don't know about the squealing though, I'd probably just tell him gently not to do it, but not necessarily expecting him to listen and stop it!!

Issy - I think you just have to do what is right for you and your family. As I've said before E feeds about 4 times a night here and I do it mostly so DD1 doesn't get disturbed too much as she has been really tired with school, but honestly just do what works best for you

Koru - I hope your sister is on the mend soon and glad to hear she's OK. Must have been one scary earthquake I know I'll never forget the one here in Newcastle and it was only a littlie compared to Chile!

Hi everyone else, sorry to run but E has just woken up from her nap crying! At least she is almost over her bronchiolitis now, just got a little bit of a lingering cough. Hoping to get our 6 months needles sometime next week, fingers crossed for 3rd time lucky! We had another try of solids again over the weekend too with a bit more success. She still was not real fussed - screwed up her face and spat a lot back out - but she didn't vomit, yay! It took ages to get her to a about a teaspoons worth, but hopefully we will continue to make some slow progress.

[issy02]

Oh saffi - poor little bubba girl. Getting teeth can do all sort of nasty things to them cant it? DS1 always spiked a temp, got an ear infection, or runny nose at the time of teething and basically fed all night as a result. He co-slept with us for 2 years so it didnt really matter if he fed all night or not. I didnt even notice him feeding. I think feeding them and just being there while they are going through something like that is the best thing to do...you just wish you could take the pain away from them...poor little things.

Koru - good on you for setting up a garage sale...what a great idea! Good luck with the move too. It will prob be easier than you imagine. And its a great opportunity to have a clean out, a fresh start and re-organise things.

Cheezlemonster - happy wedding anniversary. Hope you had a lovely time away! I hear ya on the baby stuff though, since Lochie has been born we have travelled to mildura a few times and to melbourne for a 10 day holiday. The amount of stuff we had to bring for him was crazy! The jump from one child to 2, one of which is an infant means a thousand more things to organise and bring along with us.

Ellee - hope you are feeling better We have days like that here all the time, things just seem to hard sometimes and all I want to do is sleep, or shut myself away and read a book. If the house is too messy and im having one of those day, I just leave and deal it with i get back

bbl girls, time on here is limited

issy

[~Trish~]

Hi everyone!

Issy - I hear you on the limited time on here, hence why I don't get to post in here very often!

megsmum - I'm glad E is starting to feel better. And hooray for doing better with solids! It won't be long until she's eating like a pro

Saffi - Poor M . I hope she is feeling better soon. I hope you got some sleep last night too!

Tippytoes - Sounds like you have a good plan for overnight feeds . I usually give Alana a dreamfeed at 9pm and then she wakes for a feed around 4-5am. If she wakes sooner I try resettle her first, if she's hungry she's good at letting me know LOL! I can't BELIEVE that Eli is cruising already . I think we should start taking bets on when he will start walking .

Koru - Welcome back! You're poor sister, I hope she's OK. It must have been a scary few days for you all.

CheezelMonster - I hope you had a lovely time away for your anniversary . Ours 8 year anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. I hope your DS starts settling more easily for you soon. How long do you keep him up before putting him down for a nap? I wonder if he's overtired? Alana is much harder to settle if she's been awake for more than 2 hours at a time.

Ellee - Love your ticker photo . I hope you get some more sleep soon .

misty - Woohoo for Baz being worm free! Hopefully they stay away this time!!

Hi to anyone I've missed!

AFU - DH took the boys away camping for the weekend so I had a nice quiet weekend with Alana. She's loving her rice cereal, she has started napping for longer during the day after having solids which is great! I'll start vegies with her this week. She can now commando crawl forwards, although she doesn't go far and is still hands and knees crawling backwards. She always does something new on her monthly anniversary LOL! At 3 months she rolled from tummy to back, at 4 months she rolled from back to tummy, at 5 months she started crawling backwards and at 6 months she started commando crawling. I wonder if she'll start walking at 7 months? JK!

We are planning a 6 week caravanning trip over to WA in September/October. I have NO idea how she'll go travelling that far or how she'll go sleeping in the caravan! It's too hard to predict because they change so much by the time they're 12 months+ old. I'm sure we'll manage and have fun though.

Anyway, I'd better go and tackle the washing. The boys brought home lots of dirty clothes and towels for me, how nice.

Have a great day all!

[Willow]

Hey all, thougth I'd pop in quickly while I have sleeping children and 5 mins to myself!

Sleep/feeding overnight - Totally agree that feeding every hour etc is over the top. I think if you're feeding every hour or many times at night then something's probably amiss but you do what works for you at the end of the day. I don't however see anything unusual in a 6 month old baby that feeds once or twice overnight. Not at all. I think it's unrealistic to think that most babies could go all night without a feed. If your baby sleeps through then that's awesome, but I'd dare say most babies wouldn't at this age.

For those who are resettling instead of feeding - How are you doing this? ie rocking, patting etc?? And how long are you spending each time? Nights like last night where we had a shocker and he woke about 4 times I think I need to resettle sometimes instead of feed. But to be honest, he doesn't settle quickly and I get so tired I just cave and feed him again I don't have a problem feeding him once or twice overnight but I want to cut out any more feeds than that. Have set myself a goal to work on them one at a time.

Also, anyone else down to 2 day sleeps already?? I've decided to stop fighting DS to have that last late afternoon nap and instead am putting him to bed at 6.30pm. Not ideal but I think he's over it to be honest. I've persisted for about 3 weeks now and he is still refusing that third sleep. He has two good sleeps of at least 1.5 hours usually, so he's still averaging 3-4 hours sleep a day. On the days he has short sleeps for some reason then he will have three but as I said, his naps are usually pretty good so that doesn't happen very often.

Misty - Glad to hear Baz is finally worm free. You must be so relieved. Good work on the weight loss too, you're doing an awesome job!

Saffi - Just noticed yesterday that D is cutting his two top teeth. Ouch! They look very red, inflamed and sore. I can clearly see the whites of the teeth so hopefully they won't take too much longer to come through. He hasn't been too out of sorts with it though, wonder if that teething necklace really works?? He has had a third on the bottom popping up and down for about 3 weeks now but still hasn't cut it. Weird. I know that can happen but I've never seen it before. Hope Immy is feeling better soon. How long now till you go back to work?

Koru - Glad to hear your sister is OK.

Megs - Glad to hear DD is feeling better. Hope she gets the hang of the solids soon. I switched to finger foods/BLS a bit a few days ago and have seen a huge improvement. Doing a mixture of that and mashed stuff too. I am so slow, I didn't realise you were in Newcastle! Have I already told you we are planning a move up there hopefully in about 18 months time??

[tippytoes]

Hey guys have to be quick...
Willow -

But to be honest, he doesn't settle quickly and I get so tired I just cave and feed him again I don't have a problem feeding him once or twice overnight but I want to cut out any more feeds than that.

I totally get this! I agree 1-2 maybe even 3 feeds every now and then is cool with me. It was just that Eli was getting up SOOOO much. I was so tired so just feed him cause it was easier than re-settling him. I now try to re-settle him with rocking, I need to pick him up ATM or he will just cry and cry - which I don't like! So I pick him up and rock him and sing gently to him. I am also trying the 'heartbeat' setting on his mobile. It is very soothing. Hoping this will work...
Okay must get ready - first day of teaching tomorrow....and can you believe it is at my old Junior Primary School - I'm pretty sure it is the same classroom too ! Ahhh full circle!
Talk Soon Rach xx

[Saffi]

Willow/Rach - don't know if its a settling technique but its worksmost of the time. I hold M tightly against me and rock her ensuring her arms are held tightly to stop her hitting out. She will kick and scream but in a few minutes she calms down and will start to drift off.
Willow - I go back to work after Easter, so just over a month
Trish - WTG A on the crawling. I don't think M is far off either.

Yesterday was ok. She went down for a 2hour sleep in the morning (me too LOL) and then had a nap in the afternoon too. But... Bad night here. She was up and down all night. I brought her into bed with us, gave her nurofen and a bottle, took her into the loungeroom and rocked her and eventually just gave in brought her into bed and slept BF her. DS was also upset overnight.

Also M has a rash on her face, neck and down her back. Doesn't seem to be causing her any problems.????

[Willow]

Saffi - If she's been unwell it could just be a harmless viral rash. Very common in babies.

We had a bad night here last night too Not sure if its his teeth that are bothering him because the last two nights have been very average. It was very cool last night too for the first time in ages and he felt cold when I picked him up. I'm going to transition him from a wrap to a sleeping bag before it gets too cool. We have very cold nights here over winter. I ended up feeding him twice because I was just so tired but managed two resettles without feeding so I guess that's some progress.

Better go, off to see Hi-5 with my 2yo today, MIL is going to watch D for me for an hour or so.

[issy02]

Bad night for us too!

Lochie was up and down all night from about 12:30am onwards. He woke at 2am and threw up, projectile style, all over his bed, himself and me, so dh held him and changed his clothes while I changed his sheets. Then he was back to bed, and woke on and off for about an hour, then to sleep till 6:30am. Poor little thing was so pale, so I let him snuggle with us for a while until he dozed off again, then put him back to bed. A stupid door was banging last night due to the strong winds, so I had to get up and find which door was doing it and create a make shift wedge to stop it banging. I think that was what was keeping him from going back to sleep for an hour or so. He seems to be better today, im pretty sure it was his dinner that did it. We gave him some pasta and veggie mash last night...me thinks we have a gluten intolerant baby on our hands. I was the same as a baby....gluten and lactose intolerant! No more of that, thats for sure!

As for settling techniques - I dont rock lochie to sleep, he doesnt tolerate that very well...too squirmy! I just wrap him and put the dummy in, and lay him down. I stay with him for a minute or so, sometimes stroke his cheek or ear (he seems to love this) or place my hand over his chest until he seems settled. That usually does the trick. Lochie is a great self soother, I have never really had to rock him (except for when he is overtired and needs some help to settle) I have always just put him down and he puts his head to the side and stares till he falls asleep. I am still amazed at his ability to do this, as ds1 needed me to rock him, feed him to sleep or lay with him till he was about 2yrs old. I dont feed lochie to sleep during the day, he has a feed then i sit him up and make sure we have a cuddle, a kiss and say goodnight, then he goes down awake and falls asleep on his own. I have done this from day 1 so he is pretty used to it, and now doesnt fall asleep feeding, except for when he is REALLY tired or upset, and I wouldnt dare wake him! Every now and then, he has a little protest and whinges as I lay him down, but I just tell him its ok, do the settling techniques mentioned above and walk away. He usually settles within a few minutes. On the vary RARE occassion that he is continues to protest, I either go in, re-wrap him (even if he is still wrapped), put the dummy back in, say the same things again, and walk away OR if I can see that he is spitting the dummy and struggling to much (a good indication that he is NOT ready for sleep) I get him up, have a play and a cuddle, maybe a top up feed for half hour or so and then try again. But overnight, he never needs this, just goes straight back to sleep. Our problem is not settling but too many waking episodes throughout the night (in the last few weeks...maybe just teeth?). Still, he has more good nights than bad I suppose.

Saffi - I hope M's rash goes away soon. Its good its not bothering her, and as mentioned, its pretty common I think.

Willow - have fun at hi-5 and WTG on resettling twice without feeding...thats great progress...moving forward!!!!!

bbl, Issy

p.s. sorry for essay...im terrible for long explanations!