Babies Born May 1st ~ 15th 2009

[Pandora]

thanks candice
Oscars checkup was today, he weighs 6.6kg..thats 1.4kg in 4 weeks!
will check in later, mums here helping.

[megs]

Hi everyone,

Nelly: Sorry to hear your little girl isn't well again. It is just awful isn't it. But with older siblings it is so hard to protect them from catching things, with all the kisses that they get.

Tattoo Mama: Glad to hear you are doing well. I used the Save our Sleep book with my second child. I didn't follow her routine to the letter of the law but loosley used her times as a guide for sleep times. It worked for me. I would say that one of the most challenging things I found was teaching a baby to self settle. The technique I used with Lewis was when he went to bed I would roll him on his side (facing away from me) and sort of hold his shoulder and gently pat his leg until he was almost asleep, I would then stop so he would have to put himself to sleep. I did this for about a week and then he was great I would put him in sleeping bag, put in cot and he would go straight to sleep. A girlfriend also did this and it worked for her. She also did the Save our Sleep routine her baby was bottlefed, she did the dream feed for ages.

Like Ray Ray says though not every routine works eg feed sleep play but I do find having general sleep times helps.

TMTM: Glad you have got to the bottom of Clare's accidents hopefully they will be fewer now.

Well Jack's appt went well, no hip dysplasia just an extra fat roll.

Hi to everyone else that I'm sure I have missed

[nelly]

Thanks Megs - I know. Jake smothers her literally and in kisses and cuddles too. he and Daddy do "pr.ckle pr.ckle" in the morning (rubbing their pr.ckly faces on eachother) and he does that and "crazy kisses" (a million kisses per second all sloppy and lovely) to her all the time... poor wee thing. Lucky she has such a lovely calm nature - got that form her father that's for sure!

[*Dee*]

Amazed - I started off swaddling Ethan when he was asleep, then I started doing it as he got sleepy and now I can swaddle hihm awake and he knows it's bedtime... He didn't like it at first either. And I also block feed tho I sometimes find that for his last feed at 9:30pm he is a little hungrier so I give him both sides (eventho he never finishes the 2nd side) and he sleeps from 10-4am then usually wakes up at 7am, tho the past few days he's been waking up at 6am.

BK - Poor Reuben, my DS1 was a chucker but ur poor boy, that must have been frightening.

Megs - I 'm glad Jacks hip is ok. What a considerate little sleeper u have there... hehehe

Nelly - I hear u on the sick baby too... Ethan has finally rid of his cold but now it's his tummy
I never considered putting Ethan to sleep on his belly in the day... hmmm might give that a go. I would like to get some kind of routine going thru the day.

TMTM - Tom sounds like a little angel... such a happy spirited boy! I'm glad u figured out what was happening with Claire, poor girl.

Tatt - sounds like things are going quite well for u, so happy for u I love Jades cute little smile... Adorable!

Well things are good over this side too. Ethan started rolling over last night, I was undressing him on the floor for his bath and he kept rolling away from me then when I turned him back he had the biggest smile on his face like he was about to crack up laughing... lol but he's not laughing yet. It was sooo cute!
He is sleeping well at night, but not sleeping thru. Same as before feed at 9:30, sleep at 10, feed at 4am then up at 6-7am, but I am finding that after his 4am feed he is restless and I have to keep getting up to him. I try to keep him awake for 2.5 hrs before bed to wear him out and that works for the first sleep block but after that I could be up 3- times just stroking his hair or patting him till he settles. A few nights ago I was up every 10 mins ALL NIGHT!! URGH! but he also hadnt had a dirty nappy for 2 days, then he did a poo during the night and was much more settled after.
Last night after his 4am feed he was making these loud gasp noises, I freaked out and ran to him but he seemed fine, he was still asleep, so I just took the dummy out his mouth and he stopped...??? strange...???
He's getting immunised today.... finally.. he's not sick and I have found a decent doctor!!! I'm also getting a referal for an allergy specialist. DH is allergic to colours, additives and preservatives and penacilin and asprin and it seems Ethan has inherited it! Everytime we eat something and DH gets sick, so does Ethan, yet I'm fine... so it's going trhu my breastmilk. 3 times it's happened with gravy, once with very mild curry and again last night with crumbed fish... again he hadn't had aq dirty nappy for 2 days then he went thismorning and boy did it stink the house out!!!! I know that breastfed babies can go 7 days with out having a dirty nappy but he is really irritable and restless when he doesnt go and calms right down after he has.

Does anyone have any tips on starting a daytime sleep routine? I thought maybe start putting him in his cot, but it's so cold in his room, maybe I should put a heater in there to warm it up first. He is still in his basinett with us at night. I'm not worried about a strict routine, he usually wakes around 6-7am then goes back to sleep around 8-9am for an hour, then he's all over the place from there till he has a nap at around 6pm - ish.

I also just noticed today he is getting cute little dimples when he smiles.... Awwwww hehehe

Someone mentioned contraception, I'm starting the mini pill. But I still haven't had AF yet.... Ahhhh the joys of breastfeeding... It can stay away as long as it likes.... lol

Anyway, gotta finish getting ready and take my little munchkin to the Dr... panadol in hand... poor little bub.

Hope everyone is well

[Toomanytoomany]

Rayray, Oscar's doing well! I don't get to weigh Tom until he's four months old now but he feels awfully heavy.

Nelly, I hope Sophia is getting better. Glad you found a sleep position that suits her while she's not well. What a worrying time for you! She sounds like a little darling. Tom loves being tickled too and the kids are always at him to make him laugh. He loves it when I "nom nom" on the lovely soft bit beneath his chin.

TM, babies cycle through a normal sleep cycle every forty minutes to an hour or so, they don't sleep soundly the whole time. So they'll have a little wakeful period where they might open their eyes and then settle of quietly again, they have dreaming sleep and they have heavy sleep. The trick is helping a baby learn to not rouse completely, or not accidentally rousing them completely when they are in that light stage.

Megs, glad there is no hip dysplasia to deal with. The braces are a pain, I believe! Good tip on settling the baby, I might have to give that one a try when Tom is being difficult. (I get about three good days then three bad days, it seems... just long enough to get used to sleeping again LOL.)

Dee, I'm sorry to hear Ethan is likely facing allergy issues. It's a PITA but good on you for being so alert to it all. I hope you don't have to wait too long to see an allergist. If we'd waited for the Royal Children's Hospital with Isobel, it would have been over a YEAR to get in for an assessment. We decided to pay a private one and "only" had to wait three moths. It seems like allergies are a growing problem! That must be awful for your dh too, although at least you are used to keeping various things out of your diet, at least. He's a clever little boy (Ethan, not your dh, though your dh probably is too) for rolling over!! By the way, Tom does the whole wakeful but not really awake from 4am too so I just doze on and off from then until 7 when he's ready to wake up properly. It's tiring!

Re daytime sleeps, they've been a bit haphazard with the school holidays and noisy kids in the house, but we seem to have settled into this: Tom goes back to sleep at about 8.30 for half an hour or so which is perfect for me to have breakfast and a shower. Then he is up for a bit, and has a nap in his pram basinette from about 10-11 but I usually ahve to go in at least once to rock him back off again. We generally go out after that, and then from about 1pm after I've had lunch we lie down together in bed and have a snooze until about 3 or 4. Then he will have another cat nap at some point before bedtime. It seems to be reasonably consistent.

I've hardly had to lay hands on Tom the last few days (well that's a bit of an exaggeration). My nine year old is totally in love with him and takes him for walks around the garden, carries him around the house, lies with him on her sister's bed with her other dollies and plays, even changes his bottom sometimes. She's in heaven! I'm going to miss her when she goes back to school on Monday!

I'm thrilled that this is the longest I've ever gone without a post partum period. I usually start six weeks to the day after birth, but nothing yet. Fingers crossed it will last! This is also the first time I've had no sign whatsoever of depression.

[tattoo_mama]

TMTM: thats really good that youve had no signs of PND and that DD is so in love with her little brother!

Megs: ill try the patting thing, ive found Jade loves looking at me, everyone kept saying go for a walk with the pram and shell go to sleep and she never would...caus she just stares at me...so i reversed the handle (so she was facing outwards but cant see out cause its still in bassinet mode) and she was asleep in 2 minutes! it only lasted the duration of the walk but hey! its a start.

Dee: i swear by swaddling..Jade has NEVER been able to sleep without being swaddled, not even on my chest or anything, she always startles herself or whacks herself in the face.

i know most of you are BF, but i have a question someone might be able to answer (Candice?)
usually i can feed jade, burp her halfway, then finish the feed, she usually takes most of the feed, when she didnt want anymore shed just purse her lips...the last week, i go to burp her halfway thru then she refuses to take any more bottle, pushes it out with her tongue and cries and carries on. so i tried not burping her til the end (e.g. try make her drink the whole bottle in one go) but about halfway thru she starts pushing it out of her mouth and crying like before. its same formula, same amount, i just dont know whats going on with her? im not sure whther she has an upset stomach, or whether shes developed it as a habit and shes crying caus she actuallly still IS hungry??? very frustrating for both me and her.

on the plus side, mum said shed babysit tomorrow night so im going clubbing with one of my girlfriends, i cant wait to go have a few drinks and run a muck( and now i can look at guys and not feel guilty!!! lol)

[Maruschke]

i know most of you are BF, but i have a question someone might be able to answer (Candice?)
usually i can feed jade, burp her halfway, then finish the feed, she usually takes most of the feed, when she didnt want anymore shed just purse her lips...the last week, i go to burp her halfway thru then she refuses to take any more bottle, pushes it out with her tongue and cries and carries on. so i tried not burping her til the end (e.g. try make her drink the whole bottle in one go) but about halfway thru she starts pushing it out of her mouth and crying like before. its same formula, same amount, i just dont know whats going on with her? im not sure whther she has an upset stomach, or whether shes developed it as a habit and shes crying caus she actuallly still IS hungry??? very frustrating for both me and her.

Oh Emma this happened to us too! I don't know why, lasted about 3 days and then it went away. She did a HUGE (and I mean... absolutely massive!) diarrhea poo, and then went back to normal. I was so concerned, I even started using a medicine dropper to get milk into her. In the end I didn't force her to feed more in one sitting than she wanted, but just had to offer the bottle twice as often and it sorted itself out. Sorry this is stressing you! So long as she is hydrated she should be ok. Does she have enough wet and dirty nappies? Babe you are doing a great job!

[amazed]

nelly and others: I am having paragard (the alternative to merina) inserted, too. As much as I'd like another baby, I'm not sure this month is the best timing!

tatoo_mama: could she have reflux?

TMTM: Jonah still sleeps a lot during the day. I let him. He also sleeps well at night, albeit at two and a half hour intervals. However, during the day, he only naps in his swing. I don't know if I should be concerned about that or when one should wean kids of motion naps.

Dee: boy, that's an early roller! That's the end of putting him down and walking away for you! My kiddo has dimples, too. Unfortunately, he still does not smile much even though he is eight weeks. He kinda smiles sometimes but not very good at social smiling yet.

Also, Dee: how do you swaddle him while he's sleeping? Mine would wake up?

I'm doing fine. I'm a bit concerned about the amount of mucus in Jonah's nose. He had one episode in which he had trouble breathing for half a minute. Being so small, he does not automatically switch to mouth breathing. So I am taking to a doctor soon. In the meantime, I started running a cold-mist humidifier over him whenever he is napping.

He's a great baby but not yet very social. He interacts a bit but none of that social smiles you are supposed to get... And today is his eight week! On the other hand, he's very precocious physically and started trying to babble -- mostly talks to his mobile. I stand over him and tell him that the mobile won't be giving him milk so he should try talking to Mum!

Megs: when you rolled your kid away from you, did he stay still? Mine would grunt and squirm like crazy if I did that.

Rayray: Big baby! Mine is gaining weight well, too. I'm afraid to learn how much he weighs!

[megs]

Amazed: Yes for a start he would grunt and squirm, I would just hold him firmly and keep lightly patting and slightly rocking him until he stopped. Some sleeps were better than others.

Re smiles, I wouldn't worry Jack is only really smiling lots and he is 10 weeks.

I must say so far with Jack he still likes being swaddled so I haven't used this method yet. But Jack is still in his moses basket in our room as my nusery still isn't finished. If DH doesn't hurry up the cot will in our room too. And on his side of the bed.

Dee: routines, well I sort of have one with Jack, he wakes between 6 and 7 am. I try to strech him til about 8.30am then put him down. He generally has a good morning sleep. He will wake around 11am. I then try to put him down again by 1pm.
His aft sleeps having become a bit hit and miss. Depending on when he wakes he then has a nap in his bouncer (I have one of the old fashioned mesh ones) probably around 5ish. Then he is in bed by 8ish. It sort of depends how i'm going with the other kids too.

TMTM: That sounds so lovely that your DD is loving her brother. I bet your have enjoyed having the break. Glad to hear AF is staying away for you.
I have just started the mini pill so not sure when mine will come back.

TM: Hope you have a great night out.

[Pandora]

Dee, Your daytime sleep situation sounds like ours. How much sleep is he having in total in 24 hours? It may well be that he is getting all of it in the first 2-3 sleeps.

Normally after 3 months it should get a bit more of a pattern to it with fewer but longer sleeps. That said it may not be as easy, we had a tough time with Milo from 4-5 months with daytime sleep but it settled down after that.

TM - re formula (Milo was formula fed from 6-12 months) is it at every feed or just one/some of them? It might be that shes not hungry. I know its important to follow the directions on the tin when you make up the formula, but the amount that they suggest is a guide, and it *could* be that shes just not as hungry that feed...same as older kids and adults are more hungry some times than others. Also at around 8 weeks theres a major developmental period and its not uncommon ofr them to feed more/less often and have poor sleep patterns as well.

Amazed - does paragard have less sde effects that mirena??

[Olive]

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