Babies Born~July 1st-15th 2009 #1

LNB I hope you're enjoying the lovely weather in Melb today. I'm hoping to take Ash out for a good walk this afternoon and enjoy some fresh air!

Glad to hear you're getting some good night sleeps Blayne! I'm still waiting for Ash to sleep through, he has come really close a couple of times, but generally wakes at 4am for a feed. Mind you the last three days he has been waking up around 2.30 or 3am, but I think we are going through the 12 week growth spurt...

Ash has been wanting extra feeds the last few days too Bekz, I think it's probably a 12 week thing. I don't know too much about the wonder weeks, but he has definately been a little bit more grouchy and hungry the last few days...

Lovelycate, way to go on the weight gain! I'm planning on taking Ash into the open clinic for a weight and height check up now that he's 12 weeks.

Heva sounds like your little man is doing much the same as Ash. Sometimes Ash has a couple of days where he does a great job at tummy time, then we'll have a couple where he absolutely hates and the only way he'll tolerate it is if he can get his fist in his mouth, it's quite funny actually he lays there sucking his hand and giving a look of defiance :lol: Ash is only just beginning to recognise toys. He doesn't reach out to them, but if I put them on his chest he will enjoy touching them and then tries to put them in his mouth. Occassionally he bats at the toys on hanging on his playmat, but sometimes I think he hits them by fluke when he is just waving his arms around. I also make a point of actually putting things in his hand to hold, so he gets the idea of gripping things, but he usually lets go pretty soon after. So I wouldn't worry too much, but maybe ask your MCHN about it if it is worrying you...

Jetta your breastfeeding schedule sounds much the same as ours. Ash will generally feed every 3 to 4 hours, often it just depends on the day. For a long time I was waking him for feeds during the day, but now he is pretty used to the routine. The only one I have to wake him for now is the one before he goes to bed. I do however tend to let him sleep to whatever time he wants in the morning (I love getting the sleep in myself if I can!) so that does mean our feeding times vary during the day, but I think it means his body clock gets to set the routine iykwim. I find that the time he wakes up in the morning usually depends on when he had his night feed. If it is around 4am he will usually sleep till sometime between 7.30 and 8.30am. But if he wakes for his feed earlier in the night we usually end up getting up earlier. Up until Monday we were consistently doing 6 feeds a day (around 7.30, 11am, 2.30pm, 6pm, 9pm and 4am), but for the last couple of days he has wanted to feed every 3 hours during the day so we are currently doing 7 feeds at the moment (hope it reverts back soon though!). Our naps also vary a bit during the day, usually anything from 30mins through to a couple of hours. I try to do the feed, play, sleep thing but like you if he wakes early I will try and get him back to sleep, if I can't we'll have a play until it's time for the feed. The amount of time he stays awake also varies from 45 mins through to about an hour and half depending on how much sleep he's had beforehand. So by the sound of things Sams routine is pretty similar to ours. But at the end of the day I think if it is working for you two don't worry about what other people are doing. I know a few people who thought I was crazy waking Ash up to feed, but it worked for us, we have a great routine and the day goes reasonably smoothly.

jetta - we're not really doing a schedule here, still doing demand feeding but i think DS is pretty much working his own schedule out as we go along...DS feeds during the day anywhere between 2-3 hours usually. our daytime sleeps have been all over the place & they can vary from 40 mins - 1.5hrs. our bedtime is 6.30-7pm - that has kind of just happened by itself & mostly came from DS not being a good afternoon sleeper so being cranky around 5.30 & so that's when we'd start preparing his bath (because he loves it & it always improves his mood :lol:), then after that feed him/moisturise/massage & then he's asleep somewhere between 6.30-7.

i was keeping track of his feeds (in a desperate attempt to find some sort of pattern for a routine) but it was doing my head in so i stopped! i'm trying to get him to sleep during the day after i see the 2 tired signs (which i have noticed being around one hour, if i'm out he might stay up a bit longer) but it's a bit hit & miss. i was doing feed-play-sleep but then found that i ended up doing a feed-play-feed-sleep more often than not & now i just go along with what i think DS wants. i'm a very naughty mummy and often play-feed-sleep & he falls asleep while feeding. but for us, that works as it means he has his nap without fighting it. i also like feeding before sleep because it seems that he gets too hyper after playtime & he won't go straight to sleep!

okay, so now i've written an essay & i'm probably no help at all because i do lots of things i 'shouldn't' :lol: what i did find when i was writing down his feeds, that pretty much most days he would feed 8-9 times no matter what time they were. he was feeding more often but he dropped feeds on his own & i'm hoping he'll continue to do that. i think he's probably still around the 8-9 a day now because he wakes up usually twice overnight.

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i'm probably no help at all because i do lots of things i 'shouldn't' :lol:.

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Don't be so hard on yourself Sarah, sounds to me like you're doing all the things you 'should be' - what works for you and Corey :clap:

I agree Sarah - what you do sounds like me!!!! i demand feed and often feed just before bed...
Did the same with Noah too.... and he is still with us at 2yo LOL so it cant be all wrong!
Just go with what works for you and Corey. xxx

Heva - Hi ditto for the advice you've already been given.

Well I wish miss Eva was in a routine but she is far from it. The only routine pattern I have seen is that she likes to go to sleep around 9.30am. Some nights she goes down at 7.30 and others 10.30pm. She still does alot of cluster feeding too. If she has a big cluster feed in the evenings she usually only feeds once during the night. If she goes to bed earlier she feed twice. Sometimes she can be awake for 3 hours at a time during the day and 2 hours through the night.

Who is still swaddling? Eva seems to get distressed at times when I swaddle her. I've just bought a sleeping bag but I'm afraid she'll wake herself up by hitting the side of the bassinet if i don't swaddle.

Mamapan - Glad you like your new pram. I need one that is light and I can get in and out of the car easily.

Eva has started to vocalize alot..so cute

Sarah - "snap"! - your 'routine' sounds exactly like ours :lol: Since we're combined BF/FF I do keep track of the feeds, but only the formula feeds - I've got a nifty little application on my iTouch that I use to track feeds, nappy changes and sleeps. I've found that if Zac doesn't get to sleep within a reasonable time he gets hungrier, and then the feed helps to zonk him out ;-)

I try to keep the formula at around the 3 hourly mark, but if he's ravenous and not interested in BF, then I'm not going to refuse to give him a bottle. Otherwise BF is on demand.

BekZ - we gave up on swaddling early on as Zac was doing a houdini with his arms right from birth. He's 'graduated' to the cot now as the bassinette was getting too small and he's back to sleeping with his hands up by his head - v cute!

One of the best things about this forum is the range of experiences - you're guaranteed to find that someone else is doing the same thing as you or experiencing the same thing... and on that note, is anyone else having issues with night-time 'escape wees?' - somehow Zac manages to wet through the back of his clothes virtually every night, and sometimes the nappy is perfectly dry. The nappies are the right size, I do them up snuggly... just somehow the wee seems to ninja its way out ;-) Would be glad to hear any suggestions as changing his nappy and his clothes in the middle of the night makes nobody very happy.

Miss excited - thanks so much for your message. I think sometimes I start stressing and then when I read what you have written it made me feel better and that I shouldnt worry so much!! Today I fed him at 10am and then he woke around 12pm after being asleep for an hour. I had tried resettling him but he was upset so I fed him. He was then awake for an hour again and is still asleep. He has gone to sleep easily every sleep which is great! Thanks for the tips about trying to get back to sleep otherwise play until feed time. It is nice to just to hear that other mothers are roughly doing something similar to you!! Also all the things you said Ash are exactly what Sam is doing right to the letter!! Fist in the mouth made me laugh because that is what Sam is doing quite a lot at present, same with tummy time and also I am doing the same thing with toys and I think Sam has no idea what he is holding but sometimes look at the toy in his hand as though "oh my god, what the hell is this??!!".

Sloane - thanks so much for your routine sharing, I am sort of trying to go along with him as well, not be too strict on a routine. At first I was keeping track too but I drove myself crazy by tracking too much!!! Today he had one feed around 3 1/2 hours apart, then only 2 hours so I do go with the flow a bit but try to have a consistant start time to the day as I am back at work 1 day a week. At DO NOT say that there are things you shouldn't be doing!! I don't think there is such a thing with babies (except things like tipping hot coffee on them and not giving them cuddles!!) but you know what I mean. If that works for you, that is great!! I think you sound like a fantastic mother and I don't think what you are doing sounds bad at all!! Sam gets really cranky between around 4.30pm and 5.30pm as well so I have no idea how people have babies they put to sleep around 7 or 8pm as when he starts getting cranky around that time I feed him, then bath and getting ready for bed so he is in bed around 6pm.

Bekz - I am still swaddling Sam, I don't think he is ready for not doing this yet. Last night he woke at 2.30am and he normally wakes around 3-4.30am, and he was completely out of the sheets but still in his velcro swaddle. I think he may have been cold cause he was half way up the bed!! little wriggly worm! I considered using the sleeping bag so that being cold wasn't something he woke up from, but I really don't think he is ready for this yet. I think he is associating sleeping with being wrapped firstly so I don't want to stop this just yet and also I too think he would keep bashing himself and startling himself and wake up!! SAm sometimes acts as though he doesn't like it but I think it is sometimes just him fighting sleep cause he mostly settles after no more than 5 minutes, only when he is really overtired does it take up to 15 -20 minutes to settle him to sleep. Sam is starting to talk more and more too! Isn't it great??!!

Thanks ALL SO MUCH for your sharing with my questions, I am a bit of a stress head and use to be a real routine addict. Being a parent is teaching me I can't be with my beautiful boy and so just having some people talk about their stories, even though it isn't the same as mine, still makes me feel better and that I am not doing things too differently so that makes me feel good!!! Thanks guys!!

[QUOTE=lovelycate;1991462]Since we're combined BF/FF I do keep track of the feeds, but only the formula feeds -

Lovelycate - can I ask you roughly how you are combining breast feeding and formula feeding?? Just curious as to how it works and what you do? I didn't know you could combine the two so would love to know how you do it!
I laughed reading your post as my husband calls Sam "houdini" as well!!! We bought the hippo velcro wraps and a few times he has gotten out but mostly they work really well and he stays in them except if he has a tantrum. They are really good and you can get them in flannel or cotton as well for cooler weather. I have bought 3 and they keep him really tight at night.
About escape wees, we had that happening all the time when he was in newborn nappies but since he is the 5-8kg huggies (infant?) he is fine. Have you tried pointing his penis down?? I don't know if it works, but my husband use to just point it down as he was putting the nappy on so it didn't point up?? Might be a really stupid tip!!
I have had Sam sleep a few times with hands above his head and its gorgeous!!

hi Jetta

Firstly, I would say it's not my ideal choice to be combining BF/FF, but it's just the way this particular cookie crumbled! I try to start every feed with BF if Zac will take it :rolleyes: and then when he's had enough I give him 120ml formula (but only if it's been roughly 3 hours since the last bottle). As we're co-sleeping we mainly only BF thru the night, but some nights he needs a bottle as well - trying to just go with the flow. The MCHN says his needs are probably greater than most babies the same age as he is quite long. If he was exclusively formula fed he would be getting around 180ml or more per feed I think. I also try to put him back on the breast once he's finished his bottle so that he still associates feeding with BBs ;-) it also stops him from screaming which he tends to do when his bottle is finished...

There are a couple of women in my mothers' group who are doing similar things - one is doing BF for the first feed of the day and the dream feed, and bottles for the rest. I'm not sure what the other woman is doing exactly.

It's a bit challenging, and can be upsetting when he refuses BF in favour of a nice fast bottle, but he's still getting the goodness of some mummy milk, so I've got to be happy with that. I'm lucky that he has never had a problem with nipple confusion.

Thanks for the nappy tip - I do point his penis down, but I wonder if sometimes it moves... Surely his nappies aren't too small - he's in the same ones. Maybe I should try another brand, although I thought Huggies were supposed to be the best?

Sloane - You are doing a lovely job and everythinh right for your family.

Lovelecate - We've had a lot of wet clothes through the night. I moved Eva up to huggies infant size and this stopped but it has happened twice in the last 2 days, so I think it is time to move up a size. Eva is long and skinny so I think I need to do up the nappy tighter.

Jetta - I used to be a routine orientated person and this style suited DD1 who is still like this at nearly 4yo, but my world was turned upside down when DD2 came along and wouldn't conform lol...big learning curve for me

Sarah - as everybody else has said - don't be too hard on yourself. I did exactly what you are doing with all 3 of my first kids, they were/are all fine!
The golden rule is Do what works for you!

IMHO the main purpose of a routine is to have babies fit in with us. Not that that's a bad thing, but in my case back then it didn't matter to me what we did & when. It wasn't until they were much older & down to one or two daytime naps that we had any thing even resembling a routine!
Now things are different for us with Arlea, I am working & we have 3 older kids who are busy also, she has to fit in a bit more with us. But still the feed-play-sleep routine she is in is largely thanks to her - she did that mostly by herself, lol & I have just encouraged it!

We are also still demand feeding 2-3 hours. I find that she feeds better after a big sleep, also as she gets older her feeds are getting more regular in volume & timing. She still doesn't have anywhere near her quotas but I have given up worrying about that. She seems to be growing to me! I will take her to be weighed next week & we will see.

And yep, I was trying to track her feeds & sleeps & it's very hard & then doesn't shed much light anyway! I have started again due to her starting FDC next week but don't expect to find out much :lol:
Hmm lets see this is roughly our "routine"

Up for the day between 5am & 6am,
up for 1 - 1 1/2hrs between sleeps, sleeps for 50min - 1 1/2 hours at a time.
gets cranky around 5;30pm & only catnaps after that,
goes down for the night anywhere between 7 & 9:30.
Usually wakes around 1:30-3am, usually just once
(but last night was twice & then up at 4:30 this morning :wall: )

Swaddling - I am still swaddling her to go to sleep. Usually while I am wrapping her I tell her 'sleepytime' and sing to her, I think it helps signal to her that it's 'sleep time' - she does sometimes drop off without it though, a couple of times on her playmat :D

Her sleeps the last couple of days have been a bit short & restless, although seems to be settling today.

A question - what are you doing when they wake early? I am undecided whether to go in & try to resettle her, or to leave her be. She is often quite happy lying there for a bit & only after a while gets cranky. I feel like if I go in to her she will expect to get up; becasue I don't generally rock or pat her to sleep, I don't know if that would work to re-settle her?

She had her first real chuckle on Saturday night, we have been trying to get her to repeat it since!

As for the feeding...I had a few tears this morning, admitting to myself that it really isn't happening. Each week we move further & further away from BFing. I think the time has come to accept it & move on. I will keep expressing, my goal is tomake at least 6 mths, then more hopefully... I feel so disappointed, I so wanted to feed her
& it frustrates me that it was such a silly little thing that has left us here...but i will try to keep it all in persepctive ;)

Whoa, monster post, sorry :redface:

Hope everyone is well :grouphug:

Jetta – Though Oliver’s breastfed, we’re really still just demand feeding. I have no idea how many feeds he has in a day or how often he feeds. I used to know exactly when Noah was due for a feed and planned everything around it. Unfortunately for Ollie, he’s kind of got to fit in around us this time. Helps that a feed takes 10minutes with him where Noah used to take 60mins. He generally wakes around 7-7.30 and is in bed for the night around 8-8.30. Oliver responds to some noises (like high pitched “kissy” noises, and Noah slamming something) but I don’t notice him turning to a lot. I wouldn’t be too concerned about him, perhaps he just doesn’t quite have the head/neck control needed to turn to every noise?

Sloane – I agree with MissE, whatever works for you and Corey has to be “the right thing”.

Sorry for the lack of personals, though I do have an excuse this time. After my pity post last week Oliver and I both got the cold/flu from hell! Let’s put it this way, Noah, who is almost 3, has been to the doctors 5 times in his entire life (two of those times were due to open wounds), but I felt the need to take Ollie to the doctors for this cold based on how horrible I felt with it. Lucky I did because it turned out he has a double ear infection, which I had absolutely no idea about. So he’s on antibiotics 3 times a day, which he hates and I have to force into him. He also got put on Zantac for reflux, as he still seems to have bouts of horrible screamy pain. Then Noah had diarrhoea on Sunday, which got passed on to both DP and I as gastro. Somehow however, DP is “dying” and had to go to the doctors, yet I managed to survive having gastro, the cold/flu, sleeping on the floor, and breastfeeding Oliver overnight. He got to sleep most of yesterday while I disinfected everything and looked after both boys. Seriously, how do men survive?

ETA - Ok, I should not type this out while watching repeats of Project Runway on TV! We were still on Page 18, when I started this, so I apologise for the horrible lack of personals!

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Somehow however, DP is ?dying? and had to go to the doctors, yet I managed to survive having gastro, the cold/flu, sleeping on the floor, and breastfeeding Oliver overnight. He got to sleep most of yesterday while I disinfected everything and looked after both boys. Seriously, how do men survive.!

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..sorry just had to laugh and nod head.

Jasp- You are just amazing, and don't you forget it

LF - hope you are feeling better soon...sounds awful having all those things at once!

Jasp - gotta love that first giggle! hayley did it for the first time a week or so ago and we've been trying to get her to do it since but she won't, I think maybe it was just a fluke! Lol

can't help with the nappy sizing as we use terry cloth, but I'm finding nappy covers such odd sizes! Bought some cute Dymples brand ones today, both 00 size and they look smaller than the other 000 ones I have!

Jasp - you have done such a wonderful job with Arlea, you should be very proud of yourself! with early wake ups I normally chuck Hayley into bed with us..she has been sleeping until 7 or 8am, but this morning was awake at 6am and I just didn't want to get up that early so popped her into bed with us, stuck the dummy in and patted her until she went off to sleep (after a lot of squirming!). She didn't wake until almost 9! She was going to bed at about 9/9.30pm but I have been trying to bring it forward a bit. Last night she went to bed at about 8pm but woke up at 2am, then 6am, whereas when she goes to bed a bit later she'll wake up at 3am then 7 or 8am.

She has been really good with going to sleep lately, I've been putting her in her cot and she'll still be awake, although i know she is tired, stick her dummy in, tuck in sheets and she has been going off to sleep all by herself with no crying. She sometimes might have a bit of a cry, and depending on how far up the "distressed" scale it is, I'll either leave her in her cot and pat her until she settles down, or take her out and give her a cuddle for a little before putting her back down. feeling so good about that at the moment, but she should be due for another wonder week shortly (12 weeks on Sunday) so I bet it won't last for long.

I have found that the sleep, eat, play routine the MCHN suggested we do just doesn't work for us. She only sleeps for about an hour at a time during the day, but will occasionally have a longer (2-3 hour) sleep later in the day, must be when she is really tired! She is awake for up to 2 hours at a time, but then only sleeps for between 30 mins to an hour. I think we do more of a sleep, play, eat, play, sleep routine, although sometimes she falls back to sleep during a feed as well, so then it becomes sleep, play, eat, play, eat, sleep!

She is getting really good at tummy time, although I have been a bit slack with it lately! she is lifting her head up really well and looking around though so i don't think the lack of tummy time is affecting her too much. She is getting quite noisy too, quite funny sometimes when she is chatting away and it escalates to a bit of a shout! She is reaching for toys and can grab hold of them, although usually lets go fairly quickly, unless I put it in her hand for her. Have a big tub of toys I bought off ebay so that should keep her amused for a long time!

What sized clothes are your little ones in at the moment? Hayley is now in 000, up until a few days ago she still fit into a few 0000 clothes I had. bought a shirt from Best & Less today which is 0000 but it looks huge so I'm sure it will fit her for a while. I'm just so frustrated with sizing! Everyone is so surprised when I tell them she has only just grown out of her 0000's, but I think the clothes she has are just dodgy sizes! She still fits a few pairs of 0000 pants, some 000 are too long in the leg, but then in other things she is in 00. Hard to know what sizes to buy when I am trying to get her some clothes for summer.....maybe she can just go naked! Lol

Well better go...another monster post! Want to give the dog a bath while Hayley is asleep, he stinks so bad and needs a good brush, he is moulting and is so itchy. He's a golden retriever so is very hairy anyway! Poor boy has been a bit neglected lately, but he has really surprised me with how good he is around Hayley!

Jasp - You're doing a fab job! I'm sure most people would have given up by now, you're definitely giving Arlea a fantastic start.

ss - Ollie's growing out of his 000's and going in to 00's at the moment. I'm loving his "average" size. Noah was in 0's by 4 months!

Wow it certainly has been a busy day here!

Bekz, I started trying to wean Ash from wrapping a couple of weeks ago but have decided to leave it for awhile longer. I've had him in a sleeping bag for about a month now, but wrap him before I put him in it. There were a couple of times I'd come in and he'd moved around in his cot so that the blankets were over his mouth, so I decided it would probably be safer to have him in the bag. I was wrapping him with one arm out and found that he went to sleep fine, but then would wake 20 mins later (probably at the end of the sleep cycle) and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep.

Jasp I think you should be so proud of yourself for persevering so long with the bf, I'm not sure I would have your strength. You have done absolutely everything possible, so don't beat yourself up, Arlea is lucky to have a mum who loves her so much.

Big :hug: for you LF, hope you are feeling better now, had to laugh at your DH!

Lovelycate I also make sure we point the penis down, I find if I don't we have a big mess!

ss_storm we're in between in the sizes now, about half of his 000 still fits, but the 00 stuff I have looks huge on him.

I think it is great that so many of us have given a run down of how our days are, it really makes you realise that there is no 1 way to do anything and that each of us is doing a great job! It really puts into perspective for me that nothing I am doing is wrong as there is no wrong way!!

I can't believe miss excited and lotus flower you are talking about 000 and 00's!! Sam is still in 0000 and some of the legs are still too long!!! I think probably in around 3 weeks or so he will start growing out of them. He is mainly in Target stuff, but Bonds 000 wondersuits are definately getting a bit small. The rest of Bonds sizing seems normal, don't know why the wondersuits are so out of whack with everything else!!

LF - sorry to hear you guys have been so sick! I hope you are on the mend. That must have been awful.

Jasp - I think you are amazing, I don't think I personally would have perservered as long as you have. You have really been amazing and it shows just how much you love her. I think I would have given up weeks ago. Well done and you should be proud of yourself not down on yourself! 3 cheers for you!

Last few days Sam has been sleeping really well. I think with bath time it is the temp change as when i put a toy in front of him yesterday he calmed down! Still only making it at most for 1 hour but he is starting to grasp at toys and that is exciting! He has a bald patch of hair on the back of his head from being on his back so much!! His father thinks he is taking after him already!! Ha ha... beautiful day here in Sydney, I have a house full of packing boxes, trying to do a few boxes a day. It is meant to rain for the long weekend...bummer :(

Your new thread can be found here http://forums.bellybelly.com.au/foru...-2009-2-a.html