Babies born~September 1st-15th 2009 #1

Hi everyone,
Nicola - glad you've got the NZ made formula ;-) Sounds like its suiting Indi which is great. We found that one a little hard to mix and it fluffs up a lot - but smells nicer than some other brands. I'm wondering whether to let Tadhg cry it out, but tending to agree with your thinking, surely they only cry because something is wrong - even if its overtired and they need help to sleep. So i think i will try and stick with settling him when he wakes (which is a lot in the day) and soon he'll work it out - hopefully! The annoying thing is no-one else can settle him so if i go out his Dad tends to get crying and more crying :(

BoB and others - the whole catnapping thing seems to be a common phase when babies start waking in their lighter sleep cycles. We are going through the same - thank goodness for good night sleeps! I think the afternoon crying is because they get so overtired from not sleeping in the day - its horrible huh :( Hoping its a phase! I hate to tell you the 2nd immunisations were a bit worse than the first, Tadhg really cried - but only for 1-2 minutes (compared with about 30 seconds last time) and he got a big lump in his leg which is apparently a common reaction. But still not all that bad!

re TV's - i've been avoiding letting Tadhg look at it, thinking it wasnt good for him somehow - but now i did a quick look on the net, i'm not sure its bad for them other than not providing as much learning skills as other options.

Taurean - how is Izzy's sleeping now? What a bummer losing the all night sleeps again - just when you got used to it! Tadhg seems to have skipped the 3 month growth spurt, or is going to have it a bit later as all seems relatively normal at the moment. He could do with a growth spurt to be honest! Just changing to infant nappies today, and only because i've run out of newborn size! Looking forward to a weigh in next Tuesday, but i don't think he'll be much above 5kg. Bummer about the swimming - i didn't realise you handed her over for it, mostly in NZ you stay with your bub I think. Tadhg would most likely cry too i think, he gets scared in big noisy spaces, like coffee group / out and about.

I'm doing my head in with this not-sleeping business. It's really confusing. Tadhg now wont sleep when i'm out shopping or in the car, although i think he did sleep for one car trip today. After a 10 minute nap he thinks he's done. Half the time we end up with a crying baby, and the other half a smiling giggling one pulling his hands out of my attempt to swaddle to suck his thumb. What do you do if your baby lies in his cot for an hour cooing and looking around!? It's very weird - but i know he has to be tired because he has hardly slept today. Anyway - just being thankful that 'so far' today has not been a crying day and he should still go to bed at 7:30!
What do others think about crying it out - and also having a dummy to go to sleep?
Kelly :)

Kelly - Tadhg sounds exactly like Ethan in the sleep department. I'm forever trying to settle him during the day and then when I finally do get him to sleep he is awake again after only 20mins. Does my head in some days! He has also stopped sleeping in the car and the pram is hit and miss. I'm really hoping this is just a phase that he grows out of very soon! Although he has been a bit more unsettled than usual for the last couple of days (and feeding more!) so maybe this is the 12 week growth spurt??!! I won't leave him to cry it out, I just can't bring myself to do it. I'd probably end up in a teary mess too! He does have a dummy but lately he keeps knocking it out of his mouth with his hands as he rubs his eyes/face when he is trying to sleep. I gave up wrapping him a while ago as he hates it and just screams lol!

Nicola - good luck with the move.

Pooley - glad you managed to get some child free time. I'm going out Christmas shopping this weekend with my sister and my mum and leaving the kids at home. I really need some child free time at the moment, I just hope that Ethan will be a good boy and sleep for his dad as he usually only settles with me. Fingers crossed or else I guess it will only be a short shopping trip.

Bob - Ethan is in 00 growsuits now but wears 000 t-shirts, shorts and pants.

Arrggghhh there he goes again, have a good day all :D

Hi Girls

I hope everyone is well. We are both really well, except my stupid upper back and neck which is still giving me hell :wall:

There's been lots of chatting about day sleeps, cat napping and crying so I thought I'd put in my two cents worth and tell you where we are out now and what we are doing.

Izzy is sleeping roughly 10 hours a night, straight through most of the time. She's woken at 3am for a feed 4 nights in the past 2 weeks and after our meeting with the maternal health nurse today, it looks like she's just trying to increase my supply - will elaborate on that later. Other than those random 3am feeds, she is sleeping straight through generally from 7pm-5am or 8pm - 6am. It's brilliant.

Day sleeps are fantastic for us now too. Izzy generally sleeps for 3 hours in the morning then has another couple of hours in the afternoon. If we are out in the afternoon (I'm avoiding going out in the mornings now as her routine is working well), she tends to sleep in the car or pram - generally another 1-2 hours all up. I learnt quite a lot from our day stay at sleep school (and regained my confidence with knowing her cries) and I'm using a lot of the techinques we learnt there to settle Izzy during the day. It's working beautifully.

We work on a 1.5-2 hour awake time schedule when we are at home and out. Izzy wakes up around 6ish say, has a feed (generally takes about 45 minutes) then it's play time - a mixture of play gym, rocker, reading a book with me, tummy time and chatting. I check her for tired signs around 1.5 hours after she's woken and start getting her ready for bed. I swaddle her and pop her dummy in and give her a quick cuddle and rock in our rocking chair in her nursery. After a few minutes I pop her in her hammock and gently rock and bounce her to sleep. Sometimes there is no fuss and she goes straight to sleep, other times I have to spend 10 minutes rocking her and putting her dummy back in. She often protests but I now know it's just her tired protesting cry and it doesn't last long at all. I don't leave the room until she has nodded off. If she stirs during her nap (ie cries) I go in and bounce/rock the hammock or give her the dummy if I think she needs it. I only get her up if she is really unsettled or if she is due for a feed and appears ready to get up. I repeat the whole process after her next feed.

When we are out I work on the same schedule. It doens't work quite as well while we're out as there is more going on (ie more for her to sticky beak at!) and she is interrupted ie in and out of the car, pram, shops, etc. I still stick to it though and often she will nod off in the car or the pram. I always take my Bubba Moe sling with me everywhere as if she won't settle in the pram, I pop her in the sling and she nods off without fail if she's due for a sleep.

Today we had to see the health nurse at 9.30am so I put her to bed at 7.45am and transferred her to the pram at 9.15 and walked to our appointment. So she got almost 2 hours sleep. When we got back I gave her a quick feed (she had been awake for 1.5 hours), swaddled her and popped her into bed. She was asleep straight away and has been down for 1.5 hours now.

Bedtime is always around 7 (well that is our goal) so I alter the time frame and feeds later in the day to fit with that. Izzy gets a bit grumpy around 5ish as she knows it's wind down time to bed. If she's grumpy we take her for a walk and that keeps her happy. Around 6 we give her a bath then I feed her straight after that. We pop her in her Grobag then give her a formula top up (she'll have anywhere from 30ml to 160ml as my supply is low around then) then put her in the cot for the night. She goes down without any fuss.

So that's how we do it and it really does work well. The sling is my saviour if she won't settle while we are out and about - highly recommend one of these if you don't have one already. If you can afford a hammock, I highly recommend them too. It works a treat.

I hope that helps someone! One thing I did learn about catnapping at sleep school is often babies can be resettled after a catnap as they are often just coming out of their sleep cycle and need a little help to nod back off again. That definitely works for Izzy when she stirs after 45 minutes.

CC/CIO - I'm not a fan of it at all. Babies only cry to communicate with us and if we don't respond to their cries, then how are they supposed to trust us? Another thing I learnt at sleep school was that most babies need help to get to sleep and they will stir at the end of their sleep cycle, just like adults. The only difference with adults is that we know how to get back to sleep, babies have to learn that. Also remember, as adults we have restless nights when we struggle to sleep or we may sleep lightly, so we have to expect that babies will be the same, IYKWIM.

I'm thrilled with the routine Izzy has gotten herself into (I haven't forced it at all, it's all her own doing) and feel so much more relaxed now as I can predict her a little more and plan our days a little better.

Oh, before I stop babbling, Izzy was weighed and measured today. She hasn't gained much weight (she's only 4.74kg but has grown 9cm since birth though) so I need to try to sneak in a couple more feeds during the day when she's awake. That's the downside of a good day sleeper! LOL. I'm going to give her more formula top ups too from now on and I'm thinking of weaning once my last lot of medication runs out for my supply and vasospasm (in my nipples). Breastfeeding has been a hard slog and I'm ready to switch to formula if she doesn't gain much within the next couple of weeks.

Well I'm off now to jump on the Wii Fit before missy wakes up! Ciao!

PS: Losec has done wonders for Izzy's silent reflux too. I seriously have a different baby these days!

PPS: I posted my birth story in the 'Birth Stories' thread for anyone interested in reading it.

Pooley - I meant with the bottled water that you can't just use it without boiling it like normal water. Purified isn't sterile IYKWIM. Yay that you got to have a night out! Makes you feel human again!

Nicola - Good luck in Esk....i bet it is hot out there! I saw on the news the other night that Dalby has run out of water - bit scary!

Kelly - V is the same in that I am sometimes the only one who can console her....I went t an appointment a couple of weeks ago and chose not to take her as I wanted DH to see what i go through every day........and yes i came home to him frantically bouncing on the pilates ball, with a boggle eyed Violet and a stressed out father! I was only gone about 40 minutes! Apparently she cried for about 35 of those! He has been more understanding ever since!
I know what you mean about the TV...(and apparently more than 1hour a day at this age is bad for their eyes) but V is usually awake from about 6am till 7.30pm on average with maybe 2 half hour sleeps in the day. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH HER FOR THIS LONG! We play with toys, sing songs, read stories, have tummy time, have naked time...she won't go in the pram or sling so that restricts me to the house usually. What else is everyone else doing?......I can't sing to her for 15 hours a day!
I can't help you with the crying and dummy....V goes to sleep on the boob...thats how i get her to sleep every time, i could count on 2 fingers the amount of times i have rocked her to sleep. If i put her down awake she can't get herself to sleep. What if you let T suck his thumb would he get himself to sleep?

Sangie....I feel like there are a lot of us battling with the non-sleeping babies! Maybe its a 12 week thing. Oh for the early days........!!! I must admit though, Violet hardly ever cries, and i feed consistently through the witching hours so she never cries then....god help me when i have a 2nd baby and don't have the time to breastfeed all day....i won't have a clue what to do!


:confetti::confetti::confetti::confetti: throwing sleepydust for all the bubs!

Taurean - we posted at the same time. I must say i am envious of yours and Izzys routine. I am quite willing to swap babies!
I hear what you are saying about trying to get them back to sleep after a catnap - in theory it sounds great - Violet won't do it -once her eyes are open she is up and ready for another 4 hour play session!
Thats a shame she hasn't put on much more weight - but if the time comes for you to switch to formula, you can be proud that you fought a tough battle. I'll give you A++++ for sheer willingness and determination.....never doubt yourself on that much. And all babies are different, so your next one not necessarily will have the same outcome :hug:

.....still in awe of your daily sleeping schedule!

Nicole All the best with the move to Esk. Hope its not too hot there compared to Brissy :) Pleased the new formular is working well too.

Re the sleeping out and about *Puts hand up* Im in that camp too. Jackson almost refuses to sleep in his pram or carseat nowadays. And yep when he's had 10 minutes he thinks its wake time again :wall: :o!!! We travel to NZ in 2 weeks so I hope he copes ok with the flight :pray: I find that when were out and he's in the pram wrapping him helps him to nod off. But its usually murphy's law 5 minutes before we want to leave so we either end up staying longer or disrupting him again. Gah cant win!!!

We did the CIO and I hated every minute of it. I cried through the whole hour it went on. We have now gone back to resettling him every 2 - 5 minutes or so depending on if he is crying or grizzling. If he is grizzling we leave him to drift off, but crying we go in.

Taurean Jackson has his biggest sleep in the morning too. He will sleep 3 hours usually and its great. Its his best sleep on the day. Your routine is great. We used to have a routine almost the same as yours until Jackson decided to start catnapping. Gawd, I cant wait to have my old baby and routine days back. Are you BFing??

Is anyones babies rolling yet?

BOB - Mine has rolled quite a few times from belly to back, she is almost there going from back to belly...she gets onto her side but goes back again.....what about J is he rolling?

Bob - no rolling here yet. He tries to roll from his tummy onto his back but his arm gets in the way and he hasn't figured out that he needs to move it.

Sanchez - yep its so much harder when you have a toddler as well. I feel like such a bad mum this week as I just haven't been able to spend as much time with DD as I would like. I feel like I'm constantly trying to settle Ethan and poor DD is missing out on one-on-one time with me. Thank god its friday and I'll have DH for the next couple of days to help out.

Taurean - wow sounds like Izzy is being such a good bub for you! I would never get Ethan to have a 3 hour sleep during the day as he still feeds every 3 hours. He does have one 4 hour stretch in the middle of the day so it would be good if I could get him to sleep for at least 2 hours then. I've tried resettling but like little Violet he just flings his eyes open and is awake and no amount of settling seems to work?! Ah well I will keep trying lol! I'm doing the Wii sports active 30 day challenge in the hope of losing some tummy flab, I'm so sick of my flabby bits and I want them gone!!!!

Ethan had a brilliant night last night. He slept from 8.30pm to 7am! Then he went back down at 8.30am for a cat nap. Then after a screaming session I managed to get him back down at 9am and he's still asleep. Fingers crossed we have a better day today!

ahhhh just wrote a massive post and lost it all!!

I'm still here everyone and will re-write it shortly!!

:) :)

I am here too but had a rough time this week having to put our childhood puppy down. She was 18yrs old and it was her time but it doesn't really make it any less devastating. She was truly an extra member of our family. I miss her already.

Will get on another day and try to keep up with everyone. ox

Pooley, :hug: That must be so upsetting. I fear that I will be in the same situation this year - my girl is 11 now but she is having trouble getting up the steps to the house and is just generally looking old all of a sudden.

Sangie - well its reassuring to know i'm not the only one - i'm just resigning myself to the fact its a stage and he is generally happy so roll with it - amazing how much better i feel about it now i've decided that! I tried to leave Tadhg unwrapped for a couple of sleeps yesterday and it took him ages to fall asleep cos his hands are much too interesting to look at. Eventually he slept both times, but not for long so I am back to wrapping.

Taurean - i loved reading your schedule / plan for the day. It made me realise i'm probably expecting too much from T, as i was just putting him in his cot after a quick cuddle and leaving him to fall asleep. So i've decided to spend a bit more time settling and stay near his room for the first 10 minutes to make sure he falls asleep. I'm also just leaving him with his dummy - it works for him, so why bother replacing it with some other type of soothing. Ahh big breath out, relax. Ironically the first time he went down after reading your post and making this decision he slept for 3 hours and i had to wake him for a feed! We do the same thing with bedtime - its always about 7:30 so i make sure his last feed is about 6:30 and therefore the one before that between 3 and 4. Loving your thoughts on CIO - agreed and feel relieved i'm not the only one who feels wrong about it, as most people i talk to seem to think its the only way - "tough love". We are still getting all nighters and wake up to T talking to himself about 6 - 6:30am. Tadhg is about the same weight at Izzy (we got weighed 2 weeks ago at 13 weeks and he was 4.75) and 8cm in length since birth (from 49cm) and my plunket nurse said he's doing fine, healthy and happy - so don't feel like you need to squeeze extra feeds in - if she is hungry she'll let you know. Personally I think you'll just make her tired by feeding all the time, and you could risk her becoming a snacker and not taking full feeds - just an opinion :) Also I never replaced my Motilium prescription and I can now keep up with Tadhg, so you never know - now that your body knows how much to make you may be ok? :) But that being said - its certainly hard slog, especially in your case and you've done awesomely to feed Izzy so long.

Sanchez - I wonder if the clingy / only wanting Mummy thing is a stage, a few people have said to me its too early for the clingy stage, but its definitely real - even if it is just that i know T the best and how to soothe him. Not sure if there is anything we can do to improve it...? Because I would like to know he's going to be settled when i leave him with other people, especially our friend next week - as he's only been with grandparents so far if he's not with Mum or Dad. We have a xmas party - yay - freedom ;-) Unfortunately T can't suck his thumb well enough yet to soothe himself, he watches his hands and sucks and chews his thumb but can't keep it in there - so i think i'll stick with wrapping him for sleeps or its all just too exciting for him! Wow I can't believe how little V sleeps! Have you thought about sleep clinic to see if they can offer any advice or relaxing her during the day to nap? You could try a middle of the day bath to tire her out? Personally I don't do much more than you've listed - watching a cot mobile (we have an electronic one that turns around and plays music), bouncy chair with toys attached, laying in the sunshine looking out the window at the trees (our sunshine isnt so hot in NZ!), kicking on the playmat, tummy time, T is pretty happy to spend 10-15 minutes by himself while i fold the washing, or do dishes / baking etc, he is also pretty good at laying in his cot sucking a dummy for a while. I have a friend who had a similar issue with her wee man and found it was more a matter of getting him into a bit of a routine (not schedule just routine) and learning early tired signs and settling skills. Goodluck - thats hard work, V is lucky to have such a dedicated Mum! also - there is a great website called thesleepstore .com.au which has good articles as well as products :)

BoB - i'd say T doesn't look anywhere near rolling yet, but I just got a developmental email saying '15 weeks - your baby might roll this week' so I guess i should be expecting it soon! Since 12 weeks I havent left him on his change table alone just in case - its quite exciting to think he might be able to move soon!

Art - I'm continually amazed with Amelia's physical abilities, is she sitting up by herself now (in your facebook photo) !? Amazing stuff.

PB - nice to see you are still around - bummer about losing the post!
Pooley - hope your week has improved and F is treating you well x

We are doing 5 feeds a day now, approx every 3 hours from 6:30am until 6:30pm. What is everyone else doing? ohh and we moved to Infant sized nappies this week! They are massive 'big boy' nappies :)
K

Ah, hopefully 5 minutes of peace and quiet!

Sangie, I am finding it hard to spend quality time with DS atm, it seems as soon as A is asleep I set him up with an activity and then rush off to do washing/tidying etc. I am making more of an effort to spend some time with just him now.

Kellynz, A isn't really sitting, she is more just balancing - if she moves she topples over.

Taurean, sounds like I is in a fantastic routine now. You must be happy with that!

Re CIO, I don't ever leave my babies to cry. I have been lucky though that they have both been really easy to settle with no wind/reflux problems.

Naps: A is doing 3-4 naps a day, usually about an hour long, sometimes more (or less if DS is being noisey). I usually walk around for a few minutes with her and she will drop off then I put her in the cot.

She is now 6.4kg and 64cm, which puts her around the 90th percentile for weight and height. She seems huge! She is even fitting some of DS's old size 0 clothes. I think I will just skip buying any more 00 because they fit nicely but have no grow in them already! She was sleeping though from 9.5-12 weeks, but added in a 3am feed at the 12 week growth spurt. It is slowly stretching out again, so hopefully we will get back to 5-6am wakeups. I am finding she needs a lot more stimulation now, not happy to be plonked on the couch while I do other things. She is absolutely loving the Jumperoo, she can already jump around in it and likes looking at the toys on it. I have also come to the conclusion that she is never going to make the cute little baby sounds - she prefers to squeal. Ear piercing squeals lol.

Art - I'm trying to spend more time with DD too but its so hard some days. As soon as E goes down for a nap all I want to do is run around and do a tidy up or some washing etc. I need more hands lol! Are you tall? Sounds like A might be a tall girl!

Pooley - sorry to hear about your puppy :hug:

Kelly - We are on 5 feeds a day - roughly 6.30am, 9.30am, 12.30pm, 4.30pm, 7.30pm. Some days I top him up at around 9pm if he hasn't settled. He seems to have gotten over cluster feeding which I'm so glad about, gives me more time to do the five million other things that need doing between 5 and 8pm!

Gotta make it quick as I can hear E stirring! We are plodding along ok and I can definitely see some improvements in E's reflux. Fingers crossed it keeps getting better. He also wants a lot more stimulation now so I've dragged out some bright colourful toys for him to look at. We got a bumbo seat and E absolutely loves sitting in it. The first time we put him in it he did a big belly laugh and would not stop smiling! Wish I'd had a video camera handy! Gotta fly, hope you are all well! :)

Girls it is late and i am getting on the computer for the first time today....
***TMI***
I wanted to ask a rather embarrasing question......i did an aqua aerobics class yesterday, and had the awkwardness of a lot of water obviously going up my vag....i felt like i was weeing all the time because i could push and it would all come out again IYKWIM....this didn't happen when i was just standing there in the water but when i was jumping around and doing the class.....

is this normal? or do i have a gaping chasim from childbirth that will fill with water everytime i get in!? Oh the humanity of it all!

LMAO Sanchez. You are not alone though, I do recall the same thing happening to me when I took DS to swimming lessons at about this age. It must have 'closed up' a bit again now though because I don't remember it happening lately. Makes you really question the hygiene of public pools though doesn't it!

:ROFL: Sanchez! Can't say thats ever happened to me but that could be because I'm not jumping around in a pool (and I'm not about to after hearing that lol!).

I got a 2.5hr sleep from Ethan yesterday, that's the longest day sleep he has had in a long time. He was back to catnapping after that but now I know he can do longer day sleeps so fingers crossed I see more of them. He has turned into a big chatterbox this week, talking to everything and anything (the window, pictures on the wall, his hands!). Very cute to watch. He has one of those glowbug things which always makes him laugh and he loves to talk to that too!

Quiet in here, hope you are all just busy enjoying mummyhood! :)

Sanchez - oh the humility of it all - when you're pregnant its easy to forget that there will probably be more to it physically than just getting the baby out! I haven't been swimming, but embarrasingly have noticed a similar thing with some floor exercises and air - lol. I suspect things are still stretching back into place and the pelvic floor is recovering.

Sangie - yay for day sleeps! I suspect its a phase they go thru, as we seem to be coming out the other side of it now, and getting some great daytime sleeps - yay! He has has 2 sleeps of about 1.5 - 2 hours the last few days, and a shorter nap. I'm still putting the dummy back in 1 or 2 times most sleeps - but its usually a very quick visit, his eyes start to close as soon as that dummy hits his lips. Good thinking on the bumbo, i might look to get T something to sit in, other than a bouncer -

anyone got an exersaucer?

Art - are you getting this warmer weather now? Its nice to get some summery outfits out! We are getting some pretty warm weather here in Auckland, and loving having all the windows open during the day and getting Tadhg out to discover grass and trees etc.

T is just starting to look like he wants to roll, lots of flicking of the legs/hips and he got half way this morning - onto his side.