***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[puravida]

when I was still home on maternity leave I worked hard to get baby sleeping through the night and she did beautifully for weeks. Now that I'm back at work I noticed she's waking up for one earlier feeding before the first feeding of the day. Also the past few days she has been waking up closer to the middle of the night to feed.

Other moms out there experienced this after their baby was sleeping all night? I'm thinking it's a growth spurt and she's just hungrier now.

Just wondering how long this phase will last.

 

[samj732]

Hey all, the surgery went very well and there were no complications. Iz has basically been sleeping since (so the past 15 hours) and she is in pain. Poor thing but the doctor thought we should be able to go home today. I'm nervous because she's so uncomfortable and it's hard to pick her up without hurting her. I'm used to putting her over my shoulder to burp her and I can't do that until her belly button has healed. It's going to be tough to play with her at all for a while I think also she has a drainage tube coming out from her kidney that has to stay in for two weeks, and the tests show that she has 'bladder reflux' meaning that urine travels UP from the bladder into the kidneys when her bladder is full. The doctor said this sometimes gets better with age but if not she might have to have another surgery in the future.

So anyways yesterday was a very long day. Up at 5 AM, checking in at radiology at 8 AM, two hours of testing then off to surgery. Luckily the surgical team was running on time (how often does that happen!?) so Iz got taken in on time. I certainly don't want to do this again.

 

[ttc_lolly]

Welcome puravida I'll add you to the list

Samj, so glad to hear Iz's surgery went well sending lots of healing thoughts her way, I hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Millie also has a nap before bedtime, we just go with the flow really and leave her to it. It doesn't affect her normal night time sleeping pattern. She'll go down around 6, sleep til 7ish and then will feed, I'll bathe her every other night, play time, another feed and then she'll be back asleep again but for the night. She still feeds once or twice during the night but she doesn't wake up, it's just a quick 5-10 min feed and then we are both back to sleep. We've got the 4 month growth spurt coming up shortly so not looking forward to that, I'm hoping it isn't going to be as bad as the 3 month one was!

 

[gracia]

Same here, zander sometimes like to have a nap before bedtime although only around 15 mins usually he will still go down at his normal time of 6-6.30

 

[cococobain]

Well ladies, today wasn't nearly as horrible as I imagined. It helped a lot that DH dropped Camden off at daycare instead of me. It was much easier leaving her at home sound asleep in her crib! The work day passed pretty quickly, and when I picked LO up at daycare she was sound asleep. She just barely opened her eyes when I put her in her carseat. They said she took her bottles without any problem, I'm so happy! Her teacher is such a nice lady, she's older, probably around 60, and you can tell how much she loves the babies. I cuddled with her a bunch when we got home, I missed her so much!

Glad you like her teacher! I couldn't imagine having to go back to work so soon, I bet you missed her terribly. I dread the time when I have to go looking for work (I have to tell myself it's for the best, so we can afford family holidays and outings!) I only hope I find a caregiver I trust and who LO will like too.

Rosa was doing tummy time the other day, and learned how to roll over. Just from her tummy to her back but still she surprised us!! She did it in both directions a few times so I know it wasn't a fluke!

Oh, congrats! It's exciting isn't it? Have you caught it on camera yet? I think Mia is really close to doing this too, at least she half does it when she's on her tummy, but I've been propping her up on a pillow and I think maybe she has a hard time rolling over on it.

Spoiler

Hey all, the surgery went very well and there were no complications. Iz has basically been sleeping since (so the past 15 hours) and she is in pain. Poor thing but the doctor thought we should be able to go home today. I'm nervous because she's so uncomfortable and it's hard to pick her up without hurting her. I'm used to putting her over my shoulder to burp her and I can't do that until her belly button has healed. It's going to be tough to play with her at all for a while I think also she has a drainage tube coming out from her kidney that has to stay in for two weeks, and the tests show that she has 'bladder reflux' meaning that urine travels UP from the bladder into the kidneys when her bladder is full. The doctor said this sometimes gets better with age but if not she might have to have another surgery in the future.

So anyways yesterday was a very long day. Up at 5 AM, checking in at radiology at 8 AM, two hours of testing then off to surgery. Luckily the surgical team was running on time (how often does that happen!?) so Iz got taken in on time. I certainly don't want to do this again.

That's wonderful news! I feel for you, it can't be easy watching your bubs in pain, but she'll be back to her old self before you even know it - babies are super resilient. I'll keep you in my thoughts and hope she won't need another surgery, but if she does you both have the strength to make it through

 

[sigh]

Samj - glad things went well! Wishing Iz a speedy recovery!


Ellie's predictable nighttime schedule is all over the place now. She was waking up after 430 to feed but now its random. I was up from 245-445 last night feeding and trying to get her back to sleep. What's even weirder is that she's started yelling and crying in her sleep every hour and it wakes me up. Sometimes its just a yelp, sometimes its 30-45 seconds of loud crying, then she's fast asleep. I never know when she's going to wake up and its driving me nuts. No big changes here at home so I'm thinking this is a growth spurt or maybe low milk supply?

 

[daydream]

Samj - so glad it's all over. I hope recovery is quick, babies heal so quickly so hopefully her pain is over very soon. Good job momma, you survived!

 

[ImSoTired]

I hope Iz feels better soon Samj! And I hope she won't need any further surgeries.

 

[Chloe597]

Samj, glad everything went well and I am wishing Iz a speeding recovery!

WRT napping before bed, Gabby mostly doesn't, although every once in a while she will take a 30 min nap around 7 and then she doesnt seem to want to go to bed until a half hour later than her normal time but i'm ok with that. We are not on a strict schedule, I just let her take the lead, and when she looks tired, if its past 8pm, I assume it will be a sleep for the rest of the night. Before 8pm, I assume it will just be a nap, so I dont bother to feed and just let her take whatever catnap she wants. One part of me wishes Gabby were on a very set schedule, but the other part of me is happy to just let her do her thing, sleep and eat whenever she wants. This feeling may change if she starts not sleeping through the night.

Is there really a 4 month growth spurt?? i thought I was done with those until 6 months. Booo!

 

[expatttc]

Samj, for a speedy recovery...thinking of you!

We're definitely into some sort of a twilight zone here, with waking up changing, more fussiness at the breast, munching on everything, and crying out of nowhere. Aaaaugh! That being said, she'll be 3 months in a few days...wonder how long this will last? To top it off, DH has a mancold so I'm flying solo...

 

[scoobydrlp]

Samj, glad Iz's surgery went well. Hope she heals up quickly!

expatttc, how exciting to see LO roll over! Camden has only done it once, it was several weeks ago and it must have been an accident because it hasn't happened since. It's so fun to watch them progress though!

Welcome Puravida! I just started back to work this week and LO has been waking for an early morning feed when normally she would sleep another 1-3 hours before waking at all. I'm not really sure what the deal is.

 

[samj732]

Thanks for all the thoughts ladies. So far so good, we are home now and I got some big smiles out of Iz earlier. She's happy to be home too and is now sleeping peacefully.

 

[toothfairy29]

Samj.... So glad it went well and iz is well and recovering. Lots of love to you all xxx

 

[toothfairy29]

Anyone any advice?

Joseph usually sleeps 3-4 hours between feeds through night. Quick easy feed during which he falls asleep then straight back into cot. I had occasional nights with a longer spell longest was 6 hours and the occasional night where he would wake every hour or 2.

For the last week or so he's waking within an hour of going down then every 2 hours? He's also difficult to settle. Falls asleep feeding then a couple mins after being put back in cot he's kicking and wriggling starting to cry. If I hold his hand he eventually goes back off to sleep but its doubling the time I'm up. So now waking every 2 hours for about 30 mins. By time I'm back in bad and asleep I only get an hour before he's awake again. Am exhausted. Have tried leaving him but he ends up properly crying, wakes the whole house and is much more difficult to settle. He is totally breast fed.

Any advice????

Also I'm going for bloods tomorrow as an losing serious amounts of hair and receding a little at temples. Just checking for thyroid and anaemia.

 

[ocean_pearl]

I would try and swaddle hun, that's what I did when Oli was doing this. He kept fidgeting and waking himself so I swaddled him up and he slept much longer x

 

[sigh]

Anyone have any success in stopping the swaddling? We didn't really swaddle Ellie until she was 11 weeks (when we moved her to her crib). She's been waking up randomly at night and fighting her way out of the swaddle. Her elbows are a little rough/scabby and I'm afraid the swaddle is rubbing against her skin when she breaks out. I'm thinking it might be time to stop...any advice? I'm scared because she's such a fidgety sleeper that she'll wake herself up all night!

 

[expatttc]

tooth, no advice sweetie but lots of
We're getting about 6 hours, from about 6.30-7pm to 1ish, then Rosa wakes up for a feed, and then after that, feeds every 2 hours. Before bed we do a bath with baby lavender bubbles and a massage, but recently she hardly makes it through the massage before she's crying for her pre-bed feed. And that's the other thing - she now wakes up crying rather than with muttering as she used to, which is a bit of a surprise! We're also exclusively breastfeeding.
You're not alone! We'll get through this - i'm sure the little ones will grow out of it soon enough!!!
As for swaddling, we weren't able to swaddle her arms after 3 weeks. Since then we have been using a sleepsack which she loves. Arms up and out, but she still feels tucked in, I guess, and I feel better because as she rolls around (on her back she's only still practicing moving from side to side), because I know she could push herself up if she did roll onto her tummy accidentally...

 

[ttc_lolly]

Tooth it could very well be the 3 month growth spurt - him feeding more often, harder to settle etc. Millie has been pretty much text book with her growth spurts and they always last between 3days-1week. Hopefully Joseph will be back in his old routine in no time Millie's coming up to the 4 month GS next week and I'm not looking forward to it

 

[scoobydrlp]

I agree that swaddling could help LO sleep longer at night. I hate the thought of having to stop when Camden starts rolling over. I've tried a few nights with her arms out and they're always flailing around wacking her in the face and waking her up. I think when the time comes that I HAVE to I'll try the zipadeezip, I hear others have had success with it when tranisitioning from swaddling.

Samj- glad to hear surgery went well and little Iz is home!!

 

[Kelly M]

toothfairy, could it be the four month sleep regression happening a little early? I'm dreading this phase so badly.

Sigh, we stopped swaddling Carter a couple of weeks ago and what I do when I put him down is pin his arms to his chest which helps him settle. I hold him tightly in his crib for a couple minutes until he's settled enough to stay asleep without me. This is after rocking him to sleep of course, but he always wakes up when I put him down and I have to hold his arms, shush and pat him to settle him back down.