***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[samj732]

Well I'm behind ladies but thank for all the tummy time advice. She still hates it, but I just keep on making her do it.

I have officially stopped swaddling and taken away her plug at bedtime. She sucks her thumb anyways. She's also being a champ at self soothing and putting herself to sleep. Through the night for the last 3 nights for me... Just in time for the 4 month sleep regression? I'm not sure. Iz is also a chunky monkey, she's about 17 pounds right now and most of the clothes she's wearing are 6-9 month stuff

Also her drain is out and her incisions look fabulous! We have a follow up on the 25th with an ultrasound so I'm hoping everything is good.

 

[expatttc]

samj, fingers crossed for the u/s; am sure all will be fine!

For the ladies whose LOs are sleeping through the night, how long? What time to what time? I'm trying to figure out if we're putting Rosa down too early...

 

[Chloe597]

It's funny how many big babies are on here. Seems like we can't ALL be 95%! I think those charts are wacky. Gabby is 16 lb 5 oz, 25.5" long, and 95% for both.

Gabby sleeps 8/830 - 6/7 most nights, expat.

My freezer stash has been useless. I just used my dec/jan/feb stash up so it wouldn't go bad. Lasted me a week at daycare, so I froze everything that I pumped that week. Prob have around 100 oz total in freezer.

 

[Kelly M]

Samj so happy for you that iz is healing well.
Expat my lo is up every two to four hours but he goes to bed at 8.
Chloe Carter is 17lbs 4 oz and 27in long in the 98 percentile. Hes in 9 and 12 month clothes. Big babies yeah!

 

[ocean_pearl]

Oliver goes to sleep at 9pm most night but always wakes for a feed around 3am. Recently he's woken alot more - sometimes 1,3 and 5 always very hungry then straight back to sleep after boob. I can't imagine him not eating for 8-12hours! My boobs would kill me!

He started laughing a few weeks back, the best sound in the world! He's so ticklish too

 

[sigh]

Ellie eats for 45 - 1 hr every night starting at some point between 7-8 PM. She falls asleep on me and then we gently wake her to put her sleepsack on and then DH rocks her to sleep and puts her in the crib between 8-9 PM. She sometimes (not too often) sleeps until 6:30 AM without waking but she usually gets up atleast once. It used to be regular, around 3-4 am, and then I'd put her back down 45 mins later and she'd sleep until atleast 6:30 but now she's all over the place...gets up anywhere from 11-6, 1 to 3 times. The worst is when she wakes at 5:30 to feed... by the time she's done its past 6:00 AM and she's too wired to sleep so she ends up staying up (VERY CRANKY) because she's used to getting fed at 7 am. We are thinking of moving her routine up an hour earlier to see how she does.

 

[sigh]

So Ellie has been making some weird noises and I finally figured out what it is. DH and I sing to her a lot... she's trying to sing!!
Fast forward to 1:00 min in the video and you'll hear it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TAQXWanLNw

 

[Kelly M]

Oh sigh, she's just the cutest! My lo sings too. He absolutely loves when we play the guitar and sing to him and he laughs and sings back going "aaaahhhh, oooooohhhh". It's adorable!

 

[expatttc]

sigh that's toooooooooo cute!!!!!!
Thanks for the advice on sleep times. Rosa's napping during the day seems to be all over the map. I'm going to start charting before her 4 month appointment next week to see if I can find patterns in her sleeping and feeding during daylight hours.
We have been putting her down at 6, 6.30, which now seems way too early. She's tended to sometimes wake up at 10 when I come to bed (she's in her crib in our room) for a feed, and/or then sleep through till 2 when she has a big feed. She used to then sleep again until about 5 for a feed, then snooze till 6 when she woke up. Now though, she's waking after 2 about every 1.5 to 2 hours for a feed OR a cuddle? This is new...we just got through what I thought was her 3 month growth spurt so perhaps this is her 4 month.
Yesterday was really rough in general...lots of crying through the day and chewing her hands. Even our normal round of walking using the carrier in the house and taking a bath together couldn't really calm her down. I found myself taking her temperature, turning on running water and the dryer to find SOMETHING to help her out, giving her anything I could to chew on, but she rejected everything. When I went to feed her she would chew my nipple (ow) and still keep crying.....finally she fell into a nap out of sheer exhaustion, which lasted for about 15 minutes and then we went through the whole thing again. Just pray today is better because it was horrible seeing her so upset.
I felt like such an awful Mom, not being able to figure out what was wrong!!

 

[scoobydrlp]

Got some super great news today! Just to refresh everyone's memories, Camden needs a cranial band because she has a flat spot on her head. Our insurance policy has an exclusion rider specifically stating that cranial bands are NOT covered. So I wrote a letter to HR at my husbands company (he works for a large corporation) asking for an exception. And we just found out that because of us, they are changing the coverage for everyone employed by them (thousands of people!) so that cranial bands are now covered. I can't tell you how happy/relieved this makes me!

We're starting physical therapy on thursday for her torticollis, so I feel like we're finally making progress in getting everything taken care of.

 

[daydream]

Expat - we too had some sleep regression. If you read up on wonder weeks we are right in the middle of a stormy period. The first sign: issues with sleep... It's supposed to get better in a few weeks

 

[Beanonorder]

I've been having similar sleep issues as a lot of you. I was worried it was still from all the travelling but I feel a bit better knowing I'm not alone.

Amber us gaining weight like a machine! She has gone from 5.025kg/11 pounds 1 ounce to 5.425kg/11 pounds 9 ounces in a week! Now I'm worried I'm over feeding her. But I always bf first then give her a bottle - which she drains in about 5 minutes!

I have started gym again. It is good to be working out again because I've been feeling pretty bad about myself lately.

 

[expatttc]

daydream I need that book!

I'm just having a bad few days, I think...I really feel discouraged not being able to read Rosa like I feel I should. I find myself constantly thinking - is she hungry? Too full? Is she getting enough milk, or too much?

When she cries and I feed her, and she throws up afterwards I feel like I didn't read what she needed. When she cries and I can't get anything to calm her down for 15 minutes and THEN she feeds, I worry that I didn't feed her soon enough.

Aaaaaaugh.

 

[expatttc]

Scooby, meant to say that it is brilliant what you've been able to do re. the insurance company's decision. I always believe that a letter can go a long way. Brava!!
Sorry to not mention in my previous post -- just being so selfish and exhausted right now!

 

[sigh]

Scooby - thats great news!!

expatttc - I know exactly how you feel! We had a good day yesterday where Ellie seemed full and napped well, but then she ended up waking up every 2 hours or less last night and I had to keep feeding her even thought I wasn't sure if she was hungry but nothing else settled her. I was low because of this in the morning. She's used to getting a nice full meal when she wakes up and it took me an hour (!) to put her down for a nap just now. I feel horrible that she probably isn't getting enough and am thinking about quitting breastfeeding. My nipples are red,bruised and blistered from her pulling and fussing the last week. I'm working so hard to make enough milk for her and its killing me physically and emotionally that I'm not enough for her. My sister keeps giving me advice and telling me I'm not eating right (basically that it's my fault my supply is low... she had an oversupply and she weights 90 lbs and barely eats.) but I'm definitely eating properly...I'm even gaining weight.


beanonorder - I've been feeling bad about myself too. It doesn't help that my inlaws told me I look "fat" and "not good" last month. I tried to work out during one of her naps yesterday and couldn't even do 1 sit up. The worst part is I'm going to be a bridesmaid in an indian wedding in 2 months and save to wear a sari (shows part of my stomach). ugh.

 

[Honey.Bee]

Scooby - way to go!

Sigh/Expat - you are not alone! Exactly the same thing happening here. I could have written the majority of your posts myself. I think what we are all experiencing here is the 4 month sleep regression. I've been doing loads of reading and stumbled across the baby sleep site. (www.babysleepsite.com) There's quite a few free downloads on it which are worth seeking out. I've started to make some gentle changes to Ava's day such as making time for her bedtime routine, putting her to bed earlier and keeping a closer eye on her tired signals so I don't let her get overtired before a nap. It's early days but she does wake less in the night (it was hourly - now 21/2-3 hourly) and she sleeps 7-7.30, just waking for feeds and going straight back to sleep. Still sleeping on me/in the pram though

 

[daydream]

Expat - I love the book because it gives me hope that 1) this is temporary and will get better and 2) that all the fussy means fun new skills are coming soon!

 

[daydream]

For us, the bedtime has been our battle. He just will not go down easily. It's been getting slowly better, so hopefully it keeps going that way. He's also waking up 2-3 times at night whereas he was only waking up once if at all.

Sigh - don't give up! Sounds like you've got a growth spurt going on right now too, which is hard but you can do it! If your nipples are getting raw, try wearing a nipple shield until they heal. Your LO is old enough that should be able to wean off the shield when they're better

 

[sigh]

\Sigh - don't give up! Sounds like you've got a growth spurt going on right now too, which is hard but you can do it! If your nipples are getting raw, try wearing a nipple shield until they heal. Your LO is old enough that should be able to wean off the shield when they're better

I may have to. She isn't gaining weight properly even though I'm feeding her every 1.5-2.5 hours and letting her tug and pull at me for 45 minutes. She was in the 75th-95th percentile when she was born and now she's in the 25-50th. My supply doesn't seem to be increasing and she is just not happy. I don't want to stunt her growth or starve her... I dont know whatelse to do.

 

[cococobain]

scooby - that is so awesome you had such a positive influence! that will mean so much to so many mums working there. great news!

sigh - I wish I could give you words of encouragement, but it sounds so frustrating. If you feel like you've tried everything and still aren't satisfied and the ped. gives the go ahead then there's nothing wrong with going another route. I know it hurts to "give up" but it sounds like you've tried literally everything you can. Just by breastfeeding for four months here is a list of the benefits you've provided your baby (taken from the article "timeline of a breastfed baby")

one month
By exclusively breastfeeding for at least 1 month you have given your baby significant protection against food allergy at 3 years of age, and also against respiratory allergy at 17 years of age (Saarinen. UM and Kajosaari. M).
six weeks
Also breastfeeding for 6 weeks means that your child now has less risk of chest infections up to 7 years old (NCT).
two months
By breastfeeding exclusively for 2 months, your child now has a lower risk of food allergy at 3 years old (NCT).
three months
By breastfeeding for at least 3 months you have given your baby a 27 percent reduction in the risk of asthma if you have no family history of asthma and a 40 percent reduction if you have a family history of asthma (Tufts-New England Medical Center Evidence-Based Practice Center).
By this stage you have also given your baby between a 19 and 27 percent reduction in incidence of childhood Type 1 Diabetes (Tufts-New England Medical Center Evidence-Based Practice Center).
four months
By giving nothing but your breastmilk for the first four months you have given your baby strong protection against ear infections and respiratory tract diseases for a whole year (American Academy of Paediatrics; Tufts-New England Medical Center Evidence-Based Practice Center; Duncan.B et al).
By breastfeeding for at least 4 months you have reduced your baby’s risk of cot death (Mother & Baby).
By breastfeeding for 4 months you have given your child a lower risk of developing eczema and asthma (NCT).

Don't let family or outside influences let you feel like you've failed somehow, because you've already done so much for your baby as it is.

To the person that mentioned tracking baby's schedule, if you have a phone that uses Android look up Baby ESP app. It is awesome! It tracks literally everything! Its made knowing what LO needs so much more straight-forward.