***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[sigh]

Well, I totally screwed up whatever semblance of a routine we were starting to have by going out with Carter every day this week. I had errands to run every single day and we have been out of the house a lot so his napping has gone back to crap. I'm so frustrated! It was just starting to get good. And the guy still wakes up every 2-3 hours at night. It's killing me! I just cry and cry because I'm so damn tired and sick of it.

I'm so sorry KellyM! This happened to us last month... Ellie was taking 2 2 hr+ naps a day and then I messed it up by going out with her one day. She is napping better now that I extended her awake time but it's always bad on weekends because i work from my parents house on Fridays and they don't have the swing for her to nap in... Do you have anyone helping you?? I'm actually hiring a mother's helper off of care.com soon since my mom can't help me everyday anymore. If she would actually nap regularly then I could work and take care of her but that seems to be an impossible dream

 

[scoobydrlp]

Happy 4 months to Amber and 5 months to Millie! I can't believe how quickly they're growing!

 

[toothfairy29]

Scooby..... Your little princess is sooooo cute! She looks very happy in her new 'hat'! What a smiler!!

Kelly I'm sorry you're having a hard time again. Sadly no advice as you know Joseph is a terrible napper and still feeds similar through the night. I hope it's a little phase he's going through and settles again for you. When I feel like you I have to remind myself it's not forever! Not always easy I know!

 

[juless]

Hi guys! Haven't been able to get on much lately, as we've all been getting over being sick. Glad to see so many beautiful happy babies! Can't believe our little ones are growing so very fast! Tessa is always laughing and smiling and reeeeally into her toys.
Thanks to you guys for talking about BLW as I didn't know much about it before and looked into it. Going to do it like that this time! Sounds more fun for kiddo plus easier for me! Pureeing everything took so much time! Right now we're trying to fix up the outside of our house (inside we did before we moved in last summer) and working to put together the huge wooden playset several grandparents all chipped in to buy the girls. It's massive! Even has a tube slide and a rock wall, will take pics of it when it *eventually* is finished, lots of work left to do on it!
Also, it's really hitting me know how much smaller DD2 is to DD1. It's crazy! I found a pic of DD1 at 18 days old wearing a sleeper that I'm just now putting on Tess at 5 months! And Tess is on the higher end of the growth chart, so not a teeny girl!

 

[Kelly M]

Thanks for the support ladies! I have just been so tired lately. Carter's sleep is really hit or miss. I feel like I'm doing something wrong but I think that's just my irrational guilt. Hopefully he grows out of it soon. Solid foods do not help him sleep longer so I have sort of given up. I give him a taste every now and then but I'm not serious about it yet. He napped ok today and woke twice last night so not bad, but was up at 6 am so that was brutal. Hope all you ladies are doing well. I can't believe my sweet little boy is almost five months old! He's trying to crawl already, getting his butt up in the air and scooting a bit. I'm not ready for the mobility! Need to baby proof! And he sat himself up for 30 seconds on his own yesterday. Proud but sad at the same time.

 

[ocean_pearl]

Are any of you girls using reusable nappies? I'm thinking of giving them a try after seeing my friends baby in them. I've always felt a bit guilty about using disposables as I like to recycle etc but while I was settling into routine etc i thought disposables are much easier.

I think I would still use disposables in the night as they keep the baby dryer and just use reusable a during the day.

I was thinking of the Bambino Miosolo all in one as it sounds the easiest to use and wash/dry.

Any insight would be great. Also when you're out and about and lo does a poo, what do you do? And his poos are completely liquid so would I use liners? Wouldn't his poo stain the cloth? Thank you!

 

[ttc_lolly]

Thanks all, can't believe my baby is 5 months already! Where does the time go?

Ocean, I'm thinking of going fluffy too. I've had lots of recommendations for brands and types from friends - now I just need to get off my arse and decide which ones and start stocking up.

Hi Juless hope you're all over the worst that outdoor playset sounds amazing!

Kelly, that's amazing Carter is on his way to crawling! It's sad how fast they grow but awesome to see it happening at the same time. I'm sorry sleep isn't great

Not much to report here, Ive woken up with a stinking cold, Amber has hayfever and Millie is the only one of us who isn't falling apart

 

[juless]

I've been using cloth on and off for a little while now! Stopped for a few days when we were all sick, but going back on today. I'm really liking it! Once you get the hang of it and have a routine set up and some organization it's pretty easy. I don't have a wetbag yet, so I use a plastic container. I also still use disposible wipes, but am planning on going to cloth at some point possibly. Every morning I get the container ready with a little baggie (usually use those diapers meant to hold poopy diapers) and put my dirty wipes in there. Then on top of the container I put a pile of the fabric liners and a few covers. I also use extra disposible liners and it makes things much easier! Poop still gets on the liners, and can stain, but if you hang them outside to dry it usually gets it out or at least lightens it. (There is a type of diaper with a grey lining, so it won't stain so easily!). I just use a wipe to wipe off the worst of the poop before I throw it in the container. (I read recently that breastfed baby's poops are water-soluable, so you don't need to remove it all if you do that). I still try to get most of it off though. You'll want to read up on how to properly wash them, when/if to bleach them, stripping them, etc. I am using Flip covers and liners and they are working well. Getting less poop explosions in those than I do in the disposible. Since I don't have a wetbag I only use them at home and I also put a disposible on her at night since she sleeps long periods of time. You will find you have to change baby more often, esp if they are heavy wetters, since you don't have those gel things to absorb more fluid like in disposibles, but it's not too bad. I plan on eventually getting a few more of different brands to try out, but I'm pretty happy with the flip ones. I would like some all in ones for OH to use as he's a bit intimidated by the ones we have!

 

[Chloe597]

Happy 5 months to Millie! Gabby was 5 months yesterday. They are growing so fast!!

Sorry about your sleep troubles, Kelly. Gabby is a pretty awful napper as well. When I'm home with her on the weekends, she will take 2-3 30 min naps, and that is it. Doesn't seem to affect her mood tho, as she is still quite happy, but it does mean i pretty much get nothing done on the weekends. Is carter cranky when he doesn't nap well, or is it just that you can't get any time for yourself?

I admire you girls who use cloth diapers. I really wanted to, but I am just so overwhelmed by everything else that has to get done, even if it only takes 5 more minutes per day than normal, I don't know that I can handle the loss of those 5 minutes! Gabby pees ALL THE TIME, so i wonder how often I would have to change her.

We have started given her tastes of foods, and so far the only thing she has shown any interest in is an apple slice. She is also starting to push her chest off the ground and put her butt up in the air. I'm convinced she will crawl before she rolls over, although she was so close to rolling this weekend.

Here is a pic of her on her 5 month birthday. Have a lovely day/evening everyone!

 

[sigh]

Happy 5 months Gabby & Millie! Adorable pic Chloe!

Scooby - she has the most beautiful smile Sooo cute!!

KellyM - He's already starting to move? That's amazing! We're still trying to get Ellie to roll from back to front. She's not a fan of being on her tummy so I don't see that happening anytime soon.


Ellie woke at 1 am for a feed, then cried/whined at 4 am and I was about to get up to get her but I fell back asleep. I woke up shortly to find her fast asleep! She slept until 7 am.. the first time I've been able to sleep past 5 am since... I don't even know when. I hope it sticks but doubt it will lol. She just took a 20 minute nap and is chatting away in her swing as I type.

 

[Honey.Bee]

Jules - that play set sounds amazing!

Kelly - we're still hit and miss with sleep too. Hang on in there!

Ocean - we have little lambs nappies (mostly bamboo but a couple of microfiber). I love them and find them easy to use. I've started to use a disposable at night as Ava is beginning to sleep longer and it does make a difference. The system we use has a nappy, booster and lining which are all washable. You can get disposable liners too but I've never got into using them. If we are out and she has a poo, I just bag it up and pop the whole thing in the wash later. We haven't got any stains (I wash at 40 deg) as the sun will bleach them if they persist after a wash. Cloth nappies are bulkier but it doesn't seem to bother Ava or limit her movement.

So I finally worked out why Ava was screaming at night. Nothing to do with the solids - we have the imminent arrival of a tooth! The one milestone I hope she would be late in reaching. Grrrrr!

 

[Kelly M]

Honeybee, hope that tooth comes in fast! I'm dreading the teething phase as I already don't get any sleep.

Ocean, we cloth diaper. I have bum genius 4.0 with the removable inserts and kushies aio. Carter gets rashy so easily so we only use them part time and where I live now, water is really, really expensive so I don't always get to wash them regularly. But, I love it. Any time we use them is just one more disposable I didn't have to put in the landfill or spend money on. Plus they are so cute! Only problem is finding pants to fit over them as they are bulky. We also use cloth wipes. It's easy, just throw them in with the diapers. Once Carter is on solids I will probably use flushable liners and I also have a bum genius diaper sprayer I will hook up when we move into our new place sometime.

Happy five months to Gabby! She's such a cute little chunker!

Sigh, hope Ellie continues the sleeping in. Carter gets up at 6 am and it's so brutal so I know how you feel. Last night he was up at 10 pm (right as I was falling asleep), 1 am, 2 am, 5 am, 5:30 am, 6 am for the day. I am SO TIRED!

Carter isn't that cranky when he catnaps, it's just tiring for me to put him down for so many naps as he takes 5-6 naps a day when he does that. He is getting better though. If we stay home he can nap about three long ones and then I get a good break.

 

[daydream]

Are any of you girls using reusable nappies? I'm thinking of giving them a try after seeing my friends baby in them. I've always felt a bit guilty about using disposables as I like to recycle etc but while I was settling into routine etc i thought disposables are much easier.

I think I would still use disposables in the night as they keep the baby dryer and just use reusable a during the day.

I was thinking of the Bambino Miosolo all in one as it sounds the easiest to use and wash/dry.

Any insight would be great. Also when you're out and about and lo does a poo, what do you do? And his poos are completely liquid so would I use liners? Wouldn't his poo stain the cloth? Thank you!

We use bumgenius 4.0s all the time. love them. It is so easy and we just run the wash every other day. At night, we do put the burts bees diaper cream on him to help avoid rashes and use a liner to protect the diaper (which is just an old t-shirt we cut up into squares). But he goes 12 hours or so without leaks. Also with cloth: no blowouts!! It's wonderful.

Out and about we just put everything into a wet bag (just a waterproof bag). We don't use liners for the poos because he is still EBF. Once he eats solids, we will be using our bumgenius diaper sprayer to get the solids into the toilet.

There are some stains, but I don't care too much since no one sees it and it is still clean. I did leave a batch that were stained in the sun the other weekend and they were good as new!

Before I made the leap, I read through as many personal accounts that I could: I read through all of my friend Lisa's blog posts on cloth diapering, she's super thorough and talked about anything and everything you could want to know: https://daylightrising.wordpress.com/tag/cloth-diapers/

I did read through Young House Love's cloth diapering posts, just because I figured maybe I'd find a few more tips https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/08/the-much-requested-cloth-diaper-post/ https://www.younghouselove.com/2011/05/dog-days-cloth-dipes/ but overall Lisa's were the most helpful.

 

[bbygurl719]

hey all just stopping in to show off some pics of angel...i added a hospital pic too.to show how much she has grown

 

[sigh]

aww bbygurl so cute!! love the onesie


KellyM- Oh man! Are you sure he's hungry all those times or do you think he's just used to getting fed at those times? I started sending DH in if she wakes up before midnight or less than 3 hours between feeds to rock her back to sleep. If she wakes up again, I know she's definitely hungry and I go feed her, otherwise she sleeps. I think she fell into a routine of waking up at certain times.


So she bit me several times during an afternoon feeding today and I am very swollen. I tried to nurse her to sleep and she bit me on the same side again and I yelled ouch. It woke her up and now she won't sleep (DH has been trying to rock her for half an hour now). I don't know what to do about the swollen side and am very afraid for the day those teeth pop up.

 

[Kelly M]

I'm sorry Sigh! That hurts, I know. I think Carter just wakes up at those times out of habit. He can't be THAT hungry, he's 19 lbs and should be able to go longer than three hours. I'm trying to teach him to fall asleep on his own and hoping it will help his night time sleep. We are in the same room so if dh gets up with him I still wake up. It's hard but it will pass soon I hope.

 

[expatttc]

Hiiiiiiiii from Brisbane! Rosa is well, after 2 weeks of a virus and temperature, she was even able to get her 4 month checkup and immunizations. Love bring able to walk around with her outside.
We are doing lots of shopping, to stock up for our return to png on Sunday.

 

[Honey.Bee]

Kelly - we used to have that kind of (non) sleep pattern. At that frequency it does sound like Carter has got used to waking/feeding at those times, rather than actually needing to eat. Have you seen EP's gentle removal plan?

https://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2010/04/change-your-babys-sleep-association-for.html?m=1

It helped me to get our night feedings down from 6 to 3 and whether it is a coincidence or not, Ava does seem to be settling herself more now. I felt like you, only a few weeks ago but then slowly things started to change, and I hope they will for you too.

Expat - glad Rosa is better. You guys are always travelling. Enjoy your Aussie sun x

Sigh - Ava was chomping a lot last week. It really is sore, isn't it? I found she did it more when she was tired. When I feel her beginning to clamp down, I put my little finger in to break the suction, say a firm no, and withdraw the breast for a minute or so. It seems to be working as she hasn't done it for a few days now. I found this article on BF and teething/biting - hope it helps!

https://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/articles/teething-and-biting

 

[ttc_lolly]

Millie has started to chomp too, and worse still, chomps and then quickly turns her head away and pulling me with her Ouchhhhhh! Like Honey.Bee, I'm learning when she does it and then unlatching her. Hopefully she'll learn we don't do that soon

Honey.Bee, how exciting, Ava's first toothy peg! What are you using for it? I swear by Ashton & Parson's homeopathic teething granules amber necklaces and anklets too. I thought Millie might have had a couple of teeth coming through a month or so ago but none have started to cut through yet. My Amber didn't get any through until she was around 9 months old but was in a lot of discomfort before then, I'm hoping Millie at leasts cuts earlier to save all the pointless pain.

 

[cococobain]

Back home from staying at my mum's for two weeks. LO didn't recognize OH at first, in fact while I was nursing her and chatting with OH his voice caused her to break off and cry (she did it several times too) it really hurt his feelings, but the following morning she was all smiles and playing with his beard so all is well again.

Honestly I'm considering going back to mums again O_O. Baby is crazy clingy lately! Yesterday I didn't get anything done as she screams if I leave her to play alone for more than 30 seconds. She needs my constant attention/to be held. I tried putting her in the pushchair with toys attached and just push her around with me to my various chores, but she cries as soon as I turn my back to her.

Last week she went through a monster growth spurt and started waking up in the middle of the night after months of STTN. Currently only waking up once, but she does feed/sleep around 6pm now so totally understandable. Her naps are a little all over the place, never more than an hour at a time, but it's the crankiness that is getting to me. She is also knawing on anything she can get her hands on.

Loving the baby pictures! Glad to hear Rosa is better now expatttc - Scooby she looks like the helmet doesn't even bother her! I love the velcro bow too, such a nice thought xx
Honey.bee - congrats on first tooth! if you discover a way to help soothe, let us know!

Does anyone have their LO in their own room yet? I'm thinking about making the move now, OH and I are creeping into our beds like ninjas every night and I think she can smell my milk. Was it a big adjustment or did they not even notice? xx

EDIT: Rereading my post, it sounds like I don't like holding my LO :/ I do, I love her clingy cuddles! It's just I need to get some cleaning done too.