February Valentines 2012

[Junebugs]

Hey girls, do you change your little ones in the middle of the night feed or do you leave it until the next feed to reduce stimulation??

 

[tiger]

i usually change her before her feed. but sometimes she poos while im feeding her (charming holly just charming ) so i have to do it again.
but i do it before generally because she hates being changed so shes left screaming and wide awake otherwise

 

[Guppy051708]

RE: Gas/poops - poops are a GREAT thing Means baby is getting enough
As for foods that cause gas, its really trial and error. That list is not exclusive or exhaustive. So i guess just starting with one thing and deleting that out of the diet for 5-7 days and seeing where that gets you can help form a bigger picture. but like i said, being gassy is actually quite typical and common during this age.

As for the dairy. Not all babies get constipated if they cant tolerate it, but *most* of the time they do OR they get green poops or diarrhea. Every baby is different so theres a chance that dairy could be bothersome, but not necessarily. Its a tough thing to figure out.

Babies do spit up bc of their immature digestive system. And although it can be tough for us to see ,as loving moms, it is very normal and unless they are literally vomiting rivers, then its totally normal it doesn't necessarily indicate a problem (although its not fun to see at all )

 

[Guppy051708]

Hey girls, do you change your little ones in the middle of the night feed or do you leave it until the next feed to reduce stimulation??

I usually change him in the middle of a feed because he normally falls asleep so thats how i awaken him to finish (i know he isn't done, the feeding would last all night if i didn't do that lol) ...plus i want to avoid chaffing and him getting raw. I dont wake him to change him, though, unless hes up for a feed (or crying or whatever)

In the day i change him every 2 hours (or more often if i know he #2ed) We cloth diaper though so it doesn't absorb as much...and plus i dont, personally, like the idea of long stretches with wet/dirty diapers.

 

[swanxxsong]

I change Aria during the night feeds to avoid leaks or rashes plus she hates a dirty diaper and will wail until it is remedied. lol. I know she has sleeping issues lol but it's usually a 50/50 chance of staying awake or going back to sleep after her night feeds so I just change her.

I'm 99% sure I got my period. I'm pissed. lol

 

[Guppy051708]

that stinks swan
On the bright side.....you could try for a second and join the 2 under 2 club WINK WINK

 

[Junebugs]

Ya i normally always change him 1/2 way between a feed but i was just reading somewhere to skip the middle of the night change all together ( unless it is really messy) to avoid to much stimulation

 

[Guppy051708]

i mean, if baby has trouble going back to sleep, i could understand that, but if there isnt generally issues, i would say its fine to change them. ...you do have to be careful about raw bums though

 

[swanxxsong]

Hahaha oh Guppy. I'd consider it if Aria would sleep once in awhile!

 

[swanxxsong]

I'm seriously beginning to feel a bit hopeless with this sleeping thing.

Aria was such a great sleeper for the first... 4 weeks? Maybe 6? And now, I'm just beginning to lose my mind. I've been keeping a log of how often she wakes and for how long, and there's just no rhyme or reason that I can see. Restricting stimulation at night does nothing - she still pops up like a darn daisy if she feels inclined. She refuses to be swaddled, so that's out. She shares our bed, because the few times she's been lulled to sleep in her rock and play, she wakes within an hour screaming, and usually ends up awake for a couple of hours afterward. White noise sometimes helps keep her asleep, but does nothing when she decides she wants to be awake. She just seems to be in a round-the-clock cycle of sleeping, being awake for a couple of hours, sleeping, being awake for a couple of hours.

Just needed to vent - I'm entirely exhausted and she's happily bouncing in her bouncy chair right now while I attempt to keep my body from collapsing. I really hope my pedi has some sort of fruitful advice on Wednesday.

 

[swanxxsong]

I should add, everything I read keeps saying that it's a peak fussiness time, and that she's becoming more social and thus won't like having to sleep as much, and that in a few more weeks she'll be better adjusted and ready for sleep training or be establishing her own schedule. Which is great - light at the end of the tunnel kind of manner, I guess.

But until that point, I'm just feeling more and more disheveled. I know one day I'll look back and laugh at myself, but for the moment... I am exhausted and since it's 3am and I haven't gotten much sleep yet, I really am starving for a full breakfast of pancakes and bacon.

 

[ellitigg]

Aw hugs Swan!

I was trying to avoid doing a nappy change at every night feed because he wakes so much but he's already getting a sore bottom so I think I'll revert to a change at every feed.

Mumanddad - Yes, I'm pretty sure we have to book the baby massage classes and it's most likely full but I guess there'll be a waiting list.

So, my parents are finally coming to meet Josh this weekend. They live 5 hours away so they have to stay when they come up and we all agreed it would be best to wait until we'd had a few weeks at home. I'm so excited for them to meet him, they've only seen him on skype. My mum wants him to use her first name and I was like nope, Granny it is!

 

[becstar]

Reposted - any thoughts?

Two kids, going okay here so far. La adores her brother and helps with everything. She does want to kiss and cuddle him all the time which is lovely but when he is asleep she can wake him, and also her cuddles are very, um, energetic.

I am wondering about settling him though. In the week we go to playgroups every morning and he sleeps in the sling, then will sleep if we go out in the sling or buggy in the afternoon... But at home he has stopped going to sleep in his hammock or chair unless it is bedtime. He just falls asleep on the boob and wants to be held for his sleep in the day. I know he is very young but I am wary as La never slept well, she would never nap in the day without being put to sleep (in the buggy or car or fed to sleep or rocked) and even then she didn't sleep much and dropped her daytime nap by about 18 months. She was also a bad sleeper at night until she turned two.

So, some questions:

1) how do you start to encourage a baby to go to sleep by himself? At the moment he sleeps in the sling in the morning at playgroup, or the buggy if we are out, or he falls asleep on the boob. I do put him in his bed when he is sleepy but not asleep but as he has become more alert recently he doesn't fall asleep, he just gets agitated and then cries.

2) routine - how do you manage it with an older one? At the moment he is just having to fit in with La's playgroups etc but is that going to mess him up? I guess if he gets into the habit of being able to sleep by himself he can nap whenever?

I am swinging from being very laid back and relaxed to worrying that we will be having to rock or feed him to sleep for years!

Any thoughts? Second timers?

 

[ellitigg]

Reposted - any thoughts?

Two kids, going okay here so far. La adores her brother and helps with everything. She does want to kiss and cuddle him all the time which is lovely but when he is asleep she can wake him, and also her cuddles are very, um, energetic.

I am wondering about settling him though. In the week we go to playgroups every morning and he sleeps in the sling, then will sleep if we go out in the sling or buggy in the afternoon... But at home he has stopped going to sleep in his hammock or chair unless it is bedtime. He just falls asleep on the boob and wants to be held for his sleep in the day. I know he is very young but I am wary as La never slept well, she would never nap in the day without being put to sleep (in the buggy or car or fed to sleep or rocked) and even then she didn't sleep much and dropped her daytime nap by about 18 months. She was also a bad sleeper at night until she turned two.

So, some questions:

1) how do you start to encourage a baby to go to sleep by himself? At the moment he sleeps in the sling in the morning at playgroup, or the buggy if we are out, or he falls asleep on the boob. I do put him in his bed when he is sleepy but not asleep but as he has become more alert recently he doesn't fall asleep, he just gets agitated and then cries.

2) routine - how do you manage it with an older one? At the moment he is just having to fit in with La's playgroups etc but is that going to mess him up? I guess if he gets into the habit of being able to sleep by himself he can nap whenever?

I am swinging from being very laid back and relaxed to worrying that we will be having to rock or feed him to sleep for years!

Any thoughts? Second timers?

I'm afraid I'm no help at all for routine with an older one. For sleeping by himself, I think this is one of the topics in the baby whisperer (can't remember if it was that book or another one). Lots of places say you can try to change their sleep associations so that can go to sleep themselves in a way that doesn't involve you. Unfortunately I don't know of a way to do it that doesn't involve them crying a bit All the things I've read suggest trying to put them down (in their cot, say) and try to settle them until they're calm. If they cry when you leave the room, try giving them 5 minutes (or more, if he's just fussing, not wailing) to settle themselves and then go in and comfort him. Comforting could be picking him up, patting, talking quietly etc until he's calm but not asleep. Then rinse and repeat. I think at only a few weeks old, they reckon it should only take a few days to get them to change their sleep association and theoretically you should have to go in to them fewer times each day. If you find a good way, let me know as I think Josh is picking up some habits already lol

 

[swanxxsong]

Sorry, FTM here so I can't help with the two kiddos question, and Aria doesn't sleep so I have no idea about the other either.


I don't understand how she is functioning right now. She woke up every hour from 10 pm - 1 am to nurse and fall back asleep. Then she was awake from 2 am - 6 am with no nap no matter how I tried. Then she woke back up at 630 and was awake until 8.

She slept from 8 to 1130 and is now WIDE AWAKE AGAIN. I surely am struggling to function on that sleep schedule but she's just fine. How is that possible? lol.

 

[Guppy051708]

Ladies i TOALLY recommend the DVD (and the book if you wish, but def the DVD) called "Happiest Baby on the Block". I actually show it in my child birth ed classes i think EVERY parent should have that DVD! And its only $10 on Amazon
That will help with sleeps and cries and soothing and such

becstar....i dont really do anything to get #2 to sleep. It just seems pointless at this age. But i do nurse him a lot, and he sleeps that way. The side ways swing has been a life savor too Sorry, i know this doesn't really help much, but my little guy sleeps SOOOOO much that i literally have to awaken him to feed most times. As for a routine and #1....we are very lucky with how easily we get him to sleep. I know i will get the "bad mom of the year award" for this (lol) but he is NOT a cuddler and never has been. We tried the bath thing when he was young, but it just gets him more rowed up (even with the sleepy bath bubbles/lotion). We follow his cue as per sleep and such. He will go to sleep any time between 8pm-9:30pm. If we put him down before he is ready, we can basically expect lots of screams and tears, so we always wait until we know he is ready for bed. I get him a bottle, kiss him good night, and DH lays him down, covers him up, sweeps his bangs a time or two, says good night, turns on the radio, shuts off the light, and closes the door.

 

[swanxxsong]

I had a friend suggest HBOTB too, but the minute I said Aria hates swaddling she said, "nevermind don't waste your money. if she doesn't swaddle, it won't work."



Thoughts? lol. I'm getting insanely desperate here. I just keep telling myself that time's moving so quickly, she'll soon get it... but after nights like last night, my poor body and mind are just numb.

 

[swanxxsong]

BTW ladies, thanks for listening to me rant and rave these past few weeks about the sleep issue. I feel guilty for having been so bitchy about it lately, and after some contemplation today, I've decided I need to force myself to take a more optimistic approach, even on days when I'm getting no sleep until 7am. Stressing myself out isn't going to help solve anything.

I vow to stop being so glass-half-empty and approach things in a more glass-half-full manner.

Which, on that note, I need to start cleaning Aria's room to slowly prepare for the in-laws visit this coming Saturday. May as well get something done while she's soundly asleep in her Moby!

 

[swanxxsong]

Cross-posting this from the facebook group to here, because maybe this info can help any of you who may have problem-swaddlers.

--

So, FINALLY had some success sleeping tonight!

I had been reading about babies and swaddling earlier, and found an article by a momma who said she, too, thought her baby hating being swaddled but that her baby just needed a fool-proof swaddle that was escape-free. So I started looking further and found this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4VdZxwsu4&list=FLK5sGs-DdReQTo6PrSCR7ew&feature=mh_lolz

Decided, hey, why not? I'll try it. So when Aria woke up at 8:30pm to eat, I changed her and fed her, then realized I hadn't swaddled. Big mistake. lol. I ended up waking her up swaddling her, and she got peeved and was awake for 2 hours. I un-swaddled because she was crying, and waited. She's pretty predictable - awake for about 2 hours on the dot before falling back asleep unless it's the middle of the night (then she'll go for longer sometimes). We played, sang, etc. and then when the two hour mark neared and I could see she was drowsy, I changed, swaddled and nursed her and boom, asleep at 10:35 on the dot.

She slept until 3am.

Almost 4.5 hours! I about died when I woke up and realized this. SO HAPPY. So I quietly changed her, swaddled and fed her... but she was already intent on being wide-awake so after nursing, she began to wail and pout until I un-swaddled. Then for ten minutes she flailed on her play mat and whimpered at me, glaring as though I had broken her heart. LOL. So she's happily playing in her bouncy chair since no amount of anything would settle her, but I'm keeping my eyes on her and once she begins looking drowsy, I'm going to try again.

Now, I'm going to have to read/watch Happiest Baby on the Block like Guppy suggested. Hopefully, we'll be able to reach a better sleep compromise now! ;D


((note: it is not entirely escape proof, I found. when Aria was fussing just now about wanting to be out, when I opened the swaddle I found that she had managed to shimmy her arm up her shirt and out of the small receiving blanket constraint. so apparently, unless she's drowsy or asleep, she's still my little Houdini of swaddles... but whatever. lol))

 

[ellitigg]

The last 24 hours have been so hard. Josh's gas issues seem to have been really bad and he just won't settle. Last night when DH got home we did bath and bedtime as usual and he wouldn't go down at all. We ended up having to let him cry and going in every few minutes to comfort him. He eventually fell asleep until about 2:30am but when I put him back down after the night feed I could hear him lying there awake and grizzling every few minutes. Then the same happened this morning, that he was just wailing and wailing and there was nothing I could do to comfort him. I think he doesn't like being put in his cot all of a sudden because he's ok (ish) when someone picks him up. The little guy must be so tired as he's hardly slept since 2:30am I hate listening to him cry like that but I don't know what else to do.