November Sparklers 2012

[daddiesgift]

Sorry F&C I hope you can get him in right away and its nothing serious.

Squishy has his one month appointment today! A few days early but still crazy he's almost a month old! He will get his first shots today which always makes me sad but I'll take a few cries over what could happen without vaccinations. Dominic never reacted at all maybe crying once but no fever or discomfort after so I'm hoping its the same for Anthony!

 

[Fish&Chips]

Oh I'm dreading the jabs. I think in the UK the first ones are at 8 weeks. It's the fact there are 3 so they just get more and more worked up.

 

[Cridge]

Oh no F&C - I hope your LO doesn't have anything serious. Hopefully he'll feel 100% soon!

My first had doc appointments all the time the first 6 months, I swear. But for some reason, now I've only been the day after hospital discharge, at 2 weeks, and our next appointment is at 8 weeks, which is when he'll get his first set of shots. I was surprised we didn't have an appointment at 1 month.

I've been debating the diaper thing at night as well. My Ninja fills his diaper, so it'll "explode" (as we call it - complete with sound effects from my 10 year old ) somewhere between 4-5 hours if not changed. I have, however, stopped changing him twice if he poops right after a change (which is common). He's never had a red bum at all, so although I feel kinda bad about it, I've made him go all the way to the next feeding before changing him again if he does poop right away. So honestly, if I wasn't worried about the diaper exploding, I wouldn't change him at night. But I worry that if I don't, I'll end up changing his entire outfit, which we used to have to do a LOT the first few weeks. I know Huggies has an overnight diaper, do they come in size 1? I've thought about looking into that.

 

[gaiagirl]

F&C - Hope all is well. Keep us posted!

Last night I didn't change him from 9-3, even though he was up shortly at 12. At 3 there was a teeny smidge of poop and it was a bit heavy but definitely not maxed out. I think NOT changing him at 12 helped because we both fell back asleep with him nursing in bed very quickly.

Ironically, between 9-10am he peed SO much that it filled the diaper and leaked down his leg! Maybe he is saving his big pees until morning too! LOL.

He has a bit of a red bum around his anus but I think it is because I slacked on the medicated bum cream yesterday AND had two glasses of orange juice. Citrus seems to irritate his bum.

I am hesitant waiting for the diaper to get really full because one type of huggies we tried actually leaked the absorbant gel bits onto him when it got full. I am REALLY not comfortable with that, which is one of the reasons we mostly cloth...so I don't want to let it go too long...those chemicals are nasty.

Oh and the shots! We are scheduled for Jan 31. He will be almost 3 months but I am actually happy to delay it a bit. I am thinking of only doing one (Dtap-Hib) the first trip and the others a month later. Three just seems so overkill the first time. I am really dreading it, his cries already break my heart the thought of the needles makes me feel sick. Ugh.

Also do you ladies get Rotavirus vaccine where you are? They've just added it to our regular lineup but it is a live vaccine and the virus shows up in poop for up to 10 days! For someone who cloth diapers this is a bit of a pain...

 

[Cridge]

I don't think we get rotavirus shots.

Yay for waiting til morning to unload the pee! I wish my little guy did that. I do think he's going less during the night, but it's still enough to warrant a change.

Are you ladies doing any kind of nap schedule during the day yet? Last week I noticed my little guy was consistently sleeping 2-3 hours after getting up, so I've got him taking a 3 hour nap from 10:30-1:30 almost every day the last week!

 

[gaiagirl]

He *generally* naps by around 9/10 but sometimes it's for an hour and sometimes for 3! Lol.

He also *generally* naps for 3 hours in the late afternoon...

But yah...I would not make any plans around this yet because he really varies so much still!

One consistent thing is definitely that he gets tired by 2 hours after waking. So I always start working on getting him back to sleep by then, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't!

 

[gaiagirl]

Oh and rotavirus is not a shot, it's oral!

 

[Fish&Chips]

Tristan is much better thanks. The Dr said it was probably a stomach bug which is doing the rounds and it's just a case of letting it run it's course. He was sick again a few hours ago but his temperature has come down which is a relief. He's also not moaning all the time now.

As for naps, he tends to sleep most of the time but he's only 2 and a half weeks so I guess it's relatively normal. X

 

[daddiesgift]

Oops I was wrong its 8 weeks for first shots lol his appointment went well and he made out with no crying since he didn't have to get the shots. He's 11 pounds!! Big boy!! Doctor said if he didn't have reflux he'd probably be 15 pounds he's the big little brother I guess!

Retrovirus yes.. My son did anyways and it is a drink here. I think he was 6 months old? Can't remember.

Schedules, especially nap schedules are a no go for Anthony he sleeps whenever but I have noticed a pattern of up 2 hours awake asleep 2-3 hours. But if you lay down with him he'll usually nap.

Ladies have you had this or heard of it? Where I got my epidural is still sore and feels bruised to touch I also have back pain all day? The anestisologist (sp?) poked me at least five times. He said I had to feel it in the middle if I felt it to the right or left tell him well it took at least 5 times to get it right! Each time hurt but once I had to scream out it hurt so bad once it wore off it felt bruised like someone kicked me in the back. It still feels like that when I touch lower back. When it starts hurting then my whole back up to neck hurts. Will it go away eventually?

 

[babyfeva]

Hey ladies, how is everyone? Sorry I haven't been on for a while. Getting used to of motherhood. Baby Eddie is wonderful and I'm so in love. Currently trying to work on keeping him awake during the day as much as possible so that he can sleep longer at night. He does this thing at 1 AM where he stays awake for 1-2 hours wide awake! Then he'll return to his regular 2-3 hour gaps. Did anyone go through this? Also, I just got a pump today and tried feeding him using a bottle- umm he didn't take it! I tried a few times. Do I just keep trying? I'm practicing since I have to go back to work at the beginning of March. I pumped at 2pm and since he obviously didn't finish it can I save it for his 4 pm feeding at room temp? Sorry for the millions of questions- I'm still learning.

 

[gaiagirl]

Babyfeva - F sometimes STILL does the 2 hours awake at night...I just wrote a huge thing about it yesterday. I'm now trying to not change him and just keep him sleepy and see if it helps. Often it's 2/3-4/5 and it is rough!

He also wouldn't take a bottle when I tried, I've been having a hard time with pumping in general because he seems to want/need everything I produce. The bottle I have heard should be introduced by someone else because often they won't take it when the real thing is right there! LOL

 

[daddiesgift]

Baby-you may just need to try a different bottle or nipple. When I first tried Anthony wouldn't take it so I tried a latex nipple instead of silicon and he's done great ever since! Milk comes out of bottles faster than our breast so that may be why he's drinking all that you pump.

 

[lilbeanhoping]

Baby- once milk/bottle has touched their lips u shouldn't keep it for more than half an hour.
I exclusively pump and this is the info the nurses gave me at the hospital in the NICU

(if lo starts drinking it again 30min after first drinking Iive always continued on and my lil man has been fine. By I deff haven't left it longer than 30min if he had previously started it)

 

[lilbeanhoping]

Oh I should add though if lo hasn't started the bottle you can keep milk as follows:
Freshly pumped at room temp for 4hrs...then needs to go in fridge
Refriderated milk 3days...then can go into freezer
Frozen milk in fridge freezer up to 6months
Frozen milk in deep freeze/separate freezer I believe is one year but I forget
*dont store on fridge or freezer doors because tem varies too much being open/shut all the time
*once milk has been heated it should be consumed within an hour (I've had times where I don't actually offer it to him until an hour later and he's been fine-nurses said that's the guideline but because its breast milk u can be a bit more flexible.)

So what u can do after just pumping just make up a little bottle, if he drinks it add more until he's satisfied then if u have leftovers it can be left until he his next feeding.

 

[Cridge]

gaia - my guy was doing the "sorta nap" thing in the morning - where he would maybe sleep for an hour, maybe 3. When I noticed he was doing this, that's when I decided to get on the nap wagon. I swaddled him and put him in his bassinet and he slept for 3 hours. The next day, I did it again... 3 hours. Every day since, if I swaddle and put him in his bassinet, he's out for 3 hours, but if I don't do exactly that, and let him sleep in his car seat or swing, he just sleeps for a random amount of time. He's very, very noisy in his bassinet during naps, and sometimes he'll be noisy with his eyes open, but I resist picking him up until he's obviously awake and almost to the point of crying... and that's always at exactly 3 hours. Weird.

Babyfeva - my lactation consultant said if you introduce a bottle and they don't take it, just keep trying, but don't change the nipple. I've heard of babies suddenly taking different nipples, like daddiesgift, so , but the LC said trying a bunch of nipples causes confusion. So maybe try one other one and if it doesn't work, just keep at it with one or the other, and eventually he'll get it. Also, it does help if someone other than you offers the bottle.

lilbean - thanks for that info! Although... I've told my dh to throw milk out if it's not finished, and he never does. So sometimes half a bottle will sit for 2 more hours and then get used. LO doesn't seem to mind - no spitting up or anything, so I've allowed it, but it's nice to know what the nurses say about that. I was also wondering about fresh pumped milk sitting out for 3-4 hours and then put in fridge - glad to know that's okay too cause I've done it before and it worried me! And I believe you're right that if it's in a deep freeze, it's good for a year.

Oh - and regarding the being awake at night... Ninja was nocturnal when we brought him home and this is what we did to fix that problem: Make sure you give lots of night-time, sleepy cues like swaddling, white noise (we don't do this necessarily, but have a humidifier going, so that might work??), and dim lights. When you get up in the middle of the night, keep lights off and use a dim night light. Don't do any daytime activities with baby (like watch tv, go to the kitchen, etc). Keep activities strictly to feeding, changing, reswaddling and back to bed. Minimize eye contact and talking to baby, and if you do talk to baby, make sure it's in a whisper.

Maybe you've tried all of that..?? Beyond that, I had to do a bit of bed training. I would put Ninja back in his bassinet and of course, he'd start to cry. I would NOT pick him up unless I could tell he was crying because of a burp (then I'd burp and put him right back down). I don't call this "crying it out", because I was constantly touching him or talking softly to him, but I let him know that I'm not picking him up. Sometimes I had to soothe for an hour, during which time he'd whine, quiet down, whine, quiet down.... I found what things soothed him - like touching his lips, rubbing his head, putting my entire hand around his face, rocking his bassinet lightly. It sucks, and I had to sleep in a separate room than dh, but he now goes down in his bassinet very easily. We do have some nights that he has a harder time, but I just start in on my soothing techniques and he calms down pretty fast.

Also, I wouldn't try to keep them awake much during the day. When babies get over tired, they'll sleep even less and fuss even more. Some days Ninja would sleep ALL day and it scared me for what was ahead at night, but he slept just fine at night too. I do try to make sure he's more awake the 1-2 hours before bedtime, but that's it.

I hope that helps. You may have tried all that already, but that's what I found worked to reverse my little guy's nocturnal nature.

 

[daddiesgift]

While folding laundry I was daydreaming about the night he sleeps through the whole night! I hope it's not too many months off though I'm coping pretty well with waking so often it will be nice to get a solid 8 hours!!

Sunday is my birthday! Though I usually don't care I'm really wanting to do something exciting for some reason. Too bad I can't find a baby sitter, well I could but I'd worry too much about leaving both my boys!

 

[Cridge]

Oh daddiesgift - does your birthday get lost in Christmas every year? Happy birthday on Sunday!!

Last night Ninja decided not to cluster feed until 10 or 11 and he started his long (almost 5 hour) stretch at 8:15. Boooo!! So I didn't get to take advantage of it and get more sleep. Then he barely went 3 hours, then barely 2. He seems to get a 5 hour stretch one night and then the next few nights are shorter stretches, then back to 5 hour. I guess it's a 2 steps forward, one step back sorta thing.

 

[Blondiejay]

I've had a really horrible day, Darcy has not stopped crying and feeding. I've been in tears all day.
She co sleeps with us as our midwife said to and to do lots of skin on skin, so of course we did. Now she won't settle in anything but our arms. She won't even go down in her bouncer. I've bought dummies but she spits then out. Can anyone please help me and give me advice?

 

[babyfeva]

gaigirl, cridge, daddies, lilbean- I'm happy to know that I'm not alone Good news is that baby has been taking the bottle now with much less fuss. My hubby has been the one to feed him and he really enjoys the bonding time. I've noticed that he's fine with pretty much any bottle that we've used (we've tried 3 different ones) Phew...

lilbean- thanks for the info about milk storage. So far it's been working out great!

Cridge- So, i've tried keeping the lights off and gently talking to him but sometimes it just doesn't work. During the day I've been waking him every 2 hours to feed and to kind of keep him awake but maybe he's overtired by 1am? I'll try and let him sleep a little longer during the day and keep him awake before him 1am feeding. I guess it's all trial and error. Last night was tough- baby woke up almost every hour from 12 to 5am! Hubby finally took over at 5 and let me sleep for about 4 hours. I was reading that it could be a growth spurt when he goes through phases like this. Thanks for the advice, i'll keep trying to see what works.

 

[morri]

She is still small just let her settle in your arms