Sept, Oct & Nov 2011 Mummies and Babies

[hippylittlej]

Haha sorry little start but I had to laugh as your girls are normally so good at sleeping. I can imagine you were a little perplexed by this development.mAlana does this frequently, last night she woke up at 2am for a feed and decided that she wanted to play with my boobs, face, mouth etc and wouldn't go down until 3.50am and I refused to talk to her the whole time hoping if I didn't engage she would give up.
I think generally that as they are developing they sometimes have issues switching off from all the learning.

 

[flyingduster]

haha, yeah Caleb was doing that last week - wide awake and playing at 4am for nearly an hour before settling back down!

It will pass!

 

[hippylittlej]

I go back to work tomorrow. I am only doing four hours 10am - 2pm but Alana would normally have at least one of not two feeds during this time. The problem is she is still refusing milk from any little, despite using them fine in the last. I managed to get her to take 1/2 oz from a sippy cup and then she slurped seem out of the bottle lid but altogether not even 1oz yesterday. She refused bottle from her daddy and my lodger and screamed like they were trying to kill her.
She is so small and can"t afford to refuse milk. I know she will eat food and so have told my mum if need be to mix a tiny amount of porridge in the milk and spoon feed her milk it this is not ideal. I don't know what to do. I have ordered a doidy cup to see of this works. I go back four half days in May so she has to start taking milk somehow. I also don't have enough milk for her to keep refusing it as once it is gone there is no ore until I express again. I feel so stupid for not keeping up giving her a bottle at least once a week as now it has back fired big time.

 

[nypage1981]

Awww, sorry. I totally know how you feel. Kian wont take the bottle most of the time either And if he does its with a lot of fussing. Now he is flat out refusing some certain milk....like he will only drink milk pumped in march. Which is WAY less than I pumped prior when my supply was too much, i've pretty much quit pumping....so Im in trouble! I do not want to go back to pumping a supply either. Not sure what to tell you to try, as I have no idea!

 

[LittleStars]

Hippy - has she tried formula? Is that an option? at the very least might make her appreciate pumped milk. lol Or perhaps when you work is the time when Alana gets some cereal and veggies to keep her belly full. I dunno, guess I would just give up (not saying you should) I just don't have it in me to fight with little babies about eating. Good luck!

So I found out my neice actually had 2 teeth come in within a day or each other. I can't wait to see her next weekend for Easter! My sister was apparently complaining to my mom though that her DD isn't sleeping through the nights anymore.

As for sleeping in my house. Seems Ashley was just being sneaky the other night. They are back to sleeping through and now that we've added in food and thus night feeding takes longer and they go to bed a little later they are sleeping from 7:30/8pm until 8/9am which is so much better for me. They get up then ( though I'm sure they'd go straight back down after a bottle) and stay up for 2 hours and then back down which is perfect for going and picking up DD from school wihtout having to drag them along with me.

We started about 9 days ago feeding cereal and Libby is doing great with Ashley being much slower as she 'plays' with squirting it out while laughing. I was all set to start feeding veggies this coming weekend at the 6 month mark but with it being Easter and a hectic weekend for us I decided to start a week early. The girls started with butternut squash and love it! I'm not giving them all that much but already they are dropping a bottle feed from 5 to 4. And their naps seem to be shifting around a little too. I'm trying to go with the flow for a few days while writing down the times of food and naps so I can see the new trend and then enforce it as the schedule and adjust the amount of formula/bottle. Makes it hard to plan any outtings though, I'm getting a little stircrazy.

What plans does anyone have for Easter this weekend? I've got Easter dinner at my parents on Friday and a birthday/Easter dinner at my aunt-in-law's for MIL on Sunday. I'm dreading that one but at least my BIL is bringing his new GF, should be an interesting night. It's been a while since there's been fresh meat at a family gathering. We got the twins small offerings from the Easter bunny of a little bunny stuffy and some Baby Mum-mums. We would ingore the holiday since the twins aren't aware this year but with DD1 we kinda have to. Lame! She is getting spoiled for the last year with way too much stuff - less chocolate this year though and more toys/books. Next year I'll have to be much more restrained, no way we can afford to spoil all three kids!

 

[hippylittlej]

She is allergic to dairy and soya so no formula she can have. No Easter plans here, visiting a friend on good Friday though.

 

[LittleStars]

She is allergic to dairy and soya so no formula she can have. No Easter plans here, visiting a friend on good Friday though.

I had forgotten she was allergic to soya as well. Doh! Have you tried Enfamil's Nutramigen, I believe that one is for babies who are allergic to milk and soy if I remember right. You really are between a rock and a hard place with this one.

 

[flyingduster]

I'd keep trying with the breastmilk, as it doesn't seem to be a problem with the milk, only with the bottle (and she'd have the same issue with a bottle if it had formula in it!!!)

Spoon/cup feeding is an option if she refuses a bottle, as well as any puree or anything that has milk mixed in so she's getting some nutrients out of it (they don't actually digest much nutrients from solids for a while yet, so you want to be careful she's not being simply filled up with solids and not getting what she needs to grow! Hence using breastmilk in with the puree!) And your family will just have to keep offering her different bottles and ways to drink. It'll be hard as hell, but there is little you can do except keep trying with various ways of getting it in to her.

 

[hippylittlej]

I suggested to my mum if she point blank refuses to add a little banana porridge to the milk making it just taste like banana which she will then take from a spoon. I armed with three types of bottle and three types of cups. I am going to keep offering boob until I leave for work though.
I hope you all have good days and I shall report back when I return home from work.
littlestars we don't have that milk here or at least not that we can buy, it maybe available in prescription though. I will ask at hospital next Thursday.

 

[hippylittlej]

She refused bottles and cups, but ate her veggies and fruit.

 

[nypage1981]

Hey Hippie- just keep at it. Dont give up. Its like at the beginnig of breast feeding, they refuse and refuse and have a tough time, but with every day practice it all works out. She will learn to drink from something. You should be trying with her at home as well. Good thing she is on solids!

Little- We have celebrated one Easter on Palm Sunday already and have another on Easter day. Its over an hour away though so not that excited about that. The Easter bunny will be giving the kids fun surprises in baskets and do an easter egg hunt for Ella with cany in them. I will probably give them a basket from us too. I love holidays!

 

[katerdid]

Nothing for Easter for us, as we're an agnostic/atheist family and Will is too little to care.

Speaking of holidays, anyone not going to tell their children about Santa and the Tooth Fairy and all that? DH and I decided not to and everyone thinks its either cruel or just weird.

William refuses the bottle too. But I've been working with him lately on using a regular cup and a sippy cup and he caught on rather quickly. So I'm hoping that if I have to go back to work (I prolly will, stupid money), he will at least be able to get some milk.
Good luck Hippie!

 

[Acorn]

Easter is probably my favorite holiday We are staying home instead of driving to Iowa because we want to go to our church services. I made up Lauren's Easter basket and am way excited to give it to her...more excited than she is to receive I am sure I bought her a board book about the story of Easter, a little lamb pacifier holder that says "Jesus loves me", a carrot teething toy, a new springy outfit, a sippy cup, and I put pacifiers inside of Easter eggs.

We haven't decided 100% on the whole Santa, Easter bunny, tooth fairy deal, but we are leaning towards not. As a Christian I just don't see the point of making religious Holiday's about mythical characters and I don't like the idea of lying of her. My mom thought I was crazy when I told her we didn't plan on it. It was a fun part of my childhood, so I can see why people do, I just don't think it's the direction I want to go.

 

[nypage1981]

I love my role as teh Easter bunny, santa claus, tooth fairy. Although, im struggling with knowing when the right time to break it to her is...she is 8, im sure she knows. She asks me about it all the time and I lie. I know that part of it is aweful and I should have just told her when she asked but I feel like it takes away such a big part of her believing in stuff im just scared to tell her! I considered asking a child phsychologist at work what they suggested! I know that sounds stupid, but i'd like to do this right. Lol.

 

[Phantom710]

My two cents on the whole not telling about XMAS/Toothfairy..... I THINK that they'll find out anyway.

Speaking from someone who is going to do all that jumbo, I think a school age child (think kindergarten/first grade) might get a little bummed that Santa visits other children, but not them? On the other hand, I can support a choice not to... but I dunno...in my head somewhere what I just said made sense...

 

[nypage1981]

Right, some how I found out and im not too messed up over it! lol. I know my mom didn't just come out and say it. I think you just gradually know, and then its your own little "lie" to not tell the parents that you know otherwise you are afraid less gifts come. haha. Also, I think having younger siblings you are forced to pretend to believe longer for their sake. We will def continue on with it all, and let Ella help us with it some day. But we also go to church and she knows the real meaning behind all of the holidays so its all good.

 

[LittleStars]

I'm a hardcore atheist but I have fun with the holidays. We never make the holiday about anyhting other than the fun commercial side of things. Christmas is about Santa and presents, family getting together and having a good meal. Easter is a spring celebration, about a bunny and chocolate and getting some spring clothing/toys. All holidays are a time to appreciate family and take a moment to enjoy what we have. We never really lie, we ask our daughter what she thinks and talk about possible answers to 'how & why' for things like Santa delivering presents all in a night, why the stores have all the Easter candy on the shelves, how a little fairy could possibly carry a tooth and what does she do with it. lol They are fun conversations and involve inventive ideas like bi-location, time travel, delegation of duties, etc. We never say for sure how things are, just give ideas on how things might get done. It's a game and one day we know our daughter will catch on and one day we'll know she knows and then she'll play the game for the twins so they can enjoy the magic of being a child too. There is such a small window of time when life is truly magic and all seems possible. If you're spiritual then use it as an opportunity to talk about faith, if your an atheist use it as a chance to talk about science and economics. Whatever floats your boat! If you're not going to celebrate traditional holidays then make new and fun traditions and celebrations.

You cannot avoid your child finiding out about holidays/celebrations if you plan on having them ever leave their home. lol Think about the level of commercialism in today's society! I definitely think that if your LO is your first then definitely you can avoid buying gifts until they are a little older (my sister is doing that). And once they are old enough to be aware then it's up to you as the parent to decide how you want to handle the celebration.. whether it is purely a religious event or only commercial or a combo of both. One way or the other though you will set your own traditions and that will become the norm for them. If it's really different from their peers though you will most likely have to discuss why it's different. We had to have a simple conversation with DD about what a church is and why people go there etc after an great-aunt decided to confront us about not going to mass at Christmas 2 years ago in front of DD1.

Anyway, blah, I'm babbling.. I'm so tired today. Last night DD1 got up in the middle of the night and accidentally tripped and cut her head open bad. I ended up taking her to the hospital to see if she needed stitches. They were able to use some magic glue because there was a straight margin on the gash. Hopefully my poor girl won't have a scar. Anyway, we didn't get home until the birds were up and then I only got back to sleep for 2 hour before the twins woke up. Meh.

 

[shelleney]

Sorry I have been MIA for a while Ladies.
Having difficulty with Freya's eating and sleeping, which has been stressful, so havent had time to come online.
But she cut her first tooth yesterday!! So hopefully things will settle down now.
She also rolled back to front for the first time last weekend!

Well done to all the clever babies pulling themselves up, trying to crawl, and rolling around. And great news on all the weaning/BLW!

xx

 

[hippylittlej]

I bet you are relieved that tooth came through Shellney. I can't wait for Alana's to come through the waiting and sleepless gifts are killing me.

So she refused the bottle again today but drank 1oz of milk with a tiny bit of porridge in for flavour from a cup.

 

[LittleStars]

Alana is a cheeky little monkey being so picky!

Congrat's to Freya for cutting her first tooth.

I spiked the girls hair into some pretty awesome faux-hawks today. It's getting long on top but there is nothing much growing on the back or sides. They have reverse mullets. Guess it's better than a real mullet. I always feel sorry for those babies though mullets are very hipster nowadays. lol