Chat Thread - MARCH 2010 - 2 months old!

[smokeylo]

I thought we could (again!) try a chat thread and see if a monthly thread works better for our group. I keep posting these because at some point we'll all migrate to LWAB and chat threads are all we have, so if we want to stick together, well, we need to chat!!

How are y'all? How are the LOs?

We've had an awful week of illness in my home. My 2 yr old came home with a virus that turned into an ear infection and then croup. But the steroid tablets aren't fixing the cough entirely so we have to go back to the doc. I think she may have asthma .

Holly caught the virus too but so far just snotty, nothing else. She seems better today. I found out at the doc yesterday that she weighs 12 lbs! She's in her 3 month clothes and is smiling and wiggling and starting to act like a Real Baby!! Awwww. 6 wks tomorrow!

[AfricanQueen99]

Griffin is doing really well! Growing like a freaking weed (6 weeks and in 3-6 month clothes). Eats all the time. Like, allll the time. Poops like a champion - seriously it's like one blowout after the other. The kid is FOS...just like his dad.

We are all in our weekly groove and I feel proud that I can juggle so well.

The thrush is back after a one day reprieve. Ugh.

[geo_girl]

hi everyone,

Margaret is 8 weeks old and smiling! she is also making little cooing noises, which are just delightful.

There is still alot of crying, and her bedtimes are moving later (9:30ish) instead of earlier. It takes alot to get her down to a deep sleep, and I think that we are going to have to do a bit of sleep 'helping' when she gets a wee bit older.

oh ya, and she HATES the car seat...even when the car is in motion...making it an unpleasant experience for everyone.

We are considering moving to a different part of the city, and much of that decision will be based on which school we would like to send our children to.

I'm OK, feeling kind of stressed about life in general, and wishing I could take an hour out in the evening to get a bit of exercise.

anyway, hope everyone else is doing OK,

joy,
charlene

[~Christina~]

We're doing pretty good. Maggie has thrown me for a loop b/c after 3 very "go with the flow" babies I've got this little person who is VERY much into needing a schedule. She flips out and gets upset very easily if she's not in her own home with her routine. It's starting to drive me a little crazy. Other than that she's amazing! From day one she's been sleeping 6-7 hours at night, which is so not like my other kids! LOL Still having some pain with nursing, but I do't know if it's still the thrush or just a little bit of a lazy latch issue. I'm going to go to a LLL meeting tonight so hopefully we can figure it out.

My recovery is great. I do have days where I wake up and it hurts to sneeze, cough, walk, etc, but over all I'm surprised at how much easier it's been than I expected. I was so scared of having a c-section.
I'm a bit angry about my 6 week check up with the OB who did the surgery. At the beginning of my appointment he was making small talk and mentioned what a crazy experience Maggie's birth was, "Planning a homebirth, found out she was breech and we did the c-section, and then afterwards dealing with some pre-eclampsia..." I cut him off and told him I did NOT have pre-e, and he totally blew it off and didn't believe me. Getting my blood pressure taken in the dr's office/hospital stresses me out so it was high while I was there. Throughout the end of my pregnancy my midwife would have me take it on my own when I wasn't at an appointment then tell her what it was. It was always fine! So when I was being discharged from the hospital the OB said he was ready to just put me on medicine. I was shocked! This man had never met me or known any of my history! I talked him into letting me self monitor over the weekend and go back for a check on Monday. All weekend it was fine and the Dr. actually admitted he was glad he listened to me. Now I find out he put that I had pre-e into my chart! I'm pretty sure we are done having kids, but I do NOT want that in my medical history just in case. Not sure what to do about that. Going to talk to my midwife about it tomorrow.

[Gray's Mommy]

liam is 4 weeks tomorrow. just getting into a routine & that will change next week when dh goes back to work after his leave. it will be spring break & at least i'll have a few more days before everything (childcare) is all mine. nervous about that.

i am recovering physically well...c-sec birth after surprise breech & other bonus items. emotionally doing better after loosing my last chance at a homebirth & pregnancy/birth itself. i am a postpartum & birth doula & am totally going to give my c-birth clients more attention. didn't "get it" until i had one of my own.

breastfeeding is perfection this time around & i'm going to LLL tonight to catch up with some like minded mamas!!

liam is starting to smile & his 2 older brothers are loving him. gotta finish my thank you notes & get the birth announcements out this week!! time is flying by!

[Mulvah]

I love reading about everyone and your babies!

My DS is doing well. He is gaining well, smiling a lot, and cooing a good bit, which I .

I realized this yesterday, but I'm not having him sleep enough. It seems, since I'm not scheduling him, he's getting overtired. By the time I realize he's tired, he is inconsolable, yawning between wails, and rubbing his eyes. So, when you don't schedule a baby, when exactly do you put them down for a nap and how do I know how often he should sleep? (I'm waiting for No Cry Sleep Solution at the library.)

I did experiment yesterday and it went really well, but I just don't know how to read him (until it's too late) and I don't want to screw up his OWN schedule by not letting him sleep when he wants to.

[Mulvah]

Originally Posted by smokeylo

...We've had an awful week of illness in my home. My 2 yr old came home with a virus that turned into an ear infection and then croup. But the steroid tablets aren't fixing the cough entirely so we have to go back to the doc. I think she may have asthma ....

I hope your (older) LO starts to get better soon!

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99

...The kid is FOS...just like his dad....

Ahaha, we say the same about our LO, though somehow we end up saying he's FOS like me. Hmm...:nana.

Originally Posted by ~Christina~

...From day one she's been sleeping 6-7 hours at night, which is so not like my other kids!....

...I'm pretty sure we are done having kids, but I do NOT want that in my medical history just in case. Not sure what to do about that. Going to talk to my midwife about it tomorrow.

Totally jealous your baby is STTN!

I hope you can get the situation resolved and have the false information removed from your chart.

[JayJay]

Well Bella is sick She has an ear infection and an upper respiratory infection, which sucks! I think she got it from her little friend - he's 18 months old and I am friends with his mama. We thought he was getting better you see, but it would seem that a couple of days after she got sick, he got worse again, so he might have been infectious after all...

The doc asked if we'd had her around any second hand smoke, and I answered "absolutely never, not even when I was pregnant with her!" - not even fire smoke! So here she is, a baby from a normal home (albeit we have cats and dogs, but so do other people...), who's been healthy as a horse until last Friday, 100% breast fed, now on amoxycillin and infant tylenol for this infection. Waaaahhh...my poor baby! I'm so sad!

We had some joyous times getting 5ml (that's a heck of a lot for a baby's mouth!) of amoxycilin into her. But, that combined with the tylenol seems to make her feel better and has brought the fever down. She's sleeping now in her swing, since she sleeps the longest there and I have to clean house (or I'd wear her).

Also on a good note, I managed to express BY HAND 3oz from my left boob just now! Wuhoo! Yay for booby milk! I've never given her a bottle and she'll be 8 weeks old tomorrow, but I want to give it a try because on the rare occasions I go to the store and she is hungry and wakes up, it would be nice for DP to be able to feed her. On the other hand, I might cry when I see her with a bottle instead of mama's booby... Gawd what a crazy woman I am...

[sunshadow]

Max is 6 weeks old now. He is a pretty mellow guy. I am gun shy from my daughter who wouldn't sleep 10 mins unless you were holding her or she was in her swing. I couldn't take her anywhere. Max just sleeps through everything, most of the time. He doesn't seem to like the swing though, which makes me sad. I loved being able to put my daughter in the swing and she was just out for a nice long nap. Max has to be walked or rocked to sleep, but at the same time he doesn't like to be held when he gets tired and gets so fussy. Maybe he is getting overtired. I don't know. It's so different than my daughter I feel like I am doing it all for the first time again. At least he sleeps great when he is asleep. He lets me get lots of sleep at night which I never imagined could happen with a newborn.

He is such a smiley guys and laughs a ton. He has a touch of baby acne, but not bad. He is pretty good with his head and has put his hands together. He has also reached for things and is getting good at grabbing a handful of hair and pulling.

His sister still hasn't shown any signs of jealous. She is a big help and tries to do more things on her own when she knows I am busy rather than asking me for help. Also, rather than regressing (so far) she likes to say all the things she can do because she is a big girl and not a baby.

We are trying to decide if we want to move out of the city into a small town where I grew up. It would mean a long commute for my husband, but we want our kids to be in a better school district. Since we are upside down on our house we would have to rent it out while we rent something else until the housing market improves. Decisions decisions.

[indigoscot]

our wee guy is 6 weeks old now. he is smiling and laughing and cooing. like griffin, he eats all the time. we weighed him at home this weekend and he is 13lbs 13oz!!! his 3-6 month clothes are getting tight already so i looked out some 6 and 6-9 month stuff that we used with big brother. his motor skills are great and he can hold his head up really well.

big brother is adjusting slowly. he does show more interest in his brother now but is acting out a lot.

dp has 6 more weeks until she goes back to work. i think she is starting to get a little stir-crazy.

g

[smokeylo]

Originally Posted by Mulvah

So, when you don't schedule a baby, when exactly do you put them down for a nap and how do I know how often he should sleep? (I'm waiting for No Cry Sleep Solution at the library.)

Holly naps wonderfully right now, but I'm wondering this too in terms of once she is too big to sleep everywhere like she does now. With my older daughter, she required me to hold her/be near to nap, and I really don't want that to be true for Holly. As it is, she does nap on her own once a day or more, but not for long. I want to make sure I'm doing the right things to encourage her to rest peacefully on her own. Let us know if NCSS has info on that stuff -- I have the book for toddlers and loved it, but don't have the baby book.

[boigrrrlwonder]

DS is 4 wks. Physically, I would say I've completely recovered from the birth. I still struggle with learning how to juggle two, but the worst of the adjustment seems to have passed. Initially, we had DS, DD (3 yrs), and me all in the same bed. No one was sleeping and her behavior was just completely out of control. Now, she and Daddy sleep together in a different room. I don't know if you can ever be well-rested with a newborn, but I'm certainly getting more sleep, and while she still acts out, I harbor less suspicions that while I gave birth, aliens abducted my child and left an evil clone in her place.

Also: can a bad latch cause excessive spit up? My son spits up a lot. The latch is comfortable, but I definitely hear a clicking sound when he nurses, so I know the suction is breaking. Maybe he's swallowing too much air?

[devasma]

Ethan will be 9 weeks on Friday, and everything is going pretty well. We had thrush off and on right from when he was a week old, and just finished a round of diflucan. It seems to have done the trick, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't come back again.
Ethan is a pretty happy kid overall. Lots of smiles. He makes soooo much noise all of the time! Even when he was first born, he growled all of the time. Now he coos, squeals, trills and I swear he says hi. He's very active, arms and legs never seem to stop.
During the past week or so, Ethan has decided that 20 minute naps are all he needs during the day. By the late afternoon, he is so exhausted and crabby. The positive thing of this is that he usually sleeps from about 9pm to 3am. It makes for long days though, and it's difficult to get anything done.

Has anyone else gotten interesting parenting advice since the birth? My in-laws and their very large extended family have given me so much advice, and some of it is pretty ridiculous. My favourites:
"Don't let him suck his thumb, because then his thumb will be deformed."
"Don't let him look at the ceiling too long, because his eyes will roll back into his head."
"He should be eating bread and water by 2 monthes."
None of them have breastfed - literally, out of 50ish people - none were breastfed. They don't understand why Ethan won't take a pacifier, why he isn't on bottles, why I won't be introducing solids at 4 monthes. I get to hear "He's eating again?!" everytime he nurses. The other day, my mil asked if the pediatrician said he was getting too big. It's pretty frustrating.

[Gray's Mommy]

Originally Posted by boigrrrlwonder

Also: can a bad latch cause excessive spit up? My son spits up a lot. The latch is comfortable, but I definitely hear a clicking sound when he nurses, so I know the suction is breaking. Maybe he's swallowing too much air?

If you are hearing the clicking sound, he definitely isn't latching on 100%. I would reposition/relatch to eliminate the sounds. Excess air can cause a bit of extra spit up, but we are finding I have a fast let down & sometimes Liam just can't handle the amount he is actively taking in. I think his tummy just gets way too full. Even when he comfort nurses--he causes a let down with the strong latch he has.

Originally Posted by devasma

Has anyone else gotten interesting parenting advice since the birth? My in-laws and their very large extended family have given me so much advice, and some of it is pretty ridiculous. I get to hear "He's eating again?!" everytime he nurses. The other day, my mil asked if the pediatrician said he was getting too big. It's pretty frustrating.

I haven't gotten too much advice, but my standard answer is that XXXX is very interesting & I'll be sure to bring it up at our next baby visit to the pedi.
You may also want to throw out some facts about breastmilk digesting faster than formula, per your pedi, if they are "medical model" family.

[devasma]

Originally Posted by Gray's Mommy

I haven't gotten too much advice, but my standard answer is that XXXX is very interesting & I'll be sure to bring it up at our next baby visit to the pedi.
You may also want to throw out some facts about breastmilk digesting faster than formula, per your pedi, if they are "medical model" family.

I've definitely tried to educate them about breastfeeding, but they just don't get it. They just don't understand why someone would want to spend the time to breastfeed. They've all turned out fine on formula, so what's the big deal. I keep my mouth shut about many of their parenting choices, it's easier than trying to rationally discuss with them why I had a homebirth and spend many of my waking hours breastfeeding and holding Ethan. My mil is more interested than anything, but I know she resents the fact that she can't babysit yet, that Ethan likes me the best, etc. Wait until we breastfeed past a year, lol, I'm really going to hear it then. Thankfully, my partner is very supportive of bfing, and isn't afraid to tell his family to f-off.

[mamakims]

Sorry to hear about all the sick little ones. Sophie is joining that club too though, she has a mild case of rsv and she just sounds terrible. My son is just getting over a really nasty chest cough and super runny nose (how much snot can possibly come out of a 22 month old?!). And the teen was home for spring break and was bored (now outo f town visiting grandparents, thank goodness!) so it's been a fun week. but not really!

other than that, things have been good. we had our last m/w appointment and I was a bit sad to say goodbye to her as she's taken such good care of us. Is it wrong to plan another baby just for the sake of being seen by a m/w again?

Sophie's doing great.. she's 10lbs 15oz, only up 10z from the week previous but I remember my son doing this too so I'm concerned. She's super smiley and is cooing at us when we talk to her. I love it! Her brother is pretty good with her... he does get jealous but doesn't take it out on her, instead he just throws some WICKED temper tantrums.

I'm feeling 100% recovered but am having some body image issues. Doesn't help that nothing I own fits so I wear the same few pairs of stretchy pants that are just not very flattering. And i got a nasty haircut that makes me feel less than attractive. I need to fix that and do some clothing shopping but I just don't want to spend money on clothes when I'm this heavy still... I just want the pregnancy weight from my last two pregnancies to disappear!!

[hakeber]

I hear you on the body image stuff Mamakins. I am seriously depressed every time I leave the house. I wish I was pregnant again, I looked so much cuter.

I feel really floppy and dowdy.

But Emily is doing great! She's really learning to hold her pees and poops for the potty which is just great, we are down to about three misses a day, and her diapers at night are barely even wet, which is just wonderful. The babysitter and DH are still not getting involved in the ECing which is sort of annoying, but well...maybe I am not realizing how hard it really is because I spend all day with her.

She sleeps like a CHAMP! Most days go like this: wake her up around 7 am to walk with ds to school, she falls asleep in the sling on the way home. She nurses and chills out in my arms or on the play mat on the floor from 8am-11am, she sleeps until 1 or 2 pm, she chills and chats with me or whoever is around until 6pm, then she passes out. I wake her around 10pm or 11 to feed her, bathe her, swaddle her and then nurse her to sleep. We go to bed and she sleeps until 5:30 or 6am and then she nurses for about five minutes and we sleep until DS comes to pounce on us...but do you wann hear something amazing?! Last sunday she slept from 11:30pm to 9:15am! SOLID!

She is the most calm cool chilled out baby. The only times I have heard her full on cry was when she was sleeping and somebody woke her up and the other day when I was taking her to the potty and I bumped her head on the door frame....

Most of her awake time she just looks at the lights or me or her dad or brother with this big silly grin on her face, and just coos away about who knows what...but I am pretty sure she working hard on the words hello, and hiya..she has got great mouth movement going on. Benjamin hardly made a peep beyond crying at this age...it's so fun.

She eats like a champ, too. So fat and happy!

[smokeylo]

Originally Posted by boigrrrlwonder

Also: can a bad latch cause excessive spit up? My son spits up a lot. The latch is comfortable, but I definitely hear a clicking sound when he nurses, so I know the suction is breaking. Maybe he's swallowing too much air?

Hmmm. Do you experience pain when he nurses? Is he gaining/peeing/pooping enough? Does he click throughout the entire nursing session? My thoughts are 1) yes, the clicking means swallowing air which could make things worse 2) 4 weeks is pretty prime time for spitting up, so it may get better with time 3) the latch troubles might have to do with letdown or overactive letdown, making your boob too slippery for him to maintain suction (this happens to Holly all the time). You might try a quick wipe with a washcloth when he's clicking and see if that helps him stay latched and improves the clicking.

We're all on the mend and now I'm stressing about traveling with Holly next weekend and getting my homework done. Sometimes I feel like I'm really good at this, sometimes I feel like a total failure.

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by smokeylo

Hmmm. Do you experience pain when he nurses? Is he gaining/peeing/pooping enough? Does he click throughout the entire nursing session? My thoughts are 1) yes, the clicking means swallowing air which could make things worse 2) 4 weeks is pretty prime time for spitting up, so it may get better with time 3) the latch troubles might have to do with letdown or overactive letdown, making your boob too slippery for him to maintain suction (this happens to Holly all the time). You might try a quick wipe with a washcloth when he's clicking and see if that helps him stay latched and improves the clicking.

We're all on the mend and now I'm stressing about traveling with Holly next weekend and getting my homework done. Sometimes I feel like I'm really good at this, sometimes I feel like a total failure.

You sound pretty awesome at this to me. I never would have thought of that advice...I just thank heavens dd it's as big a spitter as her brother, and keep the witch hazel handy in case.

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by devasma

Has anyone else gotten interesting parenting advice since the birth? My in-laws and their very large extended family have given me so much advice, and some of it is pretty ridiculous. My favourites:
"Don't let him suck his thumb, because then his thumb will be deformed."
"Don't let him look at the ceiling too long, because his eyes will roll back into his head."
"He should be eating bread and water by 2 monthes."
None of them have breastfed - literally, out of 50ish people - none were breastfed. They don't understand why Ethan won't take a pacifier, why he isn't on bottles, why I won't be introducing solids at 4 monthes. I get to hear "He's eating again?!" everytime he nurses. The other day, my mil asked if the pediatrician said he was getting too big. It's pretty frustrating.

wow.

I have not gotten any advice that inane... not from family. I did have one mom tell me that her pediatrician suggested she put a cooked steak in the blender with a bottle of breast milk to make a meaty milk shake, so that her "protein hungry" little boy wouldn't need to nurse so much at night. She started that at one month old...I filed that under crazy advice given by well meaning people and carried on.