Weekly Thread Aug 15-22

[snoopy5386]

Ooooh, I get to start a new weekly thread! How exciting!!!

[sew_crafty_girl]

So 3 months was good, but 4 months is even better. She's laughing and talking more. Grabbing her feet (which I love). Going down for naps a bit easier. Chatting away and laughing in the car Grabbing toys more consistently and holding on to them. I can't say I love her clamping down on my nipple and smiling at me though. Thankfully it's not all the time.
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[jenfl]

Thanks, snoopy! Sometimes I forget what day it is.

After a really, really bad night, we've had 2 really good nights (1-2 wakings). Can I hope the 4 month regression is done?

Anybody else's LO totally fascinated by food? Nugget wasn't like this at all, but Sprout stares while we're eating and tries to grab our food. DD didn't care at all. Sprout? FASCINATED.

[nikirj]

Elaina REALLY, REALLY wants our food. She has a sippy cup of water that I bring to the table when we eat, just so that she has SOMETHING, and it keeps her distracted. I'm not willing to do solids with her yet (I know some start at 4 months) because she's not even remotely capable of feeding herself, which is my own criteria.

It's been pretty hot here and I've been enjoying letting her have some totally-naked time.

Sleeping better again here, too.

[laughingfox]

Originally Posted by jenfl

Anybody else's LO totally fascinated by food? Nugget wasn't like this at all, but Sprout stares while we're eating and tries to grab our food. DD didn't care at all. Sprout? FASCINATED.

Yup. DD2 totally makes chewing motions and nummy noises as we eat, and has tried to grab food a few times. She's been doing this since she hit the 3 month mark, if not a wee bit sooner.
DD1 didn't have any interest in food whatsoever until she was 10 months old.

[jenfl]

Yeah, we're holding off until 6 months. Nugget's dairy intolerance means Sprout has a higher-than-average chance of intolerances, especially if it's introduced too early. (Thanks, DH's mom, for giving Nugget dairy and soy frosting at 4 weeks. We'll never know if it hurt, but it certainly didn't help.)

[loveneverfails]

What the heck!? This thread seriously didn't show up. BOOOO!!!

[jsh7809]

We are getting some better rest here, too... apparently all of those nights of wiggling were DD trying to find her feet. Now she wakes up and instantly grabs onto them and is stoked, it's very cute.
I'm feeling kind of guilty, though, because I am so NOT a morning person, and I haven't had to stick to a consistent schedule for myself (being self employed), and it's been super cold and foggy here all summer for some reason... so lately we are sleeping in later and later. Yesterday I got up with her at 10ish, which is already bad enough, but we were both still groggy, so we went back to bed and slept till 11:30!! I'm loving the rest (although she is still waking up at 2am, 5am, 7am, 9am, etc), but I feel kind of flakey for doing that, and now her nap schedule (as it is, nothing great to begin with) is all thrown off and weird, so the best few nights I haven't been able to get her to sleep before 10:30pm...
I'm torn between staying flexible and mellow about it (and enjoying it while I can, since most babies like to get up much earlier eventually) and thinking I need to instate more consistency in our lives. Any thoughts?
(besides the fact that those of you with other kids/ out of home jobs want to kill me for being able to sleep in... )

Also, I insisted we put our super cozy foam mattress topper back on the bed because my back has been killing me every day for weeks. But it makes poor DH's back so uncomfortable to have it on. I promised him that we could have it off after pregnancy, and we have for the past 4 months, but our mattress is so blown out and old (7 years old!!) that I couldn't take it any more. But now he's miserable. So I guess we're going mattress shopping, but we can't afford a natural one, and I worry about all of the chemical crap that's in them going into DD's system . The one plus about ours being so old is that it's mostly already off gassed all of its crap.

Anyway. I'm hoping the 4 month sleep regression is over for all of us... but since we're only at 17 weeks, I'm not fully convinced that's what was going on over here, so we'll see! She's loving her feet, starting to sit up propped on her arms for a few seconds. Still not rolling over much but lots of rolling to her sides and big gestures with arms (bringing things to her mouth mostly). I think she is doing these pelvic thrust things when she wants me to pick her up. I'm starting to wonder how much longer her vibratey chair is even going to be an option!

I am feeling thankful for all of the smiles, and that feeding her seems to finally be more regulated (i.e., it's clearer when she's hungry, she goes longer without eating, etc). She's growing great, and I cannot wait for all of the next steps!!

[jenfl]

Augh!!! The hair grabbing/pulling/eating has GOT to stop!!!!!

[OneWithTwo]

we ventured to the Farmers market today before it hits 100 degrees and got cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, 2 kinds of cherries, strawberries and blueberries, corn on the cob and green beans

it's too hot to do anything

[laughingfox]

Originally Posted by jenfl

Yeah, we're holding off until 6 months. Nugget's dairy intolerance means Sprout has a higher-than-average chance of intolerances, especially if it's introduced too early. (Thanks, DH's mom, for giving Nugget dairy and soy frosting at 4 weeks. We'll never know if it hurt, but it certainly didn't help.)

Yeah, DD1 had crazy dairy intolerance (and a couple others), so I wasn't upset about her lack of interest in foods until she was older.
We're also waiting until at least 6 months. I'm on another April 2010 DDC, and I think I'm the only one there who hasn't been feeding their baby cereal since 12 weeks.

[OneWithTwo]

jennings has had watermelon to suck on, but that's about it and all he'll get for now

[triony]

I can't believe it's the middle of August already!

Sleeping - blech. Last night was terrible. The Miracle Blanket was in the wash, and it's the only thing that will keep him swaddled now. And he only barely fits in it, he's so long. I don't know how we're going to transition him to sleeping unswaddled. It seems as soon as he gets an arm out, he's awake. I gave up last night and put him in PJs and slept next to him. But if he wakes up that way he is much much harder to put back to sleep. We are transitioning him to sleeping on mattress on the floor next to our bed, because we think I am waking him up sometimes. We'll see. Tonight has been a struggle to get him to sleep there. He definitely noticed the change!

I got out of the house with him finally for a LLL meeting. Lots of fun, he was really cute and LOVED looking at all the other kids. Huge smiles.

Food - I'm keeping an eye on him. He's watching stuff move to our mouths, but at this point it just seems like he's watching whatever is moving. No sign of teeth yet. Although I'm not sure I'd know if I saw/felt them.

[nikirj]

Jess, we cut our memory-foam mattress topper in half. I sleep on the foam, DH doesn't, we're both happy.

[snoopy5386]

A better day today, trying to gear myself up for our trip at the end of the week, lots of packing to do.......

Jess - I was also going to suggest cutting the topper in half....and after 7 years your mattress should still be fine! Can you flip or rotate it? DH (who outweighs me by 100 lbs) seems to feel that it really makes a difference. We've got a king and we can't flip it, but we rotate it every 3 months so we are sleeping on a different part of the mattress every 3 months. FWIW, we got a new king when DD1 was a few months old. I knew nothing about offgassing at the time and we all slept on it from day 1. We're all fine now.

As for the sleeping in vs schedule, just go with the flow!! Pretty soon, she'll start waking up earlier, you'll have a schedule and then you'll be stuck. Trust me, you will never again have this opportunity. From one sleep loving night owl to another, just go with it.
Our best friends really hate to get up early and don't mind their kids going to bed late, so both their kids have always been on a late schedule. They go to sleep at 10/11 and sleep until 10/11 the next day. They are all fine with no ill consequences.

Triony - Although we've got several swaddle blankets, there is one in particular that fits Kelsey really well, so that's the one I always use and I hardly ever wash it since she's using it every 2 hours or so.......

As for food, we'll be waiting till at least 6 months, probably later since we're planning a couple of trips for October and it'd be easier to do them without having to mess with solids. That is, of course, unless Kelsey demands otherwise. Right now she is content to sit in her bumbo on the table and watch us eat.

And speaking of the bumbo, anyone else have one? Ours seems to make Kelsey either spit up a ton, poop, or both. Does this happen to other folks babies? Also, we're borrowing the tray from my cousin, is there any tricks to getting it on there? Cuz it just seems like a big pain to me....

[OneWithTwo]

i have a bumbo...it does the same to J. The chiro said not to put him in it for more than 5-10 minutes a couple times a day, she suggested just once. She said it put a lot of pressure on their abdomen and they aren't ready yet if that is happening I just do a couple minutes.
When we're eating he is in his swing or vibrating chair. I just learned our highchair has a option to recline though.

[GreenTeaGinger61]

R seems pretty interested in our food but hasn't tried to grab it. Ds did that. We were constantly having to take food out of his hands. I'm not in any rush. R still has a super strong tongue reflex to the point where I'm not sure a sippy cup is going to work out.

Of course R is the slow baby here and just discovered her hands in any kind of real way. She figured out to suck on them ages ago but now it's like this trippy kind of thing where she holds them up in front of her face like "Whoa what are those things?" She's also started to play with her dangling toys on the play mat.

No spitting up in the Bumbo seat here. She doesn't sit in it often though and when she does she only wants to be there for about five or ten minutes.

[OneWithTwo]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaGinger61

R seems pretty interested in our food but hasn't tried to grab it. Ds did that. We were constantly having to take food out of his hands. I'm not in any rush. R still has a super strong tongue reflex to the point where I'm not sure a sippy cup is going to work out.

Of course R is the slow baby here and just discovered her hands in any kind of real way. She figured out to suck on them ages ago but now it's like this trippy kind of thing where she holds them up in front of her face like "Whoa what are those things?" She's also started to play with her dangling toys on the play mat.

No spitting up in the Bumbo seat here. She doesn't sit in it often though and when she does she only wants to be there for about five or ten minutes.

J just started noticing his feet...he sucks on his hands, but I don't think he has "noticed" them yet. He also just started reaching and grabbing for toys and batting at them..but his hands are always moving around, so I don't know if he is just grabbing around OR if he actually is reaching for a toy, ykwim?

[Pepper44]

Ada picks up things and puts them in her mouth. She found her feet too and loves to eat them!

Solids, we do baby led weaning so we won't start for at least two more months if not longer. Not until she can pick it up and eat it, tongue thrust is gone, sitting up on her own, etc.

Right now she's interested, but not because she needs to eat. I mean, she's also interested in putting the cats tails in her mouth or her feet or dd1's hair, lol. I think it's more curiosity than an urge/need to eat.

[loveneverfails]

So, anyone who has experienced this, talk to me about post partum thyroid issues. I am trying to differentiate between "lady, you've got 5 kids. What the heck did you expect!?" fatigue and low thyroid. Weight loss isn't happening over here, of course I also have been atrocious diet wise and may be old enough that I can't do that anymore with relative impunity.