April 2010 Mamas, through October 2nd - Page 3

[jenfl]

So Sprout is 1.5 weeks from 6 months, and we decided to try giving him a banana today to keep him occupied during dinner.

It took him a while to pick the slipery thing up. He did... stuck it in his mouth... and made a "yuck" face. He put it back in, actually knicked off a few pieces.... made a REALLY YUCKY face, tried to thrust it out with his tongue, then started sobbing. And sobbing. It took ages to get him calmed down!

When I did get him calmed down, I tried again with a bit of mush on my finger.... another yuck face, tongue thrusting, gagging, and finally spit it out with much more crying.

So.... yeah. Someone's not ready for solids.

[snoopy5386]

Aaahhhhhh!!! Been trying to get Kelsey to sleep for an hour and a half. Child just won't stop screaming - she's not hungry so she won't nurse, just pops off to scream, screaming in my arms, the bouncy seat, the swing, the crib. She's tired, she keeps screaming while her eyes are closed but won't drift off. I gave her tylenol an hour ago. I have a huge headache and am taking a 5 mn sanity break while she's in the swing. And DH is stuck at the hospital (work related, he is fine) and can't relieve me.

[snoopy5386]

finally asleep. After screaming in the swing fro 5 mins I was able to go in and get her to nurse down in the rocker and transfer her to the crib. Let's see how long it lasts. DH still isn't home, so much for our movie night together! I'll be calling the pedi in the morning, I'm thinking ear infection more and more. She acts fine during the day, even at naps but all hell breaks loose at night....
So I've got a bit of a WWYD situation tomorrow - DD1 has preschool at her "far away" school, it is a 30 min drive and a 2 hour and 45 min long program. Usually DD2 and I hang out there, run errands, etc. But I'm not sure what to do tomorrow since DD2 is sick...She is not super sick, no fever, acting pretty normal, just seems to be a cold/virus, etc. Do we all stay home? Do we go and hang as normal, perhaps a little more low key (stay at nature center where preschool is vs. running errands), do I drop DD1 off, drive 30 min back home, hang at home for almost two hours than drive back (can be more torturous for DD2 depending on how she is feeling about the car tomorrow)......
Opinions?

[triony]

snoopy I'm so sorry. How frustrating. Something I discovered that worked with T last week at the beach was swinging with him. I'd sit in a big porch swing and he'd drift off. Is there a playground or a neighbor's swing you can try?

Jen That is funny and sad at the same time. Reminds me of when I tried to give T my finger to suck on when it had "wipe juice" on it still. Apparently that tastes REALLY bad. Do you think Sprout would react the same to a different taste?
Also - on the nursing. This may sound stupid, but is there anyway to get a really big nursing shield and cut out the middle, so his teeth rub on the shield instead of you? Could be a safety hazard, I don't know what I'm talking about, just throwing it out there.

Nursing - T acts like he's hungry but will then do the on and off distraction. If he's REALLY hungry, he just eats like a madman. He's been doing something weird when nursing on my left side lately (the "good" side) and the nipple hurts a lot.

Napping - So... I got my just desserts for saying that T's napping had improved. Today he was not sleepy after his morning nap. He was up for 2 hours, slept for 1.5 hours and then was up for 6 hours before he wanted to sleep. At point it was 4pm and we went through that the day before. That means bedtime gets moved up an hour later. No thank you. So I tried to keep him up... sort of worked. He took 1 catnaps in the car, and was up about 20 min past his bedtime.

[jenfl]

snoopy -- I'm sorry you had such a terrible evening! Re: tomorrow -- if my DD would notice and miss preschool, I'd go and do a low-key local day. When out-of-sorts, my kids have done well with a change of scenery and a day snuggled in a carrier. YMMV, though.

triony -- That thought had occurred to me, too. I was so bad manueving a nipple shield, though.... I have no idea if I could make it work.

Right now he does ok when I'm full or he's hungry. If he's comfort nursing, it's nearly unbearable. I end up flipping sides frequently and pulling him off early. We'll see how things progress...

laughingfox -- since Sprout still won't drink BM from any bottle, we're thinking of trying formula in a bottle. I think you had recommendations a fee threads ago, but I've forgotten . Could you remind me?

[laughingfox]

Originally Posted by jenfl

laughingfox -- since Sprout still won't drink BM from any bottle, we're thinking of trying formula in a bottle. I think you had recommendations a fee threads ago, but I've forgotten . Could you remind me?

MAM) are the only type of nipple Z will take. (here's a link to the bottles, but I think they come with faster flow nipples).
I have a friend who just started introducing the bottles of pumped milk (going back to work soon), and MAM are the only kind of bottles and pacis her daughter will take, too.
Babies R Us just stopped carrying the bottles, but they do still carry the nipples (at least at my store), and I've read that you can use them with Avent, wide mouth Dr. Brown's, Think Baby, and maybe even some other wide-necked bottles, if you have any around. I've used them with Avent bottles with no problem.

If money were no object, I'd probably have gotten these steel bottles to use with my MAM nipples ('cause plastic will start to smell eventually, but I don't want to use glass because of the breakage factor)

If you want something Sprout will never outgrow, these are awesome. I use them now, with Avent caps and MAM nipples. I love them- but they don't have measurements for liquids, so you have to use a separate measuring cup to fill them.
If you do wind up using the formula, let me know. I can give you tips on how to make it slightly less of a hassle. Slightly. :

Edit- Oh, wait, were you asking for formula recs or bottle recs? It's too late in the day and my brain is broken.
We use the formula made by PBM nutritionals. They make the store brand formula for Walgreens, Sams, WalMart, Target, Babies R Us, and probably a handful of other companies, too. There are a handful of varieties- gentle, regular (without prebiotics), soy, etc, depending on which store you go to. Target has like 6 varieties, but Sams has 3. DD2 takes the standard dairy one with DHA and prebiotics. It's nice to not give my money to a major formula company that's using it to fund their aggressive marketing, you know?
PBM also makes a handful of the Organic formulas, including Vermont Organics, Bright Beginnings and I think Earth's Best as well.
If you want to do soy, it's harder to avoid corn syrup. The only brand without it that I know of is Baby's Only. That company annoys me, because they say they put "Toddler Formula" on their cans to encourage breastfeeding and make people realize that formula's not the best option for babies, but um, the brand name is Baby's Only. Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

[jsh7809]

this is no disrespect meant towards the mamas who have had to use formula. I know breastfeeding can be so hard, and there are lots of reasons not to do it, and I totally trust each of your decisions! I feel lucky I can feed her relatively simply. All that said:
Is it a myth that formula can help babies stay asleep longer? And rice cereal? Cause I am feeling SOO desperate. Trying not to think about CIO but I need some sanity savers here. DH got up with her last night and much of this weekend, and ultimately had to come home from work today because he's so exhausted. I am so tired from long term sleep dep. that I had to cancel going to a baby-mama-work-colleague get together that I had been looking forward to for WEEKS because it was an hour's drive and I didn't feel safe to drive.
I knew having a baby would be hard, and exhausting, but I guess I thought by 5 months she would be sleeping somewhat consistently in 4-5 hour chunks, instead of 1-2 hour ones. Seems to make a HUGE difference to me.

We tried avocado today, that was fun and mostly silly and messy. I think we will try rice cereal tomorrow, earlier than I had anticipated but I'm going to go with her cues, and if she's not into it, she's not into it.

So many things I thought I was "anti" or whatever, I'm letting slide and feeling okay about it. I know my mama instincts are so strong (especially because last night she slipped in the bath while DH was holding her; went under and was scared but physically fine, and I ran in from the other room, grabbed her from him, and comforted her. I had to apologize to him "it's not that I thought you were hurting her, I just couldn't not take her to comfort her right away, it's a mother thing I guess") that I won't ultimately do something that I think would truly upset or damage her in the long term.

I'm experimenting with letting her fuss and cry here and there as we're laying down for bed, not much but little bits to encourage her to work towards calming down and sucking on her hands, while I stay with her, pat her, and comfort her in other ways. Also trying to wean from the swaddle.

And, for however long it takes till I feel a little better rested, cosleep with her from 9pm till morning, and hope I can stay asleep enough through her little peeps and thrashings to get caught up on some rest.

The hardest part may be that I know this won't last forever (thank god!), but then she'll be all grown up. I am amazed and in love with this 5 month old, and I know I will continue to feel that way as she grows, but, I don't want to spend her whole babyhood (going so fast now!) wishing she would sleep

/ self absorbed rant

[GreenTeaGinger61]

Silly me thought..."It's only Monday, the thread won't be bad." Ha!

So here's my best shot. I'm sorry if miss anyone!

Liz: I have four kids and they all meet their milestones are different times. I am convinced it's temperament. My first didn't roll over until he was SIX MONTHS old. I was freaking out. Ready to call the pedi. R has been sitting up for a few weeks now but she's only rolled over since yesterday. She likes her tummy now but that took awhile.

As for solids, we were going to try despite me not wanting to. I am a big fan of BLW but we were having bottle issues. No go. She does not really like food. She's okay with banana in a mesh feeder but prefers breast milk ice cubes.

Jenf: (((Hugs)))

Sleep: R was up every two hours from 10-9. She does this every once in awhile. She is the only baby who kind of sleeps. All of the others one were up like this all the time. I feel for you Jess. It is hard. I am so nasty when I'm tired. Today I just exploded at my ds and he was sobbing about how I hated him. I felt awful and I knew it was because I was super tired. It goes get better I promise.

LNF: Oh dear god. I hate being away from H for even a night! I went on a trip without him and with all four kids (my mom came but she's the grandma) and it was pretty crazy.

AFM: R has an easy week. She's coming to class with me as I am showing a documentary. She was blowing raspberries at my students today much to their delight. I know it's a risk to bring her but it breaks my heart to think of her sobbing for me. It's bad enough having her in the carseat. When I pull her out she just clings to me

In good news, she is taking the sippy cup with my milk in it and she loves breast milk ice cubes in the mesh feeder. She's also playing a lot more so she's easier to entertain. I think she'll be okay with dh next week. I hope so.

I think I told you all about that woman who wrote a book about homebirth and religion? Well I emailed her (she's at Uof Toronto) and she said that my work looked interesting and that she' be willing to work with me if I was accepted. She sounds so awesome. She breastfed during the interview for her book and had a homebirth. She's also very smart. Now if we can find something for dh.

[jsh7809]

PS Triony, just noticed (for the nth time) that Symphony and your T have the same birthday!! Love it. And Snoopy's Kelsey is exactly 1 week earlier. So, maybe we should start a crabby-baby, crappy-sleep club?

My vote is that it's: growing, mastering skills, trying to crawl, growth spurt, digestion changes, preteething, first colds, too much excitement to take in all at once... and that VERY VERY SOON they will all go back to sleep at least (at least!) 5 hours in a row.
I don't ask for 12 or anything like that - in fact that would probably terrify me into thinking she had suffocated somehow - and I want to keep breastfeeding at night for awhile so I don't start ovulating - but, jeez, isn't 5 or 6 hours good enough for these babies?

Totally rambling, totally sleep deprived, totally losing my mind... please dont' kick me out of the DDC . (I'm fine being kicked out of the crabby-crappy club!)

[jenfl]

GTG -- So glad you found another academic mom to work with!!

LF -- Thanks! We have a MAM nipple I found cheap on a clearance rack, so we'll try that in some of our other bottles. Now, what would you recommend to put in the bottles?

Jess -- We tried formula before bed with Nugget when her sleep was terrible at around this age. It slightly extended her first stretch (from 1-2 hours to 2-3 hours) but didn't seem to make a difference in the amount of later wakings. At this point, give it a shot. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and you can stop. If it helps, great. A bottle or two of formula at nearly 6 months isn't a big deal.

[OneWithTwo]

I think I broke a filling :/ it doesn't hurt or anything *yet* but my tongue felt it and well now, I can't stop rubbing it

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by erickalynne

I think I broke a filling :/ it doesn't hurt or anything *yet* but my tongue felt it and well now, I can't stop rubbing it

Ugh, I've done that three times in my adult life. Once I ended up needing a root canal because I waited too long. The second time I was imagining it. The third time I ended up with a crown, but not a root canal.

[Carita]

popping in. i read a lot, but typing makes keyboard noises and DD wakes up in bed bedside me LOL.

Jen. I find after nursing that I just need to rub her gums with my finger and she will nurse again and fall asleep or will just fall asleep. SHe seriously nursed, I rubbed her gums and she fell asleep WHILE I was rubbing her gums. poor girl!

serious poop blast today. got all over my WCW cover LOL.

so completely unrealted, but need advice. My cousin went GF a few years back and it rid her migraines. I decided last week to go GF, but I feel weird just doing it on my own. So a coworker recommended a naturopath type to me - a retired MD who works PT & you pay her directly and she focuses on alternative stuff like detoxification. Well I made an appt and the first available she had was in Nov. She called and bumped my appt ahead due to a cancellation for next week. Now here is the WWYD: my son (3) has been really off lately - like for the last 2 months or more. I thought it was just ADD like mommy or moving transition, but his tummy hurts, and he's been waking up a lot at night. Crying, bawling to sleep. Should I switch the appt for him instead of me? This isn't normal 3 yo stuff, is it. I am starting to feel worried for him. I should switch, right?

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by Carita

popping in. i read a lot, but typing makes keyboard noises and DD wakes up in bed bedside me LOL.

Jen. I find after nursing that I just need to rub her gums with my finger and she will nurse again and fall asleep or will just fall asleep. SHe seriously nursed, I rubbed her gums and she fell asleep WHILE I was rubbing her gums. poor girl!

serious poop blast today. got all over my WCW cover LOL.

so completely unrealted, but need advice. My cousin went GF a few years back and it rid her migraines. I decided last week to go GF, but I feel weird just doing it on my own. So a coworker recommended a naturopath type to me - a retired MD who works PT & you pay her directly and she focuses on alternative stuff like detoxification. Well I made an appt and the first available she had was in Nov. She called and bumped my appt ahead due to a cancellation for next week. Now here is the WWYD: my son (3) has been really off lately - like for the last 2 months or more. I thought it was just ADD like mommy or moving transition, but his tummy hurts, and he's been waking up a lot at night. Crying, bawling to sleep. Should I switch the appt for him instead of me? This isn't normal 3 yo stuff, is it. I am starting to feel worried for him. I should switch, right?

Are your migraines frequent? If so then that's a hard choice. But if they're not, then I'd switch it to be for him, and then let her know that if she has another cancellation that you would really like to get in. Unless she only squeezed you in because she thought it was an emergency, in which case I'd keep it for you in the interest of keeping friendly.

[Carita]

I was dealing with migraines about 2x/week. Last week it was only 1x. I didn't go on with her over the phone about everything. In fact I only said I needed help with migraines and chronic pain and and she was a little evasive on the phone then only later I realized that she may have thought I wanted a script for marijuana LOL :rofl So I don't think she thinks I am an emergency case. I should just call her and find out, but she only works MW and I didn't want to bother her on her day off.

[Peace+Hope]

carita, maybe she'd see you both, if you explain the situation and pay for both? i've done that with a dr. before...

jenfl, s. sorry the teeth are messing w/ sprout's modified technique. i have no idea what i'm talking about either, but what about a piece of packing tape where his bottom teeth go? unless you hate ripping tape off your skin . seems like he could get as good suction on that as he's getting on your skin if it's on a small area? otherwise, i wonder if a nut butter or oil slathered on your breast would at least make it easier to bear?

hi gtg! wow, cool, are you considering moving to toronto?? can i visit?

4+4, i added you to the list

snoopy, hows your girl feeling? any better?

sehbub, hey! so glad to hear you are doing well, if not freakin' CRAZY in your schedule. whooo, i'm glad i got started so late, not sure it's humanly possible for me to end up w/ 5 kids at this point . i can't believe how much hair your charlie has! what a big, beautiful boy. and to your weight loss, you should post some pics for us so we can ooohhhh and aahhh .

afm, doing well over here. charlie has had a couple of days of demanding more napping. he gets loud/fussy earlier than i think he should be sleepy, it's like he's saying, mom, come ON, let's get this nap thing started. maybe it's all the teething? rhi, i thought you had done the carrot frozen! lol, i don't think i'll do that again for awhile...

charlie will be 6 months on the 25th . he's still not even interested in rolling, but can sit up really well and loves standing with support at the hips for balance. will do tummy time, but only for 5 mins tops. chatters a lot with consonants and vowel experimenting. loves his jumper and started talking to the cats, and himself in the mirror last week. not even considering solids yet, but i did read about using blocks to help develop fine motor skills in dr. sears the other day. i want to see him doing more of that before i try food, since he's entranced but ok w/ his own toys while we eat.

i have charlie scheduled for his 6-month appt. next week, and am really sweating it. reading on vaccines a lot over the last few weeks. he hasn't had any yet, and i don't feel ready. do any of you that delay, delay for longer? we have lots of pertussis here and it would be so miserable (and of course possibly dangerous), so i'd like to do that, but i HATE that i can't get it seperately from the DTAP bundle .

[laughingfox]

Jen- It's tough to say, since every baby's different, but based on DD's experience, I'd recommend the store brand stuff made by PBM, sold at Target, Babies R Us, Walmart, Sams, Walgreens. We use the dairy variety, with prebiotics and DHA.
It's essentially the same stuff from store to store, but the packaging (and price!) varies. It looks like this at BRU, like this at Target, like this at Walmart, etc.

WalMart and Walgreens sell the smallest containers of the powder, so you can try it out without breaking the bank. They make about 80 ounces and are under $10 (may vary depending on your area's cost of living).
Sams is cheapest per ounce, if you wind up needing a larger container of it. Target is second cheapest (Target's is cheaper in store than online).

[Carita]

P&H & rhi - I just called her and asked her opinion. She said to fill out the intake and diet journal for both of us and then we'd talk about both at my appt. But I am going to leave him at school so that she and I can actually talk. Then if he needs to see her, we can do that as a next step. Ugh - I feel so much better. Thanks guys for giving me kick in the butt. I just didn't want to overwhelm someone over the phone abotu all our medical history/issues LOL.

[sehbub]

Originally Posted by jsh7809

All that said:
Is it a myth that formula can help babies stay asleep longer?

IME, yeah it's a myth. Three formula fed girls, all slept different. 2 breastfed boys who also sleep differently. 5 kids and none share a sleep pattern. Charlie is the least consistent of all of them.

Two night ago we got 8.5 hours of sleep, straight through. Last night he nursed every 45 minutes and then was awake and "talking" for almost 4 hours in the middle of the night.

I'm a mean, mean mommy when I'm sleep deprived. DH has been able to spell me one night a week if I need him too. Mostly I'm doing okay and able to maintain my sanity/mood, but once every two weeks or so I just need to sleep.

[sehbub]

Originally Posted by Peace+Hope

sehbub, hey! so glad to hear you are doing well, if not freakin' CRAZY in your schedule. whooo, i'm glad i got started so late, not sure it's humanly possible for me to end up w/ 5 kids at this point . i can't believe how much hair your charlie has! what a big, beautiful boy. and to your weight loss, you should post some pics for us so we can ooohhhh and aahhh .

do any of you that delay, delay for longer?

I actually don't have any pictures!! Whoops! Yeah, C is really, really hairy. It leads to some gender confusion. We can dress him head to toe in blue with "I'm a boy" screen printed on his chest and people tell us how beautiful our girl is. : Apparently boys can't have hair?

As far as vax, we delayed 'til 2 with DD3 and DS1.