April 2010 Mamas, through October 16th - Page 2

[jsh7809]

Originally Posted by jenfl

LNF, that's great to hear! And you remind me -- I'm vaguely surprised that no one has claimed the Platinum Bejewed Birth Stool of Winning at Darwin. Not it!

AFM -- We got out a jumper for Sprout today. He LOVED it! He'd stand still, then jump... jump... jump-jump-JUMP-JUMP-JUMP!!!! Then stand still. Then JUMP JUMP JUMP again!!! I put him in there 3 times today; the last time, I finally pulled him out after 15 minutes because I couldn't imagine that much time in there was great for his huge noggin. But, wow, he was fun to watch.

Dude, also not it! WAY not it

Jen, I think Sprout and Symphony would get along well, somehow. She loves her jumper, too, and they both sound similarly sweet and sensitive.

Ivy, thanks for what you said, it totally helps. I do check in with myself a LOT about whether I am worrying about sleep because of how I feel, or because of an outside force. And it's really divided for me. On one hand, I think, hey, if she's happy and we're both reasonably well rested, then do what works, even if it's just letting her suck on my finger each and every time. On the other hand... well, tonight it took 45 minutes of finger sucking to get her to drift off deep enough for me to sneak away. We do everything I can think of (consistent bedtime routine, white noise, etc) but sometimes she just really needs that decompression time and it's hard that that's the only way she seems to be able to get it. Also, sleep is still not great (though I would say better than the 4 month period! but maybe I've just gotten used to it ), and I am spending most of the time in her room, which is sad for me and DH. We don't cosleep in our bed because it's old and uncomfy, and I am so sensitive that having TWO people in bed with me is kind of overstimulating. And S won't sleep much in her crib anymore. Oh, how I miss the days she would just wake up to nurse until at least 5am!

However, I am doing this thing where I think, "I'll just let us do whatever's easiest until after my big work season is over/ until she's 6 months/ etc"... and I have a feeling I will keep kinda pushing that back until she just naturally gets a little more independent or sleeps longer periods. We'll see! I am 99% sure that she is NOT a child that CIO would "work" for anyway, and I can't seem to get past Phase 1 of the NCSS "Pantley Pull Off Method" for sucking to sleep associations so I'm not sure I have a choice anyway, ha ha!

Sme, so glad you're back! That SUCKS about the parasite, I do hope you're feeling better soon. What are you eating to try to get some weight back? What a drag...

[sew_crafty_girl]

Anna is getting better and better at sitting. I don't feel comfortable walking away from her though unless she's on one of the few carpeted floors in the house. She's a backwards scooter too. Does circles on her belly.

Yesterday I gave 'grabby baby' my cup of pepsi, thinking she just gnaw on the straw and she sucked up a drink. Yikes! I guess I should get some straw cups to try out. She has let me spoon feed her a few times and liked peas and carrots. Pear slices are fun, but very slippery. I'm upping offering her food twice a day now.

[Georgetown HB Mom]

Glad to have found ya'll again

Hi All,

I have not posted for several months. Been super busy chasing these 3 kids around. I did not know going from 2 to 3 would be so time consuming! Anyway, Heidi is doing fantastic! She wants to be just like her big sisters so she is developing by leaps and bounds. She started crawling at 3 months and started pulling herself up on my furniture right before she turned 5 months. I found her standing in her crib after her nap one day. She has 2 teeth. She still sleeps in our room at night and was doing great sleeping through the night until she hit the infamous 4 months. She is the smallest of all my babies. She weighs about 13lbs.

Hope everyone else is doing great!

Lisa

[jenfl]

sme -- welcome back! And yuck on the parasite! I hope you get that straightened out REAL quick!

sew_crafty_girl -- Sprout used a straw a week or two ago and shocked both DH and I. Like you, I was just letting him chew on my reusable water bottle.... and suddenly we saw water going UP the straw! The boy adores drinking our water, be it from a straw cup or a regular cup. If we're holding him while trying to drink, he'll grab the cup with both hands and pull it up to his mouth!

Georgetown HB Mom -- Um, wow! You have quite the mover! She's going to keep you bu-usy! Sprout's a great sitter, but still in the beached-whale stage on his stomach.

AFM -- New favorite game over here! Put random smaller toys into an open container (I'm using a bin from a toy organizer) and let baby pull them out. That's been quite a hit the last day or two.

[Peace+Hope]

so good to hear from you, sme! i'm so sorry to hear about the food intolerances and also the parasite. so good you finally found out what's causing you to drop so much weight! are you still pumping for the bank too? how is juggling childcare these days? i just saw a sukkah the other day and thought of you.

georgetown, that your baby crawled at 3 months! mine still isn't rolling over, heh. do you live in georgetown, dc?

sewcrafty, wow, another scooter! does anna get herself into a sitting position?

eating apparel: thanks, ladies who commented. unfortunately, the kitchen is the coolest room in our house, and drafty. and i hate undressing/dressing him multiple times! i also am not looking forward to having to bathe charlie every night either. hm.... glad i'm not rushing into solids

charlie loves his bouncer too . he vocalizes like crazy when he's in it.

[snoopy5386]

Hi Everyone,
We're on vacation in Seattle now, but I've got some down time.....so
P+H - I can't help you on the high chairs, but I know the hook on chairs are made to fit over tables that have lips under them.
Like this one:
http://www.chiccousa.com/gear/highch...ok-on-red.aspx

We have the same fisher price booster as everyone else. Have you thought about just picking up a folding chair or an extra chair at goodwill to use with the strap on high chair?

FWIW, my cousins used the bumbo with the tray for their highchair for about 14 months and we gave up on the booster at about the same age when we got a learning tower and DD1 ate all her meals standing in the tower for like 2 years.

For bibs we use the bumkins bibs, they cover the baby a good amount, I can wash them in the sink, hang them to dry and they are dry by the next meal.
http://www.bumkins.com/waterproof-pr...terproof-bibs/

sme - yuck! sorry! what was it and where do they think you got it?

[rhiOrion]

P&H- how about getting a really big t-shirt? You could get some at goodwill, or buy a pack of little boy's undershirts or something. Maybe like 18mo or 2T sized? Then it would cover him pretty well, and have a neck big enough to get it off without getting food everywhere.

Of course, he might just get food down the neck hole. Duct tape would be my answer for that.

[Pepper44]

SME! I had a parasite too, right before I got pregnant with Ada. I went to an herbalist and he gave me parmelia lichen tincture. It aborts pregnancy but he said it was safe for breastfeeding. I nursed dd1 and she never had any side effects. The tincture cleans out everything to the point of water, horrible. (I saw the worms, omfg.) then you have to take it again 2 weeks later to catch any...eggs...

I hope you can get rid of yours soon. I haven't had diarrhea randomly since taking it. Totally worth the nastiness of the tincture.

AFM, baby Ada has had a fever since the middle of the night. It's 101 with motrin. She has no other symptoms.

This makes me angry: I can't take her to the doctor because she isnt on our insurance. Apparently since she wasn't born in the hospital we had 30 days to provide them with the birth certificate. It took more than 30 days to get approved for it and everything. So now we have to wait until open enrollment in July to add her. Can you hear me screaming? Her well baby check cost us more than $300.

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by Pepper44

SME! I had a parasite too, right before I got pregnant with Ada. I went to an herbalist and he gave me parmelia lichen tincture. It aborts pregnancy but he said it was safe for breastfeeding. I nursed dd1 and she never had any side effects. The tincture cleans out everything to the point of water, horrible. (I saw the worms, omfg.) then you have to take it again 2 weeks later to catch any...eggs...

I hope you can get rid of yours soon. I haven't had diarrhea randomly since taking it. Totally worth the nastiness of the tincture.

AFM, baby Ada has had a fever since the middle of the night. It's 101 with motrin. She has no other symptoms.

This makes me angry: I can't take her to the doctor because she isnt on our insurance. Apparently since she wasn't born in the hospital we had 30 days to provide them with the birth certificate. It took more than 30 days to get approved for it and everything. So now we have to wait until open enrollment in July to add her. Can you hear me screaming? Her well baby check cost us more than $300.

can you get her on medicaid?

[crazyeight]

..

[jenfl]

Re: seperation anxiety -- Sprout is so much more laid back about this so far than Nugget was! We were at the library today for storytime and I had to go to the table to help DD with her craft, so I left Sprout sitting on the floor with a few toys. Another family with kids the same age came over and the big sister played with Sprout while I helped DD. He got such a kick out of that, and was totally chill about me just coming and going! Man, DD had seperation anxiety HARD. I know the worst of it is coming up for Sprout, but I get the feeling it won't be quite as bad.

[Pepper44]

Fever seems to have broken! She got very uncomfortable, then suddenly it was just gone. She hasn't had any more motrin, so it's gone by itself. Fingers crossEd the worst is over.

I think I will have to look into Medicaid or Kchip until open enrollment. Blah. They said you have to get her added to the insurance within 30 days of birth, and they needed her birth certificate since there was no hospital paper work, but the state says to expect 30 days for your birth certificate to be processed and put in the mail. WTF? And they didnt even mention the 30 day rule until we tried to add her a month later when we had all the paper work. Not fair.

[rhiOrion]

I think that you should ask them, in writing, to tell you what they expected you to do if the BC wouldn't arrive until the 30 days had passed.

It's silly because I didn't even have to do anything with my insurance other than shoot them an email. I guess they could have looked and seen that I gave birth in the hospital, but I don't think the claim was filed by that point, probably!

[triony]

Hi, all! We're back from our trip.
P+H I was the one who asked about planes. Your advice was helpful, btw. T did AWESOME on the plane rides. THe one exception was when poor DH was watching him for a minute and T managed to arch himself up and over and bonk his head REALLY hard on the armrest support. Cried and cried. I'm discovering he is not a comfort nurser when he is really upset.
Speaking of which. We got the nosefrida because T has a cold (which he gave to me). At first he was fine with it and the bulb because I taught him it was a game. Bht then when the snot starting not coming out easily he seemed to be uncomfortable and has decided it is THE END OF THE WORLD. And gets SO mad. SO SO mad. But he can't breathe to nurse if I don't use it. Then he cries and there is more snot. I was able to jolly him into it a little bit today again. Poor baby.

Ericka I'm so sorry about the sleep and the screaming. I am sure that feels awful.

Parasites - ugh. I grew up in 3rd world countries and I know ALL about parasites. Blech.

Our trip was a lot of fun, and T was really good. He slept from 7:30-5am (without waking to nurse) one night at the grandparents. He is such an amazing baby (now that we're past the worst of the sleep issues. for now.), I'm terrified that #2 will be crrrrazy difficult.

He was really ahead on milestones for a while there, but now he seems to be content to be more average. He now rolls really really well both directions. He had been doing back to front since just before 3 months, and front to back since 4.5 months but now he goes to town. (He's 5.5 months) He's not interested in sitting still. He looks like he's starting to be interested in solids, but nothing intense.
We're completely failing on EC here except for poops. I cannot catch a single pee anymore. I KNOW He has to go. I take him to the potty. Nothing. 5 minutes later, wet diaper. sigh. Any experienced ECers got some advice?
And to top that off - my Fuzzibunz are now leaking through the seams. Help! I love my cloth diapers, but after using sposies while traveling and this new leaking issue..... sposies are so much nicer in many ways. I'm going ot go post in diapering if i can find the time.

Ok. to you all. Especially to those of you parenting babies and contemplating divorce. And the non-sleepers. And those with parasites... man... we're a mess!

[Dena]

Originally Posted by loveneverfails

Well, while SOME OF YOU PEOPLE have 6 month olds, I only have a 4 1/2 month old. She is toothless and decided that sleeping the night is nice when you're a newborn but not so much when you're a Big Fun 4 Month Old!?!?!?

If it helps, my six month olds are still toothless, are not sitting, and have decided that nighttime sleep is for sissies.

Originally Posted by Peace+Hope

speaking of bibs, how do those of you who let your babies self-feed deal with mess? i have very few clothes for charlie, which works cause he can wear stuff again and again. i'm thinking a bib will not hold up in the way of BLW fun. i wish i could sew cause i have an idea for a baby smock with adjustable sleeves to grow w/ baby

We do nekkid baby too, and bath right after dinner. Once they can sit up on their own, our kids have LOVED bath time, and it has been a lot of fun to bathe them. When dd1 was little, that was her special time with Papa while I got a little break.

Also Ikea makes some smock type bibs with long sleeves that aren't too expensive. The other think you might do is try a resale store for some long sleeve shirts and inexpensive pants that could be for dinner time only - the resale store near us sells shirts for $1 each.

Jess, my babies have all sucked to sleep too. Dd2 did take a paci, which had its own issues, as she JUST FINALLY gave it up. Sigh. Dd1 finally found her fingers, and still sucks on them sometimes.

Ivy,

Originally Posted by loveneverfails

they got a positive pregnancy test result and sent it home with me to prank Steve.

You are wicked.

I'm kinda surprised no one has won the bedazzled birth stool of winning at Darwin yet too. SO NOT IT!!!

Sme, welcome back! Glad you finally got some answers.

Pepper, I second what Rhi said. Can you appeal their denial?

AFM, not much new here, which is ok too. Spent a good part of the weekend working, again. But it was a rush brief for a very good client, and we really need the money, so yay for money. And yay for keeping a good client happy. And business seems to be picking up slightly, so yay for that too. Now if I could just get this house under control. Looks like a tornado hit it. I know, picky, picky...

Oh, and I figured out, at least in part, why I have been so tired. My hair started falling out, and I was like WTF? because the last time it happened I was anemic, and I have been taking extra iron. So I googled anemia and breastfeeding, to see if all the milk going out of me has something to do with it, and was reminded on one website not to take iron with calcium - uh, like the 1500 mg of calcium I have been taking to preserve my supply during af, and taking the iron pill in the same fistful? I KNEW that too. Duh. So I have been taking the iron midday and the calcium at night, and already I have more energy.

[jsh7809]

OK, not to jinx it... but I think there is an outside chance S might be a moderately better sleeper once she gets used to sleeping on her tummy. Maybe. Possibly. I know SIDS is a real danger but I sincerely wish we had put her down on her stomach somewhere along the way because she seems so much more comfortable that way, but still pushes up immediately and wakes herself up.
And of course after we're past the 6, 9, and 12 month sleep regression, teething, growth spurts, learning to walk and crawl and talk... so, maybe by college, eh?

Just wanted to quickly say that a friend of mine who has a VERY spirited 3.5 year old and I hung out today, adn when I mentioned that S is trying to crawl, she said "DON'T LET HER!". Ha ha, so maybe there's another use for duct tape?

[OneWithTwo]

jess- Campbell slept on her tummy from the time we brought her home from NICU until present. She was 4lbs when she came home
J has slept on his tummy since we brought him home too. He won't sleep UNLESS he is on his tummy. I just make sure there aren't pillows around his face and no blankets either

[OneWithTwo]

I am worried about J. I am also scared.
We went to WIC the other day and he weighed in at 11lbs 8oz. Sounds great, but a couple weeks ago at the Dr. he weighed 11lbs 14oz. So he has lost weight :/
He is 24 1/2in, so he is growing, but not gaining. I have started giving him straight sodium through the dropper. He stopped taking the bottle. I know it's not my milk, because he was gaining fine off my pumped milk. I know it's the sodium. I am just afraid of what the Dr.'s will say. I mean, I have a pretty good idea.
He also is meeting no milestones He can grab toys and transfer hand to hand I think? He likes his Sophie now. He isn't very good at rolling over. He does kinda scoot backwards. No babbling, but he blows tons of raspberries. He doesn't do much but scream. I mean if I am holding him, he is ok.

What if he isn't getting enough from me? I have no clue how my supply is anymore because I haven't pumped in forever...

[Georgetown HB Mom]

Originally Posted by Peace+Hope

georgetown, that your baby crawled at 3 months! mine still isn't rolling over, heh. do you live in georgetown, dc?

Crazy huh? My middle daughter was the same way and took her first steps at 7 months. She is still constantly on the go.

No, I don't live in Georgetown DC. I live in Georgetown, Texas which is about 20 miles north of Austin.

How is everyone's baby sleeping? Heidi is all over the place. Some times at night she will sleep for 2 hours and then wake up to nurse and other times she will sleep for 4-5 hours and then wake up. When she wakes up I bring her to bed with me and she will nurse on and off for several more hours. Naps are horrible. We have no consistency at all. The longest she will nap is in the car otherwise if we are at home she will nap between 10-30 minutes several times a day.

Lisa

[rhiOrion]

Ericka- can you do the whole weigh, then nurse, then weigh, thing? It's not the most accurate way in the world, I think, but it would give you an idea. Does he seem full?

I'm having a similar worry, though not nearly as much or as bad as you. L is only 14 pounds 5 ounces. She was 13 pounds 5 ounces two months ago. I don't think the pedi will like only a one pound gain in two months. But, she takes bottles at daycare and when I tried sending five ounce bottles instead of four ounce bottles she consistently only drank four ounces. So I know she's getting what she wants, plenty of wet diapers, etc. I was a skinny underweight kid. My parents were BOTH skinny underweight kids. My husband was a skinny kid. But, I imagine she's dropped on the charts. Ugh.