March 2010 Oct-Nov thread

[ciga]

Okay I miss our thread and I can't find it anywhere so I'm starting a new one.


Ruben is going to be 7 months on the 25th. He just cut his first tooth the other day. We had a few straight days of a really unhappy baby who needed to be held 24/7 and then it came and things quieted back down.
He's ~20lbs. He is in the getting up on all fours and rocking and crying phase. He is also trying to pull himself up on everything though he can only get up onto his knees and then he's kind of stuck. He can scoot around the room on his butt pretty darn efficiently. He loves chewing on apples. I just let him gnaw on the whole thing with one bite taken out so he can taste it. He loves that. He still wakes up a lot to eat through out the night which is wearing on me. I'm pretty exhausted..should be sleeping now. We at least found a nice solution to hysterical middle of the night diaper changes which was buying a few bum genius so that we don't have to putz with prefolds and doublers at 3am. It has at least made the ordeal faster.
 

Edited by ciga - 1/8/11 at 1:04pm

[lizsky]

Wow, my daughter Laura is so similar to Ruben! She's also rocking on all fours, obviously wants to crawl, but can only go backwards. She so wants to go forwards but just can't seem to figure out how!

Night wakings have actually gotten worse But I'm trying to be patient and remind myself that she is growing so fast and I'm going to miss this stage.

She loves being outside and I'm loving all our autumn walks and hikes- she stares up at the sky and the leaves and is just mesmerized- helps me to slow down and appreciate the beauty in the small things too!

And I love her relational side- if I leave her side to get something from another room, she breaks into a huge smile when I come back And I love how excited she gets when her dad comes home from work! Or when she sees our dog! Here is a recent pic of the two of us

[skfmama]

Samuel is such a sweet boy. He is active...so busy. He crawls but with his belly still on the ground...I don't think he'll ever crawl properly. He wants to pull up to stand on everything and is definitely getting better at that every day. He can't get down though, at least gracefully, which is kind of funny. He loves walks and makes his happy noises when he sees me or DH putting on the Ergo.

He just got two teeth in the past week and that was rough. Pretty bad sleep. His sleep has gotten a little better, but he's still up 2 or 3 times a night on a good night. Sometimes I dream of nightweaning (not for a few more months of course) and sometimes I can just enjoy the sleepy snuggles.

We've started solids but it's hit or miss, in the sense that I'm not sure how his body is handling it. He loves eating, and gets better at it every day (we do BLW), but sometimes he seems uncomfy and gassy after eating and he can go 3 or 4 days without pooping (which isn't normal for him). So when that happens we stop solids for a few days until his body recovers. Nursing is great though and a great way to reconnect/rest with him being so active.

7 months...hard to believe it.

[gardenmommy]

I am really not loving it right now. Eleanor is such a hard baby to live with sometimes. She is very definitely a mama's girl. We haven't started solids yet, partly because I think she is only just now getting there, and partly because I'm afraid that will be the end of our nursing. She pretty much reverse cycles, nursing mostly at night.

Speaking of which, I have gotten to the point where I absolutely dread nights. Getting E to sleep is awful, she nurses for awhile (which involves a LOT of gymnastics and latch on/latch off), then cries and hollers (and I mean full-on yelling, not crying) for up to an hour. DH has her right now because I had a meltdown and walked out of the room. I told him he needed to take her before I did something awful. I am SO done with the whole thing. I went and sat on the porch with my ears plugged and cried. Why does she have to be so stinking hard to get to sleep every.single.night? If she would sleep all night, that would at least be bearable, but she wakes up sometimes every 45 min. to and hour all.night.long. I thought she was teething, then I thought it was because of the virus that passed through everyone. Now, I just don't know. I'm just tired. And tired of hearing her yell. and tired of dealing with a baby who may or may not go back to sleep 3 or 4 times a night, plus 3 or 4 times a night when she does. I've tried so many things, I'm really at my wit's end for what to do.

I feel really terrible that I don't look forward to snuggling with her. I am not feeling the love for her at all right now. It is definitely affecting my relationship with her, but I don't know what to do or how to change it. She doesn't like DH, cries almost every single time he holds her. She only let him put her to sleep tonight because she was desperate and exhausted from crying so long and hard. No, I don't have anyone else to call for help. The older kids do help with her during the day, but obviously, they can't at night.

Anyway. I'm just feeling emotionally spent right now. Thanks for listening.

[Deir]

Originally Posted by gardenmommy

I am really not loving it right now. Eleanor is such a hard baby to live with sometimes. She is very definitely a mama's girl. We haven't started solids yet, partly because I think she is only just now getting there, and partly because I'm afraid that will be the end of our nursing. She pretty much reverse cycles, nursing mostly at night.

Speaking of which, I have gotten to the point where I absolutely dread nights. Getting E to sleep is awful, she nurses for awhile (which involves a LOT of gymnastics and latch on/latch off), then cries and hollers (and I mean full-on yelling, not crying) for up to an hour. DH has her right now because I had a meltdown and walked out of the room. I told him he needed to take her before I did something awful. I am SO done with the whole thing. I went and sat on the porch with my ears plugged and cried. Why does she have to be so stinking hard to get to sleep every.single.night? If she would sleep all night, that would at least be bearable, but she wakes up sometimes every 45 min. to and hour all.night.long. I thought she was teething, then I thought it was because of the virus that passed through everyone. Now, I just don't know. I'm just tired. And tired of hearing her yell. and tired of dealing with a baby who may or may not go back to sleep 3 or 4 times a night, plus 3 or 4 times a night when she does. I've tried so many things, I'm really at my wit's end for what to do.

I feel really terrible that I don't look forward to snuggling with her. I am not feeling the love for her at all right now. It is definitely affecting my relationship with her, but I don't know what to do or how to change it. She doesn't like DH, cries almost every single time he holds her. She only let him put her to sleep tonight because she was desperate and exhausted from crying so long and hard. No, I don't have anyone else to call for help. The older kids do help with her during the day, but obviously, they can't at night.

Anyway. I'm just feeling emotionally spent right now. Thanks for listening.

(((((((((((((((hug)))))))))))))))) will write more later!

[october]

Eden is 6.5 months now, and about 19 pounds. She JUST started being able to sit up unassisted for long durations of time a couple weeks ago, and so we began to offer her vegetable finger foods. She barely gets anything, and I've only seen her swallow a couple of times. But I'm staying relaxed about it.

Most nights, she nurses 4 to 5 times. Bad nights she nurses every. hour.

I still don't really know why she does that. She doesn't have any teeth.

It's days like yesterday that I don't quite know how other mothers can do this with other children to care for. I don't know if I have it in me to care for a baby and someone else! I'm going to get the IUD asap.

On a more positive note, Eden really has blossomed in personality. Her newest babble is "Ah ra ra ra ra." She laughs hysterically, and definitely tends toward joy. As of last week, she FINALLY loves standing and jumping. She loves it so much, now, that I have a hard time setting her down to sit. She wants to stand.

But no crawling, no signs of crawling, and not even close to wanting to pull up onto things. She's still just kind of hanging out, doin nothin but playing with toys n such. She is pretty damn cute. But I do like the idea of sleeping again someday...

[Plummeting]

I'm so sorry, gardenmommy! I do know how you feel about the screaming. Maya is also incredibly difficult to get to sleep. Last night I told DH that she's lucky we don't have a crib, because if she's going to scream for an hour anyway, I might put her in it and walk away. (I wouldn't really do it - we have a pack-n-play I could set up any time I felt like it. Saying it lets me blow of steam, though!) She cries for 45 minutes to an hour almost every single night before falling asleep. She does it at naps, too!

I am lucky in that her nights have always been pretty good once she finally fell asleep. Right now I'm up at 3:39 and have been up since 2:15, and that's been going on for a couple weeks. (I started this post in the middle of the night, but I went to bed the second she fell back asleep, so now I'm finishing it at a reasonable hour. )She's done that off and on since birth, but mostly she's a good sleeper.

Maya just turned 7 months on the 21st. She's around 19 pounds and 27 inches. She finally just started babbling a few days ago, but she's been crawling properly for a couple weeks now, but she's been doing a combination army crawl, scoot, cross-crawl thing since before 6 months. She pulls up on everything and falls a LOT. DD1 never fell this much. I'll be glad if we can just get this baby to her first birthday without a concussion. It's amazing how she can hit her head nearly every time she falls. She really enjoys drinking water out of a regular glass, but she also likes sippy cups. Solids...meh. lol She wants to be given some, and she does eat a little, but mostly she'd rather eat leaves in the front yard than sweet potatoes at the dinner table. I don't get it - she shoves leaves and grass in like it's going out of style, but at dinner she usually only eats a little. <shrug>

The baby pics are adorable, ladies!!!

October, I used to think the same thing about having two (or more) kids. My dd1 nursed all night long, too. I don't know what made me change my mind - I guess dd1 getting older and being a little more independent. It's been really hard for me, but I did luck out in that dd2 sleeps better than a lot of babies. She fusses more, though, so I guess it's 6 of one and half dozen of the other. Anyway, I have found that it's really hard, and I'm envious of those who say it's no big deal at all. We make it all right, though.

[skfmama]

I'm glad to hear that other babies this age are still getting up a lot at night to nurse. Well, not glad that other mamas aren't sleeping, but glad that it's normal. A lot of other mamas I know irl do CIO or nightwean at like 4 months, so I'm glad to hear what babies are really like

Samuel was up a lot last night...I don't even know how many times, but it was a bad night. A cold? Teeth? No reason? I don't know. I keep telling myself that someday, he'll sleep all night. Someday.

Hugs, mamas! I hope we can all get a nap in or something this weekend!

[her_story]

I've been mostly lurking, but had to post because am so thankful that you other mommas make me feel NORMAL!! I am finding that the hardest part about motherhood is being able to trust my instincts and give my baby what he needs (not what grandma thinks, or the books say, or the baby sitter, or the woman in line at the grocery store, etc). That being said, I am constantly talking to other mommas about their babes and life as a momma (ummm, that is when i get out of the house)

Teo sleeps in his crib (just for the past 4 weeks or so) for 1-4 hours in the early evening, and then comes to bed with us. The hardest part is not knowing what to expect. Some nights he kicks and squirms and nurses all night. Other nights, I can roll with my back to him and sleep for hours (then awake with a start wondering if he is OK!)... On our worst nights, I feel like you too, GARDENMOMMY. I just let my husband take Teo, and take a walk. Even if he is crying...

Physically Teo is about 25 pounds at 7 months, but long at 29 inches! He has started to crawl, but is still pretty slow and inconsistent (he likes to bear crawl with straight knees)! He will always go after dirty sneakers or lamp cords - so I am keeping busy running after him. He is very happy in general, but hates having his diaper changed. He loves taking evening walks, and is really starting to notice the bigger world. He really loves our animals and will actively look for the cats or dogs when I say, "Do you see Gordita (a cat)?" or "Where's Calamity Jane?" He gets excited when the dogs play together by dancing wildly in his exersaucer...

Originally Posted by Plummeting

mostly she'd rather eat leaves in the front yard than sweet potatoes at the dinner table. I don't get it - she shoves leaves and grass in like it's going out of style, but at dinner she usually only eats a little.

Plummeting - this made me laugh! Teo is just not interested in eating solids. I am trying to give him foods, but he cries if I spoon feed him purees. So, I've been giving him sweet potato fries or pear slices. Mostly he just likes to feed them to the dogs.

Transitioning to being a mommy was the most difficult thing I have ever experienced, and I think that surely having more babies won't be that difficult!

In the spirit of over-sharing, here are links to his pics and videos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21402697@N04/
http://www.vimeo.com/user2327114/videos

[Snapdragon]

My little guy is 7 months and a week. He is wonderful Lately we have been having trouble with constipation and belly issues though so he is more grumpy than usual. I thought it was so great how, at 6 months, he took so easily to food. He ate almost everything I offered happily (and even made happy noises while eating!) But it turns out I fed him too much too fast (food most days once a day for a whole month)- as he got really constipated. We are still dealing with that, but at least now I have laid off solids all together for the past 5 days so far. I am going to continue with only breast milk until his body is more regulated with pooping. We have had to use the glycerin suppositories a few times- and now I am just hoping he will regulate on his own with just the breast milk.
Other than that, he smiles and laughs a lot! He is trying to scoot- we put him on the rug or a play mat and he reaches for toys in front of him and tries to move and moves a little! Still not quite sitting all on his own yet. He has been babbling for months- and he sings a lot! I sing a lot and often times he starts singing when I do! The other day I was pretty sure he was actually copying notes I was singing- actual pitches. He started out warbely but would then hit the note! Then I changed the note and he did the same thing and hit that note1 Only a couple of times, but still- I liked hearing that! Early evidence of musical inclination, maybe- or just my imagination! But I have some musical ability so maybe he will too.
Anyway- he is s super cute guy and I am having fun with this whole thing- now I am just hoping his constipation regulates because he is much more cheerful when he doesn't have a belly ache.
oh- and he has 2 teeth- they are part way in- he feels them with his tongue like- what are these things?

[ciga]

and here I thought I was the only person whose baby wasn't sleeping through the night.
Ruben nurses at least 4 times a night. When he was 4 months he was only getting up to nurse twice and I remember calling my sister and being like "I'm so tired! when will this end?" and then he just went and bumped it up a notch. Is it all the developmental stuff? Most nights he's also flailing in his sleep so I get a total of 3 minutes of actual rest

The other night he woke up fully ready to play at 3am for an hour. Usually he stays in a semi sleep state even though he's wanting to nurse a million times.

I got up this morning and asked my husband if bedtime was ever going to = rest again. He mumbled something about building a race car bed in a few years. Awesome! Most days I'm okay being exhausted and then some days I feel like I'm going to melt down.

oop nap is over

[SilverFish]

tziporah is just 8 months this week. i feel like we turned a corner about 2 weeks ago in terms of sleeping, and she's back to pretty much sleeping through the night after 2 months of terrible sleeping.

she is definitely her adjusted age in terms of movement... adjusted she would be not quite 7 mos, and she is now sitting solidly (i.e can lunge for things and not lose her balance) and getting down from sitting very easily, and working HARD at crawling, but still pretty far from being able to choose a direction to move in and getting there. right now she kind of does this adorable flailing thing where she usually moves somewhere, but no one is quite sure how or where she'll end up!

solids are another thing we're working on. it definitely isn't coming naturally to her! she likes food, in that she likes the taste and the process of playing with it, but has little to no interest in it as a food substance. she is just getting the hang of swallowing some things. honestly though, i find food to be a huge pain in the rear end. it's annoying to prepare something for her (when we're not eating something she can have), it's annoying to interrupt my eating to retrieve dropped food, get her more, help her hold it etc, and it's SO annoying to end every meal with a messy, damp and sticky baby, especially now that it's cold and she is fully dressed. so really, we only do solids maybe 4-5 times a week.

i think my favourite new development is her determination. you can see her deciding what she wants, and how to get it, and i love watching the process. right now her favourite thing is figuring out how to get mommy's clothes off so she can nurse! she inspects the chests of everyone who holds her too, to figure out if there might be something good in there.

my sympathies go out to all the mamas who are having a hard time with this stage. quite a few of my mama friends are also struggling with frequent night waking and the general exhaustion that comes with a mobile or nearly mobile baby. i can only hope it'll get better for you soon!

[october]

I love co-sleeping and I'm not going to give it up because the rewards outweigh the disadvantages, BUT! I do have to wonder if mamas that co-sleep have babies that nurse more often.. even my naturopath mentioned that it happened with her and her babies. They smell us ALL NIGHT. It's like sleeping to a warm and loving candy store.

Every time DH and I take DD traveling, we end up putting her somewhere else because the bed is too small. AND! Sure enough, she doesnt need me for 7 hours.

I'm just glad I'm not alone!
And I'm still going to co-sleep. It's just way too sweet to give up!

[lizsky]

Oh Hugs mamas! Seems like we are a pretty tired group. I also really want for all of us to get better sleep, but I do feel relieved to know that I'm not alone.

Ciga I totally hear you. When DD was 2 months old she sometimes only woke up ONCE in the night...it was amazing! I had no idea how good I had it. Its been rough for a while now.

Most of the time I brush it off and say, "oh she sleeps ok" or "we're doing fine" because I'm tired of being given CIO advice. But in reality, it is really hard and I am grateful I can be honest here without getting that response.

Silverfish I'm glad it got better for you...thats a ray of hope for the rest of us!

[Adaline'sMama]

Adaline was 7 months on Tuesday. She's 25 inches long and weighing in at 16.5 lbs. She is tiny! She is still wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes, only fitting into 1 6-9 month outfit.

We started solids last month, but we've kind of been lazy about it. She eats a little of what I eat at most meals (like 2-3 bites), and some mornings she drinks a "baby smoothie" from her sippy cup. Its frozen breastmilk, yobaby yogurt, and either sweet potatos, apples, carrot, or persimmon. She likes lentils a lot. She is nursing ever 3-4 hours, and sometimes constantly for 1-2 hours, but has gone up to 5 hours without nursing or having any milk and she has been totally fine. No teeth yet.

Shes sleeping pretty well, waking to nurse from about 4 am on. But she usually sleeps from 10-4 without interruption. I love cosleeping with her!

In the past 4 days we have seen a huge seperation issue. She has started to scream if ANYONE else besides me is holding her. So, Im letting DH feed her lentils and peas and Im hiding in the other room. I hope this passes, its a little exhausting. The upside has been she wants to cuddle with me and isnt squirmy. Plus I got my first kiss today...but thats a whole 'nother story.

[gardenmommy]

Thanks for the hugs, ladies. I think that there is something going on that I just haven't figured out yet, wrt to her crazy sleep. we've made it almost to 7 months, I'm sure we'll make it through the next few months, too.

She has figured out how to do a funny little hop/scoot/crawl that is really cute to watch. She also figured out how to make her jumperoo work, and that is hilarious! She loves to bounce in it, so I usually stick her in it while I'm eating, as that's about how long she is happy. she is babbling off and on, and we've found the best teething item in the world is a clean toothbrush (I run it through the dishwasher about every day or so).

It's neat to hear what other babies are doing!

[Bethla]

Glad there is a new thread. JP is actually asleep right now. Which doesn't happen very often. He is now 6.5 months. He has four teeth and is sitting up with occasional support. He also pushes up on his hands and knees. He is still a very fussy baby. I work four days a week and he has a hard time taking the bottle and doesn't seem to like pureed baby food. My dh is really frustrated with his fussiness. He wakes several times in the night, he nurses almost all night and I'm a light sleeper so I really haven't slept well in 6.5 months.

Looking forward to reading everyones' posts.

[octobermom]

I'll add.. Margaret is 7.5 months and doing great.. Shes deffiently a mama baby and has started the gut wrenching screeching at the top of her lungs if I dare leave her sight for more than 5 seconds which does get tiresome but of course melt my heat when I pick her up and shes all smilies and "forgiving"..
We are sitting up really well she is eatting great both at breast and with solids. No crawling yet and doesn't really seem to want to try but it will come when it comes. My oldest was taking her first steps around now so I keep having to remind myself that she was a freekishly early walker Plus heck I'm not READY for a mobile baby yet...
No teeth yet every so often I think shes is teething but nothing is popping through yet..
She sleeps great she starts off in her crib always has and ussually goes from around 6:30/7pmish till 3am then colseeps/nurses with me till around 6/7am..
Lately I kinda get a kick ouuta her she'll "cry" (more like little sobby moans like huh huh is anyone there can you hear me?) to signal shes is awake and ready to nurse but then as SOON as I'm in her view (her crib is right newxt to the bed) she starts giggling like HA HA mom got you up!!!!!
IF I was any other kinda mom I'd put a stop to such nonsense and say sorry kiddo back to bed...
But luckily for her I'm not


Deanna

[Deir]

Hi there all!

We're still waiting on Nora's first tooth- she has been fussy lately so maybe soon?

My kids all had chicken pox recently- not too bad but it was tough to see Nora's perfect skin With the pox!

She is just starting to crawl and so cute about it but she gets really frustrated too.

Sleep is ...I don't know- most days I'm not sickeningly tired like I was with my boys so it must be better? LOL She starts in her crib and comes to bed with me anywhere from 10:30-2:00- usually 11:30. She is an EARLY riser though- today was 4:50!!!

She is still very petite- maybe 15 lbs.

We are all in love with her- what a little doll.

[Sayward]

Hi guys! Long time!

We are coming right up on 8 months and Waits is FREAKING AWESOME Parenting just keeps getting more and more fun, don't you think? It feels like 2 months ago I was taking care *of* someone, but now it feels like hanging out *with* someone. Know what I mean?

Waits is super social and smiley and loves people. I'm hoping we skip the whole 'stranger anxiety' thing. He cut his two bottom teeth pretty much simultaneously, but with relative ease (thank god!). He has been crawling for a few weeks and is all about sanding now. He pulls himself up on everything and toddles along while holding on. I'm expecting an early walker here!

Obviously he's a super active guy. Dare I say 'spirited', haha. He's going to be a handful and it's going to be a blast.

We've started solids but he's had some bad reactions and he also seems pretty disinterested, so we're backing off for now. I'm a bit worried about sensitivities though . . . but I'll admit I'm totally paranoid.

My one concern: at his six month apt his grown (both hight and weight) had dropped about 15 percentiles. From 90th to 75th for height and from 75th to about 60th for weight. ANy ideas on what may have caused this? He is EBF and I was thinking it may have to do with increased activity levels? I've searched around but haven't really found anything. And of course, like I said, I'm paranoid! Any experiences or ideas would be much appreciated.

Here's some recent pics: http://www.portlandraindogs.com/Port...In_Autumn.html

Cheers!