Alrighty Sept '10 Toddlers thread! I still can't believe it. - Page 2

[forumyonly1]

aww i haven't checked in with every one since dd was a few weeks old! love the toddler pics!!!!  dd turned one on the 13th and was walking by 10 months so we've been in the toddler club for a while! ;)  bitter sweet for me! here's my beautiful girl the day before her bday!!

 

[Chloe'sMama]

I can't believe how big all the kids are looking.  DD2 still looks very much like a baby.  We had a nice party at the park for her.  She seemed to have fun.  No walking (or minimal walking, maybe 3-4 steps at any one time).  She is still on the small end of the scale.  At her 12 month appt. she was 19 lbs, 15 oz and 30.5 inches.  Seems pretty big, but she was born at 9 lbs,12 oz, so she has just doubled her weight now. She is really interacting so much with DD1, it is fun.  I am finally feeling like I am getting into the swing of things.  We are talking about #3 (although, we will have to wait for  my fertility to return).  

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

I'm baking a rainbow birthday cake! I had to use liquid food coloring, so the colors aren't as pretty as they could be. Shhhh don't tell Lila!  This time last year I was sitting in a birthing tub.  

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

Happy Birthday to Lila! 

Ahhh What a day! She got a ride on horsey that terrifies her, a dolly that she seems to like, stacking cups that she LOVES and a couple of diapers.  She said "yesh" when she opened them! 

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

Lila was being extra cute today.  

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

I keep checking back for birthday pics! Am I the only one reading?! lol

[MsDolphin]

Originally Posted by Amanda_Reyasmom 

I keep checking back for birthday pics! Am I the only one reading?! lol

I really want to get some posted of DS, but finding the time is so tough. LOL

I do love seeing everyone's 1 year old pics. =)

[Kelly1101]

Will have to look later for birthday pics (it was almost a month ago, haha-- early baby).

Have a few videos I uploaded for my mom--

Making the bed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdjsEBl3jGg&feature=related

including the end where Emma clocks him in the face *sigh* I reckon he's going to be tough after growing up with her

Dancing in his chair to a sesame street song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGZ1j2cpFb0

and longer one, halfway focused on Em in her tent, but also some Ozziness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=xxXHBmu8isc

I reckon we're officially "toddler" now, he took his first steps about a month ago, but just this evening started going point-to-point instead of random 2-3 steps at a time.

More later, with pics.  He's a joy.

[Monkeybean415]

I didn't realize we had a toddler thread either. Oops! I was wondering why no one else was posting haha! 

Ok so I was going to post pics but I still need to figure it out. We made a carrot cake for DD but rainbow sounds like so much fun! :)

[MaerynPearl]

Birthday pics! question at the bottom if you could please answer it!

Hubby's parents and grandparents came down. We went to Wilmington which isn't a huge deal to us, we go there all the time, but it did give us a break as my in-laws took the kids so we could go out on a real date one of the evenings we were down there!

Did make her a rainbow cake after all. With marshmallow fondant homemade on top... all hand made by ME! :D Someday my kids will know mommy loved them if only because of the work she put into these darn birthday cakes...

love this pic of her playing with her brother:

Also LOVE this picture of Mae Mae and her Nana

So my question... I've never had the whole missing period from breastfeeding with my other two so with Mae it is a whole new thing. So, she's far from exclusively breastfed now... she only feeds for naps and bedtime. I got my first period in late August... figured it was coming back since she's barely nursing anymore. But I haven't gotten it since.

That's totally normal, right? I mean, I know I have a chance of pregnancy, our current birth control is "meh, whatever" but... there's still a really good chance I'm not, right? I can't afford to go get even a dollar tree test until next payday... and just want some reassurance that my periods aren't supposed to go right back to being like clockwork even though that's pretty much how my body has always been (you know, just tell me things I already know so I feel better LOL)

[Monkey Keeper]

T LOVED his cupcakes. Yes, cupcakeS. Plural. He ate two whole ones. Hee!  He got a Cozy Coupe and some other fun blocks and trucks. We are inundated with dress-ups around here, so some "boy" toys were a nice change of pace. His big sisters are digging them :)

As for your question, Mae, yes, it is normal to be irregular once your cycles resume. Mine were well over 30 days long when I was first cycling after DD1 (resumed at 6m pp). With DD2, they were later to resume and really short, 25-26 days when I am "normally" a 30 day gal. This time, I have have 1 pp cycle and am about midway thru a 2nd, so I have no data point for that. Are you checking fertility signs just to have an idea of where you might be?  I got pg with DD2 on only my 3rd pp cycle, when they were still long and irregular, i.e. O on CD 19 or so.  And DD1 was nursing 4x a day at least. So it definitely is possible.

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

The day of Lila's birthday I was whining about how ugly her cake was.  I can't frost worth a damn! I told DH, there's a lot of love baked into that ugly cake... You could see it all over!  It actually turned out better than I thought it would .  

[JulieInChicago]

So... I'm afraid to ask (please don't beat me up!!!) but my work situation has made it so I need to daytime wean E.  It's so hard to find weaning info since I know it's not AP, but... any tips?  Our MD said to start adding cow's milk to the BM during the day to transition-- I'm sort of not into that idea, but what do you think?

[jenifera2]

I've had two PP periods - the first when Caitlin was 11 months and the second about 6 weeks later. That's definitely longer than they were pre-pregnancy, and I think it's common for them to take some time to get back to normal. I really felt like I could have been pregnant, but several tests told me otherwise.

As to day weaning, it depends on a couple things:

1) How well does he eat solids? And does he drink anything besides breast milk and water?2

2) What do you want to replace the breast milk with? If it's cow's milk, does he drink that already?

If you're OK with cow's milk and he eats well, I'd just try giving him some cow's milk to see how he does with it. If it's not an issue for him, just make the switch all at once. If it is an issue, mixing cow's milk and breast milk sounds like a great idea, and you can slowly move toward all cow's milk.

But if you've got more info on what you don't like about that or what the major concerns with day weaning are (he doesn't eat solids, you won't do cow's milk, etc.) maybe we can help brainstorm some other options.

[Kelly1101]

Mae-- That last pic of Mae in the water with her grandmother is incredible.  I mean, really really gorgeous amazing shot.  I love it.

As far as periods, after mine came back with Em it was very irregular, for all two cycles of it before I got preg again, haha.  I think I had a 6-week cycle, then a 4-week, then when we conceived Ozzy I thought it was too late in the month and I was about to start, but turns out nope I obviously ovulated late and it would have been another 6-week.  I just finished having my first post-partum period, but I am not going to expect to be regular right away this time, either.

Day-weaning-- Em weaned at 14 months, and it was all about being gradual.  Figure out the clear pattern of nursing (for her it was first thing in the morning, before nap, after nap, and before bed).  Then slowly start substituting those nursing sessions.  For the first one, we just got up and did breakfast right away instead of laying in bed nursing.  For the after nap, we just had a while of cuddling and I'd give her a sippy of milk and a snack.  She was easy because I could sub cuddles and a sippy cup for the nursing.  It only took like 6-8 weeks, eliminating one nursing session every few weeks.  

Ozzy is a different story, he is only nursing twice a day now (before nap, before bed) officially, but sometimes he's so upset and frantic that I just nurse him anyway at random points during the day.  I am not sure if he is ready to wean like Em was.  May give it a few more months with him and see how things go.  I don't have anything against extended nursing but don't want to myself, but I feel like a little more time isn't going to hurt.

[jenifera2]

Oh, I should add that my advice was assuming that you're already away from him during the day and that he's getting pumped milk, but that you won't be able to pump anymore. Not sure why I made that assumption, but I did. If you're not currently away from him during the day and will have to be, how long do you have until that switch is made? And what options have you used, if any, in the past when you've left him with other caregivers for any length of time?

[Laurski]

I daytime weaned Ellie at just about a year, b/c work was starting again and I knew I wouldn't have any way of pumping anymore.  She's down to nursing 2x a day: first thing in the morning and last thing before bed.

We were down to about 5x a day by the time I daytime weaned her; she was nursing 1st thing in the morning, before each nap (2x a day), once between her second nap and dinner, then before bed.  I started out by cutting out the before dinner nursing session first by replacing it with a snack; then I cut out the one before her second nap.  I really struggled with that one, b/c she has trouble sleeping anyway, so she likes to use the boob to fall asleep.  I took a two-pronged approach to that one: first, I substituted a different nap routine (snack, sippy of soy milk, a few stories) and used DH, who was home on vacation that week, to put Ellie to sleep, since she sleeps better for him anyway.  Weaning from that nursing sucked, to be honest.  She was pretty miserable for a few days, but we all survived.  Weaning from the pre-morning nap nursing happened a bit more abruptly than I had originally planned; basically, she started back at daycare, I couldn't pump, so she stopped nursing before that nap.  Ironically, I think that weaning was less traumatic for her than the gradual one DH and I did at home.  It also helped that her nap schedule at daycare shifted, so that while she still naps 2x a day when she's at home, she only naps 1x a day at daycare. 

To get her to nap at home now, DH or I will snuggle with her in her nursing chair and rock her until she falls asleep in our arms.  Then we transfer her to her crib.

I don't know if any of that will help you, but I thought I'd share my experience of how I daytime weaned.  My boobs were definitely super sore after each weaning, and I ended up getting my first PP period almost as soon as we dropped to 4 nursings a day (apparently 5 was my magic no-period number!).

Good luck, and hopefully someone else will have more specific, concrete advice!

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

Wow, a lot of weaning talk.. Am I the only one with a super frequent nurser? I swear some days she doesn't eat at all.  

[JulieInChicago]

Originally Posted by jenifera2 

Oh, I should add that my advice was assuming that you're already away from him during the day and that he's getting pumped milk, but that you won't be able to pump anymore. Not sure why I made that assumption, but I did. If you're not currently away from him during the day and will have to be, how long do you have until that switch is made? And what options have you used, if any, in the past when you've left him with other caregivers for any length of time?

Yup, that's it exactly.

So we started the process and he's doing ok nursing at 6am and just before bed plus the usual midnight and 4am wake-ups to nurse (got to get that under control next!!)  He's eating 6oz while I'm gone out of a sippy cup.  He's great with solids, though, and I think if we offered different milk he'd probably be happy with it.  I don't want to drop too fast though since my boobs can't handle it!

We really, really need a solution for overnight.  I've put off dealing with that since (1) the no-cry sleep solution didn't work, and (2) since I'm at work all day I usually like nursing him all night long.  But after 13 mos my husband and I are just really frazzled and raw from lack of sleep.  I hate to say it but I think that we'll have to night wean to get him to sleep through the night.  :(  

I don't like "training" or forcing things.  I wish we could just let things flow.  But we have jobs to do and it's not good for either of us to be so emotional and exhausted. 

[Kelly1101]

Originally Posted by JulieInChicago 

Yup, that's it exactly.

So we started the process and he's doing ok nursing at 6am and just before bed plus the usual midnight and 4am wake-ups to nurse (got to get that under control next!!)  He's eating 6oz while I'm gone out of a sippy cup.  He's great with solids, though, and I think if we offered different milk he'd probably be happy with it.  I don't want to drop too fast though since my boobs can't handle it!

We really, really need a solution for overnight.  I've put off dealing with that since (1) the no-cry sleep solution didn't work, and (2) since I'm at work all day I usually like nursing him all night long.  But after 13 mos my husband and I are just really frazzled and raw from lack of sleep.  I hate to say it but I think that we'll have to night wean to get him to sleep through the night.  :(  

I don't like "training" or forcing things.  I wish we could just let things flow.  But we have jobs to do and it's not good for either of us to be so emotional and exhausted. 

Can't say enough good things about Jay Gordon, worked for both of mine (albeit at a much slower pace... a week for each stage rather than 3 days).