VV - I loosen the wrap and put her in a cradle hold. So, one side of the cross is supporting her whole body and the other is just supporting her legs/ankles. Does that make sense? When my son got bigger, I'd just pull him down so his face was even with one of my breasts (while he was upright).
Hi all, so glad to see people are still active on here! I haven't had much of a chance to be on the internet, but am still so grateful for this group - the past few days I've been wondering about the weird congestion sound, and just today I realized he hasn't pooped since yesterday, and was starting to get concerned. It's so nice to come here and see that other people have the same questions and that it sounds pretty normal!
We're doing really well in our home, although I am getting REALLY sick of being cooped up. Atticus turns 2 weeks on Monday, at which point I'm allowed to start leaving the house a bit. I just want to walk outside! Luckily we have a nice rooftop porch, so we've been going out there to sunbath the baby and garden a bit, so I get my fresh air fix.
It's so fun to read everyone's posts and see all the baby names! Aw, we all have babies now. It's so exciting!
Oscar finally pooped this morning. Twice, actually. I've never been so happy to see a blowout. Since it looked completely normal I'm going to let it go and enjoy the fact that I get to deal with poop on a weekly basis. From him, at least. His sister is still a hardcore pants filler.
I don't know if I mentioned the doctor found thrush at his well visit as well as diagnosing what I thought was contact rash with yeast rash. No fun. I got off easy with one pill but I have to give him medicine four times a day. And I'm paranoid that with Elsa taking the occasional snack from the milk bar that she'll get it too and we'll all just keep passing it around. I've already treated my entire diaper stash and don't want to do it again.
Ninetales - we are dealing with a yeasty diaper rash and I treated my diaper stash too, but I just put Borax in the washer with them. What do you do?
Armie has been so fussy in the evenings, like so many of you have mentioned. He's awfully fussy right now, as a matter of fact.
I have done a little bit of nursing in public, but would love to master the Moby technique. Is it hands-free when you do it? What do you wear underneath it? I'm still struggling with nursing attire. I bought a bunch of $3 spaghetti strap tanks from Wet Seal (HILARIOUS shopping there 9+ months pregnant) and snipped the straps, sewing them into little loops at the front that I can slip over nursing bras straps to cover my tummy (a cheapo "Undercover Mama"). Then I wear whatever shirt over the top and lift it up to nurse. However, that seems impossible to manage under the moby! Plus the moby is so damn hot, Armie ended up with a heat rash the first few times we used it. Now that some days are cooler, it's great - but I practically take it off to nurse which is annoying.
I have also had to pack up the NB clothes. I quick did a fashion show and took pics of him in a few of the "muscle shirts" that we hadn't worn yet, just so we could say we did! Maybe a little brother or sister will get to wear them someday.
As for baths, we just use the kitchen sink. He hated it the first time, but now he seems to like it. We are bathing him every few days. I put a towel down in the bottom to cushion it and just roll one end up into a little pillow. Having a sink sprayer is very helpful for rinsing! He loves to poop in the bath, of course :)
The colic/fussy evenings are really starting to wear me down. He will reject the breast after barely feeding and I feel so emotional about that, plus I ended up having to pump, the parts weren't ready, I was sobbing and trying to clean them enough but didn't totally sterilize them, ugh. All while DH is in the other part of the house with Lyle screaming his head off.
We tried expensive probiotic drops and it did nothing. He even screamed a lot during the day yesterday in the car. I am scared this is going to last two more months and when I go back to work in about a month, it will break me.
Tizzy - how do you shower with the baby? I would love to try that, but I need my hands free to clean myself! I did manage to take a bath with him tonight and washed my own hair and face etc while also keeping him safe & happy in the water. A shower would be great too!
I fill the tub an inch or so deep first, lay a wash cloth down, put baby on that and put another wash cloth over his abdomen to keep him warm. I keep the plug in and periodically let it drain out while I'm showering and pour some warm water over their tummy, some water does get in their face but they never seem to mind, I bend over to rinse shampoo out etc so I don't get soap in his eyes. I also set up a full size bath towel outside the tub in advance so when I'm done, I rinse baby off and wrap him up well in the towel. Usually in the bouncy chair or beanbag chair, but even on the floor is fine since the towel is huge. Then I quick rinse myself off and go from there :)
It's a lot more fussy than just hopping in the shower LOL but it's worked well for each of mine!
boots - I'm sorry he's having a rough time in the evenings! Does he calm down when being worn? Could you take him for a walk in the evening when it's a little cooler outside?
Have you tried Ovol drops? Or Hylands I think has colic drops too? Poor little guy, and poor you! My first had a brief bout of the fussy evenings, it was so draining to try *everything* and stressful for me to hear him cry. Fortunately it didn't last nearly as long as "everyone" says, I hope Lyle's stage of this is short lived too!
The colic/fussy evenings are really starting to wear me down. He will reject the breast after barely feeding and I feel so emotional about that, plus I ended up having to pump, the parts weren't ready, I was sobbing and trying to clean them enough but didn't totally sterilize them, ugh. All while DH is in the other part of the house with Lyle screaming his head off.
We tried expensive probiotic drops and it did nothing. He even screamed a lot during the day yesterday in the car. I am scared this is going to last two more months and when I go back to work in about a month, it will break me.
Oh dear.... I've been there, I know how awful it is (esp overnight!!) - hang in there mama, it will get better. Any better luck with bathing him? If so, that might make a nice evening routine to help him get settled down. Does he sleep all day (and thus nights are his "active" time?) If so, maybe it would help to try keeping him awake for longer periods during the day so that he's tuckered out by bedtime?
Tizzy - your babe's got blue hair now? That's hilarious... I can only imagine what transpired, do tell!
Ninetales - hooray for the poop!!
CCoello - I think I'm going to have to do a fashion photo shoot today too, for all the outfits that never got any use!!
Tizzy, we definitely will do walks when/if it is cool, or drives if it's not. It's just so unpredictable! I will look into those drops if what we're doing now doesn't work. We've tried Mommy's Bliss Gripe Water (he loves it but it doesn't seem to actually help) or Biogaia probiotics. Saw the blue hair on FB, hilarious!
ninetales, how's oscar poop count and the thrush situation? Poor big guy! Poor mama, hope things are improving.
CCoello, I saw instructions for those tank tops, brilliant!
Joy, we did have good luck in the sink using our blooming bath, so we might try that. I do wonder if I should let him sleep so much during the day, but he sleeps so well and I get a break and it's so hard to think, wow, I should wake him up and...do what? Most of the stuff he does (ride in the sling/wrap, sit in the swing or bouncer, even a few attempts at tummy time) usually end up with him asleep. I don't really get if I should be trying to regulate his schedule (was this in the manual?) . Plus since I'll be going back to work, from what I hear he'll probably reverse cycle and sleep most of the day and eat more at night so I don't know if I should bother.
Can I whine about something really petty? Lyle has broken out in baby acne and I hate it. I know it's not serious and will go away on its own but it still bothers me. He also has dry scalp/cradle cap that I have been treating (nothing like the gross pictures you will get if you google cradle cap, so I don't know). I hate seeing his poor face all bumpy! ! I also think I feel a little guilty since he didn't take a bath for so long (just sponge) but I guess it's more leftover mama hormones than anything...
I don't know about anyone else, but I've found breastmilk clears up the baby acne like *that*. I express a little onto my finger and dab it on the bump and it's gone within hours. Works on when they scratch their little faces too.
The thrush is under control I think. It's gone from his mouth and almost gone from his diaper area. I'm beyond ready to get back to the cloth diapers, though. It's funny, whenever I have to use disposables it's nice for about four days, and then I'm sick of them. I'm looking into using something in the wash regularly, like tea tree oil, vinegar, or grape seed extract as a preventative measure.
The colic/fussy evenings are really starting to wear me down. He will reject the breast after barely feeding and I feel so emotional about that, plus I ended up having to pump, the parts weren't ready, I was sobbing and trying to clean them enough but didn't totally sterilize them, ugh. All while DH is in the other part of the house with Lyle screaming his head off.
We tried expensive probiotic drops and it did nothing. He even screamed a lot during the day yesterday in the car. I am scared this is going to last two more months and when I go back to work in about a month, it will break me.
i feel for you mama! i don't think lina has colic, but she has been very fussy for the past few days and i haven;t been able to put her down. even using the swing hasn't helped! i am not getting any sleep and it's exhausting. i hope lyle feels better very soon!
my little lina has the baby acne too! it looks so uncomfortable. i am going to try your breastmilk trick, ninetales!
Hi Everyone,
I am checking back in after a Loooooong silence to say hello. I've been trying to keep up with everyone a little and reading up a bit while nursing, but it's been a busy month here as we decided after Anthony was a week old that we were going to find a place of our own (we'd been living with my in laws since we returned to the US in mid-July), buy a car, buy a whole new house of furniture, and get our son enrolled in school in Ann Arbor instead of wait to do all that after Christmas, which was our original plan. It's been totally worth the effort, but man, has it been busy. Thankfully, Anthony is a really peaceful little man and has settled into our family relatively uneventfully. Which is a sheer blessing, because it's been really 'eventful' feeling :). I am usually about ready to drop by the 'end' of each day (in quotes, because with a newborn, days and nights kinda mesh, right? :).
Anyway though, I've missed being more a part of the conversation here! It's amazing that our little ones are here!!! YAY.
To all of you who have fussy babes just now - I have been there with my previous two - especially with my first - he was very fussy around this age (4-8 weeks). I can relate. The good news is that usually, the fussiness peaks at about 6 weeks for most babies and then slowly gets much better by 8-10 weeks. For us, wearing the baby worked well and also, figuring out that more sleep was better than less sleep. I had to learn not to try to keep the baby awake too long (I mistakenly thought that keeping him 'up' during the day would encourage better nighttime sleep; I was wrong). Now, I know that keeping the baby around activity during the day is usually a good idea - but if they sleep through it, that's fine. I work to make nighttime dark and boring and daytime light and active - but not overstimulating. Anthony is past the stage where I can just drag him anywhere and he'll sleep through it all - he now needs at least a solid afternoon nap in his crib or he gets overtired and then won't go down easily at night.
Every baby is different though - really different - mine all have had their own rhythms.
Anthony has had some baby acne as well - it helped me to change his bath soap to a California Baby's Sensitive version (ridiculously expensive, but it made a difference). I also changed our laundry detergent to an unscented, eco version and that helped too. I also wipe his face twice a day with a clean warm washcloth, just wet with water. I'll have to try the breast milk trick.
My older son had a bit of dry, flaky scalp - not sure it was really cradle cap - but a friend of mine advised me to wet his scalp in the tub first thing and then cover it with olive oil. Let it soak/sit for a few minutes and then very gently use a washcloth to rub the scalp, then shampoo. After the bath, you can even apply a bit of oil to their scalps if there's still any dry skin left. It worked really well for my oldest.
One question here: Anthony has a gunky eye and has had it almost since birth - any advice on how to deal with this? I think it must be an irritated tear duct, but I just don't know what to do about it.
Sending lots of peaceful, sleepy thoughts to all fussy babes out there.
For the gunky eye, squirt breast milk into it at each feeding.
For the baby acne, rub breast milk on at each feeding.
For the cradle cap.....yep, you guessed it! Breast milk!
Other options for cradle cap is to put oil on before their bath, let it soak then gently scrub it off in the tub. Adding a couple drops of tea tree oil to a mild soap to wash their head with also helps keep it at bay in the first place.
DD (almost 2.5yrs) recently had a cradle cap flare up, the tea tree oil worked great.
As for baby G's blue hair, I really don't know how it happened. One minute I'm standing there holding him, the next we're colouring his hair with koolaid over the kitchen sink LOL It didn't show up so well so my friend (the baby shower hostess) pulled out the blue food colouring. That definitely worked. I was okay with it, until we went out in public a few times and got weird glances - you know everyone is too polite to ask why a newborn would have a blue head haha So I washed it off last night, but not before getting a photo of him sporting his new tie-dyed onesies from above mentioned friend.
I don't know, my life is just so weird right now that doing these silly little things really helps keep me sane!
I have mixed feelings, his newest development is to give up the soother. He's not specifically rejecting it, but he doesn't seem to *need* it at all. I've only had one baby that kept the soother (my oldest), and I distinctly remember the 2yr old crying in the car on the way home from family Christmas and saying how much nicer it would be if she would take a soother. So now I'm on the fence, do I push the issue? Or just let it go? Funny, how these little decisions consume my brain lol!
Boots, I just wanted to pop in and say that while hanging on the LLL forum, a few of the moms were talking about pumping and they all said that they only sterilize pump parts once a month or so. And one of them recommended that if you are going to pump more than once a day, you can just put the pump parts in the fridge until you use them the second time. The lactation consultants at the hospital just told me to wash the parts in mild castile soap after use and sterilize every once in a while, so I wouldn't worry about it. But this is also coming from the person who only washed the nipple shields I was using once every other day. Whoops.
In other news, we're slowly getting into a routine over here. I've found that Piper really likes getting out of the house. We went to a coffee shop today and she spent most of the time staring at the ceiling fans. She had a couple mini-meltdowns that were quickly solved with the boob, so I'm feeling better about venturing out and about. She likes the sling in general, but I'm still leery of shopping trips with her in it since last week I got stuck in two separate checkout lines when she decided to flip out and scream her head off. Fortunately, I could throw my credit card to my mom and run out, but that won't be the case in the future. She still gets fussy in the evenings and cluster feeds (and does this in the morning as well), but she's starting to get a little more predictable. She also won't take a pacifier at all, and I'm having the same issues as you, Tizzy. I can't decide whether to try to encourage her to take one (mostly to give my boobs a break in the evenings) or just let it go.
I was going to respond to some other posts here, but it appears to be the witching hour and Piper won't let me go more than 3 minutes or so without nursing. Sigh. I hope everyone is doing well!
Hey LizBiz, don't know if you have already solved the gunky eye issue, but Rowan had the same thing and it was a blocked tear duct. In addition to squirting it with breast milk, I also massaged the corner of his eye and below. I read in the Dr. Sears Baby Book that doing that helps open up and clear the duct. I probably did that four or five times in a day and by the next day his little eye was all cleared up!
Is anyone else...smellier than usual? Ever since I gave birth my body odor has been OUT OF CONTROL and it's getting really disheartening. I'm trying to shower every day, and even so, within a few hours my armpits reek. My husband has been very sweet thus far and claims that he can't smell anything, but it's really intense. I'm still using the same products as before, so I don't understand. Is this a hormonal thing? Please tell me I won't stink forever!
Is anyone else...smellier than usual? Ever since I gave birth my body odor has been OUT OF CONTROL and it's getting really disheartening. I'm trying to shower every day, and even so, within a few hours my armpits reek. My husband has been very sweet thus far and claims that he can't smell anything, but it's really intense. I'm still using the same products as before, so I don't understand. Is this a hormonal thing? Please tell me I won't stink forever!
YES! I don't remember this happening with my first babe, so I'm not sure if it's permanent or not. LOL. I noticed, though, that I was super stinky while pregnant with my son and I wasn't stinky at all with my daughter (while pregnant: now I am). I don't know if it was the testosterone in my body or what. I was also super hairy last time but didn't notice accelerated hair growth this time around. Each pregnancy makes your body do strange things! I'm also no longer allergic to lentils, which is weird.
Hi Everyone.... phew, it's been a looong time. a whole lifetime it seems. Eulalie is now 6 weeks old and the visitors have ceased coming in relentless waves (we've had at least one person staying with us since she was 2 weeks old). And I do believe we are beginning to get this parenting thing. Don't get me wrong, we by no means have it down, but it's starting to feel like she belongs here with us, or maybe like she has been here all along. It's strange really. I don't have much to report (she's growing! Weighs over 10 pounds now. And she smiles!) But I wanted to say that I'm glad this forum is still here and that people are still sharing and contributing. Since we moved three weeks before Eulalie was born, I don't know any new moms yet and I'm glad that a space exists where I can hear my fears and anxieties (as well as my happiness and joy!!!) echoed by so many. So, I guess I just wanted to say I'm still here reading along. Thank you all for continuing to share this journey with me. And congratulations to everyone on all the beautiful babies! They really are an exquisite bunch!
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