Hittin' the half year mark with the July Mamas - Page 6

[JoyofBirth]

Thanks for all the good feelings. Mattie is better today. She is still running about 99, but that works for me. Yesterday was only hard because she was so not herself and was visibly hurting. And then I had to have the tylenol debate with myself. I wish I was in a place where I could just totally trust her body and the fever to do what's needed, but when I saw she was hurting and so lethargic it was too hard not to give her something. I opted not to medicate her before bed as her fever was not that high and she was not wimpering and seemed okay. She woke up okay this morning and is back to her normal happy self.
We didn't introduce cereals at first. We started with avocado and then banana and then apples and pears, then sweet potatoes and carrots, etc. I only gave Emma oatmeal cereal. And only because she wouldn't take a bottle and my mom had to watch her while I did some community service so she had to give her something that made her not miss the milk. In comes the oatmeal. She still loves baby oatmeal. We won't give it to Mattie till she's much bigger. Our ND/chiro told us that babies don't process grains well. I get a hard time from my family for not starting solids earlier than 6 months. Mattie is 5 months yesterday! I'm not looking forward to the 6 month mark. She hasn't gotten her teeth yet. I won't start food till she has one. Emma got hers at 4 months. They don't have the enzymes in their saliva to break the food down till they have teeth.
I have to go. Dh just finished cooking dinner.

[Yin Yang]

Originally Posted by JoyofBirth

Thanks for all the good feelings. Mattie is better today. She is still running about 99, but that works for me. Yesterday was only hard because she was so not herself and was visibly hurting. And then I had to have the tylenol debate with myself. I wish I was in a place where I could just totally trust her body and the fever to do what's needed, but when I saw she was hurting and so lethargic it was too hard not to give her something. I opted not to medicate her before bed as her fever was not that high and she was not wimpering and seemed okay. She woke up okay this morning and is back to her normal happy self.
We didn't introduce cereals at first. We started with avocado and then banana and then apples and pears, then sweet potatoes and carrots, etc. I only gave Emma oatmeal cereal. And only because she wouldn't take a bottle and my mom had to watch her while I did some community service so she had to give her something that made her not miss the milk. In comes the oatmeal. She still loves baby oatmeal. We won't give it to Mattie till she's much bigger. Our ND/chiro told us that babies don't process grains well. I get a hard time from my family for not starting solids earlier than 6 months. Mattie is 5 months yesterday! I'm not looking forward to the 6 month mark. She hasn't gotten her teeth yet. I won't start food till she has one. Emma got hers at 4 months. They don't have the enzymes in their saliva to break the food down till they have teeth.
I have to go. Dh just finished cooking dinner.

I am glad Mattie is doing better. It's always very good to have Belladonna 6 or 30C at home for situations like that. It really helps to get the fever down. It's an amazing remedy! It "fastforwards" the illness to the next stage.

[Yin Yang]

Originally Posted by TanyaS

Dd1 didn't start solids until she was able to pick it up and feed herself around 6.5-7 months. So much less stressful to be able to put food in front of her, have her feed herself while I get to eat, too. Too much work, that spoon feeding. I am such a lazy mom.

That's what we are doing this time as well. We fed DS1 WAY too soon (at 4 months . I think it's the fact that it's a first baby and everything new is really exciting (for the parents). I was reading his signs worng, I thought he was ready for food, but he was just showing his excitment for new things, not for food. No I can see it with DS2 that it had nothing to do with being eager for food.

Somebody posted a great article about starting solids when they learn to pick it up themselves but of course I can't find it now. I will keep searching.....

[TanyaS]

Pav, what do you know about arnica (I don't know if it's herbal or homeopathic)? I've always heard it was good for pain relief instead of tylenol/motrin. With our head injury 30 minutes ago, I wished I had some, but I ended up giving her motrin. I would have much rather used something else. But as it is, she came very close to needing stitches.

Also, for belladonna, how do you know when to use the 6c or 30c?

[MsGrizzle]

Originally Posted by TanyaS

Pav, what do you know about arnica (I don't know if it's herbal or homeopathic)? I've always heard it was good for pain relief instead of tylenol/motrin. With our head injury 30 minutes ago, I wished I had some, but I ended up giving her motrin. I would have much rather used something else. But as it is, she came very close to needing stitches.

Also, for belladonna, how do you know when to use the 6c or 30c?

I'm taking an Intro to Homeopathy course...from the book: Arnica is the number one remedy for bruising. It speeds up healing and controls bleeding both internally and externally, thus preventing bruising from occurring. It is best given before the skin begins to discolor - if it is given soon enough, even if there is already some swelling, the bruise will not materialize. Given after the bruise has formed, Arnica will speed the healing and quickly reduce any swelling...essential ingredient of your first aid kit....

It is an herb that is also made into a homeopathic remedy so maybe you can get it both ways?

I don't know too much about dosing yet - but the teach mentioned 30C is standard for a first-aid kit. The higher the number, the more powerful it will be (but interestingly, the less it contains of the original substance!)...Pav - what can you teach us?

Tanya - Hope dd is okay!

Pav - I have that article saved at work so if I remember, I can post it tomorrow. It is from msnbc.

JJoy - Glad Mattie is better!

[Yin Yang]

Originally Posted by TanyaS

Pav, what do you know about arnica (I don't know if it's herbal or homeopathic)? I've always heard it was good for pain relief instead of tylenol/motrin. With our head injury 30 minutes ago, I wished I had some, but I ended up giving her motrin. I would have much rather used something else. But as it is, she came very close to needing stitches.

Also, for belladonna, how do you know when to use the 6c or 30c?

yes, Arnica is great for pain, but for that kind of pain you described, not for fever. It's for a physical injury, or muscle strain, brusis and such. I always make sure we have some Traumeel cream at home for such occasions. DS once run into a weight when DH was working out ..ouch...it hit him right between his eyes - he literally had a hole in there in the shape of the metal weight but it was not cut. Withing minutes it was really swollen, so we put that cream on it and he never had a bruise there. I was really impressed. The thing about homeopathy is to use it as soon as you can to get the best results. Not wait around for it to get better and then if it does not get better use it. Even though it will still help.
I've had great results with Belladonna in past. But it could be the fact that it was DS1's constitutional remedy as I learned recently.
When it comes to numbers - dilutions, the lower the number the more frequently you have to give it. 30C usually requires once a day, lower numbers 3-5times a day. 200C and higher (usually prescribe only by homeopath anyway) are usually given once a week/month or even less frequently. Low numbers are for physical symptoms and acute cases, high numbers are for life long/chronic diseases and for mental issues.

[Yin Yang]

Cori - we cross posted.

[Yin Yang]

Originally Posted by soapdiva

Pav - I have that article saved at work so if I remember, I can post it tomorrow. It is from msnbc.

Please do, I will finally add it to my favorites.

By the way - we are going to a pediatrician tomorroe with DS2. His eye is really bad. Remember how i posted about his sty? So it's still there, getting worse, warm compresses making it much worse so we stopped those. giving him homeopathics but not much results. there's too many remedies to pick from for this one and obviouslly i am not giving the right one. we ordered a combination remedy called Sty-freeee, but have not gotten it yet : if we get it tomorrow i will give it one more day to improove. if not he's going to a doctor. his eye is really swollen, and pussy and red, i do not like it at all. it's not worth it.

since i am at it - what are your thoughts on antibiotics given in the eyes? I assume (and hope) it's not gonna do so much damage like given orally, but I am not naive to think that it will not get into his system at all.

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by gumby74

Here's a question that I am sure someone will have the answer for: How big is too big for the sling? DS is about 17lbs and it's starting to get harder to carry him in it. Is this normal?

Also, tried rice cereal for the first time this morning and as I suspected....he was very disinterested. How long should I stay with the rice cereal before trying oatmeal?

I don't know about the weight but for dd3 i never used my sling as my friend had it. I do like it for kanga position.

It was sooooo hard to start solids with both girls that i'm not even trying with dd3. Nope, not giving her any purees until she is able to do finger food.

I also started with pears and then apples and then sweet potatoes. My girls never like rice cereals. When they were able to pick up food by their fingers, i started to give them Cherrios or Nutrios.

Originally Posted by TanyaS

Tricia, if he's not really interested then he may not be ready. Then again, try bananas and see what he does. My ds refused rice cereal, and I tried all the little samples I had. He cried when I fed him a taste of the one premixed with formula. Boy have I learned since then. After that, he never had any rice cereal, and neither did dd1 (and neither will dd2). It's kind of processed anyway. Dd1 didn't start solids until she was able to pick it up and feed herself around 6.5-7 months. So much less stressful to be able to put food in front of her, have her feed herself while I get to eat, too. Too much work, that spoon feeding. I am such a lazy mom.

: If you're lazy then i am too. I'm not doing purees either too much work.

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by soapdiva

As for food, you do not have to start with rice cereal. You could start with oatmeal or regular food. Is your little one showing all the signs already? I can't believe that era is coming up for many of us already. It was weird seeing that Juice's babe just turned 4 months and mine is already 5 months. I'm going to have to do SOME solids, probably one serving around the 6 months time period just to shut the dcp up. We're having some issues there. : She takes great care of him but I'm not liking her attitude toward his current feeding schedule. She is way too used to formula babies. Sigh. I just hate the whole daycare thing. Sigh.

if you were closer i would babysit for you and i wouldn't care if he was on the bottle only until he was a yr.

or :guh

[Sandrine]

Pav~ Have you tried just plain breastmilk?

[TanyaS]

Thanks for all that info, Cori and Pavlina! I know so little about it all. Seems like I remember seeing someone talk about arnica as a pain reliever when dc were sick and had a fever. Something about wanting to treat their discomfort while letting the body do it's job. Anyway, the only reason I haven't tried much of the homeopathic remedies is because I know so little about them.

Dd is fine. She has two small puncture gashes, and they bled so no tetanus worries. She's awfully cranky now, as I'm sure she's uncomfortable. We had a stocking hanger on the mantle and I hung stockings on it and when I turned my back she had pulled it down on herself. It was a really heavy stocking holder, too.

Cori, one thing about your dcp that bugs me is it seems like she's forgotten that you have HIRED her to care for your child. But, being nonconfrontational myself, I would get a note from the pedi saying no solids for medical reasons. Most pedi's would help you out with that.

[Yin Yang]

Originally Posted by Sandrine

Pav~ Have you tried just plain breastmilk?

I did. And i still do. makes no difference. he's had it for over 2 months now! so i don't wanna wait any longer. it's clearly getting worse.


Found the link I was looking for: Guidelines for implementing a baby-led approach to the introduction of solid foods

[Sandrine]

We were...

[Sandrine]

four...

[Sandrine]

replies...

[Sandrine]

away from DDC June thread.

[Sandrine]

Not anymore!!!!!

[MsGrizzle]

Originally Posted by Yin Yang

since i am at it - what are your thoughts on antibiotics given in the eyes? I assume (and hope) it's not gonna do so much damage like given orally, but I am not naive to think that it will not get into his system at all.

I've used the eye drops for pink eye with ds1 several times once I stopped breastfeeding. I don't know of any alternatives (yet). They never bothered him and he was fine - though getting them in got harder and harder as he got older. He did not like that at all...

Originally Posted by Sandrine

if you were closer i would babysit for you and i wouldn't care if he was on the bottle only until he was a yr.

or :guh

So when are you moving to CT?

Originally Posted by TanyaS

Cori, one thing about your dcp that bugs me is it seems like she's forgotten that you have HIRED her to care for your child. But, being nonconfrontational myself, I would get a note from the pedi saying no solids for medical reasons. Most pedi's would help you out with that.

I know, I know. I'm totally nonconfrontational. The good thing is that with his gas issues I told her the ped said not to introduce solids anytime soon and she was okay with that. I like her in all other ways though so it is tough. I don't want her to hate me or ds! She is asking for more in the bottles again. I kind of wonder if it is because with a formula baby you'd totally expect them to have more than 5 oz in a bottle by now. She can't comprehend that he wants to eat every 2 hours. She has been doing daycare for 15 years and he is the first baby to need to eat so often - she rarely gets a bf baby. To be honest, with these bottles he is getting, I expected him to go longer too. I also secretly hoped it would help him sleep better at night. I'm hoping giving at least one meal of solids might prevent increasing the bottles. I'm still waiting until at least 6 months and even then I won't do it until it becomes an issue. Just wait until I start bringing over my organic food when she already provides regular food. I'm going to drive her :

Tomorrow will be a good test. DH will be home with him all day. We'll see if it seems like he needs more.

Nathan has been a barnacle today. Eating non-stop almost hourly. He was eating hourly last night too, sometimes more frequently. I hope this is just a growth spurt!!! I'm sooooooo ready for a 3 hour stretch. Anytime now please!!!

I weighed him today holding him - I think he is about 18.5 pounds or so. He's about 26.5 - 27 inches.

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by Yin Yang

I did. And i still do. makes no difference. he's had it for over 2 months now! so i don't wanna wait any longer. it's clearly getting worse.


Found the link I was looking for: Guidelines for implementing a baby-led approach to the introduction of solid foods

Sorry to hear that. I hope it's nothing.

Thanks for the link, Going to go read it.