In our 30s with Our First Babe - December - Page 14

[beckyphry]

Wow, am I behind. Starting back on page 8...

Re: working from home -- starting next week I'll be working from home two days per week. Thankfully right now my job isn't that demanding so it'll be fine, but I may end up taking a promotion, and I'm worried that if I do, I'll have trouble keeping up while at home.

Re: what do I do with baby all day? I hold her on my lap in the boppy facing me and talk/sing to her. She lays on her activity mat. I sit her in the bumbo and read her books. She hangs out in the swing that plays music - she likes to look at the spot the music comes out of. I have one of those exersaucer type things that she's still too small for - I put her in there anyway for a change of scenery. Also, walks when the weather is nice. And... *don't banish me to the Bad Mom's Club* I sit with her on my lap while I'm watching TV. She LOOOVES TV. It's awful. I'll catch her staring at the TV while she's on her activity mat. Bad. So bad.

Dee, so sorry that breastfeeding might not work out. You do what's best for Mathilde and everything will be ok!! I think pumping to save for the future is a great idea. Congrats on going out by yourself! My first solo trip was to the doctor's office. It was heavenly!



Rachel, so cute about your son latching on through your sweater! Hope things with him improve! Congrats on your hubby's job!

Re: Pumping (for Julia) -- when I pump during the day and nursing at the same time (when I'm NOT at work and Maya's nursing), I can barely get 1 oz per side most times. When I'm at work and not nursing, I get 2-3oz from each side. Julia, I never used to feel let down. Suddenly when Maya was around 10 weeks I started to feel it!

Julia, Oliver is SUPER cute in that video! I hope his weight gain gets better.

acp, that's a scary breast pump story!

Emily, congrats on Benjamin's rolling abilities!! That's great! And grabbing too? What a BIG boy! Sorry he's still sick! As for your nips, thrush presents as a deep, burning pain within the breast during and after feeding. Hope that's not it for you!

Natalia, sorry you guys are sick! I hope you feel better soon! Re: bottles -- I think most are "bad", including Avent (which we use). I want some of the Born Free brand, but they're $$$$$. Like Emily, we store in Medela products.

Jocelyn, good luck with the night weaning! And happy birth day to your little one!

Pie, yay for the Bono daycare!


The Vaccine Book (Sears) is FANTASTIC!!!! Wish I'd read it BEFORE we started the 2 month vax!

So I started back to work on Tuesday. She didn't do so great with the sitter. She couldn't nap very well, and when that happens she screams from being overtired until she finally passes out. Poor kid! But she did better Wednesday and today (I was off work yesterday due to snow). Hopefully she'll get used to our sitter, who really is great.

I bought an Ergo online yesterday and can't wait for it to arrive! We have a babyhawk, which Maya doesn't seem to like much. Hopefully she'll like it more later, otherwise I'll just sell it. She likes the sling ok, and the pouch too. I think I'm addicted to baby carriers!

[PiePie]

Originally Posted by beckyphry

The Vaccine Book (Sears) is FANTASTIC!!!! Wish I'd read it BEFORE we started the 2 month vax!

just put it on my to buy list (very long) pls summarize bc dd's 4 mo appt is next week!!

got another job interview (different position) this would be lower paying and correspondingly less prestigious but i bet i could get them to agree to part-time.

[nylecoj]

Originally Posted by PiePie

j
got another job interview (different position) this would be lower paying and correspondingly less prestigious but i bet i could get them to agree to part-time.

Woo for interviews, Pie pie!

[Grace24]

GL Pie! Part-time would be great! Keep us updated.

Spoke to my Bradley teacher who had said to call her if I ever had BF concerns. She agreed that measuring what I pump is moronic... not indicitave of what O is getting at the breast. Her best friend is an LC so I may go see her early next week. I'm feeling calmer about it.

[veganone]

Julia - Oliver's adorable!!! I'm so sorry about the weight gain. I second the reccomendation to get an LC and rent a hospital grade pump - you can pump and bottle (or cup/syringe) supplement if he's getting too tired eating. How many times a day does he eat? We woke Isabella up every 2-3 hours for the first few weeks to make sure she got in the 12 feeds a day... I know it's scary, but at least he IS gaining. Oh, yeah, and pumping is no measurement of what Oliver is getting. An LC should have a scale that they can use to weigh him before and after eating on each side so you have an idea what he's getting at each feeding.

So, I seem to have thrush again... Thanks abx. And that has made the Raynaud's flare up. I'm so tired of it hurting because other than that I really adore bfing. I love snuggling with her and being so close and cozy.

Vax - put them off again, but then started thinking again and now I'm all worried again about the Dtap. I think we have to at some point since this one will for sure be a traveller (we owe Oscar's family a trip to Peru to visit) and are hopefully going to the Caribbean next summer or fall with some friends. I think you have to be vaxed to travel to South America - who knows what she could catch if she weren't. But, delaying sounds better every time they come up. I want to find a good ped at least first. I'm going to order the Dr. Sears book - thanks for the rec!

[mom of B]

31- Mom of B-7/25/07

[Grace24]

Originally Posted by veganone

How many times a day does he eat? We woke Isabella up every 2-3 hours for the first few weeks to make sure she got in the 12 feeds a day... I know it's scary, but at least he IS gaining.

That's just it, he eats all the time! I called our Bradley teacher and her friend is an LC so I'm gonna call her tomorrow and nip this in the bud. Sorry about the thrush, again. Hope it clears up soon!

[Grace24]

Mom of B... to our little group

[Grace24]

Bear with me, one more picture...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7342008@N05/2112081178/

It looks like he knows he's in the lobby of the ped's office!

[PiePie]

Originally Posted by veganone

I second the reccomendation to get an LC and rent a hospital grade pump - you can pump and bottle (or cup/syringe) supplement if he's getting too tired eating. How many times a day does he eat? We woke Isabella up every 2-3 hours for the first few weeks to make sure she got in the 12 feeds a day... I know it's scary, but at least he IS gaining. Oh, yeah, and pumping is no measurement of what Oliver is getting. An LC should have a scale that they can use to weigh him before and after eating on each side so you have an idea what he's getting at each feeding.

yes we woke dd every 3 hours until she reached 8+ lbs at 1 mo.

[preemiemamarach]

Originally Posted by Grace24

Bear with me, one more picture...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7342008@N05/2112081178/

It looks like he knows he's in the lobby of the ped's office!

omg- how freakin cute! I also love the papasan chair pic with his legs slung over to the side- chillin.

[preemiemamarach]

happy hour?

I know a lot of mamas here have babes younger than mine (5 months), but if your LO is around this age, I have a question for you.

Late-onset "colic"??

DS is teething, and is now 'brewing' an ear infection in the opposite ear from the one giving him problems (found this out at the follow up yesterday- can't remember if I posted here or not). All week, around 5:30 or 6 PM, he's been going MAD. Seriously. Crying, fussing, gagging, full-on vomiting (like everything he eats comes back up during this time), moaning....he can be momentarily distracted by favorite games, but he goes right back to screaming within seconds. I thought at first this was coming from riding home from daycare in DH's jeep wrangler (soooo scary when he was still under 6 lbs!!) and from DH just not being as patient as me (I commute farther and get home later). Or maybe just that he's bothered by the transition from being there to coming home (we were beginning to wonder what he disliked about our house, y'know?) Whenever he goes to sleep (between 7 and 9), he seems to have a personality reset, and he's absolutely fine when he wakes at 11ish to eat.

But today, I picked him up early from daycare (holiday lunch at work, so we got to split early, yay!), and took him to target to pick up antibiotics (round 5, omg) at 3. He was FINE. Awake, engaged, never fussed or freaked in the car (which usually happens in the after-work period). We got home, he ate a little, played, laughed, etc. Then- at 6- he started screaming again! Forceful vomiting, then the demon came out. (His usual nickname is Bug, and I call him StruggleBug during these times.) Freaked out til 8 or so, then fell asleep for half an hour, woke up happy, and cuddled with me, cooing and grinning, for another half hour before finally going to sleep for good.

It's so weird- this sounds like the evening 'colic' people always talk about, but we never had that. When he was younger he did this ALL the time from reflux, but it went away once we got enough prevacid in him. I wonder if he's not getting a high enough dose anymore (he's 15 pounds now), but the dose in the morning seems to work well- he doesn't do any of this during the day (at daycare or at home, so far).

He takes 2 short naps and one long (3 hour) nap at daycare, and he's awake from about 3 PM til he either falls asleep on the way home *or* struggles himself to sleep at 8 pm or later.

there are just *so* many possible factors, including teething, ear crap, reflux, frozen BM (but wouldn't this affect him right after eating? he gets it usually at 2:30 at daycare), who knows what else. He slept last night from midnight til 7 and didn't wake til I got up for a shower. Pedi won't increase his reflux med.

I felt like crap for doing it, but gave him some organic baby rice cereal a couple of nights ago when he kept puking everything up, and it seemed to help- he stopped puking and passed out. But it was close to 8 pm by then.

Maybe preemies can go through 'colic' later? Would teething do this ONLY in the evenings?

Any thoughts, oh wise mamas?

[Grace24]

Rachel... I don't know cuz my babe's younger but wanted to give you this It sounds rough. We are dealing with the evening colic, and the last two nights have been just awful. I actually told my baby to shut up! I feel like a total bitch. Anyhow, I am sorry you're going through it, all of you. Hope it improves. And thx for the compliments on the pics... yes, he loves his little chair... but not as much as he loves to be held!

[preemiemamarach]

Originally Posted by Grace24

I actually told my baby to shut up! I feel like a total bitch. Anyhow, I am sorry you're going through it, all of you. Hope it improves. And thx for the compliments on the pics... yes, he loves his little chair... but not as much as he loves to be held!

I actually did this two nights ago- told him to shut up, buckled him into his rocker (he outgrew his much-loved papasan), and went upstairs. DH was in the room with him, and he wasn't *wailing*...but I couldn't take one. more. second.

I also felt like a total biotch about it, and for some reason I felt guiltier when my husband was able to get him to go down for a nap. I'm usually the patient one!

We have to have infant seats because my son is a mover/kicker, and when he has energy to burn he will NOT tolerate being held. We have toys to play with on the floor, but my back is so shot that getting on the floor means getting stuck there. So when he feels like batting/kicking/grabbing, we use his chair with the toys hanging from it. When he learns to crawl, I'll probably never get another second's rest!

[Grace24]

Rachel, thank you for confessing I'm glad I'm not the only biotch around! Sometimes when I get sooooo tired, I really have to watch my temper... I don't fear that I'd hurt him, I just get short with the dogs, or even him which scares me. I don't want him to be raised around the anger I had to see as a kid, not for one second, but I'm human, KWIM?

The pouch/sling does hurt the back after a while and chairs are a necessity!

[veganone]

Julia - I am sure the LC will be able to help... Thanks for the support - I need it...

Rachel - I wonder if the lack of nap from 3 pm on has something to do with the fussiness. DD is a mess if she goes more than 2-3 hours (sometimes less) without a nap. No idea, but maybe?

Isabella wants to be in her bouncy seat sometimes - she really likes it when she's in the mood for it. We had a rough night last night, too... Up with her until midnight - she's super gassy and fussy the last few days. I wonder if the abx messed her up.

[veganone]

I need a pep talk - hope I don't sound whiny for dumping on you guys...

I am really upset about bfing and how it's going... Not only are there the ups and downs with thrush and raynaud's and mastitis, but the real problem is that DD's digestive system is just not happy. It kills me because I am trying so hard (no dairy, soy, eggs, few beans, cabbage, etc.) She's still gassy and had greenish poop with mucous in it. We're over 2 months into this now and it's just not going away. I feel like such a failure. Not only did my body fail to keep her in long enough, it is also not making milk that agrees with her (or with freezing).

I'm so at a loss about what to do. The NP we've been seeing thinks formula would be worse (and it would truly break my heart to stop bfing - I adore the closeness of it) since milk and soy allergies are so common, especially with my history of food allergies.

Not so much needing advice I guess, but some cyber hugs would be great. DH is just not at all understanding about any of this right now. He wants to find "a solution" and quit all the trial and error. He just won't process that there doesn't appear to be "a solution."

It doesn't seem like the simple act of feeding my child should be so impossibly hard.

Okay, done whining...

[Grace24]

Elizabeth... guys are like that, with the whole solution thing :

[hazieluna]

Elizabeth! I'm in awe at your commitment. You are doing so well considering all the obstacles your dealing with. I totally understand DH not getting it...

Aidan hasn't been nursing well and is refusing my left boob... is this even normal?

Rachel - I don't have advice but I notice that Aidan has a fussiness fit between 6 to 8 every evening, no matter what we try. It isn't colic though at least I don't think so. Anyway I feel for you and everything that's going on, I hope it gets better for you soon.

And about losing your patience with your little one... does that make you a biotch? Oh dear.... I don't know if I've said shut up but I've certainly thought it... sometimes it feels like a mantra in my head!

I think we have massive amount of guilt to deal with just because we don't reach our ideal - basically we are human right? And shouldn't our child know us as we are? Btw I'm scared of being my Mom - her unperdictable moods and anger terrified me as a kid.

So if I'm giving antibiotics to Aidan, should I also give him probiotics? I'm afraid of his system getting all whacked.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

[rock_dr]

Elizabeth. you're not whining!

natalia: I dunno, but we're getting boob refusal here too. it happens every once in awhile but she usually gets over it within a few hours...

And now for a totally stupid question...


how do I cook a sweet potato to give to a baby? nuke it till it's soft like a baked potato? I do know to let it cool down, but other than that...