September 2007 mammas--December thread

[Sabo]

I saw that no one has started this thread today, so I figured that I would.

Aili has pooped on me 3 times this week!! I don't know what is going on with her digestive system, but I still have very few pairs of pants that fit, so having to wash 3 pairs in a couple of days is taking its toll.

She also has a mean looking rash on her left cheek (face), so I must have eaten something that disagrees with her. I'm thinking it might be peanuts (oh joy), b/c I had fried food two days in a row. Great . . . not only is she sensitive to cow's milk, but peanuts too?! I sometimes feel like I'm poisoning her with the food sensitivities

[leanbh]

ugh, sabo, i feel your pain. ro has had an on again off again rash/eczema type thing for a few weeks. ped says it's just eczema and not to worry... but of course i do! that and dh is allergic to nuts, so i am refraining from eating nuts while nursing. i totally miss chikfila (all fried in peanut oil) and peanut butter sandwiches!!!

her poo is down to once every 2-3 days though... that's nice!

she's rocking on daddy's knees, sucking her fist, and staring at me... oh, the life of a babe!

[~Katie~]

We had a period of no poops for about 5 days, now he's back to going once a day in the morning when he first wakes up. Those are for dad of course.

Is anyone else losing lots of hair? I started losing lots, I mean handfuls, a couple of weeks ago. I normally have really thick hair so I guess I can afford to lose it. I didn't expect it to take this long to fall out though.

My mom came by today to bring me some baby clothes to donate for HH, Liam saw her and was so frightened of her. He's having separation anxiety but he does see her pretty often, it just seems like this week it started with her. He was sitting on my lap and looking at her as she talked to him, he had a frowny face and was whimpering. I tried to have her hold him to see if he might adjust but he started crying

I ordered the Medela Harmony tonight and some milk storage bags. I think I'm going to try and ship mighty mama some bm overnight, I found these perishable boxes online that are insulated with foam so I think those might work. If anybody has experience with this let me know, I checked out milkshare but I'm not sure if I'm going to do dry ice or not.

Wanted to add that we dealt with a rash, he had it on his face, chest, and upper back. I figured out it was dairy and chocolate since I eat them both very rarely.

[kmamma]

hi all.

this is my first post. i have a boy, born 22nd. just wanted to introduce myself, don't have much time posting with dh working all the time. i have lots of questions. more later.

[leanbh]

welcome, kmamma!

[Sabo]

kmamma

Hair loss: I just started shedding lots recently too. I hennaed my hair in hopes that it would slow down the hair loss, but nope. I have tons too, so I'm not worried about it, but I liked my huge hair.

Poop: Hehe. I'm such a child . . . You all that have less frequent poops are so lucky. Aili is still going several times a day. Maybe I eat too much fiber . . . keeping her super-regular.

Pacifier or thumb: So I don't like using the pacifier, but Aili has discovered and really likes her thumb. In fact, most of the time she won't take the pacifier, but starts sucking her fist and thumb like crazy. I tell her that Daddy and I don't want to pay for braces, but that doesn't deter her at all. I think its cute right now, but I also remember what my sister's teeth looked like after 12 years . . . yes 12, of thumb-sucking.

[leanbh]

Originally Posted by Sabo

Pacifier or thumb: So I don't like using the pacifier, but Aili has discovered and really likes her thumb. In fact, most of the time she won't take the pacifier, but starts sucking her fist and thumb like crazy. I tell her that Daddy and I don't want to pay for braces, but that doesn't deter her at all. I think its cute right now, but I also remember what my sister's teeth looked like after 12 years . . . yes 12, of thumb-sucking.

losing my hair just started this week!

ro hates pacifiers. 6 brands, does not care, spits them out! we've been using our pinky, but she is thankfully discovering her fists and how to keep her thumb in her mouth. i sucked my index finger until i was about 10... my teeth look a thousand times better than my brother's... he used a paci! i never even needed braces.

[leanbh]

Originally Posted by KatieJJ334

Is anyone else losing lots of hair? I started losing lots, I mean handfuls, a couple of weeks ago. I normally have really thick hair so I guess I can afford to lose it. I didn't expect it to take this long to fall out though.

just noticed that my pillow was covered in stray hairs! hands are covered in hair when i shampoo as well. so go the hormones.

[HeatherB]

Originally Posted by KatieJJ334

Is anyone else losing lots of hair? I started losing lots, I mean handfuls, a couple of weeks ago. I normally have really thick hair so I guess I can afford to lose it. I didn't expect it to take this long to fall out though.

Ugh, that's me! Though I've been losing hair like this off and on for SIX years! My hair is less than half as thick as it used to be. There was a time when my scalp was never visible - and now it's more and more obvious by the day. Handfuls in the shower, and hairs everywhere else, too. In theory this just makes up for all the hair your body held onto while pg, but I lose during pgcy, too.

Originally Posted by leanbh

ugh, sabo, i feel your pain. ro has had an on again off again rash/eczema type thing for a few weeks. ped says it's just eczema and not to worry... but of course i do! that and dh is allergic to nuts, so i am refraining from eating nuts while nursing. i totally miss chikfila (all fried in peanut oil) and peanut butter sandwiches!!!

Don't take my word for it, but peanut oil doesn't contain peanut proteins, which is what causes allergic reactions. From what I've heard, things like CFA are okay for peanut allergic folks - but again, don't take my word for it!

I can't believe it's December! I can't believe my baby is more than 2 months old! He seems SO big now and is so alert and interactive and sweet and cuddly and... ah, yes, I'm sure you know the list of wonderful baby traits! I wish he could just stay this age forever!

He seems so much bigger than other babies his age, though. There was a baby two days younger (9/29) at the same place we were today, though you could've told me he was 6 weeks old and I'd have believed it. It's almost like he's more alert than these babies - not big, persay, but more mature, maybe? It does mean he doesn't seem much like a newborn at all anymore!

We spent the day on Galveston Island with the family doing a couple of big events. Only problem was trying to find a good place to get Judah latched on where I wasn't totally flashing when he'd pull off! With an overactive letdown he's always gulping fast and then gasping for air... So we're on and off and on and off. I know when he's a bit bigger it'll be easier, and I actually like NIP. But that part of the day was a bit stressful! Otherwise he did really well, though. And the big boys had a wonderful time! Now I'm totally zonked though...

[mommajb]

I am losing hair, Linus is huge, he hasn't pooped much at all in the past 6 weeks (I have posted when he does because they are huge), my girls are already screaming, I'll try to catch up later.

Glad I found this thread.

[beemama]

:::
just subbing (and coughing, sneezing, aching)

[jazzybaby9]

Not much poop here either. She'll drop a bomb that explodes out her diaper in the evenings when I'm at school sometimes.

[~Katie~]

Welcome kmamma!

Liam is starting to prefer his thumb over the pacifier, he will only take the MAM pacifiers, and only during naps (which are few and far between), and at bed time.

Today I actually woke up and said I wanted a break from being a mom for the day, which didn't happen of course. Liam went to bed last night at 7, woke up at 11 to nurse and didn't get back to sleep until close to 1. He decided that 5am was the perfect time to wake up for the day. Andrew has been helping me a lot so I have to give him credit for that, he's playing with him right now on the floor. I really don't know any high needs children to compare him to, but I would have to say that compared to all of the children I have cared for he is the most needy. It would be a lot easier if he didn't cry as much and didn't want to be walked around and bounced constantly.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this stage, but I'm secretly waiting for the days when he's older and things are a bit easier for us.

Originally Posted by Sabo

Hair loss: I just started shedding lots recently too. I hennaed my hair in hopes that it would slow down the hair loss, but nope. I have tons too, so I'm not worried about it, but I liked my huge hair.

I'm a child of the 80's, I love my huge hair too!

[kmamma]

katie--i'm having those thoughts too! i'm so waiting for baby days to be over, i know it's a shame but i wasn't born equipped with endless patience. walking around, bouncing etc. even though we nurse totally on demand, carry all the time, he's just a fussy one. don't like the pouch much, picky about how hes being carried ets. though i will admit, he's very sensitive to my moods. i'm content and he's pretty content. problem is, i feel so isolated. just want to be miserable alone. not having someone so dependent on me, and how i feel. if that makes sense. i should apologize for feeling this way, but the sooner i'm rid of the guilt, the sooner i can transcend this. i almost feel like i'm a slave to the baby--exactly how i don't want to feel. but somehow i can't figure out how we can be both happy and content at the same time. do i have to force myself to enjoy walking around my small apartment for a few more months, several times a day? or is there another way? tell me, how does your life look with a small baby? does having a baby minimize your life? to top it all off--it's beyond freezing here now, making it hard to get out.
he's a very social baby, has been since day one--always looking for action. my 6-year-old son does provide some of it, thank goodness.
could a hyperactive baby mean allergies? he has occasional rash on cheeks, chest, spit-up, slimy poops. i know chocolate for sure, even when he was in utero--he'd kick like crazy after an episode of indulgence.

[~Katie~]

Originally Posted by kmamma

katie--i'm having those thoughts too! i'm so waiting for baby days to be over, i know it's a shame but i wasn't born equipped with endless patience. walking around, bouncing etc. it seems endless. even though we nurse totally on demand, carry all the time, he's just a fussy one. don't like the pouch much, picky about how hes being carried ets. though i will admit, he's very sensitive to my moods. i'm content and he's pretty content. problem is, i feel so isolated. more later.

I'm sorry we're in the same boat Liam also seems very sensitive to what is going on around him, which I think has something to do with his mood a lot of the time.

I don't like saying this, but today I kind of broke down and told Andrew that I don't like being a mom, that being a parent isn't fun and at times I downright hate it, and after all that I said "there, I admitted it", he just laughed but I feel better. I know its a thankless job and its not always fun, but I know everything will pay off in the end.

Oh wanted to add that new pics are in the "Liam" link in my sig.

[clevernamehere]

Was gone for the weekend and totally forgot about the new month --> new thread!

LO poops once every few days.. she makes sure they are big messy ones, though, just so we don't let our guard down.

I've always been a big shedder- I haven't noticed a difference, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been one.

She's been using her paci a lot lately- we spent all weekend as adult advisors for a high school retreat (and did the same thing a couple weeks ago). I had her with me (cause I didn't want to be away from her the entire weekend at this age) but needed to keep her quiet for certain parts so she wouldn't distract the kids.

Depending on the situation, I'd walk into a back room and play with her and let her make noise, but sometimes I just used the pacifier and rocked/bounced/swayed to keep her quiet. I don't like how much we used it, but I wasn't sure what else to do. She hasn't developed any nursing problems, at least. Hope we don't have orthodontic issues in the future!

She sucks on her fist sometimes, and occasionally finds her thumb, but hasn't seemed to connect it in her head that she always has something to suck on.

Welcome, kmamma! I'm fairly new to the group as well.

[*jeanine*]

hair - started losing mine a couple days ago. i'm actually kinda glad. it's getting too thick, but i didn't want to get it cut and thinned until it thinned itself first.

poop - every few days. generally not huge, just thick. (takes a million wipes sometimes. sorry, tmi)

kmamma - welcome! my bday is the 22nd! it can be very hard to be alone with a little baby. i was very isolated, sad, miserable etc when ds was born. eventually i found infant/toddler lap sit at the library, and that really helped. also LLL meetings and other kinds of playgroups. little babies maybe don't need playgroups, but their mommas sure do!

thumb vs pacifier - i was a thumb sucker, so i'm partial to them. dd1 is a thumb sucker, and it looks like dd2 might turn into one too. dh (who is a dds) used to say thumb sucking didn't interfere with their teeth until the permanent ones started coming in. now he thinks dd1 needs to stop. drives me nuts. i was a thumbsucker, he was not. he had braces, i did not so to him! i keep telling him i'd rather pay for her orthodontia than for her therapy if we force her to stop before she's ready. and, fwiw, my bro used a paci, and he had braces too.

anybody else still wearing maternity pants? i'm having serious body image issues :

iud - got it on friday and i started bleeding. seems like a period. i'm bummed. it would be weird for me to get a period this early since i didn't get it with the other two for over 12 months. hopefully the bleeding's just a side effect and goes away soon and doesn't come back.

[bhawkins]

Hey ladies! Can't believe it's December already. Christmas is just right around the corner. That'll be exactly a year since finding out I was PG with Georgia, who now seems to have been part of our lives for forever.

She's over 3 mths now and really getting interactive. She wants to stand and sit up in my lap and look around. She watches people as they move around and "talks" and coos. I feel like sometimes she gets bored. It's like she wants to do more than she can. If you lay her in a reclining position she works so hard to pull her head up. It's so funny. It ought to make for strong neck muscles.

poop: Georgia's only pooping every few days. This is a huge change for me since DS#2 went with every single feeding, I swear. I'm surprised to hear so many of you saying that your babes are going infrequently, too. I thought BF babies pooped all the time. I'm not sure which is worse: pooping all the time or the massive poop explosion that she saves for me every 3 days!

hair: I've not lost much hair yet to my knowledge. Last time I noticed it falling out big time and then had lots of little hairs grow in around my hairline to replace it. I have thick hair though so I won't be too distrought if I do lose some.


jeaninevp922: I got an IUD when DD was 6 wks and I also had one between her and DS. Both times I bled like a light period for a week or so, then spotted for around a month total. It totally sucked and by the time a month had passed I was wondering why I did it again. But, now it's been several weeks and I've already forgotten that downside. I'm just glad to again had easy, reliable birth control for the next 5 yrs.

[Faliciagayle]

Chaya just discovered how tasty her hands are. I'm convinced she's going to get her whole fist in her mouth by the end of the week. We introduced a pacifier this week after I spent 34 miles driving (alone w/ baby) with one hand on the wheel and one hand behind me, snaked through the infant seat, resting on her head with my pinky in her mouth to calm her down while I got us home quickly and safey : She doesn't quite like the pacifier.. prefers the our fingers or her fist. But seriously. I really wish she would take it at night after we've nursed.

She's having trouble staying asleep once she's down for the night. sigh.

In the Nov thread there was talk of placement of the baby bald spot - uh... we're cosleeping baby wearing parents of a breastfed baby with remarkable head control and she's got a bald spot on the back of her head...? Honestly, sometimes this whole AP thing is just too fraught with guilt. Pacifiers. Swings. You can bet the first mom to sling her baby did it out of a need to run from an approaching predator/ cook gruel for her family/ get something done.. you know, convenience. :

I haven't lost any hair.. no more than normal. Hair loss is a normal pp thing?

Dd poops every other day. Seems to be a tad constipated lately. Could be the "no carb left behind" diet I've been on.

Not being especially good about using birth control. I'm going back to an IUD this week tho, as I'd prefer not to have two under a year old.

[Webbis]

Happy December, everyone!

Hair: I haven't lost any yet. I almost wish I would lose a little, as it was already very thick and is a real chore to get a brush through some mornings!

Poop: Mary still poops like a champ, at least two or three times a day. She is still exclusively breastfed, but apparently missed the memo that breastfed babies can cut back on the pooping after six weeks or so!

Thumb v. Paci: I have given Mary a pacifier somewhat often, but she doesn't seem to really like them anymore. She has discovered her hand, but doesn't really suck on it that much.

Moods: She does not like going to sleep at night and seems especially fussy in the evening. She used to nurse right to sleep and stay that way for several hours (until her next feeding), but now requires several attempts at nursing to sleep before it "takes."

This is probably a stupid question, but what should I be doing re: toys right now? She just turned two months old Dec. 2, and doesn't grasp at things yet, so most of her play time has been me waving various toys at her and watching her smile at them. But I don't want her to get bored...should I be doing other things? So far she has been unimpressed with her floor mat/gym thing, but I will bring it out again and see.