February 08 - Bring Out Your May Flowers! - Page 18

[eilonwy]

I've thought of it, but I"m so paranoid about Bear's tummytum. I'm trying to feed him less, but he freaks out when he's hungry and the reflux hurts him soooo much. : He's really growing like a weed, though; All long and skinny.

[Dea]

milkshare is a website, you can google it and join the group...
I sent you an email.

[operamommy]

Peter had that one week where he loved the paci, but that's it. Dh will give him one on occasion to put him to bed at night, but I can't remember the last time I offered Peter the paci. Lately he's started really sucking on his fist and thumb when he can get it, which is A-Ok with me! Ds1 sucked his thumb till about the age of 4, and ds2 still loves his thumb at the age of 2. Honestly, I've *never* worried about tooth/mouth issues. It's my understanding that you don't really need to be concerned till after the age of 4 or 5, and that the worry is prolonged (meaning almost constant) thumb sucking. By the time ds1 was 4, he was only sucking his thumb when tired, and gave it up pretty soon after.

I got on the scale last night and realized that I've gained 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Guess that's why my new pants are so tight at the waist now. :

[flapjack]

I feel embarrassed to mention this, but I've lost 7% of my total weight-to-go. That was the weight I put on after River was born, as well...

[Jezzy]

Nice to see you back Helen! You were missed!

[Juise]

We eventually decided to come back! It was so much fun, and the babies got to have sooo much nakey and diaper-free time. Kaia went two whole days with no diaper and no accidents but for one, and that was while with SIL Anyway it's really late but wanted to catch up on the thread before it got too far out of hand! And put up some pictures, er.. there's a good few but I just really really liked a lot of them and couldn't resist... I'm not actually forcing you to look at them anyway, right?

Nephew Ion Kaia with Uncle Kam Ion on hike A family pic 1 And Family pic 2 The lot of us Ion's bath Kaia and papa OMG a duck!

Annnnddddd bedtime.

[loraxc]

Thanks for the support, mamas.

I have a light question for today--what toys are your babies enjoying or starting to enjoy? My babe is digging his Skwish (http://www.geniusbabies.com/skwish.html) and anything fabric with interesting textures and doodads. He has some little jingly/crinkly cloth bugs that are fun for him to hold and munch. He also likes his little playmat--we just hang random stuff from the rings on the arches for him to bat at and ponder.

Also, who else here is being a slacker on tummy time? : DS can finally hold his head up 90 degrees on his belly, but he still hates it. I was almost considering getting one of those tummytime playmats, which is not the kind of thing I usually blow money on, but since I'm a bit concerned about his physical development...

ETA: Juise, OMG I love that striped romper! Kaia looks like an adorable caterpillar.

[Jezzy]

I have been a slacker on tummy time too. I have promised myself to put her on her tummy every day. How long are you all putting your lo on his/her tummy?

Great pics Juise, what kinda dog is that a Bordaux?

[firecat]

you know, I really slacked on tummy time for awhile...maybe once/twice a week for almost a month because he hated it so much it wasn't worth it to get him all cranky. One day I decided to try it again and he seemed to have improved a lot on holding his head up and began searching back and forth and smiled at me. So ever since then I have been doing it more, but I'm not fanatical about it or anything. I think as long as you carry/wear them a lot they are still developing those muscles. I also think the other reason tummy time is said to be so important is because there are people who would just let baby hang out in their infant seat all day and get serious flat head . But that's just mho

Hi jeramiahsmommy! I grew up in Cary... I miss NC so much sometimes (we are in CO now) !! It was a great place to grow up - parks, museums, etc. My dad still lives there so we visit when we can.

[justmama]

Grace is really loving her exersaucer. It allowed me to wash dishes to eat lunch on(yeah I know, I'm slackin!) and make a quick pb&j for Sara and I today. She is just starting to reach for toys and grab them and think about getting them in her mouth. We are really starting to do tummy time since I realized that Sara was crawling at this age(5 months) and Grace hasn't a single clue about that. I'm not pushing her to crawl obviously, just recognizing that her lack of development may be due to less tummy time than she should get. She tolerates it for about 5-10 minutes and then gets angry.

[slgt]

Yipes this is a huge thread! I've been lurking periodically, but not nearly enough! Back to work full time, but luckily I get to work from home until fall. DH is home with Rosemary while I'm working, so it's the best possible set-up we could have imagined.

She rolled over a couple days ago, and has been really enjoying tummy time for the past 3-4 weeks. Her head is way up & fairly steady, looking from side-to-side and all-around. What's strange is that she's very strong & steady while on her tummy, but not strong enough yet for a backpack. She is forward-facing in the Bjorn but that only works b/c it sort of props against her chin. Her head is large - 75th%ile - could this be why she's not quite as strong? She's also a very long child, so I think gaining control of that long body is taking a bit longer than the more compact babies I've been around recently.

What else...very talkative, loves her hands, grabbing everything in sight, very playful, very smiley & giggly, LOVES being outside & going for walks and hikes. Saw her first deer this morning! She's also keyed into the dogs and watches them all the time, and is just beside herself whenever we are around another baby or young child.

I've tried her front-facing in the sling. She likes being a little Buddha in there, but her neck & torso are not strong enough to keep her in there when out & about. Should I worry about neck strength at all? She's 15 weeks.

[flapjack]

slgt, she's only fifteen weeks old- this time last year, she was a gleam in daddy's eye and a crossed finger, remember? Don't WORRY. They grow up too fast as it is.
You know what? Tummy time isn't even recommended over here: just "lots of different positions." I've found that my kids tend to be slower to roll than your typical American Forum baby but otherwise hit all milestones on course- just often, they'll go from sitting to bottom-shuffling to crawling whereas some babies will go from lying on their tummies to caterpillaring to crawling. Same diff. in the long run : (and yes, I know that crawling is not a developmental milestone.)

[operamommy]

lorax, Peter hasn't started with any toys yet. Tummy time is hit or miss with us. He still can't get his head up very high and it makes him mad. He's also too neck-wobbly for an exersaucer or johnny jumper yet either.

Juise, gorgeous pics. How does your family stand being so cute?

Gotta go...LOST is wrapping up tonight!!

[eilonwy]

Bear spends a fair bit of time on his tummy, but that's because he puts himself there-- I think it's more comfortable when he refluxes. Right now, his favorite toys are his siblings. : I'm really bad on the toys/playing with the baby thing. I mean I play with him, but I know I played a heck of a lot more with BeanBean and even BooBah. Bella was not interested in being played with (she slept a lot) but Bear... most of his playtime is with his siblings. They're live entertainment.

[applecore]

I would say that I'm "bad" at implementing tummy time and busting out the toys, but I don't really think it's a necessity. I kind of look at it in the same way that I look at early childhood learning. For example, I don't feel that there is a need to "teach" children colors. Can you imagine a child never figuring that out? Not likely for most kids. I guess trying to get them to do something like spend time on their tummy (or learn colors) may help them develop more quickly in some areas, but that timeframe isn't really important to me. I hope that doesn't come across as snobby, I certainly don't mean it to. My kids have always been a little behind on the physical side of things, but I'm just not too fussed about it. They get there eventually, and don't seem to suffer at all from taking their sweet time.

[Juise]

I guess I'm there with applecore - I haven't worried too much about it. Sometimes Kaia spends a little time on her tummy when she wants to, and sometimes I will see if she would like to hold one of her little toys, but most of the time she is not very interested in them. That's okay, I know that she *will* crawl, I'm not bothered about when. And she happily grabs many other things that she promptly sticks in her mouth and has great interest in the world around her, just not so much in toys. I think that's okay. She even found a very pretty rose quartz stone with nice patterns on one of our hikes! I was letting her inspect the really interesting dirt and moss and she picked up this rock. I actually really like it. I'm thinking about making it into a necklace for her for later Gosh I hope she doesn't think I'm too weird when she's older

Salt Pheonix - you have such pretty dreads! Makes me miss mine Only mine weren't nearly so nice But I liked them anyway! I miss sticking stuff in my hair Although, getting through airport gates is much easier

[Dea]

I have done tummy time with Trixie maybe 3 times. I wear her a lot and I figure that's just as good, she's holding her head up and looking around and seeing stuff that way. I'm sure my ped. will give me heck though, heh.

[Writerbird]

EG has great head control and likes to sit on my lap to help me type. He hates tummy time. He has zero interest in toys or holding/patting anything besides my hand, daddy's hand, or my breast. He will watch a mobile for a few minutes, and he will happily kick the toy bar for his bouncy seat for almost ten minutes. He loves having stories read to him, and recognizes two of them, greeting them with squeals. He can roll from his back to his side with no trouble. He rolled from his belly to his back over a month ago, but has not done it since.

And my little dude was born on the 9th, so he's not nearly as "advanced" as some of the babies here.

I only worry about his progress when I read this thread

In my prepregnancy reading, I read that the entire point of tummy time was to give them the muscle strength to sit up unassisted. In the last decade or so, avoiding flat heads was added to that. So... if your baby can sit up and has a nice round head, let us agree to not worry about tummy time.

[birthmommom]

His new toy is the johnny jumper - he's so confused, and won't put his weight on his feet,

Henry is the same way...he does straighten his legs but mostly just looks around...I will just try again later.

(and yes, I know that crawling is not a developmental milestone.)

wow I feel so silly...I thought it was.

We do tummy time, but usually in the am after we first wake up...he seems to be more responsive to it then. He is doing well holding up his head.
Henry rolled from tummy to back awhile ago but now seems to forget how...but 2 days ago he rolled from back to tummy, It was so cool, but he hasn't done it again yet.
Having a child with a birth defect of her feet and not walking until almost 2 makes me so not worry about it. Back then going through Early Intervention I decided that I knew why she didn't walk and if she wasn't caught up by 2 then I would worry...well she walked at 19 months and hasn't stopped yet so I am not to concerned with tummy time, everyone gets there and you will know when something is not right.

Henry really wants to sit up. When you lay him down and stay by him he lifts his head off of the floor and tries the rest of his body. He is always lifting his head, so he sits up with us a lot and on the couch.

so the paci thing...I did it the first time around...and now feel like it is a total hassle. ds is trying to figure out his hands and gets mad when he can't so we use the paci when he goes down to sleep and sometimes after he feeds. He has always liked live things...like a finger or a boob, sometimes he acts like i just poisoned him when I give him his paci. Anywhoo...how can in encourage him to suck on his hand? just take it away?

oh and the amber teething necklace...who has one and do you really feel it works? i am not sure if it helps ds, he has been wearing it for awhile and I took it off yesterday and he started chewing on his tounge, so today i put it on and we will see if there is a diference.
the poor kid is having such a tough time with the teething, he hates anything cold in his mouth. He will chew on his fingers, your fingers, a towel, or sometimes the teething toys we got him.

oh and the other night, boy he was a mess, he cried for about an hour and we could not figure out why. He wouldn't nurse, he wouldn't sleep, i couldn't calm him by rocking him. When dh got home he stopped for a couple of mins, the cried some more...then finally nursed, and then gave us this huge smile, chewed on his hands for a bit and then went to bed....still have no clue what happened.

oh...he's up

[Teenytoona]

Originally Posted by birthmommom

oh and the other night, boy he was a mess, he cried for about an hour and we could not figure out why. He wouldn't nurse, he wouldn't sleep, i couldn't calm him by rocking him. When dh got home he stopped for a couple of mins, the cried some more...then finally nursed, and then gave us this huge smile, chewed on his hands for a bit and then went to bed....still have no clue what happened.

Was it about at bedtime, or right before bedtime? Just hope it's a one time thing.

'Nara does the same thing every night for about 1-2 hours. It usually starts around 8:30-9 usually done about 10ish. She doesn't want to nurse, though I offer, and sometimes she seems like she wants to, but if I offer, she screams harder. She cries and cries and sometimes screams, sometimes she sounds like she will calm down, but then she kicks it back into gear. Sometimes she gives me this "make it better, momma" kind of pitiful/angry look, but I don't know what she needs, so I just make sure I keep holding her (or Mr Toona and I will take turns). So I walk her, sing to her, sit on the ball and bounce with her, rock her, I try everything. If Mr Toona is home, we with give her a bath (I usually get in with her, but can't seem to manage it on my own). Sometimes it ends with her falling asleep, sometimes she will finally calm down, nurse some and then zonk out. My best guess is she's tired but is fighting sleep. Last night while on the ball, I was singing this innane, Bouncy bounce bounce, bouncy bouncy bouncy bounce song and she started calming down, seeming like she'd sleep. So I started singing the "morning town" song that I sing sometimes when she gets ready for bed. She immediately SCREAMED, so I switched back to bouncybounce. She calmed down. I think she's fighting sleep, but I don't know how to make it better for her. Nor do I have any suggestions for you... just been there kinda stuff.