May 2010

[Alexismith]

ive had two...count them and please pray i dont jinx myself...TWO good nights in a row....fed 130 and 530 got up at 645......... in the crib for all but the lasst hour too. hes teething bad too nicole, i have camilia teething drops and the cloth trick but mostly he likes to chew my fingers and his! if hes hurting bad ill give him a dose of infant tylenol before the long nap and before bed... no big deal....L pulls off the boob too, i think a lot of it is hes easily distracted and it helps if i take him somewhere quiet....
He woke up kinda cranky and is not whiney today... go figure.... smiley wake up is a cranky baby day... cranky baby wake up is a happy baby day? what the?
oh and we got our first LOL from levi.... dh was giving him a bit of happy baby oatmeal and he was yumming it up and wearing it of course so i was laughing at him and teasing him....guess it tickled him.... i feel bad for dh cos after i wiped him off he tried the EXACT same thing and made the baby cry so hard i had to come get him.....four month appt (a bit late) tomorrow
what have you been talking to your peds about ladies?

[bebehope]

Whitley- Sorry about the allergic reaction with KJ. I wonder if it's all squash or just whatever one you tried. How did the avocado go? I have read that's a great first food. I think we are going to wait until the girls are 6 months before giving foods. Sometimes we do stick a piece of veggie in their mouths at dinner and they like to suck/bite it.

Alexis- I asked the ped about their weight, about introducing foods, and about this bump E has on her gum. We also asked about reflux and got meds, although I haven't tried it yet.
I am with you- I hope we never have to do the CIO. It totally works for other people, I just sincerely hope we continue down our good-sleeping path and do not regress. I have 2 friends who hired someone to help them sleep train their sons. Both boys sleep 12 hours between 5 and 5! They only go in if the baby has cried for ONE HOUR! Wow, there is some stamina to be so little and cry for so long. Usually they only cry that long (or almost) the first night but I don't think I have it in me to listen to crying for so long. I can hardly stand a few minutes.

I have been in this bad habit of letting the babies eat/sleep on me during the day, and happily when my mom was over today, they slept anyway (not on me!) in their swings.
We had 3 nights in a row of sleeping through the night about 9/10 to 6! Then last night they woke up at 3. Ah, well, at least I didn't have to go through engorgement- I had stopped pumping and for the first time ever, I soaked through my bra.

[nmm01]

Bebe _ Your sleeping sounds very nice Crying for one hour that remeinds me of Graces colic phase yuck!! Like you I can't stand it. They only cry it out if they are both going and I can't help both, otherwise a few minutes at the most. I too have 2 twin moms who told me to get the sleep doula so they sleep during the night, I still think our babies are young we are getting there, I am happy too figure it out for another few months.
What did your ped say about them sleeping through the night, a friend said oh they should be by now??? Yours seem to be getting closer than mine. My ped never said anything to us about that?

Alex How was your ped appt? We discussed, Graces skin, Jacks tooth, teething, tempra, solids, cereal and next appt.

Not sure what is happening here could use some advice: How long are your babeis napping for throughout the day? Where? Do they sleep longer is a swing, crib or whereever? My 2 have been cranky for the last 2 days, now they are teething but they have only been napping for about 25 minutes!!!! and only about 3 times a day by 6pm, they are dead tried I put them without a struggle as they fall asleep on the boob, usually I wake to feed around 930 and one will wake up around 2/330 and then I wake the other. Grace has been getting up around 530 with gas for the last 3 nights as well. We have not done cereal for a week now. So my question is why are they so cranky? Teething? Not enough sleep during the day? Hungry? I forgot to mention when they wake up from their naps they are crying!!! So it makes me think they are in pain, therefore teething? I have tried to feed when they cry but they won't eat? rule out being hungry? They mostly seem tired, not sure if I am composing the issue so its not so confusing. Thoughts? I have a twim mom meeting tomorrow night and I hope to get some solid advice

[Alexismith]

nicole: id say not enoughnaps anything under 45mins is considered a bust...im loving the no cry sleep soluyion and thr no cry nap solution... we now nap 3x1.5 - 2hrs
i give a cereal with probiotics and only one other ingredient... i found loads that had too many ingredients for my taste... maybe try another brand... im liking happy bellies probiotic oatmeal... gas free so far on day four. sucks that you are having the crankies

bebe:- my ped asked how he slept but said that a)only 10% of all babies consistantly sleep better than a five hour stretch before they are 6-8months old... only another 5% join in after that... b)sleeping TTN is medically a five hour stretch....c) she doent like cio esp. in breastfed babies... breastmilk digests so fast that she has concerns about babies crying through hunger..... Levi usually sleeps one five hour stretch but its while im grabbing a couple hours 'me' time and washing floors analy....so officially he sleeps ttn. i figure i wont worry as long as i have more good nights then bad and for our age group two wakingis is more than normal....

well he cried heartbreakingly for shots....passed with flying colours for his milestones and weighs 16lbs 8ozs 25inches long and has been declared a 'big boy' she was pleased i had started some cereal and was happy with my plan to gently work through anyway i wanted... banana for dinner tonight (KFC for me) I have been working on the naps and so far so good! doctor for me tomorrow

[bebehope]

Alexis- I know I am lucky with the girls' sleeping at night- even if last night was not good...(more later) they are really not good daytime sleepers, though. If I don't let them sleep on me, we don't consistently get even a whole sleep cycle. What's the napping solution you are using?

Nicole- if I let them sleep on me on the twin pillow, they will sleep twice during the day for about 2 hours. Sometimes a third time in the evening. If not, maybe 45 mins if I'm lucky. If I let them sleep on me, they will eat in the middle of it, so that allows them to sleep longer I guess. I don't know how to get them to sleep on their own. I need to re-consult that book I think.

AFM- rough night last night. Both went down around 8, E woke up twice before we went to bed. She woke up again at 3 and between feeding her and her screaming waking C up after she woke AGAIN, I was up for almost 2 hours!! I went to sleep and had a terrible nightmare. I woke DH up and made him go check the girls. Poor DH. This morning I went to get bagels and cappuchinos. I really needed extra caffeine...

Question: are you still swaddling? We are at night. We're thinking of moving to sleep sacs but I don't want to try it until the weekend when I'd have extra help from DH in case of poor sleeping.

[Alexismith]

bebe:- we dont swaddle...its warm here so i have the a/c cranked and he sleeps in either a romper or a long sleeved onesie with one or two thermal blankets laid over him.Im using Elizabeth Pantleys No Cry Sleep Solution and her No Cry Nap Solution. its not a quick fix but he's gone from needing me curled around him to sleep 45mins to sleeping an hour or more and most of it by himself.. no tears! the better the naps the better everything else is.... i made fresh banana cereal tonight and he loved it..... hates the bottle though....

[nmm01]

Bebe we use the sleep sac for G as she loves being swaddled I do that for daytime naps and it helps her stay asleep longer. She has been in the sac for a month now. When I get her dressed for bed long sleeve onies I put her in the sac then feed her and rock then bed. J is not in a sac as he was kicking like crazy in it but he never liked being swaddled. He sleeps pretty good at night and when we go for walks. G now likes to check out the scenery on walks. Mine are too big to sleep on the pillow together althought when I single feed they fall asleep and I will leave one if I can. I think one of our problems is noise they used to fall asleep with the tv on but now I think it distracts them. For about a week now we have gone to my bed and played quietly they have fallen asleep and I sleep with them in the afternoon as its been bad walking weather, and the nap has been for 45mins and great for me. Right now they are both rubbing eyes and yawning but not giving in

Alex amazing with the solids, when did you start again? How much the first time? Can I get an example of your meal day? Why the bottle?
Ok I better try and get these 2 down, I put G in her swing because she used to love it and fall asleep for hours, she is now staring at me as to say why am I in here? I put J in his crib he is quiet watching his mobile, I would like to also put G up there but with the 2 of them forsure there will be no nap. Last night was finally good, they went down at 630 woke at 745 only for 15mins or I like to say extra cuddles cause they know daddy is home I went down at 930 pooped didn't wake to feed, no milk I was sure anyways. G woke at 1115 feed her then J back to bed until 345 when G woke fed her left J (just to see) and he didn't wake til 6am!!! Feed and back to sleep until 730 when G woke!!!amazing I ont expect a repeat but would love one

[Alexismith]

Nicole:_we fall asleep to tv too but we cant do the last feed with the tube on or he wont eat...
today is day six of solids....i mix a teaspoon of my oat cereal with enough milk to make a thin paste...maybe three four teaspoons.... yesterday i got a gob of really soft ripe banana and just mashed it supersmooth into the cereal with a little extra milk. L gets that after nursing before the big lunchtime ish nap and after the feed before last and i think he probably eats a half to two thirds of each portion. i found out he doesnt like it liquid...more papier mache consistency. ive been offering a bottle for the very last feed after he's nursed both sides for two reasons... i may have to wean from the breast at six months if i cant avoid meds and also hubby has been after me to get him to take a bottle at least once a day so he can help and so that if i wanted to go out for an evening i could. its not going well. he'll only take it from me and only after he has thoroughly nursed and whined and fussed and kvetched about it. we are using formula for that bottle so that wse know which one he does well on if i have to wean completely and also so that 'helping me out' doesnt actually make more work for me.....

[bebehope]

Mel- T is so adorable! What a pretty and happy baby! I'm glad you've had a couple good days- makes up for the harder ones (and so do those baby smiles).

Nicole and Alexis- thanks about the swaddling. We have them sleeping in swaddle sacs- you know, velcro at the top so their arms don't get out- even though they do since we had to move up a size. We are thinking of moving them into those sleep gowns- their arms would be out but bodies inside a sac that zips up. Anyway, we are going to try it this weekend.

Sweet- did you return to work this week? How did it go?

AFM- have been trying to give more of an effort to not letting the babies nap on me, but it's not going well. They nap WAY longer on me. Last night they were really cranky much earlier than usual due to only short napping.
I told my boss that I am going to be leaving, but I am still planning to do the next 2 weeks 4 hours 4 days per week so I can officially give notice. Hopefully my mother will be able to feed them while I'm gone.
We started C on Zantac this morning. She ate after and spat up less, but still did spit up, and it smelled minty like the medicine. How gross is it that I smell vomit now?! What a difference a year makes!

[whitley]

Whitley- Sorry about the allergic reaction with KJ. I wonder if it's all squash or just whatever one you tried. How did the avocado go? I have read that's a great first food. I think we are going to wait until the girls are 6 months before giving foods. Sometimes we do stick a piece of veggie in their mouths at dinner and they like to suck/bite it.

Avocado went about like the squash did. His cheeks/chin got all red and blotchy. But when we baked and pureed an apple he did just fine with it. No reaction at all! (just like with the sweet potato, peas and banana...go figure. ) Anyway, DH brought up the fact that neither of us are squash fans nor do we like avocado. So he wasn't exposed to either of those in utero. Not sure that that makes a difference because he wasn't exposed to peas in the womb either (since I hate 'em) yet he didn't have an adverse reaction to those. But either way, I trashed the squash and there wasn't any avocado left anyway. So we'll be staying away from those and sticking with things he does well with.

Question: are you still swaddling? We are at night. We're thinking of moving to sleep sacs but I don't want to try it until the weekend when I'd have extra help from DH in case of poor sleeping.

Nope, we never were swaddlers because I got out of the habit of swaddling him once we came home from the hospital (although they swaddled him there all the time). So once I stopped and tried to start up again with a sleep sac when he was about 10 weeks old all hell broke lose! He didn't want to have anything to do with it since he hadn't been swaddled in all that time. Plus KJ likes to sleep with his hands up by his face. So...swaddling hasn't been done in our house in a loooooong time!