April/May 2008 MOMS (all others are welcomed too)

[woodcliff]

wow, Rebecca and BabyB, you amaze me...the breast feeding at all hours of the morning would kill me...you are awesome ladies!
But we all knew that already...

BabyB: I do think if I bought a ticket I could fly with both...
Actually, I may end up doing that.
Add this to your list of Qs for your nanny:

I just learned my Part Time sitter (REALLY, just a girl to fill in while my other one is on vacation) is NOT IMMUNIZED. It came up cuz I have vaccinations for both babies tomorrow (4 mo vacs) and you have to be careful around the 'poop' for 48 hours (they poop out the live vaccine)...and my sitterr said "Oh, I've never been vaccinated"
WHAT???? I'm a freakin medical writer, have devoted some of my career to public health policy...and I BELIEVE in a Federal MANDATE on vaccines!

She's from some freakin' insane religious sect ... When I called my ped he said 'what country is she from" and I said "MICHIGAN" (I'M FROM MICHIGAN) and he said "wow. is she from some wacko religious sect" and I had to admit YES.
SORRY...I'm FURIOUS. SHe's put the health of my babies at risk and HER mother put her life at risk by not giving her vaccines.

I'm a medical writer and in my research I now realize there are some wacked out religious sects out there and some misinformation that is NOT scientific telling people not to get their kids vaccinated.

SOOOOOOOO I just may be flying solo -- WITH BABIES -- on Thursday.

sigh. So here I am, firing women from 'the islands' cuz they're not vaccinated, and hiring Americans or Europeans cuz they ARE...and I end up with this.
Becca...ask if your future nanny is vaccinated. And frankly, you did not lose out if the nanny didn't want to do light housework. You need someone who wants to make your life easier. We have sites here in DC that are "sittercity" and other nanny sites...I hope there are ones in your area...
Have you considered Au pair in America? You could do well by them...or another agency. Eventually.

BabyB, this must be a tough decision re: retrieving your eggs...good luck with the decision...sounds like you did well by the 2 boys you have...may want to return to that route if the potential disease is looming in the background...too painful to go down that road again...

love to all

[kipatte]

Hi Everyone:

I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy child, WC's recommendation. Fabulous. I started putting Stephie down at 7:00 and she is sleeping through to 6:00. I didn't realize her krankieness was due to going to bed to late which is normal for small babies but their brains change at 3 months and need early sleep times. This has worked out very well and she is a joy during the day. 2- 3 nap times during the day.

She loves her swing. Will stay in a full hour. I can get things done. Sometimes she falls asleep in it. Also she like her playmat now. She must not have been old enough for it before.

Health visitor was here today. She is right on target for weight at 13.5 lbs. Suggests I wait until 6 months to introduce foods unless she starts waking up in the middle of the night hungry. Change to Aptimal 2 first, then introduce foods if she does not continue to sleep through the night.

She told me I can mix all bottles in cold sterlized water. I didn't know that. I thought they had to be warm for the powder to disolve. This will make my life easier. Especially since we are traveling to Paris with her next month. They recommend Evian water to mix the formula in.

Vlada, I feel for you. I hope you have a lot of support there. I have met two women with babies Stephanie's age through the baby group. We get together once a week for lunch and alternate each others houses. It is really fabulous to have the support. Their babies are not as "quiet" as Stephie and they are having a harder time.

Love and rest to all,

Kipatte

[Vlada]

Question:
I bought these glass "Born free" bottles 9 OZ but they are soooo heavy, i don't think Tesa will be able to hold it because it is kinda hard on my hand when i am feeding her. So, what do i do, just use them for now untill she is ready to hold the bottle herself and then switch to plastic ones? I am afraid of the plastic nowadays, but the glass ones are super heavy. Also, at what age do they start holding the bottle themselves?
I like the fact that you can microwave the glass bottle , if i switch her to plastic bottle later i guess i could use the glass base of the ones i bought to microwave formula, hmmmm, so confusing...
Vlada

[Mandy J]

Hi Ladies,

I havent been around due to moving house and our internet connection has only just gone on!

The new house is lovely and to have a garden is fantastic, although not much sunshine, typical british summer time! To have a washing line is wonderful, I had a line of Ellie's nappies hanging out (they looked like a row of dead rabbits!)

I am trying to get Ellie to settle down a bit earlier at night (unsucessully so far!) I think I am letting her sleep too much in the mornings.
I am back at properly now, so I am trying to juggle feeding times/expressing times/sleep times!

The last couple of evenings I have just started to give Ellie some formula last thing at night, I feel that I am not producing enough to fill her up in the evenings. It has taken the pressure off me a bit, but I do miss her being totally reliant on me.

I was given a fantastic present for Ellie which was a huge wooden yoyo, with colourful patterns, Ellie quite likes it...but I'm having great fun with it, can't wait to play with all her toys at Xmas etc (2nd childhood coming up!...haha)

Pleased you are alldoing well, and lovely to see so many of you have posted again.

Mandy
x

[kipatte]

Hi Mandy:

Welcome back! The clothes line reminds me. When I moved to England from the states I could not believe anyone could live without a tumble dryer. I insisted on getting one for the house. I have never hung up clothes in my life. My neighbor says she wouldn't own a tumble dryer. And I am finding that most of my friends don't. Everyone has clothes lines here. So different from the U.S. in this respect.

I was sharing this with my father and he told me when they moved to Canada right before I was born, they were known as the crazy American's who hung their wash out on lines. Evidently the Canadians didn't do that.

It's fun to see how other cultures live. I am still learning new words here. The newest, oh criekie. I am not even sure how to spell it. They tell me it means oh goodness.

Bye for now,

K

[rebeccaj]

Hi kipatte, your post made me smile - I'm a Brit living in America (although moving home in September ...but that's a whole different post); I've lived here 3 years now and couldn't believe the size of the washer and dryer when we bought our house (and the fridge!). Fortunately or unfortunately, I couldn't live without the dryer now! People laugh at me when I say Crikey, Kanckered, Naughty or Boll#$ks!! ...and I definately get some funny looks when saying aluminium or route...the same language but so different. The first month i was here I went to Best Buys with my DH to buy electrical appliances as nothing we owned would work... we had a "cart" full of irons/tv/microwaves etc and couldn't get everything into the car...being resourceful I went inside and said to the friendly guy at the cash desk "excuse me sir, we have our trolley outside on the pavement and need some help getting the tele in the boot of the car..." needless to say he just looked at me blankly......!

Mandy, good to hear from you again. How was moving? as I said we are moving back to the UK in September and our stuff will take 8 weeks, haven't a clue what we'll do or how we'll manage. I'm desperately trying to get the girls into a routine which involves some serious naps - it will be interesting do this without their cots (another good old english word!).

I too give the girls a bottle of formula at night aswell as the boob as I was worried they weren't gettig enough. It definately helped them sleep longer.

I'm trying to follow the Baby Whisperer at the moment and although it's exhausting me it seems to be working. I also read teh book WC recomended which was great - it made me realise that the reason my girls don't like their buggy or are cranky at night is simply that they are exhausted. I was letting them nap in their swings rather then putting them in their cots and they weren't just getting enough. I'm only on day 2 of trying the new routine but already it's working.

Hope everyone is getting on well, take care all

Rebecca

[Cocoa]

Hi Ladies!!!

Wow!!! Its been a long time and I am so sorry... I have just been trying to catch up with doing things as a family that I missed the first couple of months on my maternity leave. I go back to work a week from Monday and I am actually looking forward to it. I really want to be in my "getting paid" routine and using my brain. I have had such baby brain its scary...

Well, I am divorcing but I will be remarrying my best friend... He is wonderful and loves the babies so much. I feel so good about it all. My DH (soon to be ex) and I get along really well now. I think this is what we needed... just to be parents separately... So wish me well!

Lets see... these babies were over 15 pounds at their 4 month check up last week! I have been separating the shots 1/2 on the well visit and 1/2 the next month which is a nurses visit only so we've seen quite a bit of the peds office!. My baby girl has terrible reflux and is now on zantac poor honey... She is also on that heavy formula with extra rice starch. I just tried the similac today and it seems to be staying down a little better than the enfamil which may be due to the fact that it is lactose free and the enfamil is not.

Baby boy is just a monster and he wakes up every morning smiling and giggling which makes all this hard work totally worth it. I heard a report that said that a baby's smile has the same dopimine effect on a person that illicit drugs has on the drug addicts brain. I totally believe it!

So - did you guys know that Sciteacher77 (Michelle) is pregnant? Yes - she had her transfer in May so she is due in Feb... I am so happy for her. Anyone hear from LisaPa? I haven't gotten an email from her but if you have heard from her let me know.

Rebecca! I just got your email in the PM today and Vlada yours did not work!

OK ladies... please email me those of you who have my email...I have pics to send!!!

xxxCocoa

[kipatte]

Hi Rebecca:
Your email made me laugh as well. I hope you have found the Americans as welcoming and friendly as I have found the brits. If you have not discovered it yet try out Lakeshore learning. They have color discovery boxes and the Alphabet boxes I can't wait to get. I can't get them in England and the shipping is ridiculous. I did order the color discovery boxes and paid for the shipping to England but will wait on the Alphabet boxes until we return to the U.S. I don't want to pay $69 in shipping!

Cocoa I am so happy for you. A lot to look forward to! Looking forward to more pics. It sounds like you are doing very well. I wish you all the best.

Stephie is starting to get grumpy when she misses naptime so I don't have the luxury of just loading her up and going whenever I want to. 16 weeks now. I can't believe it's gone so fast. We are going to Paris with her in September. This trip should be interesting.

Bye for now,

kipatte

[robinsonpr]

Wow that's great news about Sciteacher77! I haven't been checking any of the other boards, I barely find the time to keep up with this one!

Cocoa you have my sympathy with the reflux. One of my boys (Jack) had it really bad when he was born and was also on Zantac and the thickened formula (Aptamil Easy Digest). He's much better now and we've stopped giving him the Zantac but he's still on the thick formula. We found that propping the head of his cot up on books helped with keeping his milk down when we put him down to sleep. We also bought a couple of doomoo beanbags which are great as you can put it under a baby gym and keep him a bit more upright rather than lying him on a mat on the floor to play.

Are you girls out there with twins finding that don't really interact with each other very much? My 2 boys have barely look at each other, though when you lie them next to each other they sometimes hold hands which is quite sweet, but I think it's more by accident than anything! They have started looking at each a bit in the last week or so...maybe they'll start to play together soon!

My 2 are still sleeping really well, but I'm so nervous about taking them anywhere that might interfere with their little routine. My DH had a gig which took him away for the night on Saturday. I was due to go to my Dad's for the night which is an hours drive away. I started worrying the night before about the fact that there is only one cot there so one would have had to sleep in a travel cot, and the windows don't have thick curtains to black out the room. And in the end I called it off and got him to come and stay at our house to help me instead. I don't like being tied to the house and routine, but I just keep putting off doing anything as it's only just started getting easier. Anyone else finding it hard to do anything/go anywhere?

Love,
Hayley xx

[rebeccaj]

coco, congrats!! I am so happy for you and glad it all worked out - you deserve it after everything.

Also amazingly happy for Michelle! that is wonderful news.

Hayley, please share your sleep tips? my girls sleep ok at night (usually one 4am feed) but they are not good at naps and I can't get them to nap for longer than 40 minutes max. They are also wake each other up. i totally understand your routine situation, I'm the same and haven;t been anywhere for a long time. It's going to be interesting when we move. what's your schedule?

x

[robinsonpr]

Rebecca, I too have found naps really difficult during the day. They are good at night, we start bathing them at 6pm, then feed straight after and then to bed, so they are normally asleep by 7pm. They sleep till 6.30am which is great.

The daytime is a different story and very variable, but I've started getting them into a routine recently... after the morning milk at 7am they seem to get tired again really quickly, so I normally lie on the bed with them watching TV and they fall asleep there at around 8am...not for very long though, maybe 30-40 minutes. They then feed again at 10am. Next is the lunchtime nap at midday. For this one I put them upstairs in their cots, curtains closed so the rooms are pretty much blacked out. They don't normally fall asleep straight away on their own, I have to keep putting their dummies in, and as a last resort I will pick them up and rock them until they settle. This sleep would ideally be a longer one but like you I find they don't often sleep longer than 40 mins. Sometimes they will have maybe an hour but mostly it's 30-40 mins. They then feed at 2. They will normally get grumpy again at 3.30, so I get them to have a nap again at 4. This one I do downstairs on the sofa. I just make them up a drink (prune juice and water to help with constipation!) and they will normally fall asleep within minutes of getting the bottle in their mouths. This nap will only be 30 minutes or so. Then on to bathtime!

I found that if they miss any one of these naps it pretty much messes up the whole day. I also found that they don't sleep as well during the night if they don't have these naps during the day (you'd think it would make them sleep better as they should be dog tired!).

As for waking each other up, I found that my 2 did this when they were in the same room. I didn't want to split them up into seperate rooms but my DH did so I went with it. Since moving them into seperate rooms it has made a massive difference at night. If they wake up we can now leave them for a while to see if they can settle themselves back to sleep. We hear them on the monitors sometimes kicking about and cooing, but most of the time they go back to sleep themselves. We only go in if they start full on crying. When they shared the same room if one woke up and made any noises it would normally wake the other up.

They don't seem to miss being in the same room, I don't think they've even noticed! It's meant more expense because we had to buy another monitor, but it was definitely worth it.

If anyone else has got any other tips for daytime naps please share!

Hayley xx

[rebeccaj]

hayley, thanks for sharing your schedule, it's refreshing to hear another mum having a similar day to mine and its not just me having issues with inadeqate naps. i sometimes think i read to much and give myself a hard time that we're not getting 3x 1.5hr naps per day and a 12 hour stint at night! ...so mat goes like this, give or take an hour...

6:30 ish - bring girls into our room for nappy changes and morning play in bed with mum + dad

7am - feed (BF)

7:30 - dress, downstairs, play time

8:30 - nap in cot - this takes me 30 minutes to get them to sleep; lots of crying, picking up/putting down/rockng/shhh -ing....

somewhere between 9:30 and 10 - up and playtime

10 feed (BF)

10:30 - play/walk

11:30 - nap in cot - same as above; often the tears are worse

1pm - feed (BF)

1:30 - play or time to hit supermarket/target

2:30 nap - either en-route or in cot

4pm - feed (BF)

4:30 - play

6pm - bath, bottle (6oz), story, top up BF where they will fall asleep and transfer them to their cot usually around 7pm

10:30 - dream feed (BF)

somewhere around 4am - killer feed

thinking of taking your advice and separating them for naps

x

[rebeccaj]

forgot to add in the 8pm much needed glass of wine!! it's the first time i have to myself all day!

[Vlada]

Hello Girls,
I have to admit that napping is not the best with Tesa either, plus she doesn't sleep though the night either
She wakes up at between 6 and 7 AM, then her first nap is around 9 am and it can be anywhere between 45 min and 1.5 hours,
Second nap is around noon and the third one is around 2 or 3 pm. She goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm and then she usually wakes up to eat between 1 and 2 am , but she looses her binky A LOT during the night , so you can imagine how "much sleep " i get, some nights are better then the others though
I don't like staying home, so her schedule changes , her first nap she always takes in her bed at home and second and third she might take during the walk or while i am running errands or having lunches with my friends.
For example today she took her first nap at home as usual , but only for 45 min, but we went for a walk around noon and she slept for about 2.5 hours during the walk, so she didn't take her third nap and went to bed at about 7 15 pm.
I have started her on rice cereal a couple of days ago, she seems to sleep a little better at night. We will see if it continues though...
Vlada.

[kipatte]

Hi Ladies:

What wonderful moms we all are! Our babies are so lucky.

Regarding naps. I am using the two hour rule which seems to work. After she has been awake for two hours I calm her (either in swing or just put her down) for a nap and she usually goes right away. If I am out she falls asleep in the car seat so that is fine too.

6:00 awake to eat
6:30 sleep until 8:30
9:00 eat
11:00 nap
12:00 eat
12-2:00 awake
2:00 nap
3:00 eat
3:00-4:00 awake (only one hour awake here)
4:00 nap
5:00 awake until 7:00
7:00 bedtime routine

bye for now

kipatte