AUGUST 2008 ~ BUMP BUDDIES

[sharishu]

Hi ladies-

Tina- I am glad to hear things are looking up for your mom. I hope she continues to feel better.

Seltzer- How are you today? Hope all is well and that you're feeling better.

I posted some updated photos of Elia on photobucket. Check out my cutie if you'd like . I also wanted to report that I was able to give Elia an extra bottle before bedtime and WOW, what a difference in his sleeping! He started whimpering at 2am but I noticed he was still sleeping, so I put the pacifier in his mouth and he went right back to sleep, and so did I. The next thing I knew, it was 5am and Elia started crying! I almost started crying too out of sheer joy. Essentially, he slept for 8 hours last night. Woo hoo! I don't know if it was just a one time thing, time will tell. But I felt GREAT this morning, what a difference a night's uninterrupted sleep makes.

Have a great day everyone.

Shari

[tinaO]

Hello all!

Shari - congrats on the sleeping! Noah did two 4-hours sessions, so he slept 4 hours, fed, and slept another 4 hours. Not bad.

I wanted to post about the sleeping during the day. I was wrong! I finally had a chance to read more in the Baby Whisperer book and even though rest during the day is very important (which I had read), you don't want the babies to sleep too much and not for more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours at a time. Ha - Noah would never sleep that long - we are lucky if we get 45 min out of him...unless we are holding him! Anyway, sorry for the misinformation before.....

More later....

[sharishu]

Tina-
Same here re: sleeping during the day; some of his naps are (at most) an hour and fifteen minutes, and some are only half an hour.

I do have a new tip I wanted to share, from something I read in Babywise. After I feed Elia now, I give him some 'up' time. We sing, do supervised 'belly' exercises, etc. He is happy and smiley during this time. Then, I take my cue from him; when he starts to whine, I say "okay, you are tired, time for a nap". I then put him in his little stroller-bed with a pacifier, and before I know it, he's asleep! No rocking, no strolling, nothing! Well, sometimes (only sometimes, usually later in the day) I need to stroll him back and forth a little, but a BIG improvement over trying to put him down right after his feeding. I don't know if you all knew this already and I'm the slow one, but regardless, it makes life a lot easier. Actually, in the book it talks about letting the baby cry, but Elia doesn't cry, he just falls asleep. I am torn on the crying issue. I personally think he's too young to be left crying at bedtime. It feels wrong, anyway. What are your thoughts? Because I know there will come a time where I'll have to let him cry. What do you all think is an appropriate age to begin letting the baby 'cry it out' till he/she falls asleep?

Anyway, have a great day.

Shari

[tinaO]

Shari - Elia looks adorable in his pics!!! Glad things are going well. You are right about playtime after feeding. That is also what the Baby Whisperer recommends and what we do with Noah. Feed, playtime, then nap. Seems to work well! As far as letting the babies cry....I have never heard any expert recommend doing it this early. I believe most say after 3 months or longer. At this point, the babies need us. They need us to reassure them and this will in turn make them feel secure and protected and will benefit us all in the long run because they TRUST us if we listen to them when they cry. The books say that crying is their way of communicating. It is their voice. What I do with Noah is I put him in his swing and he fusses for just a minute and I keep talking to him and touching him and within minutes, he begins to relax and usually goes to sleep. I am lucky - Noah is really an easy baby. He just isn't very fussy. Then again, he has had both my husband and I on him at all times, so he gets a lot of attention. That will change soon unfortunately. I start back to work in a little over a week. I dread it. My job is so anxious for me to get back and my boss says he is counting down the days. Ugggghhhh. That just means lots of work waiting for me.

We had a wonderful day with Noah today. We took him to breakfast (he slept the whole time), ran errands, went to my mom's place, the bookstore, Babies R Us, etc. It was WONDERFUL! My husband and I feel very blessed to have had this time with him...just the three of us for the last 6 weeks. Noah was sooo well behaved. It was nice. We are going to my brother's house tomorrow for my youngest nephew's birthday - he will be 4 years old. Should be fun.

Well, I need to go. My husband is feeding Noah and I need to get ready for bed. Hopefully Noah has a good night! OOOOHHH!!! Before I forget, a friend recommended a great book called "Bringing Up Boys". I just bought it and for those of us with boys, it seems to be a great book. I will share what I learn though, too.

Take care all!!

Seltzer - how are you???? I am thinking about you!!!!

[CT_Michele]

Hey Ladies,

Sorry I haven't been around much. Now that I am taking Ella out more, we have been busy visiting and running lots of errands.

I just wanted to jump in and say that I have read that there is no such thing as spoiling a baby less than 6 months old, as far as picking them up when they are crying. I have actually read that infants under 6 months old who are tended to when upset actually cry less later, because they are more trusting and content.

Ella is doing great. She fusses every now and then, but is good most of the time. She is going for some longer stretches of sleep at night now. Last night it was like 6 hrs. I think she is starting to understand the routine and that nighttime is for sleep. We are planning on challenging ourselves this upcoming weekend. Next weekend is my husbands last weekend off before he goes back to work, so we are going to visit my brother in rochester, ny. My bro came to see Ella the weekend she was born, but is dying to see her again. This may be our only chance for a long time since I refuse to drive to upstate ny in the winter. It is a 6 hr drive, but we think we are ready to try. Wish us luck!

Tina and Shari- I love the pics of Noah and Elia. Shari, I especially like the one were Elia is wide eyed, so cute. I added some of my favorites of Ella.

I hope all the other mommy's are doing well. I will talk to you all soon.

[seltzer]

Hey everyone,

I LOVE all the pics on photobucket. Boy are the babies growing! Ella, Noah, and Elia are all so cute. I posted a few more of Keira. She is now 9 weeks, I can't believe it.

I will post more later...

[tinaO]

Hi all. Well, Noah is back to sleeping 5 hours at a time...at least that is what I am going to tell myself as he did it last night! We had friends over yesterday to watch football and we had such a nice time. Noah was really good. We put him to sleep at around 10:15 p.m. and then he slept until 3:30 a.m. Then went back to sleep after eating until around 7:30 a.m. Not bad! Hopefully he keeps it up as I start back to work in one week. I DREAD IT! I just can't stand the thought of it right now.

What is everyone's babies doing as far as sleeping right now at night? I am trying to determine what I should expect. And what time are you putting them to bed?

Noah is finally putting on some weight and it weighing 10.5 pounds now. Took him some time....

Ok, better run. Everyone has been so quiet!!! I hope you are all doing ok....

Tina

[tinaO]

Hello ladies! Where is everyone hiding?

Well, little Noah has become a dream!!! He is now sleeping at least 5 hours!! Last night, he slept for 6 hours!! Then he went back to bed after eating and slept another 3 hours. I am so excited!!! He was so gassy last night and I worried he would be up all night....not so thankfully!!

I have to admit that the schedule of eat, play, sleep is working SO well for us. I can actually predict what he wants now. After he eats, he wants to play. After he plays, he doesn't even want to be held...he wants to sleep!!! He loves sleeping in his swing now. It is wonderful! You drop him in there and he pretty much goes right to sleep. Rebecca - thank you for telling me about the Baby Whisperer book - it has helped so much!! We also are still using the Huggies diapers and they have worked so much better for us.

Ok, does everyone have their baby Halloween costumes all picked out yet???

I better run. Gotta get some things doen around here. Take care all!!

Tina

[seltzer]

OK Tina,please tell me how you actually implement the EASY routine! I've been reading the book but don't completely understand how to put it into place. E.g., Keira won't always eat enough at feeding times...she's a snacker. And she falls asleep usually (but not always) when she's eating. And in order to get her to sleep each night she cluster feeds all evening, on and off. I am trying to have her on somewhat of a schedule. In the evenings I give her a bath, which she loves. She sleeps from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., drinks 6 ozs., and then sleeps for another 3-4 hours, drinks 4 oz., and sleeps for another 2-3 hours. Gotta run, she is crying...more later...

[tinaO]

Seltzer - Well, I am not positive other than focus, focus on the routine as much as possible. I can't tell you what a difference it has now made in Noah. He is becoming so predictable...which is what you want. He gets up, eats, plays a bit, and then typically wants to sleep. I don't even have to guess - I just KNOW now because of EASY. A little while ago I put him in his swing to nap...which he did. Then he woke up fussing pretty loudly. I went ahead and fed him and then he pooped. We cleaned him up and he played for about 10 min (much shorter than normal). I picked him up and thought to myself that he didn't sleep long enough earlier, so I dropped him in his swing. He went to sleep almost immediately and has been in there napping for the last hour. It has changed our lives!!! We now have so much more time to ourselves. Eat, Play, Sleep. I just keep emphasizing that to him and he seems to be getting it now. It is weird. The only time we seem to grapple with is the time between the sleep and the next feeding. He seems to get kind of fussy sometimes like, "Ok, what is next"? It seems like he is hungry sooner than what I would expect during the afternoon and sooner than 3 hours...but because he is sleeping longer at night, I think that might be why...so I go ahead and feed him. He is drinking 4 ounces at every feeding now and is typically eating 7 times a day. We do give him 4.5 ounces at his 7 p.m. feeding.

Keira may not get into it right away. It takes time and the book will tell you that. You just have to stick with it. Don't let her guide you. Let the routine guide you. It can be difficult though, so stick with it. This is from the book. I will read a little more today on the "snacking" issue and see what might help. I wonder if she needs to eat more during the day to sustain her longer at night? I don't know. Can you wake her when she falls asleep while eating? Is she waking every night at the same time? The book says that is a pattern and not a need for food. I don't know if I believe that, but that is what it says. When she wakes in the middle of the night, is she actually crying?

I can tell you that we have a pretty predictable routine at night now...we go walking around 6 p.m. for an hour, come home, quick bath, eat at 7 p.m. or slightly after. He usually plays or sits with us in between. Then we feed Noah again around 9:15 p.m. (the 2nd cluster feed) and then off he goes to bed. The book encourages letting him nap in between the 7 and 9 p.m. feed which usually Noah won't do...but he did last night. We still rock him to sleep which sucks because the book tells you not to do this...calls it accidental parenting. Also, we bought a humidifier and it has helped block some of Noah's night time noises (we used to jump when we heard him make them) and I think he likes the sound. It has helped our allergies too which are terrible right now!!!

More later...let me do some more reading.

[tennisgurl]

Hi

ahhh I am sooo sorry to post - and get great replies and not be back-----so bad.......but I don 't have much help.....and I have been so overwhelmed...anyway Tina O THANK YOU THANK YOU for such a great reply.....you are a doll.....well here is an update

I randomly put Karolina in her crib at 7 pm and she ow sleeps from 7-2am I feed her and she sleeps until 6am......than it is sketchy.......

Tina O the 2 hour feedings I believe is what did it!!!!! great advice

anyway I will be signing on daily- I know no other new moms and this is a great support system that I desperately need...thank you ladies!!!!

My best...

[tinaO]

Tennisgurl - Glad the advice helped! It helped us, too! Noah is now sleeping at least 5 hours a night and then usually goes back down for another 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours. It is so much better!

Seltzer - Ok, read some more in the book. It sounds like you should be careful letting Keira fall asleep eating as she is using the nipple for something other than food....for comfort. Have you tried a pacifier? Noah loves his. Can you feed her more during the day...try adding an ounce or more to help sustain her for when the night approaches? The Baby Whisperer really encourages that. How often are you feeding her?

Ok, gotta run. Hope everyone is doing well!

[tryw8]

Aloha!

Cody just had his two month check up today. He's now 12 lbs. and 11 oz. and 23 3/4-inch long! And he's such a trooper. He did so well for his shots. He didn't even realize the first one was done. Only when the nurse was preparing for the second one, then the crocodile tears started falling and he had the really pitiful cry. I just wanted to pick him up and hold him forever.

No wonder my arms, my shoulders and wrists are feeling the aches when I go to bed at night. My cutie chunker is getting heavier.

I've got to go. I hear him crying. It's time for another dose of Children's Tylenol.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Karen

P.S. - I go back to work on 11/4.

[tinaO]

Hi! Where is everyone? I started back to work and am losing my mind!!! UGGGHHH!!!

Noah slept through the night last night - we were shocked!! He slept from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. We could not believe it. Maybe he knows mommy needs it now that I am back at work. I bet he doesn't do it again tonight!! He usually doesn't do more than 5-5.5 hours at a time.

Karen - glad the shots went well. I DREAD THEM! Noah has his next week. I am glad Cody did well. Oh how I hate the crocodile tears!!! My wrists hurt, too. Lifting Noah is taking its toll on them. I am anxious to see how much Noah now weighs.

Ok, gotta run. Hope all is well with everyone!

[2ndtimer]

Hi Everyone!
I just got back from vacation and it was great. We spent some time up in the White Mountains in NH and then in Acadia NP in Maine. We did some hiking and sightseeing, DH took a lot of leaf pictures. He's a pretty good amateur photographer -some of his work is in a museum in Chicago. On our trips I usually do some sketching, colored pencils & pastels. This time Connor took up most of my time but I did get a little art work done.
Connor did great on vacation. He is still sleeping through the night from 10 to 7 or 8am. He got a little fussy a few times, but overall it wasn't that much harder than traveling with our dog.
I start back to work on Friday and I'm really stressed out. Not the work, but stressed about Connor starting daycare. I'm sending him to a nice place, but I haven't been away from him for so long. Tina, how is it going for you back to work?
Well, I better get to bed now. Hope everyone is doing well.
Rebecca