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@Mae: Gio has a really faint murmur too. We noticed it at the last two appointments but his doc assured us that is is extremely faint and very common in young babies and usually goes away on its own. I researched and found the same to be true. So we're just monitoring it for now and if by 6 months nothing has changed, we'll see a specialist.
Re:work. I am scheduled to return on August 25th, but DH and I are unwilling for me to return under my current arrangement. I recently told my boss this and we have a meeting on August 4th to discuss an alternative arrangement. I'm requesting to work from home 4 days a week, for half the day, and to commute (three hours in total on a good day) one day a week and work a full day. I'm asking for a lot, and not sure which way it will swing, but if they're unable to grant it I'll be a SAHM for a while. Well... not entirely SAHM since we have a home business we recently started.
Also, my mom is coming back! She's a principal and summer vacation is in so she's popping across for two weeks. I cannot wait! DH seems even more excited than I am - he LOVES her food. Can't wait for her to see Gio. He's changed soooo much since she last saw him at 2 weeks old.
The weekend has been great so far. Spent Fri knocking about with a girlfriend of mine and yesterday Gio and I went for pizza and dessert with SIL so DH could get some quiet at home to prepare to preach at church today. We had a fun time! Church this morning was amazing and now DH is out at a bachelor party and Gio and I are enjoying some quiet at home - he's sleeping snuggly on my chest now, sweetly moaning every few minutes.
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@twodoghouse: aw, that's so awesome how excited they were that you came home
Granted I haven't left Fiona for more than 3 hours yet... but she never really seems to care when I come home lol. I'd be psyched if she ever seemed particularly excited to see me!@Glitter: So glad your mom is coming back! Also bummer that Gio has a murmur too! Sounds similar to Fiona's. And the doctor did say that she thought we could just wait and see. But when I asked her more questions she said that she could "be convinced either way" on seeing a specialist so I just felt like we should do it. I think I"m probably being paranoid... but I'm a worry wart. Can't help it
Is anyone starting to think about baby sign language? DH and I spend so much time talking about how much easier life would be if we knew what Fiona wanted (in particular if she could just tell us if she wanted more milk or if she was done). I know that at 2 mo she is way too young to understand signs and we're at least 4-6 months from her being able to sign back-- but I was doing a bit of reading on it and it seems that the earlier you start signing to them, the earlier they MAY sign back. So I think I'm just going to start with a few basic signs because it really doesn't take much effort on my part. I think just mama, daddy, milk, more, and all done.
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@Mae: I wanted to with DD, but never ended up doing it! She knows the sign for "all done" when eating and that's it! The only person I know who really did it, her guy is younger than my DD. He still isn't talking because he just signs! Knows/understands, but signs back! She wishes she wasn't so good with him with it, but who knew.
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@Beebug: yea i have heard that can happen. a friend of mine has a 2 year old and she said that at his 18 mo appointment with the ped, the ped suggested she pretend to stop understanding his signs because he still mostly just signed even though he COULD speak. she refused and at 2 now he mostly talks and rarely signs. I sort of don't care if she talks slower as long as she can communicate. Via sign or vocally is fine with me, and I feel like her being able to communicate earlier would be helpful due to all of our feeding issues. if I was EBF I probably wouldn't care so much.
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13.2lbs! My 14.1 was a little ambitious apparently!
Shots sucked, poor guy, but he seems to be pretty normal. A gift of extra sleep tonight would be fabulous!
I am meeting someone today thru a fb Mom swap to sell most of his nb and 0-3 stuff too! Crazy how fast they grow.
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Little dude was really off today, nursed like crap, had an explosive puke (he hadn't in at least a week, thought we were in the clear!) and slept brutally. I just gave him some Tylenol and nursing now (he's pretty much asleep on me), hope he has an ok/normal night. He had awful frantic (painful) cries at times too! Wonder if needle spots were sore?
I got 3oz "pumped" today, I have 18oz now! Pretty good for no pump and 3w! Nice to have a little stash coming along, my goal (I think doable) is 30oz by my surgery, more is bonus and if I need more than that for him if whatever drugs I am on wrecks my breast milk for x amount of time.
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@Beebug: aw, I'm sorry you're having a rough time after the shots. Poor C.
I hope he sleeps good for you tonight! Also thats amazing you hand expressed that much!
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Just wanted to pop in to say hi. Love reading all the updates. We are doing good. 2 mos appt is next week. Took both boys for errands to the dmv and grocery shopping by myself today and all went well. Only 2 1/2 more weeks until I start back to work :(. I don't want to jinx it but baby boys nighttime sleep has been amazing 9p -5a! DS1 didn't sleep that well until he was 1! We will see if it continues.
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Ugh, I go back to work in less than 2 weeks. I think it's harder this time because I'll be leaving two little boys behind!
Leo had his 2 month appt last week. My little chunk was
14 lbs 12 1/2 oz. The kid loves to eat! -
@Mae: He finally went down at 8, let's see how long this lasts! I better get to sleep!!!
@sungirl: @Mamasig: boo work, the time goes TOO fast!
I couldn't imagine going back so soon, damn USA, lol.I put C in the exersaucer today, took a video, omg he thought the monkeys were going to get him on one part of it! He was swatting and batting and cackling at them! DD didn't go in it until like 4+ m at least so I felt insane trying it, he loved it. I am not ready to make it a habit, but it was great for no napping grump to have 5 minutes to put him down and I ate and drank, I needed to refuel with two hands.
C is really noisy in his sleep tonight, dreams or what, poor dude, I think he really is hurting.
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@Beebug: I hope last night went well for you! We had a ROUGH NIGHT last night. Ugh I'm tired. Fia has been consistently trying to fall asleep around 8 and we usually try to keep her up until 9 because that makes the timing right to eat, but last night I timed things right so I could feed her at 8 and she fell asleep at 8:30. All was well until 2:10am when she woke up half swaddle broken and whiny. She hasn't wanted to eat earlier than 4:30 am in a month so I really didn't think she was hungry (she ate only 30 min earlier than usual and ate 6oz rather than her normal 4) so I checked her dipe-- very wet so I changed and reswaddled her, put her down and binky'd her. No dice. She kept grunting and whining and trying to escape despite my trying to calm and rock her until 3:30 when I decided to try feeding her and she ate like a champ then passed out. Okay... then she woke up at 4:30 (right after I got back to bed after pumping) and was up for 15 min rolling around/kicking. Then she was up at 5:30 again, fighting fighting fighting to break her swaddle. tried wrapping her tighter, no dice. dipe was fine. tried feeding her, no dice. and she was just too upset then to sleep and was up until 8am before taking a 30 min nap
This is the 3rd night in a row she's been up fighting her swaddle-- although last night was by FAR the worst. I know she's sort of too young for it (10 weeks yesterday) but I'm going to attempt to swaddle wean. I feel like she she just is so upset about her arms being bound up she is losing a lot of sleep. But I'm worried that she won't sleep as well unswaddled either.
I have her down for her first nap sans swaddle now. I still wrapped her body but left her arms out. took her 30 min to fall asleep despite lots of yawning (usually takes 3-5 min) but she's been asleep now about 20 min. fingers crossed she does okay. I need sleep yo.
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@Mae: from day one our swaddles were arms out/up, and we already don't swaddle, maybe I am missing something (likely!) but it should be okay for you to wean her? I found with DD se fought it so much from day one she unsettled herself more and same with him, so we just really never stuck with them!
Had a decent night. He went down at 8, woke 12:30 and 5:30 to nurse. I usually fear a 5:30 nurse will wake DD, but it didn't and I even got to get back into bed for a bit before she woke, and he slept til 8:30!
He hasn't really napped yet, so I am selfishly hoping he will time his with hers!
We picked up our double stroller this am, well our second one, haha! The person who gave us her double wants it back (it is garbage, she well used it before giving to us, so I don't get it, but whatevs!) and I am soooo pumped I got one I wanted! Can't wait to run with it once C is old enough and my knee is ready....probably about the same time.
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My depo shot spot is SO bruised. I got it in my backfat and I forgot how wimpy I am with that stuff, ugh!
Both kiddo's napping. I am bugdetting, need a bit of a fresh start with the way this summer has gone, and now that I know what my pay will be while off, paying for two in daycare is going to be fun when I go back to work, only for one year though so I try to relax thinking about it.
Weird....we got new neighbours a couple weeks ago, house directly across from us. Lady came across today to introduce herself. She said she could tell I was on my own (but asked if it was my Mom's car who was here sometimes, yes!). Said she worked for X nanny company (a good one around here I am aware of) for 20 years in the city and was looking to get back working now that they had moved out here. I told her I was off until next August and we could go from there. It was weird, but like....how amazing would it be to have her across the road IF it could work out? I was/am pretty sure we will use a home daycare again, but that would be hard to turn away from if it could work, we'll see, clearly not going to think about it now. She seems nice, two grown daughters who still live at home/attending university.
Are bf Mom's noticing their LOs nursing more efficiently lately? I feel like he's done in like 5 minutes or so now (give or take sometimes) and it's weird to me!
I am going to get a couple bottles in the next day or so to begin trying him on, for surgery want to make sure that isn't stressful for whoever will be feeding him. I know around this age for DD we gave her one bottle a day, but a few weeks into that she all out refused any type of bottle nipple and it was hell. It wasn't until I quit bf cold turkey at 4m did she finally have to take one, and that was awful too until she got going.
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@Beebug: That would be awesome if the neighbor worked!! Also I wish you luck with the bottle. You know about our struggles with boob and bottle-- and bottle refusal SUCKS. Fiona is still a little hit or miss with it (about 1 feeding per day-- at a randomly selected time-- she freaks out about)... but mostly she takes bottles fine now and it is so much less stressful. I don't think she's more efficient though? Not sure if it is the same with bottle babies but it takes her 15ish minutes to drink a 4 ounce bottle. If she's tired it can take up to 20+ min!
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@Mae: Yikes to your night! We haven't really swaddled at all because it's been so hot, dude just sleeps in a onesie most nights or a footed sleeper on the nights that aren't roasting. Should we be? Your comment about it being early to wean makes me think I missed some memo about this. That said, maybe this is why we never get sleep stretches longer than a few hours.
@Beebug: I haven't timed him but it did seem like he started to eat in shorter bursts over the last few weeks. His weight gain slowed a bit, too, but is still on curve, so I guess it's efficiency? DH got him to take his first bottle the other day by sticking it in his mouth while he was distracted looking around on a walk!
And he rolled from tummy to back today! So fun to see!
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@Mae: we tried swaddling during the first month but he never liked arms in, and it was too much work at night with diaper changes so we ditched it.
@Beebug: quite the opposite is happening here. He's taking foreverrr to feed as of late. I wonder if he just likes the comfort of the nipple because he's not always swallowing, but refuses to let it go. I worried my milk supply was low or my release was slow but I'm hand expressing easily so I guess not?
I have a meeting with my employer on the 4th. Asking for a work from home arrangement. We found a nanny who can watch him at home while I work. If the arrangement we want can't be granted I'll be SAH. I wouldn't mind at all (minus the extra cash). Being away from him makes me really nervous.
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@Glitter: good luck with your meeting! Sounds like either way things will turn out alright! I'm really surprising myself by wishing I could SAH a while rather than job hunt-- alas, stupid law school loans lol.
@anandam: If you're fine with how he's sleeping then no need to swaddle! I know a lot of babies don't need or want the swaddle from the start and they do just fine. We swaddled from day 1 in the hospital for nighttime because Fiona just has a hard time settling without it. She flails so much and wakes herself up! And for some reason we never really tried for naps (and her naps were crap) until a few weeks ago and once I started swaddling her, her napping got 10x better. so for her I think it is good.
Tonight so far has been better. She slept until her normal wake-up-for-food time of 4am with only one brief wakeup before (and she fell asleep again before i even got her up). I put her back down about 10 minutes ago when I came downstairs to pump-- watching her on the monitor and girlfriend is WORKING at breaking the double-swaddle (learned about on my other thread about swaddling) but so far its not budging and she seems to be settling. Too early to call it a victory but I am hopeful!
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Best night on record last night! Down 9:30pm or so, didn't wake until 4:40am!!! Huge storm around 2:30 had me up, but oh well.
Positive knowing it is possible, come on consistent long stretches, I am ready for you!!
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@Beebug: aw I'm so hopeful that this is the beginning of more good nights for you!!
Also happy to see the May moms up on the board, we've all been quiet
Today has been a little challenging. Fia got woken up early from her first nap (dog barked) and it just sent us in a tailspin cycle of too tired to eat, to hungry to sleep. So there's been lots of crying and short naps. But, tomorrow is a new day! Also I feel like we've done well this weekend at sort of living our lives and being less tied to "baby jail" lol. We went to a restaurant with her for the first time yesterday and she was a little fussy but never actually cried (win), and also took her to a birthday party last night (where she did cry but they are good friends of ours and we knew they didn't care so we stayed). And this morning we had other friends over for brunch. They have a 10 mo and she started crying which set Fia off crying and it was sort of comically awful. But.. new normal right? We try to do stuff and sometimes it works and sometimes not so much!
Also have her cardiologist appt in the morning. I'm being a bit nervous even though Im sure it will be fine. Just anxious to get it over with and hear that she's a-ok.
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@Mae: Thinking of you for your appointment today!
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@Mae: thinking of you today. Hope your appointment goes well.
Anyone struggling with a baby that just doesn't want to eat any more? I think I'm going to call the ped and an lc because we had this same problem with W at just about the same time. He only gained 1.5lbs between his 2 and 4 month appointments and totally fell off the growth chart so of course I'm worried about it happening again. Especially since it's been a real struggle to get G to nurse for more than a couple minutes and I tried to weigh him and it looks like he maybe gained half a lb max since his last appointment like 3 weeks ago.
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@anandam: @skipra: Thanks ladies! Clean bill of health! It was a really hard morning on all of us, we were at the cardiologist for 3 hours! Fia got all sorts of things done including blood oxygen, blood pressure, pulse, an EKG, and an ultrasound of her heart! Poor little peanut was such a trooper throughout and never melted down until her ultrasound, at which point we'd been there for 2 hours and it had been 4 hours since she had slept (I had hoped she'd sleep in the car on the way there but the hospital is sort of in the ghetto and the road was too bumpy!). I felt horrible for her but I'm so grateful that we went and got an all clear. The doc had hoped he could tell with just an EKG and listening to her heart what the murmur was but he said he just couldn't, hence the u/s. That definitively showed that she is fine, though! He said it isn't even a "fine for now and we'll watch it." It's a "her heart is perfectly healthy and when you walk out that door don't ever think about this again." So grateful
re: feeding--- not really more than usual? But feeding is always a struggle for us so I don't know. Feeding issues are so stressful, I'm sorry G is giving you a hard time
Do you think he is maybe getting distracted? I've noticed sometimes if I have the TV on Fia won't eat but if I take her up to our bedroom and keep the light off so it's dim and rock her in the glider she will. (sometimes. and sometimes she flips her shit and refuses to eat regardless! Babies man. )
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@Mae: yay for clean bill of health! So happy to hear that.
I'm sure part of the feeding issues are environment because he does do better in the glider but...it's just not always possible because I have to watch W too and it's tough upstairs whereas our downstairs is more open. G flips out when I try to nurse him on the couch and much prefers if I either walk around or bounce on the ball but that gets tiring! And even then he gets mad after just a minute or two.
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@skipra: poor guy and poor mama
I hope you figure it out soon!
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@Mae: glad you got good news at your appt!
Been struggling the last few days with naps. I was so structured with DS1 having scheduled nap time but with having two I've just been letting DS2 nap whenever and wherever but now that his is more aware that hasn't been working. He sleeps good in his car seat or in the carrier as long as I'm moving but seems to do best on his crib swaddled. So I'm trying today to make sure he gets his naps so I can get my happy go lucky baby back. 2 month appt on Wed. Interested to see how his stats compare to DS1.
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@skipra: walk around!? Haha that is amazing.
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@Beebug: oh yeah i bounce/rock him while walking with my boob out. Only way he'll latch on. I'm sure it's quite the sight!
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@Mae: great for clean bill of health! Hope Fia can nap solidly this aft.
Anyone have a consistent bedtime every day for their kiddo's yet? I'm so all over the place with routine and timing, I think partly a product of being on my own, but think I am getting him too late (though don't think he is ready for too early yet). Was thinking of making a strong effort for 8:30. 9 seems like I miss it some nights, and then he's SO hard to get down.
I also want to stop nursing to sleep. I didn't do it ever with DD and am being lazy and doing it with him, I will regret it if I keep it up.
I am putting socks on his hands again as he wakes himself with his hands and we are swaddling every other time it seems too.
I feel very out of control lately. And his inconsistency in the nights is killing me mentally and I can't figure out how to get mysel thinking differently.
Took the kids to a playgroup this am, DS and a 5m old girl sat facing one another and gabbed forever, they were sooo cute. He was definitely bigger than her, the mom was shocked when I said his age.
Ok, both kids down, I should try to nap to fix my mood.
@sungirl: I'm struggling with this too. DS won't nap anywhere consistently and I really have to work to get him to nap. So I either stay home and do that, with varied success, or I get out, see if he naps and at least me and/or DD get some different stimulation.
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@skipra: I am also impressed with the walking and nursing! My LC suggested that and I looked at her like she had 3 heads. Nursing Fia required me to use both hands, a pillow to rest her on, and constant eye contact to make sure I was keeping her at the most precise right angle! lol
@sungirl: I can't imagine how hard it is with 2! I've also discovered that Fia sleeps best with a very set nap routine/schedule. Down 1.5 hours from whenever she last woke, swaddled, in the crib (well, pack n play), fan on, white noise going, binky in-- it's quite the production. On one hand it is nice because putting her down for naps is pretty easy now (although how long she stays asleep is still a constant struggle)-- but on the other it has made her less adaptable. She seems to really struggle to fall asleep anywhere else now unless she is just way beyond overtired into full out exhaustion.
@Beebug: We currently have a pretty set bed time for her of 9(ish). Last week we were trying closer to 8 because she seems to really want to sleep then, but we were having a lot worse results and it seems like if we keep her up until 9 she sleeps way better. I'm contemplating trying to move her bed time up in 10 min increments to see if we can move it to 8 without the early wake ups. Also, just to show you guys how truly insane I am...... this is what happens when you take a super type-a person and give her a baby. I sat down last week and mapped out every sleeping and eating session Fia had had since I stopped nursing to see if we could figure out precisely the recipe for good sleep both day and night lol. I know I'm crazy and I should stop trying to control things and go with the flow more, but I can't help trying! And I did at last figure out that heading up to feed and put her down at 9 was working way better than at 8. Black is when she was sleeping, blue is when she got fed, and grey is when she was in/out sleeping so restlessly it kept us up calming her.
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@Mae: OMG
There are no other words for that!!!
I mean that with kindness, lol.
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@Beebug: it's okay lol. I know I'm crazy
I think part of it is that I have a really horrible memory, especially since I've been home and the days just blend together. We use an app to track her eating and sleeping and it was bugging me like man... I know I had a great day with her Monday now what did I do? But I'm a very visual person so I thought if I did a whole week graph like that I could pick up patterns faster lol.ETA: and as you can see, the two nights before I made the chart were rough. So I was extra motivated to unlock the secret of sleep haha
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@Mae: interesting! I think it's amazing really, that is dedication!
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@Beebug: we have been doing 9 pretty consistently. My older DS goes down at 8 so it works well but it'd be much harder if I was on my own. I've only had to do that once and it was impossible.
@Mae: haha love the chart! I was like that last time too!
@skipra: I'm also impressed with the walking/ bouncing and nursing too. I've had to walk while nursing once or twice to get something for DS while he was eating and I thought I would drop the baby!
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@Beebug: Leo has been getting his last bottle around 8:30 and then is out for the night. My older son goes to bed when I do afterwards.
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@Beebug: We have a bedtime of 7:30/7:45. The routine generally starts at 6:45. I just stopped doing a dreamfeed and realized he will go about 6 hours...apparently I was disturbing him!
I haven't been contributing to this as I find ot difficult to do on my phone but I have been reading!
How often are your babes eating? S still eats every three hours.
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I looked at DDs baby book, and this age for her it was 8pm bedtime, 4am nurse, up for day between 7-8am!
I'm officially envious, lol.
Figured out why I'm so pissy, I have something that is trying to be a period! Between bf'ing and depo, really? Just my luck.
@cheesetomywhine: it is insane to me how clockwork this guy is, definitely every 3 hours!
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@cheesetomywhine: I'm not Breastfeeding but Leo gets about 5 oz every 2-3 hours. He's been starting to wake up only once at night but not consistently. Really hoping he sticks to this since I start back at work in a week.
@Mae: I used to try to figure out what worked with my older son. I was stressing myself out! And there were no patterns! I think you are lucky she sleeps so well at night!
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@cheesetomywhine: During the day Fia usually eats every 3 hours, unless she takes a long/late nap. Mornings have been increasingly inconsistent though. Sometimes she'll only eat like 1 ounce when she gets up and then flips if we try to feed her more, then we wait like an hour or so and try again. My ideal schedule for her is 6/9/12/3/6/9, but sometimes she has a snacking day and sneaks a 7th feed in, and sometimes she wakes up late and eats a ton and only gets 5 feeds. I sort of wish I could do a dream feed with her because we put her to sleep at 9 and then I pump at 10:30 and go to bed at 11. I feel like if I fed her at 11 then she'd make it until 7 or 8 in the morning without waking up (she usually wakes up around 5-6 at this point to eat), but Fia does not understand the concept of dream feeds (or maybe I don't?). If she's sleeping she doesn't suck, and if you wake her up to eat she is pissssssed lol
@Mamasig: believe me, I knock wood and count my blessings daily! I really feel like people must be given what they can handle because the nights where she's had bad nights and been up from 2 on, I've about lost my damn mind. I don't function well on no sleep and I don't know how I'd survive a kid who didn't sleep overnight. I've had my share of challenges with all the c-section/breastfeeding/feeding issues, but I guess I'm capable of handling those bc I'm (moderately) well rested haha.
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Struggling not to lose my cool.
Been up an hour, he nurses for like 10 mins but will not settle, got the burps, conks out (I've tried crawling into bed twice!) but won't stay down, he was just up 2 hours ago, he did this last night too. Shoot me now. Enough is enough.
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@Beebug: We've been on the every two hour feeding schedule the last couple nights too (well, and all day too, but I can handle that then!). They are also protesting naps and go long stretches where they WILL NOT be put down or else. My only hope of sleeping yesterday was to drive them around (worked for about 20 min) and stroller walk, but they didn't really fall asleep in it. What gives? This is exhausting! I presume it's a phase they are in but I hope they move on fast!
Granted I haven't left Fiona for more than 3 hours yet... but she never really seems to care when I come home lol. I'd be psyched if she ever seemed particularly excited to see me!
I hope he sleeps good for you tonight! Also thats amazing you hand expressed that much!
This is the 3rd night in a row she's been up fighting her swaddle-- although last night was by FAR the worst. 
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