Hellobee Boards

Oh and I forgot to wish you ladies and babies a happy valentines.

@dagret: I hope your MIL gets better so you can go to the show!

@allison: During the day, I totally let D guide me. In the morning, he kind of cluster feeds - he eats every hour and a half or so. Around 10 or 11, he falls asleep (after being up since 7:30), and then he eats every 2-4 hours until around 6, when he starts cluster feeding again. He eats almost constantly (not really, but it feels like it) until I take him upstairs for bed around 8. He nurses for 15-45 minutes till he falls asleep and I can put him in his crib. He sleeps until 2, wakes for a feed, goes back down til 5:15, nurses again and goes back down till 7:30. The nighttime feeds are so routine, you can almost set s watch to it. If he wakes up at 2:15, he sleeps till 5:30. This morning, he woke at 1:45, and I was not at all surprised when he woke again at 5. It's almost comical.

@oliviaoblivia: happy valentine's day to you and your little one--how adorable and sweet! you are a saint for making it through those hourly feedings. you must have been completely exhausted.

@littlebug: i'm so impressed that you can articulate some kind of schedule for little D! i have a vague idea that little E feeds every 2 to 2.5 hours (it used to be about every 3 hours, sniff sniff), but it's so variable that i can't really remember around what times he eats. maybe i should pay more attention!

@dagret: i was having a really hard time figuring out how much awake time and stimulation little E needed after a feeding. when i saw that newborns only have 45 minutes to 2 hours of awake time, including the feeding (which takes about 40 minutes with burping, keeping him awake for nursing, and diaper changing), i have become really strict about putting him down soon after a feeding is done. i'm totally with you on not keeping him up long--he usually yawns 45 minutes to an hour after waking up. tell DH that your peeps on the hellobee board agree with you! not that he would put much stock in what we say, haha.

@edelweiss: I can only do that thanks to Baby Connect. I actually just went through the last few days to see if I could notice a pattern.

Today, of course, he's nursing almost non-stop, except for a 2-hour nap from 11:30-1:30. He falls asleep, but as soon as I try to put my bra and shirt back in order, he wakes up and starts to cry. Gotta be a growth spurt. Hoping it doesn't last long - my sister and brother-in-law are coming to visit tomorrow night!

@littlebug: omg, I lurrrve baby connect! Totally addicted. But it's so much easier to see patterns/when he needs things.

@edelweiss: it is so exhausting. Especially in the morning when he's cluster feeding and 4.5 hrs have gone by with him only taking 15 min catnaps. Sigh.

@coacheswife123: @dagret: @littlebug: okay, i'm embarrassed to say that i use baby connect also, but i'm living so hour-to-hour these days that i mostly look at it to figure out when the next feeding is going to be and how long i have been nursing during any given session--i should really take a look at the summary!

i am trying to get my husband to use it more religiously. he does bottle feedings in the evenings. speaking of, i have to learn not to hover over him while he bottle feeds and puts the baby down for his naps. he's being really patient with me but i am admittedly pretty controlling these days!

how have you all been dealing with sharing responsibility with the dads?

@edelweiss: dad changes a diaper here and there. Aka: I'm not really sharing responsibility. I'm trying to work on it though!

@coacheswife123: i know, my husband can sleep through so much! one night at 2am i woke up because i could hear little E crying in his room. husband wasn't in our bed, so i thought maybe he was trying to soothe the baby, but lo and behold when i walked to the nursery, i passed through the living room and husband was passed out peacefully on the couch! the upside is that i have no qualms whatsoever bringing the baby into our bed for a dead-of-night or very-early-morning nursing session because i know husband can sleep through it pretty well.

@littlebug: dude, you cook dinner? you absolutely rock!

yes, i also have to remember that my way isn't the "right" way, and to just let husband do things on his own. he'll figure things out and he'll feel more responsible/involved. i think communication (as opposed to criticism/correction) will be key for us, because while i won't want to second guess him, i also want us to be on the same page when it comes to issues like sleep training. i know that's a little down the road, but i really want both of us to put in the effort now to try and capture that elusive "drowsy but awake" stage before putting little E down in his crib or bassinet.

@dagret: boo!

D is napping on the boppy in my arms right now. He's just starting to wake up,and totally farted like an old man. So funny. How come baby farts are cute/funny?! Ha ha.

Question: how much did your lo's take during a feeding at 1 month? D is supposed to eat a little over 2 ounces every 3 hours, but it's just not happening. I'm wondering if he would prefer eating more or less often but he doesn't wake up on his own consistently. I'm about to lose it still being in the hospital!

@coacheswife123: I talked to her and she did offer...we are trying to figure out logistics still.

L took bottles last week but all of a sudden he doesn't seem to want them. Today I think it might have been bc DH came in the nursery mid feeding to change him where I was pumping...

Um, and I'm pretty sure DH fed L some spoiled breast milk the other day. He refuses to taste it first.

So my mom is coming to watch L tonight ( she lives 2.5 hrs away! ) she is the best. I got the scoop on timing from a friend who saw m & sons in dc last week. So we will be away from him from 6 pm - 1 am. Eek!

DH has an ac adapter plug for a cigarette lighter- hopefully my pump won't blow it out. Bc my boobies, they will be a hurtin.

@coacheswife123: I'm so sorry. We (DH and I) had a rough day yesterday too. Hang in there. One of my friends said the first few months of parenting were the most difficult things she's ever been through in her marriage.

My friend sent me this Huffington post article - I thought it was so true!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/rachel-hollis/advice-for-new-moms_b_2536782.html

@jedeve: soooo grunty! And I'm a light sleeper so even when he is asleep I have trouble resting ! We put a noise machine on our room and it has helped some !

My signature scent these days is breastmilk + Tucks pads. FTW.

@allison: i feel you. i'm always changing because it gets all over my clothes and i'm a leaky mess.

anyone on instagram? i'd love to follow you and your little ones! let me know on my wall and i'll share!

@coacheswife123: Ugh, I'm sorry. So far, the only fight we've had has been about his mom coming to visit unannounced and bringing his niece along, who'd just been tested for mono - he was mad at me because I wouldn't let her hold D! I flipped out on him for that one.

@jedeve: The lack of consistent, deep sleep is just now starting to catch up with me. My sister and brother-in-law were here last night, and I was really struggling to stay awake past 9 I put D to bed. And I am starting to nap during the day when he's napping - since he's refusing to sleep anywhere but on me during the day, I don't have much if a choice, really. But yeah, it's definitely catching up. I'm tired, but haven't reached the total exhaustion I was expecting.

@jedeve: how did last night go? kudos to you, super mama!

is anyone else having a hard time getting their little one to fall and stay asleep? he's 4 weeks old now. we try to put him down after swaddling and rocking him, and singing a lullaby. we try for the drowsy but awake stage but that sure is elusive. anyway, 100% of the time he fusses 10 minutes later, and we repeat the process at *least* 3 times (sometimes more, especially for morning naps). i don't know what we're doing wrong, or if this is just normal baby behavior--i mean, i'm sure some babies are absolute angels about sleeping (SO JEALOUS), but am i alone?

part of me is tempted to just let him fall asleep while we're holding him or in a carrier (and that does happen once or twice a day) because he sleeps much better if he's completely konked out when we put him in the crib, but i don't want to get into that habit. of course my stubbornness means that little E isn't sleeping as much as he should with all the wake-ups, so it's a catch 22. argh.