Hellobee Boards

@shortcake: welcome back and congrats on the big transition back to work. That is wonderful that you feel good about your care provider. There is a care provider that I am trying to hook up with and I told her that I will even go back to work at whatever month suits her (in Canada I have maternity benefits for 1 year, but I would feel comfortable going back earlier with this lady with LO). I have no tips re formula or plane rides, as we haven't done either and dont' have plans to.

I know I said I'd hold off on reporting about my new schedule (not EASY). Well, I started feeding before AND after naps and this has indeed cured Nico of the excessive spit-up. Now he just spits up like a normal baby, in my opinion. Based on what I've read, all the extra spitting up likely had to do with my forceful let-down, and by feeding more frequently, the force isn't as strong. Still trying to figure out if it is better for me to alternate breasts with feeds or do the same breast before and after the nap. (I have oversupply issues). Maybe I'll make a thread about that.

@shortcake: Welcome back and congrats on returning to work! Lulu is so cute!! Interesting stuff re: teething. I assumed it hurt. I'm thinking of introducing formula at 4 months, too, or perhaps even sooner (LO is 14 wks on Thursday). I exclusively pump and am on a dairy free diet and I'm really over the diet. I have at least a month of dairy-free milk stored so am thinking of weaning pumping at 4 months and getting him to 5 months on my milk. I'll need to do a soy formula, though.

@duckduckkristen: That's great about the sleep!! I sometimes feel guilty for wanting alone time, but isn't it amazing???

@cvbee: Yikes your night sounds just awful. Hope you can squeeze in some downtime today....

@regberadaisy: OK, that's some progress!!

@cvbee: Interesting re: the spit up. I commented on your thread and I think that if you want to help tame your supply you are supposed to feed twice in a row on the same side if your LO feeds more than once every 3 hours. So in your case it would be left upon wakeup, left before nap, then right upon wakeup, and right before nap. I recently changed Tyler to a medium flow nipple (from the slow flow nipple) and his spitting up has increased. But it only takes him 10-15 mins to take his bottle now and before it would take like 40! And, he's pissed if I try to give him the slow flow nipple during the day., though I do give him slow flow overnight and since he is all business during those feeds it usually only takes him 20 minutes.

@mrsdaredevil: Love Willa's smiles. What a ham!!

@marriedandlovingit: What a long drive for you guys! I forget, is Cooper formula fed now? Congrats on the rolling over milestone!!

@LAGS: Naps are totally hit or miss with us. Today he napped 45 minutes in the car, another 45 minutes in the car, and I just put him down for a nap and there's just no telling how long he'll nap. It could be 30 minutes but it could be 2 hours. The *binge naps* as I like to call them are GREAT for getting stuff done and relaxing but sometimes I get concerned they interfere with his night sleep (like yesterday he slept from 315-545 and then didn't have a really long night stretch). Who knows. If I want a longer nap out of him, I need to put him in the swing.

Last night's sleep was just OK. He slept only 4.5 hours, then 4, then 3 (which is definitely his longest overnight stretch, period). It would have been fine but since I'd been counting on a 6 or so stretch I went to bed an hour and a half after him....so thee first feed was sort of brutal. But, I'm happy to report that he seems to have stopped his waking up after 15 minutes of being down. A few weeks ago he started this thing where he seemed asleep but would cry 15 minutes later and we'd go in and soothe. Then he would do it once more and then be out for the night. He hasn't done it since Friday. Phew.

Today I met my mom for some outlet shopping - Tyler had so much 0-3/3 month clothing and it is all summer stuff. He's just about out of the 0-3 stuff (though in Carters and some other stores he can still fit) so we got a bunch of fall stuff in 3-6/6 month sizes. Since he hasn't been weighed since his 2 month visit I really don't know how big he is, but I'm guessing about 11 lbs.

Poor Sawyer was so grumpy last night and this morning, I think from his immunizations, despite me doing tylenol every 4 hours from 1 hour prior to the immunizations until this afternoon. I think we are finally over the worst of it though!

I am distracted by a possible health issue for my husband today. I will possibly post about it later, once we know more about the problem. My distraction almost led to disaster. I put Sawyer on the couch for a second while I walked a few feet away to grab our nursing pillow, and Sawyer rolled off of the couch. I saw the movement out of the corner of my eye and luckily caught him about 3 inches from the floor. I never leave him on the couch anymore, but my distraction almost caused him to get hurt.

@marriedandlovingit: I really should try teething tablets. I hesitate to try anything without clinical trials on Sawyer though. I am opposite most Moms I would rather give him tested medication than untested herbal remedies (LOL).

@shortcake: Congratulations on getting back to work! I can't imagine what a tough transition it would be, but having a great caregiver makes all of the difference.

@winniebee: Baby clothes shopping is such a crap shoot, every brand has such different sizing. Your sleep last night sounds awesome to me! I did get a 5 hour stretch again last night, so maybe we are getting over the hump of crappy sleep!

@regberadaisy: I don't think we will go trick or treating, or if we do we will actually drive around and visit our friends in town.

@regberadaisy: not sure about trick or treating yet. If we do do it, we'd go with DH's sister and her kids, since I would feel weird taking just a 6 month old! It would be fun to dress him up though.

@marriedandlovingit: Good luck with the rest of your drive! We had a hard enough time with a five hour drive; I can only imagine what you are going through. Hey, about the diapers, I bet you can take them and exchange them.

@regberadaisy: We won't trick or treat, but there is a baby party at our Early Years Centre where I do Mom Group, so we'll have a costume opportunity.

@MsMini: Nico has his immunizations tomorrow; thanks for the tips about the timing of the Tylenol and such....I was about to google it, but your expert advice came just in time! And, hey, thanks for mentioning about the off the couch issue.....it is something that we all really do need to become very aware of at this stage. We want to keep these babies safe! Wishes to your husband.

Sleep dust to all tonight! I'm going to bed now and hoping for the best, but in reality if wakings through the night is the worst I have to deal with, I've got it pretty good.

I have a question... and you all can say no if you wish.. lol
So my son was born two months before your may babies - but can I join your thread?! I've kind of always been jealous of it lol!!!

Back on WB I started the Spring Babies thread that many of you were on, and a lot of you branched off into May babies - which was great - but I was sad there was only 2-4 other bees who had Feb/March babies. lol

I've kind of been stalking you all haha!

@Coco Bee: Welcome to May babies; thanks for starting the Spring Babies thread which started it all. You can be our 'older baby' friend and give us the expert advice! Isn't it funny how much difference 2 months makes?

@Coco Bee: That is great to hear that your spitter stopped spitting eventually. I was *okay* with Nico being a spitter, and someone in my Mom group had a spitter and the doc told her so long as she was gaining weight it was fine, so I never had serious issues about it, but as soon as Nico started sitting up and using his abs, it went from being messy, to literally soaking my outfit, and then ten minutes later, possibly making a huge spill on the floor. It was excessive. He was still having dirty diapers and seemed fine, but I think it may have been contributing to the extra night wake-ups (where he would lay down after and not spit up).

Last night Nico went from waking up every 1-2 hours to only every 3. The new feeding routine just might be helping that along. Now tonight if we could get the 6 hours stretch back in there I'd be peachy.

@Mrsdaredevil: It sound like you have to have a big chat with DH to let him know what you are feeling and noticing. Do you ever make him watch Willa while you go out for a while? I do once a week and that usually 'renews' DH's appreciation.

@Mrsdaredevil: I was wondering how things were going with your no-sleeper. It's great that you found something that worked with that gripe water.....don't you feel like a million bucks when you solve a baby problem? Now, to understand what the gripe water is actually fixing, I don't know anything about gripe water.

Gearing up for our immunizations trip and today it's also our 'prenatal class reunion' in the afternoon. Big day!

@Mrsdaredevil: oh, that's so tough. I'm sorry you're feeling like this. Have you talked to him about it? It might be time for a sit down with him. Sound like you both need to get some things off your chests. He obviously is thinking his role is different than you see it. It's definitely something I would want to get out in the open sooner rather than later.

@winniebee: You have done so well being on the dairy free diet for so long. I don't know how you have done it. Getting to 5 months with breastmilk is fantastic!! If you decide to wean and go to formula, he still has gotten quite a few good months from you. EPing is HARD. You've done so well!!

Last night I decided to nurse M all night. My boobs were all messed up. She nursed at 9pm, 2am and 5am. At 2am, I was leaking like crazy out of my left side...I was drenched. Then, of course, she only wanted the left side so at 5am, my right side was drenched. I gave her the right at 5am, fell asleep, fed her the left at 8am and then came down to pump. Maybe I should keep the pump upstairs at night...just in case of nights like that. I pumped almost 5oz this morning, so I was really happy about that! My supply has finally caught up a bit (woohoo)!

@shortcake: Welcome back! And Lulu is so cute!
Wow, so many are already back at work! Bummer. As much as I want to go back to work, I know I'll be sad to have so much time with the little guy.
Interesting info about drooling/teething. Some of the bloggers have tips on air travel with a baby. We have only done long car trips and no airplane trips.

@winniebee: 5 months on breastmilk is awesome! I'm impressed with your no-dairy-diet skills.
We had so much 0-3, too! We only had 2 3-6 outfits, so MIL bought him a set of 4 batman and spiderman onesies (no pants) that are almost too small already!

@regberadaisy: Probably no trick or treating for us--wouldn't know where to go in our area.

@MsMini: YIKES! So glad you caught him. I hope your husband is ok..

@marriedandlovingit: You're driving at night? How are you and your husband going to sleep? I hope your trip starts improving!

@Mrsdaredevil: My husband is acting the same way--I am looking for a job and trying to get my old job back (or maybe work 2 part time jobs). Vent away--it's tough to get everything done and then be unappreciated. My husband is getting a bit better at this and I really hope yours does, too! We had a very un-fun talk about it. And then I went to the store and purposefully took 2 hours with the baby NOT asleep (I used to only leave him if the baby was napping or happy alone in the swing). When he finally realized what it was like, he's been nicer (but still not quite the support I need him to be).

@Coco Bee: I would love if he spits up less soon.

@cvbee: Yeah Gabriel has about 4 major spit ups a day (not the little few drops here, but the "change your shirt and maybe your pants and underwear, too" kind). But he's also 16 pounds, so he's obviously gaining just fine.

@mediagirl: LOL! How many spare shirts are you bringing on the flight for you? Glad to know I'm not the only one changing my shorts for spit up.

@Goldilocks1107: Cute way to meet the neighbors. How do you like your new place? And... how are you feeling?

@Nskillet: Wish you had some more time to be with her. Taking care of baby with a cold is no fun at all! (Gabriel has one now)

@regberadaisy: I'm not sure if we will, but we'll definitely dress him up! DH wants to dress him as a devil....since he says T acts devlish sometimes ; )

@msmini: So sorry to hear about your husband's health scare - I really hope everything is OK. It is crazy how attentive we must be to our babies and the tiniest deviation from our attention can be disastrous.

@cvbee: sounds like your experiment is going well!

@pastemoo: who needs pants in summer?! I basically dress T in a onesie most days except if we have something special going on (lunch with a friend, seeing grandma, etc) then I dress him in a real outfit.

@mediagirl/@pastemoo: I would like to get to 6 months on breastmilk, but honestly the pumping 5x a day is wearing on me. I used to pump every 3 hours but now I kind of just pump when I feel like it during the day and then once overnight (but I never wake up just to pump). My supply is really good though and I pump about 15 oz more per day than he eats so I save a lot. Unfortunately the first 3 weeks of pumped milk is tainted with dairy. I'm storing that milk in my sister's deep freeze (yes, seriously) and maybe will use it when he is just a little older.

@cocobee: welcome welcome! you definitely DID start it all : ) The more the merrier here!

@nskillet: Poor girl. Being back at work (and interviewing!) with a sick baby has got to be so tough. I'm dreading going back to work for this reason....among others.

@mrsdaredevil: I'm sorry you are having a tough time with your hubs. I agree with what others have said - sit down and talk to him (or like @Goldilocks1107 said just blow up at him and leave him twisting in the wind!) I think DH thought taking care of him was easier and of course when he slept most of the day the first month, it was easier. But now we must entertain our babies so much and they are willful little things so it's more difficult. Also I'm not defending him but you always say how jokey you are together so maybe "paycheck fever" is a joke? Anyways, what helped me was spelling out for DH ways he could be helpful. One night he came home from work and announced he was "going to play tennis with X friend". I bit my tongue and thought ok that's fine.....I mean, he works crazy hours and has a stressful job, right? But then he didn't come home for TWO hours and when he walked in the door he knew I'd be pissed (and I was). When he asked if I was mad I told him yes, and that it would be nice if when he came home he asked if I needed a break. (Well, I didn't say it that nicely...I may or may not have screamed at him). I told him my job is 24/7 now and I need a break. He's so much better about giving me a break at night and on the weekends....he does most of Tyler's bottles and diapers at night and on the weekend (and feeds Tyler overnight on the weekend while I pump) and if he gets home early from work he asks me if there's anything I need to do (work out, etc). Also, I felt like letting him be the primary caregiver on our recent vacation made him feel much more confident about caring for Tyler and he sometimes now even tells ME how to do things (which is fine, I just laugh to myself). It's certainly easier for my husband to do more since we bottle feed Tyler, but know there are ways he CAN help and should help and don't feel bad about asking for the help. Wow that was long.

@mediagirl: so proud of you for getting back to BF - that's awesome!! But, your poor boobs!

We are not on the crazy sleep train anymore, but last weekend's glory (9 hours, 7.5 hours...) may have been a fluke. We are at least back to where we were before the craziness. Last night he did 5, 3, then 3.5 (however, I let him chirp in the morning....he would have gotten up after 2 hours but I let him bitch a little bit and he falls back asleep for awhile). Since I went to bed 1.5 hours after Tyler, sleep wasn't glorious for me, but my husband did feed him at the 1:30 time slot and I just pumped. Like @cvbee said, I'm becoming a little scientist to figure out what works best for him. I thought that his afternoon binge nap affected him the other day since he didn't sleep as much at night, but yesterday he just had short (45 min-1 hour) naps...so I don't think that's it. But, I allow him an evening catnap since he gets bitchy come 6:30....perhaps the catnap isn't good for him (however, he did have catnaps on the nights he slept really long....) Anyways, I think instead of doing that I'm just going to start the bedtime routine and get him in bed around 7:30 instead of 8:45/9 and see how he does. I have to get him on an earlier wakeup routine anyways (sometimes he doesn't get up til 8 or 9...) because when I go back to work I don't want to be waking HIM up in the morning.

On a side note since my mom was in charge the night Tyler slept 9 hours, she says "he needs to be doing more than 5 hours since he can do it." Um, gee thanks, can you explain that to him??

@winniebee: And yes, I am sure he was being facetious about the paycheck fever thing. But it still hurt my feelings. We are very jokey with each other (as you remembered) and sometimes it's hard to tell if you have crossed the line or not.

I have two questions for everyone:
a) what method of birth control are you using as of now, and until you want to get PG the next time (if at all)? and
b) when do you want your next bebe (if at all)?

@Mrsdaredevil: Your DH's response to your complaint sounds like what I say....I don't say much, but I really do think about it over time.....it P's off my DH because he sees it as me 'not owning up' to my mistakes....he's really big on apologizing profusely.

From what I've read the wakefulness of 4 months/sleep regression is a combo of the following:

A) they switch to 'adult' sleep patterns....no more starting in REM....and it means they wake up more

B) they are moving more and that also makes them wake up when they 'practice' in their sleep

C) they are distracted eaters now, so they might not eat enough in the day, and then they wake up because they are hungry (and for my guy, it was possibly all the spitting up)

For your questions:
a) we are still using EBF and pull and pray....and I have a prescription in my purse from 2 months ago for the mini-pill, which I plan to use at some point....maybe at 1 year when I don't plan to do much breastfeeding anymore
b) I am on the fence of when for #2...maybe not for a while, like 4 years, so that I can just soak this guy up, and then he'll be in kindergarten so I can really devote that year with new baby to new baby while Nico is at school.............but I just love babies so much, so there is a good chance that I wont be able to wait that long....and with our sketchy birth control methods, it might be sooner than expected for sure

@Mrsdaredevil: glad you got to talk to your husband. I hope you start getting more help!

Two answers:

1) using mini pill and still EBF but we aren't having much sex anyways. Story for another day.

2) probably will try to time them to be 2 years apart. I previously thought I wouldn't mind them closer in age but want time to let Tyler be my baby!

Tyler is not napping today. 30 min nap this morning and the. 15 min nap. Tried the swing too. I'm tired.

yay! thanks for letting my join lol :):)

@Mrsdaredevil:
As to your questions:
I heavily researched birth control methods and I'm so disappointed at the lack of contraception available to BF moms. So sadly we're going the condom route. I never wanted to but I don't want to put my supply at risk - BF is too valuable to me!

We want to wait until Cobi is out of diapers, so definitely after 2, but more like 3. I didn't finish a lot of things I had wanted to before having Cobi - so I have some goals before #2.

IF we could afford it, I wouldn't have minded having two about 1.5 years apart. But it would be REALLY rough on us to have two kids.

@mediagirl: we didn't do it for the first time until Cobi was nearly 4 months old. I was so scared- not only because of potential pain, but I was petrified to get pg again. I also knew once I gave DH the go ahead, he'd be wanting it all. the. time.
Which has rang true.

@winniebee: I hear ya - Cobi just went down for his #2 nap, but he should still be sleeping from his first nap. Now his schedule will be so screwed up. Sometimes I think that being a SAHM is more tiring than working lol

@Coco Bee: @winniebee: Wednesdays are daddy/daughter days and my husband has been trying to get her down for nap #2!

@Nskillet: when M was sick my ped was not concerned either due to lack of fever. Hope it clears up!

Last night was a horrendous sleep night. There are points through the night where she's up every hour. It just seems to be getting worse and we're over 3 weeks of this back and forth. Out of desperation, I was googling sleep regressions and found this: http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html It was pretty interesting and even explains things like the random nights of great sleeps that come out of the blue. (like @winniebee: T's 9 hour stretch of awesomeness).

@LAGS: yea, it's been a few weeks of rough sleep for us too. I mentioned to my husband it's because she's going through a growth spurt and a wonder week. So as much as it sucks I think I'm just going to ride it out...

@Nskillet: yeah I have like 2 days left.

@LAGS: we have been doing it since week 6 Too, about two or three times a week. And I still don't feel all the way normal. Some positions hurt (TMI: like when he is behind me) and when we first start we go really really slow. I don't know how long it will take to go back to normal!

I bought condoms yesterday and that is I guess our method of choice until next time. We will probably start NTNT when W is 1.