Hellobee Boards

Oh daycare DRAMA! I have been to the daycare M is supposed to start at tomorrow twice. The first time I left feeling like it was nice enough but something wasn't right. The second time I burst into tears as soon as I got in the car. Sadly, we can't afford a lot of the daycares around us as we don't have an extra $1,000 a month. Well my mom suggested I go check out one that is still out of our budget but not horribly so. She thought I'd see that it's just like the other daycare and I'd feel better. WRONG! I LOVED the other daycare. DH's parents have offered to cover the difference for us as our Christmas gift for the rest of the school year. I convinced DH and now I am waiting to hear back from the director of our "old" daycare as to if I can get a full refund or if I should send him next week since we already paid and I do have to go back to work :(. Hopefully they are accommodating!

Hey ladies! How are you and your LO's. I am now back to work full time hence the lack of hellobee activity. There really aren't enough hours in the day, not to mention Our current nanny isn't working out so it's back to the interviews. Anywho Alex is doing great and is cooing like crazy. It's insanely cute. His sleeping has been a bit rough recently and I am now scared that he will never sleep on his own. If any of you ladies have thoughts/advice on how to help him gradually transition out of our bed, please share!

@abbylyn: hilarious! Alex had a huge blowout the other day that somehow skipped ended up on the side of his abdomen.

@ladybee: daycare/baby care is crazy expensive, right? I hope everything works out for you!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holidays. So much to be thankful for!!!

@kjpugs: I'm following sleep cues, our problem is that she's not napping very long unless she's in her swing. We have also been cosleeping, but I'm happy to report that she slept in her crib last night!

@abbylyn: Isn't it hilarious!

@evansjamie: during the day Effie naps in her swing too. In the morning when she wakes up before I have to work (today it was 4:30) she won't usually go back down in her crib- aka she then refuses to be swaddled and won't sleep in her crib unswaddled. I've been putting her in the swing then, but lately since I need the sleep too, she sleeps on me on the recliner. It's a definite she'll sleep on me as opposed to fussing in the swing, but it does make me a little nervous! Luckily I don't get "good" sleep so every move she makes - even just a twitch- wakes me up. Still this is as close to co-sleeping as we get and it makes me nervous! DH's step mom used to work for CPS and said not a month went by that a baby didn't die from cosleeping situations. Terrifies me.

@evansjamie: LOL the pro/con's of crib sleeping!

I've read that bed against the wall is safest for cosleeping. What my SMIL said was I guess a lot of new moms (and I think this is mostly with babies much younger than ours) are so overtired, fall asleep with the baby on the couch thinking it'll be safe for them, then the baby falls into the crook of their arm and suffocates. I say I think this isbabies younger than ours because I believe Effie has enough head/neck control she could get out or at least move around enough that I'd wake up with ease. I think that's why I feel better about it now. She sleeps on her belly on my chest, with my hands on her back/tush, so I can feel every movement. She loves it! (ETA- this is just in the AM for an hour or so)

@evansjamie: awww yay Owl wubbanub!!!!!!!

@Sadieloo: we used Care.com to find ours. I was thinking we'd be looking for a student at a local college but we found a mom in her 50's with grown kids who is just amazing. I love that she is active with her and takes her outside. Sometimes they go on more than one walk- in the 5 hours she's here! It's awesome! Good luck finding someone who is more willing to work with your wants/needs for Alex. That's what's most important.

I feel for everyone's nanny/daycare drama. This time around I get to stay home full time but I remember the stress from when the twins were babies. After those crazy few days if no sleep Arthur seems to be getting back to his usual schedule of 3-4 hours at night. During the day I try to take cues from him as to when he's tired.. The past two days he's been up for 4-5 hour stretches during the day. Right this minute he's sleeping on me in the chair after almost two hours of playtime.

Looking forward: I'm getting more and more nervous after flying alone with LO for Christmas (8 more days!). And my packing list is still growing. I need to condense but am having trouble (and I've already had my mom buy random baby things to stay there...

@kjpugs: Interesting. We've also used care.com and a local online site. Maybe we need to look beyond the students. Any trips planned to NJ :)?

Shots suck. Crying babies who are in pain break my heart. It is literally being ripped to shreds. I cannot touch her legs without her shrieking and forget bicycling them to help with the soreness.

This sucks.

@evansjamie: Poor Hyla! We'll be there with you on Thursday. Thankfully the hubs took the day off from work so we can share the pain. Did your ped tell you to give her tylenol?

@evansjamie: oh no. Jack is home with my MIL. I gave her tylenol just in case but I wonder if he's in pain too! The dr said he shouldn't need the tylenol but every mom I talked to said he'd definitely want it.

@Sadieloo: have the baby take some Tylenol ahead of time.

@evansjamie: mine told me to give her some next time before the shots and they won't hurt as bad. When I came in they asked I if I had already done that and I said that no one told to. I would have if I had known. The shots suck. She slept horribly and I thought she was doing all right, but the next day was still kind of rough. And we did a car trip on top of that. So awful. LO would cry even when I was holding her because certain positions hurt her legs. Diaper changes were awful.

I am dreading shots. Your poor babies! I am debating whether to give Tylenol in advance. There is one study out there that says it can reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines... but it's just one study, and I don't want a miserable baby. LO is a "sensitive spirit" as it is.

How much do your babies spit up? The past few weeks, LO went from not being a big spitter-upper, to spitting up a decent amount after every feeding. I wonder if we are feeding her too much? She nurses and then we give her a bottle. Based on my estimated supply, plus what we're supplementing, she eats 24-28 oz per day, which I think is normal. Her weight gain is great but she is still in the 36th percentile so our pediatrician doesn't want us to cut back on supplement.

@daniellemybelle: Effie doesn't usually spit up, maybe once a week? I can't remember the last time she had a normal (small) spit up. However we do get a little projectile spit up once in a while, which I attribute to eating too much and/or too fast. So I guess her spit up depends on how much she's spitting up. Has anything changed for S lately? Oh and E is eating about 20-24 oz a day.

@kjpugs: I started new herbal supplements for my milk supply (I am keeping Whole Foods in business) that I am certain have made her gassier, but the spitting up was happening before then. I honestly think she is eating too much, because my milk supply is steadily increasing, but we are still offering the same amount of formula after we nurse. But our pediatrician totally poo-pooed that notion. He didn't seem concerned about it at all but said if we were, we could try Zantac for reflux. It seems strange that reflux would just appear like this. With our weight gain issues early on, I am so nervous to accidentally starve her, but I might try cutting back just a tad. Girlfriend does not know how to self-regulate when it comes to the bottle!

@daniellemybelle: mine is a spitter upper. My ped said that if she is gaining weight and not in pain, it's more of a laundry issue. She usually spits up a little. We haven't had a big spit up in a while, but those happened because she would eat too fast or too much. Now we wait to offer more and just give a PACi to see if she is hungry or comfort sucking.

Those that bottle feed, how many oz do you have in a bottle? I'm starting to think about the end of mat leave, which ends January 5, and how many bottles LO will need. Also, she is starving at night. We finally got some sleep early this morning and it was only for about 3 hours in a row. We five a bottle at 1 am, up at 2:45 am, and then back at 4 something. I don't want to underfeed her, but I don't want to over feed her. I would also like at least three hours in a row. She did well during the day and slept almost three hours for a couple of her naps, but night time comes and that goes out the door.

@kjpugs: ok. I think we could easily do 3-4 oz. she sucks them dry. Sometimes I nurse her and give her a bottle on top of that. That's not even the times that she spits up a lot. LO just likes to eat---just like her momma!

@Jennimac: I plan on sending four 3 oz bottles to start. She's eaten 3 oz. from a bottle before, but when I'm practicing I only give her an ounce or so because she doesn't always take the bottle. And she loves the Playtex Nursers, so thanks for mentioning them to me way back when!

@evansjamie: that sounds good. I found an old thread that talked about doing a bottle boot camp the weekend before going back to work. I may try that. My mom may be with us the first day I go back so I might not send her to the sitter's house that first day. That way we can try and see if our calculations are correct. I'm glad the bottles work! We love them! I also ready your other thread and I'm jealous of Hyla's sleep! We used to have it and I'm hoping it comes back soon. Real soon!