*Baby Corner*

[sandinista! 1,816]

About the sleeping - Amirah hasnt been good about sleeping in her bed at all. It doesnt help that my husband works out of town a lot so often its no big deal to just get her when she cries and let her sleep with me. However lately she has become MUCH more active (ie kicking, sitting up, trying to talk to us, etc) plus my husband has been home a lot more so we've been really trying to make her stay in her bed. Most nights there is a time or 2 in the middle of the night when she will whimper but we dont get her and she'll go back to sleep. but one or 2 nights a week she wakes all the way up and really starts crying, she freaks out if we dont get her. Honestly I think it hurts her feelings or something to know we arent coming for her and she will just escalate and get more and more worked up so its easier to just get her. once with us we have been making her lay down and trying to ignore her, or at least not let her engage us in any talking or interaction because I dont want her to start thinking its nice to get up and play in the middle of the night. My son did a lot of the same things when he was a baby and it all passed so I dont get too stressed out about it. I tried once to let him cry it out and he cried for almost 4 hours. It was a horrible experience for both of us and I just decided it wasnt worth it. I also tried to let Amirah cry it out and she got so hysterical she made herself throw up so again I decided we can live with a couple nights a week of late night co sleeping. although I must admit the nights she sleeps all night I feel SO much better in the morning.

Both the pediatricians I've had with my kids told me that in general a baby doesnt really need to eat in the night past the age of about 6 months. Amirah stopped having a bottle I think at about 7 months, just one before she goes to sleep. That sure made a big difference as far as regular waking.....

mine said that too. but i always end up feeding her on the occasions that she does wake up in the middle of the night. she fusses if i just pick her up and snuggle her and then try to set her back down in a couple minutes, and when i take her to my bed she immediately starts eating. i don't think i could talk her out of it if i tried! at least i can doze off that way, and then when i put her back in her crib she's out like a light and stays that way. in our situation, i actually get more sleep if i just take her to bed with me and feed her right away.

we'll see how that goes when she gets older and starts trying to chatter to us in the middle of the night, or thinks 3 am is playtime though!

[~ Karima ~ 0]

About sleeping and crying--I have been reading all kinds of books about it, so I'm feeling like I know something on the subject...

I intuitively agree with the Sears school of thought, but a family bed didn't work for us. I am a light sleeper and my husband sleeps like a rock--I fear that he would roll over on our son! For the first 3+ months Ilyas was in a co-sleeper and I was a zombie waking 4-6 times a night with a crying hungry baby and trying to go to work full-time as a teacher the next day.

Moving our son to a crib in his own room at 3 months has been a remarkable improvement in sleep for both baby and mom. I'm still breastfeeding and he now wakes up really briefly to eat twice per night and I go back to my room for some restful sleep.

Now I am working on putting him to sleep during the day while he is still awake (a la Baby Whisperer). It works really well if I time putting him down just right--first signs of sleepiness. At night I'm still swaddling him and have found that earlier bedtimes (7-7:30) are good. I still nurse him to sleep most nights, though that probably isn't a long-term solution.

Do any of you have your babies on a schedule? My sister swears by the Babywise routine--both of her girls learned to sleep through the night quite early using this method.

Carolyn my OB and Pedi both recommended the Babywise books to me, but I have yet to read them. I have had good success with putting Ayman to bed once he starts to get sleepy, but still awake. I also let him squirm and fuss when he wakes up at night, but if he starts screaming I go in, give him his paci, rub his head and back to bed. I do not pick him up, unless there is something wrong. My pedi told me to try and not talk to him, pick him up or feed him in the middle of the night so that he won't get in the habit of expecting it (of course not as an newborn). It's worked great so far. He was waking up a lot recently due to his teething, but since I started giving him the teething drops right before bed he's been sleeping all night. He will wake up though if he wets the bed, but will go right back to sleep once he's changed and dry.

We also have Ayman on a pretty tight schedule because we both work fulltime. He started with a new sitter Dec 1 who is great about keeping him on a schedule too, she is just awesome. I try to stick with this schedule during the week.

7:15am wake up

8am bottle

play

10am cereal

play

10:30am nap

wake up

play

12pm bottle

play

2pm fruit

2:30pm nap

wake up

play

4pm bottle

play

5:30pm come home

play

6pm veggies

play

7pm bath

play

8pm bottle

8:30pm bed

Now since my husband works in retail, there are some days he will go to daycare late or get picked up early and then his schedule might slightly differ. The sitters we used prior to his current one I could not get to put him on a schedule at all. They just let him do whatever and he was miserable by the time we got him home and we would battle all night trying to get him to sleep and stay asleep. Now that things are more consistent he is a MUCH happier baby and is sleeping great. I have read that if babies get too little (or too much) sleep during the day it can cause sleepless nights. Oh and the humidifier at night helps tremendously.

[~ Karima ~ 0]

Eric - I was burning up the second half of my pregnancy. It was winter and I had to turn the heat down and crack the window open at night. Poor hubby would freeze just so I could be comfortable.

Twila - glad to hear double trouble, and you as well, are doing great. Not much longer....

Vi - I'm sorry to hear about your job. It seems everyone is effected by the poor economy.

Autumn - Wishing much luck to Declan on his surgery. I hope all goes well.

[Nessa 23]

eric, i've read our body temperature goes up during pregnancy. I remember my first couple weeks pregnancy my co-worker kept saying i was hot every time she touched me and she asked if i was not pregnant. i was but didn't know it yet.

[chri'stina 190]

Chrissy25-I have tried that before, and it'####### or miss. (the cereal before bed) I guess lately it's his teeth really bothering him.

Kavi is sort of on a schedule, but I don't have exact times for things though they always seem to happen around the same time every day anyway. It was just a routine that came about over time. But the bed thing just is not going according to plan. Last night was horrible, he woke up a couple times with inconsolable crying again. We gave him baby tylenol, he ate, I held him, and it took an hour or more for him to fall back asleep. I am just praying that when his tooth comes through this will get better or else I am going to cry.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Carrie, I love the new pics of ayman. Your schedule is almost identical to zaids. Im glad you were able to finally find a new sitter. I am in love with ours. She sends notes home everyday with an hour by hour schedule of what zaid did, and she places a or a to let me know if he was happy or fussy that hour. Zaid is up at 7am like clockwork and is in bed by 8pm-9pm every single night. He has maybe had 3 or 4 nights where he woke up in the middle of the night but thats about it. I have always been focused on a schedule, bc he lacked it for so long with the colic. Now that were there I refuse to ruin it. Im so bad that if one of my girlfriends wants to do lunch or hang out I will not leave until he has taken a morning nap. I dont care tho bc I get 10 hours of sleep a night If i need it. I would not be able to function at my job if I was sleep deprived. Too much detail to pay attention to.

I got zaid a baby suit to wear for xmas. Its adorable. Red button down with a black vest and a little clip on tie. I cant wait for him to wear it

[Anna C. 4]

My temperature wasn't up when I was pregnant... If it's constantly higher/elevated, I would have it checked out. She might just run warmer than some people... But you never know.

My son is only 3.5 months old, so I don't expect a sleeping schedule. He developed some though, he goes to bed around 8-9pm and sleeps til 3am, eats and goes right back to sleep. He then wakes up around 7-8am and then has 2-3 catnaps during the day. I know it can change at any instant. My mom said not to expect a child to sleep through the night until 12-18 months. I agree. Some kids really do sleep through the night, but breastfed babies do get hungry more often as breastmilk has less calories than formula and is digested more quickly (60-90 minutes). We intend to introduce solids as late as possible so I know that sleeping through the night will take a while, but I don't mind. There are some allergies in hubbie's family, and to avoid food allergies Dr. Sears as well as my pediatrician recommend to delay solids and wait until baby is really ready and actively asks for it (being able to sit up unassisted, loss of tongue thrust, pincer grasp). So it'll be a while, but I think we are coping just fine at this point. It took some stamina in the first weeks, but I adjusted.

[~ Karima ~ 0]

She sends notes home everyday with an hour by hour schedule of what zaid did, and she places a or a to let me know if he was happy or fussy that hour.

Ours does the same, it's great. She gives me his schedule of when he ate, what he ate, when he napped and how long and his diaper changes. She also puts at the bottom any special notes. It really helps me to know what his day is like when I am not there. Everyday she is saying what a happy baby he is, so content and smiley. She has 2 little boys that help entertain him too and he is the only baby she watches besides her own so he gets lots of attention. The best part, she lives in the condo complex right next door to us (where we used to live). We could walk there if we wanted. She charges $30/day. She does request 2 weeks vacation a year, but not paid and she doesn't require payment when we take vacation. So we are trying to coordinate our vacations around the same time. She does require paid holidays though, but that's not a big deal since we get paid too. I am SO happy to have found her. Oh and they are vegetarian so I don't ever have to worry about her giving him meat.

[chri'stina 190]

I felt hot when pregnant too, not a rise in temp but just felt warm. You are baking a baby after all! Well in Florida last year even in December and Jan there were a lot of warm days which didn't help me! I loved a chilly day. But every morning I'd shower and be sweating right after it, which was annoying. I would sweat much more often.

[tnh9479 1]

I am still hanging in there. I had an NST yesterday and BOTH babies decided they wanted to sleep! So...instead of a 20 minute appointment I had a 1 hr and 20 min appointment. My peri's iPhone ringing near my stomach didn't even wake them. They really are double trouble! All else is good and I have managed to stay away from L/D for a whole week! Yay!

Twila

[Anna C. 4]

Twila: Yeah one more day went by and your twins are still cooking How is everything else going? Are you feeling fine (well, under the circumstances)? How is your BP doing?

[Nessa 23]

so i had another weird dream. I had the baby, it was a girl, she had the same shade of blonde my hair was when i was a kid, green eyes like me. I had not even started to decorate the nursery, the room was still the same mess it is right now with no baby furniture.

So I put her to sleep on top of the ironing board, and i had to stay there with her at all times so she wouldn't fall off. then everytime i tried to pick her up, she'd slip through my arms and i'd catch her right before she reached the floor.

[chri'stina 190]

Twila-Glad things are still good!

Nessa-Weird dream!! I had lots of weird baby dreams while pregnant too.

[Nessa 23]

I had one nightmare before i had a boy and when i saw him he had that cleft palate, and i was so scared he wasn't healthy, when i checkd his feet, his toes were not separated, they were together, like a frog

so i got kinda sad because i knew charles only agreed to 1 child and i wanted to try to have another baby, a perfect (it's a dream, i'm not that shallow) one. but then i'd worry even more that the next one would also not be healthy because of the meds i was taking during pregnancy. weird stuff.

[Carolyn 1]

Carrie and Kelly,

I am a bit jealous that you have great sitters that write everything down and keep your little guys on a schedule! My husband takes care of Ilyas Monday-Thursday during the day--he is WONDERFUL with his son, but is terrible with keeping track of naps, bottles, etc. Oh well, at least Ilyas is having fun with his Baba and hearing lots of Moroccan Arabic during the day! I am looking forward to a few months from now when his schedule becomes even more predictable--for a while there Ilyas was so sleep-deprived and fussy as a result!

Breastfeeding Mamas,

I am still breastfeeding and working full time. I try to pump enough milk for Ilyas to eat every day, but is a bit frustrating. Since I am a teacher I only have time to pump once during the school day and he generally eats three bottles while I'm gone . So, I've been trying to pump in the middle of the night and after a couple of breastfeeding sessions, but I'm barely keeping up (and I've used up all my reserve in the freezer). I keep thinking that I am going to have to start supplementing with formula, but I don't want to do that. Any suggestions? I'm going to try to build up a reserve again during winter break (we have 2 weeks off of school)...

Nessa--I had lots of crazy dreams while pregnant, too!