Baby Corner

[chri'stina 190]

Our pediatrician never mentioned personal issues with me like sleeping situations. There are 4 pediatricians at the place I was taking Kavi, and I mostly saw two of them(all men doctors, middle eastern Drs, and one Pakistani Dr which was helpful for tips when traveling to India with him). Our main Dr. would just ask about typical things about his development and talk about food/drink as Kavi got older.

[^_^ 5,021]

Maybe the obgyn group you are seeing doesn't have a sophisticated enough ultrasound machine and hence sends everyone to the high risk practice as those places have the high resolution scans available.

Her ultrasound machine has these little rickety sounding wheels. I was skeptical from the moment they wheeled it in.

Our pediatrician never mentioned personal issues with me like sleeping situations. There are 4 pediatricians at the place I was taking Kavi, and I mostly saw two of them(all men doctors, middle eastern Drs, and one Pakistani Dr which was helpful for tips when traveling to India with him). Our main Dr. would just ask about typical things about his development and talk about food/drink as Kavi got older.

Interesting point. My wife will want to go stay in India for a few months so maybe an Indian pediatrician will be helpful. I guess it helps that when I do a search for pediatricians accepting new patients with 15 miles of me, the vast majority are Indian.

[chri'stina 190]

Her ultrasound machine has these little rickety sounding wheels. I was skeptical from the moment they wheeled it in.

Interesting point. My wife will want to go stay in India for a few months so maybe an Indian pediatrician will be helpful. I guess it helps that when I do a search for pediatricians accepting new patients with 15 miles of me, the vast majority are Indian.

Yeah, it can't hurt to have an Indian pediatrician, as long as you like them. I don't know how other pediatricians would act, possibly completely normal, if I had said we were bringing our son to India. But I knew none of our office's doctors would find it weird since they were international themselves, one at least more familiar with the specific region.

(lol about the wheels)

I don't think I wrote here on VJ that we are yet again going to India to visit my inlaws. We are leaving in a month! It will be Kavi's 3rd time to India(my 4th). It's not the easiest trip.

[Autumnchik 6]

@ Stina - Wow! I think you guys have been to India more than Declan has been to Canada to visit! Hope you have a fun and safe trip.

That is awesome that many pediatrician practices allow for prenatal visits. We live in a rural area in Northern New Hampshire. There were only 2 pediatricians in town, at the same practice. I called to ask about scheduling a prenatal visit and the receptionist acted like I was speaking a foreign language.

About getting the baby's room done early .... it is a nice thing to have finished, but if VJ gets in the way of that goal, I can tell you from personal experience that you will survive When I was pregnant, we had the brilliant idea to finish a room in our house, making that the master bedroom. So, all our furniture was stored in the baby's room (which was not done). Hubby was building the closet in the new room when I went into labor. So, we brought Declan home and set up shop in our guest bedroom.

[chri'stina 190]

@ Stina - Wow! I think you guys have been to India more than Declan has been to Canada to visit! Hope you have a fun and safe trip.

Thanks!

Me and Kavi weren't planning on going this time with Suj, but in the last month decided we were. My father in law is already in his 70's and you never know what will happen in life. He kept saying he really wanted to see Kavi again and my mother in law did too, so we decided to do it.

[^_^ 5,021]

Yeah, it can't hurt to have an Indian pediatrician, as long as you like them. I don't know how other pediatricians would act, possibly completely normal, if I had said we were bringing our son to India. But I knew none of our office's doctors would find it weird since they were international themselves, one at least more familiar with the specific region.

I heard from a friend that his Indian pediatrician in Jersey hooked him up with a pediatrician in Delhi while his wife and son were there for six months. So that would be nice, if I can make that happen (although finding a doctor who knows anyone in Kolkata is kinda hard). Also, I've had a few irritating personal experiences with doctors who have no first-hand experience with that part of the world and have only read scary journal entries about pathogens and endemic whatnots. When it comes to India travel I tend to seek out doctors who know the country and haven't just read about it.

[TracyTN 237]

So...I have a sleep question for you ladies. Madeleine will be three months next week, and all in all, things are going well. She's now eating on a more regular schedule (3-4 hours between feedings, feedings about 5-6 oz. with the occasional top-up), hiccuping and spitting up a bit less, overall much better than a month ago. Honestly, I don't think we've really done much to bring this on, it has just happened as she's gotten a bit older. She has slept through the night on several occasions, but still not consistently enough for us to get excited. For example, two nights ago, she slept from 9:30 p.m. until about 7. She woke up twice but went back to sleep after a brief cuddle. Last night, however, she woke up at midnight, ate 4 oz., woke up again at 2 and went down after a cuddle, woke up again at 5 a.m. and had 5 oz. We're trying our best to normalize her daytime feedings, but if she is even remotely hungry, she screams bloody murder. I'm not all that worried about this given how young she is, and pretty much everything I've read says that babies tend not to sleep through the night reliably until at least four months, and in many cases it takes longer than that.

Yesterday, I brought Madeleine into Jon's office so his coworkers could see her. One of them has a son who is a week older than Madeleine (we were in the same childbirth class, and we delivered at the same hospital). She was boasting about how her son sleeps reliably from 7 pm to 7 am. It sounds like she and her husband basically have him on a draconian schedule that they started implementing when he was about a month old. They hired some sort of "baby sleep consultant." She said it's similar to Babywise, which I've read about. It sounds very weird. So, of course I'm envious--imagine, having your evening and a full night's sleep! But isn't 3 months a bit young to be going 12 hours w/o eating? I imagine the poor thing spent a lot of time crying in his crib before this 7 to 7 thing became the norm. I freely admit I'm being judgmental here. Any thoughts?

I hope everyone is well.

Hi Joyce!!

Our daughter started sleeping through the night around 6 weeks old. She was doing about 8 hours at a stretch at that point. I don't get the impression that this is highly uncommon, but as a first time mom, I'm not really sure either. LOL!

She'll still have nights where she'll wake at maybe, say, 4 or 5 am but usually because she's soaking wet (yes, even in a cloth diaper!). We normally feed her if she does wake, and she will normally eat at least 4 oz when we do that - but mainly we do that because it helps her go back to sleep.

Our pedi told us at our 4 month appointment that if we would start letting her put herself to sleep (meaning put her down in her crib awake), we would be sparing ourselves a lot of grief later on as she would then be able to put herself back to sleep if she would wake in the night - and boy, was she right!! Sometimes she wakes in the night and just 'talks' but she'll go back to sleep if we leave her alone. Unless she is actually crying (like in the above instances), we just leave her be and she'll settle back down 9 times out of 10. I hate to jinx it, but in the last week or so, she has been really good about going down to sleep. Kisses, cuddles, glowing seahorse and a cuddle to it and she goes to sleep now with hardly a peep. This, of course, after our bedtime routine of bath and bottle. Maybe her little brain is clicking into those cues now. Prior to last week, she'd 'talk' for usually 15 mins after we put her in there.

@ everyone - For you ladies not TTC - what BC method are you using? I'm considering trading in the pill for something else. Not liking the dive in my libido of late.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Hi Joyce!!

Our daughter started sleeping through the night around 6 weeks old. She was doing about 8 hours at a stretch at that point. I don't get the impression that this is highly uncommon, but as a first time mom, I'm not really sure either. LOL!

She'll still have nights where she'll wake at maybe, say, 4 or 5 am but usually because she's soaking wet (yes, even in a cloth diaper!). We normally feed her if she does wake, and she will normally eat at least 4 oz when we do that - but mainly we do that because it helps her go back to sleep.

Our pedi told us at our 4 month appointment that if we would start letting her put herself to sleep (meaning put her down in her crib awake), we would be sparing ourselves a lot of grief later on as she would then be able to put herself back to sleep if she would wake in the night - and boy, was she right!! Sometimes she wakes in the night and just 'talks' but she'll go back to sleep if we leave her alone. Unless she is actually crying (like in the above instances), we just leave her be and she'll settle back down 9 times out of 10. I hate to jinx it, but in the last week or so, she has been really good about going down to sleep. Kisses, cuddles, glowing seahorse and a cuddle to it and she goes to sleep now with hardly a peep. This, of course, after our bedtime routine of bath and bottle. Maybe her little brain is clicking into those cues now. Prior to last week, she'd 'talk' for usually 15 mins after we put her in there.

@ everyone - For you ladies not TTC - what BC method are you using? I'm considering trading in the pill for something else. Not liking the dive in my libido of late.

Wow, 8 hours at a stretch at 6 weeks would have been awesome! I don't remember how Mad-Ag was sleeping at that point, but it surely wasn't that! I think we'll take a similar approach to you in a few weeks. Our pediatrician also recommended four months to start gently encouraging "self-soothing" in the crib. We're kinda doing that now, but her feeding & napping (and thus bedtime) are still somewhat variable. All in all, I'm happy with how she's progressing sleep-wise. She slept last night from 9:30 until almost 6. Fingers crossed that this will continue!

Regarding contraception, I've never done well w/ the hormonal type in terms of side effects. I know this is totally 60s (and totally groovy!), but I've been using a diaphragm more or less since college, and it's never let me down. Other than that, it's rubberz if I'm feeling lazy.

[TracyTN 237]

Oooh yeah - major fingers crossed to continue the 9:30-6 am regime! Go Madeline!!!

I'm hearing that from a few friends (encouraging the non hormonal type of BC, which at this point makes sense). My one friend said she's heard of some women getting terrible acne (like the scarring type) after getting the implant, and that some other women bleed constantly from the shot. UGH!

[Jenn! 918]

Honestly, I don't think we've really done much to bring this on, it has just happened as she's gotten a bit older.

I think that's the most important thing to remember - they will do these things in their own time and usually don't need to be "trained" to do anything, unless you're trying to accelerate their progression.

I thought Adam would never sleep through the night. He's finally starting to more consistently (and he's 15 months old!). Last night he slept from 8:30 until 6:00.

--------

Regarding contraception, I have the Mirena and have no complaints, but I know a lot of women who complain about side effects. But theoretically, I don't think the side effects should be any different than the pill. If you're not liking the pill, then I'd probably avoid the Mirena as well.

[tnh9479 1]

@\: Yes...a peri is a perinatalogist or maternal-fetal specialist. I was high risk from day one because of a prior cervical surgery I had a year before and the fact I was carrying twins. My friends who had children around the same time as me and used the same ob/gyn practice went to the same peri for their nuchal fold u/s and 20 week anatomy scan because his machines were better and their u/s techs were more highly trained to catch abnormalities. As for being high risk, I saw the peri once a month and my ob once a month until 28 weeks. The peri would measure cervical length and perform an u/s every 4 weeks to check the twins growth. When things became a little crazy at 28.5 weeks when I started to develop pre-eclampsia and got put on bedrest, I had an ob appt every week plus two appts with the peri a week as well. The peri would perform a non-stress test at every appointment and a biophysical profile once a week. They explained it to me that the peri is there to monitor the baby's development and health/welfare and the ob is there to monitor the mom's welfare. They talked to each other about their common patients and it was the peri's final call as to when I could deliver, but the ob was the one to perform the delivery.

I hope that all makes sense. The same peri was in on my friend's pregnancy because she had huge fibroid tumors which actually caused her to go to the ER twice during her pregnancy because of the pain and are what they suspect caused her to deliver spontanteously at 35 weeks. Other reasons to be seen continuously by a peri: multiple gestation pregnancy, diabetic, or any underlying health condition of the mother or baby that could affect the pregnancy.

As for us, Hana got sick this weekend. I was surprised at first Zak didn't get the cold with his poor eating habits. However, I think Hana's allergic reaction and hives the week before probably made her more susceptible. At least she is doing better today. I am still home with her because she was running a fever last night and our daycare provider has a policy of 24 hours fever-free. When I texted her to say the duo were not coming, she told me her own son is home with the flu. So...staying home with both of them seems like a GREAT decision today. We really don't need the flu. Hana and Zak just got their flu shots last week and I am not sure what their immunity may be.

Twila

[Eveline 9]

@ everyone - For you ladies not TTC - what BC method are you using? I'm considering trading in the pill for something else. Not liking the dive in my libido of late.

I've been doing FAM (fertility awareness method) for the past 9 months and it's going good. I must say though that my libido is MIA somewhere. I gotta go see a doc about that. I have more of a relationship with my laptop than my husband (not funny I know)

@Jen: I'm totally with you on the sleep training. Adam (my Adam ) started STTN at 13 months he weaned and he was a terrible self soother, needed to be held and nursed to sleep. Now at four he's totally fine, no sleep issues, still likes to snuggle but we never pressed the self soothing on him. Allie however wanted to be in her crib to fall asleep. She'sbeen awesome about self soothig, making that whole 2nd baby thing a whole lot easier. She didn't sleep through the night until I weaned her at two years old.

Haven't heard from Anna here or on FB yesterday. I wonder if baby E is here

[Eveline 9]

As for us, Hana got sick this weekend. I was surprised at first Zak didn't get the cold with his poor eating habits. However, I think Hana's allergic reaction and hives the week before probably made her more susceptible. At least she is doing better today. I am still home with her because she was running a fever last night and our daycare provider has a policy of 24 hours fever-free. When I texted her to say the duo were not coming, she told me her own son is home with the flu. So...staying home with both of them seems like a GREAT decision today. We really don't need the flu. Hana and Zak just got their flu shots last week and I am not sure what their immunity may be.

Twila

That's what I noticed with Allie. When their immune system is supressed and they eat something they might be slightly allergic to but it wouldn't show if they were healthy, they get hives. Allie had those Almond cheerios that day when she broke out in hives, she got sick shortly after. She never had it again but it would totally make sense.

[TracyTN 237]

Regarding contraception, I have the Mirena and have no complaints, but I know a lot of women who complain about side effects. But theoretically, I don't think the side effects should be any different than the pill. If you're not liking the pill, then I'd probably avoid the Mirena as well.

Thanks Jenn. It's the lack of libido that's bothering me at the moment, and I know that the pill can inhibit your libido, so I'm just trying to consider options to remove that as a factor. So from what you're saying, Mirena may not help me in that regard anyway.

I've been doing FAM (fertility awareness method) for the past 9 months and it's going good. I must say though that my libido is MIA somewhere. I gotta go see a doc about that. I have more of a relationship with my laptop than my husband (not funny I know)

Hubby and I have a really good relationship on the whole - its just that I'm quite aware of the fact that my libido is also MIA and would like to fix that if I can. I think I'm too scared of getting PG to try FAM. I'm a pretty fertile myrtle from what I can tell so I'd feel better not leaving it to calculations. I'm starting to think that non hormonal options are the way to go - at least to try something else and see what happens. Maybe at my advanced age (39), the hormones are just not the way.

[Fandango 1,440]

Thanks Jenn. It's the lack of libido that's bothering me at the moment, and I know that the pill can inhibit your libido, so I'm just trying to consider options to remove that as a factor. So from what you're saying, Mirena may not help me in that regard anyway.

Hubby and I have a really good relationship on the whole - its just that I'm quite aware of the fact that my libido is also MIA and would like to fix that if I can. I think I'm too scared of getting PG to try FAM. I'm a pretty fertile myrtle from what I can tell so I'd feel better not leaving it to calculations. I'm starting to think that non hormonal options are the way to go - at least to try something else and see what happens. Maybe at my advanced age (39), the hormones are just not the way.

Trace, dunno if anything could HELP libido, but I have ParaGuard - the copper IUD, no hormones. Good for 5 years. So far, so good...though the first month's cycle after it was pretty miserable.