[KELLIF4]

Can I join ??

We swaddle both our boy's - they definitly sleep longer.

I'm not one who BF, probably in the minority, but does anyone have experience with the Playtex Drop-in's ? I'm thinking about switching bottles ..

[colleen]

Count me in as a summer mummy too!!

We tried swaddling our DD for the first couple days and she hated it so much that we gave up. She sleeps really well at night without it. But she slept really well at night right from the beginning giving us 3-4 hours at a stretch and in the past week starting to give us a 6-7 hours stretch of sleep at night. Of course, she's not the greatest napper. Anyone else with babies who don't nap well? What do you do to encourage good nap habits?

As for BF, I still just feed on demand, which these days means every 2-3 hours during the day and usually every 1-1/12 hours in the evening, when I think she's storing up for the night. I haven't bothered to start trying her on more of a schedule yet. I don't think I'll try until she's 3-4 months old. I think at this age it's more important for her to learn a sense of trust that me and her dad will fulfill her needs as soon as we can.

[Roxy]

We don't swaddle Leah because all she does is scream when we do. I did read somewhere that once they are a month old that you should not swaddle there hands since they use them to calm themselves down. I do see Leah suck on her fingers when she becomes very upset with us.

Leah was eating every 4 hours but is back to eating every 3-4 hours. She does still get up every 2.5 hours in the middle of the night until around 4 am and then has a 5 hour stretch of sleeping. If she goes over 4.5 hours during the day I usually wake her up but I am obsessive about her weight gain. I don't feel she is gaining enough weight even though the doctor said she has. At her 1 month appt she was 9.6 lbs but after a feeding they reweighed her and she was 9.10 lbs. She is going in for another weight check to help make me feel better about the weight.

I use the playtex drop-ins when she gets a bottle and we love them.

Question: When you pump, can you refrigerate what you pump, add some more the next day, and then freeze it? I only pump 1.5 ounces per day and have been freezing it individually. When she gets a bottle she needs at least 4 ounces and I feel I am wasting the freezing bags by freezing such a small amount.

[praying4peanut]

Jamie - PJ is pretty random with the breastfeeding. We've been feeding off the boob for 8 solid weeks now and I love every minute of it! (with the exception of the 1 1/2 days that my doctor was smokin crack...) It depends on him. Basically we're up to about every 2-3 hours during the day now and then he cluster/frenzy feeds from about 7-10, crashes between 10-11 and depending on him, either wakes up around 4-5 to feed again and goes back to sleep or sleeps until 6-7. I use those morning times to pump. Being on the blessed Fenugreek, I'm overflowing in the middle of the night and morning feeds. There's no way PJ can eat one whole breast, let alone two so I pump on side and feed him on the other for both morning feedings. The rest of the day, the 'girls' are all his It's funny, in the morning when I pump and feed, I catch him giving the pump the evil eye like he's saying those are my boobs! Hands off! LOL! And Jamie, PJ is a chunkersaurus too...he's 8 weeks tomorrow and is between 12-13 pounds and is only 23 inches. He's grown out of a lot of his 0-3 month stuff. It's crazy!
Kelli, if/when I have to give Payton a bottle of boobmilk, I definitely prefer the Paytex Drop Ins...well, I guess I should say Payton prefers it. We tried the Medela and Avent bottles and he just wasn't having it. So I grabbed a starter set of the drop ins and it's so close to the breast that he LOVES it! And it's fairly easy clean up...I just can't pump into the liners and the liners are tricky to warm up if you need to. Otherwise, I definitely recommend them!
Roxy - from what I have read (and what I do) you can definitely add more to the refrigerated stuff. And you can also add more to the frozen stuff too. My rule of thumb is that it's ok to add to or combine refrigerated boobmilk for up to 2 days and if by that second night before I go to bed I'm not using it, it gets frozen. I've got a decent supply going so far. My plan is when he gets to have his rice cereal integrated starting at 4 months, I'll be able to use the frozen stuff for that since it's kinda tricky to add it to my boob! LOL!

[praying4peanut]

Jen,
I do have a question for you...our son is very colicky as well and it's honestly been the most difficult experience in my life. At about the 7 weeks point, he started to get a little better. Don't get me wrong - every night, or almost every night he still has his meltdowns for a few hours...anyhoo, everyone (doctors, nurses, mommies, my pastor...)they all keep telling me once he hits 3 months or 12 weeks it's like night and day and this light turns on for him. Is that true? I noticed you had mentioned he was colicky for 3 months? If so...girl, I am COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS!!! I feel so bad for him, he seems like he's in pain a lot, but we've tried almost everything and nothing seems to help him. Did it put your son behind as far as learning and development were concerned? I thought Payton was smiling a little bit late, but I felt he didn't have anything to smile about either We've been really working with him as far as activities are concerned but I just wondered if they fall behind or if I'm being my normal OCD self??? Thanks!

[MoniqueD]

I BF and bottle feed (with boobmilk) pretty equally and I must say Garrett is does not really care which bottle he uses although we do need to use slow flow nipples as he is a little guzzler. I decided against dropsins as I try not to use plastic when I don't need to. Speaking of which, I do have G diapers and am afraid to say that I have only used 2 of them I really did have good intentions but that kinda went out the window with all of our hospital visits and stays. And now next weekend we are travelling to the other side of the country for a month...do good intentions count?? And disposables are just so gosh darn convenient!! LOL!

Em, Garrett turned 8 weeks Thursday past and he too is not really generous with his smiles and it had me concerned. I was told not to worry about it as child develop at different rates....I will keep at him His smiles are soooo priceless. OH, and Em, I feel your pain girl....Garrett was sick today with a bad tummy and boy did the little guy cry...what a sin, I just wanted to take his pain away. You are a super mom to have been dealing with this for so long. You go girl!!!

Good night ladies

[historyteach]

kelli - i haven't used the drop-ins, i am planning on using those when i go to formula but right now we are you using the Playtex venta-air, it is suppose to help with gas/colick, etc but my friend who used them swears by them. i can say the bottles i am using right now has 5 parts for each bottle and it is a pain to wash them all, even though i am only using one bottle a day

i am trying to get Lyla on a schedule for breastfeeding because i am concerned when i go back to work, which is just a short 6 weeks away and i am also trying to get a night time routine together too and it seems to be working on most nights - bath time at 8, nurse and then laying her down by 9 because she had her largest melt downs after 7, so rather than trying to keep her calm and deal with the screaming we have tried to put her down and now she only gets really upset for about an hour in the evening and it has helped my sanity a lot!

i hope that you all have a great week and lets keep the questions coming - it is so helpful!

[KELLIF4]

We've been using the vent-airs, With twins, I was thinking the drop-ins might save on clean up ?

So, today is my first day back to work and DH just took the boy's to their babysitter .. This will be the longest Ive been away from them - a whole 8 hour's !! Im hoping it goes well

[historyteach]

oh kelli, i hope that today went well, i am sure that it was really hard. how many times did you call the sitter. I was also thinking the drop ins because of all the work that come with the ventair - i do know that the nipples are different so that might be an issue. good luck

[praying4peanut]

Question...for your strictly breastfed kiddos...are they still pooping a lot? Pj is and pooped six times today. It's still yellow and runny but not seedy. I also thought he was looking a little jaundiced this morning so we took a walk in the sun. Just trying to figure put what's normal!

[Anavaz]

Hello Ladies,

I use Drop-Ins with Iker. I tried the Adiri but he has a tied tongue and the nipple is too short so he didn't like it. I'm so jealous of the girls who are breastfeeding lol, I wish I could've breastfed my baby.

I have the Miracle Blanket and it works great for swaddling because it keeps a tight hold on the arms wich is the most important thing in swaddling because you want to avoid swinging arms that will wake up the baby. I don't swaddle Iker anymore, it's been more than 2 weeks since he graduated from his swaddling.

Naps and sleeping. I have a lazy baby, lol. He sleeps 6-7 hours during the night. If he eats @9 he'll be up around 3 am. What we try to do it get him to eat around 11 so we get the entire night (11-5or6). During the day he naps a lot. He eats and usually goes back to sleep after being burped. Sometimes he stays awake for an hour after eating (usually this happens when he wakes up after a long night of sleeping). I've noticed though that if doesn't nap well during the day he gets cranky and fussy at night. So we try not to interrupt his naps during the day.

Iker LOVES to sleep on his tummy. I know it isn't safe and that babies are supposed to sleep on their side or facing up with the head to the side. But my mom coming from another generation when tummy sleeping was the safest showed him that position and it is automatic, he goes to sleep almost instantly. We only allow him to sleep like that during the day that I'm always checking on him. I always put him down on his side first and see if he'll go to sleep like that, but when he fights it and starts fussing I know he wants to be on his tummy so I flip him and voila, down he goes. I told DH that once he can roll by himself his going to sleep like that during the night.

His 2 month pedi visit is next Tuesday. After a fast increase in his eating (went from 3 oz to 4-6oz) he has been stuck there. He only eats 6 oz at rare ocassions, usually his feeds are 4-5oz. I thought he might go up since he is a milk hogging machine. I weighed him on Sunday and his 12lbs so I guess he is eating well enough. We'll see what he pedi says.

[RosieB]

OK, I am officially jealous of all the babies who can sleep 5-7 hours. Olivia has not yet broken the 4 1/2 hour mark...and that is rare.

Plus she is such a loud sleeper, that although I am sure she is getting rest...mine is disturbed. Then once she is quiet...I worry why she is suddenly quiet and I jump up to check her.

Then, like this morning, she has to poop...and grunts so loud....she wakes herself up. Of course now she is soundly asleep in her bouncy seat...ugh...

Does anyone else have a loud sleeper or grunter? What about when they try to poop?

Em - her poop used to be like Grey Pupon, now it is more like Yellow mustard...lol...not seedy like it used to be, but still runny, and she is breast fed too. She does still fill quite a few poopy diapers a day...from 4-6 depending.

I am going to find that miracle blanket this week since she is outgrowing her other blankets as far a swaddling.

As far as bottles go, I use Dr. Brown, but I switched out the nipple cause she did not like the one it came with, to a NUK, which is supposed to be more like te breast. She seems to like that just fine. She does get one bottle of breast milk a day so DH can feed her.

We are trying to figure out the best schedule possible for nightime feeding and sleeping, but have not figured out one that really works.

Question....how often do you bathe your LO's? We are not doing it every night....but every few days. I wonder if that would help her routine.

[Roxy]

Originally Posted by RosieB

OK, I am officially jealous of all the babies who can sleep 5-7 hours. Olivia has not yet broken the 4 1/2 hour mark...and that is rare.

Plus she is such a loud sleeper, that although I am sure she is getting rest...mine is disturbed. Then once she is quiet...I worry why she is suddenly quiet and I jump up to check her.

Then, like this morning, she has to poop...and grunts so loud....she wakes herself up. Of course now she is soundly asleep in her bouncy seat...ugh...

Does anyone else have a loud sleeper or grunter? What about when they try to poop?

Em - her poop used to be like Grey Pupon, now it is more like Yellow mustard...lol...not seedy like it used to be, but still runny, and she is breast fed too. She does still fill quite a few poopy diapers a day...from 4-6 depending.

I am going to find that miracle blanket this week since she is outgrowing her other blankets as far a swaddling.

As far as bottles go, I use Dr. Brown, but I switched out the nipple cause she did not like the one it came with, to a NUK, which is supposed to be more like te breast. She seems to like that just fine. She does get one bottle of breast milk a day so DH can feed her.

We are trying to figure out the best schedule possible for nightime feeding and sleeping, but have not figured out one that really works.

Question....how often do you bathe your LO's? We are not doing it every night....but every few days. I wonder if that would help her routine.

Leah only sleeps about 3 hours at a stretch during the night. She does go 5 hours between her feedings but she screams for over an hour before we get her to bed so most of the stretch is us either feeding or trying to get her back to sleep.

we haven't found a nighttime schedule that works yet either. Since she sleeps and eats on demand I am not sure what the best thing to do is.

Leah is a very loud sleeper. She grunts and moans for about the first 1.5 hours and then quiets down. She also is very loud when she poops. And she poops every single diaper change still.

I bathe Leah every other day. I think you are suppose to every 3-4 days . I also find she sleeps better on nights that we give her a bath. I think you aren't suppose to so much because you can dry out their skin.

[historyteach]

Ladies, amen on loud sleepers!!! i have checked on her so many times because it sounds like she is really awake and i go to the nursery and she is sound asleep. as for being quiet, i got an angelcare monitor, that monitors her movement, so if she doesn't move (breath) for more than 5 seconds an alarm goes off, it gives me some peace knowing that she is atleast still breathing! i am not sure what to do with all the noise but i guess i just have to get used to it. and i think that i spoke to early that Lyla was sleeping so well, for the last couple of nights she is sleeping only 3 -4 hours, but i think that she is going thru a growth spurt because she is eating like a mad woman! she was at 3 oz and now when she gets her bottle once a day she is closer to 4 oz and that is less than a week to go up that much

Em - Lyla poops 2-3 times a day depending on the day. and they are still seedy. i wouldn't worry to much about PJ, but if it continues that he is going that much you may want to call the ped. but to be honest i don't know. everything i read is that every baby is different some babies can go several times a day and others it can be days, as long as they form their own schedule, it is fine

roxy - i also find that the bath is enjoyable for Lyla and it calms her down, i am doing it almost every night but than lotioning her afterwards and she actually has less dry skin now than when i was doing it every other day during the day. do what works

[Anavaz]

Iker is also loud when he poops, it's actually very funny. I have a video of him pooping and I'm going to upload it to FB so you guys will see what he's like. Also he pushes so much to poop and also pooping for him is a task that makes him cranky, but once he's done he's all smiles and goes back to sleep quickly. At first I thought he was constipated, but that's not the case because it's not hard poop. He poops once a day but of course he's on formula so it's different from breast milk.

Oh and also he's sleeping in his room now, it's been 2 weeks. He was outgrowing his bassinet and he would slide down his positioner mattress and start bouncing from the wall and he would wake up a lot. So one morning (after he woke up before it was time) I put him on his crib to see how he did and he loved it, he loves his mobile with the sailboats. When he was in his bassinet we had to swaddle him and rock him to get him to sleep. Now in his crib I just lay him down and he stares at his mobile and goes to sleep on his own. Sometimes he fusses but that's because he wants to sleep on his tummy, which I alow as long as it's not during the night when I'm asleep and can't watch him closely.

I bathe Iker everyday once a day. He LOVES bath time. Sometimes he cries when you take him out of the tub. I didn't know you weren't supposed to do it everyday, sometimes he skips his bath and I've noticed that when it happens he's grumpy at night. He loves it so much I couldn't stop doing it everyday.