[praying4peanut]

Jenna, it really does sound like she's wrong, especially if his hands are open at all...at least that is what I'd heard. Sorry you've got a bum doctor. We have to drive 1/2 hour out of our way to see PJ's pedi but in the end, I value her opinion and it's worth it! LOL!
Well Payton and I did our first mommy and me group outing today at somebody's house in their backyard. It was actually a lot of fun! He was the youngest there by about 4 months but about the same 'girth' as the 6 month old girl :P He slept most of the time and we all just chatted about kid stuff, it was such a great learning experience. The two other moms still breastfeeding in this group are at 6 months or so and said that even bf'ing their kids sleep from 9pm-7am. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was like well...PJ sleeps now from 11ish-6am so I guess we've got a ways to go. And they were all pretty impressed with that and said it just happens where they start eating the cereal and don't need to get up for a mid night feeding...YAY! Sleep...precious sleep, I thought I'd never know thee again! Don't get me wrong, PJ sleeps good but I have to keep getting up to pump. The fenugreek has me exploding by about 4am so I pump and feed for both am feedings! And I had my breast sonogram today and they said that the mastitis is all cleared up but the reason I'm having a decent amount of pain is b/c the blood vessels in my breast are super swollen from fighting the infection a few weeks ago - very interesting indeed!!!
Have a nice weekend ladies - we're headed 3 hours away to visit his family for a few hours and then back all on Sunday...Monday we're having a mini cookout so hopefully that goes well! Enjoy labor day weekend!

[Roxy]

So we survived our first trip together. She was a bit fussy on the way down and we had to stop to nurse. She did great at my parents house. She slept in her pack n play which surprised me. I think at times she was overwhelmed with all the visiting we did. Usually we stay at home and these past two days we were in and out of the car visiting lots of people. She did sleep the ride home which was nice. Now we have a busy weekend- autism walk today and a beach trip on Monday.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

[Anavaz]

Hello Ladies,

I'm glad to read everyone is doing well and are settling into a routine.

Em- I'm very happy your mastitis is all clear!!! YAY!!! Oh the shots, I'm dreading those for Iker. I have actually considered not vaccinating him, but DH wants to, we are still considering. I swear PJ and Iker are long lost twins, lol, Iker is also drooly and always has his fist in his mouth scratching his gums, I was wondering if this could be do to his teeth coming but I thought it was too early. He has a pedi appointment next week, I'm going to ask.

Sleeping - Iker is a good sleeper and naps all day long. But last Wednesday he refused to nap, he would fall asleep and would wake up right away. I think this behavior is do to a growth spurt or something because now he's back to his sleeping old self.

He is smiling a lot now!!! I love it, he looks so beautiful when he does. He is also talking (babbling) and smiling at his toys. He does it with the animals that hang from his bouncer and also with the sailboats of his mobile (which are his favorite). I can tell he is getting bigger and developing his own personality. (I love it but I'm sad too, my baby is getting big).

Diapering - I'm using the gdiapers and they are great!!! I love them and everyone who sees them are amazed by them, lol. I'm also using cloth diapers that I also love, they keep his skin rash free, he rarely gets diaper burn on his tushy. It's extra work with all the laundry but I just love them and Iker does too. Since he sleeps a long stretch during the night I use disposables. But it's the only time I use them, the rest of the time he has either a gdiaper or cloth. He is already outgrowing his gpants!!! This kid is growing like a weed!!!

Okay, he's crying and daddy can't seem to find a way to calm him so, I have to go.

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend.

[Martieroo]

the BF babies can sleep though the night without any cereal.

Since July my twins go down around 8 and sleep until 5 with only breastmilk. They are 5 months and a week!

We are going to try cereal later this week!

Megan

[Martieroo]

My little twin still keeps her hands closed quite a bit!

Megan

[MoniqueD]

Well ladies, I may be MIA for about a month as I won't have a lot of acess to a computer as my parents do not own one. We are travelling across the country tomorrow (via air) so wish us luck I am sure Garrett will be a trooper...his mom will be a wreck...I hate travelling but before you know it we will be 5000 miles away visiting our families and introducing our little miracle to everyone.

Anavez, I find the gdiapers difficult and messy with the 'explosive' poops....makes me sad because I did want to use them so bad and he will soon grow out of the gpants...maybe I will take them on our trip and give it another go. We only have 4 pairs so thats kind of a pain....hmmmm, will have to see how we can do this

Glad everyone is doing okay. Garrett did wonderful with his needles, my little short bum!! He is only 21.5 inches!!! In the 3rd-10th precentile for his age...oh dear....lol!!! Chat soon ladies. xo

[Anavaz]

Monique - My gpants hold the explosive poops rather well. Although when he poops some always gets on the plastic snap-in. But that is easy enough to clean. I also have only 4 gpants (size small) that he'll soon out grow because he's already 13lbs.!!! (he doesn't look that chunky though because he's long 23in.) Anyway, I also use cloth a lot too, and now I noticed I still have 2 packages of small inserts that he'll soon out grow!!! I think I concentrated too much on the cloth diapers and forgot to use the gdiapers, lol.

AFM - Ladies I got AF yesterday! Well I certainly didn't miss this witch. I knew it was coming but it still took me by surprise because I thought it was going to be next week. I had tons of EW late last week, so right now I have no lutheal face to speak off since AF came so close to O. I guess it's only a matter of time until it regulates again. One nice surprise though, no pain what so ever (yet, I am not sure it will stay like this, I'm hoping though). I used to have such painful menses, sometimes painful enough to go to the ER and get stronger meds. But it showed up yesterday afternoon and still no pain, YAY!

[amyinohio]

For the ladies that are bfing what do you use to store the milk that you pump? I bought the Lansinoh storage bags but almost every other one has a leak. I am not sure if I just got a bad batch or if the product always has this problem.

[historyteach]

monique - i hope that you have fun on your visit and that you enjoy with all the family members and i am looking forward to hearing from you in a couple of weeks! hope the plane ride goes well

roxy - glad that the trip went well and i was shocked that lyla slept the entire time both there and back, it was great!

anabel - i am shocked that you already got AF - i don't think that she is anywhere near for me, i am glad that it isn't too bad, i have heard that the first one can be very bad

amy - i am using the same bags and i am not having any problem with them, i think that you might have a bad batch but there are other bags that you could try

things here are going well, Lyla is getting more on a schedule and i am trying to sleep when she does, it seems odd going to bed at 8:30-9 o'clock. but it seems to be working but i can't imagine going back to work in 6 weeks. i hope that you all have a great labor day and hopefully you get some BBQ

[colleen]

Happy labour day!

Monique- Have a great time on your trip. We travelled with Arden on a plane when she was 6 weeks old and it was just fine... although I was a wreak myself! BTW, I'm in Canada too! We live in Toronto and we were visiting all my family in Vancouver.

Jamie- Glad Lyla is letting you get more sleep at night. It does feel strange to be going to bed when LO goes to bed, but I spent a few nights not going to bed right away just to get some adult time, and really regretted it the next day!

Anabel- wow, you got AF already? Are you BF? I don't think mine will show up any time soon, thank goodness. Glad it's not painful. We're using cloth diapers as well for Arden and it's the best decision we made. I love them.

Amy- We use a generic brand of bags to store my breastmilk and haven't had any problems with it yet. Hopefully it's just a bad batch you have.

Roxy- Glad your LO did well on your trip. Can she teach my daughter how to sleep in the car seat? We went to visit my in-laws on saturday, a 2.5 hour drive from our house, and she was wide awake basically both ways.... fighting sleep despite being tired.

AFM, we're dealing with a terrible yeast diaper rash on Arden the past few days. I had to take antibiotics for an episode of mastitis a couple weeks ago and I guess they went through her and gave her the yeast. We've got a prescription cream that seems to be helping and we're giving her a lot of air time but she's been a little cranky the last few days, poor thing. She had her 2 month appt. on friday and is up to 13lbs. and 23 3/4 inch length, which is the 95th percentile for both! No wonder she was in 3-6 month clothes at 4 weeks old!

[praying4peanut]

Roxy - glad the first trip went well! We opted not to go on ours yesterday, Payton's been having an off weekend...
Anabel - good luck with Iker's shots tomorrow! I know, I really couldn't believe his drooliness was from teeth - what the heck?!! My pedi said that it's not his actual teeth prepping to poke through - sometimes babies can 'teethe' for months, she said not to look for any actual teeth until at least the fourth month, but that they're starting their trek northwards...poor little man has been gnawing on baby carrots already (worked for our dogs - LOL!) and PJ is mad smilin too. He mostly likes when I make funny faces or dad does something goofy. He enjoys his toys a lot but has yet to laugh. It's DRIVING ME NUTS!!! We've done EVERYTHING to make him giggle...argh! LOL! Otherwise, he's where he needs to be with the milestones for sure. And as for the AF, I'm kinda jealous in a way...I dunno if I'll ever get mine! It would be nice to feel normal, but it's ridiculous to think if I didn't get it normally before that I would now! Don't get me wrong, I love my little Payton so so so much and we are so blessed with him, but we've already started trying again...who knows what birth does to ya?
Monique - hope you're doing great on your x-country trip with Senor Garrett!!!
Amy - I use the Medela pump and save bags and they work perfectly! We pull it out of the freezer, plop the frozen bag in a bowl of hot water and in about 5 minutes it's warm and ready to go - ta da!
Jamie - that's great that Lyla's on a schedule! I know it must be hard to crash early, but having that reliability of knowing when and where would be nice. Payton had a good schedule going up until last week and then something happened where he's all messed up again. He was awake for 10 hours straight (mostly screaming) on Saturday :P but then he slept for 7 1/2 last night. And he's been monging and crying most of today as well...Sorry about you having to go back to work Glad little Lyla did good on her trip too!
Colleen - that sucks about the diaper rash and mastitis. I too had a bout of that a few weeks ago. I found that on my antibiotic, I ate yogurt a TON and it helped my little guy avoid the yeast infection we both shared (thrush) after I was on antibiotics for a uterine infection the first two weeks we were home from the hospital...just be careful with the mastitis. My doctor told me that if you get it once, you're more likely to get it again. And beware of thrush, if your little guy has a diaper rash, he could be carrying the yeast infection in his mouth too which could pass onto your breast if you're bfing. And let me tell you that is UBER painful :P
AFM, PJ and I are heading to an outpatient consulation with the lactation lady tomorrow at the hospital. My breasts have been very 'pins and needly' for the past two weeks since I beat the mastitis and the nips are pink and very sore So I decided since I'm pumping every morning now and my little man is just hanging out on the boob, I needed to be sure that I'm doing everything right. So off we go...and Wednesday is my 29th bday so I'm pretty excited to spend it with my little man and then my middle aged and older men (DH and dad) that night for dinner. At least I feel like I've accomplished a lot since my last bday - I wasn't even preggers then! LOL!

[Anavaz]

Hey Girls!

I star work tomorrow Sep 8, I have mixed feelings, I want to go back to work cause it's part of getting back to my life, or old life I should say, but on the other hand I wish I wouldn't have to leave Iker. I am not scared of how he'll do since he'll be with my mom and I've already left him with her for a couple of hours. What I'm dreading is that I won't get to see him much on Tues. and Thurs. because I go to school on those days from 6-9:30. But I fgured, he won't miss me now, or notice my absence as much, if I wait for later when his bigger he'll deffinitely notice then. Plus classes end early this semester, I'll be done by Thanksgiving.

Oh and I'm not surprised I got AF because I'm not BF. I thought it would take a little longer because I stopped BF (if you could call what little I produced feeding, I think of it more like an appetizer, lol) 2 1/2 weeks ago. Still no pain!!!! I pray it will stay like that.

Em- Thanks for the info about the drooling. Oh and btw, Iker doesn't have his shot appointment tomorrow, just his 2 month check-up at the pedi. His pedi doesn't vax so I'll have to look for somewhere else to get his shots. My mom is taking him to his pedi visit and DH will meet them there.

AFM - I noticed Iker has one pupil bigger than the other, or I should say one opens more than the other. I am a little concerned about that. I've read it can be normal and that they'll even out when he gets older, but I am still worried. DH is going to mention it to his pedi tomorrow. I pray it's nothing to be concerned about.

[AdaRuts]

Anavaz - I definitely feel your pain. Today is my first day back to work also and it has been difficult....

I started crying before I even got out of the house this morning, needless to say by the time I got to the babysitters I was a complete mess....

Hope your day went well and little Iker didn't miss a beat. Lots of

[Anavaz]

Ada -It's been tough, I keep thinking about him, I keep looking at the time and thinking Iker should be eating or sleeping or ready for a bath, etc. I've called my mom like 6 times already, lol. I didn't cry this morning, but I don't know how I'll be able to concentrate on my classes tonight. I pray little Austin did great and you'll be able to leave him with more confidence

[Roxy]

Anavaz and Adaruts- So sorry to hear that you had to leave your little ones. It must be very difficult.

AFM...we went in for a weight check today and Leah is not gaining as much weight as they would like to see. I use a nipple shield due to extreme cracks. I have tried to get rid of the nipple shield but then I end up reinjuring myself. The problem is my nipples and not my babies latch so it is difficult for me to breast feed. The doctor told me to pump after two feeds and give her whatever I pump in a bottle. I was also thinking of supplementing with one bottle of formula. Does anyone do this and could give me some guidance? The doctor didn't tell me if I should or shouldn't but I don't want Leah to keep falling behind and then problems will arise from it. She was born at 8 lbs and is now 7 weeks and weighs 10.1 lbs.