Support for Raising Spirited Babies

[macgrl26]

Do any of you moms have issues w/ bath time?? We are 8 weeks now, and did it here and there the first few weeks, trying better routine now, especially since today was first day back to work (wowzers!) Trying to get good routine since I am retail, and well that is not routine at all. Last night, bath like a champ.... today..... holy cow! Hubby suggested maybe too much, could be??? We did go to the babysitters.. He did very well....except I think he was mad at me. Have any of you had that your first day back to work?! (I am only half kidding)   He wouldnt look at me, gave hubby smiles, he was grumpy with me :-(  Sad.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Trish

[maman_d_emily]

I don't know what exactly what you mean by issues with bath time but my lo was crying with bath time until she was 2 months, then she did like it but was waking her up instead of relaxing, now she cry when we take her out of the tub because she like it so much.     Well I did leave my lo for some hours at around 8 weeks, she didn't seem to trouble her much (I don't think she even notice I was gone).  I don't think that your lo was mad at you but he was probably tired of his day and wasn't feeling for smiling. 

Adriana, don't worry about Emily eating too much cookie, she look at the cookie, bang it on the table but don't eat much.  When she is full, she doesn't eat, not even cookies and I always give it to her at the end of the meal.  I will try avocado next.  Somebody told me that before but can't mash it real good and she use to throw up if not smooth.  Now it might work.

Tomorrow is the visit with the new doctor for a second opinion. 

Annie

[benandmichelle]

good luck Annie!
Michelle

[ElsMom]

macgrl - don't know what kind of bath you're doing, but Elsie didn't like her baths until we stopped sponge baths and put her in the tub - now it's her most favorite thing ever!  I avoided sponge baths because she cried and hated it - don't know if she was cold or what.  But as soon as we started using the tub where she was partly under water, she went splashing crazy.  I can't remember how old she was when we moved her to the tub - probably around 6 or 8 weeks.  She's almost 6 months now, and it's still her most exciting part of the day.

[weething]

Hi guys,

   I am trying to muster up the courage to start an EASY with my 7 month old incredibly spirited DD. Does anyone have any advice for me? I am terrified of starting as I fear it is going to be one helluva slog. We have major sleep issues, especially daytime which then leads to feeding issues ( she still won't take a spoonfeed) and frustratingly the only person who will listen to me when I'm trying to tell people what she is like is my mum. My DH doesn't see that him arriving home in the middle of the bedtime routine, picking her up, blowing raspberries on her tummy, throwing her into the air etc. and then telling me to give her two more minutes with him as he hasn't seen her all day really isn't helping. When it takes then another hour to get her wound back down again he is saying to me isn't it time she was in bed!!"!!!!! Grrrrrr As I said any advice would be much appreciated.



Thanks

Kirsty

[macgrl26]

Hey all!! It has been a heck of a week and a half. Been back to work now almost two weeks and talk about milestones! We are sleeping from about 9 to 6am, and last night no waking up for the paci!! Whoo-hoo!! That is making going back to work so much easier!! Lets hope I just did not jinx myself...LOL! Still, not so fond of the bath. Wyatt just cries and cries. It is in a little tub inside a big tub. I have even just tried the tub alone. I think he hates the feeling of being set into the tub... the free fall feel??? He kinda calms down if I keep him in a sitting position, but only so so. We are only doing it now every few days do to the trama ;-) Any advise or thoughts would be great.

Kirsty.....

     Here are my thoughts for you.... keep truckin with the schedule. Mine needed it. It didnt go as breezy as the BW said (a few days if you keep on it) but slow and sure we got there. From the time I read the book, an then got hubby to do the same, it took about 6 weeks. He improved little by little each day! As for your hubby. I feel for you and him. I work retail, and I went back to work a week and a half ago. I understand the whole not getting to see the baby. I worked 12-9 Friday (so home by 9:30ish) lo was in bed, and had to be back at work by 7am the next day. I didnt get to see him for 24 hours. Let your hubby know that that sucks, but to keep the schedule it has to be done. I get up early to have the time with him on the days that I am going to be late so I have that time. Let him know that when you get the lo on a schedule, then you can figure out when he can plan time with your lo. What time does  your hubby get home that he interupts winddown/bed time??

Trish

[Adriana]

Hi Trish,
Have you tried putting a wet towel in his belly? Sometimes it helps with the free fall feeling.

Kristy,
What are your sleep problems? What do you mean by her not taking a spoonfeed, how do you feed her?

Adriana.

[hannahbanana]

What are/were your Awake times for your LO's at 6-7 months old?  My DD still only sleeps well after about 1 1/2 hrs. (and less before her first nap).  Needless to say, while we feed every 3.5-4 hours, we can't keep to any EASY schedule.  I've tried pushing her longer, but that only ends in OT-ness.  Not worth it.  Just wanted some confirmation, if anyone else was in my boat.

[ElsMom]

Sorry Hannahbanana - Elsie will be 6 months next week, and she's doing about 2 hrs and 25 minutes.  She starts "asking" for a nap between 1 hr 45 minutes and 2 hrs, but I carry her around for the last bit to extend A time.  If I try to put her down when she first gets fussy, she cries going down and then takes a short nap.  But if your DD is VERY spirited, maybe she's just burning lots and lots of calories and needs more sleep.  ??  If she's taking good naps, stick with what you're doing.  Don't worry about the EASY (IMO).  I've had to do EASAE during several phases, and it works fine.  Just wondering - is there a reason you're doing 3.5 to 4 hour EASY instead of just 4 hours?  I'm curious because I got "strict" about going 4 hours a week or so ago, and it seemed to solve a few of our problems.  Good luck!

[pbmom]

Hi Sophia - sorry you're having trouble.  Weird that I have had a few days where her best naps were after 1.5hr A time.  Most days it's 2.25hrs.  I don't know...trying to figure it out.  My DD1 was also spirited and always was A LOT less in A time than others her age.  She was around 1.5hrs at this point and EASY always looked like EASAEAS.  It worked for us so I didn't worry.  At 18 months she was only doing 3 hrs A time and still taking 2 naps.  If it works I would stick with it! 

 

[hannahbanana]

Thanks, Robyn.  I'm trying to tune into her more, follow her cues, ask myself what I'd do if I were just observant and hadn't read any books, etc.  For example, that's why we don't follow a "strict" feeding schedule.  First, I don't eat like that, so I don't expect her to.  But, mostly, I may feed her earlier than 4 hrs. if she's due for a nap.  (I refuse to wake her up after a mere 30 mins. from a hard-won nap for a feed, regardless of BW advise.)  But she seems to be getting the calories she needs, as we've started STTN again

 

[pbmom]

Sophia - yay STTN!  That's wonderful and I bet you feel more rested and able to tackle those short nappers. 

[maman_d_emily]

Hi to all,
It's been a long time since I didn't come here.  I've seen all the post almost every day but didn't have time to give any input.  Anyway, I saw another doctor for my dd and even though, she is very small in weight, that her length and head are good size and she (the doctor) didn't think that anything was wrong with her.  She said to go and have all the blood test done to make sure.  Anyway, they did test her for cystic fibrosis and it was negative.  I'm waiting for the rest of the result but nothing else is life threathning (I think). 
Let me tell you that she was really good for all the test, not even eating until 10:40am for one of the test as she had to be fasting (the last time she had hate was 10:45pm).  The hospital crew did let us wait for hours to get the stuff and Emily wasn't even crying - she was only allowed water.  She even slept at one time, poor little thing.  After that, I said that they wouldn't do anymore test.  She look, act and move normally, so stop bugging her!
Anyway, now she is having night waking since early november and they are not improving so I went to night waking board.  See what they can do to help me.

Annie

[benandmichelle]

Annie, -good that it is nothing serious. I will pop over to night wakings.Could be teething maybe? Ben has 2 now and when they were coming through it was horrible. He was waking very often at night.
 RE A times: Ben has 2 -2.15 between waking and first nap then could be 3 hours till 1pm nap or 2 depending on length of first nap. Thzen 3 1/2 between afternoon nap and bedtime with a 30 min cat nap. I find this is ok for him and he has been pretty much sleeping through lately. (more or less)

Hiope this helps
Michelle

[maman_d_emily]

Thank Michelle for your support about the night waking.  Glad to hear that everything seem good on your part.  We are not rocking Emily to sleep, which is not a problem for the nap but evening is like going in her room every 5 min or so to put her back on her side (she is on her belly and gets mad that we are not there to get her) for an hour.  This always been a problem, she doesn't want to fall asleep at night.  I said I would try for some days to feed her every 4 hours to see if it would make a difference in the night waking but now that I'm thinking about it, it is been at least 5 days like that since she won't take it before that with no improvement.  So tonight I will dreamfeed her (not done that since she was 4 months), I think she might not eat enough during the day since she want to explore and maybe teething so I will give her extra milk as a dreamfeed (no other feed) and hope for the best - I did that for when she had to have her blood test that she had to be fasting and she slept all night.  Dreamfeed didn't work so well before (that's why I stop around 4 months).  Well anyway I need a good night sleep so maybe the dreamfeed will help even if it is for a day.  I'll give news later.
Annie