March 2004 Babies

[Chuffed]

Hi, like all of you I'm sure I have been having trouble finding the time to get on Mumsnet. Hope everything is going well for you all. I love being a mum!
I thought we needed to have a post to discuss stuff as Feb, April and May have them but not us.
DD was born 29 March and is a real character showing lots of personality. Hopefully I won't be alone for long.

i'm also feeling guilty over being lazy - need to 1)tidy up ds room with all our junk
2)put up pictures in ds room
3)transfer ds clothers to ds room

Surprised you got away with DS not pulling covers over his head for so long! Stopped using the "duvet" a bit ago as well, after the morning where I found DS had somehow managed to kick it over his face .

dd has been in her cot since we got home from hospital. It is beside the bed so really easy for feeds etc. It also means that we don't have to worry about pictures etc in the room for a while. She does have an 'interactive' bumper for her cot but hasn't even thought about using it yet.

DD still has two teeth, despite two weeks of dramatic teething symptoms. We are weirdos and she sleeps in a hammock (a proper baby hammock, I hasten to point out) next to our bed and we do not need to worry about moving her until she's 1. We did just change from her infant carseat to a big one, as she is a long baby and was getting too tall (I'm not absolutely sure she was unsafe in the car, but her feet hung off the end and she was definitely unsafe being carried in it).

I felt the pang about the people due in March, too.

She just napped for nearly 3 hours, but this happens only once every few weeks. And she has no schedule at all during the day. At night she's pretty reliable, although she recently moved her previous 4:30 am feed to be a 3:30 am feed. I am
not enthused as 6:30 or sometimes 7:30 is better than getting up at 5:30 when she's really waky! At least this morning she went back to sleep after the 5:30 feed.

I feel very silly because I just yesterday figured out that the magical "sits supported" milestone is something she's been doing for at least a month now, and we could get her a highchair.

Also I'm driven crazy by the fact that she does all this stuff she can stand up just holding onto fingers for balance and mostly I can't tell other mothers because they think I'm bragging about my terribly advanced baby, and I'm not, really. I mean, I know I don't cause her to do these things, and it doesn't mean anything in the long term, and it would be actually much nicer if she didn't have teeth already, and I don't think she's better than the darling 6 month old at yoga class who doesn't roll over, stand up, or have teeth. He's a big, floppy baby, very sweet tempered, and I don't want to make his mummy feel bad. So instead of saying that she can stand I say that she's learned to do raspberries, fake coughs, and (new today!) kissy noises.

california girl how tall is your dd. I can't imagine my dd growing out of her infant carseat yet and she is over the 90th percentile for height. Well into the 3-6mth clothes (lengthwise anyway).
dd seemed really advanced earlier on and it seems to plateau a bit although she is 3 months today and rolled over for the first time front to back this morning but has been trying since 4 weeks old.
Don't feel bad about your dd's acheivements - feel proud!

DD is early March (the 4th) and moved into 3-6 month clothes right on schedule, I think partly because it's summer. She takes after me and is all leg, so footed things go way sooner than onesies. (I don't think the 3-6 month footed sleepers are going to make it anywhere near to 6 months they were a bit scrunchy last week when it was cool enough to wear them a few nights.) She has her 4 month appt next week when she will have an official height, but I measure her out as only a little bit over 24", and the carseat is supposed to go to 26". For a while I think I was just putting her in wrong she likes to stiffen her little legs so her butt ends up high, but when you fasten her in, she settles lower. But even so, her shoulders are now above the straps when she's buckled. It's probably OK, but then I squished one of her feet putting her in the car the other day, because they've been off the end of the infant seat for a month now. That's not a safety risk when she's in the car, but it terrifies me out of it. And as it turns out, the big seat is a Britax, and it's much nicer. It's easier to use and she seems comfier.

Tried a highchair at a restaurant last night. Verdict: She could sit in it, but she wouldn't. She fretted, partly because she was too low and couldn't see well.

californiagirl your dd sounds a bit like mine. She was 3 months yesterday and I have her at 62cm which is about 24 1/4". The 3-6 month full suits fit her perfectly now at 3 months so no I don't think they will go anywhere near 6 months.
Did you go through that 3 month growth spurt or have any changes in the sleeping around this time as dd has been awful for the past couple of nights and although we have changed her routine a little (bath at night not in the morning) I'm hoping it is just a phase.

I had a night of terror just at 3 months, when my beautiful sleeper woke up more often than she did as a newborn! She turned out to be teething. She did it again for one night 2 weeks later, and we haven't seen teeth from it yet, but it does appear to be a transient thing. We get a few nights of misery and I think "Oh no, I've broken the baby" and then she goes back to dropping off at about 8 and sleeping until 3-4:30.

We have a cold at the moment (I assume it's one cold, we're both sniffly) and I think (hope) she's doing the growth thing, since we've had several days when she wanted to feed over and over and over again.

Does anybody else's 4-month old still feed every 2 hours, max, all day, and poop almost every feed?

we're also back to newborn days - last two days is almost constant daytime feeds and a couple at night too - I thought it was probably the heat but maybe it's a growth spurt?
its so damn hot now and yesterday I left the windows open to cool us down, woke up in the morning thinking - wow no mosquitos all night- then saw why - ds has at least 10 bites on him poor love, so mossie net was hunted out in a hurry. it made ds1 cry though to see his brother tucked up under the net bless!
ds is also waking up every time he rolls over in his semi sleep stage - very irritating - a baby hammock sounds just the job - never heard of one before though - are they good then?
who do your babies look like? ds2 is just like his daddy but has red hair and very blue eyes and incredibly white skin - real viking boy
he's so smiley now and laughs hysterically if you play tickles with him. I took him to toddler and baby group today and all the toddlers were spoiling him rotten. as he's usually ignored while I chase after ds1, he was lapping up the attention

We love, love, love the hammock . It's an ozzie thing, but not everyday even there. It's a sort of a bag with a little mattress in the bottom that hangs from a spring on a frame. She can't roll all the way over, and when she thrashes it bounces soothingly. And you can bounce it for her while lying in your bed more than half asleep. Plus it packs up and you can take it with you and she has her own familiar space ("like a dog and its crate" said someone at work and then got all flustered and apologetic about comparing my baby to a dog).

Wow so good to hear that I'm not the only one with worse sleeper than at newborn. She is now feeding for about 30mins every 2 hours or just less for most of the morning and evening but has a calm period in the middle of the day.
We were happy with only 2 wake ups last night, better than 4 the night before...what happened to our angel.
We are putting it down to a growth spurt but she had another of these at 10wks. You could be right though and be teething as the white marks are there for her teeth but I can't feel anything pushing through yet.

Hi all, thought I'd join you. Ds2 was born 26th march. He is a happy little chap but at night he drives me pots! He wakes at around 11ish and then again about 3am, But doesn't want feeding at 3am - do you think its too early to start ignoring his 3am wake up call? I was think about moving him in to ds1's room with him, how do I go about that without upsetting ds1's sleep routine, should I have ds2 sleep through first?

Hi spikeycat!
Been keeping quiet 'cos don't want to jinx Dd sleeping rather well...

10/11 - 6 ish which is plenty for me.

H/w was not so good when she had a cold and yesterday (jabs). She woke up at 1 - Dh took her. I woke at 3 to find that Dh had given her all the milk and cuddles she could wish for, but she was making this really miserable whine. Temperature almost 39 (is anyone else finding it difficult to get accurate temperatures?) so cracked open Calpol.

Which brings me onto my discussion point: how quickly do people bring out the Calpol, esp. for such small babies?

For myself, I try to avoid too much medication. But Dd has had it for both of her jabs so far, 'cos I was scared of the high temperature, and she was in obvious discomfort. However, when she ran a fever with a cold, got it down by sponging - worked v. well.

Hmm. Not sure what I should have done last night...

I tend to run with if they have everything going, from cuddle to food to changing to winding - then back to bed and get ignored!!! Nasty mummy
But to be fair its usually cos they are over tired

dd has a different cry when she is in pain and after her jabs in the afternoon I'm not sure if it just starts stinging or what but she starts 'screaming' and that is when I bring out the calpol.

DD just had her four month jabs on Tuesday. She is still 50th percentile in weight, 75th in height and is 14 lbs 8 oz, 25.75" (or twice her birth weight and a quarter inch under the height limit for her baby seat). All the nurses admired her (she's very smily) and she even smiled through her tears after her jabs when the nurse clapped for her. Then she was inconsolable in the afternoon and I gave her infant Tylenol, which I think is the same as Calpol -- the stuff we call acetominophen and you call paracetamol.

I can see where her third tooth is coming in, and it is not one of the top middle two; it's one next to those two. She's going to look a bit lopsided, I guess.

After a discussion with a Russian friend about the horrors of Russian grandmothers (who I keep meeting in the park, and they tell me DD is beautiful but her feet are too cold, I should be ashamed -- we take our walk at the same time as a Russian senior citizen's outing, as far as I can tell) I ran into a pair of Russian grandmothers in the park who looked at DD sleeping in her sling, stroked her bare little feet, and pooled all their English together to say she was a beautiful baby, and I was a marvelous mother, I took such good care of her. I felt terribly guilty about maligning Russian grandmothers.

Snap californiagirl - Dd 50th weight 75th for height. V proud of her - secretly worried about her becoming a chubster, as at wk 5 she was 75th for height 2nd for weight (long story).

As to Russian grandmothers - at least you only meet yours in the park!!! I have my own Russian granny! One who was a neurosurgeon, no less, and who makes it her life mission that Dds back is not overstrained. She seriously suggested that Dd only be held while wrapped in a mat to keep her back totally straight. Dh won't go downstairs with Dd as he is immediately accosted with 'you're almost sitting her up'.

She also undoes safety buckles on the sly . And screams at nappies. And tells me to under no circumstance but my baby to sleep on her\back (do I want her to choke?). Hey, ho. Family, eh?

Then again, she's only the one. Another Rusian granny told me to put Dd to sleep with a rolled up towel under her chin to force her to breathe through her nose at all times.

Sorry for long post - lots of experience of this!

dd has been a terrible sleeper over the past 2 weeks on and off. Last night we had 7-12 then about 3 then about 5.30 wake ups. Yet the night before last she went from 7-3.45am. So I was a little tired for my gym session this morning.
dd is now 12.46 pounds and still 62cm so in the 90th percentile for height and the 50th for weight.
She is growing out of so many clothes height wise but doesn't seem to fill much out, the opposite of me when I was little apparently.

oh god - you've set me off again - mashed swede, pureed carrots in miniscule proportions, pukey t shirts, really pongy nappies - today someone told me you don't have to wean until they're one and I seriously thought about it!!!
sorry to hear kifster - such a cool 'name' - is keeping you up - is he hungry or wants to play or just tired and can't get back to sleep - we seem to get all of those at different times every night this week - bit of a pain

Spot the first time mum, eh?

Kifster seems to be hungry, tho' she could just be smart enough to have figured thst if she wakes at an uneasrthly hour she gets to snuggle up with mummy and daddy.

Sleep has been better the past two days - managed 7.30-3.30 but I wonder if this is due to some infadrops before bed to try to numb what we think is teething pain and the HV said can't be as she is too young.
Isn't it amazing the changes in them at the moment, we feel sometimes that somebody has switched our baby for another the different personalities that are coming through.

oh the shame
I have no clue whatsoever how big ds2 is or how much he weighs except that he looks just fine and is filling out nicely,seems to be a slender active bod and still fits most clothes except the trousers but that's cos they have to stretch over his big bum cloth nappies
today he discovered his toes and very interesting they are too apparently
this might be horrible but I'm so glad to hear other march babies aren't sleeping too well too - he's driving us mad right now - I'd like to move him to the garden shed if we had one. I remember with ds1 leaving him to cry a little in the middle of the night if it wasn't time for a feed and he went back to sleep but I was more heartless then! but now when I get ds2 up he just seems cross that I've disturbed him and I wonder if he isn't actually just asleep or lightly awake and wants to be left alone. like spikeycat I'm wondering about when to move him - perhaps I could train his older brother to get up and hold his hand at night to get him back to sleep. right now I go from one to the other at night - bit like having twins really
I'm a bit heavy handed with the calpol in general but with ds2I use suppositories instead - much less fuss and quicker too - highly recommend them
hammock looked good - kind of different to how I imagined
did you start on solids then californiagirl? anyone else? I'm holding out hardcore til september - hate the pureed carrot stage with a passion
hello other march mums - good to 'see' some of you again

I know this isn't a shock, but your HV is incorrect. DD has two teeth already, which came in at 14 weeks. DHs apparently came in at 10! Yes, it could indeed be teething.

DD now apparently on random schedule for sleep. As in, 8 pm, 12:30, 2:30, 3:00, 7:30. The last three
nights have all had one funky 30-45 minute gap. What's this all about? And when are the rest of her teeth going to show up? (Before or after she manages to draw blood with these two? We know better than to let her chew on fingers, but sometimes you turn your head and lose track and she manages to shove one in her mouth, ow ow ow ow.)

Californiagirl as the HV was saying that I was thinking of this thread and how your dd's have come through already but couldn't be bothered discussing it anymore.
I get so much useful info from here it is great, you get more of an idea of what is average than the HV will ever tell you.
We've had 3 nights now with 7.30-2.30 or 3.30 then sleep till 5. Hopefully on our way to recovery on the sleep front.

I only know DD's size every two months because that's how often they get weighed here. She has discovered her toes, too; she likes to grab just her second toe on one foot and pull it back with all her strength, I'm surprised it doesn't hurt.

I wasn't planning to start solids immediately anyway (I have to obsess over these things for a while first) but I think we're likely to wait until 6 months. If she's sitting up without support for long periods and using a pincer grasp before then, we'll start solids (and it's not impossible, she's really working on the sitting up thing, and she's always been odd about her hands -- I had no idea what the books were talking about when they said "And now the baby will open her hands" because she did that from birth, mostly only curling her hands into fists to sleep). Meanwhile, we're letting her play with cups, spoons, ice and water. Ice is messy, especially since you need either a big bit we can hold or really little ones, but she thinks it's a great game.

We went to a party yesterday afternoon, where she spent about 4 hours making trilling noises, much to everybody's amusement.

I can't wait for wean ing. Been poring over Anabrl Karmel and those lingering close ups of mashed swede .

Kifster (Kif Jnr ) is regressing w.r.t. sleep. Up at 4 all week!