September 2014 Babies leave the newborn stage behind. Thread 2

[SeptemberBabies]

New thread because our initial thread is about to max out.

For babies born around September 2014 - or just before for early arrivals and just after for late arrivals.

Yeah I've tried giving Jessica a teething ring too but same problems - its too big for her little mouth really, and she doesn't yet have the motor skills to hold it herself.

Jessica also likes being changed. There's lots of colourful things next to her changing mat which she likes to watch whilst I do, and I often play with her whilst changing her so I think she enjoys the attention!

Red, so interesting with the changing unit, ds is exactly the same... He could be screaming his head off elsewhere in our home or be really grumpy and as soon as his back hit the changing unit his face lit up and he start talking to himself and everything around him; he also pushes his legs against me and moves on the the slippery changing surface and enjoys going up... Many movements happen on his changing unit... I thought he is a bit funny but now you described the exact same thing I guess it is a baby thing, we never know, even maybe changing in itself feels good and being conditioned on changing units means dry and clean bottom make them happy

Yes, another one who loves being changed and playing on the changing mat. Although thankfully we haven't had any swimming in it for a few days (hope I haven't spoken to soon there!)

Yep another here who likes being changed, lots of smiles and chatting :) we just got back from our first swim class. Went quite well, think he was rather confused by it all! We had some smiles and some grizzles. And he fell asleep wrapped in his towel. Also out for the count now, for how long I don't know. I never have much luck with afternoon naps. But maybe knackering him out with swimming is the key! Not that I'm going to do it everyday lol.

Honey, b slept 3 he's last week after swimming. Today.....not at all!!!

I know a little boy who chews on a dummy for teething. Doesn't have a dummy for any other reason, just to chomp on when a tooth is on it's way.

They make dummies for little babies. You could freeze them to make the teat cold. Worth a try?

My DD loves the change table too. It is where I baby massage her (which she loves) and I think that is what cements the positive association. We always lay a towel on the mat though, to soak up wees. So less slippery for her.

Tried it FATE. DS has taken it a couple of times, but has spat it out at other times. I think the problem is that the sucking action causes pain (which is why babies refuse bottles and breasts whilst teething). I guess he hasn't learned how to chew but not suck yet.

DD (10 weeks, 12 adjusted because she was overdue - she is big for her age) is breastfed but has massively reduce her number of feeds recently. I don't know whether to worry or not?

She is happy when awake and sleeps very well. A pattern is developing:

7am feed
sleep
11.30am feed
awake
sleep
4.30pm feed (she's just starting to stir awake now, as I type)
awake
7.00pm feed
awake/dozing
9.00pm feed
dozing
11pm dream feed
sleep
starts grizzling from 5am ish but is happy with dummy until 7am when it starts againS

So that is only 5 feeds per day, seems very few to me. Breastfed so I have no idea how much she has (apart from 11pm dreamfeed, which is 120ml of expressed milk).

How many feeds per day do 10-12 week old FF babies have? She should be at the very least matching the number of formula feeds babies have, but I would expect more given she is bf.

FATE DS currently has this pattern.

7.30am ish Feed 1
8.00am ish Goes back to sleep. His sleep varies between 1 and 2 hours.
10.30 - 11.00am ish Feed 2
11am Big Shit of the Day
Noon ish 40 min nap
1pm ish Feed 3
2pm ish 40min nap
3.30pm ish Feed 4
4pm ish 40min nap
Then he starts getting a bit more fussy and usually only manages a small feed sometime in the evening before falling asleep around 7.30 / 8.00pm after having a good grizzle and dozes all evening.
He then wakes around 10.30/11.00pm when we go to bed and has his final Feed 6 of the day.

His feeds are generally now 120ml - 150mls (except the evening one which is tending to be less around 60mls), but two weeks ago it was more like 120mls or slightly less.

He also starts getting restless around 5am, but doesn't wake until DH's alarm goes off.

Weekends are more dependent on what we do, and he often ends up missing a feed in there somewhere, but has more in the evening.

Expressed breast milk only.

So really not a million miles off...

I am terrible mummy as I just go with the flow but today Eli's routine was:

7.40-8.00am stir and woke up took 1oz!
Pooped
Played for 45 minutes.
8.40 - finished bottle so another 4 oz
slept till 11.20
5 oz if a 6oz bottle at 11.30-12.00
12.00-12.30 play.
12.40 - takes last oz and falls asleep
quick nap as we have to go out
out and about in the car
snoozes for 30 min in car then wakes for 40 mins.
Snoozes in car in way back 40 mins.
Get home at 3.00 plays for a bit then has a 6 oz bottle from 3.30-4.00.
Plays till 5.00 and crashes out.
sleep on me now.

He will probably have two more bottles before bed at 10.30. He usually sleeps till 3-4am and then through till morning!

Loving "Big Shit of the Day"

Looks like I'm doing a similar number of feeds as you two, so that's OK. I have noticed that the feeds she does have seem to be huge, like she is drinking much more than she was before.

I also have an over supply issue in the mornings (I usually get between 120ml - 180ml off in two express sessions 9am and 12pm in addition to feeds). I wonder if this is the reason for the morning/afternoon disparity? It concerns me that during the school day she will only have one feed. Not many weeks ago it was 3 or 4 feeds in between.

I'm sure it will change in time, nothing stays the same. I might start waking her to feed sooner in the daytime. Maybe she'll be less fussy in the evenings then?

Jessica still has no feeding or sleep routine at all with exception of a bedtime routine. Bad mummy.

kit kat neither do we. bed time routine yes. day no. I basically feed him every 3 hrs or when he is hungry. he is taking decent amounts each feed - if he waa doing one much smaller I would try to cut it out. his night time feeds are smaller so am hoping a 150 at 1.30am might get him through a bit further than 5.30ish!!!!!

We have no routine here at all (except bed time)?as we are out most days of the week but each day we go out at a different time so ds has to adjust to that.
I loved reading your schedules though, cause I keep thinking is this normal that he gets tired so often and wants to sleep within an hour of waking up or not... Apparently it is not abnormal

We have a very sensitive irritable baby here- frightened at any different or sudden sound or sometimes view (!) ; paying too much attention to mom and dad and others expressions now and becoming upset very very easily; becoming really annoyed if left alone for one minute later than what he likes, becoming bored quickly, etc...

Sometimes I have no clue what frightened or upset him, like today he was chatting away with a bee toy and grabbing it in his hands and all of a sudden he started such a scream following a high pitch crying I thought something happened for him physically. No! He was all OK- had to cuddle and rock for a few minutes before he calmed down! I wonder what the bee told him!!!

I have a feeding plan for DS in the day but not sleeping.

Although today he didn't want his 11am feed so I left it for a bit, trying a few times over the following couple of hours but no success. Then he took a MASSIVE 12 ozs at 3pm. I didn't think that was possible! To make it even more crazy he then took a further 8 ozs at bedtime 3.5 hrs later.

I guess they know what they want!

To be perfectly honest, I'm not so sure having such a rigid routine at this stage is good. I am finding it really difficult when DS does something different or at weekends when he has to fit in with what we are doing. It really unsettles me and plays on my anxieties. For example if he hasn't done a poo by 2pm it tends to send me into a bit of a panic now and I don't like going out at the weekend before his 2nd feed.

Nazly what you say is interesting as DS is just beginning to start grizzling for attention or hugs and seems a lot more aware and response to his surroundings. He's always been an alert baby but I feel like he's 'watching' me a lot more than he was if that makes sense.

barney is much more alert at the moment. watches everything! sometimes he falls asleep and wakes up with a shriek which really scares me!!

Leave a baby to it and they make their own routine quite easily.

DD established the routine I mentioned above all by herself.

It's helped by the fact that with three older children, family life is already very routine and structured anyway. Several points in the day are set in stone - like getting up, going to school, collecting from school, dinner time, bedtime etc. These have to happen so baby has no option to fit in with the structure already there for her brothers and sisters.

I guess we have a vague routine. get up anywhere between 6.30-7.20 have cuddle with daddy, get dressed have play have cuddle with daddy again.
7.50-8.20 have a feed
8.30ish mum shower. b meant to sleep. doesbt.
9ish do.stuff eg walk into town to get b to sleep.
10.30/11 feed
play, sleep if lucky
2ish feed, play, sleep
5ish feed
6 play with daddy when he gets home
6.30ish bath
6.45/7ish feed,stories,zzzzz
then - at present - 1.30/2ish feed, 5?30/6ish feed.

I worry looking at your daily routines that I'm doing something wrong. Jessica seems to like 'little and often' with feeds which is a pain! Sometimes she wants to be fed within 30 mins - 1 hour of being last fed, and then have what she wants, refuses any more / falls asleep on boob, and then wants more food not that long later. I'd love her to start doing like 3+ hours between feeds like a lot of you guys. Particularly when we are out the house it's a nightmare having to find places to stop all the time to give ber a feed. Also we've tried taking her to bed at a sensible time (say 8ish) and no matter what I do she never really settles until 9.30-10pm-ish, so I've given up now as it just ends in either me or DH (normally me) stuck in her nursery all evening trying to settle her down, but I'd really love her to start going down a bit earlier so I can have a few hours break each day. Any ideas? xx

argh. it was going so well. b slept 7-2.30. then woke up at 4 crying - wind. did big burp and back to sleep. woke up 5,40 same reason. burped. farted. hungry. ate. now thinks it is getting up time!!!! I might try and put him down, grab a shower and do steriliser before dh gets up. then again....

Kitkat, I think that feeding by the bottle helps massively with some sort of routine so I wouldn't worry. I tend to find if I do end up feeding DS by the boob like I did yesterday, everything ends up being so much less predictable. My best guess is that giving him regular amounts of food produces a routine in a way that the irregularity of breast feeding doesn't.

Fate My baby is FF - but it is variable. He eats little and often - I have tried to wait longer in between feeds so he will have more - but he can only manage 3 or 4 ounces at the most. He is 10 weeks old and average weight but only on the 25th centile for height.

He had about 28 - 30 ozs a day on average. He is putting on weight steadily and seems happy.

Routine wise, I was in the mind that he doesnt have much of a routine - but after reading the posts on here, I have realised that he does, as I have two older children so he fits in with them.

Roughly:

7.30am Gets up and has feed (about 4ozs)
8.15 am Accompanies us on school run. Snoozes during this time.
10.00 am Wakes up, I wash him
11.00 am Has a feed
12.00 - 3.00pm - We either visit people/have visitors/go shopping/have a walk. He will have another feed
3.30pm School run again. Has a snooze
5.00pm Feed
6.00pm Has bath and PJs on
7.00pm Has time with DP
8.30pm Feed and bed
8.30pm - 7.30pm Bedtime, wakes several times for small feeds

The above can vary, but generally this is the pattern. It's amazing now I'm thinking about it, how structured his life is. And how he just fits in easily with it.

Just caught up with all your lovely pics (can't see them on my phone app) so here is one of J.

I worry looking at your daily routines that I'm doing something wrong. Jessica seems to like 'little and often' with feeds which is a pain!

KitKat, up until about two weeks ago DD was doing just that. That's why I was a bit confused by the sudden reduction in number of feeds. My experience from my other breastfed children is that they usually feed more often than this, so I think DD is just 'going through a phase' and that her current feeding pattern - for a ebf baby - is unusual. I think anyway.

no matter what I do she never really settles until 9.30-10pm-ish, so I've given up now as it just ends in either me or DH (normally me) stuck in her nursery all evening trying to settle her down, but I'd really love her to start going down a bit earlier so I can have a few hours break each day. Any ideas? xx

DD also doesn't settle in the evenings. My others have always had a set 'bedtime' when they go upstairs right from birth and it would usually be around 7pm. But DD isn't settling, just sort of napping/dozing inter-spaced with waking up in the evening. We therefore aren't putting her upstairs for bed yet. That will come, but for now she sleeps in the moses basket on table at back of lounge if she will settle or if not in the bouncy chair so she can be bounced to sleep during the evening. She then goes upstairs into her cot after her 11pm feed and sleeps right through to morning.

Anything for an easy-life.