Parenting>
MotherEarth
Thanks for all the help and advice. I appreciate it. I sat the hubby down yesterday (after his third night out this week!)) and put a calendar in front of him and simply made it quite clear how much he had been away by showing him on the calendar how much he is really gone. I told him that I needed his help right now because I am having trouble coping with the change in my life and even if it's only until I get back on track...it would really be a help. I really didn't want to move in with my brother (which I have seriously been thinking of) and that I just really needed him. I think he understands and so far (one day) he has been quite good. We will see how it goes :) Thanks again for your advice and support.
Mother May I
Thats good to hear that you talked to him. I hope he really listens to you.
Black Wolf
besides just cause your married, does'nt necessarily mean your getting it.
Angel
Good job and good luck ME. :)
SweetSue
Does anyone have any suggestions for a baby that is spitting up? I mean every bottle and sometimes a whole bottle? She hasn't a fever, I've switched formulas, I use smaller holed nipples, I've boiled the tap water, I've even tried letting her sit in a semi-upright position for about 30 minutes after eating. None of this really works... She hasn't been losing any weight..in fact I believe she's still gaining. I'm about to give up!
Well not on her...just resign myself to using multiple spitup rags every feeding!
MotherEarth
I would take her in for a checkup. It is good that she is not losing weight. There is a condition I beleive that has something to do with a valve at the top of the esophogus that doesnt close correctly therefore allowing lots of urping. Did you switch from a lactose based formula to soy? How about Iron...my kids couldn't take iron in their formula. Try giving her two to three ounces...wait an hour and give her another two to three ounces. Hope everything works out alright.
Blain Nelson
SweetSue -- Is she still gaining weight?
Our daughters both had problems spitting up formula and we ended up switching to Prosobee which fixed it (I hate the smell of Prosobee, and it's a bit tougher to mix than Isomil, which they were spitting up). That was about our only choice because those were the only readily available soy-based formulas, and we already know we run to milk allergies.
dragon
Is she spitting up or actually vomiting? How old is she? Some babies are just prone to spitting up. And it always looks like a lot more than what it is. A good trick is, if you think she is spitting up 4 ounces of formula, take four ounces of water and pour it on the counter, most of the time, it is way more that what you thought it was.
My nephew was a premie, and his digestive tract took a while to catch up with the rest of him developmentally. He was still spitting up when he was 18 months old.
If it is a major concern, talk to your health care person. But, I would say if she is still gaining and not losing any weight, it's just one of those wonderful things parents have to deal with.
ZooKeeper
SweetSue -- I used to do that too, and cry endlessly -- mom was about to go screaming into a corner never to return, and the doctor wouldn't believe I was colicy because I was gaining weight. One day when the milk was sour she gave me my grandfather's Soy milk and guess what? I didn't spit up, I didn't cry, and I slept...
Mother May I
Good advice from MotherEarth. Try the different fomulas. Also, the iron. Sondra couldn't tolerate the iron also. Talk to your peditrician. Also, it could be that the baby isn't burping completely. I had that problem with Sondra too. She would be REALLY hungry and gulp it down. And I would have to take about 20 minute to get her to burp. And if she didn't she would spit up or get a stomach ache. Also, maybe trying to shorten the feeding between burps. The baby might just be getting too much at one time. Try different things. Follow your baby's signals, you should be able to read if she is getting to much or is having a problem.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
Bookworm
SweetSue- It might also be an allergy to milk. A friends baby spitup constantly and it turned out to be a slight allergy to milk. Just something to think about.
dragon
Sarah always lost her first feeding of the day. I think it was just cause she was so hungry she ate more than usual. I was nursing so I couldn't tell how much she was eating, but it was the only meal that she would literally gulp down. Then 30 minutes later it all came up.
Cave Lion
One more bit of advice. Abraham was a preemie and had that problem also. We had to give him a little bit of cereal first (I believe it was rice). It cured the problem.
SweetSue
Well, I had her on Prosobee to begin with..then I switched to Enfamil. (Enfamil does smell infinitely better!) At any rate, she's to the point now where sometimes she spits up maybe a teaspoon. She is gaining weight so I'm not worried any more. Now my chore is to get her to sleep a bit more through the night. I'm using a bit of rice cereal in her formula (which she loves) and when she has her 8:30pm feeding she sleeps till 2:00. But then she get up again at 4:00. Any suggestions? (you guys are great! thanks for all the advice!)
Dimwit Flathead
Babies, as I remember, tend to sleep in short bursts, preferring to wake and begin crying at times when their caretakers are asleep. Usually, just talk to her a bit, attend to bodily needs\functions, and soothe her some, and she'll likely go back to sleep.
Mother May I
I truly sympithize with you. It is really hard to deal with a baby and sleep deprivation. If she is gaining weight and is for the most part a happy baby, there really isn't too much you can do. I had a tendency to make sure the house was settled down when I wanted him <Nick> to go to sleep. He didn't sleep thru the night until he was five months old. He then got broncitus <sp?> I got the same virus at the same time. So with the sleep depriviation and being ill, I couldn't even remember how old he was. You did touch on one thing, daycare! Alot of times they will let the child sleep as long a possible. I had one that did that with Nick when he was about 3. I told her to only let him nap for about 1 /12 to 2 hours. She would end up letting him sleep A LOT longer. Sometimes he was still sleeping when n I picked him up at 5:00! Anyway, babies have their own internal clock, and sometimes its hard to adjust it. Have you tried to keep her awake longer during the mornings when she wakes up. Or even wake her up at a different time. There are so many possibilities. One more thing...how old is she?
SweetSue
Oh she's only 8 weeks old. But at one point she was sleeping better through the night. Now she's gone to waking a lot. The funny thing is, she sleeps terrific if she sleeps with me. Go figure. I called her nurse and the nurse said pretty much the same as you....since she was a bit small at birth she'll wake and eat more often than other babies. She was 7lb 7 oz at birth and from what I've been told that's average. I guess you're supposed to have a monster baby in order to get sleep! :)
ZooKeeper
SweetSue -- nope, doesn't work that way. I had my first at 10lbs1oz (ouch!) and he didn't sleep through for months because he was so big and growing so fast he couldn't get enough at any one time to last him longer than about 3 hours.
about the best advice I could give is this -- if you are actually so fortunate, and rare, as to have a *supportive* partner talk to him about having him take one or two of the night feeding so you could either 1. get to sleep a little earlier at night in prep for being up at night or 2. sleep a little longer at a shot during the night. Never worked for me, but it's worth a shot...
JayDee
get the sleep, when you can
and know that in less than 1000 days, things will be "quieter"
but, one of the first words you will probably will hear @ alleged bedtime
is "no", with varying degrees of modulation, from firm, to agonized...
aak...
ZooKeeper
and in varying forms, from verbal to active, JayDee is right about "no."
Mother May I
Ah..any eight weeks old. Well, a pattern hasn't been set yet. That sometimes takes months. And you have a healthy normal "average" baby.
My 3 were 7 lb 14 oz, 8 lb 7 oz, and 9 lb 2 oz. Each one of them was different. Sondra my oldest started sleeping thru the night at 8 weeks. That was until she started to cut teeth (molars). As I said before, Nick didn't sleep thru the night until he was 5 months. And Spud, well he started sleeping thru the night at 3 1/2 weeks old (and he was nursed too) And my doctors told me that since Zack (Spud) was so big at birth that he had drop to 8 lb 9oz when he left the hospital and took almost 4 weeks to put his birthweight back on. See all three were different. So you just have to listen to your instincts and listen to you baby's queues. It sounds like you already have too. By that I mean, your baby is more comfortable sleeping with you. She senses you. nd you have picked up on her. But having an infant sleeping with you can be dangerous. It is best to let her lay with you until she falls asleep then put her back in her crib. It has been known that parents have accidentally smothered an infant.
Angel
Sweetsue, Did you try to make sure you burp your baby a lot when you ffed them. When they are that little, they get a lot of air and they can't burp themselves. So it is really goos to feed them about 2 ounces and then burp them untill they give you a burp, and then try feeding them some more. 2 ounces and burp again. My daughter was 7lbs. 3ozs, and she didn't start sleeping through the night untill she was about 3 or 4 months. I guess I was lucky there. But she too spit up a lot and my doctor told me to make sure she was burped A LOT!!!! You might try that. Also try not to get into the habbit of letting your baby sleep with you or they will never leave your bed. That's what I was told. The longer you wait to get them trained for their own bed the harder it is to break them away from yours. But anyway I hope this helps you. BTW my daughter is now 11 months so I am still a bit new too. She is my first too. Good luck and enjoy. It goes TOOOOOOO fast. :)
JayDee
been thru it a few times
and, lived
amazing...
SweetSue
She's actually starting to sleep a bit more throught the night now. She and I both had colds last weekend and I had to give her Dimetapp (docs orders). Since it made her somewhat drowsy, she slept longer. Now she's gotten a bit used to it, hence the past few nights have been pretty nice with only one wakeup. Had to put a humidifier in the room with her though..her poor little nose is so congested. Anyway, thanks again everyone for the advice. As to having her sleep with me, I've heard "Isn't good" "Is good" from all sorts of people. There's a book I'm interested in getting about how until around 100 years ago it was common practice to have your baby sleep with you and it wasn't until "authorities" decided it wasn't right that the practice was stopped. I'll let you guys know what it has to say :) Again thanks!
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