Weekly Check-in February 1

mindaa

How was your week?

QOTW: If you could ask the group any question, what would it be? (haha, I'm having a hard time coming up with one!)

KateLouise

Good week, busy, crazy hot where I am. 5 yr old starts school tomorrow and 3 yr old will be at kindy. So excited to clean the house and get rid of some clutter after playing all summer, and all the extra stuff we've accumulated from Christmas and birthdays.

4 mth old is doing dumb stuff with his sleeping. Not sure if it's the heat, the 4 mth wakeful, teeth, all of the above or something else.

Question for the group: ideas for valentines day. what are you doing? We don't go all out for valentines, but we like to make a bit of an effort. Need a cheap, easy to organise idea.

GTKY question for the group: how do you, "do good for the world"? Do you volunteer, donate money, make a big effort on recycling/environmental things, something else? I feel like I need to put more good out into the world, and with lent coming up really want to make an effort, but need some inspiration.

Hope you're all doing well ladies.

mindaa

Good week, not too eventful. LO has a couple teeth coming in and is a little moody but handling it well.
MIL came to visit but wasn't around too much. Yes, I think it's weird that she doesn't plan much time with LO when she comes to visit, but try not to get too judgey, as she is otherwise cool. My parents are coming at the end of the week and they are the polar opposite - they will sit around the house all day waiting for time with LO between nursing and naps. 

Thanks @KateLouise for the questions!  We hope to go camping over Valentines, as I have a long weekend. Will probably just get DH a card and treat, keep it simple.

The majority of our donation money goes toward our church, but I also give a bit to other causes. I've never been a very good/committed volunteer (my brother is just the opposite, he's an amazing volunteer and so inspiring). Used to do some work with a group that worked to conserve and build hiking trails and related projects. Am hoping to start volunteering in the nursery at church soon - have done that before and enjoyed it. 

marijaa333

Fabulous week: baby started sleeping 5-6 hour stretches. He seems to be getting a lot better at settling himself. I'm hopeful for 8-10 hour stretches in the near future.

 @KateLouise cool questions I work for a non-profit so I hope most of my productive hours result in something good for the world. I also sit on two non-profit boards, essentially helping idealistic NGO managers run an organization without going bust.

 My question for the group is about weaning: for those of you who have done it before, do you have any tips, dos, don'ts, etc.? I am planning to start weaning between 10 and 13 months and to do it gradually, but it will depend on the baby (if he's hesitant, I'll let him continue nursing as long as my milk supply allows it).

 Another question: when did you move the baby to her/his own room? My husband wants to do it soon (at 9 months) but I feel nervous about not being right there...

supersarah77

Week has been good. DS has a sad little baby cold. He had trouble napping yesterday so I let him sleep on me laying down. Haven't done that in a while - if ever - and I appreciated the snuggle time. Even DD was cooperative and played quietly to let him sleep. 

@marijaa333When I weaned DD I dropped a feeding every few days for a few weeks, starting with the "less important" ones, and eventually just got down to the one right before bed. When I dropped that one DH put her to bed with a cup of milk. Eventually we dropped the cup of milk, too. Incidentally that's when she started sleeping through the night too - when there was no more hope of getting nursed she was like why bother.

supersarah77

Half my post cut off! Grrrr.

Also, I transitioned my kids to their own rooms starting with naps and then went for it one night. Then spent a couple nights glued to the baby monitor until I was convinced they were ok. Lol

my question is: How many of your kids never crawled? Or, only crawled briefly before walking? My DS is 9 months and not crawling. I know it's not a milestone but DD was crawling all over th place and I'm mildly fretting.

marijaa333

@supersarah77  Thanks so much for sharing your experience with weaning! So far we've dropped one night feeding. Another night one left to go, and then we'll be down to two in the evening and one in the morning, which seems too few to me right now, although I like the extra time on my hands! I'm definitely not ready to send him to his own room yet, but maybe in a month or two.

i can't be much help on crawling, except that I know I didn't really crawl, but my mom ascribes that to putting me in a walker early (oh the early 80s with their lackadaisical safety...)

KateLouise

@marijaa333 I started weaning my older 2 at 12 mths because that is when I returned to work. So I started with the middle of the day feed when we weren't together. I did find that this made them want to nurse when  I picked them up around 330 or 4pm, but I think that was also about needing to reconnect after being apart all day.

after that I followed their lead. DD1 self weaned at 18mths. DD2 had to be kicked off at 3 (I got an infection in my nipple and was in agony) For both of them they cut out the evening ones first and left us with the first feed in the morning.

I have all my babies in their own room from the night we get home BUT, our homes have been tiny, and in our current house I can see babies cot from my room. Also I bring them into my bed and bedshare as needed. DD2 still comes into my bed in the middle of the night at 4 (she has definitely been my clingiest baby)

@supersarah77 both my babies crawled but DD1 only just started crawling between 9 and 10 mths, and she took her first steps on her first baby, and she's a happy healthy 6 yr old now.

Knottie1442268460

Hi all! Our PT said crawling was something we really needed to encourage. As soon as we got the https://www.hiphelpers.com baby started crawling! All along we knew we had a low muscle tone issue in the legs though. Is baby commando crawling yet?  Our pt said all babies need an hour a day tummy time to oppose the sleep on back. Some study seen in training. 

When bottle weaning we had a similar thing occur with sleep through night as pp. We fully weaned at 13 mos. Started at 12. I cut off completely. Except for 4 am feed. Then we added water to reduce. Then gave milk in a cup for a week. Then that final 4 am feed disappeared finally! 

I volunteer by giving free Bible studies. I recycle & pre-kid I biked to work. I donate clothes to the women's shelter. I sometimes give corner street people food rather than booze money. I donate money and materials to our spiritual organization-I could do better. I volunteer yard work and occasional cleaning of our building for worship. 

@supersarah77 sorry your lo sick. So hard to watch!

our oldest went to own room at 3 mos. it worked best for all of us. Baby has sensory processing issues & snoring kept baby awake. We have no room or i'd be moving new baby at 5 mos to own room. I read that's when they remember stuff & moving later will make them sad. 

We we sold our house! Pending of course. Looking for a new one. Hard to find the perfect match. 

mindaa

@marijaa333 - yay for better night's sleep!  We moved LO into his own room at 7 months. Yes, it was rough for a couple days but we all transitioned pretty quickly and all enjoy better sleep. It still sometimes feels a little weird to me that baby has to sleep alone, while DH and I have company... but DH doesn't share that feeling at all.

@supersarah77 - Hope your family is feeling better this week!  At 8 months, 3 weeks, LO is scooting/army crawling around a bit but not really crawling either. He LOVES to stand up, though, so we're half expecting him to walk first. (according to MIL, DH did... but who knows )
Thanks for the tips on weaning...we'll be there soon. Well hopefully. DH is having such a tough time just transitioning from purees to mashes, so it might be a slow process!

@knottie1442268460 - Congrats on selling your house! FX you'll find something perfect