Everything Random - September

Missingchampagne

Just say whatever! 

Missingchampagne

Every commercial with a baby now makes me incredibly sappy. Moreso if there's a baby and an animal. That Amazon Prime commercial with the golden retriever getting a lion mane to bond with the little girl - pure waterworks. 

redselig

Missingchampagne said:

Every commercial with a baby now makes me incredibly sappy. Moreso if there's a baby and an animal. That Amazon Prime commercial with the golden retriever getting a lion mane to bond with the little girl - pure waterworks. 

I'm the same! I also get emotional watching the Olympic P&G 'Thanks Mom' commercials. Gees.

redselig

Question - do you let your baby watch tv? And if so, for how long? 

ivyvines6

redselig said:

Question - do you let your baby watch tv? And if so, for how long? 

I don't personally watch a lot of tv so LO isn't really exposed to it often. With that being said he is OBSESSED with it when it is turned on I try to limit it to about thirty minutes a day if he is around a tv that's on. When my fiancé is home the tv is usually on, so he definitely gets more tv time on Tuesdays when I work, but then he goes a few days without any kind of screen time.

ivyvines6

My kid's new favorite game: I sit him up on the bed. He then proceeds to throw himself over in any given direction. Repeat.

brie_and_almonds

We will try to avoid screen time until 2, but with our three year old, we did start "family movies" at about 20 months, so we will likely do the same again. I will say if  has had a lot of screen time, she is super naughty, so we try not to have it be an every day thing.

Also, I'm going back to work tomorrow and baby won't take a bottle.

Missingchampagne

redselig said:

Question - do you let your baby watch tv? And if so, for how long? 

Yes, when I'm working and NEED to get something done, and he's not really responding to any of my efforts to get him engaged with his toys.

I'll usually try to find something musical and educational, because the way he taps his little feet and lets out little joyful squeals with the songs amuses me. It's normally no more than 15 minutes of that before he gets bored (or maybe overstimulated?) and just passes out. 

Also in the evening, his pack and play is in my room. If he happens to be awake while I'm watching something, he'll sometimes watch. He watched the entire Warcraft movie from start to finish. Less colorful things, he ignores.

ladylolly89

redselig said:

Question - do you let your baby watch tv? And if so, for how long? 

No; we don't even own a TV so he is rarely exposed. If it happens to be on at one of the grandparents' homes, he might look at it for a few minutes but then quickly loses interest. 

redselig

About the tv....I actually don't have one but I do own a laptop, iPad and iPhone so there are lots of opportunities for screen time. He never paid attention before but now he's always turning his head when he sees or hears something coming from one of the devices. Today I put on a cartoon off of YouTube and he was mesmerized.  We only watched 8 minutes but I'm sure he would like to watch more if I let him. I think I'll hold off on the screen time but now I have to surreptitiously bump while breastfeeding. 

redselig

Knottie9983816 said:

My kid's new favorite game: I sit him up on the bed. He then proceeds to throw himself over in any given direction. Repeat.

That probably looks really cute.

redselig

brenlo42 said:

Also, I'm going back to work tomorrow and baby won't take a bottle.

I pump so SO can give DH the occasional bottle. Now baby doesn't want anything to do with bottles and squirms fusses with every attempt. *sigh* I feel your pain.

Missingchampagne

brenlo42 said:

Also, I'm going back to work tomorrow and baby won't take a bottle.

I've read that Mommy should leave the room, and sometimes be gone for a while, before offering a bottle. Have you tried that? The thought is that baby will associate you with feeding, and prefer breastfeeding, but a new method from a new source can be offered while they cannot sense you at all.

K&Elizabeth

brenlo42 said:

We will try to avoid screen time until 2, but with our three year old, we did start "family movies" at about 20 months, so we will likely do the same again. I will say if  has had a lot of screen time, she is super naughty, so we try not to have it be an every day thing.

Also, I'm going back to work tomorrow and baby won't take a bottle.

That's how T was. He refused a bottle until he was in day care. I tried everything even leaving the house while DH tried... Nothing. First day at daycare, he took 2 bottles, 3 the next day, and has been taking 4 a day (9 hours) since. I was beside myself thinking he wouldn't eat the whole day, but babies won't intentionally starve themselves. T handled the whole situation WAY better than I did.

ivyvines6

ladylolly89 said:

redselig said:

Question - do you let your baby watch tv? And if so, for how long? 

No; we don't even own a TV so he is rarely exposed. If it happens to be on at one of the grandparents' homes, he might look at it for a few minutes but then quickly loses interest. 

I wish we didn't own tv's... I didn't have cable growing up and I view it as the elephant in a room when we visit friend's houses. I literally cannot focus on conversation while a tv is on!

Missingchampagne

What do you guys do about ear wax? I feel like my baby makes abnormally gigantic balls of the stuff from one day to the next. So far I've just been scooping what is visible from the outside, with my pinkie.

yodiggity

Missingchampagne said:

What do you guys do about ear wax? I feel like my baby makes abnormally gigantic balls of the stuff from one day to the next. So far I've just been scooping what is visible from the outside, with my pinkie.

I use either those fat, baby qtips or the oogie bear.

ivyvines6

Missingchampagne said:

What do you guys do about ear wax? I feel like my baby makes abnormally gigantic balls of the stuff from one day to the next. So far I've just been scooping what is visible from the outside, with my pinkie.

I hate ear wax and can't stand seeing it in people's ears I've been cleaning out whatever is outside the ear canal with a QTip. 

g&tlewis

@Missingchampagne I'm using my pinkie, too. Gross but effective. 

@redselig We TRY not to let LO watch TV, but if he gets fussy and that's the only thing that will calm him down, he can watch at a distance for 5-15 minutes at a time. He'll lose interest and start fussing again, and he's usually at least around 10 feet from the screen. He's been trying to grab my phone lately, but he's grabbing at everything - including my wine glass & coffee cup. Once he starts grabbing at my phone, I'll just put it down. 

AGK2015

brenlo42 said:

...

Also, I'm going back to work tomorrow and baby won't take a bottle.

Hang in there, mama. That was us when I went back at 12 weeks; we tried literally everything (all sorts of tricks, making the experience similar to nursing, making the experience different from nursing, having me try it, having my husband try it, having virtually every person who works at the daycare center try it, me at home, me outside the home, more than a dozen different types of bottles, silicone nipples and latex nipples, fresh milk, frozen milk, warm milk, cold milk, feeding her from an eyedropper instead of a bottle, the works) but she held out for more than a month after starting daycare. It sucked and there were a lot of tears (mostly mine), but she figured it out eventually on her own terms and her own time. Yours will too, even if it takes a while. 

bean_2016

H and I are considering hiring a sleep consultant for L. We are so sleep deprived and it's way past just being the four month sleep regression. We all need some sleep and the sooner the better lol

Muggle lover

Yes to tv. No shame here, sometimes I just need some me time. Plus he LOVES the wiggles! 

And i use my pinkie to get earwax out too. The baby q-tips just don't work well for us 

brie_and_almonds

AGK2015 said:

brenlo42 said:

...

Also, I'm going back to work tomorrow and baby won't take a bottle.

Hang in there, mama. That was us when I went back at 12 weeks; we tried literally everything (all sorts of tricks, making the experience similar to nursing, making the experience different from nursing, having me try it, having my husband try it, having virtually every person who works at the daycare center try it, me at home, me outside the home, more than a dozen different types of bottles, silicone nipples and latex nipples, fresh milk, frozen milk, warm milk, cold milk, feeding her from an eyedropper instead of a bottle, the works) but she held out for more than a month after starting daycare. It sucked and there were a lot of tears (mostly mine), but she figured it out eventually on her own terms and her own time. Yours will too, even if it takes a while. 

Thank you for this. We are in the throes of it right now, and Monday I was very seriously considering dropping $30 on a Mimijumi since I tried every one of the 11 bottle/nipple varieties we already have without success. Actually, the only way I got her to drink anything was by filling a shot glass with milk and letting her slurp/lick it out like a puppy.

 Last week I had a three day week, and DH was only able to get R to drink about .5 oz the whole 8+ hours I was gone. Today she drank 2 oz, so still not enough by a long shot, but progress I guess.

loveymay

Lately LO wants to be entertained by me, he cant play by himself with his toys. He used to play for 10-20 minutes but now he only whines unless Im interacting with him. Even when Im on the floor sitting right by him. I love playing with him, but sometimes I need to do other things like use the bathroom, prepare his bottle etc....which leads me to say I cant wait till he can sit up by himself and starts crawling. I think once he is mobile he will be able to entertain himself for longer periods of time. I also realize I may regret wishing this, because he is already hard to contain now that he is a master roller!  :P 

redselig

@Missingchampagne I just scoop with my family pinkie too. What I hate is that I find the earwax when we're doing something really fun and I have to stop the activity to clean the ear and then dispose of the earwax.

redselig

beccamccann said:

H and I are considering hiring a sleep consultant for L. We are so sleep deprived and it's way past just being the four month sleep regression. We all need some sleep and the sooner the better lol

Oh no, are you really at the end of your rope? I've heard mixed reviews of people who have paid for consultations. At the moment, I'm not desperate enough.

yodiggity

beccamccann said:

H and I are considering hiring a sleep consultant for L. We are so sleep deprived and it's way past just being the four month sleep regression. We all need some sleep and the sooner the better lol

I can't tell if you're being facetious or not but I'm pretty sure the "4 month" regression could go on for a while, not just at the 4 month mark. lol

AGK2015

brenlo42 said:

AGK2015 said:

brenlo42 said:

...

Also, I'm going back to work tomorrow and baby won't take a bottle.

Hang in there, mama. That was us when I went back at 12 weeks; we tried literally everything (all sorts of tricks, making the experience similar to nursing, making the experience different from nursing, having me try it, having my husband try it, having virtually every person who works at the daycare center try it, me at home, me outside the home, more than a dozen different types of bottles, silicone nipples and latex nipples, fresh milk, frozen milk, warm milk, cold milk, feeding her from an eyedropper instead of a bottle, the works) but she held out for more than a month after starting daycare. It sucked and there were a lot of tears (mostly mine), but she figured it out eventually on her own terms and her own time. Yours will too, even if it takes a while. 

Thank you for this. We are in the throes of it right now, and Monday I was very seriously considering dropping $30 on a Mimijumi since I tried every one of the 11 bottle/nipple varieties we already have without success. Actually, the only way I got her to drink anything was by filling a shot glass with milk and letting her slurp/lick it out like a puppy.

 Last week I had a three day week, and DH was only able to get R to drink about .5 oz the whole 8+ hours I was gone. Today she drank 2 oz, so still not enough by a long shot, but progress I guess.

We did actually end up buying the Mimijumis after a while. They worked (eventually, after another two solid weeks of her continuing to refuse and daycare continuing to try), but they were by no means a magic bullet. I'm not 100% confident she wouldn't have eventually decided to take something else if that's what was offered, although I definitely understand the urge to try anything you can. 

For us it was one step forward and two steps back pretty continually; a week with 0 or .5 oz, then randomly a full 4 oz bottle, then nothing for another week, and so on and so forth. Don't be discouraged if the same thing happens to you guys. She took 2 oz, which is awesome and means she's totally capable of taking a bottle, even if she doesn't want to.  When she does want to, she will. Creepy internet hugs in the meanwhile, I know how hard it is to worry about your kid not eating.

linzoirv

I let my LO watch TV at the moment. So far, he loves Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street on PBS Kids. Oh, and Word Party on Netflix. Usually he can sit through only one episode.

For ear wax, I get it out with a damp washcloth during bath time. I hate looking at his ears when they're full of gunk and goo.

Super random:  I wanna celebrate LO's "half-a-year" birthday next month (10/6/2016)...is this obnoxious? Has anyone done this/heard of this? 

Missingchampagne

linzoirv said:

Super random:  I wanna celebrate LO's "half-a-year" birthday next month (10/6/2016)...is this obnoxious? Has anyone done this/heard of this? 

If I got a formal invitation to a half-birthday party in the mail and got the strong impression that I should bring a gift, I think I might see it as gift-grabby or obnoxious.

I understand the urge to celebrate your baby every day, at every moment, though (ask me how many Baptism party pins are on my Pinterest board).
So let's see... Maybe just be casual about it, a Facebook invite or ecard, a smaller-scale celebration, and find a way to make it clear that you're just having fun celebrating your beautiful child's life - not trying to reach into anybody's pockets necessarily. 

bean_2016

@yodiggity I know that the
four month sleep regression can last shorter/longer than the 4 month mark lol. I just meant that I don't think it's actually the sleep regression. 

@redselig we have been doing some more research on sleep consultants the last couple of days. They are a bit pricey. I think we are just so desperate for some sleep at this point! 

brie_and_almonds

Confession: Maybe I am a judgemental B, but I am shocked and appalled at the idea of a four or five month old watching more than the briefest glimpse of TV.

Missingchampagne

I need a milestone definition. When people say their child is sitting up, do they mean that their child gets themselves into that position, or that the baby can hold their body up unassisted (whether they put them there or not)? 

dancingsphinx22

My baby doesn't have a favorite show yet, but she does watch Supernanny and Harry Potter. 

Supernanny she watches in the morning right after she wakes up (around 8/9am.) It's become a routine for me mostly while I make coffee and wash her bottles. Afterwards she's ready to jump in her exersaucer. 

I put on Harry Potter during nap times because the theme music puts her right to sleep. No lie. It's seriously magical haha!

loveymay

My DH puts the tv on the Baby tv channel, in the mornings while he is getting ready for work. LO doesnt watch constantly, but it does help to keep his focus for short periods of time. LO will only play by himself for a few minutes before he starts fussing. Its not possible to interact with him 24/7. A few minutes of watching big colorful animations singing songs is not going to harm him.

Missingchampagne

Regarding the TV - I think the problem happens when we see the TV become the babysitter, and mommy/daddy breathing a huge sigh of relief realizing they can kind of plug their baby in for hours on end. Then baby misses important playtime, creative play, and of course none of us want that.

I think the fact that we are all still here on this board, shows that we are very attentive moms in our own right, even when we do things differently. I doubt any of us would be the type to have a tv nanny. 

That said, I know there have been studies on the effects of screens and how they impact different parts of your brain, keeping them engaged long after you turn the tv off. That made me nervous when I first let LO watch the tv, but I remembered generations have been doing it before me and it's a few minutes of singing songs. He acted no different. When he's older, if I notice the tv makes him a little butthead, we'll reassess!

yodiggity

linzoirv said:

Super random:  I wanna celebrate LO's "half-a-year" birthday next month (10/6/2016)...is this obnoxious? Has anyone done this/heard of this? 

I personally would side eye an actual party but a smash cake/photo shoot would be cute.

ivyvines6

yodiggity said:

linzoirv said:

Super random:  I wanna celebrate LO's "half-a-year" birthday next month (10/6/2016)...is this obnoxious? Has anyone done this/heard of this? 

I personally would side eye an actual party but a smash cake/photo shoot would be cute.

I agree with @yodiggity on this one... We are going stupid all out for pictures at the end of this month though

g&tlewis

We are going to Charleston next weekend for a wedding and leaving LO at home. We'll be gone for 4 nights, and it's 8 hours away from our house. I'm looking forward to visiting Charleston for the first time, but I am really starting to freak out about leaving LO for that long. My parents will have him, but I'm having a really hard time being excited about this trip when I'm leaving my 5 month old at home. I've almost cried multiple times today just thinking about packing a bag for him. Definitely having a hormonal day!

UnbreakableKimmySchmidt

Has anyone experienced a 5 month sleep regression?  We sailed by the 4 month mark with little problem, sleep trained shortly after and for the past week DD has been waking up at 3 a.m. and attacks me to eat.  Last night she woke up at 12:40 and 4:15.  She was sleeping through the night prior to this  Maybe it's teeth? Or a growth spurt?  I mostly just want to go back to sleeping through the night, because that was magical.

Sarcasm101

brenlo42 said:

Confession: Maybe I am a judgemental B, but I am shocked and appalled at the idea of a four or five month old watching more than the briefest glimpse of TV.

I am glad I am not the only one. Are 5 months olds even able to focus on a TV?

We didn't let DS1 watch TV until he was two. Now we only let him watch when we are on a plane or he is sick. DS1 has way too much energy to sit still and watch TV, if he doesn't run off that energy, he won't go to bed.