PAIF graduates - New Mommies - October

LeFemmeViolette · October 2017

Hi! I don't think this thread had been started yet... so here it is!

Quick intro- Hazel Summerlyn was born on 10/4 via c-section after a failed induction at 33w6d due to preeclampsia. She's in the NICU, and thriving. We hope to be home within the next week or two. : )

kelrauh · October 2017

@LeFemmeViolette welcome to this side! My twins were born at 33 weeks and 1 day. They came home at 18 & 20 days. They were on cpap for 3 then had to learn to eat. It was a hard experience but I honestly feel like it set us up to be better 1st time parents (and they put our twins on a schedule). My babies are 6 months and doing everyhring they should for 6 months old I'm sure your little girl will too. if you have any questions or need someone to talk to you can message me.

LeFemmeViolette · October 2017

@kelrauh Thank you! Glad to hear your twins did well in the NICU and that they are no different today.

It's definitely hard having her in the NICU and not at home. Esp because we live 40min away. Feels like life is on pause until we get her home.

At this point she's in an open-air crib and just has a feeding tube (no IV anymore). I'm assuming at this point its just all about eating/growing?

kelrauh · October 2017

@LeFemmeViolette yes all about eating, growing and maybe Brady's if she is having those or had those. My biggest advice for feeding is that she will just catch on one day. You can't push it but randomly out of the blue she will take a bottle.
Take time for yourself while she is there. It isn't easy leaving for an extra hour or 2. I felt very guilty but you are doing the best for her.

ARB425 · October 2017

@lefemmeviolette glad to hear your LO is doing well! It sounds such a rough beginning! How are you feeling? Right now she just needs to eat and grow so she can join you guys at home! I know it can be so tough when you are away from your little one! Karolina was in the NICU for 5 days and I was in the hospital 3/5 of those days. Emotionally I was a complete mess. We were at separate hospitals(I delivered at a small community hospital) and the NICU she went to had bedside cameras that I could see her day or night. That was the only thing that gave me comfort in those days.

Life has just been so busy around here for us. Karolina is now 10 weeks and I go back to work on Thursday. I'm sad to leave her but family will be taking care of her and I don't live far from my work so I can always stop by on my lunch. She is doing awesome, lots of smiles, cooing and starting to laugh! Breastfeeding did not work out as she would not latch but I still pump and try to give her as much breastmilk as I can. I'm an underproducer at 12oz a day which has been super tough on me emotionally. The only reason I'm sticking with it is because i believe after all the challenges we've had she deserves anything I can give her. BTW this fisher price sit me up chair is one of the most amazing things I've bought for her. She loves being in it. I usually put on some sensory videos off of YouTube for her to watch while in it(yep I know Mom of the year over here already getting my kid addicted to the phone lol). She's not much into the toys yet! It's slightly reclined so it has a ton of support and works on neck control.

persnickity · October 2017

Such a cutie @ARB425

It's crazy to see how fast time is going by. Can't believe it's time for daycare to start soon and for us to head back to work.

tvh1982 · October 2017

Can’t imagine how it is to have your baby(s) at NICU, hang in there @lefemmeviolette.

Such a cutie @arb211

tiffanyw1783 · October 2017

@ARB425 one of my twins loves that seat!! She will sit in it for a long time just as content as can be. Our other twin doesn’t like it for more than 5-10min, she’s more high maintenance. They are great inventions.

wabash15 · October 2017

@arb425 way to keep pumping! I had a lot of latch issues with my twins and was not a super producer by any means so I spent a lot of time attached to the pump. Its awesome that your still able to provide her with some BM.

ARB425 · October 2017

@wabash15 Thanks! I know I'm definitely not alone or the only person has gone through it. My short term goal is 3 months and long term is 6 months. I really just want to get through cold and flu season. Hopefully I can still continue to give her breastmilk but I'm trying not to look to far ahead at this point!

@tiffanyw1783 my daughter now gets mad and upset when we take her out of it. She can practically be falling asleep in the chair and you try to get her out...watch out the tears start flowzing! Lol . It's funny how they all have their personalities, likes and dislikes! I can't even imagine with twins!!

@persnickity I know! I was getting all sentimental the other day because our date we conceived with IUI is coming up and I'm just so thankful for our little one! I hope your transition goes smoothly!

persnickity · October 2017

@ARB425 same here! I got my BFP the day after Thanksgiving. Gives me something to celebrate every year. Good luck tomorrow going back to work.

wabash15 · October 2017

@arb425 you can do it! baby steps in my goal made a huge difference and made it feel more manageable.

byrneme · October 2017

Hi ladies! Zoey is 12 weeks old and I came back to work yesterday:( luckily my DH is home for two weeks so it made for an easier transition. I miss her but am tho enjoying eating with two hands

Also, having a few minutes to hop on and see how you ladies are isn’t half bad.

@LeFemmeViolette - congratulations!! I hope you get home as quickly as possible.

@ARB425 - I hear ya and am in the exact same boat. Zoey gets three bottles BM and three formula a day. I keep up with just about that and maybe 1/2 - 1 bottle to stash. I have heard that them getting just four ounces of BM a day is enough to benefit their immune system so keep pumping sister!! Good luck back at work!

its nice to see familiar names and hear that you all are doing well.

LeFemmeViolette · October 2017

Weve been in the NICU forweeks today. While she was making great progress initially, we've kinda plateaued with mastering how to suck/swallow/breathe. Drs say this isn't uncommon- that sometimes it just takes some babies a little longer to figure it out. But that means it'll probably be a bit longer before she's home.

I wish I could blink and it would be 6 weeks or a couple months from now and this will all be behind us.

kelrauh · October 2017

@LeFemmeViolette - what gestation is your LO? Mine were born at 33 weeks and overnight around 36 weeks gestation it clicked. They didn't eat one day and they were little piggys the next and we didnt look back. The nurses told me that one day they would just get it and not to force it and it was true.

LeFemmeViolette · October 2017

@kelrauh born at 33w6d and today she's exactly 36w. Hoping things will click soon.

latershrader · October 2017

@LeFemmeViolette So sorry to hear about the NICU setback for your LO. But I'm so glad she is here and getting all the care she needs!! Hang in there.

AFM, Eli is 6 weeks old and growing like a weed. Fingers crossed, but for the last few nights he's slept 6-7 hours straight. I'm thrilled! We never did get to breastfeed, and it still stings. I never got any milk, so seeing things about breastfeeding and it improving baby's health is kind of a stab in the heart. But we will be fine. I've got quite the chunky monkey so I'm sure he will be fine.

omarismyhomeboy · October 2017

@LeFemmeViolette took a peek at your IG and Hazel is absolutely gorgeous!!! Congrats. I hope things get easier for you. I don't know what it's like to have a baby in the NICU- I'm sure its so so hard. Positive vibes for yall.

@latershrader I'm a formula-only baby and at 32 years old, I'm healthy with a great job and a master's degree. He will be totally fine

#fedisbest

AFM- my Junebug is also 6 weeks. She is smiling up a storm which is the best feeling. I'm exclusively pumping and she is eating my breast milk with 1 supplemental bottle of formula every day. Question related to sleeping/swaddling: June absolutely LOVES her swaddle- we use the miracle blanket. It's the only one she can't bust out of and it soothes her. My question is for anyone who has transitioned from the swaddle already- what is the right age to do it? And how did you do it? I'm having nightmares already about her ability to sleep once we take the swaddle away. She goes off to daycare at 12 weeks and I'm pretty sure they only allow basic sleep sacks, no swaddles. Would love for her to not terrorize the other kiddos

persnickity · October 2017

@latershrader We're at 9 weeks tomorrow and she started sleeping through the night at about 6 weeks too. Fingers crossed it lasts for you! It did mean less daytime naps for us. With sleeping 10-12 hours at night (she wakes up after 9 and then goes back down for another few hours), she only does two naps during the day and those are typically 45min to an hour.

As for breastfeeding or formula, fed is best. Don't feel guilty either way.

tiffanyw1783 · October 2017

Oh my gosh ladies, what have y’all done to get your babies to sleep through the night that early??? My twins are 10 weeks old and still wake up at midnight and three AM! We swaddle, try to keep them on a routine. Or one of them will sleep from like 8pm until 3am but the other still wakes up at midnight!!!

Polythene Pam · October 2017

@latershrader lurking (excited to join you guys!!) I barely was able to bf my daughter (also supply due to delivery complications) and I promise that sting goes away

I used to get offended if I saw the "breast is best!" debates but honestly my daughter is 4 and is SO sweet, funny and smart... I know I did everything right- for us

also my sisters were adopted so formula fed and I was the only BF one, I had more ear infections and sickness than they did and I admit my oldest sister is way smarter than me

fed is best!

persnickity · October 2017

@tiffanyw1783 I have no idea what caused her to sleep like this, but I'm thanking my lucky stars daily!! Haha The one thing we did discover it's that she doesn't do well when she gets hot. She was waking up frequently and then one night it got colder outside and we didn't have the heat on. It was her best night of sleep. After that, as long as we keep her at the right temperature she's sleeping through the night.

latershrader · October 2017

@persnickity That sounds like a great schedule! Fingers crossed we can get there.

@omarismyhomeboy I'd be interested in this too. We swaddle at night only. We start daycare at the beginning of next year so hopefully we have time to figure this out!! Im so glad little June is doing well!! Hope you are too!!

wifeinraleigh28 · October 2017

It's so good to read through this thread and see that all your LOs are doing so well!

@tiffanyw1783 Arielle was FAR from sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. She did start to have longer stretches but she still woke up once or twice a night at that age. She's now 20 weeks and she will sometimes sleep through the night (from about 7pm until 5:30am) but it isn't very consistent. Her bed time is pretty steadily at 7pm (or earlier if she didn't nap well that day) and she'll usually make it until 4am-4:30. She was waking up quite a bit when she first entered leap 4 but it has improved a bit now.

Arielle is going to be 5 months on the 30th which is just crazy to me. I feel like she just got here! She's such a happy little thing. But she is definitely a mama's girl and gives her daddy and babysitters a hard time when I'm at work in the afternoons. Not sure what to do about that

persnickity · October 2017

@omarismyhomeboy she was in a velcro swaddle thing until about 5-6 weeks. She was getting too long, so we just cold turkey went to the sleep sack. No issues for her at all. That said, we didn't swaddle with her arms down. They were up at her face and sometimes worked free, so it wasn't a big change. We don't use it for naps.

@wifeinraleigh28 such a cutie!! But there's no way she's almost 5 months! Time is going by too fast.

Colleen0516 · October 2017

Joining in on this convo! 6 weeks and sleeping through the night?!? Holy help me! Lol
my twins are 16 weeks and we are so inconsistent despite all my efforts to gain a schedule.
My babies have GI issues though. Currently working through formulas. Nutramegin is okay. It blood in the stool so we switched to Elecare and had devil children. That was a quick no! Switched back to nutramegin and we had our angels back, but still blood in still sooo we went to the he GI and are starting PurAmino tomm.

Sleep wise- they will go from 7:30/8:30 to about 2:30 to 4:30
Hannah wakes more frequently. She is usually my 2:30/3:00 feed and hen again at 6:30. Brayden is usually my 3:30-4:30 feed.
Im trying to not force them to wake and feed so that if they want to go straight til 6:30 they can... but they don't lol

PoeMasque · October 2017

I just want to pop in and say that every kiddo is different and every situation is different. Fed is best, hands down. Even if you just don’t want to breastfeed, that’s fine! There’s zero shame in that and I can tell you there are many women who just don’t like it or it doesn’t fit their needs/schedule/culture and that’s ok!

Also - every baby will be different in the sleep arena. In the medical field a baby who consistently sleeps more than 5 hours a night at 6 weeks is actually cause for concern because it’s not the norm. So please don’t think anyone is doing anything “right” or magical that you aren’t doing. Waking every 2-3 hours for bonding and feeding in the 4th trimester actually helps with brain development (for baby, sadly it does rob parents of their brainpower!).

Please be kind to yourselves! There’s no one right or wrong way for a baby to be and no right or wrong way to be a parent. Enjoy the coos and smiles, and know that every other parent has those same moments of anxiety, fear, and “I just can’t!”, so don’t see any of that as failure or lack of appreciation for what you have. You are all rocking it, whether you recognize that now or not, it’s the truth

so good job!

persnickity · October 2017

It's easy as parents for us to second guess ourselves. And there is so much pressure out there to get it right, whether it's sleeping, feeding, or whatever the topic. I love that we all seem to be so encouraging here. There's enough negativity out there as it is.

wabash15 · October 2017

@omarismyhomeboy we kept the twins swaddled until they started to roll over. So I think 3-4 months (though the time was so fuzzy) then we started by giving one arm and then the other out and eventually to sleep sacs. Swaddles were key for them and sleeping, any time we tried to go without it was a disaster. So no need to rush at this point.
@tiffanyw1783 my twins were not sleeping through the night at that age. My daughter was the first to start STTN but she was my sleeper and DS was my eater and would be up several times to nurse. every kid is different and managing twins is tough. hang in there!

byrneme · October 2017

@omarismyhomeboy, we switched recently to the Love to Dream swaddle that allows Zoey to have her arms up. She was starting to fight the swaddle when she'd begin to wake up but her startle reflex was still way too strong to do no swaddle. I'd say it works well and, I believe, daycare is okay with it (I'll know next week for sure). This one has zip off 'arms' that help transition too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O8Y9EYM/ref=sxr_rr_xsim_1_a_it?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3008523062&pd_rd_wg=73t4V&pf_rd_r=3EBSD3YP031PA39BVG4Z&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B00O8Y9EYM&pd_rd_w=F8nqz&pf_rd_i=arm+up+swaddle&pd_rd_r=6d46b307-b8e9-11e7-87e5-4185439e3bcd&ie=UTF8&qid=1508869835&sr=1

Colleen0516 · October 2017

Hi ladies, Let's talk talk solids... when did you introduce them? My kids have terrible reviews reflux so we started rice. Moving to oatmeal tomorrow. I want to add veggies in to balance out the iron, 4 months old. I know so many who have done it, but I'm obviously still skeptical...
suggestions?

Polythene Pam · October 2017

@Colleen0516 lurking, joining any day

with my now 4 year old, she had terrible reflux and an intollerance to... something (dairy I assume) so we started mid- 5 months so we could test a few foods then talk to our doc at the 6 month checkup. We were given the thumbs up anywhere between 4-6 months or after, the timing was just easiest to wait till after a trip, and I’ll probably do the same this time. I loved this website and the book they made, even if you aren’t making the food it broke down a rough timeline and ideas to “spice up” foods after you test allergies:

https://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

We did rice cereal/oatmeal because of her sensitive tummy, then moved to sweet potato, and just a fruit or veggie every 3 Days after we knew she could tolerate the previous one.

Now she’s the worlds most opinionated and pickiest eater haha so I’d love to say my early adventurous eater was because of the awesome food I made early on but... then they turn 2

I loved this stage though so I’ll answer any questions if you try making foods

Polythene Pam · October 2017

Also they changed some recommendations even since my daughter so I think this website is kept up to date on high allergy foods, seems like a lot recommend 6 months for allergy foods

PoeMasque · October 2017

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/Switching-To-Solid-Foods.aspx

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/tips-tools/ask-the-pediatrician/Pages/When-can-I-start-giving-my-baby-peanut-butter.aspx

Those two pages are my go to when parents have questions about starting solids. Updated regularly and they follow AAP guidelines.

Theres new research on reflux being linked to gut bacteria, maybe ask your pediatrician about a probiotic?

kelrauh · October 2017

@Colleen0516 - we were in a very similar situation with one of my twins. We changed to nutramigen at 2 months and introduced a lot of cereal at 2.5 months. He was eating 1tsp per oz. It was a god send. The rice backed him up and the oatmeal made him have diarrhea so we mixed 50/50. He was a totally different baby after these changes. Watch the fiber level in some of the oatmeal we realized that they were not all made equal and he got really bad gas with some. We ended up on natures best oatmeal and rice cereal. We introduced level 1 foods around 4 months maybe a tiny bit sooner. I felt like my little man was getting too many empty calories from the cereal because he gained a lot of weight. We weren't consistent with the food but they really started wanting solid foods around 5 months and at 6.5 months they are trying to steal my food when I eat

JWatt5 · October 2017

@wifeinraleigh28 - she's adorable!!

I was able to get the results of my postpartum scans back for my cyst/endo and since 30 weeks it shrank 4cm more to 2cm. No surgery needed!! Pregnancy did seem to do my endo well. I had an IUD out in and got my first period with no pain so far! Such a relief - maybe makes me hopeful for a second without intervention- if I can convince DH to have a second haha.
Parker is two months now - super smily and looks just like his mommy!!

Stars2016 · October 2017

@JWatt5 He is super adorable!! That is such great news about your endo

persnickity · October 2017

@JWatt5 That deserves a celebration!!

I love all the happy smiling baby pictures!

omarismyhomeboy · October 2017

@JWatt5 omg that outfit is way too cute.

latershrader · October 2017

@JWatt5 Parker is a cutie in that outfit!! So happy to hear good news about your endo results!!

byrneme · October 2017

@jwatt5 - that outfit is amazing!! Congrats on the good news too - that has to be such a relief!

Want a personalized experience?

PAIF graduates - New Mommies - October

Re: PAIF graduates - New Mommies - October

Choose Another Board

Search Boards