hi! everything is going well. hehe. julies sleeping great actually, i wont complain since the only thing that bothers me is she doesnt want to go to bed until about 11:30pm every night and i would LOVE to go to bed earlier than that, but she tends to sleep until 4-6am after she passes out and then feeds and sleeps a little bit more, so i really cant fuss about it lol!!

oh, and she keeps smiling for charles and not for me LOL!! i wanna see the smiles! oh well.

also we weighed her on our crappy little scale last night just for curiosity and it said she was 11 1/2 lbs!! i cant wait till her appt on monday to see how accurate that was... i can however wait to get her shots lol! poor girl.

kaydee had a dr appt yesterday to get her shots finally, shes been a bit behind ever since her surgery right after her first birthday, so we are playing catch up- she just had her 18 month check up at 22 months old hahaha!! she was all of 23.0 lbs and 32" tall lol, my little pip squeak!

ok, julies up, she was taking a super nap this morning, but kaydee just decided to drive her little dump truck right up to where julies sleeping and honk the horn over and over again LOL!!! gotta run, talk to you all later

Labby, as first time moms, we seem to have a lot in common. First of all, little Sofie is a loud pooper also. Just this morning, she woke me up crying, and realized she was super dirty. I then tried to feed her since she was trying to swallow her hands (LOL), and I swear 10 minutes after changing her, she had the most watery sounding poop I have ever heard!! So I changed her again.

She also slept the most during the night than she has in the last few days which was so refreshing!! She slept from about 12:30-3. Then she ate, went back to sleep at 4:15ish and woke back up this morning up this morning around 7. The nights before this, she has been up every hour, and oh how exhausting! DH and I are still working on trying to figure out how to get her to be more awake during the day and sleep at night.

Labby, I know your concerns about your milk supply. I actually unfortunately have had to abandon breastfeeding because she just hasnt been latching on sucessfully the last couple of days. She was doing so well at the hospital and for a couple days at home, and then I don't know what happened!! It got so bad a couple night ago that she was nonstop crying, and I knew that it was because she was hungry, and it broke my heart that she couldn't get milk from me. DH and I broke down and gave her formula. Hormones and lack of sleep had me bawling!!! I am now utlizing my breast pump, so she can at least still get breastmilk. I just miss the bonding of breastfeeding

Any of you ladies know how much milk should be coming out when you pump? I am concerned that I am not producing enough milk. The first time I pumped yesterday, I got 4 ounces out total from both breasts. I then pumped again last night before going to bed, and again this morning and both times were only 2 ounces total. Sound a bit low?

Oh so many questions!! Sofie saw the pediatrician yesterday, and she was still at the weight that she was when she left the hospital. She was 7lbs 10oz at birth, and 7lbs 2oz when she left the hospital. The nurses told us that a weight loss in the first week after birth is normal.

Heres a recent picture of the little princess!

Nessa - sorry to hear about your breastfeeding problems. I thought we were doing well, but now I'm not so sure. I decided to start pumping when she only takes from one breast so I can start to have a supply on hand since in a few weeks she will be spending some time with the grandparents while DH and I attend a dinner. At her noon feeding she took from one side and I pumped the other and got about 1.5 ounces. She wanted nothing to do with her 2pm feeding, so I figured I would pump both sides and barely got 1/2 an ounce out of both of them combined! I guess I should have started the pumping days ago during her times of not wanting it to keep me on schedule. Hopefully starting that now will pick the production back up. I hope I have enough for her next feeding if she wants it. She doesn't seem to be fussy and has lots of wet and poopy diapers (too many to count!) so I will take that as a sign that she's getting enough, but it's still concerning. We have a weight check on Thursday so hopefully I can get some feedback then.

Labby, don't worry about the amount you're pumping now. What you get from the pump is not indicative of what your baby is getting from your breast, so don't worry!!!! Babies are just so much more efficient at getting milk from you than the dang pumps are.

Nessa, if you can, try to see a lactation specialist to help your baby latch on correctly. Pumping is really hard...but 4oz from each breast is an amazing amount. 0.5-2oz is totally normal per breast! I know it's hard to find the time to read up, but kellymom.com has great information about breastfeeding (and pumping too). The La Leche League forums also have amazing information too, and have a whole section dedicated to pumping!!

Aww, Yay! Congrats to all the new mommies and welcome!

Nessa, Sofia is beautiful! I'm sorry to hear about your breastfeeding issues. I hope the pumping works out for you. And yay for some sleep too.

Labby and MW, your daughters are also very beautiful. Lots of girls! Girls are so much fun.

There's no wa I can catch up right now but wanted to pop on to congratulations the new mommies and say hi to everyone! Ash, that's great about Noah going down to sleep like that. I guess the CIO is helping.

DG, I'm so sorry about your back. That must be hard. I hope you are feeling better soon and you can get some rest.

My little girl is 9 months old today. Makes me kind of sad. She is growing up so fast.

Desertgirl, thank you!! I havent totally given up on breastfeeding, Ive just become a little discouraged!!! I still try and put her to the breast, but when she wont latch on, and gets real fussy, I just warm up the pumped breastmilk and give it to her. I have read that once you introduce the bottle, a lot of babies wont want the breast anymore, so thats where the discouragement comes in!

HAPPY 9 Mos to Hailey!! It is so bittersweet huh? I have been having some pretty emotional days thinking about my baby getting so big. When is her well visit? xxxx

Nessa!! I am going to try and shorten this as much as possible, Noah had Jaundice when we where at the hospital and I was there for almost 4 days since I ended up having a C Section. Anyway being he had Jaundice they said he really needed to be passing bowel movements and needed to get lots of milk, well my milk was not in and they where really scaring me with the whole saga of him not being able to come home if his levels where not down etc etc trying to push me into giving him formula, I did NOT want to give him formula instead I settled for using a pump and feeding him what I could pump to measure out the milk and make sure he was getting enough... well after the bottle it was pretty tough to get him to latch on properly again and he would SCREAM when I tried to breastfeed him and we both where having a hard time so I just stuck to pumping and feeding and continued to work with breastfeeding and at about 2 mos old he started taking to the breast like a champ and will now give me a hard time with taking a bottle on the off chance I need him to take one! ( He has never had formula!) It is never too late and all the bottles in the world will not stop a baby from learning to breastfeed! Take advantage of lactation consultants they are free and they are VERY helpful! They will make sure she IS getting milk from you.

Thanks Ash!! She did take the breast yesterday for a little while (only about 15 mins) after I had pumped. Like I said I havent totally given up, I am going to continue trying to work with her on it!!

So I have a question for all of you breastfeeding veterans out there. I'm getting so much slack from my mother and the MIL about this and wanted to get some other opinions and how you did it. All the books I've read and all of the doctors say you should feed every 2 hours. You do whatever you have to to wake them if they are sleeping to feed - undress them, change them, give them a bath, etc. No matter what I do I still have problems keeping her awake through a feed sometimes. Well my mother and MIL are totally against this approach and say you feed them when they are hungry and you don't wake a sleeping baby. I'm getting sick of hearing them tell me I'm doing it wrong and that I shouldn't be listening to the doctors or the books because they "have never heard of it". What did everyone else do? Did you stick to the 2-3 hour schedule or feed when they wanted it? Did you wake them to feed?

I let Noah sleep when he wanted and feed when he wanted as long as he was gaining weight and for the most part eating the recommended amt per day. It is really up to you, you will get LOTS of other peoples opinions on what to do but do what feels right. You are the mommy and that is your right.

i did wake her when she was really little.. after about 3 weeks or so i kinda let her sleep when she wants and all. now she pretty much sets the schedule, since shes got her nights and days straightened out.

i never woke kaydee, but she was forumla fed so things were easier from the beginning lol!

Labby, I am also confused about the same thing. The nurses and doctors both said 8 feedings in a 24 hour period (or every 2-3 hours). I also have a hard time either getting her to stay awake during feeding, or keeping her from being extremely fussy after waking her. Shes gets real pissed if I wake her up!!! Im almost tempted to just let her wake up on her own and cry for food. When she does that, she does not end up eating every 2-3 hours. I just hope she is healthy and gaining weight!

I think I may go the route of letting her tell me when she's hungry too. It's been pretty consistent, however there are those periods during the day where she just wants nothing to do with it and I don't think I'm going to try to force it anymore because it just frustrates me. I think she is getting enough because if she wasn't I would think she would be more fussy than she is, and she really isn't at all so I have to think she is being satisfied. I did some research and think I figured out my pumping problem. I think the breast shield that came with the pump is too big for me. I've always had a really small chest and my nipples didn't really get as big as all the pictures you see and I noticed that close to the entire areola is being pulled into the shield which means it's too big. I may try to venture out tomorrow and get the smaller size and see if that helps. I'm just so scared of taking her out in public at such a young age with this whole flu thing going on, but I don't want to shelter her either.

I never woke Wes, I just let him feed whenever. So long as you're getting 5-6 wet diapers in a day, your LO is getting plenty to eat. That's more important than how many times a day or when you feed. Also in the very early weeks you probably DO want to wake her after 4-5 hours if she hasn't fed yet, but after a few weeks it's fine if they sleep longer (if you're lucky enough!)

Had a decent night last night... and a nightmare day! He's been fussy all day long, didn't nap for more than half an hour at a time, and screamed bloody murder if I laid him down and left the room, even just to use the bathroom. I hope he sleeps well tonight but he went down late and already woke once half an hour after I put him to sleep.

Just wanted to pop over and welcome all the new mums. The early days of first-time motherhood can be a very daunting time. I hope you're all managing to navigate your way through it

Labby, Nessa--I didn't wake Piper up to eat and let her set the schedule for when she was hungry. Labby, if you do take her out in public, it helps to carry her in a sling so that she's close to you, hidden from view and strangers stopping to peak at her. That's what I did, and at least a few times people asked where the baby was when she was nestled and sleeping in the sling--they thought I was carrying a big bohemian purse, lol.

Wow, I can't believe Hailey is 9 months! The time goes too quickly.

Myste, sorry to hear about your nightmare day. Hope your night was better.

Last night was interesting. I helped out at elections so I was gone from 6-10:30pm. It was just hubby and Piper alone last night, and Piper has never gone to bed without me. Apparently, DH (in this instance, DH does NOT stand for Dear Husband) decided he was going to make Piper sleep in her crib. And he let her CIO for 40 minutes. 40 freaking minutes!!! I was so pissed when he told me that. On the other hand, she actually slept through the night. The entire night. I'm amazed. I was awake at 3:30 with a soaking wet shirt and finally, an hour later had to wake up hubby to go get Piper so I could relieve my enormous and incredibly sore boobs. After Piper nursed at 4:30, she slept in our bed until we HAD to wake her up at 6:00.

I really don't know what to think about last night!

Sorry I haven't been on in awhile. I am beyond exhausted Tuesday night was horrible. Audrey woke up at 2am and didn't fall back asleep until around 4am and then jasper woke up. Now for those of you who know Audrey, she always sleeps thru the night, but with her being in her big girl bed, it has been hard keeping her in bed Tuesday night, so my last resort was to get her a sippy cup of warm milk which did the trick, but she still woke up at 7:20am when she has been normally waking at 8am. Then Last night, she was awake at 11:30pm until 2am DF was letting her play downstairs once he figured she wouldn't go back to sleep and she kept waking me up with her whining, so I went down just before 2am gave her a dose of Tylenol and some warm milk and up to bed she went without a peep. The reason behind it...she's sick, so is DF and so is Jasper I am physically and emotionally drained from these past few nights. So I will have to catch up on everyones posts later as I am cleaning the house while DF and Audrey are out (should be napping but Audrey's 2nd birthday is on Friday.

Anyways hope everyone is doing well! Happy 9 months Hailey!!

Desertgirl - Maybe Piper had simply exhausted herself with all the crying.

However, it's also possible that she slept better because she was in her own space. Maybe that would ultimately suit her better.

The reason I say this is because I've experienced a similar thing. Until DD was 16-months old, we shared a bedroom. This was purely circumstantial, as I only had a 1-bedroom flat at the time - she was in her own cot from 8 weeks. I would have interrupted sleep most nights even once she stopped wanting night feeds, and she would usually wake really early (5AM) or as soon as she heard me moving about.

I relocated shortly after DD turned 16-months old, and finally we were able to have our own rooms. Great, I thought. Not so. The first night she screamed for me and I gave in and let her sleep in my bed as I figured we were in a new place. The second night the same thing happened. I let her CIO - I lay on the floor beside her cot, in her room so she would know I was there but did not pick her up. It took over an hour before she finally settled down. I won't lie - it was hell!

However, the following night she was back to sleep after 10 minutes crying.

She never did it again after that. I've found that now we have our own space we both sleep much better. DD sleeps later and rarely wakes in the night.

I know Piper is much younger than my DD was at the time, but CIO isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you adapt it to suit their age.

It might be easier to tackle something like this earlier on, before it becomes a habit that is extremely difficult to break once your baby is older, and you want to reclaim your bed as your own space.

However, if you plan on co-sleeping long-term that's fair enough, as long as you feel you are able to set the boundaries. Sleep is, after all your chance for some time to yourself, and time to spend with your DH

DG- As sad as it is maybe it was best? I do think that he could have included you in the process thought, I know I HATE to hear my baby cry especially when I know it is because he WANTS me and I know how fast it will calm him if I just pick him up and give him a good cuddle. Noah's first night for CIO was 30minutes and it was excruciating!! I wanted to cry with him, but the second night was only 10-15 minutes and the 3rd about 5 !! Just a night or so ago he went down with out a peep and did the same last night! Although I have not been as lucky with him sleeping all night.

Are you going to try it again or go back to your normal routine? I know how you feel about waking up engorged it has happened to me a few times, mostly when my mom has taken Noah for a night.

Mel- I CAN NOT believe Audrey will be 2 already! Does not seem like that long ago you where finding out you where preggers with her! Time sure does fly now! Happy 2nd Birthday Audrey in case I don't get a chance to say it again before Friday! xxx

Not a whole lot going on this way....

Check out milk-savers! http://www.mymilkies.com/milksaver I really don't leak often, but I guess my supply is fine. Plenty of diapers, good weight gain (7 lbs even on Monday, right on track). I feed whenever she is hungry, and I don't worry about waking her to feed unless she has gone past 4 hous. And from what I read, a stretch of 4 hours is fine, even up to 5 if it's just once a day (happened once at night - what bliss! No luck since, lol!)

Nessa and Labby... I've done a little pumping, usually after the first feeding of the morning, but today she cluster-fed all morning, so I was slave to the glider, lol! The amounts you each descripbe sound just fine, same as I was that early on (and still now, really).

Nessa... Did they have you try a nipple shield?? We had latch problems at the hospital, and they had me try one. I don't have flat or inverted nipples. But, initially I was so full of IV fluid, she couldn't latch well to my bags of mush... Then later I was engorged, and you can't latch onto a bowling ball! She also tends to let her latch "slip" and just grab the nipple - ouch! Not a habit to encourage! So I was using it every time for several days, then I would slip it off partway through a feeding, and now she really doesn't need it. Once in a blue moon if she is really fussy and frustrated I use it, but not for a couple days now. I think sometimes I don't "let down" fast enough for her, but overall she weaned off the shield (is a bottle-like nipple) with no trouble.

Allison also likes to let 'em rip! We call it the "ketchup bottle" - that sound when you squeeze it, when it's almost empty! And yet, there is often hardly anything there. I've learned to hear that ketchup bottle a few times (usually within 20 min or so) before bothering to changer her!

Another topic for the btdt moms... Pacifiers. My girl likes to suck. They say newborns can have trouble finding their thumbs (or fingers), but she often can. Funny thing is, she doesnt' know to close her other fingers, so they are sprawled across her face, even clawing at her own cheeks and eyes! Funny sight, I"ll have to get a photo. But it's definitely not easy for her to get them to her mouth when she's already fussy, I can see she gets frustrated sometimes. Anyway, I have considered offering a pacifier in a week or so, esp for those late afternoon/evening "fussy" periods (which have just kicked in, but it's not to the level of colic at all, so far anyway!). She calms SO fast if you offer the tip of a pinky to suck on. Dr. Karp advocates it in Happiest Baby on the Block, around 2-3 weeks if bf is goin well. I just don't want to mess up breastfeeding at all!