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We've had a few sleepless nights, but I really think cosleeping cuts down on them significantly.
Katababy wakes up in the middle of the night hungry, so I just pull her closer and feed her. We sleep tummy to tummy, with my arm around her for protection from rolling. It's very restful. We barely have to wake up. The most disturbance is when I turn us over so that she can feed on the other side. I'm getting unbalanced!
The hardest part is getting her to go to sleep in the first place, sometimes. I've had several nights when I finally get to sleep at 5 in the morning, but then we both sleep for 8+ hours, with a few feeding breaks.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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The first time my oldest slept through the night (about 7-8 hours, IIRC), I woke up in a panic.
When I went into school that day, several people asked me what we up. I pretty much grinned like an idiot all day. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Katarain: co-sleeping was the best thing we ever did. I resisted for a while because I fell for that nonsense that if you don't teach a baby to sleep in their own crib from day one they never will...but I just couldn't handle going down the hall late at night. It felt like miles. The first time I just put him in bed with me was wonderful and after that I decided I just didn't care if he ever slept in his own crib. I was too tired. :=)
Then he moved out just fine at 5 months (when he started to crawl...didn't feel safe). I'm not even going to try to put this new one in a crib for a few months.
Granted, with my first I couldn't have co-slept for a few days in the first week because I tore a back muscle (pushing) and the doc put me on some strong sleep-inducing drugs that wouldn't have been safe.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Boon
unregistered
posted
<~ has always co-slept with the babes.
Moose gained 5 ounces in seven days, making the doctor happy enough to let us bring him back in 4 weeks for a weight check instead of next week. That was getting really, really old. He's now up to 10lbs, 14oz, 23 1/2 inches long, and happy as can be.
He's also taking less formula. He took 4 ounces today, seven yesterday, and THREE the day before. So on average, not too bad.
Unfortunately, now I'm sicker than a sick dog. Sore throat, runny nose, sinus pressure. Ick. Hope he doesn't get it.
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My little one slept for five hours in a row last night and I was thrilled! It was so nice to have uninterrupted sleep again. She is only 12 days old so I feel really lucky this morning. Plus the weather is gorgeous out and she looks adorable in her little sundress. I love good days Posts: 416 | Registered: May 2005
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And congratulations on your new baby girl, theresa.
Nathaniel has started being pretty consistent about going 7-8 hours. I don't get that much uninterrupted sleep myself, because I'm too busy enjoying the first couple of hours after he goes down for the night. Like now, for example.
Boon, hope you feel better soon!
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Yay Boon! I'm so glad Moose is still doing well!
Congrats theresa!!
Congrats to everyone with babies that will sleep! I'm trying really hard not to be discouraged. Beanie had lots of issues with teething and growth spurts over the last 2 months, but now that those seem to be gone for now, she's not going back to sleeping well. Two months ago (when she was 2 months old), she would sleep 4-5 hours at a stretch at night, and nap for 1-2 hours at a time. During the icky times, she would only sleep about an hour at a time at night and usually nap for about 30 mins (occasionally taking a 1-2 hour nap). For a while she even wanted to get up between 4 and 5 am. Now she's only doing 1-2 hours at a time at night and she's still doing mostly half hour naps (with maybe one 1-2 hour nap a day at most). She is really restless at night too, rolling all around and kicking in her sleep. I've pretty much adjusted to sleeping so little at night and am remarkably functional, but she really does need to sleep longer.
She's too big for the co-sleeper, so she sleeps at night in a cradle that is up against my side of the bed. I start her bedtime routine at 7pm and she is almost always asleep between 7:30 and 8. The only luck I really have for getting her to nap is putting her in her swing (that I have to leave running while she sleeps or she wakes up).
Does anyone have any ideas? If she doesn't make some progress this week, I'll talk to her doctor about it at her 4 month check-up next week.
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Have you tried a bouncer with a vibrating setting? James sometimes naps pretty soundly in his vibrating bouncer.
You probably wouldn't like my suggestion for the nighttime sleeping, because James doesn't sleep in our room. It helps me a lot that I can't hear every tiny little noise James makes in the night. I'm sure he wakes up occasionally in the night, but I don't hear him until he actually fully wakes up because he's hungry (lately that's been after 7-8 hours or more). Also, my doctor told me that at around four months it can actually help a baby to understand about sleeping through the night if you let them cry it out. (She said before four months they are usually too young to figure out how to calm themselves down.) It sounds harsh, but a friend of mine swears by it. Her son sleeps ten hours in the night now, and it only took a couple nights for him to figure it out.
Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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For an alternate opinion, I don't want my kids to "understand" that if they wake up scared or lonely and call for mommy and daddy they'll be ignored. Not when they're 4 months, not when they're 4 years, not when they're 14. Heck, if they wake up after a nightmare at 44 and need to talk to someone I hope they'll know they can call me. Fortunately, we lucked into a doctor that is compatable with our philosophy on this one, because any doctor that suggested ignoring a crying baby would immediately cease to be my or my child's doctor.
It isn't unusual for a 4 month old to wake up frequently. Some don't, but lots do. If it's really a problem for you -- if you can't function because of it -- then you need to make changes, but otherwise it really isn't something you need to "fix." It's just part of nighttime parenting.
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So far, she's only fallen asleep in her bouncer once. She doesn't seem to particularly like the vibrate function, so that usually stays off. She loves to be in there with the top part (it's an aquarium bouncer) because she loves to kick the fish.
At the moment, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of crying it out. I don't mind letting her whine a little bit, but I'm not comfortable letting her cry. I may change my mind later, but right now I'm not ready for it. I guess my concern with her current sleeping arrangement is that it seems like she has regressed and I don't know why. If she'd been sleeping like this all along, it wouldn't really be an issue for me.
There is an odd thing that she's done several times recently (maybe once a week). She will literally start screaming in her sleep. She normally wakes up very happy, but in these cases it almost seems like she's still asleep (her eyes are closed and and she doesn't really respond to me). It can take me several (maybe 5) minutes to get her to calm down, during which time she's screaming her little lungs out. She really doesn't cry much at all, so this screaming is disconcerting. I can't figure out if she's hurting or having a nightmare or what. Has anyone else's baby done this kind of thing?
In fun cuteness, the last week or so she's been learning to stick her tongue out and loves getting kisses.
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Just to clarify, I don't let my son cry it out at night. My doctor was just offering information to us because I asked a question about it. She was not even suggesting we do it.
Also, the friend I have that used this method is a very caring mother. I was not suggesting neglecting your baby. Trying to help your child get a good night's sleep (meaning solid chunks of time...more than just an hour or two at a time) is important--not only for the health of the parents, but for the health of the child. And this method is a viable one.
I'm really struggling right now because I don't want to start an argument. Maybe I should have refrained from posting, but I feel like I was misunderstood. Just like any caring mother, I also want my child to know that I will be there when he needs comfort in the night at any age. However, I also need to teach him the difference between night and day--for his health and development.
Edit: I was formulating this post for a long time (I'm slow. ) Ludosti posted while I was writing this.
Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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((hansenj)) Certainly you're a caring mother who loves your son! I highly doubt that dkw would suggest otherwise! I know there is a lot of controversy between "crying it out" and other methods of helping your child sleep (I forget what's it's termed) and I certainly didn't want to start an argument. I'm just looking for suggestions in the hopes of finding something to try. Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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hansenj, I certainly didn't mean to suggest that you are not a caring mother. (edit: and I'm sorry that I was not more clear on that in my lst post.) I'm also sure that most parents who use cry-it-out methods honestly think they are doing the best thing for their kids. I happen to think they're wrong, (and I'm sure they think I am too!) but I don't think that means they aren't loving parents. So I don't think I misunderstood you. I just disagree with the idea that letting babies cry teaches them anything they need to know. I think that comforting them back to sleep is different enough than daytime play to sufficently teach the difference between night and day. But I don't think you shouldn't have posted your opinion, unless you think that someone disagreeing with you is unbearable, (in which case you probably shouldn't be on internet forums at all. ).
ludosti, changes in sleep patterns are also normal. Teeething, growth spurts, working on new milestones like rolling over, crawling, etc., all affect babies' sleep. Even folks who use a sleep training method usually find that they have to re-do it when something changes.
The screaming while not-really-awake thing might be night terrors. They scare the heck out of parents, but older kids who have them don't seem to remember them in the morning, so hopefully babies don't either. Nursing worked the best for me to calm John when he had them. The other time he woke up yelling was his one and only ear infection, but with that he actually woke up -- with the night terrors he still seemed to be asleep, even if he opened his eyes.
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I have had a child who would not sleep without crying. Even in our bed. We did CIO with her and that is the only thing that worked. I do not appreciate being told I am wrong for that.
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I did and do apologize for not phrasing my statement more politely. I will not apologize for disagreeing with you. I think you're wrong. You think I'm wrong. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
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quote:But I don't think you shouldn't have posted your opinion, unless you think that someone disagreeing with you is unbearable, (in which case you probably shouldn't be on internet forums at all. [Wink] ).
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OK, here's a new question (though somewhat related to sleeping).
As I have mentioned, James has been sleeping very well as of late ( !). However, as a result of this, he has been having fewer feedings during the day. I am under the impression that he should have 8-10 feedings per day, and he is now getting six or seven (sometimes eight). Is this likely to be a problem? I don't have a scale at home, so he hasn't been weighed since his two-month appointment, but it seems like he's growing. And he seems content most of the time, although he has been fussier than usual in the last couple days. James is now 11 weeks old, so still very young. When, typically, are feedings supposed to slow down like this?
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I read an interesting blog article that talked about how some babies cry to release tension, while for other babies, crying builds tension. The first type can (needs to?) cry or fuss to sleep. Even if the parent is right there soothing, etc., the baby needs to cry. For the second type, crying will only lead to sleeping after the baby is completely exhausted, so CIO is pretty ineffective.
I don't know if it's true or not, but it helped me understand why some people swear by CIO. If their baby is programmed to need to release tension that way, then crying to sleep not only would work, it would actually help the baby to sleep.
I don't like for Nathaniel to cry alone. If I've done everything I can and he's still crying, I rock him or pat him or bounce him or nurse him or whatever I can do to let him know I'm there. I'm quite aware, though, that I'm very lucky in that this rarely happens with him.
ludosti, one thing I've read is that at 4 months babies start being very distractible during daytime nursing sessions because so much is going on that they're suddenly interested in. Nighttime is dark and boring--the perfect time to catch up on all those calories they missed when they were more interested in other things. I know our least successful nursing sessions are the ones when Daddy is around. I've also found that I *need* to read or watch TV when nursing. If I'm looking at him, he'll want to pull off and start "talking" to me. It's very cute, but I want him to eat!
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I was just reading The Nursing Mother's Companion for that very question, hansenj. It said a baby who sleeps all night should nurse at least seven times a day.
Also, how many wet diapers is he having? According to kellymom (don't have time to look up the link right now, sorry), that's the way to tell if a baby is getting enough. I think the number is 5-6 very wet diapers a day.
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I think every child is different and that what works with one kid may not work with another. For example, my baby won't drink milk unless it has strawberry quik in it. People gave me lots of suggestions to get her to drink regular milk and they did not work. I tried very, very hard to get her to drink regular milk and with this specific child, it is either strawberry milk or no milk. When other parents tell me I am wrong and if I just did x, she would drink milk just fine, it is extremely frustrating. And I am sure that for other children, x would work perfectly. But unless you have actually raised my child, telling me my solution is wrong is upsetting.
As far as number of feedings, mine was almost always at 5-6 a day, 5-10 minutes per session. She was gaining weight and had lots of wet diapers so my doctor was fine with that.
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Your little one sounds a lot like Lego was at that age, ludosti. I tried everything to get him to sleep better (and take longer naps, but that was a lower priority). I finally, finally broke his habit of waking 3-4 times per night when he was about 18 months old by doing the cry-it-out method. I hated every moment of those first few days. Now, when he wakes, I do go in and check on him because I am confident there's something that needs to be taken care of. But I am equally sure that his frequent night wakings were a "trained" behavior—he kept doing it because he was getting what he wanted from me. Not all babies fall into this category, of course, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't try the cry-it-out thing again before my baby reached 12 months, and only as a last resort even then.
You might want to look into Dr. Sears' advice on eliminating frequent night wakings. It ultimately didn't really work for me, but it might for you, and I thought it seemed "kinder" than a lot of the other advice out there on this topic. One thing he said was that frequent feeders—and babies who are consistently nursed as a first resort for comfort as well as for nourishment—tend to wake more often at night.
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quote:Originally posted by dkw: For an alternate opinion, I don't want my kids to "understand" that if they wake up scared or lonely and call for mommy and daddy they'll be ignored.
I know this has already been addressed, but this is such an incredibly twisted misstatement of "ferberizing" (or "CIO" or whatever it's being called this week) that I am stunned, amazed, and disappointed.
It is perfectly possible to disagree with other parents' methods without demonizing them.
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I think you're wrong for thinking I'm wrong. I don't think you're wrong for deciding that it's not a solution that works for your family-- which is what you seem to be deciding about my decision.
quote:It is perfectly possible to disagree with other parents' methods without demonizing them.
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1) It was not a description of "ferberizing" or any other method. It was my reaction to the specific doctors statement that leaving a baby to cry will help them "understand" sleeping. I disagreed. Still do. If you (pl) call that demonizing, I'm sorry, but I disagree with that characterization too. I don't think demons are "loving, considerate parents who are doing what they think is best for their babies," which I believe are the words I used in my earlier post.
2) I have absolutely no idea what "works" for anyone else's baby, and have made no statements or judgements to that effect. My belief that not responding to a baby's cries at night is wrong has nothing to do with effectiveness or lack thereof.
3) There are lots of people on Hatrack who I think are wrong about a lot of things, but still consider friends. I believe the feeling is mutual in most cases. There are differences of opinon where I don't consider people with opinions opposite mine to be wrong -- for example, I loathe green peppers, but don't consider people who like them wrong. This doesnt' fall into that category. This is closer to "if you voted for George Bush, I think you made the wrong decision." Doesn't mean I can't like you or respect your opinions on other issues, does mean I think you're wrong on this one.
4) I'm trying to find a way out of this mess without it sounding like "Fine I just won't say anything more" in a huff. I can't. And honestly, I don't want to. I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, if my posts are being misunderstood. To the extent that it's not a misunderstanding but a straight disagreement I would be sorry to lose friendship over it, but apparently not sorry enough to not give my opinion in a discussion of the subject. I wouldn have been sorry if hansenj decided not to post her thoughts because there would be disagreement, and I feel the same way about mine.
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If it's okay, I'd like to talk about the cry-it-out method and what I thought of it. I do think there was something Lego needed to learn: that he was capable of going back to sleep without help when he stirred in the night and nothing was wrong. It's an essential life skill, and it was important for him to learn both for his health and well-being and for mine. Once we taught that skill, I was able to soften my approach. Now he knows that when something is wrong, he can call for me and I will come. He also knows how to go back to sleep when something wakes him and nothing is wrong.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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If my baby wakes up at night and I go to her, she cries louder and harder and longer. My presence is not welcome. If I don't come, she usually stops crying within a minute. I didn't set out to use CIO, it just was the only option. But, there are different cries. Last night, for example, she was clearly crying because of teething. That I can deal with and giving her tylenol and rubbing her back helps her. She's a bit older so it is a little easier to distinguish her cries, but even when she was little, there were cries that I ignored and cries I didn't at night.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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I'm cosleeping, so when my baby wakes up in the middle of the night, I'm right there for her. However, I have noticed that sometimes she stirs without wanting to feed and if I wait a little while without bothering her, she'll settle down and go right back to sleep. And sometimes she flails her little arms in her sleep, and it will help if I hold her arm down gently to keep her from flailing and sometimes she doesn't need the help. And eventually she'll want to eat, so I let her.
I suppose that if she were sleeping by herself that those times that I don't try to bother her when she stirs are the times that she would put herself back to sleep. And come to think of it, when she's sleeping during the day, that's exactly what she does--until she needs something.
I'll admit that I have had an aversion to the cry it out method, but I think that's because of a general misconception of what it really is and how it is properly done. Some parents might try the cry it out method and think that it means they have to ignore every cry for way too long of a time period. But on another forum where this has come up, people who know took the time to explain what it really is and how it's done and it is much less objectionable to me now. And while I would never consider it for my infant, I can foresee it being necessary for my daughter when she gets much older. Others, of course, would have different needs and experiences.
ETA: And I will say that wanting to instill a sense of security in my daughter, that she knows I am there for her, is extremely important to me, and a large reason why the "cry it out" method, at least the perception it gives from the name alone, is so negative in my eyes. It would take a very extreme set of circumstances for me to ever consider trying it, even with its correct definition and method. That's simply how I feel, and I don't want to deny that feeling. I'd rather hold her forever if that's what she needs.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Aerin slept through the night at 2 months adjusted. It was something I really worked at. Her schedule was grueling - between the medications, marathon feedings, doctor's appointments, etc., I was a wreck. I knew that I needed to get 6 hours of sleep per day to be able to deal with it. Mostly, though, good sleep is vital for micropreemies. Letting her cry was never an option for me. Even if I wanted to (which I didn't), she would alarm if she cried for too long or got too upset.
Here's how I did it. First, I didn't use a nightlight. When it was shluffy night-night time (i.e. bedtime), Aerin's room was completely dark. I have excellent night vision (probably because I have very light eyes and large pupils), so I could see fine and it made a huge difference. Second, I bought an iHome and put 16 hours of soft music on a playlist. I would rock Aerin until she got sleepy, then put her in the bassinet. It had a vibrate feature that she loved.
I never gave up. Once we were in her room, that was it. We stayed there until she was asleep (or well on her way). I think that taught her that when we're in her room and it's dark and there's music, it's sleepy time.
Now, there were a couple of things that moms of term babies cannot do that helped me. I put Aerin to sleep on her stomach. She was on an apnea monitor, so I could do this safely. They had frequently kept her on her stomach in the NICU and PCN (because she breathed so much better in that position), so she was used to it. Additionally, Aerin was already on a schedule when she came home from the hospital, so we just modified that slightly.
Aerin also never went through any stage where she stopped sleeping through the night. Our routine now is great - I rock her for 3-6 songs, put her in the crib, cover her with her blanket, and that's it.
I'm sure part of it, too, is just luck. Aerin likes to sleep (like her momma ).
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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One thing I'm sure I'll have to work on is getting her onto a schedule. We've pretty much fallen into one, but we're a household of laissez-faire schedules. We sleep when we want or need to. We like shopping, working, or playing in the middle of the night. She has fit perfectly into our family, so far, with sleepless nights sometimes where she sleeps all day, and nights when she sleeps all night and well, she usually sleeps a lot during the day no matter what. Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Brinestone: If it's okay, I'd like to talk about the cry-it-out method and what I thought of it. I do think there was something Lego needed to learn: that he was capable of going back to sleep without help when he stirred in the night and nothing was wrong. It's an essential life skill, and it was important for him to learn both for his health and well-being and for mine. Once we taught that skill, I was able to soften my approach. Now he knows that when something is wrong, he can call for me and I will come. He also knows how to go back to sleep when something wakes him and nothing is wrong.
Ruth said exactly what I wanted to say. Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Oh, and about my feeding frequency question. I'm glad to hear that the Nursing Mother's Companion says that seven is an ok number. Also, I change James with every feeding, and the diapers are usually very wet. Thanks for the info!
Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Thanks for the tons of ideas! I should be more diligent with making sure she's eating enough during the day so her waking at night is not so much from a need to eat (though obviously she's not old enough that she should go all night without eating). Then I can be more comfortable waiting longer to respond to her restlessness (though I'm uncomfortable letting her cry at this time). She seems to me to be the type of baby who gets more and more agitated by crying. She is very mellow and rarely cries (she certainly expresses displeasure but that sounds different than crying), so when she cries something is wrong that needs addressing.
Last night she mostly slept in 2 hours chunks and as already had a 2 hour nap today, so perhaps I just need to be more patient while she works things out on her own.
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We have a night time pattern and part of it is pushing on a gloworm, which lights up and sings to her. Sometimes in the middle of the night, we'll wake up, here baby whimper and then hear the gloworm start to sing and baby stops whimpering. I think she started hitting the gloworm herself at maybe 9 months (so a bit older then yours), but we started the routine earlier.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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When our son was almost 6 months, we taught him to self-soothe by putting him down drowsy but awake and then going back in every 3 minutes to pat his back, shush him, and basically reassure him that we were still there. The point wasn't to get him to sleep through the night -- it was to get him to fall asleep without my breast. It was a hard night, but after that sleep just got so much better. He didn't need my breast to go back to sleep every time he started to drift out of sleep in the middle of the night. He also napped better. (If he got hysterical during this process, we went in and picked him up 3 minutes or not.) The 3 minute intervals were perfect -- just long enough to let him work on sleeping by himself but not so long that he felt abandoned. Or at least, I very much hope that was the case. I wanted him to know mommy and daddy are always there but the answer to what you want is no. I'm sure he didn't quite grasp it like that, but he did learn to fall asleep on his own after one night of it and he continued to make his needs known -- night or day.
I guess I'm a moderate on the sleep thing. I agree with dkw that babies need to know that mommy and daddy are there for them. I also agree with those who say sleep is very important for the entire family, including the baby.
For the record, I wouldn't personally do the middle ground approach I used before about 5 or 6 months. Before that age a baby may not even have mastered object permanence -- which means they don't know you exist if you leave the room. (Many developmental checklists call this "looking for dropped objects.")
My only problem with strict CIO methods are that I sometimes see them being used on very young babies (like newborns) to force them onto a schedule that is convenient for the parent rather than to meet the needs of the baby.
On the flip side, my only problem with strict attachment parenting is that I sometimes see toddlers who still can't sleep because their parents never did make this a priority.
But extremes of anything can be a problem. Which is why I'm a die-hard moderate. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Christine, I think that makes a lot of sense, and is a perfect compromise. I would have no problem whatsoever with using that method myself.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Wow! I've been gone for a while. Baby Taylor was born back in November. He's been sleeping in his own room now for almost a month! I always thought he'd have such a hard time with it, but I think the problem was with me I didn't want to be without my little boy. The first time I tried putting him down he slept for eight hours straight Posts: 358 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Beanie had her 4 month check-up yesterday. Things went much more smoothly with my extra planning. Doc says she looks great - she's up to almost 14 lbs and is just over 24" long. He suggested seeing if she'll sleep longer at night if we put her cradle in her room. I'll probably give it a try starting this weekend and see how things work over the next week or so. I'm not ready to let her cry (and he never suggested that), but I know that I can wake up and be to her room quickly so she won't. Too bad her teeth are moving again so she's more unhappy.
I have kind of a weird carseat issue. I have one of the Graco snugride carseats in the center backseat of a 2004 Camry (no LATCH in the center seat). It was inspected before we brought her home, so it's supposedly installed properly. I didn't seem to have any issues with it until a couple weeks ago. The problem I'm seeing is that her seat seems to tilt slightly to one side. One time, pulling into our driveway it even shifted to be at about a 45 angle. I've checked and re-checked it a couple times since then, but it still seems to tip slightly (though I haven't seen any more scary 45 degree tips). It's like the upwards pull from the shoulder portion of the seatbelt, combined with the slipperiness of plastic on the velour seat surface and her weight, is making it tip (the base seems to sit nice and flat on its own). Even though the belt reel itself locks, I've installed the "I" clip, since the buckle can slide freely along the belt. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? There's no place in the town where I live that I can take it to have someone else check it again. I'm willing to drive the 30 miles or so to get it checked again somewhere else if it comes down to it, but I'm hoping there's a simple solution that I've overlooked.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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It details types of seatbelts, and proper locking clip usage. Even if you don't need a locking clip, using one may be the solution to tilting. See if any of the tips on that page help.
Another solution you may consider is going ahead and switching to a convertible car seat; a different distribution of her weight with the different seat may help. And at 4 months many babies are outgrowing or close to outgrowing the SnugRide by height anyway (it's outgrown when the top of the head is less than 1 inch from the top of the shell.)
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I am so enjoying having my baby home, btw. I keep meaning to post pictures but the time holding her is so precious after two days of not being able to hold her except to feed her, and two nights away from her! I don't even want to put her down!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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If Vana is still around here she's a carseat safety tech.
Another carseat issue -- be sure and pull out all the padding every now and then and check to see if the belts are worn. We took our cushions off to clean underneath after an episode of stomach flu (five episodes of vomitting in the 90 minutes it took to get to our destination, yuck) and found that the belt was torn almost a third of the way through, as if it had been rubbing on something or caught on something. We couldn't figure out what it could have been rubbing on, but the company sent us new belts and we check them occaisionally now. The seat was only 6 months old.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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The BabyCenter Car Safety Board is also frequented by techs who are happy to help; if you post pictures there they will even give you their suggestions on adjustments you can make to get a better install.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Thanks for the link kq (and I'm so glad you're getting lots of snuggle time with Maggie)! It has an example of the same thing that's happening and suggests using the locking clip without activating the seat belt retractor lock to fix the problem. As soon as she takes her nap I'll go out and adjust her seat! I'll check the belts also (good suggestion dkw).
She's still got several (about 4-5) inches to go until being too tall (she's still small enough for the straps in the lowest position also) for the carseat. So, I've still got a little while until I need a new seat, but I should probably start looking. Does anyone have any recommendations for good convertible seats?
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Please consider a HWH (higher weight harnessing) convertible! We have Radians and love them! The Radian 65 is $200 and lasts most kids in the harness until age 6 or 7 (some later.) It harnesses to 65 lbs. (There is also the Radian 80, which goes to 80 lbs., but you only need that if you have a very chunky kid or if you like the patterns available better-- which is why we have it for Bridey-- because she likes PINK. But it's more expensive, and like I said, most kids will outgrow even the 65 by height around or before the time they hit the weight limit.)
The Britax HWH convertibles are also good choices. Very expensive, though.
Then there's the Evenflo Triumph Advanced, which many parents love, harnesses to 50 lbs., has an infinite harness adjuster so the straps are ALWAYS at the perfect height (and can even be used for multiple kids without rethreading) and is only about $150.
Oh, and there's a new one, the TrueFit, that has some nifty features, but it's JUST released so while some people are saying "love it", there's not enough experiences out there to know.
Now, if you'd prefer lower cost points, the Cosco Scenara is about $40, and we LOVED it for extended rear-facing with Bridey. It goes RF to 35 lbs, same as more expensive convertibles, and works well for most kids until at least age 2 RF. It is outgrown fairly quickly forward facing because of the lower top harness slots, but it can RF a good long time and then you can get something like the Nautilus (which is FF only but harnesses to 65 lbs., then converts to a good high-back THEN low-back booster, and is only $150. So between the two seats you'd only be spending a total of less than $200 and that would get you to the end of car seat days!)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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In my state, we have to keep a child in the booster seat until 8 years or 80 lbs so we went with a convertible that went up to 100 lbs just so we were covered. It's a Safety First and is working just fine for us in its forward facing car seat capacity. The Britex were just too expensive for me, although I understand they are very good.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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The 3-in-1s can be great rear-facing-- most go to at least 33 lbs.-- but forward-facing the problem with them is that they are often outgrown (harness-wise) before the child is really ready for a booster (experts say not before 6 for a booster is ideal, because of the way hips develop, but at least 5 means most kids are ready and able to sit correctly in a booster-- which must be done ALL THE TIME for a booster to be safe-- though of course some kids may be ready earlier, 4 years old is the absolute earliest that a booster is recommended) and sometimes outgrown by height before the 40 lb. weight limit is even reached (since the top setting on most of them cannot be used as a harness slot, only in booster mode, they mostly have pretty low slots, really.) The 100 lb. limit is decent for a booster-- but the 40 lb. harness limit could definitely be improved upon.
That said, it can be EXCELLENT for extended rear-facing, as I said.
(I've been doing a LOT of research on seats. Can you tell?)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Okay, so I'm not a mommy with a new baby. But I've been taking care of a six-month-old this week for a friend--her day care provider is on vacation. He is just so gosh-darned adorable that I had to post something about it! Right now he's gurgling, cooing and enjoying his feet. He's been teething but you'd hardly know it he's so good-natured and mellow. Well, you know it by the drooling. He's a bib an hour kinda boy.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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We don't even bother with bibs for drooling, though-- I tend to just take of the shirt and wipe them down periodically when they drool!
Maggie is having a sleepy day. I keep looking at her little feet and they are SO LONG! That ultrasound we had back in Dec. when we saw the huge feet sure played out! I'm glad I didn't bother buying newborn socks; she fits perfectly in the 0-9 month socks I got! Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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She is really restless at night too, rolling all around and kicking in her sleep. I've pretty much adjusted to sleeping so little at night and am remarkably functional, but she really does need to sleep longer. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
I know our least successful nursing sessions are the ones when Daddy is around. I've also found that I *need* to read or watch TV when nursing. If I'm looking at him, he'll want to pull off and start "talking" to me. ![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
