March Moms/4 month check up - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

Kiera1595 · 07-12-2005, 06:18 AM

Hi March moms, thought I'd start a new thread and see how all of the little ones are doing. Can you believe it's been 4 months already?? Yikees, time is flying. Well, little girl had her check up yesterday. 4 shots, poor thing. I hate hearing that cry when they get poked. I mean you hear them cry all day, but that cry is so different, it kills me! Fortunately it passes quickly. My "little" one is off the charts for height and weight. 27 inches and 16lbs 12oz! I knew she was looking really long to me. One whole wall of her room is mirror, so when I'm in there walking around getting her to fall asleep I am constantly looking in the mirror and she just looks so big in my arms. Like an 8 month old or something. She has a big old head too. I can't remember what they said, but it was the 97% percentile. I just don't get these big old kids that I have. I'm 5'6. Hubby is 6ft. Neither of us are or ever were really overweight. None of our families have really tall people. But my kids are giants.

We also got the go-ahead to start solids. Beginning, of course, with the lovely runny rice cereal. And he said to start on fruits after that. I am so excited. I just love feeding them in the beginning and seeing how they react to it. I remember feeding my son for the first time and he chowed and looked at me like, "what took you so long lady?" LOL

I've been getting pretty burnt out lately. Patience is becoming an issue. My DD will nap very well (usually) all day. She gets sleepy and I can lay her down in her crib and she's out for and hour or so. But at night it is a whole different story. It can take hours to get her to finally fall asleep. It drives me totally nuts. I'm home alone with the kids from 1 pm-1am, so I have no help at bedtime. And almost every night she gets sleepy right when it's DS bedtime. She's normally crying while I'm getting him to brush his teeth, reading him books and putting him into bed. I feel bad for him, like he's getting ripped off during his bedtime routine. Sometimes If we start reading books and then she starts to cry, he'll close the book and ask to get into bed. But then he cries when I go to leave the room. Other times he'll put his blanket over his head when she starts to cry. Yet he never yells at her or does anything mean to her because of it. I think he's just getting tired of it like I am. I'd love to put her down at night first. But with the legnth of time it takes, I don't want DS waiting around for an hour for me so that he can get some sleep. I'm sure it will get better, but geesh.

Another thing. Once she does fall asleep, she used to sleep from like 9-5 or 6, wake up, eat and go back to bed. But lately she's waking up at 3, eats and doesn't alwasy go right back to sleep. She wants to "party". No big deal for me most of the time as I am at work. But poor DH who has worked all night and has only gotten an hour or so of sleep is up dealing with it. We are both pooped!

DD is sitting up really well with help. She loves to sit up! I've also started placing her forward facing in the front carrier that you wear. Makes her happy and she spends the whole time licking and gnawing on it. Teeth are surely on their way. She just chomps on her fingers all day. DS loves to play with her. and is such a great helper. I'm sure you guys have some of those too. He's always running to get diapers, bottles, toys, etc.

I wish I had more private time with DS. I try when I can. He's just over 2 and at such a great age that everything is magical and I want to share more of that with him. It's jsut hard with a little baby to have to fuss over all the time. Anyone else feel the same way?

How's everyone else coping? Sorry this was so long!

nyxin · 07-12-2005, 09:59 PM

hello everyone....

kiera, great post, as always. i have been wanting to reply, but it seems that the babies know when i sit down to type and loose it. they are both sleeping right now, could change at any moment.

first of all for you kiera, it sounds as though you are in a tough spot. the only thing that i suggest is that you make story time durring your little girls nap durring the day. try to color with him, do an art project, something that is special to him. caden and i take pictures. i let him pick his subject and zoom in and out and take the picture. he loves it sooooooo much. as far as a bed time ritual, i have it pretty easy. sadly enough my DS does not enjoy stories. we keep trying, but he really does not like sitting/laying there. so after his bath he has some milk while we unwind. i give him rubs and talk about what we did durring the day and talk about what we are going to do tomorrow. as of late morgan has been crashing at 8:00 pm. i mean crash because he STILL gets fussy at 6:00 and it builds up untill no one can take it. i do everything i can think of to calm him (some nights he is much better than others) but finally i swaddle him and in the process he passes out and sleeps very well. obviously i have tried to swaddle him earlier, but you have to get it at just the right moment for success. he sleeps until about 2 am to nurse, up again at 4 am and then 6 am. i donno why so close together durring that time. then he is a happy baby until 6 pm again. wierd. so i guess i can relate, as morgan wigs out for 2 hours, but it doesn't get in the way of our bed time stuff. it sounds as though sabastian has a kind heart, if you show an effort to let him know you are trying to give him his special time, it will mean the world to him.

as far as morgan goes, he rolls over from back to front, front to back. i started him on rice cereal a while ago as he is always sooooo hungry. i don't know how much he weighs at this point, but when i am on the scale with him he is 16 pounds. if i grab his hands while he is facing me he will stand up like it's nothing. tonight my DH put him up next to the couch and he stood for about 10 seconds with only my DH touching him so he wouldn't crash when he realized what he was doing. i can't leave him anywhere but the floor or restrained in a bouncer as he will roll, push, squirm kick, whatever to get some place else. he is also laughing out loud and blowing raspberries to get his big bro's attention. they are having more and more interaction everyday. morgan has found a little stuffed animal that he loves to pull to his face and rub on. he really likes to be nuzzled and played with, and when you go to put him down he wants none of it. he is soooooo different than caden, but i think they will get along.
life is soooooo different with 2 babies. it is the hardest thing i have ever done, but the best. can you believe i still want another? nutz huh?

Altson · 07-13-2005, 11:22 AM

Hey Ladies - I love reading about everyone.

I remember my first two kids being like yours, the frustrations, etc. They were 26 months apart, so my son still needed so much attention when my daughter was born. The last two I've had nearly 4 and 5 years apart, and it's TONS better. The big kids love having a baby to play with and they understand the need for patience and don't see the new baby as a threat to their attention needs. Hang in there, I remember that as soon as the new baby is about 8-10 months old, it all really gels, then your darlings can start playing together pretty well, so hang in there. Hey Kiera - any teens in your area that would like to come over in the evening and earn a little money and help you out with bed times? Or an older, Grandma type?

My Drue is so fun right now, she too is a super chunk. She's a little over 16 pounds. Laughs, grabs things, trys to roll over but I think her big belly and thunder thighs get in the way. She HATES being on her tummy and strongly dislikes her stroller, bummer because I need her to hang out in it when I'm out with all the big kids. She likes the front pack alright and I also let her face out. The drool is out of control, so I too think teeth are on there way. She's been having rice cereal mixed with apple sauce (the rice cereal alone was making her constipated) for a few weeks. She started waking up twice during the night, so I decided it was time for food. She gets her dinner around 7, nurses around 9, then is down for bed by 10 and gets up around 8:30. We're done with our predinner fussy time, thank goodness!!!! I couldn't ask for a better kid.

I have a little story - I got the brilliant idea of taking all the kids to the mall by myself. It was going along great until about half an hour in to it, when Drue decided she'd had enough of the stroller. So, here I am trying to hold her, stand in the long check out line at Old Navy and my other three get bitten by the brat bug and decide to bicker with each other and touch everything they possibly can in the store. I'm trying to remain calm but I lose it when the ladies behind me take it upon themselves to keep telling me that a register has opened up and why am I not moving. Do they not see the TWO other people in front of me?!!!! I politely point that out (or at least I remember it seeming to be polite) and that I will go as soon as it is my turn. One of the women then feels the need to say "There is no way I would bring 4 kids acting like that to a mall without help", great, I felt like the worst Mom ever!!! Then, we got out of the store, and my big kids thanked me for taking all of them and that they had a blast and could we do it every afternoon please?

Kiera1595 · 07-14-2005, 05:06 AM

God, I wish DD would sleep like Drue. She used to be better. Asleep around 9 and going until about 5 before hungry. Now she's waking up around 2! It's driving us nuts. I'm wondering if she's figuring out the whole., "hey if I cry, they come in" thing. I'm actually sitting here at work and plan on re-reading my book about babies and sleep to try and figure out something. I'm hoping those solids will help out if it's a hunger thing.

I wish there was a teen nearby to help at bedtime. All the kids on my block are 11 or younger. And all the adults are running around chasing the young kids. But that's a great idea. I'll keep my eyes open for someone. The past two nights someone has come over to help with the kids. It makes such a diffrence. Plus it helps with my nerves. The kids and my lack of sleep due to work is really starting to get me down. I didn't have any post pardum after the baby was born, but now I'm wondering if I'm getting it now. Is that possible? I know that if I could just get more than 4 hours of sleep every night I'd feel better. That and see my husband for more than a handful of hours every week. I feel like a single parent sometimes. Well, sorry to throw that out there. But it always feels better when you talk about things.

OK back to happy baby stories! DD had a total fluke the other day and said "mama". I know it was just coincidence, but it still made my day. :0

Take care ladies

CarsonsMommy · 07-22-2005, 08:11 PM

Hi!
My little guy went today for his 4 month checkup. He's exactly 4 months. He weighs 15lbs, 9oz and was 26" long. He's been rolling over since July 4th and he LOVES sleeping on his tummy which is funny because he used to HATE being on his belly. We started giving him cereal 2x's a day last week and the Dr. said today that we could start him on fruits. That should be fun!! He sleeps between 8-10 hours at night and he usually eats every 6 hours during the day. He loves to smile and giggle and he's such a happy little baby. I just love him to death and I could just kiss him all day long! Glad to hear everyone's babies are doing good.

Mell