"Newest" Moms Hangout... take 2!

[MinnieFan4ever]

Natalie didn't like rice cereal at all. She didn't care for the taste. When I added applesauce to it, she liked it much better we started feeding her solids at 4 months as well.

 

[ArielRae]

I went out and bought some Gerber 1st foods banana and peaches. I figured if he is really ready he might want something with some flavor other then the rice cereal he tried and pushed right out of his mouth. So if he does not want it after trying these then we will wait a bit and try again.

 

[rparmfamily]

Pushing right back out is a sign of not being ready, I think. Just give it time. None of mine were eating much by 6 months, they all still had that reflex. They eat fine now LOL.

 

[harleyquinn]

Pushing right back out is a sign of not being ready, I think. Just give it time. None of mine were eating much by 6 months, they all still had that reflex. They eat fine now LOL.

Yep.

A lot of us have used this site as our baby food bible. You can take as much or as little away from it as you want, but we followed pretty close and Lily now loves EVERYTHING and lots of it! (I'm sure some of you remembered when I was worried about how she wouldn't eat almost anything in the beginning).

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/readyforsolids.htm

Signs of solid readiness:
1. No more tongue thrust reflex
2. Ability to sit up unassisted
3. Ability to show that he is full (by turning away or refusing the bottle)
4. Interest in what you are eating
5. Doubling of birth weight
6. Frequently waking in the middle of the night when a solid sleeping pattern had been established. This may not be the best indicator that your baby is ready for solids. Please keep in mind that a growth spurt will occur between 3-4 months of age, 6-7 months of age and also 9-10 months of age. Baby may also be waking due to an illness or teething.

 

[rparmfamily]

Yep.

A lot of us have used this site as our baby food bible. You can take as much or as little away from it as you want, but we followed pretty close and Lily now loves EVERYTHING and lots of it! (I'm sure some of you remembered when I was worried about how she wouldn't eat almost anything in the beginning).

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/readyforsolids.htm

Signs of solid readiness:
1. No more tongue thrust reflex
2. Ability to sit up unassisted
3. Ability to show that he is full (by turning away or refusing the bottle)
4. Interest in what you are eating
5. Doubling of birth weight
6. Frequently waking in the middle of the night when a solid sleeping pattern had been established. This may not be the best indicator that your baby is ready for solids. Please keep in mind that a growth spurt will occur between 3-4 months of age, 6-7 months of age and also 9-10 months of age. Baby may also be waking due to an illness or teething.

These are all great cues! Amelia is a great eater now too, in terms of what she'll eat. She eats everything. Food before 12 months is just for "play" anyway, formula or breastmilk is their main nutrition.

 

[justhat]

I agree that those are all valid cues to look for. While you certainly can start solids at 4 months old, and many babies are ready and enjoy them then, you definitely don't have to start then. Like I said, mine were older and Scarlett will be just over 6 months when we start with her. No ill effects now as the older 2 eat a wide variety of foods and will try almost anything new.


Hulagirl - While you will get used to the colds, it really doesn't get much easier watching your baby be miserable. Scarlett has had 3 or 4 colds already (thanks mostly to her big brother) and I still feel terrible watching her sniff and cough, AND she's my 3rd baby to watch get sick! They're just so tiny and helpless at this age you can't help but be upset that they are sick, particularly when you know someone got them sick from their own selfishness of wanting to spend time with the baby while they (or their kid) was sick.


So Scarlett is 5 months today and is 13 lbs 5.5oz and 24.75in. While it's great for me emotionally that she is so tiny (in that she is 99% my last kid, so it's nice to drag out the baby phase), I would love it if she would grow just a bit more. She's close to staying on her growth curve, but still dropping slightly: 20th percentile in weight, about 45th percentile in height, and 25th percentile for head circumference (though I don't know where that measurement was at her last ped visit). She goes to her dr next Wednesday so I guess we'll see what she says then. Of course, we fly to Europe 2 days later and then proceed to move to Arizona immediately after so we'll have to get a new ped who won't be familiar with her growth pattern. Ugh.

I should add that I am not overly concerned because my oldest was a slim baby, but she was tall and had a larger head (75th percentile for both, 50th for weight at this age, 25th by a year). So it's not like I had all large babies and now a tiny one, but the mildly concerning part the ped brought up is that if all her stats decline following the weight, it is generally failure to thrive. And she is fed everytime she is hungry, refusing to eat if I offer to nurse her in between regular feedings, so I am really not sure what I could do to bulk her up.

 

[BabyTigger99]

My best friend had a baby last Thursday. I went over to visit last night. He was so tiny!! Elliott looked ginormous compared to Baby Crosby!! I can barely remember E being teeny tiny!

And while we were there, he started up on his backwards scooting. Made it halfway across my friend's living room floor! He is getting fast at it!!

 

[ArielRae]

I don't want to spend the big bucks on the Your Baby Cab Read stuff but want to make my own flash cards and was hoping you all can give me a list of some good words to go with. Any help would be great. Love to know the words if you happen to have the Your Baby Can Read stuff. Thanks!

 

[justhat]

I don't want to spend the big bucks on the Your Baby Cab Read stuff but want to make my own flash cards and was hoping you all can give me a list of some good words to go with. Any help would be great. Love to know the words if you happen to have the Your Baby Can Read stuff. Thanks!

I'm not going to say I don't believe that actually works, cause I have no firsthand experience, but really, I think you'll be able to get your son reading by 5yo without that. It's just teaching them to memorize stuff, not actually read. And while I learned to read through memorization, it didn't really help me when I came to a word I hadn't seen before and needed to sound out.

And your little guy is so young, he likely won't be talking for another year!

That's not meant to say it's a waste of time, as clearly any time you spend teaching your child is worthwhile, but I would probably hold off on that for the time being.

 

[rparmfamily]

I've never done flashcards,etc for babies personally. I do talk their little ears off!! Amelia is 12 mo and talks quite a bit...ball, mine, this/that, nurse, up, bye, da, ma, dog....trying to think of anything else she says. I'm also a fan of just playing with pots and pans and wooden spoon. I don't think you have to buy all the newest "developmental" gadgets around KWIM? And honestly, the noise most of them emit makes me nuts LOL.

Amelia is walking everywhere now, and whewwwwwwww she keeps me busy!!! She's a climber too!

 

[december]

I agree with the pp. Both of my older kids read years above their grade level, and were reading by K, without any of those programs. I think talking with your kids and having books around, reading to them are the best things you can do for your baby's development. Katie has dozens of books-mostly from Target's Dollar Spot and Dollar Tree. She sits and "reads" them (jabbers, with them upside down half the time) and it is so cute.

I'm a math teacher, so I'm also big on starting math skills early. Things like counting steps when we go up and down, counting how many of something we put in the cart in the store, etc.

 

[BabyTigger99]

I agree with the others. I give Elliott a running commentary of what we are doing throughout the day. Even when he was a newborn I did that. My DH found it highly entertaining!!

 

[ArielRae]

Question at 4 months what time was your baby put to bed at night? When did they wake for the day? How many times did they wake at night?

 

[hulagirl87]

Question at 4 months what time was your baby put to bed at night? When did they wake for the day? How many times did they wake at night?

Carys will be 4 months on Sunday (wow, already?) She gets her bottle at 7:00 and falls asleep between 7:30 and 8. She wakes in the morning around 6:15. Sometimes she sleeps straight through, but sometimes she wakes a couple times wanting her pacifier back in or needing a diaper change.

 

[LaurenLC]

I have a question for you all.... Did anyone else's baby have dry skin on just their hands and feet? It's the strangest thing to me; Brynn's skin is beautiful everywhere but her hands and feet. I've looked a little on-line, but I've gotten conflicted information... Some people say to leave them alone, but others say to put lotion on them. Any thoughts?

 

[justhat]

all of mine had dry skin on only their hands and feet. I never put lotion on them and it went away.

Scarlett is 5 months and she has been going to bed at 6:30pm since she was 2 months old. She was sleeping 7 hours straight initially, then around 3 months she bumped that out to 10-11 hours, no wakings. That continued through 4 months, but then she got a cold, was waking cause she couldn't breathe well, and I have let that go. Now she's waking anywhere from 1-3 times over the 12 hour period. I'll deal with the wakings after we move and are settled in our new house.

 

[rparmfamily]

Question at 4 months what time was your baby put to bed at night? When did they wake for the day? How many times did they wake at night?

At 4 months I think we just still went with her own clock...I think she was still napping quite a bit and DH would just hold her and watch TV until we went to bed.

Eventually I get them on a routine like this--bath at 630, nurse at 7, bedtime at 730. I nurse her (and change her if needed) when she wakes, and luckily she only wakes for a moment and goes back to sleep without much work. Several nightwakings are quite normal at that age, growth spurts,etc.

 

[BabyTigger99]

E will be 5 months old tomorrow. He goes to bed anywhere between 8:15 and 9:00, depending on what we have going on. He wakes up anytime between 6:30 and 7:30, sleeping straight through.

 

[december]

I have a question for you all.... Did anyone else's baby have dry skin on just their hands and feet? It's the strangest thing to me; Brynn's skin is beautiful everywhere but her hands and feet. I've looked a little on-line, but I've gotten conflicted information... Some people say to leave them alone, but others say to put lotion on them. Any thoughts?

Katie had it, too. I did put lotion on it, but I don't think it matters. It will go away eventually. Just don't pick at it!

I am the last person to give advice on babies sleeping......

 

[ArielRae]

Wish DS was even close to sleeping that well. He goes to sleep around 9:00pm. Wakes at around midnight. Goes back to sleep after a change and feed then wakes again for the day at 3am. He sleeps his 6 hours but broken up. I'm hoping once he can sleep on his belly he will sleep longer. No matter what I try he just isn't ready to sleep straight thru.

Carys will be 4 months on Sunday (wow, already?) She gets her bottle at 7:00 and falls asleep between 7:30 and 8. She wakes in the morning around 6:15. Sometimes she sleeps straight through, but sometimes she wakes a couple times wanting her pacifier back in or needing a diaper change.