The new "New Moms" thread!

[ImarriedGrumpy]

People have started asking us if we want another baby, and so far I'm thinking no, actually. I used to want 4 kids, and then DH and I discussed it and decided on 2, and after going through a miserable pregnancy, horrible labor and delivery, and a very stressful first 3-4 months with Owen...well, I'm not so convinced I want to do it again. I LOVE Owen beyond anything I ever imagined, but I'm kind of liking the idea of just having one. Of course, I also still like the idea of having 2, but I'm starting to lean towards adoption instead of another pregnancy. We'll see...I'm told I'll eventually forget what my pregnancy/labor/delivery were like, but I'm not convinced yet. It's still too fresh in my mind, I guess.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I think DH and I definitely want a second. We want Mo to have a younger brother, but preferably a younger sister. Hubby thinks it would be cute having a female version of a little me running around! A little girl who is JUST like mommy!

So I purchased Mo another Baby Einstein DVD today. He's not really into yet, but he's so used to his first one, I'm sure he'll take to it eventually.

 

[SavyGamer]

How cute. Good luck moms!

 

[ashjohnson80]

I always thought that I just wanted one, but I actually really enjoy being a mom more than I thought that I would. I mean, I think that sounds kind of bad, because I knew that I would love my child and all, but I guess I just never imagined how much. And I am enjoying the baby stage more than I thought I would too. I've always been really good with older kids but never really knew what to do with a baby. It's just so different when they are your own. And I really lucked out with Ellery. She's pretty easy. I bet if I have another one he/she will really make me work for it. haha. So I guess it will totally have to depend on our finances in a few years if we have another one or not. I still want to wait 5-6 years however.

I wish my doctors had given me a heads up on how big Ellery was going to be when she was born. I was thinking she was going to be around 7 lbs, being my first baby and a girl and all of that. And I didn't know anything about c-sections or anything. I was so shocked when she came out at 9 lbs 6 oz.

I've spent all day making homemade baby food. Apples, sweet potatoes, pears, and bananas... I've got it all freezing in ice cube trays right now. We'll see if she likes this more than the canned stuff.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I've spent all day making homemade baby food. Apples, sweet potatoes, pears, and bananas... I've got it all freezing in ice cube trays right now. We'll see if she likes this more than the canned stuff.

An hour after eating them, Mo screamed bloody murder when we gave him the store bought carrots. Beech-Nut to be exact! I only bought them because carrots are high in nitrates and was nervous about making my own. I was told to just throw the water out and use fresh water when pureeing. And that's what I will do when I introduce his next veggie. Time for another fruit though, pears are next and I've got to get some more sweet potatoes going too. I have to wait for hubby to come home as it's just easier to prepare everything when he is here and can help watch Mo. So Mo is doing Rice Cereal, bananas, apples, prunes, squash, peas, and sweet potatoes. We will do carrots and pears next. Ash, you freeze up your bananas too? I don't. I give those to Mo as I need them since they are easy to mash and even when they get real brown, it's even better to give to him. I only buy about two at a time and it works well for us.

And believe me, Ellery will LOVE mommy's stuff much better! If Mo does okay with the carrots I make, that will let me know that the store bought stuff is a NO NO! SO glad I decided to do my own baby food. He'll be getting Oatmeal as his next cereal. That is the ONLY store bought stuff he does okay with.

 

[Villain-lover]

I know several of us are making homemade food for our babies, so I thought I would recommend a book ..Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Very good if you haven't alreasy read it! Lots of recipes and what foods to introduce and when. I am going to kinda do a combo of jar foods and homemade for Sam & Zoe. We have introduced rice cereal, oatmeal, sweetpotato, avacado, and pears so far. We start banana tomorrow. oh, and the website for the book is www.superbabyfood.com

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

We're also mostly making our own baby food. DH loves to cook and it's one of the ways he says "I love you", so it's a big deal to him that he can cook for Owen. So far Owen has had bananas, mangos, pears, apples, and peaches for fruits. For veggies he's had avacado, turnips, carrots, parsnips, green beans, peas, squash, and sweet potatoes. For starches he's had potatoes, couscous, oatmeal, rice cereal, hummus, and mixed grain cereal.

We have a babyfood grinder, and sometimes we just grind up a low-spice or no-spice version of what we're having for dinner and I add formula or breast milk to it to get it the right consistency. So Owen has had Moroccan mint peas, cardamom squash, Peruvian potatoes and roasted root veggies just like we were eating. He definitely likes the stronger flavors best. When I made plain couscous for him, he didn't like it nearly as much as the moroccan couscous DH had made.

I keep a journal of what he's eating and watch for any allergic reactions just in case, but there's no history of food allergies or sensitivities on either side of our family so we aren't worried about it. We're introducing foods more along the lines of what our Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese friends do with their kids, and it's working out well for us. We eat mostly ethnic food and rarely eat "American" food, so we figured we'd take a multi-cultural approach to introducing food to Owen, too. So far he hasn't rejected anything or had any sort of reaction to any foods, and we're hoping that continues!

 

[Pollito916]

Alex had his 15 month well baby visit today, and there were so many tiny babies in the waiting room, mostly girls, that it had me wanting another one. I would love to have a little girl to dress up next time. But we are going to wait at least until Alex is 2 to really think about it.

Alex is up to 33" (90%) and 22lbs8oz (25%) and the doctor said he was doing very well and healthy. He also warned us that measles has been going around Tucson and working it's way up here, so hopefully Alex doesn't get it. I thought he got the first MMR at 12 months, but it wasn't on the record, so he got it today. Poor little guy was so miserable b/c the doc was behind schedule and we ended up having to wait over an hour, which took us past nap time and into lunch. Luckily, I had some cereal, b/c he practically licked the bag clean to get all the crumbs! He's been sleeping ever since we got home.

 

[Villain-lover]

Bethany.....what kind of web sites (if any) did you use to get info on ethnic foods for infants? I would like to know a little more..

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Well, I JUST finished making pears! This is SO much fun! We'll introduce those to Mo on Wed or Thurs. I think. They say wait 3-5 days before trying something new and so far, with the exception of the jarred carrots, so good! I think I'll cook up the carrots when hubby comes home. Maybe I'll only do a few the day I decide to introduce them to Mo to make sure he's okay with them.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Bethany.....what kind of web sites (if any) did you use to get info on ethnic foods for infants? I would like to know a little more..

Honestly, it was really, really hard to find English language materials on introducing solid foods that weren't "The Gerber Method" (what our Indian friends call the traditional American way). I finally found the World Health Organization's guidelines, and then eventually found the Indian government's version of the WHO guidelines, which were customized for their cultural food traditions. If you send me a pm with your email I can send you the documents I found. You might need to look up some of the foods they mention on the internet - the document is in English, but they use some Hindi words for the food (dal, ghee, etc.).

I also spoke with doctors and friends from other cultures (a benefit of living in the SF Bay Area - lots and lots and lots of cultures represented) and learned a lot that way. We have several Indian friends who taught us the traditional ways from India, and some Chinese friends who showed us how they fed their babies, and Vietnamese friends who told us about their methods of introducing solids. What we discovered is that everyone gets the food to the same consistancy, and everyone starts the baby on "simple" food and gradually increases the complexity, but what "simple" and "complex" mean are different.

One thing I learned is that the American traditions are actually based mostly in, well, tradition, rather than anything else. Some of it is concern over food allergies, but if you don't have a family history of food allergies and/or sensitivities, then it's okay to be less cautious. I can share more if you're interested...we talked to a lot of people before we launched into this, and so far it's been working great for us!

 

[Villain-lover]

Bethany..I sent you a PM and I would love to hear more if you are willing to share!

 

[ashjohnson80]

I did freeze the bananas. Not sure if I was supposed to or not, but one banana makes like a lot of food! I got a baby food grinder too. Just mashing the bananas didn't work so well when I tried that last week. Couldnt' get it not-chunky enough.

Ellery loved her sweet potatoes tonight. I tried them too, it was pretty tasty!

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I made most of Christopher's food when he first started solids. I never ended up freezing anything - I just made enough for 2-3 days. The only thing I wouldn't make myself was prunes. The smell makes me gag, so I thought trying to do anything with them wouldn't work well for me. We did have one of the food mill grinders, and that worked really well. Other things did OK with the blender. Now, I usually just need to chop things pretty fine or run them through the food processor.

 

[DisneyDreamer8]

I consider myself on the small side, though I wish I were smaller! LOL However, my youngest DD was nearly 9 pounds, and it was quite shocking to me! LOL I'm sure your sister will do fine. How much did she weigh at birth? I was 8lbs 9, and I"ve heard that a woman typically gives birth to a baby the same size as she was at birth!

She was 8lbs 6oz at birth and her first son was 8lbs 2oz. So it has tended to hold true for her.

As for me I was 9lbs but my little boy was only 6lbs 14oz so who knows.

All she knows right now is she is miserable. Her belly is so tight. She has had her membrains stripped twice and is dilated to 1.5. The Dr. said if she has not gone into labor by next tuesday he will induce.

 

[beckmrk04]

You ladies are impressive, making your own baby food!! I did it a few times- mostly things that were easy- avocados, sweet potatoes with carrots, bananas, peas, peaches- anything I could puree in my trusty little 3-cup food processor (PERFECT for baby food). And when Vaylie started on chunkier foods, I pureed organic mac'n'cheese with sweet potato puree and made it into little bitty chunks- she liked that.

Now she eats all kinds of stuff.

Bethany- I wish I would have looked into more of how other countries introduce foods; I did some research but I couldn't find much. Living in landlocked rural Illinois isn't exactly a cultural mecca, either!!

I'm still trying to introduce her to lots of different flavors. She's really quite picky though now that she's eating mostly finger foods. She'll sort out everything she doesn't like then drop it off the side of the highchair. At least we have a vacuum, I mean, dog.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

You ladies are impressive, making your own baby food!! I did it a few times- mostly things that were easy- avocados, sweet potatoes with carrots, bananas, peas, peaches- anything I could puree in my trusty little 3-cup food processor (PERFECT for baby food). And when Vaylie started on chunkier foods, I pureed organic mac'n'cheese with sweet potato puree and made it into little bitty chunks- she liked that.

Now she eats all kinds of stuff.

Bethany- I wish I would have looked into more of how other countries introduce foods; I did some research but I couldn't find much. Living in landlocked rural Illinois isn't exactly a cultural mecca, either!!

I'm still trying to introduce her to lots of different flavors. She's really quite picky though now that she's eating mostly finger foods. She'll sort out everything she doesn't like then drop it off the side of the highchair. At least we have a vacuum, I mean, dog.

Honestly, it was really hard to get any information in English on first foods in other countries! Some of our friends would offer us the books they read, but they'd say "oh, you can have this, but it's in Mandarin." or "My mother will send you the book she made me read, but it's in Tamil." So most of our info came from conversations and watching them feed their babies. I told DH that we need to find a Dr. and co-write a book about what we've learned...as if we had the time to do it!

One thing I learned from my Early Childhood Dev. days is that almost every child will go through a picky-eater phase sometime between the ages of 1 and 3. It's usually just their way of asserting their independence and control. DH will HATE that phase when Owen hits it, so he's hoping that Owen will assert his pickiness with "I don't want Indian food! I want Thai!" or "I want chana, not dal!" I keep telling him "good luck with that..." I guess we'll see if our multi-cultural approach now will have effect later down the road...

 

[Pollito916]

She's really quite picky though now that she's eating mostly finger foods. She'll sort out everything she doesn't like then drop it off the side of the highchair. At least we have a vacuum, I mean, dog.

Alex is the same way, dropping food off the table if he doesn't want it. He sometimes drops it off, then decides he does want it and points at it crying. When he was younger, he would eat anything I gave him, but not anymore.

 

[scrapbookingpro]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this thread.
I have a little one who just turned one a couple of days ago. I am writing for some help/advice. My son has recently decided that he wants nothing to do with his bottle, no matter what is in it - juice, milk, water- and he refuses to even try the sippy cup. Pushes both away whenever he sees them coming.
I know he needs to drink something! What can I do?

 

[Villain-lover]

Could you maybe try a small regular cup that you could help him with?