The Official New Mom Thread

[Gwene65]

I haven't been keeping up with this board at all. There has been so many babies. I finally got a free second (the baby is sleeping).



I have a question for all of you. Please excuse me if it has been asked before. When did you start giving your babies cereal and baby food? My DD is 13 weeks old and I have decided I want to give her cereal at night to fill her tummy up. So what have been your experiences and is it a good idea to be feeding her cereal so soon?


I just bought a new digital camera with a printer so hopefully I can figure out how to post pictures on here pretty soon.

 

[justhat]

We started at 6 months with Madison, but mostly cause I have food allergies. I really don't know if cereal will fill her up at night and get her to sleep. My friend has been feeding her son cereal since he was 3 weeks old with the intent of having him sleep longer and he's 5.5 months now and still waking for a feeding everynight, anywhere between 1 and 3 times.

He's also a pretty fussy baby and I think it has something to do with being fed food so young. Not the cereal, but by 2 months she had started giving him fruits and I think it was more than his tummy could handle. He also got constipated for several days and had to switch to low iron formula (cause she didn't want to stop the cereal). Then around 3-4 months he decided he only wanted fruits, no formula, and she couldn't get him to take a bottle. Now he'll drink his formula again but for awhile he really wasn't getting enough for a baby his age. And he's a big boy, 26 in. and 20 lbs. at 4 months.

Of course, his situation may just be him, not every kid. And your daughter is much older than the 3 weeks he was when he started cereal. I'm sure she'd be fine since they say 4 months is fine to start them anyway and she's almost that age now.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I have a question for all of you. Please excuse me if it has been asked before. When did you start giving your babies cereal and baby food? My DD is 13 weeks old and I have decided I want to give her cereal at night to fill her tummy up. So what have been your experiences and is it a good idea to be feeding her cereal so soon?


I just bought a new digital camera with a printer so hopefully I can figure out how to post pictures on here pretty soon.

Babies tongues push food out at that young of an age. They really are not meant to swallow food until they are older. We waited until 6+ months with DD. Also with the concern of food allergies these days I would wait.

 

[katerkat]

BR is 12 weeks and I don't plan on giving him cereal until he's 6 months. (But then, I'm cheap - the longer he's exclusively breastfed, the less I have to spend on cereal! ) He's like a little tank, though - he eats almost 10 minutes longer at his bedtime feeding then sleeps for 9 hours.

I'm so jealous of the girl mommies! I really dislike all of the boys' collections at Gymboree. Haven't found a single one worth buying since the pilot one, which I had to get because I'm a sucker for anything with an airplane on it. Now, Osh Kosh on the other hand...

 

[becka]

Hi Ladies...Long Time No See!

I just have a few minutes before I have to go to work but I wanted to pop in. I don't know if I will ever have the time to go back and read the past months worth of posts but I hope that all of the Mommies and babies on this thread are doing well.

Allie is about 4 1/2 months old now and she is getting so big. She is around 15 pounds and so much fun. She had become quite a happy little baby in the past few weeks but she is still fairly quiet. She smiles a lot and "talks" quietly but she is not really into the loud squeeling and laughing that DS was at her age.

Allie is still a great sleeper. Most nights she is asleep between 7-8:30 and she sleeps until around 6:00. That sure does make my life easier especially since going back to work full-time. This full-time working Mom gig with 2 kids is so much work!

We started Allie on cereal about a week and a half ago. Right now she only takes a few spoonfuls but she is really starting to like it so I imagine she will be eating more soon. She showed all the physical readiness signs and was always wanting the food of our plates during meals. She wanted to be held when we set at the table and look at all our food...I took that to mean she was ready!

 

[tkyes]

Hi Becka! Sounds like Allie is doing great

I'm a little jealous of the girl mommies too katerkat, I haven't seen much that I love at Gymboree for boys either. I'm currently addicted to the boys section at the Gap. I bought a 12 - 18 month outfit on clearance this week with my 20% off coupon at the Gap and then filled out a survey to get 10% off my next purchase. I have my eye on a cute linen shirt to match the linen pants that I bought.

I think I'm pumping for 2 more weeks and then I'm done. I tried to get Tyler to nurse again, but he wasn't interested.

I finally have put a good dent in the baby announcements. A little later than I had hoped, but I should have them all out this weekend. I'll be so glad when I'm done!!

Have a good weekend everyone - Happy Friday.

 

[lissawynn]

I started feeding Jimmy cereal in his bottle about 3 weeks ago. He started eating veggies and fruit (so far he's had carrots, peas, bananas, peaches, and applesauce) about 2-3 weeks ago. He has been doing very well eating from the spoon. As Becka stated, he too knows that DH and I are eating and wants to eat what we're having.
At his appointment on Mon., the dr. suggested 2 feeding of fruits and veggies per day. I've also started giving him cereal in the mornings. He's not drinking as much formula now that he's eating.

We're going shopping for a new carseat today. Two more pounds and he'll have outgrown his infant seat. I'll also be hitting Gymboree and BRU this weekend. Thank goodness summer school starts on Monday. I'll have the extra $$$ to support my shopping habit.

What are you mommies getting your DH for Father's Day? Jimmy will be getting his daddy mirrors and headlight covers for his Jeep. He picked them, so I know it's something he really wants.
I have no idea what to buy my DD. My DS and I usually go in together and get his gifts. This year we have no idea what to get him.

 

[justhat]

Lissawynn, before you buy a carseat, check out Best Buy Baby . When we had to buy a bigger seat for Madison we were all set to buy it at Babies R Us with a coupon (it was 10% off). Well, my husband was annoyed that we could only get 10% on our carseat, but other brands were 20%, so he decided to look for it online. We ended up getting at from Best Buy Baby, which had it at a cheaper price than the store (including the discount!) and also we didn't have to pay tax or shipping. It came very quickly, 2-3 days after we ordered it, shipped in the factory box. We were so happy with it that we ordered our 2nd carseat for my husband's car and our Maclaren stroller from them. They're a real store in NJ, not just an internet company, so if you happen to be in the NJ area you can go in person to get it too (not just you, but anyone who happens to live in NJ on this thread).

 

[Alice28]

Another vote here to wait on the cereal just a couple more weeks.

I know exactly how you feel boy mommies- whenever I shopped for Sam & Josh, I could always find cute stuff (Gap, Osh Kosh, O.N.), but would always ooo & aah over the girl stuff.

For Father's Day- for my own dad I am giving him an 8x10 portrait, framed, of the kids- we got portraits done on Weds. SO cute. For DH, well....cards? I already mailed them. He gave me a vary expensive, lim. ed. picture (painting) of the original Molly Pitcher for Mother's Day & said that could count as his father's day gift too.

Bad health news for me- I have to go on a med for my kidneys, possibly for the rest of my life. My uric acid levels are way high (which is usually caused by an Atkins type diet, which I deplore---I maybe eat 6-7 oz of meat product per day), which causes stones & kidney damage. It was a miracle I didn't have problem when I was pregnant cause pregnancy can really exacerbate stone problems. I am also taking a med that will dissolve the stones I do have. The doctor assured me they are safe for nursing mothers.

 

[justhat]

I have a little problem maybe you guys can help with, not so much related to being a new mommy though, just something with my SIL. My SIL has been telling her mom and sister that she wants a divorce since December. She's been married since July 2000 and they have 2 kids (almost 4 and 21 months). Well a couple of months later my MIL told my husband about his sister wanting a divorce, and basically their thoughts were that it was because her friend is getting a divorce so she wants one too.

Well, they don't make much money, and my SIL has bas spending habits, so my husband and I were thinking that had a lot to do with their issues, but he never really talked to her about it so all our info was through MIL. Today she sent me an e-mail explaining all their problems and why she wants a divorce. She said since they got married he's been yelling at her all the time, calling her cell phone and cursing at her for not answering it, staying up all night playing Playstation, then doesn't want to wake up till after noon, leaving her and the kids alone. He never helps with their kids and she was afraid to tell him she was pregnant with the 2nd and when she did call him he hung up on her. He later apologized, but still, not how he should act. They have seen a therapist and since she told him she wants a divorce she said he's been a changed man, but in her mind she can't get over that he wasn't willing to change just because he loves her, but only because he doesn't want to be alone. He tells her that she knew that he played Playstation, didn't cook, clean, or help with new babies before they got married so she should have married him. She said she used to cry and worry all the time but now she doesn't seem to care and the therapist said it's cause she's building a defense against him. She also said if the marriage were a year old she could help them, but 4 years is a long time to be hurt. Her big worry (and my MIL and SIL's) is how their kids will be affected, but the therapist told her they'll be fine, that they'll adjust.

She's not asking for advice, just wanted to tell me (we're pretty close, but we live far from them and see them maybe once or twice a year) so we know what's going on and aren't shocked if we hear she filed. (She doesn't know MIL told us.) Well, she told me to tell my husband not to tell his mom anything that she told us cause she doesn't want her to know that she told us (MIL is trying to get her to stay married and I think she feels if she keeps talking to people and getting support she'll be more likely to leave-not that MIL won't support her either way, she will, but she'd rather see them stay together). Well, if I tell my husband, he will almost definitely tell his mom, so I was thinking I just won't tell him. Like MIL, he doesn't want her to leave him either, but he's been sticking up for the husband mostly, saying he works so hard and she spends so much and she needs to stop buying things and stop having kids (2nd child was not planned, but just as much her fault as his!). But at the same time, I don't want to not tell him, cause it's his sister, and she's very obviously hurting in this relationship and he needs to know that and see that she's not just getting a divorce cause her friend did. I'd love to see her have a happy marriage too, but she said she no longer loves him, there's no chemistry, and basically it seems like she's been through some emotional abuse which she shouldn't have to take. If she feels she needs to divorce him, that's a very tough, personal decision for her that I don't think anyone else should get to weigh in on. It's obviously not something she's taking lightly.

So I don't know what to do, whether I should tell him or not. And I also don't know what to respond to her. I want to tell her that yes, the kids will be fine, it will be hard for all of them, but they'll adjust, and if she's being emotionally abused then they'd all be better off without living with him, but I don't want to seem like I want her to leave. I think her husband is a great guy, but I don't have to live with him. I think he loves his kids and her, but if she doesn't feel it and if he doesn't want to take any responsibility for them or spend time with the family then they won't know how he feels. Ugh, I was totally not expecting this and up to this point I really didn't think she had a basis for wanting to leave him. Sorry this was so long, I just needed to get an outside POV.

 

[lissawynn]

justthat I am having similar issues with one of DH's sisters. She's getting divorced after less than four years of marriage and also has two kids (1 and almost 3). From the moment I met her husband, I didn't like him. He spends all of his nights getting drunk and doing nothing for his wife or kids. He even told his wife she had the second baby to "trap" him(like he wasn't there for any of it?) I try to stay out of her business b/c when DH and I discuss it, I tell him my honest opinion of things, and he doesn't always like/agree with what I have to tell him. If you think you can tell your DH what's going on and have your MIL not know, do it. If you think she'll find out and it will get back to your SIL, don't say anything. She's (your SIL) going to do what she wants, and you don't want hard feelings with her or your MIL.

Alice28 I'm sorry the hear about your kidney troubles. Hope you're feeling well soon!

Jimmy is napping, and I'm trying to work on my website for school. I can't insert any clipart, and I'm getting ticked off. How hard can it be to insert a little picture? Ugh. I need technical assistance.

 

[Minnesota!]

Long time, no stop by.

We started Lucas on cereal in September, so he was a little over 3 months. Then at his 4 month checkup, the dr. gave us the go ahead for fruits/veggies. He started daycare Jan 12 and he was eating people food then. So, around 6.5 months. He has done really well. We took him off formula beginning of May, so around 10.5 months. He is doing great on milk. The kid can eat. I give him whatever we are eating (unless it is spicy). Last night he had a hot dog, spinach and applesauce. He loved it.

He will be 1 in 12 days *SOB*. He's so huge! We tried to measure him the other night...thinking he is around 32 inches and he is about 28#. He is almost full out walking - still loses his confidence after some steps and will drop to crawl. But, I am proud of him for walking :O)

All these kids are so cute and getting so big!!

I adore Gymboree...love 99% of the newborn lines, but the baby boy lines don't do much for me lately. I drool over the girls lines, though...especially this new cherry one.

 

[Alice28]

He will be 1 in 12 days *SOB*. He's so huge! We tried to measure him the other night...thinking he is around 32 inches and he is about 28#. He is almost full out walking - still loses his confidence after some steps and will drop to crawl. But, I am proud of him for walking :O)

HOLY COW! 32 inches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is a tall boy! I cannot even remember what's "average" but that seems so long! My (almost) 4 year old is just 40 inches...ok, I just went and looked at my boy's baby books. DS7 was 29.5 inches at 12 months and Ds4 was 31.5 inches and they were both above average, so you definitely have a long one!

What is up with divorces in our little group? My BIL and SIL are divorcing too, but understandably so; my SIL is a witch with a B. My BIL moved back in with my MIL; they have triplet 6 year olds. It's a long story, so I won't go into it.

Personally, as far as what I can gather from what justthat wrote...I guess I just have a problem with marriages splitting up cause there's no "Chemistry" anymore or they don't feel like they love them anymore. Love comes...and it goes....and then it comes back again.. if he's a good guy, and she's a decent woman, and they still have some sort of love and committment towards each other, I think they should try and work it out and you should be quiet for now....people can flip on a dime about their feelings and you don't want to be put in an awkward situation. JMHO.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Well, I took Kylie to her dr.'s appt. for the thrush today. She now weighs 11 lbs 6 oz! She is my big girl. She is at an in between size in diapers too. The size 2s are still a bit big but the 1s are too small so she is currently wearing size 2. Anyway, her dr. is still an idiot IMO. He is really nice but is not qualified to examine infants apparently. It is a family clinic, not pediatrics, which probably has a lot to do with it. I can't wait till they can get me in at the pediatric clinic in Oct. Anyway, he still wasn't sure if she even had thrush...even though her entire mouth (esp. her tongue) is white! So he brought in another dr. that looked at her and said she didn't have thrush. He said that if she had thrush that they would be able to scrape it off and they weren't able to. He also said if she had it that her mouth would hurt and she wouldn't be able to eat. I told him I was told that not all babies with thrush experience any symptoms other than the white tongue. He still insisted her mouth would be sore though. I said then why is her tongue so white and will it go away soon? He said it was normal, some people just have white tongues! WTH?! I have never seen anyone with a white tongue before so I called the pediatric clinic that I plan to take Kylie to and spoke with the nurse who was on call. She said it sounds like thrush to her. She said yes, babies sometimes have the milky looking tongue from their formula but that if it won't come off it is thrush. She told me to get a washcloth and dampen it with warm water and see if it would come off. (I already knew the answer since I have tried it before but did it again anyway.) It didn't come off so she is 99% certain she has thrush and went ahead and made me an appt. for Monday morning. So hopefully Mon. will be the last time I have to deal with this since I will be taking her to the pediatric clinic. I am so relieved! I will let you know what happens then.

Here is a question: When did all of your babies start "talking"? Kylie started talking up a storm at just 3 weeks old and my mom said that is unusual. She said she doesn't think most babies start cooing so much so soon. Is she right? She does try to do everything early so I guess that could be true. She was able to hold her head up the same day she was born and has started rolling over so I guess cooing early wouldn't be that odd. I swear the other night she was cooing, and I swear it sounded just like she said "mama". Now I know she is really young and her cooing probably just sounded like that but it really freaked me out b/c it really did sound like mama! I talk too much, so it looks like she is going to be taking after me..lol!

Alice~ Sorry about the kidney problems. Hope the medicine helps.

Justhat~ I would stay out of it at this point. If you get involved and give your advice and your SIL decides to work it out with her DH she may end up resenting you if you say you think she shouldn't work it out. I have been there and lost a really good friend when she asked for my advice. I was foolish enough to give it, she ended up taking her Dh back, and turned on me. Needless to say, we aren't friends anymore. I know it's a tough situation though. Good luck!

 

[justhat]

Thanks for the tips! I really didn't plan on telling her to leave, cause no way to I want to be 'responsible' for breaking up anyone's marriage (especially a SIL cause I would deal with that the rest of my life). But I just don't know how to respond to her. I guess I'll say something like sorry for what she's going through and if she needs to vent at anytime go ahead.

Tasha, Madison started talking at around 3-4 weeks too. By 6 weeks you couldn't shut her up! She didn't say mama or dada till around 5 months, but not with any meaning attached till about a year. Now at 15.5 months she says mama, dada, up, hop, and bubbles. The first 4 words are very clear, but bubbles sounds like 'buhbuh". If you didn't see her point to the bottle of bubbles you wouldn't know what she meant. So I think she's a little behind in her speech development - I think they told me she should say 2-10 words other than mama and dada at 15 months, but they said don't worry about it yet.

What medication did they give Kylie for the thrush (when they actually gave her something)? My cousin's baby had it and it didn't go away at first and she had to try something else. I forget the names right now (I know Nystatin was one, but not sure if that was the one that worked or didn't) but I can check with her about it.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

What medication did they give Kylie for the thrush (when they actually gave her something)? My cousin's baby had it and it didn't go away at first and she had to try something else. I forget the names right now (I know Nystatin was one, but not sure if that was the one that worked or didn't) but I can check with her about it.

She has been taking Nystatin but it hasn't been helping any. It is the orangish-yellow medicine. Someone told me their child had it when he was little and they were given a bluish-purplish medicine but they couldn't remember the name of it. They said it worked though. I had also heard that they can prescribe a suspended version of diflucan to infants and that is supposed to help. I will see what this new dr. says Monday and let you know though. Hopefully it will clear up soon. It is possible that they will say she doesn't have it but my gut says she does. I have seen pictures and it definitely looks like it. Guess we'll see.

On another note, Dh's family went out to dinner to celebrate his mom's b-day tonight. We decided to go too and Kylie was extremely good. She is pretty much over her fussy stage now that she is more alert and likes to look around at everything which is really nice. His sister (the one relative that makes Dh and me miserable!) didn't go so we actually had fun! Even his mom was pleasant tonight. Of course she ended up getting sick and leaving early though. But still, we actually had a good time which was nice.

We are going to a flea market tomorrow and maybe a few other places and then Sunday we are going to see Dh's grandmother and aunt (they live about an hour away) and they are going to also go with us to look at some land that his grandmother's nephew owns. Maybe we will find something soon and can move. Wish us luck!

 

[DisKim]

What are you mommies getting your DH for Father's Day?

A suprise trip to Disney world The kids and I planned the itinerary and we are going to suprise him. He probably knows something is up. I had to question him about his summer work schedule. If he knows me at all, he knows a Disney trip is in the works.

Justhat - The best advice to give her is probably do do what she feels is right. I come from divorced parents and I was so happy the day they told me they were separating when I was 6 years old. It's worse for a child to live with parents who don't get along or don't love each other than to go through a divorce.

Tasha - It sounds like Kylie is doing everything quite early. Aidan is just starting to "talk" now at 7 weeks. He has not rolled over yet. Then again, no one ever puts him down! My grandmother has been here since he was born. She's finally going back to Florida on Monday! I love her but I need some normalcy and my son needs to stop being held all the time.

 

[Alice28]

WARNING Gymboree alert again, but this time for Little Boy Mommies--OMG---go to this thread and scroll down to the new fall line for boys. I am jealous of moms of baby boys this time!!!!!!!!! I'll get a few of the big boy things for my boys, but the layette and baby boy is killing me it's so cute. And for sure Molly is getting the little dress in the layette section. I know how I will be spending my 6 Gymbucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://gymbohaven.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=6467

This line is due out sometime in July I believe.

 

[lissawynn]

Alice28 I can't get to the link of the new line for boys. I'm interested to see what I can spend my Gymbucks on in July.
I did exchange the stuff I bought a few weeks ago. I ended up with some more t-shirt onesies for Jimmy. I also bought some of the cute "aloha" stuff as a baptism for a friend's daughter. Their girls clothes are just adorable. I'm not that in love, though. The thought of another baby is just insane right now.

Jimmy is either battling a cold or allergies. Ever since we started our central air last week, he's been kind of congested. Now he has a stuffy nose, and I'm getting some gookie stuff (boogies, sorry )when I use the boogie sucker. He's also "talking" up a storm these days. He's actually kind of hoarse from all the noise he's been making. Not sure if it's also a side effect of his cold or just the noise. He's almost rolling over. He gets to his side and turns back to his back. I'm waiting for the full roll over.

Tomorrow is the first day of summer school. I'll be spending lots of time on the DIS while my students are working. I'm hoping the time passes quickly.

I'm looking for Vera Bradley bags in Chocolat. If you know of a site or store that carries them, please PM me! I've found a few sites and have more looking to do tomorrow. I'm especially interested in the Betsey bag.

 

[Alice28]

Poop...I'm mad the link doesn't work.

Try going to www.gymbohaven.com On the left, scroll down to Chitchat Forums. Scroll down to Off Topic and I think there is a thread called new line photos or something like that. Long story short, it's kind of like retro cowboy/farm for little boys this fall. Freaking darling.

LOL at not being "that" in love with the little girl stuff. I think we are all walking on this side of insanity right now with our little ones and lack of sleep! Oh how I long for 8 straight hours of sleep. Molly is pretty good though....she lasts til about 3 AM and that's a 6- 6.5 hour stretch. Way better than the boys ever gave me.

Molly also likes to "talk" but not a ton. She such a little smiler though; just such a happy baby. She gets close to rolling (tummy to back), but not quite yet.

We went up to a shopping center in N. Portland today where the Anheuser Busch Clydesdale horses were; I had no idea it would be so focused on "saluting the troops." I realized Budweiser/ A.B. is VERY pro-troops after I got there; the free SeaWorld tickets; the cool Bud commercial...they had free t-shirts for anyone with a military ID (Score!)...cool plastic bracelets (like the Live Strong ones) for free, but they're camo and they say "Here's to the Heroes." Too bad it also says, "Budweiser"...I only say that cause I want my son to wear it, but I don't think he can wear that to school .But the best part is you could film a 10-30 second video saying hello to the troops in general or to your loved one over there...it will be looped on the troops' television stations in about 6 weeks! So me & the kids said "HI DADDY!!!! WE LOVE YOU!" And my best friend and her little guy were with us too; the big wigs that were there wanted best friend to tape more (she does have a good presence- she's very confident and she sings in front of a lot of people most Sundays at her church in the small group, used to tour with her college singing group, etc)...she had to sign some waiver, get her driver's license photocopied, etc. It will also be on the budweiser website too...I'll let you guys know when it's up!

Two more weeks and I can start making out PSs for WDW! I can't wait!

Have fun with summer school lissawynn!