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AlistairCookie
Apr 1, 2010

I am a Dinosaur
I don't have any personal experience with tubes with either of my kids, but my neighbor across the street just had them done for her littlest one (he turned one this past August and they were done around his birthday) and she said they were a miracle. She said the procedure itself, although a bit stressful for her and Dad, seemed like no big deal to the baby. He woke up, wasn't even upset, and they went home. No fuss. He went from nearly constant antibiotics and ear infections to nothing. Zero issues.

I had an double ear infections as an adult a couple years ago, and I was in agony. :( Poor babies! If it were my kids, I would do tubes without hesitation to save them the misery.

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Marchegiana
Jan 31, 2006

. . . Bitch.
Tubes are amazing. My oldest got hers when she was 5 after having a long bout of constant ear infections- one so bad that her eardrum actually ruptured and a pus waterfall poured out (it's just as horrible as it sounds). It took her a few days of adjusting after the tubes were put in because her hearing had been so muffled by the constant fluid in her middle ear, that after tubes were in everything sounded blasting loud to her. But after the adjustment period to having normal hearing everything was a dream. The only downside was we had to make sure she had waterproof earplugs for our yearly beach trip because she couldn't get non-chlorinated water in the ear tubes. Her tubes stayed in for about 2 1/2 years before they fell out on their own, and hasn't needed them again since then. I wish my youngest could get them too but she hasn't had ear infections with enough frequency to qualify under our insurance. Hopefully she'll hit a growth spurt soon and her eustachian tubes will finally stretch out more vertical.

Valdara
May 12, 2003

burn, pillage, ORGANIZE!
An adult friend of mine just had her eardrums burst from a flu-related ear infection, including the associated pus waterfall, and one of my relatives is partially deaf from constant ear infections as a kid making his burst multiple times before putting in tubes was a thing. Getting the ears tubed is super quick and just makes life way easier on everyone. I'm not a parent (in the planning/not-avoiding-having-babies stage), but I highly recommend tubes to protect your kid's hearing later in life.

Prophaniti
Oct 2, 2008

Do you lie awake at night fearing my gash?
Our 7 month old had an ear infection 14 days ago. Only time IŽve seen him scream and cry like that. Had a week of antibiotics and got better. I personally wouldnŽt hessitate with tubes if it gets chronic. Got a friend with low hearing too because of a bursted eardrum.

Last night was a partial succes. we gave him a good dinner at 1900 and at 20ish my better half tucked him in. at 2130 he gave in and slept. we then had a whole hour together before we both went to bed. I know thereŽll be setbacks but it was definetly a good start. She did have to breastfeed him in the end to calm him down, but I think were allowed to cheat in the beginning.

Mr Darcy
Feb 8, 2006

car dance posted:

Anyone who is having sleeping issues: we just went through a period with our daughter who previously would actually allow us to place her in the bed completely awake to fall asleep where she decided she didn't want to sleep unless someone was holding her. It went like this for over a month that she would not sleep anywhere except in arms. Even if she was completely asleep, she'd wake up and cry if you put her down. She was getting something like 3 teeth at once, then another tooth after that. We were switching her mostly over to solids as she's almost 11 months old. All of this took about two months. But eventually she started letting us put her down asleep.

Last night, she woke up while I was moving her to her crib and then just looked at me and closed her eyes and went back to sleep. So there's hope -- eventually your baby will sleep in a crib on their own. But there will probably be regressions and annoying things that happen since s/he is going through so much growth themselves. I guess the best suggestion I had is just do what causes you the least stress -- if the baby wakes up multiple times and won't go back to sleep unless s/he's fed, feed that baby. If the baby won't sleep unless you're holding him/her, hold that baby. Eventually things will go back to normal.

MoCookies posted:

I totally agree with this. Good or bad, it's all temporary. I'm learning to go with the flow and not to take the bad days too personally, or as a indictment of my parenting skills. I will admit to wanting to slap people whose first question about Nolan is "Does he sleep through the night?" Sore subject around here. I can practically name the day that Nolan stopped falling to sleep on his own (as soon as he could roll over at 4 months old), and it's been a struggle to get him to sleep peacefully ever since then. Things work for a few weeks, and then it's back to the drawing board once he's over that phase and trying to find something else that works. Thank goodness for baby carriers though, they've induced many naps and helped us ease into bedtime many nights.

Thanks for the advice and reassurance guys(gals?).

After posting my original message we got a couple of good nights sleep into him on Sunday & Monday, he woke up for feeds a couple of times but went straight back to sleep afterwards. Naturally this didn't last. The last two nights have been back to square 1, mummy looks after him while I get some sleep in. Then when she's flagging I take over until dawn, thankfully we've found that turning off the night-light so there are no distractions for him helps get him to nod back off.

Coffee helps me too :-)

skeetied
Mar 10, 2011
Thanks, everyone. The worst part is that five of them have been since Christmas. His surgery is on Wednesday.

For people with kids with tubes, how do you handle bath and pool time? My kid loves water.

Marchegiana
Jan 31, 2006

. . . Bitch.
Bath and pool are fine- there's no special precautions tube kids have to take with those because the water is chlorinated. You need to put in waterproof earplugs if you go swimming anywhere with untreated water (i.e. a beach or other natural swim area) to prevent weird untreated water stuff from getting in the tubes, but we got those for like $6 off the shelf at Target.

bamzilla
Jan 13, 2005

All butt since 2012.


skeetied posted:

Thanks, everyone. The worst part is that five of them have been since Christmas. His surgery is on Wednesday.

For people with kids with tubes, how do you handle bath and pool time? My kid loves water.

If he has to be put under the only thing I'd be wary of is this study: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/20/anesthesia-in-young-kids-may-carry-developmental-risks-embargo-monday-820-1201am/

It's the main reason I would not let the ENT put my son under for a tongue snip at 6 weeks old and went to another that would do it in office. However, it's your choice as a parent and if you feel the benefits outweigh the risks (and your pediatrician does) then go for it. You might see how he feels about it, though. I know my pediatrician showed some concern in the study and was relieved we opted out of putting Ben under. I also realize a simple tongue snip is much easier than tubes and it's not necessary at all to put a child under for it.

skeetied
Mar 10, 2011

bamzilla posted:

It's the main reason I would not let the ENT put my son under for a tongue snip at 6 weeks old and went to another that would do it in office. However, it's your choice as a parent and if you feel the benefits outweigh the risks (and your pediatrician does) then go for it. You might see how he feels about it, though. I know my pediatrician showed some concern in the study and was relieved we opted out of putting Ben under. I also realize a simple tongue snip is much easier than tubes and it's not necessary at all to put a child under for it.

Thanks for the article. He's already been put under general anesthesia once for an MRI. :( I might not have done that if I had known about that research, but, given that his father has hearing loss from chronic ear infections, I think the benefit outweighs the risk here.

Awesome Kristin
May 9, 2008

yum yum yum
Ben is about 5 and a half months old now. Usually he's a great sleeper, but lately he has been waking up crying in the middle of the night, as well as some naps. It's getting pretty frequent. Sometimes he'll stay asleep while crying or whimpering, but usually once or twice in the night we will have to go give him his pacifier and calm him back down so he can fall asleep. Is this normal?

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

All babies are different, but any time you notice a change in your routine something could be wrong. My kids have terrible problems with their ears, if this happened to my kids I'd be in for a checkup so the doc can rule out an ear infection. We always tried to catch them as early as possible. Over the last 3 years we've pretty much linked any kind of change in behavior or normal pattern as some kind of physical illness.

edit: I'm a pretty protective papa bear over my kids, and I'm fortunate enough to have great health coverage and a flexible job, so I tend to jump the gun on going to the pediatrician with things like this.

skipdogg fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jan 28, 2013

SassySally
Dec 11, 2010
I'm in the same boat as all of you having sleep issues. My Ben just turned 4 months. He was waking only twice a night, then three times, now 5-6 distinct times with each time requiring 3-6 attempts to put him in his bed. He doesn't ever really fully wake up, just fussy half-sleep. I talked to my local lactation consultant because everyone was recommending I feed him cereal (He's just hungry!) and I was adamant that I not give him cereal. (He is NOT hungry.) She backed me up on no cereal and said that when babies learn something new, they often wake up extra. (I don't think I saw that mentioned here.)

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

SassySally posted:

I'm in the same boat as all of you having sleep issues. My Ben just turned 4 months. He was waking only twice a night, then three times, now 5-6 distinct times with each time requiring 3-6 attempts to put him in his bed. He doesn't ever really fully wake up, just fussy half-sleep. I talked to my local lactation consultant because everyone was recommending I feed him cereal (He's just hungry!) and I was adamant that I not give him cereal. (He is NOT hungry.) She backed me up on no cereal and said that when babies learn something new, they often wake up extra. (I don't think I saw that mentioned here.)

Welcome to the four month sleep regression. You should come out mostly unscathed.

http://kellymom.com/parenting/nighttime/4mo-sleep/

iwik
Oct 12, 2007
So, is what they said on KellyMom there essentially that formula/bottle feed babies aren't quite so bad at waking up because they are used to distractions and therefore eat properly during the day?

So stupid question: Does that sleep regression phase include waking up because their little minds are going a mile a minute mulling over new things, or because they don't eat as well due to distractions so are hungry? Or both?

Does it normally go back to awful newborn-esque sleep patterns or do some kids just have a hard time going to bed but sleep through fine? Have people's experiences of this 4-6 month development phase varied?

ChloroformSeduction
Sep 3, 2006

THERE'S NO CURE FOR BEING A CUNT, SO PLEASE KEEP REMINDING ME TO SHUT THE FUCK UP

SassySally posted:

She backed me up on no cereal and said that when babies learn something new, they often wake up extra. (I don't think I saw that mentioned here.)

This is so true. My kid has some communication delays, and the most recent example of this is that he recently came up with signs for songs (Slippery Fish, Zoom Zoom Zoom, Itsy Bitsy Spider.) So he would wake me up at two in the morning to make me sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, he was so excited. Same when he could pull himself up or other milestones.

Alterian
Jan 28, 2003

That article is interesting. My 2 month old has been sleeping pretty well at night, but how long he sleeps can be variable. It seems if I get him to eat more during the day, he sleeps longer at night. He's eating about a quart of formula :psyduck: a day no matter how its spread out. I hope I'm moving in the right direction with that. I stuffed him during the day yesterday and he slept for 7 hours straight this past night which was awesome since I have to get up at 5am to get to work.

Alterian fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Jan 29, 2013

Awesome Kristin
May 9, 2008

yum yum yum
I haven't changed anything with my 5 month old and his sleeping habits just changed randomly. Though he does still sleep through the night, it's just those small disturbances I mentioned earlier that we have to calm down before he wakes up all the way. Maybe he's teething.

Awesome Kristin fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Jan 29, 2013

Canuckistan
Jan 14, 2004

I'm the greatest thing since World War III.





Soiled Meat
Our son (6 years old, high functioning autistic) just started taking household things and stashing them elsewhere. He's also just started telling fibs so when you ask him if he's seen X he'll tell a bold faced lie that he's never touched it when it's actually sitting in a box next to him. This morning I had to go searching for the toothpaste (it was in his room under his dirty clothes) and he'll pretty much take anything and everything else. My wallet, money from my wallet, meds, baking supplies, snacks, etc. It's very annoying to have to lock up things like he's a toddler again.

He's also just developed behavioral issues with hiding and defiance to authority figures, and he doesn't seem to make a good connection between bad behavior and punishment. When he goes into a meltdown he's pretty much inconsolable until he suddenly snaps out of it like someone flicked a switch.

We saw our child shrink and she's thinking it's a combination of him not picking up on queues, him being very bright and wanting independence, and that we (the parents) are trying too hard to micromanage his life skills development so he's rebelling against being corrected all the time. Her advice was to pick one aspect of home life that needs improvement and reward behavior as appropriate, and for all other behavior do not punish or reward. This will turn punishment and reward back into a special thing versus something that was happening multiple times a day.

The shrink didn't think anything was too serious and that it was just a combination of normal 6 year old behavior amplified by his other issues.

Just venting a little here guys. We're consulting with professionals so things are being handled OK.

SassySally
Dec 11, 2010

SassySally posted:

I'm in the same boat as all of you having sleep issues. My Ben just turned 4 months. He was waking only twice a night, then three times, now 5-6 distinct times with each time requiring 3-6 attempts to put him in his bed. He doesn't ever really fully wake up, just fussy half-sleep. I talked to my local lactation consultant because everyone was recommending I feed him cereal (He's just hungry!) and I was adamant that I not give him cereal. (He is NOT hungry.) She backed me up on no cereal and said that when babies learn something new, they often wake up extra. (I don't think I saw that mentioned here.)

I would like to clarify based on what I read in the article. I breastfeed and when he's waking up at night, if I can get him awake enough, I feed him. So when he's being the fussy, won't-sleep-in-his-own-bed-self, he's got a full tummy. Waking up more makes sense now, based on the article, but why can't I get him to sleep in his own bed? He's in our room still in the bassinet part of a pack 'n play.

Chicken McNobody
Aug 7, 2009

SassySally posted:

I would like to clarify based on what I read in the article. I breastfeed and when he's waking up at night, if I can get him awake enough, I feed him. So when he's being the fussy, won't-sleep-in-his-own-bed-self, he's got a full tummy. Waking up more makes sense now, based on the article, but why can't I get him to sleep in his own bed? He's in our room still in the bassinet part of a pack 'n play.

Some kids just don't. Arthur's almost 13 months and I can count on one hand the times he's slept all night in his own bed. We've tried an Arm's Reach, a pack and play, and three different cribs; we've tried tiring him out, filling him up; we've tried training him with the seahorse and with a Sleep Sheep; keeping one of my shirts in the crib; different bedtime routines; everything short of CIO. He's just not interested. He wants the warmth and comfort of Mommy or Daddy (preferably Mommy because I have the tits). At least now he usually only wakes up one or two times a night and suckles just long enough to fall back asleep (he will not take a pacifier).

There are a lot of things you can try, and I do urge you to try them, but try not to beat yourself up if they don't work after a good-faith effort...it is INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING but it may just be something he'll have to grow out of.

Konomex
Oct 25, 2010

a whiteman who has some authority over others, who not only hasn't raped anyone, or stared at them creepily...
Have you tried a baby hot water bottle? Worked on my daughter (up until Mom wanted to sleep with her due to anxiety issues) and I'm told it worked on me as a kid.

Lyz
May 22, 2007

I AM A GIRL ON WOW GIVE ME ITAMS
Also, I will say this a thousand times because it worked for Chris - try putting a foam pad in the crib or the bassinet. Sometimes babies just don't like the harder surfaces of the standard mattress. Just get a cheap eggcrate foam pad, cut it up and put it under the fitted sheet (don't use memory foam, that looks like baby smothering material). Worked like a charm for me.

Chicken McNobody
Aug 7, 2009

Konomex posted:

Have you tried a baby hot water bottle? Worked on my daughter (up until Mom wanted to sleep with her due to anxiety issues) and I'm told it worked on me as a kid.

I think Arthur's problem is that he is my child. I was a very, um, strong-willed kid, I wanted what I wanted and that was it. Hot water bottles, those rice-and-lavender warm packs, long firm pillows, pre-warmed bed, no dice, gotta have Mommy. (My mother is laughing at me.) But they work great for other babies, SassySally, so you should maybe try them! :D



Apologies for incoming text wall...
I know we have some PI crossover in here, so I want to ask/vent about this. We have 3 cats, two 5-year-old brothers and a little 2-year-old girl. The boys are pretty easy; they were literally born in a barn and love being outside so after some internal struggle and a lot of aggravation we've let them become indoor-outdoor cats. It's less stress for us and for them, and there aren't many dangers out where we live so they're pretty safe.

Little Hachi, though, is a bit of a problem. We think she was separated from her mother very early; I found her under the hood of my car one morning after I'd driven the eight miles to work, but we don't know where she came from. It was obvious she'd been alone for a while, though, because she didn't have any life skills. Had to be taught to play and scratch litter, still wanted to suck a little bit instead of eat, etc. She's still skittish and shy, but is becoming a little more confident now that the boys aren't in the house as much, and should prove to be a great solitary cat.

BUT. She also has not mastered the art of the litterbox. She will poo poo in there all day (until she decides not to, in which case she will poo poo on the floor of the room the boxes are in), but when it comes to pee time, she somehow manages to pee either directly on the floor or down the outside of the box so that pee gets under the box.

Now, if I were the one doing most of the cat cleanup, I would probably just put up with this. But I'm not. I work full-time and my husband stays home with our son and also does most of the cat-room cleaning, and he is at the end of his patience. He feels like between Arthur and three cats all he does all day is deal with excrement. Hachi's so skittish that if you enter the bathroom while she's in there she'll run away, so it's hard to see how we could train her to use the box better, and with Arthur getting more and more mobile it's hard to find the time anyway. Plus with him not working and the medical bills from an emergency last year, our finances are really stretched, and we can't afford to keep getting three cats' vaccinations updated, and flea/tick meds, and better food (Hachi has awful dandruff and I know better food would help).

My husband is really getting stressed and angry and has decided he wants her gone, and is at the point where he doesn't particularly care where she goes. We tried letting her out and she is not cool with it. Hubby was all for taking her to the shelter, but I don't know that they don't euthanize so I put my foot down there. So now I am trying to rehome her instead, preferably with a childless person or family. I feel just awful about it, but I also don't feel like I have any "skin in the game," so to speak, because I'm not the one knee-deep in piss all day. It's definitely not good to have hubby get stressed and snap at her or Arthur. (Though I do wonder what he's going to do when Art's old enough to have accidents. Are we gonna send him away too?)

I would love to hear from anyone who has gone through this. On one hand I know she will probably do better in a different home. On the other hand I feel like we're maybe terrible irresponsible people for trying to get rid of her just because she doesn't piss where we want her to. :(

Lyz
May 22, 2007

I AM A GIRL ON WOW GIVE ME ITAMS
My cat Fred does this, due to surgery his plumbing was rerouted slightly and his aim was off, combine that with an affinity for peeing right at the lowest section of the litter box and he always got more out than in. I just got a regular Sterilite storage bin and used that for a litter box.

Also, if you have the space, consider more than one litter box. I had to put one upstairs cause if people were in the kitchen my flighty cat would instead opt to pee underneath my husband's desk instead of the litter box in the mud room. I hate having one in the guest room but it's better than the rest of the house smelling like piss.

sullat
Jan 9, 2012
We had a similar situation, an old cat that was set in her ways and would go to the bathroom wherever she felt. I was the one who cleaned most of it up, and I was like "do we really want the cat peeing all over our nice baby-proof living room? Where he's gonna be crawling around a lot?" And so we decided she had to go.

Chicken McNobody
Aug 7, 2009

Lyz posted:

Also, if you have the space, consider more than one litter box.

We have 4. One's even in a bathtub. :(

E: In a moment of desperation we even considered just filling that tub with litter, but decided that we do want to sell this shitheap one day and we don't want to have to replace the tub.

Andrias Scheuchzeri
Mar 6, 2010

They're very good and intelligent, these tapa-boys...
Using a tall Rubbermaid/Sterilite/whatever bin, like Lyz mentioned, really cuts down on the pees-over-the-side problem. Ditto those enclosed-type boxes.

Lyz
May 22, 2007

I AM A GIRL ON WOW GIVE ME ITAMS
I would just rehome her then, sounds like she'd be way happier in a quieter house.

I'm still kind of torn on my flighty cat, she is getting friendlier but she still has a tendency to blindly flee if she thinks she's cornered, which has led to Chris getting clawed if he's standing at the baby gate she wants to get over.

Alterian
Jan 28, 2003

Sort of in the same vein. Whats the best way to super duper clean a carpet of cat/dog pee? The animals no longer have access and eventually half of it is going to be a play area. I've done the enzymes and a carpet shampooer and I can still see them using a black light. Would a professional steam clean do any good? I really don't want to have to replace it if I can help. Its a larger room and we just replaced it in 2008. Its a downstairs carpet too so under the padding is cement. I'd love to put in laminate floors, but it would be a huge pain/expensive.

Its not like "oh god this room smells like pee!" but I know its there and even if you don't smell it, it bothers me that he'd be on the floor around it.

Chicken McNobody
Aug 7, 2009

Andrias Scheuchzeri posted:

Using a tall Rubbermaid/Sterilite/whatever bin, like Lyz mentioned, really cuts down on the pees-over-the-side problem. Ditto those enclosed-type boxes.

Of our 4 boxes, two are "regular size," one is a tall Rubbermaid and one is this thing. Unfortunately she can't get into the tall one...she is full-grown but very small with short little legs (which may be part of the overall problem). We have an enclosed one too but can't get her to use it. :(

If nothing else, she is tolerating the baby okay. Of the 3 cats she's not the most likely to scratch him up when he pulls her fur, and thanks to experience with her he is learning to be more gentle with all the cats--her fuzz feels nice to his little cheeks, and she's starting to sit on our laps and let him rub his head on her fur. :3

Hungry Squirrel
Jun 30, 2008

You gonna eat that?

Alterian posted:

Sort of in the same vein. Whats the best way to super duper clean a carpet of cat/dog pee?

Nature's Miracle is enzyme based and should break it down. We also use white vinegar.

I second the tall rubbermaid bin comments as well. We do that and it's great. If it's stress based you can try those Feliway plug-ins and sprays.

AlistairCookie
Apr 1, 2010

I am a Dinosaur
2nding the Nature's Miracle. It is the only thing we have found that works.

We have three cats, ranging from old, to super old. (8, 14, and 15 years old). The oldest one has had dodgy litter box habits off and on most of his life, and now truly disapproves of the kids and expresses his disapproval by peeing all around the box, but not in it. (This is not a new habit; he has always done this when things aren't precisely to his liking, or the phase of the moon doesn't suit him.) But he also pees in one of two corners of the playroom. (The only carpeted surface in the house.) So, I put puppy pee pads under and around the litterbox, and he pees on those. I just pick them up and change them daily, with the litter. We also block off the favored corners in the playroom with toys and such before we go to bed, but now lately, he has just been picking new spots. So we've borrowed a dog crate from a cousin and this week I am outfitting it with a box and a cat bed. My husband is referring to it as his retirement home. We are going to try putting him in it at night, or when we are gone all day, and see if that cuts down on the misplaced pee. I think he does it when he's alone and the house is quiet. I am home all day, most days, and I never, ever catch him. :(

Other than litterbox issues, he is a really gentle cat. Just avoids the kids, and comes out for loves when it's quiet. The middle one has always been skittish, so having the kids didn't really change her behavior. She cuddles at night, always has. The youngest one is very gregarious and will tolerate quite a bit of manhandling before giving a gentle bite and running off. Tim is good with them, and while Liam has the best intentions, he still pats hard. ("Tell me again about the rabbits, George...") I get weary of cleaning up cat pee and always smelling for new spots. But I've had them all since the beginning; literally their entire lives. They predate my kids by a few, or many years. They are a hassle now, with the brushing (two of three are long haired), and the peeing, and the shedding, but I'd feel terrible letting any of them go. :( At least they're healthy, knock on wood.

PeachyKeen
Jul 22, 2005
Hey all, I've been lurking round here for far too long, long before my munchkin was born, and the cumulated advice I've picked up along the way has helped with so much! Now I have a more direct question. The little Peach is 5.5 months old now and for the first time we're having real problems with sleep. I could manage the multiple dosey night feeds when she was much smaller, and I think we were spoiled with 6 weeks of her sleeping through 8pm-7:30am, but now everything's gone haywire. She's in her own room (we were room sharing and feeding her in the bed with me dosing until about 2 weeks ago) and she goes to sleep around 7-7:30 she usually wakes up very gently after about half an hour and a little pat on her belly usually gets her back to sleep. Then she wakes about 1am, she doesn't want a feed then and usually a bit of a hug and sway and she's back to sleep - I know so far sounds so great right! But then at about 4am she wakes up and it takes about 2 hours to get her properly back to sleep. She's not wide awake thinking it's playtime or anything, she drowsy and obviously wants to sleep, but at this time of night her sleep just seems really light. She drifts off but never gets into a deep sleep before her little arms and legs start flapping around and wake her up. I usually feed her at this point and she'll dose but still not really get into a proper sleep. We try all combinations of food and soothing and nothing works until she's been mostly awake at least 1.5-2hours. We can't just leave her to it, she gets really upset unless we're there but this schedule's kind of breaking me and she so obviously wants to be asleep I want to help her. After all this she usually goes back down but rarely for more than 1-1.5hours.

She's also a dreadful napper. She'll nap in her pram, in a sling on the boob or in my arms but rarely for more than half an hour. I've tried all the techniques of keeping her somewhere quiet and re-soothing her through the 30minute mark but 9 times out of 10 she wakes up eyes wide and bright and that's it. I really think she needs more daytime sleep, she's constantly whinging and shouting and needs us to change what we're doing every 5mins to keep any level of peace. She can be so lovely to be around but it tends to last about 2 hours in the morning and then the rest of the day we on tender hooks with the constant complaining. My lovely hubby works from home and we're both at the end of our tether, and he's now panicking because I go back to work in a few months and he's taking over child care and doesn't know how he'll cope.

Any help would be so appreciated.

bilabial trill
Dec 25, 2008

not just a B

PeachyKeen posted:

Hey all, I've been lurking round here for far too long, long before my munchkin was born, and the cumulated advice I've picked up along the way has helped with so much! Now I have a more direct question. The little Peach is 5.5 months old now and for the first time we're having real problems with sleep. I could manage the multiple dosey night feeds when she was much smaller, and I think we were spoiled with 6 weeks of her sleeping through 8pm-7:30am, but now everything's gone haywire. She's in her own room (we were room sharing and feeding her in the bed with me dosing until about 2 weeks ago) and she goes to sleep around 7-7:30 she usually wakes up very gently after about half an hour and a little pat on her belly usually gets her back to sleep. Then she wakes about 1am, she doesn't want a feed then and usually a bit of a hug and sway and she's back to sleep - I know so far sounds so great right! But then at about 4am she wakes up and it takes about 2 hours to get her properly back to sleep. She's not wide awake thinking it's playtime or anything, she drowsy and obviously wants to sleep, but at this time of night her sleep just seems really light. She drifts off but never gets into a deep sleep before her little arms and legs start flapping around and wake her up. I usually feed her at this point and she'll dose but still not really get into a proper sleep. We try all combinations of food and soothing and nothing works until she's been mostly awake at least 1.5-2hours. We can't just leave her to it, she gets really upset unless we're there but this schedule's kind of breaking me and she so obviously wants to be asleep I want to help her. After all this she usually goes back down but rarely for more than 1-1.5hours.

She's also a dreadful napper. She'll nap in her pram, in a sling on the boob or in my arms but rarely for more than half an hour. I've tried all the techniques of keeping her somewhere quiet and re-soothing her through the 30minute mark but 9 times out of 10 she wakes up eyes wide and bright and that's it. I really think she needs more daytime sleep, she's constantly whinging and shouting and needs us to change what we're doing every 5mins to keep any level of peace. She can be so lovely to be around but it tends to last about 2 hours in the morning and then the rest of the day we on tender hooks with the constant complaining. My lovely hubby works from home and we're both at the end of our tether, and he's now panicking because I go back to work in a few months and he's taking over child care and doesn't know how he'll cope.

Any help would be so appreciated.

Personally I would probably take her into bed with me when she's sleeping restlessly, to maximize the amount of rest for both of us.

I don't really know about the napping - I've been lucky and my son has always been a pretty good napper. Many babies nap better outside in fresh air though, which seems to fit with her napping better in her pram. I know some people open the window to the room where the baby sleeps to let in some fresh air and it helps.

Poison Cake
Feb 15, 2012

PeachyKeen posted:

She drifts off but never gets into a deep sleep before her little arms and legs start flapping around and wake her up.

Is she swaddled or in a sleep sack? It sounds like she isn't and confining babies so they don't wake themselves up is exactly the sort of thing swaddling is meant to address.

(And, my sympathies if she won't go for it. Our girl never would.)

Eggplant Wizard
Jul 8, 2005


i loev catte

Alterian posted:

Sort of in the same vein. Whats the best way to super duper clean a carpet of cat/dog pee? The animals no longer have access and eventually half of it is going to be a play area. I've done the enzymes and a carpet shampooer and I can still see them using a black light. Would a professional steam clean do any good? I really don't want to have to replace it if I can help. Its a larger room and we just replaced it in 2008. Its a downstairs carpet too so under the padding is cement. I'd love to put in laminate floors, but it would be a huge pain/expensive.

Its not like "oh god this room smells like pee!" but I know its there and even if you don't smell it, it bothers me that he'd be on the floor around it.

You need to clean the pad and the cement. There's a big thing on this in the cat FAQ in PI, which, incidentally, is where cat-chat should happen.

PuTTY riot
Nov 16, 2002
Any advice on constipation? My daughter is 7.5 months and the past few weeks hasn't been going much. She gets 5-6 oz of prune juice every day (now with a teaspoon of karo dark syrup per nurses recommendation) and is breast fed, no formula at all. We've kind of tapered back on solids, she was eating prunes (she loves them) and a few other foods my wife made for her. We've been doing the infant suppositories for a few days now (wednesday, saturday, monday, wednesday, today, I think that's right) and the doctor told me that we can keep using them but I'm worried about them becoming habit forming. When y'all use them do you use them every day, twice a day, every other day or what? Also, they aren't dissolving entirely, and forgive the mental image, but today it was sticking halfway out of her butt and I had to pull it out after she went (5-10 minutes after I put it in). is that normal? I think it's starting to affect her sleep-- last night she was still up crying when I came home at 11, and I gave her a laxative, she pooped, we boobed her and put her back to sleep and she slept thought the night like she normally does. Could it be that she's not sitting up unassisted yet? Once again the doctor said not to worry about that, but did say pooping laying down can be difficult.

edit: besides the suppository i gave her wednesday, the rest of them have been given to her after she either woke up and wouldn't calm down or like this morning was just being rotten all morning. Every single time she giggles when we change her diaper, her mood improves greatly and/or she goes right back to sleep. She's been getting an extra boob most nights, and this seems to be hindering my wife's pumping. Should we start bringing prunes back in? Those never seemed to affect her poorly. She doesn't like veggies very much, but I think we could mix some in the prunes if that would help.

PuTTY riot fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Feb 1, 2013

Caylene
Jan 30, 2012

Hmmm. That's interesting.
Maybe less prunes and triple the water? I know if you give too much of a laxative item (similar to prunes or fiber) if there is not much water it will make the situation worse not better.

Caylene
Jan 30, 2012

Hmmm. That's interesting.

PeachyKeen posted:

Hey all, I've been lurking round here for far too long, long before my munchkin was born, and the cumulated advice I've picked up along the way has helped with so much! Now I have a more direct question. The little Peach is 5.5 months old now and for the first time we're having real problems with sleep. I could manage the multiple dosey night feeds when she was much smaller, and I think we were spoiled with 6 weeks of her sleeping through 8pm-7:30am, but now everything's gone haywire. She's in her own room (we were room sharing and feeding her in the bed with me dosing until about 2 weeks ago) and she goes to sleep around 7-7:30 she usually wakes up very gently after about half an hour and a little pat on her belly usually gets her back to sleep. Then she wakes about 1am, she doesn't want a feed then and usually a bit of a hug and sway and she's back to sleep - I know so far sounds so great right! But then at about 4am she wakes up and it takes about 2 hours to get her properly back to sleep. She's not wide awake thinking it's playtime or anything, she drowsy and obviously wants to sleep, but at this time of night her sleep just seems really light. She drifts off but never gets into a deep sleep before her little arms and legs start flapping around and wake her up. I usually feed her at this point and she'll dose but still not really get into a proper sleep. We try all combinations of food and soothing and nothing works until she's been mostly awake at least 1.5-2hours. We can't just leave her to it, she gets really upset unless we're there but this schedule's kind of breaking me and she so obviously wants to be asleep I want to help her. After all this she usually goes back down but rarely for more than 1-1.5hours.

She's also a dreadful napper. She'll nap in her pram, in a sling on the boob or in my arms but rarely for more than half an hour. I've tried all the techniques of keeping her somewhere quiet and re-soothing her through the 30minute mark but 9 times out of 10 she wakes up eyes wide and bright and that's it. I really think she needs more daytime sleep, she's constantly whinging and shouting and needs us to change what we're doing every 5mins to keep any level of peace. She can be so lovely to be around but it tends to last about 2 hours in the morning and then the rest of the day we on tender hooks with the constant complaining. My lovely hubby works from home and we're both at the end of our tether, and he's now panicking because I go back to work in a few months and he's taking over child care and doesn't know how he'll cope.

Any help would be so appreciated.

Reading this brought back so many memories for me of when my son was born. I decided to go with the Dr. Sears' advice: Do what you have to do.

First you're dealing with the psychological pressure of a few things:
1. OH MY GOD IT HAS TO STAY ALIVE!!! THEY KNOW I HAVE IT!
2. What if I go back to work and he can't take care of her?

plus

3. Holy crap I'm so tired.

Tired erases all ability to make sound judgement. So for the next week or so- do what you have to do. Tell schedules to f*off, and sleep when the baby sleeps. Our bodies have these cycles that will naturally fall into place when we're rested enough to do so- and completely freak the f*out when we're not.

I know it doesn't make a lot of logical sense to forget the schedule and just go with the flow, but I do speak from experience when I say it works. If hubby has the luxury of working from home then ask him to go with it as well, work when she's awake, sleep when she sleeps. Don't clean when she sleeps, don't do laundry, just sleep!

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PeachyKeen
Jul 22, 2005
Hey, thanks for the tips. I'm only just catching up on the thread and it's some relief to see others going through related problems. She woke at 4:30 this morning so I brought her into our bed, unfortunately that seemed to keep her even more awake and instead of dosing she lay next to us wide awake babbling and stroking her dad's beard until just after 6am. I might try the swaddling idea, i often deploy the "mum swaddle" of holding her arms gently as she drifts off, I wonder if I can still do a cloth one that will contain her, she's a real wriggler! Ah well, this too shall pass!

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