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Dear Prudence
Sep 3, 2012

Papercut posted:

So a lot of people have recommended "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," but does it ever recommend anything other than Cry It Out? I'm about 100 pages in and it's complete garbage so far.

If you don't think it's going to work for you, that's ok. Not everyone is comfortable with doing Cry It Out.

Try this book instead: The No Cry Sleep Solution

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Fionnoula
May 27, 2010

Ow, quit.
We are a No Cry Sleep Solution family. Worked great for us.

Senso
Nov 4, 2005

Always working

What's the gist of this "third solution", if I may ask? Let the baby cry sometimes and go see him sometimes? I can hardly imagine a revolutionary third way.

Our son very rarely cries in the night (3 1/2) or even wakes up, he's a hard sleeper like me. Except that he gets up at 6am and comes in our bedroom to wake us up. It's so early for me that I don't even have the strength to tell him "no please, go back to your bed and and sleep another hour."

Ben Davis
Apr 17, 2003

I'm as clumsy as I am beautiful

Senso posted:

Our son very rarely cries in the night (3 1/2) or even wakes up, he's a hard sleeper like me. Except that he gets up at 6am and comes in our bedroom to wake us up. It's so early for me that I don't even have the strength to tell him "no please, go back to your bed and and sleep another hour."
I've seen a lot of people here use those kid alarm clocks that show the sun when it's time to get out of bed.

Canuckistan
Jan 14, 2004

I'm the greatest thing since World War III.





Soiled Meat
That's neat! No need for them anymore since our son now "sleeps in" to 7, but those "5:30 and it's time to play!" mornings sucked.

Fionnoula
May 27, 2010

Ow, quit.

Senso posted:

What's the gist of this "third solution", if I may ask? Let the baby cry sometimes and go see him sometimes? I can hardly imagine a revolutionary third way.

Our son very rarely cries in the night (3 1/2) or even wakes up, he's a hard sleeper like me. Except that he gets up at 6am and comes in our bedroom to wake us up. It's so early for me that I don't even have the strength to tell him "no please, go back to your bed and and sleep another hour."

No, the gist of the third method is identifying sleep patterns, then gently shifting them while helping the baby learn to self soothe. There's no letting the baby cry. Break down the act of putting to bed into a whole bunch of tiny steps, there's more than just HOLD BABY and PUT BABY DOWN AND WALK AWAY. There's a lot of suggestions about routines (the book recommends a flexible routine, but a routine nonetheless), including daytime routines to facilitate healthy sleep, helping your baby learn that the bed/crib is a happy place to be, using key words, music, and loveys - and how to introduce them, how to break down the getting into bed process into tiny steps that your baby will accept so that eventually you CAN get to where you want to be with sleeping. It's not a quick fix, it's a long slow incremental change.

Papercut
Aug 24, 2005

The quickest substitution in the history of the NBA

Fionnoula posted:

No, the gist of the third method is identifying sleep patterns, then gently shifting them while helping the baby learn to self soothe. There's no letting the baby cry. Break down the act of putting to bed into a whole bunch of tiny steps, there's more than just HOLD BABY and PUT BABY DOWN AND WALK AWAY. There's a lot of suggestions about routines (the book recommends a flexible routine, but a routine nonetheless), including daytime routines to facilitate healthy sleep, helping your baby learn that the bed/crib is a happy place to be, using key words, music, and loveys - and how to introduce them, how to break down the getting into bed process into tiny steps that your baby will accept so that eventually you CAN get to where you want to be with sleeping. It's not a quick fix, it's a long slow incremental change.

This sounds great and is more in line with the type of training I'm used to. I know babies aren't dogs, but using pure R+ on my dog and then turning around and letting my baby cry it out just seems so wrong.

Awesome Kristin
May 9, 2008

yum yum yum
Hey thread! I'm movin on up from the pregnancy thread. Ben will be 2 months old on the 18th. He was diagnosed with reflux so we've got him on medication and sleeping in the Rock and Play.

He's a great napper in the day and when we do finally get him in bed at night he sleeps for 6 hours, wakes up to eat and sleeps another 2-3 hours. starting about 4 days ago he's been getting SUPER upset at night. It's generally either before or after his last nap. He gets really cranky at any problem such as gas or pooping, and he won't latch to eat because he's so pissed and tired.

We'll finally get him asleep and he'll wake up hungry and upset. It takes a lot of work to get him to eat again. Even after he poops he'll be freaking out as soon as I position him to eat. This is very new to us as he's generally been an easy-going kid since we figured the reflux out.

We don't really know what to do at night now. Baths calm him for a bit but he'll start getting upset shortly after any distraction. Could he just be overtired even though he's napping well? It's starting to take him longer and longer to finally go to bed for the night. Before, his bed time was an hour after we planned on going to bed ourselves. Now he's keeping us up late with this.

Here's the little monster.



Edit: Well now today he has been super fussy after two naps. I've had to trick him into eating by stopping his crying with a pacifier and then replacing it with boob really fast. What could be causing this sudden change in behavior?!

Awesome Kristin fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Oct 13, 2012

skeetied
Mar 10, 2011

Awesome Kristin posted:


Edit: Well now today he has been super fussy after two naps. I've had to trick him into eating by stopping his crying with a pacifier and then replacing it with boob really fast. What could be causing this sudden change in behavior?!

How much weight has he gained since you started the reflux meds? He might need his dose increased. Our pediatrician said there's a lot of room in the recommended dosage range too, so his dose might be able to be increased even without weight gain. That sounds like reflux symptoms.

Amelia Song
Jan 28, 2012

There's also more than one reflux medication available. We started with Zantac, and it helped but not for long enough-- it would wear off and we'd be hours and hours away from the next dose. Prevacid, though, is working absolute wonders.

Awesome Kristin
May 9, 2008

yum yum yum
I'll bring it up to the pediatrician next week if it continues. Tonight was a lot better. I didn't have to fight to feed him but he's still fussing more than normal, so we'll see what happens in the coming days.

Thanks for the suggestions.

me your dad
Jul 25, 2006

Can anyone tell me a good book or website with recipes for babies? Our daughter is 10 months and we feel rather uncreative in what we feed her, and repetitive.

Her meals are looking like this currently:

Breakfast: Pancakes and/or oatmeal and fruit

Lunch: Daycare provides this on weekdays. They're an in-house, family run thing, and they make a good variety of foods. On weekends we usually feed something similar to what we give her for dinner.

Dinner: Typically organic meatballs or chicken tenders, with diced peas and carrots, cheese, and fruit

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
By 10 months, our kid was just eating what we did, just cut smaller. We didn't prepare separate meals for him unless we were eating something like gross fast food or pizza.

me your dad
Jul 25, 2006

Chickalicious posted:

By 10 months, our kid was just eating what we did, just cut smaller. We didn't prepare separate meals for him unless we were eating something like gross fast food or pizza.

Should I worry about spices and oils and whatnot? I'm a plain old white dude, but I cook a fair amount of Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese dishes. Nothing is typically "spicy hot", but it is heavily spiced. I realize of course kids from these countries are eating their native cuisine but I've had reservations.

Tonight I'm making this vegetable biryani. Should I be concerned about anything going into the dish?

Lyz
May 22, 2007

I AM A GIRL ON WOW GIVE ME ITAMS

me your dad posted:

Tonight I'm making this vegetable biryani. Should I be concerned about anything going into the dish?

I would make sure it's not too hot, spice wise, no need to burn her little mouth. Also be careful of how much sodium is in the bullion, maybe consider substituting water instead.

Lyz fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Oct 13, 2012

Ben Davis
Apr 17, 2003

I'm as clumsy as I am beautiful

me your dad posted:

Can anyone tell me a good book or website with recipes for babies? Our daughter is 10 months and we feel rather uncreative in what we feed her, and repetitive.

Her meals are looking like this currently:

Breakfast: Pancakes and/or oatmeal and fruit

Lunch: Daycare provides this on weekdays. They're an in-house, family run thing, and they make a good variety of foods. On weekends we usually feed something similar to what we give her for dinner.

Dinner: Typically organic meatballs or chicken tenders, with diced peas and carrots, cheese, and fruit

Our little guy is 8 months. We generally try to feed him pieces from our plate, but he also particularly likes Greek yogurt for breakfast, and that'd be something easy for you to add into the rotation. He has it plain or with fruit mixed in. Other favorites are spinach, asparagus, grape leaves, feta, bread, chick pea soup, lentil soup, spanakopita... really, you could easily just do what was already mentioned and just not season a little bit of what you're eating and try her on it! Instead of chicken tenders, just cook chicken somehow for dinner and feed her some!

edit: for a recipe, we do this chick pea soup: http://www.kalofagas.ca/2010/09/26/chickpea-soup/ but we use canned chick peas & bottled lemon juice and just chop everything up and toss it in the pot. They are super round, but you could easily just squash each chick pea or blend it a little. We add a lot of garlic and blend it into a sort of hummusy-type thing and Kosta just gobbles it up.

Ben Davis fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Oct 14, 2012

Superdawg
Jan 28, 2009
What does everyone use for baby gate solutions? My son is 9 1/2 months old and crawling like crazy, almost walking on his own and climbing the stairs like a pro.

We have a collapsible gate going into the kitchen from the living room (This one: http://www.target.com/p/evenflo-expansion-swing-wide-wood-gate/-/A-13979818#prodSlot=large_1_35).

However, our stairs have a landing with one stair that steps down into the room on an angle, so putting a pressure gate isn't really an option. Curious what other people do for the odd configurations with regard to gates. What we've been doing is putting big objects in front of the stair, but he's smart and goes around it in a matter of minutes.

I don't really want to spend $500 on a solution, so the cheaper the better as long as it works.

Slo-Tek
Jun 8, 2001

WINDOWS 98 BEAT HIS FRIEND WITH A SHOVEL

Superdawg posted:

What does everyone use for baby gate solutions? My son is 9 1/2 months old and crawling like crazy, almost walking on his own and climbing the stairs like a pro.

We have a collapsible gate going into the kitchen from the living room (This one: http://www.target.com/p/evenflo-expansion-swing-wide-wood-gate/-/A-13979818#prodSlot=large_1_35).

However, our stairs have a landing with one stair that steps down into the room on an angle, so putting a pressure gate isn't really an option. Curious what other people do for the odd configurations with regard to gates. What we've been doing is putting big objects in front of the stair, but he's smart and goes around it in a matter of minutes.

I don't really want to spend $500 on a solution, so the cheaper the better as long as it works.

Well, you can always drop 20$ on a chunk of plywood and a couple hinges. screws/mollybolts and a hook and eye. Easier to do a little spackle and paint or pay a damage deposit than it is to pay for an urgent care visit.

Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Oct 14, 2012

me your dad
Jul 25, 2006

Ben Davis posted:

edit: for a recipe, we do this chick pea soup: http://www.kalofagas.ca/2010/09/26/chickpea-soup/ but we use canned chick peas & bottled lemon juice and just chop everything up and toss it in the pot. They are super round, but you could easily just squash each chick pea or blend it a little. We add a lot of garlic and blend it into a sort of hummusy-type thing and Kosta just gobbles it up.

Thanks! This is going on the menu for the week. I'm making some spaghetti tonight and some chicken noodle soup tomorrow, so she can try both of those things.

Crazy Old Clarice
Mar 5, 2007

Lefou, I'm afraid I've been eating... you.

Ben Davis posted:

Other favorites are spinach, asparagus, grape leaves, feta, bread, chick pea soup, lentil soup, spanakopita...

Are you pureeing foods for Kosta? We are trying the baby led weaning method (no purees) and find our little guy (9 months) has a hard time with leafy foods like lettuce or spinach. If you are giving Kosta pieces of spinach, I would be really interested in how he is dealing with them.

Toadpuppy
Apr 8, 2003

Superdawg posted:

What does everyone use for baby gate solutions? My son is 9 1/2 months old and crawling like crazy, almost walking on his own and climbing the stairs like a pro.

We have a collapsible gate going into the kitchen from the living room (This one: http://www.target.com/p/evenflo-expansion-swing-wide-wood-gate/-/A-13979818#prodSlot=large_1_35).

However, our stairs have a landing with one stair that steps down into the room on an angle, so putting a pressure gate isn't really an option. Curious what other people do for the odd configurations with regard to gates. What we've been doing is putting big objects in front of the stair, but he's smart and goes around it in a matter of minutes.

I don't really want to spend $500 on a solution, so the cheaper the better as long as it works.

We used one similar to this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/14894740?adid=22222222227000542529&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=13689196750&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem

I'm not sure what your setup is like, so I don't know if it would work, but ours was pretty much just like in the picture with a wall on one side and a railing on the other.

GoreJess
Aug 4, 2004

pretty in pink

Superdawg posted:

What does everyone use for baby gate solutions? My son is 9 1/2 months old and crawling like crazy, almost walking on his own and climbing the stairs like a pro.

We have a collapsible gate going into the kitchen from the living room (This one: http://www.target.com/p/evenflo-expansion-swing-wide-wood-gate/-/A-13979818#prodSlot=large_1_35).

However, our stairs have a landing with one stair that steps down into the room on an angle, so putting a pressure gate isn't really an option. Curious what other people do for the odd configurations with regard to gates. What we've been doing is putting big objects in front of the stair, but he's smart and goes around it in a matter of minutes.

I don't really want to spend $500 on a solution, so the cheaper the better as long as it works.

The original owners of our house left their mounted baby gate at the top of the stairs. It looks like this one: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4378216 They screwed in an extra piece of wood to the stair railing to mount the gate onto & it's really secure. It's really easy to open & close for adults, but feels stable enough to keep a child from opening/pushing it open on their own.

I would only look at gates that are actually mounted to the wall for use on the stairs. Pressure mounted gates can & will get pushed down with enough force, so I wouldn't trust one to keep my child off the staircase.

Here's a Consumer Reports article about the different types & brands of gates: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/safety-gates/buying-guide.htm

bitter almond
Jul 29, 2012

Never run from anything immortal. It attracts their attention.

Awesome Kristin posted:

I'll bring it up to the pediatrician next week if it continues. Tonight was a lot better. I didn't have to fight to feed him but he's still fussing more than normal, so we'll see what happens in the coming days.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Weird question: What is your baby's poop like, and do you exclusively breastfeed?

At the same age as your baby, my son was diagnosed with reflux and prescribed Zantac. The ped who saw him wasn't his usual ped (who breastfed her own children and knew everything).

The Zantac just didn't seem to do anything. Some days, we thought maybe he was improving, but nothing consistent. Then we noticed his poop was greenish and sort of foamy. Sometimes he would act really fussy about feeding in general.

It turned out that he didn't have reflux. It was a foremilk-hindmilk imbalance. Most peds don't receive enough training about breastfeeding to even know this exists. Basically, the milk that comes first from the breast is more watery (to quench thirst) and full of lactose. The milk that comes more towards the end of a feeding is low in lactose, but super rich in fats and proteins, and that's what sates hunger. If a baby gets too much foremilk, it gives major stomach upset and causes symptoms that look a lot like reflux.

I started block nursing. I only nursed on one breast each feeding. Some women have to do it for two feedings, and pump a little from the un-used breast at the time to avoid being engorged. Two days of block feeding, and the problem was solved. If I got lazy about it, the poop turned green and he screamed. Every time.

The mysteries of breastfeeding, right?

Awesome Kristin
May 9, 2008

yum yum yum
Actually I've been doing one breast at a time to avoid just that problem. He eats a LOT so he only ever had a problem with not getting enough hindmilk before his reflux was fixed.

He had almost EVERY symptom of reflux and the medicine did fix his choking at night and he eats for longer stretches. I'm certain we diagnosed it properly.

I appreciate your suggestion, though. It was a smart thing to recommend.

While we're on the subject of poop, I think that might be what is causing his screaming fits at night. It lasted 3 hours last night and we tried EVERYTHING. Eventually after the 4th time trying to get him to eat again he seemed a little more calm and ended up pooing. Then everything was mostly better. By that point he fussed just a bit more but went to bed easy and didn't wake up screaming anymore.

What can we do about this? He is exclusively breastfed. His next appointment is on Thursday.

AngryRobotsInc
Aug 2, 2011

Does he seem to have trouble with actually having the bowel movement, or is there a substantial amount of gas involved with it? Or cycles of loose stool, and harder?

I ask because my son used to have a lot of similar problems when he was younger, up until fairly recently (it took that long because of his rather lovely first pediatrician). Once we got him in to see a gastroenterologist, it turned out he had a minor blockage (and had one for a long while) that was causing all the issues.

He didn't have any other symptoms aside from getting massively pissed when he had to go, and gas, so if nothing else pans out, it might be worth it to ask for a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist if you don't already have one.

Awesome Kristin
May 9, 2008

yum yum yum
He goes pretty regularly in the daytime and they don't seem smaller than normal. It's normal wet breastmilk poops. The consistancy is never thick. Also when he has to go in the day it doesn't usually make him that upset.

Superdawg
Jan 28, 2009

"Toadpuppy" post posted:

I'm not sure what your setup is like, so I don't know if it would work, but ours was pretty much just like in the picture with a wall on one side and a railing on the other.

This is what I'm dealing with, don't mind the mess. We are in the middle of cleaning house. He can climb these stairs very quickly, so that's why I'm looking around.




For the top of the stairs, I was going to go with a solid board that spans more than the opening, for maximum strength.

Awesome Kristin
May 9, 2008

yum yum yum
You might have to just attach the gate to that first post and let him climb on the first step only.

Ben Davis
Apr 17, 2003

I'm as clumsy as I am beautiful

Crazy Old Clarice posted:

Are you pureeing foods for Kosta? We are trying the baby led weaning method (no purees) and find our little guy (9 months) has a hard time with leafy foods like lettuce or spinach. If you are giving Kosta pieces of spinach, I would be really interested in how he is dealing with them.

I pureed some things at first, and I still puree the chickpea soup because he seems to love the creaminess so much that way. For spanakotia, I just ripped it open and gave him a pinch at a time of the filling, so not really baby-led weaning. I think the cheese really helps him to get the spinach down with less gagging. When we give him grape leaves, we do the same thing--we rip off a tiny bit of the grape leaf or filling and feed it to him. Same thing when I'm eating salad. Things like apple slices, toast, pieces of cheese we let him feed himself, but certain textures he'll gag on more often if we don't feed it to him. I think the grape leaf is easier than the spinach because it's a little thicker and doesn't stick to the tongue as much.

Dear Prudence
Sep 3, 2012

Superdawg posted:

This is what I'm dealing with, don't mind the mess. We are in the middle of cleaning house. He can climb these stairs very quickly, so that's why I'm looking around.




For the top of the stairs, I was going to go with a solid board that spans more than the opening, for maximum strength.

Just attach it from the post to the wall. One step for him to climb is fine.

Toadpuppy
Apr 8, 2003

Awesome Kristin posted:

You might have to just attach the gate to that first post and let him climb on the first step only.

Yeah, this is the best option. He's not likely to get hurt on just one step.

dreamcatcherkwe
Apr 14, 2005
Dreamcatcher
You could also get like a hearth gate and just go around the bottom of the steps.

http://www.amazon.com/Kidco-Close-Hearth-Gate--Black/dp/B006OJIKD0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350318634&sr=8-1&keywords=hearth+gate

Superdawg
Jan 28, 2009
Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I was thinking about the hearth gate. Was curious where everyone else stood with regard to what they were doing. The price makes me just wanna keep going with putting something big on the stairs so he just can't get by it. :)

dreamcatcherkwe
Apr 14, 2005
Dreamcatcher

Superdawg posted:

Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I was thinking about the hearth gate. Was curious where everyone else stood with regard to what they were doing. The price makes me just wanna keep going with putting something big on the stairs so he just can't get by it. :)

That's not going to work long-term though. ;) We have hearth gates around fireplaces and we used to have one to the doorway of the kitchen and they work great.

Counselor Sugarbutt
Feb 8, 2010

Awesome Kristin posted:

Hey thread! I'm movin on up from the pregnancy thread. Ben will be 2 months old on the 18th. He was diagnosed with reflux so we've got him on medication and sleeping in the Rock and Play.

He's a great napper in the day and when we do finally get him in bed at night he sleeps for 6 hours, wakes up to eat and sleeps another 2-3 hours. starting about 4 days ago he's been getting SUPER upset at night. It's generally either before or after his last nap. He gets really cranky at any problem such as gas or pooping, and he won't latch to eat because he's so pissed and tired.

What could be causing this sudden change in behavior?!

Besides what others have suggested, it could just be normal developmental stuff. I noticed that my daughter was her fussiest at 8 weeks and then started to chill out after that. I attributed it to the "Purple Period of Crying" http://www.purplecrying.info/sections/index.php?sct=1&

Babies go through so many changes so quickly, it's easy for them to get overwhelmed. At 8 weeks, my daughter was pretty alert and because of this, freaked out because she was conscious of the world for the very first time. Looking at it from that point of view, I could understand why she was so cranky. By three months, the extreme crankiness was gone and now she's pretty happy the majority of the day.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
That website advocates this as a technique to help with sleep at SIX WEEKS OLD:

"Quiet a baby thought to be sleepy in a crib or similar place, and avoid feeding or cuddling them to sleep, at night-time."

What is this, I don't even.

bilabial trill
Dec 25, 2008

not just a B

Chickalicious posted:

That website advocates this as a technique to help with sleep at SIX WEEKS OLD:

"Quiet a baby thought to be sleepy in a crib or similar place, and avoid feeding or cuddling them to sleep, at night-time."

What is this, I don't even.

Yeah, that is not good at all. A six week old NEEDS food during the night!

Canuckistan
Jan 14, 2004

I'm the greatest thing since World War III.





Soiled Meat

Chickalicious posted:

That website advocates this as a technique to help with sleep at SIX WEEKS OLD:

"Quiet a baby thought to be sleepy in a crib or similar place, and avoid feeding or cuddling them to sleep, at night-time."

What is this, I don't even.

I think what they're advocating is that you don't use a bottle as a soother to get the baby to sleep. I think that's good advice.

Our little fellow would fall asleep while nursing all the time and we had to pump his little legs to keep him awake long enough to get a full tummy.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
Sure, for an older baby, maybe. But avoid cuddling and feeding your newborn to sleep? That's madness. You can be drat well sure if my kid fell asleep at the breast and/or in my arms, I wasn't waking him up. That age is rife with sleep regressions and you're just setting yourself up for disappointment if you expect a baby that age to sleep independently.

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Ariza
Feb 8, 2006
Please don't get crazy about this again. It's what got the thread shut down last time. There's lots of different ways to do things and none of them are "right."

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