we survived the first month of bf

[Rachel]

DD is doing well. Her weight is up to 10.5 - 11 lbs (up from 8 lbs 6
oz at birth) and bf is no longer as difficult. You guys are right - it
does get easier. A couple things we're still working on:
-- She still has periods of constant nursing where she'll nurse every
30 - 60 mins for 3 hours or so, usually upon waking in morning and
before bed. This is not a problem because I expect it now. However the
last few nights she's been also waking every hour or so at night and
we are quite exhausted. I try to get her to take in as much as she's
willing at each night feeding but she usually falls asleep after 20
mins and clamps her little lips shut thus ending the feeding. She's
very hard to wake, plus I don't want to wake her completely because
she won't go back to sleep for an hour or more if I do. Any
suggestions on how to extend the sleep periods at night? She used to
go 3 hours at night, which was heavenly.

-- She has a fussy period every night around 5 pm ending around 8-10
pm. I noticed on days I ate black beans it got much much worse, so
I've stopped eating them. Yesterday she had no fussy period at all, so
now I'm going crazy trying to remember what I ate and didn't eat
yesterday. For those of you who have noticed your babies have a
sensitivity to something you ate, when and how did you notice? Any
symptoms besides fussiness and spitting up? Her poops are normal. It
just seems strange that beans would make her fussy just during that
time period. Any suggestions would be welcome. TIA.

Rachel (& Julie and DD, 1 month tomorrow)

[iphigenia]

Rachel wrote:
> Any
> suggestions on how to extend the sleep periods at night? She used to
> go 3 hours at night, which was heavenly.
>

At this point, there's not much you can do except to encourage nursing
before bedtime. She may be gearing up for a growth spurt and needing extra
nursings.

> For those of you who have noticed your babies have a
> sensitivity to something you ate, when and how did you notice? Any
> symptoms besides fussiness and spitting up? Her poops are normal. It
> just seems strange that beans would make her fussy just during that
> time period.

If she's consistently fussy at one particular time of day, it's more likely
to just be colic (unless, of course, you eat the offending food only at the
same time every day). When Gabe was a small baby, he was sensitive to dairy
in my diet. It meant that, if he was awake, he was fussy and irritable.

You might want to keep a food diary if it's enough of a problem, just to see
if anything becomes obvious as a source of trouble.

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

[K-K]

CONGRATS!
thats all I can say, I have no advice for you as I have been BF'ing for only
11 days, I hope to see my self where you are!

K-K
"Rachel" > wrote in message
om...
> DD is doing well. Her weight is up to 10.5 - 11 lbs (up from 8 lbs 6
> oz at birth) and bf is no longer as difficult. You guys are right - it
> does get easier. A couple things we're still working on:
> -- She still has periods of constant nursing where she'll nurse every
> 30 - 60 mins for 3 hours or so, usually upon waking in morning and
> before bed. This is not a problem because I expect it now. However the
> last few nights she's been also waking every hour or so at night and
> we are quite exhausted. I try to get her to take in as much as she's
> willing at each night feeding but she usually falls asleep after 20
> mins and clamps her little lips shut thus ending the feeding. She's
> very hard to wake, plus I don't want to wake her completely because
> she won't go back to sleep for an hour or more if I do. Any
> suggestions on how to extend the sleep periods at night? She used to
> go 3 hours at night, which was heavenly.
>
> -- She has a fussy period every night around 5 pm ending around 8-10
> pm. I noticed on days I ate black beans it got much much worse, so
> I've stopped eating them. Yesterday she had no fussy period at all, so
> now I'm going crazy trying to remember what I ate and didn't eat
> yesterday. For those of you who have noticed your babies have a
> sensitivity to something you ate, when and how did you notice? Any
> symptoms besides fussiness and spitting up? Her poops are normal. It
> just seems strange that beans would make her fussy just during that
> time period. Any suggestions would be welcome. TIA.
>
> Rachel (& Julie and DD, 1 month tomorrow)

[Phoebe & Allyson]

Rachel wrote:

> bf is no longer as difficult.

Yay!

> she's been also waking every hour or so at night

Maybe growth spurt, maybe temporary baby thing of unknown
origin, maybe she's about to learn some exciting new skill
(but there aren't many exciting 1 month skills, if I
recall), maybe something is making her uncomfortable.


> -- She has a fussy period every night around 5 pm ending around 8-10
> pm. I noticed on days I ate black beans it got much much worse, so
> I've stopped eating them. Yesterday she had no fussy period at all, so
> now I'm going crazy trying to remember what I ate and didn't eat
> yesterday. For those of you who have noticed your babies have a
> sensitivity to something you ate, when and how did you notice?

Caterpillar never had fussiness as an allergy / sensitivity
symptom. (Allyson says I wouldn't notice if she did, but
she also thinks she doesn't.) But she does have fussy
periods now and then, when she's overtired and can't go to
sleep. I hate to suggest an early-evening nap, but we just
went with the early-evening nap. If you're lucky, your DD
might think that means bedtime - Caterpillar thinks it's a nap.

Phoebe :)
--
yahoo address is unread - substitute mailbolt

[Rachel]

I hate to suggest an early-evening nap, but we just
> went with the early-evening nap. If you're lucky, your DD
> might think that means bedtime - Caterpillar thinks it's a nap.
>
> Phoebe :)

unfortunately, she doesn't go to bed until 9 or 10pm. Anything earlier
and she will wake and be wide awake for ages. Morning starts at 6 or 7
regardless of when night started. yawn.

[Phoebe & Allyson]

Rachel wrote:

> unfortunately, she doesn't go to bed until 9 or 10pm. Anything earlier
> and she will wake and be wide awake for ages. Morning starts at 6 or 7
> regardless of when night started. yawn.

Caterpillar is a midnight to 9am kind of girl. :) Sometimes
she'll go to bed as early as 10:30 or 11, and sometimes
she'll get up as early as 7:30, but midnight to 9 is pretty
typical.

Phoebe and the "it's 7pm, time for my nap" Caterpillar :)
--
yahoo address is unread - substitute mailbolt

[iphigenia]

Phoebe & Allyson wrote:
>
> Caterpillar is a midnight to 9am kind of girl. :) Sometimes
> she'll go to bed as early as 10:30 or 11, and sometimes
> she'll get up as early as 7:30, but midnight to 9 is pretty
> typical.

Gabe's the same way : ) Fine by me, I enjoy getting to sleep to a reasonable
hour in the morning. And it's nice for, say, hanging out at Borders on a
Friday evening, as we did tonight; don't know how I'd handle it if I had to
get him home to bed by 8...

--
tristyn
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

[Chookie]

In article >,
(Rachel) wrote:

> DD is doing well. Her weight is up to 10.5 - 11 lbs (up from 8 lbs 6
> oz at birth) and bf is no longer as difficult. You guys are right - it
> does get easier.

Yes, we are -- but it's nice to hear it again!

> A couple things we're still working on:
> -- She still has periods of constant nursing where she'll nurse every
> 30 - 60 mins for 3 hours or so, usually upon waking in morning and
> before bed. This is not a problem because I expect it now.

Quite common. It's often referred to as "tanking up" here, as it often
happens before or after a long sleep.

> However the
> last few nights she's been also waking every hour or so at night and
> we are quite exhausted. I try to get her to take in as much as she's
> willing at each night feeding but she usually falls asleep after 20
> mins and clamps her little lips shut thus ending the feeding. She's
> very hard to wake, plus I don't want to wake her completely because
> she won't go back to sleep for an hour or more if I do. Any
> suggestions on how to extend the sleep periods at night? She used to
> go 3 hours at night, which was heavenly.

Could be just one of those temporary glitches, or you might find a tooth in a
few days. Babies are quite mysterious at times!

> -- She has a fussy period every night around 5 pm ending around 8-10
> pm. I noticed on days I ate black beans it got much much worse, so
> I've stopped eating them. Yesterday she had no fussy period at all, so
> now I'm going crazy trying to remember what I ate and didn't eat
> yesterday. For those of you who have noticed your babies have a
> sensitivity to something you ate, when and how did you notice? Any
> symptoms besides fussiness and spitting up? Her poops are normal. It
> just seems strange that beans would make her fussy just during that
> time period. Any suggestions would be welcome. TIA.

I hate to tell you this, but fussiness starting in the early evening is very,
very common in babies and even in older children. So common that the early
evening is called Arsenic Hour!

If ou do suspect it's related to your diet, remember that she night be
reacting to something other than the main ingredient (I assume you were not
eating plain boiled black beans?).

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Jeez; if only those Ancient Greek storytellers had known about the astonishing
creature that is the *Usenet hydra*: you cut off one head, and *a stupider one*
grows back..." -- MJ, cam.misc