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[Keri]

How did he pump breast milk for you?

Related, my wife uses this Korean pump. She says it's a lot better than the American Medela one.

I already have a stock pile of pumped breast milk. We've been exclusively feeding baby pumped milk through a bottle, because he was born early and hasn't figured out how to latch yet (which we were told was common for early babies). So, there's already a good 3-to-4 bottles of milk stored in the fridge. I typically should pump every 3 hours (which is part of why I haven't had very long stretches of sleep), but I'm giving myself a pass for tonight and taking the four hours of sleep I got.

We've been using a Medela pump and I have an Ameda one now too. Both seem to work just fine, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are better ones out there. I seem to be getting enough to feed baby and have a good stock pile though, so I'm not too worried. As long as I can stay a little ahead of him, I think it's good.

 

[Septimus Prime]

I already have a stock pile of pumped breast milk. We've been exclusively feeding baby pumped milk through a bottle, because he was born early and hasn't figured out how to latch yet (which we were told was common for early babies). So, there's already a good 3-to-4 bottles of milk stored in the fridge. I typically should pump every 3 hours (which is part of why I haven't had very long stretches of sleep), but I'm giving myself a pass for tonight and taking the four hours of sleep I got.

We've been using a Medela pump and I have an Ameda one now too. Both seem to work just fine, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are better ones out there. I seem to be getting enough to feed baby and have a good stock pile though, so I'm not too worried. As long as I can stay a little ahead of him, I think it's good.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, my wife still has to pump/feed every three hours or so, or she'll actually feel soreness and "fullness," and there really isn't anything I can do about it on my end.

I'm not sure what the brand of the Korean pump we have is, but one advantage is that it's portable. The Medela is kind of dumb in that you have to be tethered to a power outlet when using it. The Korean pump is a lot more quiet, too. It also fits most Medela parts, and you can get adapters for the rest. The disadvantage is that it had a lot more parts to wash and sterilize, it seems.

 

[Keri]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, my wife still has to pump/feed every three hours or so, or she'll actually feel soreness and "fullness," and there really isn't anything I can do about it on my end.

I'm not sure what the brand of the Korean pump we have is, but one advantage is that it's portable. The Medela is kind of dumb in that you have to be tethered to a power outlet when using it. The Korean pump is a lot more quiet, too. It also fits most Medela parts, and you can get adapters for the rest. The disadvantage is that it had a lot more parts to wash and sterilize, it seems.

I understand completely. I feel soreness too, if I go too long without pumping and I'll start leaking like crazy. Still, the extra hour of sleep tonight was totally worth it. I've been pretty diligent about pumping as much as possible, so I'm fortunate in that I seem to have a pretty good supply and I'm staying ahead of baby. It's time consuming pumping exclusively, but one of the few advantages is that it makes it easy for others to help feed the baby, since all the milk passes through bottles anyway. That at least gives me some breaks and lets me focus on just pumping and sleeping for a bit. It's funny how complicated just feeding the baby can be/seem!

Also, not being tethered to a power outlet seems like a HUGE deal. It's really awkward being stuck in place pumping, when watching the baby. I think the Ameda pump can operate exclusively off of batteries, so you don't need to have it plugged in, but I haven't used that feature yet. The Ameda pump is definitely louder than the Medela one though...It seems there are advantages and disadvantages all around.

 

[Septimus Prime]

SpeCtra. That's the brand. I'm looking at it right now.

 

[Keri]

SpeCtra. That's the brand. I'm looking at it right now.

Thanks! It looks like this brand is sold on Amazon and has really good reviews. I might take a look later. Even though things have been going well at home, I'm nervous about finding a way to smoothly and conveniently pump when I go back to work, so if the Ameda one seems too loud or clunky on the go, I might end up getting this one.

 

[choodi]

It's been a while since I popped into this thread, good to see there are a bunch of people keeping it going stronger than ever.

Does anyone have any experience taking young kids on long plane journeys and extended holidays?

We are planning to travel to the UK and Ireland in September (from Australia) so the flight is going to be a 24 hour one with a 4 hour stop over in Hong Kong.

My kids (son 2.5 and daughter 4) are generally well behaved, but I'm concerned that they are not going to handle the flight very well. They've been on short plane trips before, but nothing even close to this long.

I'm planning on loading up my tablet with their favourite shows and packing a few books, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to keep them contained. My son can get quite restless when he's tired or bored, so he's the one I'm really worried about. Any tips or advice anyone has would be awesome.

Also, we will be away from home for about a month. We recently went on a short holiday for about a week and my daughter got quite homesick. I have no idea how to solve that problem, so again any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[RaginRoss]

Hey guys - My wife is due to give birth to our baby in November.

It's her birthday in a couple of days, and i've bought her a present from the baby - it's a stethoscope type thing that lets you record the baby's heartbeat and record it to a CD. Seems like it'd be a nice thing to keep for years to come.

Anyone got experience with one of these? We heard the heartbeat for the first time last week at one of her scheduled midwife appointments and it was fantastic, however from watching the midwife it actually looked a little difficult to actually find the baby while it was wriggling around in there.

Just having some second thoughts incase it's actually really hard to use, and we'll end up freaking ourselves out because we can't find the heartbeat.

It's this one specifically - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001NWDUE2/

 

[Halcyon]

My daughter is 18 weeks. I can't believe how much I love her. It has changed me in so many ways. She's also like the easiest happiest baby ever. Always smiling and sleeps great.

 

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[Peagles]

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[Media]

I can ask the pediatrician but I am not aware of any infant mental health services around here. I didn't know that was even a thing.

More likely it would be something other than a mental health problem, which is why you should bring it up with his regular doctor. Film the behavior if you can, it will help the doctor.

 

[Peagles]

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[choodi]

There were several people discussing trips a few pages ago.

Cool, I'll check that out.

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

I have been recording it. This was earlier today:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7OofuBjWQbfT25FVFM3Qm95WW8

This time wasn't so bad, but he's got himself a few good whacks so far. There are nice bruises on his head, looks like he took a tumble down the stairs.

If that behavior persists, I'd definitely consider consultation, especially with some of the past problems you've been suffering through. That said, kids go through phases and something like bumping his head may just be a weird new sensation that he's finding interest in experiencing right now. Also, if you're not, try to outright ignore him doing it, because if you're giving him attention every time he bonks his head, he'll see it as a reason to continue just to see the reaction out of you. He might hurt himself a little bit, but the pain should work as a motive to stop the behavior if he's getting nothing else out of it. I think usually you want to wait like two weeks to see if things continue or escalate.

Your pediatrician should be able to hook you up with someone who will usually come over to your house and witness infant/toddler behavior firsthand and help direct you if they think there's a behavioral or developmental problem. Available services are different state to state though, sometimes even county to county , so if you're really concerned, definitely turn to your doctor first. If somehow your dr. is useless, see if you have a local ECFE program (Early Childhood Family Education) in your area and they may be able to help direct you as well. (err, assuming you're in America. I don't know out of the country at all)

 

[RoryDropkick]

Holy cow, Andrew just flipped over in his crib onto his stomach and managed to stick his legs out of his crib. These kiddos are growing faster than I expected. No crawling yet but my goodness.

 

[jet1911]

Any of you have some good educational apps for a 4 yo kid? My daughter is using the iPad a lot but she's only watch Netflix or some weird videos on youtube (Elsa and Spiderman cooking and then extinguishing a fire whaaaaaat?) and I want her to use it to learn a couple of things instead. We already bought her some toca boca apps but they're not really educational.

Also my 10 months old daughter did her first step last week!

 

[Kiyamon]

Any of you have some good educational apps for a 4 yo kid? My daughter is using the iPad a lot but she's only watch Netflix or some weird videos on youtube (Elsa and Spiderman cooking and then extinguishing a fire whaaaaaat?) and I want her to use it to learn a couple of things instead. We already bought her some toca boca apps but they're not really educational.

Also my 10 months old daughter did her first step last week!

My daugther watches dumb videos of Elsa and Spiderman getting married and having kids. The apps I use with my daughter is Endless Alphabet... she enjoys it and you can progress monitor how the improve.

 

[emag]

So my wife and I are trying to decide when to start Pete on solids. He's 5 months and a week old now and it seems like he's always hungry, especially at night. When did you start your kids on solids and what do you think about rice cereal? I've read mixed things.

We started our son on solids at around three months, but he never cared for baby cereal (or other baby foods), which is honestly pretty disgusting. At the time he'd eat small pieces of bananas and avocados or slightly mashed adult food. We did get him some baby snacks though (Happy Baby puffs, Gerber yogurt melts, and later bean puffs) By six months (when he had a few front teeth) he was more or less eating from our plates -- he particularly liked sauteed mushrooms and similar soft vegetables. It wasn't until he was almost a year old that he was able to suck food/liquid through a straw, though (e.g., applesauce pouches).

SpeCtra. That's the brand. I'm looking at it right now.

My wife uses a Spectra (from Amazon) at home and a Madela (provided at no cost though health insurance) at work, but doesn't have a strong preference for one over the other. The Madela we have is smaller and has a lesser build quality, but each seems just about as loud as the other.

 

[otake]

Welp, we are now past the due date. Two days.

Doctor wants to induce Monday. Wife said no. Me, I'm still struggling to name him.

Wife is convinced the dr. wants to induce out of convenience.

 

[JoeNut]

Welp, we are now past the due date. Two days.

Doctor wants to induce Monday. Wife said no. Me, I'm still struggling to name him.

Wife is convinced the dr. wants to induce out of convenience.

I would have thought inducing is best for everyone involved?

 

[H.Protagonist]

I would have thought inducing is best for everyone involved?

If you're, like, two weeks over, sure, but inducing can often lead to a harder/longer labor (i.e. more pain), and more complications. Plus, if you wanted to have a particular delivery like a water birth, that rules that out. 'Do whatever you can you avoid being induced' was the mantra on the WTE boards and for a lot of ladies.

 

[JoeNut]

Ah ok, I have a lot to learn

 

[H.Protagonist]

Ah ok, I have a lot to learn

Well, it is pretty common in the states, it seems, but it does smack of the doctor's convenience thing like how they push C-sections so quickly or epistiotomies (*shiver*). I'm an American, but I was so happy to give birth in Australia because of some of these things. The doctors in OZ said that if I went over 41 weeks we'd have a conversation about inducing, but that they prefer to let the body sort itself out if it can.

 

[Peagles]

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[daedalius]

With the wife in the hospital having number 2

Still haven't finished picking the name.

Thought I'd pop in since I didn't know this thread existed!

 

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[zbarron]

With the wife in the hospit`al having number 2

Still haven't finished picking the name.

Thought I'd pop in since I didn't know this thread existed!

We changed our minds after he was born, because he didn't look like the name we originally chose.

So today Nick had his first solid food. He had a doughnut. I wish I was kidding. He hasn't even tried any of the cereal yet. I just picked some up yesterday. Gabe (5 y.o.) was having a chocolate topped doughnut and ate 3/4 of it. Nick was on the floor rolling around in a clean, baby safe area. Apparently in the 60 seconds I was in the bathroom he rolled to his brother and convinced him to give him some doughnut. I came back to a very chocolatey face and the proudest smile in the world. He only got some of the icing and It's debatable how much he actually got in his mouth but I'll be watching him very carefully today.

 

[Skellig Gra]

We changed our minds after he was born, because he didn't look like the name we originally chose.

So today Nick had his first solid food. He had a doughnut. I wish I was kidding. He hasn't even tried any of the cereal yet. I just picked some up yesterday. Gabe (5 y.o.) was having a chocolate topped doughnut and ate 3/4 of it. Nick was on the floor rolling around in a clean, baby safe area. Apparently in the 60 seconds I was in the bathroom he rolled to his brother and convinced him to give him some doughnut. I came back to a very chocolatey face and the proudest smile in the world. He only got some of the icing and It's debatable how much he actually got in his mouth but I'll be watching him very carefully today.

Lol great story

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Well, it is pretty common in the states, it seems, but it does smack of the doctor's convenience thing like how they push C-sections so quickly or epistiotomies (*shiver*). I'm an American, but I was so happy to give birth in Australia because of some of these things. The doctors in OZ said that if I went over 41 weeks we'd have a conversation about inducing, but that they prefer to let the body sort itself out if it can.

If a doctor doesn't push for a C-section when it's needed there can be all kinds of horrible outcomes for everyone involved. In the states at least, that's the most common way an OB will get sued.

 

[Icefire1424]

So today Nick had his first solid food. He had a doughnut.

Awesome story. And yea, it could be worse.

 

[AndyD]

First day of pre-k for the twins today!

 

[Omikron]

Well, in rather surprising news to us a few weeks back, we are back, number 4 incoming.

Fell for the we are infertile IVF parent trick


May need large car recommendations...

 

[Milksheikhs]

Why do random strangers feel the need to stare at you like you're the most horrible parent when your baby is screaming their head off? How do you all deal with the unwanted death glares and unwanted advice?

 

[Skellig Gra]

Why do random strangers feel the need to stare at you like you're the most horrible parent when your baby is screaming their head off? How do you all deal with the unwanted death glares and unwanted advice?

All I can say is rise above and ignore it.

 

[digdug2k]

Any of you have some good educational apps for a 4 yo kid? My daughter is using the iPad a lot but she's only watch Netflix or some weird videos on youtube (Elsa and Spiderman cooking and then extinguishing a fire whaaaaaat?) and I want her to use it to learn a couple of things instead. We already bought her some toca boca apps but they're not really educational.

Also my 10 months old daughter did her first step last week!

Heh. I always laugh at those awful YouTube videos and then glance down to see they've got 100's of millions of views and I'm like WTF! Why am I not recording myself in some sort of animal suit singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I swear I've watched that spiderman + elsa one before as well.

 

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[wild wild rice]

Joined the ranks a week ago when my daughter was born. She is amazing and lovely. Just when I thought I couldn't love coffee any more than I do, along comes fatherhood.

Fellow parents, what's your media use policy and how old is your child? I read this (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/128/5/1040) and it's obvious that planting a child in front of a screen is not the best. My baby is only 1 week old and we're hesitant to even have the TV on when she is in the room.

 

[mrkgoo]

Joined the ranks a week ago when my daughter was born. She is amazing and lovely. Just when I thought I couldn't love coffee any more than I do, along comes fatherhood.

Fellow parents, what's your media use policy and how old is your child? I read this (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/128/5/1040) and it's obvious that planting a child in front of a screen is not the best. My baby is only 1 week old and we're hesitant to even have the TV on when she is in the room.

We tried to keep our first child away from screens until age 2, but you know it's inevitable.

But you know there's research and then there's reality. On the whole there are so many bad things for kids as a whole, but no single thing you do will really harm your kid on the long run.

Less than perfect parenting (and let's face it, that's the only kind) is bound to happen.

We limit screen time for the most part. Our oldest will watch anything and I mean anything you put in front of her, but she will sit still and watch. I've taken her to several movies now and she will sit through the whole thing. But she usually doesn't get much tv. We only have some DVDs and Netflix anyhow.

Look forward to watching the little
Prince when we have some time. But yeah have most definitely used TV as a baby sitter for like half an hour or whatever when the need arises.

I'm also full time at home with a 1 year old, our second child and a lot of our rules that we used for the first one are out the door. Even though o don't really wish it, there seems to be so much to be done, his screen time is probably a lot higher and earlier in age than our first.

With the second kid, we're a lot more relaxed about many things as you come to realise many things don't matter as much as you think they do.

Is he different? For sure. Is it because the way we raise him, or is it just him? Don't know. Yes. No. Maybe. We'll never really know will we?

 

[Skellig Gra]

After nearly 13 months, Logan finally fell asleep on his own. I've spent the last few nights trying to make him friendly with a stuffed bear, on the hunch that he is scared of being alone in the dark (maybe scared of being alone at all). At first he rejected the bear, but last night he let it stay next to him and he slept on the bed between me and my wife. Tonight I lay him in the crib, held him while he started to struggle and scream, and told him in the bear-voice, "I'll be here with you, bubba. Nothing's going to get you. I'll protect you." I put the bear within arm's reach. And he pulled it close to his face and fell asleep within minutes.



Let's hear it for small victories.

(now to see how long it lasts.)

Nice work. Must be a relief.

 

[anarckitty]

After nearly 13 months, Logan finally fell asleep on his own. I've spent the last few nights trying to make him friendly with a stuffed bear, on the hunch that he is scared of being alone in the dark (maybe scared of being alone at all). At first he rejected the bear, but last night he let it stay next to him and he slept on the bed between me and my wife. Tonight I lay him in the crib, held him while he started to struggle and scream, and told him in the bear-voice, "I'll be here with you, bubba. Nothing's going to get you. I'll protect you." I put the bear within arm's reach. And he pulled it close to his face and fell asleep within minutes.



Let's hear it for small victories.

(now to see how long it lasts.)

That is great. How did he do through the night?

 

[Red]

Nice work. Must be a relief.

That is great. How did he do through the night?

He slept five hours for the first stretch 9pm-2am. Then wouldn't sleep for the rest of the night. It's a start anyway.

 

[otake]

Baby is at home.

Nothing went as planned. Complications, all came out ok. Kids now at home and I feel like a pattern is emerging. Been here for one day.

I have to say, maybe it's biological, but both my wife and I have entered mom and dad mode 100%. That means we are working as a team with little communication and have had no issue so far giving our life to him.

Anyway, I now have some understanding of what people in this thread have been through with the labor process. It's really risk management with a lot of hard choices...

In this moment, I am in awe at women. We men are pussies. Women go through hell and back, we just sit there. We think we know prior, we don't know. We'll never know.

Women are amazing.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

2nd kid is one week old now. Doesn't want to sleep tonight. Holding her on the couch while reading gaf. Winter sucks

 

[Skiptastic]

A couple weeks ago I found an old plush Pikachu sitting around, so I showed him to my son and put him in the playroom.

First day after doing this: Pikachu plush was on plastic table in playroom. Son gets up to table to grab Pikachu and play with him, completely unprompted.

One week later: after very little prompting of what the doll's name is, I can put it down on the other side of the room and a bit hidden and say, "Where's Pikachu?" and Ben will crawl around, find him, and then grab him.

One week later: he can almost say Pikachu, probably because it's so close to peek a boo, but he doesn't say Peekaboo when we play that.

HOW DOES HE KNOW THE DOLL'S NAME SO WELL?

 

[mrkgoo]

A couple weeks ago I found an old plush Pikachu sitting around, so I showed him to my son and put him in the playroom.

First day after doing this: Pikachu plush was on plastic table in playroom. Son gets up to table to grab Pikachu and play with him, completely unprompted.

One week later: after very little prompting of what the doll's name is, I can put it down on the other side of the room and a bit hidden and say, "Where's Pikachu?" and Ben will crawl around, find him, and then grab him.

One week later: he can almost say Pikachu, probably because it's so close to peek a boo, but he doesn't say Peekaboo when we play that.

HOW DOES HE KNOW THE DOLL'S NAME SO WELL?

Children's development can come on very suddenly. One moment they're doing this and with una few days they've learnt something else and moved on. It's amazing. You've discovered one of the joys of having a kid that is so hard to convey to non-parents.

Seeing your child develop like that and having a partial say in how it goes is truly incredible and humbling.

 

[otake]

We tried to keep our first child away from screens until age 2, but you know it's inevitable.

But you know there's research and then there's reality. On the whole there are so many bad things for kids as a whole, but no single thing you do will really harm your kid on the long run.

Less than perfect parenting (and let's face it, that's the only kind) is bound to happen.

We limit screen time for the most part. Our oldest will watch anything and I mean anything you put in front of her, but she will sit still and watch. I've taken her to several movies now and she will sit through the whole thing. But she usually doesn't get much tv. We only have some DVDs and Netflix anyhow.

Look forward to watching the little
Prince when we have some time. But yeah have most definitely used TV as a baby sitter for like half an hour or whatever when the need arises.

I'm also full time at home with a 1 year old, our second child and a lot of our rules that we used for the first one are out the door. Even though o don't really wish it, there seems to be so much to be done, his screen time is probably a lot higher and earlier in age than our first.

With the second kid, we're a lot more relaxed about many things as you come to realise many things don't matter as much as you think they do.

Is he different? For sure. Is it because the way we raise him, or is it just him? Don't know. Yes. No. Maybe. We'll never really know will we?

This is a very interesting topic and I'm on both sides of it. It's inevitable, they will watch tv and it won't be the content we want him to watch. However, I figure, why rush it. He'll get to it right..

Then comes the language part. We speak Spanish in our house. The rest of the city, speaks English. I have siblings who learned english from TV. It would be weird to have my son arrive at a US kindergarden school speaking spanish...

 

[mrkgoo]

This is a very interesting topic and I'm on both sides of it. It's inevitable, they will watch tv and it won't be the content we want him to watch. However, I figure, why rush it. He'll get to it right..

Then comes the language part. We speak Spanish in our house. The rest of the city, speaks English. I have siblings who learned english from TV. It would be weird to have my son arrive at a US kindergarden school speaking spanish...

Not as weird as you'd think. A lot of first generation immigrants will speak one language at home and learn the other when they start kindergarten/school.

Kids absorb this stuff like a sponge, and especially when they are infants, you don't have to actively teach them - just exposing regularly will they learn it.

My daughter is bilingual, because I speak nearly exclusively in one language and my wife in another. She understands the difference between the two, and can translate in her head. For example, using my main language I will ask her to tell her mother something, and she will tell her in my wife's main language. It's amazing.

As for screens and TV, yeah no need to rush. It's just that sometimes it makes for a good distraction. generally not a good idea but a frazzled parent is also not a good idea.

 

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