Saturday, May 17, 2008

Hi There

I never knew what sleep deprivation was until recently! All those cliches you hear over and over again are all true when it comes to having a child. Thank God, we have all these fantastic books to read over, ergonomic breast pumps to use,chlorine free diapers, strollers with two seats if you decide to have two children. My mom never had it so easy, that's for sure. I wonder what it will be like when Hannah is having children, my goodness the Jetsons here we come.

If any of you having any tried and true strategies for getting your child to sleep through the night, send them my way. I read your posts. And if you have any favorite travel spots you want to share, please do. I'm a big nerd with folders of places I'd like to visit. We are traveling in June to the UK and France. Hannah got her first passport, and it's hysterical. Any child travel help would be greatly appreciated as well. Anyway...really enjoying being a new mommy, cooing and pooing is my new cup of tea!

Many thanks,
Christie

29 comments:

Carrie and Austin Online said...

LOL! Cooing and Pooing, eh? Sounds like LOADS of fun!Here are my pieces of advice.

When flying with a baby, plan on feeding or giving the baby a bottle while taking off or landing. It will help the baby's ears to pop and they won't cry from the ear pressure - with an older child, a piece of gum to chew will have the same affect.

The rule should be, no matter how upset baby gets, you should remain calm. Baby will feel better, sleep better, spit up less, and have a generally good outlook if you're a cool collected Mom that doesn't let things like baby screaming upset you. Babies are going to cry. They don't need picked up at every little sound or little bit of gas.

Oh and one more thing, a quiet house is a house with a wide awake baby. TV, fans, music, and other noises are good for baby to get used to. This way, when you go to visit grandma and everyone is there and making lots of noise, baby will sleep right through it.

biscuit said...

Christie..
Not sleeping is something I know well.. but it's not because of a sweet little baby keepin me up!
Here's hoping that she gets on a schedule for you!
and as my mom always tells me.. when they sleep.. you sleep! it may be the only sleep you get!
We did get a 2 month old puppy recently and I suppose it is kinda like having a baby, she wakes every few hours to go outside.. tiny bladders I'm told. but at least she wakes us..
Travel spot for you.. Pemaquid Point Maine.. it is literally at the end of a road on the rocky coast of maine, but it is one of the most beautiful spots. My favorite place pretty much in the world.. as a young kid I would sit on the rocks and write bad poetry while listening to the waves crash and the seagulls.
We are headed to canada this summer.. I hear Peggy's Cove in Halifax is also beautiful.. can't wait!
Hope you are well, think of you and your family often.
peace,
elizabeth

Mari said...

Hi Christie,

Congratulations!

Sleeping through - well if you are BFing, not much you can do until she gives up the night feed. Formula will help with sleeping through, they feel fuller for longer. Once she gets older, the 730/730 method is supposed to work. They say if you put her down at 730pm, judging by normal baby sleeping cycles (around 45mins) she is meant to sleep through till 730am. Whether it actually works, well I think it depends on the baby, but it cant hurt to try ;-)

Travel, come down under! We have the best weather ever ;-)

Mari
(long time fan from Sydney ;-)

Anna said...

LOL I recall putting the baby's seat on the washing machine as it went through the cycle and they went right to sleep. ITA about having noise in the house be it music, TV or anything, even the vaccume running. I traveled with my kids but it has been so long ago I have forgotten so much. I remember loosing the diaper bag (real cloth diapers) and having to buy lots of paper table napkins once. LOL

I also love Pemaquid Point in Maine. Spent many hours there with my kids climbing the rocks and just watching the surf. Traveling through the White Mountains is great as is visiting Mount Washington. We have such a beautiful country.

Great to talk to you on Buzz Worthy Radio. I thought of so much more to say afterwards but that is the way it goes isn't it? LOL I was looking at some of my pics for my Days yahoo group (daysofourlives3) and have some great old ones of you. Love the youtube clips there are. What wonderful memories.

Take care and hang in there. :o)

Anonymous said...

Hi Christie,

I have two children - a 4 year old girl and an almost 2 year old boy. I did have trouble getting my son to sleep in his crib. We finally realized that he is a nester and didn't like going from being held most of the day to a bare crib. It was my husband's idea and I was sooo hesitant to do it, but I had to make his bed more comfortable for him. I know this goes against everything you hear, but he was young enough that he did not roll around when he slept and stayed on his back. I got the flatest pillow I could find and put his shoulders and head on it. Then I put an afghan on each side up against him, but down far away from his face. I used some hand-made afghans that were given to me since they have a lot of large holes in them and it made me less nervous. I know this sounds terrible after everything you read in the books about SIDS and I had reservations doing it, but it worked for him. He looked so comfy and relieved, and I could finally get some rest too!

It is hard travelling when they are so little because there is not much you can do to entertain them. I am always on the lookout for little toys and books I can put away for trips to entertain the kids. My daughter always loved the Karen Katz lift the flap books. It also helps to keep them on their schedule as much as possible. Hard with time changes, but just do your best.

Once she is older you have to get the Gogo Babyz Travelmate - it is AWESOME! We flew to Puerto Vallarta when I was 6-7 months pregnant with our son and our daughter was 2. We have friends with a condo and car there so wanted to have our car seat to use. It has a pull-up handle like a suitcase, screws onto the back of the car seat, stays on during the flight when the car seat is belted into the plane seat and allows the car seat to act as a stroller for those dashes between gates at the airport. No waiting at the gate for them to get your stroller from the bottom of the plane. We had so many people saying how cool it was and asking us where we got it. It is fairly easy to find on the internet. I packed an umbrella stroller in a duffle bag for use once we got there.

Wow, I did not mean to write so much! This is actually my first time posting on a blog.

Take care and good luck. It is so amazing to experience the world through the eyes of your own child. Hope you have an awesome trip!
Wendy

Anonymous said...

She is beautiful. Hope to see Carrie back in town soon, with or
without Austin. Especially since
Anna and Tony are engaged.

Anonymous said...

When my kids were babies, now 10,7 & 4, I found that if I swaddled them they slept better. If you are unfamiliar with swaddling, its when you wrap the baby up in a receiving blanket with their arms tucked in. I think my kids enjoyed it because it was like being in a cocoon or like the womb. Also remember to sleep when the baby sleeps and follow your instincts.

The best advice I can give for traveling is try not to stress over it too much or the baby will pick up on it. Our favorite vacation spot with the kids has been Disney World. I just couldn't get myself to take a long flight yet with the kids and from NJ its just a 2 hour flight. And now my kids have become Disney fanatics even my 4 year old son. But Disney is really kid friendly especially babies.

jordanmom said...

Hi Christie,
I am a proud mother of 8 year old twins, a son and a daughter! I lucked out and got my boy and my girl in one shot! My babies did not sleep through the night until we started giving them baby cereal mixed with breast milk or formula at night. I know doctors suggest waiting until they are six months old before giving them baby cereal, but I swear by it! They immediately got on a schedule and I started sleeping!! Also what worked for us in conjunction with the baby cereal, we played classical music CD's at bedtime. It worked so well they still listen to music at night to go to bed. It was so cute when they were one and two years old, as soon as they would hear that music they would start yawning and about 10 minutes later they would be out!! Best decision ever! I have no travel advice as we are just now starting to travel with our kids! Good luck and congratulations on being a new mom! Your daughter is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Well, I can't give any advice about getting Hannah to sleep through the night but as for traveling locations, everyone should visit Thailand at least once. If you like islands most people head for Phuket but the real fun is at Koh Samet or Koh Phi Phi. Koh Samet is a lot smaller that a lot of the other islands but it has some of the best beaches. Koh Phi Phi has such a family feel that you'll know everyone on the island by the time you leave.

Anonymous said...

Congrats Christie!

I use to watch you on 'Days' all the time with my mom when i was a young kid. :-)

I nursed both of my children until they decided to self wean which was 18 months for each child. So yes being up every 2-3 hours for a combined total of 3 years really aged me but it was the best thing for my beautiful children. :-) I just let it ride it's course which felt like an eternity. Nobody said parenting would be easy, i am so humbled day after day!

Vacations --- we enjoy taking the local train to the zoo --kids enjoy seeing the ocean on the train. We're going on the disney cruise this summer.

Good luck! Hang in there it will get easier but never easy. :-)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Christie!
I am a mother of 5 with one on the way. We have always done "co-sleeping" which has worked wonderfully for us (but, I know that it's not for everyone). Dr. William Sears has written "The Baby Book" and other parenting books which could be helpful if you are interested in having your baby sleep next to you. It's convenient for breast-feeding and I get lots of sleep!! Best wishes to you and your family!

Julie said...

Hi Christie,
I have a 4 month old who was born 8 weeks early, but he has started sleeping through the night recently.
He is up almost the entire day and he eats more often (I stopped pumping/breastfeeding when he was about 2 1/2 months old). I think by him eating more often during the day as he gets older it helps him sleep through the night.
I have a couple tips though! We have him wear Halo Sleep Sacks, which are great...when he was tiny we used the sleep sack swaddle but now just a regular sleep sac. It's a wearable blanket and it makes him feel comforted I think.

https://www.halosleep.com/

I also find as he is getting sleepy, it comforts him if I hold him up to my chest cradled and with a pacifier. It comes out in a few minutes but helps calm him.

closo said...

Hi Christie,

First of all, congratulations ! Your daughter and my son are the same age ... but I have two older ones (4 1/2 and 2 1/2) so I haven't slept well in ages !!!!! Luckily, my last one is having good nights at 2 1/2 months now.

Seriously, swaddling is a very good way to get them sleeping longer. Harvey Karp wrote a book called ''the happiest baby on the block'', you seem to like to read and I found it very useful.

As for traveling, I'm a French-Canadian (Quebec) living in the South of France and I can tell you this : in the last 2 years, we have done A LOT of traveling with the kids and I discovered nice things AND made mistakes !

First of all, I rent holiday appartments or houses every time now. You can at least have meals ''at home'', the kids can have their own room (so no need to go to sleep when they do like in a hotel room) AND for bigger kids, it gives them space to PLAY ! I have many tips for when they get older but that would take ages to write and yours is a little young right now.

Also, I have booked a kids vacation for this summer in a park called Centerparcs (France, Holland, Belgium, maybe the UK): Family vacation with everything you need and again, you have your own house. There is also Siblu which is about the same (France. Italy, Spain) but in a deluxe air-conditioned mobil-home. You just need to pick the location ! A lot of resorts are kid oriented. I went to Tunisia last year and it was great. Club meds are all over and it's not always in the ''ocean-sun-heat'' type of place.

Traveling in France, Italy and Spain, you'll discover that not many restaurants have high chairs (contrary to US, UK and Quebec) and some don't have place for the stroller so you need to improvise !

As for the plane, in my experience, little ones sleep a lot, real trouble is later when you have to keep them busy ! Still, another post mentionned feeding them when you take off or land, which is the best. Some airlines have a little bed also if you ask.

If ever you go to Provence, feel free to write me if you need more info !

BTW, I miss Austin and Carrie ! They were my favorite (although I got into EJ and Sami after you left, thanks to Youtube) ... Your characters actually got married again on my daughter's 1st birthday ! ;-)

Hope this helps, take care !

Julie Wilkins said...

Sleeping through the night ... well, I have a 6 month old who finally slept 10-12 hours at 4 months. At 2 months he would give us one 5 hour stretch between 7 and midnight but then was up every 2-3 hours after that. I ready A LOT of sleep books and now my opinion is this - you cannot expect a baby to sleep through the night until they are 4 months and at least 14 pounds. At that point you can try sleep training techniques - we transitioned to formula, tanked him up in the evening, put him to bed, offered a dream feed as late as possible and then the rule was no more feeds in the dark so he would begin to associate night time with sleep and not eating. Then you have to deal with night wakings in your own way whether that be use a pacifier to help baby go back to sleep, or any of the "cry it out / no cry" methods. I think the main thing is to wean out the night feedings WHEN BABY IS READY developmentally and physically. Your pediatrician should be a good guide on that. Best of luck -- it is a very challenging time and sleep deprivation does a number on you. I'm still recovering!!

Anonymous said...

A great website for tips and information on traveling with babies and toddlers is www.havebabywilltravel.com - happy travels!

LisserB said...

I nursed my daughter, and she didn't sleep through the night until I weaned her at 14 months. Luckily she would just wake to eat and then go back to sleep, but you may be in for a long haul before she sleeps through.

The only real travel tip I have is to take a nursing pillow on the plane with you, even in you are bottle-feeding. The one I had fit perfectly around my waist, and gave my daughter a familiar place to sleep. She slept through the better part of 7 plane trips.

Congrats!

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS! on you baby girl, Hannah. I just finished writing an article for Expectant Mother's magazine called, 'Traveling with Infants' which hasn't published yet, however, my biggest advice on such a long flight is to bring your infant car seat on the plane if you have an empty seat next to you. Ask the gate agent. Also, this is the best time to travel with infants, because she will require very little except sleep and feeding. I highly recommend a diaper changing pad from www.buttumsupbaby.com they are great for travel because they come with a wipes container and holds several diapers, easy to use when going to the lavatory for diaper changes and they come in very chic patterns to chose from. Always try to feed Hannah during ascent and especially during descent so it will relieve the pressure in her tiny ears. Oh, lots of burp cloths and diapers! Last of all, bring an infant carrier or sling on the flight too! Plan on delays. The list can go on and on, but I hope this helps some!

Kimberly Wooster said...

Congratulations on you beautiful daughter, and what an equally beautiful name. My daughter, Lilliana has been travelling since she was 3 weeks old and is quite seasoned and used to it now. My father is an airline pilot and gave me some sage advice when travelling with an infant.

1) Purchase a seperate seat for them. A lap child seems so economical until you're an hour into a flight with your arms going numb from holding onto her.

2) The bottle- have it full and have it handy. Mixing a TBSP of rice cereal will thicken it ever so slightly and help baby sleep during the flight.

3) DO NOT TURN ON THE AIR VENT!! The recirculated air is bad enough for spreading germs to little lungs- no need to force it in there.

4) Her internal clock is so much better at handling time changes. Sleep when she sleeps on the plane and your jet lag will be next to nil.

Lilliana started sleeping throught the night at 2 months old (we're talking 12 hours straight) without the benefit of cereal in the bottle or sleep medicine. I think it was just her time- she was about 15 lbs, and played alot during the day. The only thing we did special for her was to rock her in our leather recliner at night. The swaying motion was soothing and helped her drift off. The downside to her sleeping all night was that she suddenly started using a pacifier. When she was waking up every two hours to feed she would even touch one :)

Here's hoping that the UK and all your travels are easy and fun for you and Hannah.

And as a personal note..thank you so much for the Monkeywench clothing line- at last, something to board in :)

Crafty said...

Congratulations to you on your beautiful baby girl!

I know how tiring it can be in the early days with a newborn. I have three boys, one older and a set of twins! With the twins, I was so tired a couple of times that all I could do was cry. The best advice I have, corny though it may be, is that this stage doesn't last forever. Try not to expect too much too soon. She needs you so much in the infant period and it's a precious time. Enjoy it as best you can.

What actually helped me most was a co-sleeper. My husband and I are people who enjoy our space in bed, but hauling myself up several times a night to breastfeed was just not working. The co-sleeper was the perfect compromise and allowed me to get the baby quickly before he got truly upset. I used it with the twins as well.

You might check into a mom's group. La Leche League, local play groups, or the like can be so amazing. Sometimes it is such a relief just to hear that someone else had the exact same situation as you are having...and survived!

As for travel, I love the links you have posted. Though I haven't been myself, every time someone asks me about my dream vacation, I tell them about Namale, Fiji. Do an Internet search for it and the resort will pop up. It is georgous. Even on the computer screen the water is so blue and the trees so green. I picture myself in a hammock with a cool drink there for about a week.

If you plan to travel and do a lot of shopping or touring around, I highly recommend a baby carrier such as an Ergo Carrier, a Belle Baby Carrier, or traditional Mei Tai wrap. The comfort, convenience, and closeness of those types of carriers just can't be beat.

I wish you the best as you and your husband get to know Hannah and I hope to see you back on Days when you have the opportunity.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your baby girl!

Looks like you have a ton of advice on sleep, seems everyone has their own idea of how to make a child sleep longer stretches. Mine didn't go more than 4-5 hours at a time until they were 14-15 months old, which was fine with me. I don't believe in forcing things on a baby, I take a more gentle approach.

The books I did read (The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth, which I only recommend for the scientific sleep info, not the methodology) concurred that good naps = good nights. Baby should be awake for no more than 2 hours at a time each day. My son couldn't make it more than 90 minutes until he was about 5 or 6 months old.

I highly recommend using a soft-structured baby carrier like the Ergo, Beco, or the Angel Pack. You can read about all of these on www.thebabywearer.com.

I also recommend joining parenting communities online (babywearer has one, www.constantchatter.com has one, www.babycenter.com has one) so you can communicate with a huge network of moms who have babies the same age, you can find moms who share your parenting philosophies, and you can learn from mamas who are a little bit ahead of you in this parenting thing so you can anticipate your next few months/years. I would be lost without my parenting communities. Many times I have felt very alone in my experiences, and finding people who say "Me too!!!" has been such a comfort.

Best of luck!!

Annette Li said...

Hi Christie,

Just saw your beautiful picture of Hannah...Awwww, she's so cute! Congratulations! ;-)

I'm still one of your long-time, loyal fans who still watches Days... and enjoy all the storylines. Do you tune-in to see what's going on? Hope Carrie comes back someday to Salem. I think of you and your family. Hope you're well.

Have a great summer, and a wonderful trip to the UK and France! I can't believe Hannah got her passport so young!!
Take care...

Love,
Annette from SF

Anonymous said...

If you're traveling to the South of France, http://www.hotelsaintvincent.com/

It's in St. Tropez, realy nice, quite place to stay. In june it's not as crazy as in summer. Otherwise I would suggest to go a little bit further to Italy; 2 hours drive from Nice to the beauriful Portofino! http://www.hotelsplendido.com/

Enjoy!
Susan

Yolanda said...

Travel, South Africa best weather,
A must see "Sun city" Valey of the waves. So so nice you will love it.

And if you like wild life National kruger park.

So many nice places.

Yolanda

Anonymous said...

Well what a bunch of boring losers you all are. Who gives a godamn for this silly cow! Ges people, get a life!

Anonymous said...

Seriously...a bit part in a daytime soap, which really is a pathetic show for pathetic people who sit on thier ar... on government payments whilst devouring food and getting fat. Oh dear.This makes you feel good?Get a real job sweetheart.

Unknown said...

To the two idiots that wrote the last two comments 1) Christie is not a silly cow, she is not even fat.2) Soap Operas are great to watch because they give you an escape from a person's boring life.You also get to see people who have worse lifes than you do. and 3) People who watch soap operas are not losers everybody has the right to watch what they like. What stupid TV shows do you watch. And by the way what does that make you for the fact that you also left a comment on there. It is also mean to insult someone when you don't know who they are or even know them.

Anonymous said...

Hi Christie its great to hear from you. I miss you on Days you and Austin were my favourite couple. your baby is cute and beautiful. I wanna travel overseas i only went as far as Melborune, Australia.

Emma xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

To the one comment Christie did not have a bit part on Days,she has been on days on and off since 1986. Since she was 11,12 years old. Also I know a lot of skinny people myself included who watch soaps and by the way my friends and I don't eat while watching them.

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