Over the past several months we’ve had several new babies arrive to dopers. I know that Bearflag70, Ogre, Neeps, and I had recent threads about our new arrivals. As well, there are quite a few expectant dopers right now!
I wanted to start a thread to check in on the other new moms and dads and hopefully share some of our advice and struggles. I know we’ve been getting updates from **Bearflag **, but I thought having a thread where we could share post some of our experiences in these first months might be really useful. Parenting boards are really hit or miss, and frankly there’s too much general woo out there for me to stomach on the more popular parenting sites. I’d love to chat about babby stuff with the population of this board.
How many of us are first time parents? How are your kids doing? How are YOU guys doing?
For my part, my guy (henceforth he will be known as Bean) is doing pretty well. He’s definitely not sleeping as much as I’d like, but at 2 months that’s pretty normal I think.
One thing that’s a huge challenge is trying not to get frustrated when it’s 2 am and he doesn’t want to go back to sleep or eat and just wants to smile at me. It’s adorable and incredibly annoying at the same time. Babies are weirdos.
My son Evan is now eight months old. He’s been pulling himself to a standing position all the time. He crawls easily; I think he’s getting close to walking.
My boy Danny is just turning 6 months old today. His big thing now is rolling onto his stomach from his back and then crying because he forgot how to roll back onto his back.
Totally there. The Ogreling is aaaaalmost 6 months old, and he does this all the time. It’s adorable.
He’s a happy, bouncy little kid. Everything makes him smile, whether it’s daddy making the “I’m gonna getcha!” scary fingers, or a random kitty making its way across the couch.
My daughter is 9 months old now. She’s cruising really well, and it just breaks my heart to see her grin at me and say “Mama” in her soft, breathy little voice. She sounds so damn satisfied and happy. I want to hold her forever and ever. She’s my second, and I felt the same way about my son when he was this age. He’s wonderful with her, too.
Unfortunately, she’s still not sleeping through the night - partially my fault for letting her breastfeed uninhibitedly throughout the night up until the last two months, and partially thanks to teething. Luckily, we’re down to one middle-of-the-night waking, though. That I can live with.
Edited to add: my one other beef with her is that she’s so picky. She hates cereal, bananas and peaches and loves this one brand of food that I can only get at Babies R Us, to the point where she eats just enough to function of other brands. She’s old enough to eat chunkier foods but doesn’t like them (which is probably understandable, but still). She will take a bottle from me, but it can’t be the same type as the type she uses at daycare. She likes certain clothes, but not others. I can see me needing to develop some serious patience and dedication.
My infant accidentally fell into the pool yesterday. She managed to struggle to the side, climb out and then intentionally did a backflip back in again. She’s 117 months now and seems to be progressing normally.
Yes, she’ll always be my little girl.
I’m going to visit this thread from time to time. New parenting was such a joy and it’s heartwarming to see it in others.
We have a nine-week-old son! He’s freakin’ adorable. He hasn’t found his hands yet, but he’s smiling and giggling at us already, and holding up his head.
Those of you who’ve breastfed – when did your kid learn to latch on all by his or herself? I’m still having to guide the nipple into his mouth, which means lights on for night feedings and only certain kinds of nursing shirts (mainly the wrap-style that completely uncovers one boob).
MissSwitac that’s adorable! Bean keeps pushing off on the floor with his feet during tummy time and he’s almost managed to turn over, but not quite. I keep waiting for it to happen though. I’m sure he’d find himself stuck as well.
Ogre I can’t believe how big your boy is getting! I remember your new baby thread, he’s so cute! Does he have red hair? It looks a bit like it in the third picture there. I’m glad he’s feeling better. We haven’t had a cold yet with Bean, but I’m sure the first time he’s sick it’ll be rough.
Overly, when did she say her first word? I can’t wait! I think he’ll probably go for Dada first though. He smiles like crazy around Mr. Elysium.
Mahalothette is super cute! How old?
Emma he is so cute! Ours are so close in age, when is his birthday? Bean likes to throw the blanket over his head like that too. We start whispering “Burrow! Burrow!” at him when he does that in his sleep. He’s getting better at sitting too, but his head still lolls around a bit when I sit him up. But if something catches his attention he holds it up pretty well.
I’ve got a little site for Bean here, but our best pictures are all on flickr. He’s discovered he can put his hands in his mouth this week, so he keeps shoving the top of his fist and knuckles in there when he gets hungry or wants his pacifier. It’s adorable when you hear him sucking so hard on it all of a sudden though! Here’s him chatting at Grandpa last week. And we took this one in his Star Trek onesie that we got as a gift.
He’s sitting next to me and snoring like crazy.
It’s tough to tell when she started saying Mama and Dada accurately. Mama was first (yay!), and I think it started about 2-3 weeks ago, maybe inklings of it a little sooner. She’s always made an “M” sound if she needs something, but I suspect that could just be the way her mouth is developing. (Were you to ask my husband, though, she said Mama accurately at 4-5 months; I don’t think that’s possible) Dada started last week, and she seems to call her big brother Baba.
Our son’s first word was Dada. I was incredibly jealous.
As a side note, she seems to be saying No now with disturbing accuracy. She loves to shake her head from side to side, especially when I’m trying to feed her. When she started, she’d grin while we said, “No, no, no” and laugh. Talk about creating a monster. Now she seems to be getting more and more what it means and saying it in appropriate situations, though I doubt she’ll fully understand it for several more months.
Baby From Mars is 9 1/2 months old, and I suspect is mere weeks away from walking, which will be fantastic, but also even more stressful than the mobility already conferred by crawling and standing. She can say 4 words: bubba (anything under 4 foot), Dada (anything over 4 foot that lives in her house), Mama (means custard) and cat (um…cat). She understands a lot though - we’re doing baby sign language which has been great - she gets ‘up’, ‘milk’, ‘change’ etc - and has just started signing back.
Sleeping through the night, but not eating much in terms of solids, which I find really stressful. We’re doing baby-led solids (no purees, just finger foods and samples from our plates) so I hear this is par for the course but it’s hard when all the other babies around are chowing down on 3 courses for each meal, and I can’t get her to eat more than a mouthful or two per meal - but in saying that she’s happy and healthy, and that’s all that matters. Food is fun until they’re 1!
I can’t remember when she started latching on herself, but it probably coincided with the time we got night feeds down to 20 min or less (around 4 months?), at which point I could do them in the dark. Before that I knew I had a 40-50 min feed ahead of me so I sat in the lounge with junkTV on which gave enough light.
Now at 9 months she very much latches on herself well before I am ready sometimes. She’s also good at blowing raspberries on the boob when she’s finished feeding as well - most unusual feeling! She thinks it’s hilarious.
Such beautiful babies, everyone! This thread is making me want one one of my own really, really badly. Good thing I’ve got one on the way in about six weeks or so.
This was my experience, too - about 3.5 to 4 months she began finding the breast on her own, which was wonderful because it allowed me to do sidelying nursing, which I found difficult when I had to guide her. And if she’d pop off, she’d just scooch around until she found me again and we were golden. Plus, I was able to doze off while she ate, which was awesome because I also went back to work around the same time.
Now that she’s 9 months, I try very hard not to make eye contact during nursing if she actually needs a meal. This has been an issue for maybe two or three months. Even at night if she can see me looking at her, she immediately pops off and grins at me and blows raspberries or starts thwacking me in the face with a drooly hand. I don’t mind it during the day, but at 4 a.m. I’m all business.
Thomas is five months old, his hellion older brother is 2 1/2, and we’re doing okay, although sometimes I have visions of me turning into a Gin Lane Hogarth print or of selling them to passerby. Most of the time it’s insane and fun.
Right now the baby’s chief desires are to learn to nurse while also sucking his thumb, and to walk. He can stand up if you provide balance. Sleep sucks (last night was bad), and after Labour Day weekend we’re doing some sleep training and moving him out of our bed.
This time around I’m not going to worry about solids- his older brother didn’t really eat much except breastmilk until after 14 months, and he’s fine, frigging huge, and a pretty good eater for a two year old.
Doper babies are all so gorgeous! One of the best things Dopers give me is baby pictures- I love them! (If any of you get tired of 'em, send 'em over!)
My wee boy, Sam, is almost five months now, and really adorable with it. Could that have something to do with him starting to sleep through the night…? He’s a pretty bubbly boy, and only really grumbles when he wants something. And he has the dirtiest laugh.
He still hasn’t figured out how to roll over yet, at least not on purpose, and wants to sit or stand rather than lie down. A friend lent me her Jumperoo recently, and what a godsend.
Life is starting to get more predictable, but I have to admit that I do find it hard sometimes figuring out if I’m giving him enough stimulation during the day. I won’t be going back to work until next year, and feel the months stretching ahead of me (in terms of trying to keep him occupied). Anyone else feel this? I’ve just moved into a new area, so am still scoping out all the new activities.
emmaliminal, if I remember correctly, once Sam got to be about 3 months old, he started latching on really easily in the dark. It pretty much coincided with feeds decreasing from about 40 mins, to about 10, or thereabouts. He got so good at it that it sometimes felt like this little shark suddenly chomping down on something tasty!
