Self indulgent parent thread

Trashie wrote:

Parenting advice go!

We just switched the Kid over to his big kid bed after he escaped from his crib early one morning. He's almost two years old and has no problem falling to sleep in it. After some books and some good night hugs, he runs right under the covers and falls asleep. The problem is the morning; he's been getting up increasingly early. Current average wake-up is about 4:30 AM. Prior to this, he was sleeping in the crib until about 5:30 or 6 AM.

We've tried letting him into our bed. However, he just tosses and turns for 90 minutes and no one gets any sleep. Also, we've tried to put him back into his bed. No good - works for about two minutes before he hops back out.

I'm assuming we just need to be persistent about getting him back into his bed and that *eventually* he'll figure it out. However, any tips? If us parents could get that extra hour of sleep, everyone's life would be better.

Our daughter was doing this for a while, and we eventually fixed the problem with a toddler clock, specifically this model. She was a bit older, though, nearing three. At any rate, the way it works is that you set it for a time and let them know that they aren't allowed out of their room until (in our case) the owl's face turns green. It took a couple weeks to sink in, but now she loves it and sometimes if we forget to set it for nap time she refuses to come out of her room because his face isn't green.

oilypenguin wrote:

They're doing ok though. We haven't gotten to the point of self-soothing yet but that will probably be this week.

/sigh

They're just going to keep waking one another up.

Good luck, oily!

Sleep Training For Adults (From A Baby’s Point Of View)

Skippy1997 wrote:
bighoppa wrote:

Has anyone ever run into problems with the back of the baby's head going flat? We give our girl plenty of tummy-time, hold her lots, use the chest carrier, etc. and the back of her head is still flat as if we left her in the crib all the time. She does have a big head (apologies to Mrs. Hoppa are constant), but it bothers me that nothing we've done in the last two months seems to have made a difference.

We are dealing with the exact same thing with our daughter (also big head, like 95% percentile big... poor missus). Our doctor said it was purely cosmetic (this was around month 4, but we had been keeping the doc updated each visit about it) and she said it is much more common now that the Sleep on the Back thing is universal. The Doc said we could go to a specialist to verify if we felt unsure, so we went there around month 5.

The specialist pretty much measured everything and said even worst case scenario that it stays that shape, it will not impede any normal brain growth. They have a baby helmet you can get that they wear for 23 hours a day for a few months (depending on how bad) and you go back occasionally to get it adjusted. It was purely out of pocket and not covererd (around $4000 for the bare bones model), so we decided against it after our fears of a Rocky-esque baby girl were eliminated. My nephew had the helmet for 4-6 months when he was an infant, but he was more pronounced and since boys (typically) have shorter hair styles, it may be more noticeable as they grow.

Fast forward to now (she is almost 10 months) and the flat back of the head is getting better, but still noticeable. But my girl is as bald as I am, so once the hair starts to grow we will see if we were terrible parents or not. Once they start crawling/sitting up it helps tremendously.

One final anecdote - My wife's cousin (a girl) had an extreme case and she turned out just fine w/out the helmet.

Sorry for the long-winded response, my wife and I struggled with our decision for quite some time. They do suggest that if you are thinking helmet to get them into it by 6 months, since their heads are still mushy.

We spoke to our pediatrician about it at her four month checkup (she's five months now) and he just suggested more of what we're doing. We're just getting concerned that we haven't seen a change in head shape. We even bought her a special pillow that was supposed to help, but the doc said we might as well have been using homeopathy. I don't think I can swing a $4000 helmet(!?) out of pocket, though. Rubber bands and tight hats, maybe? We may just have to let things run their course and keep doing what we're doing.

Bighoppa wrote:

We spoke to our pediatrician about it at her four month checkup (she's five months now) and he just suggested more of what we're doing. We're just getting concerned that we haven't seen a change in head shape. We even bought her a special pillow that was supposed to help, but the doc said we might as well have been using homeopathy. I don't think I can swing a $4000 helmet(!?) out of pocket, though. Rubber bands and tight hats, maybe? We may just have to let things run their course and keep doing what we're doing.

It took awhile to see some improvement and we second-guessed ourselves quite a bit for a few weeks before/after the appointment. I am sure you are doing just fine and soon you will have even more fun trying to corral the little one from areas that she knows are off-limits but still glances your way in the hope that you are not looking....

Gravey wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

They're doing ok though. We haven't gotten to the point of self-soothing yet but that will probably be this week.

/sigh

They're just going to keep waking one another up.

Good luck, oily!

Sleep Training For Adults (From A Baby’s Point Of View)

Thank you. But luckily our pediatrician is of the opinion that we don't need to do that until 6 months. So that's what we're doing. Honestly, they're normally so good that I doubt it will be that hard. We only head in there now if there's wailing since they both love to make noise. The only problem is that they also tend to wake each other up with that noise. I don't know when they'll start babbling at one another but that will be a new headache. Now they just tend to think it's funny when the other one makes noise.

Gravey wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

They're doing ok though. We haven't gotten to the point of self-soothing yet but that will probably be this week.

/sigh

They're just going to keep waking one another up.

Good luck, oily!

Sleep Training For Adults (From A Baby’s Point Of View)

Ha. We just turn the fan in our room higher. If baby can grump cry (not the panicky ouch crying) over the highest setting for five minutes, I go pat her down.

L-Mack has this chess game figured out.
IMAGE(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uGVT7puj3lM/UH4BepjtEuI/AAAAAAAA5K8/d-QVdpfjd9c/s1078/2012-10-16)

Double post for awesome internets.

bighoppa wrote:

Has anyone ever run into problems with the back of the baby's head going flat? We give our girl plenty of tummy-time, hold her lots, use the chest carrier, etc. and the back of her head is still flat as if we left her in the crib all the time. She does have a big head (apologies to Mrs. Hoppa are constant), but it bothers me that nothing we've done in the last two months seems to have made a difference.

My nephew has this problem and one thing that was recommended was that they take a top down view of the head picture everyday to monitor progress. I guess you can see if it gets flatter or starts to get closer to the proper shape.

As far as the helmet thing goes I have heard about such as thing through my work, Child Development Centre, but I think in Canada it is used for the most extreme cases.

*edit*CptDomano - Congrats

Gravey - Extreme jealousy!

bighoppa wrote:
Skippy1997 wrote:
bighoppa wrote:

Has anyone ever run into problems with the back of the baby's head going flat? We give our girl plenty of tummy-time, hold her lots, use the chest carrier, etc. and the back of her head is still flat as if we left her in the crib all the time. She does have a big head (apologies to Mrs. Hoppa are constant), but it bothers me that nothing we've done in the last two months seems to have made a difference.

We are dealing with the exact same thing with our daughter (also big head, like 95% percentile big... poor missus). Our doctor said it was purely cosmetic (this was around month 4, but we had been keeping the doc updated each visit about it) and she said it is much more common now that the Sleep on the Back thing is universal. The Doc said we could go to a specialist to verify if we felt unsure, so we went there around month 5.

The specialist pretty much measured everything and said even worst case scenario that it stays that shape, it will not impede any normal brain growth. They have a baby helmet you can get that they wear for 23 hours a day for a few months (depending on how bad) and you go back occasionally to get it adjusted. It was purely out of pocket and not covererd (around $4000 for the bare bones model), so we decided against it after our fears of a Rocky-esque baby girl were eliminated. My nephew had the helmet for 4-6 months when he was an infant, but he was more pronounced and since boys (typically) have shorter hair styles, it may be more noticeable as they grow.

Fast forward to now (she is almost 10 months) and the flat back of the head is getting better, but still noticeable. But my girl is as bald as I am, so once the hair starts to grow we will see if we were terrible parents or not. Once they start crawling/sitting up it helps tremendously.

One final anecdote - My wife's cousin (a girl) had an extreme case and she turned out just fine w/out the helmet.

Sorry for the long-winded response, my wife and I struggled with our decision for quite some time. They do suggest that if you are thinking helmet to get them into it by 6 months, since their heads are still mushy.

We spoke to our pediatrician about it at her four month checkup (she's five months now) and he just suggested more of what we're doing. We're just getting concerned that we haven't seen a change in head shape. We even bought her a special pillow that was supposed to help, but the doc said we might as well have been using homeopathy. I don't think I can swing a $4000 helmet(!?) out of pocket, though. Rubber bands and tight hats, maybe? We may just have to let things run their course and keep doing what we're doing.

Before you do a helmet, do A LOT of research and get lots of opinions. We had a pediatrician pushing for it and we were really uncomfortable with the idea. Our son had tortacallis (sp?) basically a pinched nerve that made him more comfortable in certain positions though there were a lot of other effects. He slept one one side all the time, which resulted in a flat spot. A helmet would have treated the symptom in an expensive and traumatic way. We did a lot of research and ended up with the tortacallis diagnosis. He did some intensive physical therapy which improved his sleeping, as well as balance, attention, moods, coordination etc. With that being addressed his head sorted itself out. But we went through all that quickly so his head was not solidifying flat.

So, don't wait to act, but a helmet may not be the best solution.

My youngest is 10 today. 10! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.

Then:
IMAGE(http://imageshack.us/a/img59/11/p0001666.jpg)

And now:
IMAGE(http://imageshack.us/a/img689/6929/photooct07115701am.jpg)

More photos of my brood!

IMAGE(http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i227/Sephirotic/olivia1.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i227/Sephirotic/mando.jpg)

The kids are getting along quite well, with Maxwell being completely protective of his little sister.

Also, found a dead scorpion in our bathroom. Hmm.

Toddland wrote:

Also, found a dead scorpion in our bathroom. Hmm.

Look at it this way: I can think of at least one way that could have been worse.

Yes, it could have have been in the toilet after using it, despite the toilet being empty before using it.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/SAXAV.jpg)

Oh hai Mamma. This drawer was stuffed full of things but I fixed it now.

Maq wrote:

Oh hai Mamma. This drawer was stuffed full of things but I fixed it now.

Can't wait for this to happen in our house eventually. Also, what do you call the thing in his mouth. My wife calls it a pacifier. It was called a plug in my family. My father-in-law (who shares your continent of origin) calls it a dummy, as in "a dummy tit". I think that one wins so far.

padriec wrote:
Maq wrote:

Oh hai Mamma. This drawer was stuffed full of things but I fixed it now.

Can't wait for this to happen in our house eventually. Also, what do you call the thing in his mouth. My wife calls it a pacifier. It was called a plug in my family. My father-in-law (who shares your continent of origin) calls it a dummy, as in "a dummy tit". I think that one wins so far.

Yeah, I call it a dummy. His mother calls it a "napp" but she's foreign.

My sister and her family calls it a 'dody'. No idea where that came from. I'm more used to dummy or pacifier.

I've always heard pacifier or binky.

Pirate Bob wrote:

I've always heard pacifier or binky.

Binky? Why would anyone want to stick Death's horse into their mouth?
*puzzled*

Haven't posted for awhile, lots of cute little ones running around this thread as usual. Here's ours, 4.5 months at the time, showing his more serious side:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/jvGqnl.jpg)
by the window on a cold morning

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/SBRI7l.jpg)
after receiving a blessing from our local Rinpoche

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/RSbPvl.jpg)
being a smarty pants in his car seat

He schemes.

Rallick wrote:
Pirate Bob wrote:

I've always heard pacifier or binky.

Binky? Why would anyone want to stick Death's horse into their mouth?
*puzzled*

Because you're so badass that death's horse sooths you?

Really though, binky has got to be the worst one ever. Too close to the shortened from of blanket - blankey.

I've also heard it called a soother, but we go with pacifier, and sometimes the wife calls it a pacy (pass-e) for short.

Also, my in-laws annoy me (and my wife) every time they call a diaper a pamper, despite us having never bought pampers brand ever.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

the wife calls it a pacy

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/65/Pacey.jpg/200px-Pacey.jpg)

Couldn't resist.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
Rallick wrote:
Pirate Bob wrote:

I've always heard pacifier or binky.

Binky? Why would anyone want to stick Death's horse into their mouth?
*puzzled*

Because you're so badass that death's horse sooths you?

Really though, binky has got to be the worst one ever. Too close to the shortened from of blanket - blankey.

I've also heard it called a soother, but we go with pacifier, and sometimes the wife calls it a pacy (pass-e) for short.

Also, my in-laws annoy me (and my wife) every time they call a diaper a pamper, despite us having never bought pampers brand ever.

My wife and her family are always calling items by the brand name and not the product. Very annoying.

In Canada on the west coast I hear it called a soother more often than not.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/SpRqB.jpg)
My little man

Man, so many pictures in this thread make me go "d'awww!". Cute boys you have there, Chairman Mao and JohnKillo!

Rallick wrote:

Man, so many pictures in this thread make me go "d'awww!". Cute boys you have there, Chairman Mao and JohnKillo!

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/ocaFp.gif)

I bought the boy's first Duplo today. Different colour blocks that all form different animals: giraffe, elephant, parrot etc. He will of course learn quickly that they can be combined in non-canon ways to form hybrid abominations.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?

I don't want to oversell it, but as stupid and obnoxious as they are—and truly they are the stupidest "collectors edition" bonus ever—the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 nightvision goggles are a pretty sweet parenting accessory. I, almost regrettably, don't own a pair myself (and MW2 was the only COD game I've ever purchased), but Mrs. Gravey's cousin does. I had my wife jokingly ask him to borrow them, and he non-jokingly lent them to us.

So. I am a grown man and I have checked on my sleeping baby in the middle of the night with cheap, video game-branded nightvision goggles. No apologies. (Especially considering the plethora of unnecessary parenting crap that is hawked in earnest.) Definitely recommended if you have the opportunity.