Swing Transition: Days Two and Three

As I wrote in my last post, yesterday Lillian went down for her first nap in the swing with no motion. My original plan was to wait three days to move her to the pack n' play, but the transition from swinging to not swinging went so well that I was considering doing it more quickly. For her second nap, we had an appointment with a title company to refinance our house, so she fell asleep in the car.

For her third nap, I did the same routine as the morning nap, but she starting trying to roll onto her side in the swing and I decided it was time to try the pack n' play. I placed her in there with two of her favorite toys: A Lamaze doll and the Fisherprice Seahorse. And the screaming began. It was a total replay of Day 1, only I was terrified it would last much, much longer because Lillian didn't know that the pack n' play was a place for sleep. I kept going in and hugging, kissing, and patting her, and I even picked her up one time, but I couldn't stop her from screaming. After 30 minutes of screaming, she stopped crying and started sucking on her hand. She cried, quieted down, cried, quieted down, and then she fell asleep five minutes later. Similar to Day 1, she woke up after 15 minutes and I had to run in and turn the blow dryer back on, (and to answer Alicea's question, we do run a fan when she sleeps, and turning on the fan is part of the naptime/bedtime routine, but apparently the sound isn't loud enough to help soothe her when she is fussy). Then she slept another 50 minutes. She did not wake up smiling like she did yesterday, though. Instead she woke up crying and I felt a knot in my stomach, wondering if I did the right thing. But, once she was up and playing, she was all smiles and loving her mom again ;)

The next time she went down was for the night, so we did our routine and I put her in the pack n' play. She started playing with her doll, and, after a few minutes, got frustrated and started crying. After about five minutes of fussing/crying, I went in and took the doll away and hugged and kissed her. She smiled at me. After that, I watched her on the video monitor for twenty minutes as she played for a while, then sucked on her hand, and then went to sleep! I seriously could not believe it! It was too easy.

Seriously, the crying was about as bad as the time we got stuck in traffic and she wanted out of her car seat. It sucked and broke my heart, but it was not as bad as I feared and I think it was totally worth it to get her used to sleeping in a "bed."

Last night she was up a lot to nurse. And she did wake up once when I knew she wasn't hungry because she had just nursed - She cried for about five minutes and then went back to sleep.

Today (Day 3) was okay. She didn't nap well. She cried when we put her down for naps, but it was just like the fussiness she's had at many nap times in the swing. There was one nap where she slept, fussed, slept, fussed, slept, for an hour, which was unusual. So, I think she is still getting used to the new sleeping space and position, and I am hoping she'll start sleeping better soon!

Swing Transition: Day One

Because I have spent so much time Googling for stories from other people who have transitioned their babies from a swing to a crib, I figured I would try to blog about our transition.

We started putting Lillian in the swing for naps and at night time when she was about four weeks old. She had colic and acid reflux and was resisting the crib and pack n' play more and more. But that swing would put her right to sleep, and all the books said to do whatever works in the first few months. The swing saved our sanity! However, now the colic is over and her reflux medications seem to be helping, and she is four months old, so it's time she start sleeping in her crib. Plus, as I learned that this is the time when bad habits really start getting ingrained, and because she will stay asleep with the swing off, will fall asleep without movement if she is nursing, and has occasionally fallen asleep in the swing without it moving, I really think we need to jump on this now!

Her pediatrician really stressed this at our four month appointment. She said she would definitely recommend we chose a cry-it-out (CIO) method if it weren't for Lillian's reflux - she is slightly concerned Lillian may swallow a lot of air while crying and that would make her reflux worse, but she was more concerned about Lillian staying in the swing. I was also concerned that Lillian may still be a little too young for CIO because we tried to put her in the crib the other day and she screamed until she was choking :( I have both the Ferber and Weissbluth books, which both say four months is when you can start trying CIO. But, Ferber does say that it may better to wait until five months if the sleep problems are not severe. And, as Lillian only needs to swing to fall asleep, not to stay asleep, I don't think we fall into the "severe" category at this time.

The pediatrician recommended we try the Baby Wisperer method, which is a kind-of a comprimise between CIO and "No-Cry." And I just happen to have the book, so I decided to give it a try. Basically, the plan is to transition her in steps, taking each step about three days at a time, and to comfort Lillian if she starts hysterically crying.

Here are the steps I am considering:

Currently Lillian falls asleep with the swing on and a blowdryer blasting. Last week we, (Greg and I), tried turning the swing off once she was asleep, and it didn't affect her sleep AT ALL. It may have helped her sleep longer, because she had an eight our stretch for the first time the other night! I also developed a naptime routine that consists of going into the room, singing a lullaby (the same one each time), closing the curtains, turning on the fan, and putting her in the swing. When she wakes up, I open the blinds, turn off the fan, sing a different, upbeat song, and pick her up.

Now we are trying to get her to fall asleep in the swing without it moving. If she fusses we ignore her, but if her crying escalates, we go in the room and manually push the swing or pat her. Once she is calm (but not asleep), we walk out of the room and let the swing slowly stop moving.

Once she can fall asleep without the swing moving, we'll move on to the next step. I don't know if we should jump straight to the pack n' play or try putting her in her car seat first (because the positioning is similar to the swing) and put the car seat in the pack n' play.

So, here's how Day One went:

Her first three naps were kind-of failed attempts: Nap 1 - she cried for 30 minutes, then it was time to eat and she fell asleep nursing. Naps 2 & 3 - she cried and I kept pushing the swing to calm her down and she fell asleep when the swing was still slightly moving.

I was down to business for her 4th nap - I pushed the swing to calm her down, but I stopped it, (not abruptly), before she fell asleep. This meant more crying every time the swing stopped. And screaming. There was lots of screaming. So I sat there and patted her, but she didn't seem to give a rat's ass that I was there and she just kept screaming. So I tried leaving the room and she calmed down, fussed a little, calmed down, fussed a little, and then fell asleep. The whole process took 45 minutes. After 20 minutes of sleeping, she woke up crying, so I turned the blow dryer on and she went back to sleep. The exact same thing happened 15 minutes later. And then she slept another 45 minutes before waking up happy.

At bedtime I was prepared to just nurse her to sleep - the pediatrician said to start with naps and worry about bedtime later. But, she was too tired and fussy to really nurse, so I just put her in the swing without it moving, turned on the blow dryer, and walked out of the room. I watched her on the video monitor as she played with her feet, sucked on her hands, tossed her head around, and went to sleep!!! No fussing, no crying, no screaming. I couldn't believe it! I called Greg and he was ecstatic. After each night time nursing session, she fell back to sleep in her swing without movement. And, at her first nap of the day, she looked at her swing mobile, tossed her head around, and went to sleep. Wow! I am so glad we decided to do this now!

Lillian is Four Months Old

I think I need to accept that I am going to suck a blogging as frequently as I would like. Life has been so busy lately!

Because it's been a while, I figured I'd write my thoughts and comments in a list, so here it is:

-I love Lillian more and more every day, and I can't believe it. She makes me so, so happy.

-Yesterday was her 4 month pediatrician appointment. She cried for about 20 minutes after receiving her vaccines :( She's in the 25 percentile for height and the 45 percentile for weight. She weighs 13 pounds.

-She's already getting close to outgrowing a lot of her 3-6 month clothes! I think she must have gotten my long torso.

-Lillian's fussiness has significantly subsided. I don't know if it's because she's reached the age where colic typically ends, or if it's the new reflux medication, or if it's the probiotic, but, whatever it is, we'll take it!

-Lillian and I went to visit my family in Maine for two weeks. It was so awesome to get away from the Texas heat and see my family and friends. She did great on the planes - people commented on what a good baby she was. She mostly nursed and slept. There was only one episode of screaming that was due to her wanting to nurse and me wanting to wait for take-off so her ears would pop (I could see the hair raising on the backs of peoples necks when that was going on!). The hardest part about traveling was dealing with all the stuff we had, but people were extremely helpful. I think the pilot helped us deboard three of the four legs.

-We are still having sleep problems. Lillian wakes up WAY too early (sometimes before 5:00 AM) and sometimes she wants to nurse every 2-3 hours all night long. She wants to go to bed at 6:30, and keeping her up later has not helped her sleep-in, so I've stopped fighting it. And she's only been napping 30-50 minutes at a time. There was a period there that I was so exhausted by the end of the day that my throat hurt and my whole body ached. She has also seriously been fighting naps. We have to use the swing and blast a blowdryer (for the sound) in order to get her to sleep, and she still fusses for like 10 minutes. Thankfully, the past few days have been much, much better :::knock on wood::: I am amazed that I haven't gotten sick from all of this exhaustion!

-Lillian is super smiley these days! It is so awesome.

-She goes through days of making a favorite new noise. The past two days it has been serious grunting. The other day it was a whispery "key, key, key." Before that it was "Ha Huh Ha Huh." Last week she was moving her tongue all over the place yelling and making "L" sounds. And before that it was a lot of gargling.

-She just starting liking books this week. She now looks at the pages while I read to her.

-She really enjoys picking things up and putting them in her mouth. Her new favorite activity is sitting in her high chair with some ring-type toys on the tray so she can grab them. She also tried to grab my menu at a restaurant the other day - Time to watch out for my glass of wine!

-She just put her foot in her mouth for the first time (before it she could only do it if there was a sock to hold onto).

-She's much better at tummy time and can lift up her head and pick up a toy...but she still only likes it for about two minutes :/

-After trying a Moby wrap, pouch sling, and ring sling, we finally found a carrier Lillian really loves - the Baby Bjorn, facing out. I got one for $20 and she looooves it and kicks her legs like crazy. It is so freaking nice because I can finally wear her around the house for a bit. And it was great for traveling.

-She is so close to rolling over! She gets all the way onto her side and will roll, roll, roll around in a circle, but hasn't made it over yet. Of course, the past few days her interest in rolling has subsided.

-She can now scoot around on her back, which means I had to move the play gym away from the fireplace hearth!

-She loves going out in public and looking around. She was soooo excited to be facing out in the Bjorn at the Atlanta airport! (So many people to watch!)

-She has become a distracted nurser - she is constantly pulling off and looking up at me...which is too cute to be very annoyed about ;)

-I have started the process of getting her out of the swing. The pediatrician said we really need to do it now, and I agree. I spent the last week turning off the swing once she was asleep, and that worked great. Starting today, I am going to start trying to get her to fall asleep in the swing without it moving. :::fingers crossed:::

Sooooo Tired!

Ugh, this is worse than when Lillian was first born because I have no help! The last week or so she has decided to nurse every 2-3 hours all night long, so I have become more and more exhuasted. And yesterday she wouldn't nap and was fussy all day. I was so tired my eyes were burning and I thought I was going to lose my mind. So, last night I decided to go to bed with her at 8:30...but then she wanted to nurse every hour until 11. And then my post nasal drip kicked in until midnight. And then she was up for the day at 3:00. So I got three hours of sleep. How am I supposed to function like this? I want to cry from exhaustion.

Lillian is 3 Months Old!

I can't believe we made it to three months already. It really is amazing how much time flies and how much I have fallen in love with this girl. I am looking forward to the next few months SO MUCH! Lily is supposed to be less fussy (according to what everyone says), she can now go to gym daycare (which means I get a break during the day), and it's soon going to be cool enough to go for a walk whenever we want! Plus my favorite pumpkin things will be available ;)

Yesterday we visited the doctor because her spit-up has been very projectile and she is still getting really fussy when she spits up. The doctor switched her from Zantac to Zegerid and said it sounds like she has colic in addition to reflux (because she has been super fussy in the evenings). She recommended we try a probiotic because some studies have shown probiotics help colic. Lillian was also diagnosed with pink eye :P Hopefully the remedies will help her feel better. I am especially intrigued by the probiotics considering I was on antibiotics when she was born, and she was on antibiotics for the first 48 hours of her life.

I do think her fussiness is starting to subside a little. And I've learned some great tips on getting her to go to sleep. When she is fussy, I swaddle her in a Miracle Blanket, put her in the swing, and turn on the blow dryer at full blast (we were using a fan, but apparently that wasn't enough). It almost always works. My hope for the next month is that we can get her out of the swing and into the crib/bassinet, but we'll see what happens. I don't want to force her if she isn't ready.

We have starting taking Lily out more often, which has been great. Last week we went to the outlet mall, and she loved watching the people, (I also had my first 100% nurse in public experience when I nursed her on a bench right in the middle of everything - I did wear a cover). She went out to lunch at a fast-food chicken place, and, again, she had a great time people watching. We've been to the grocery store several times, and she always LOVES this. And we took her to a fancy dinner on Saturday night. This was not the plan - Greg and I had bought a Groupon deal that gave us a five course tasting at 50% off, and our plan was to leave Lily with Greg's mom. But, the deal expired on Saturday and she still wouldn't take a bottle, so we all went together. I am so thankful grandma was there to walk her outside when she was fussy, but, overall it went well (except for the ride home - she screamed for 20 minutes). Here’s a picture of my little sweetheart all dressed up for the evening:

Postpartum Clinic Visit

Today was my first CF clinic visit since having Lillian. And I got good news - my FEV1 is holding steady at 111%! My last sputum culture still showed normal flora. I still can't believe I cultured PA for seven years and now I have not cultured it for three years. The last time I cultured anything was Staph back in May of 2009.

I hogged a lot of my doctor's time today to discuss a few topics:

The first thing we talked about was the possibility of Lillian having CF. Greg had a genetic test for the 97 most common CF mutations, and it came back negative. However, there are thousands of rare mutations, so there is still a chance Greg could be a carrier, and therefore, there is a chance that Lillian could have CF. Please note that I was aware of all this when we started TTC and I had talked it over with my CF doctor - he said at that time what we had done was enough. However, I wanted to be more informed so I mentioned that I've seen some talk on the CF forums about the need to have genetic sequencing done in order to completely rule out CF. I asked my doctor his opinion on this. Here is what he said:

Texas automatically tests for CF in all newborns by analyzing the blood for a by-product of the pancreas (IRT). Even people who are pancreatic sufficient, (like me), will show abnormal test results. If the levels are abnormal, a sweat test is performed. After that a genetic test is done. So, with Greg passing the 97-panel test and Lillian passing the IRT test, the odds of her having CF are very, very small. Doing full genetic sequencing is unnecessary.

He further noted that the state of California is automatically performing full genetic sequencing on ALL newborns, and they are finding all kinds of new mutations in children that have zero symptoms. There is debate in the CF community if these people really have CF and about "what to do" with these cases.

Please note that I am NOT making any judgments about what other people choose to do regarding genetic testing. I am just sharing the information I received.

The other subject I brought up was a new school of thought I heard about cases like mine: Instead of "mild CF" perhaps I should consider myself having "late onset CF." I mean, I DO have CF - I have sinusitis, I get lung infections, I cough up junk. My lungs are probably getting damaged, just more slowly than the typical CFer. But someday, (without proper treatment and new drugs), my lungs are going to be really bad. I will need to spend time in "Club Med." I may need a lung transplant. Eventually (barring something else) CF will probably kill me. When? I have no idea and neither do my doctors. But I'd like it to be later rather than sooner. Actually, I'd like it to be never because death by CF sucks. I don't even want to be hospitalized all the time in 20 years.

So I told me doctor, "You know, you are so used to looking at really bad x-rays. Sometimes, I feel like, when you look at mine, you think 'she looks great' and send me on my way. But I want to know what is going on. Please tell me if you see mucus plugs, or a small amount of lung damage. It will motivate me to take care of myself." He told me that chest x-rays don't really give much information regarding small airway damage, it just tells him if something major is going on. And he confirmed that people can be experiencing lung damage even when their PFTs are holding steady. So he is sending me to have a chest CT scan done. Based on those results, we will decide if I should add more airway clearance and/or Pulmozyme to my routine.

The last thing we talked about was my GERD. I mentioned that I am sick of waking up and needing my inhaler. So I am going to see a gastro. Hopefully we will be able to get this under control.

So, that's that. Greg stayed home with Lillian so I could go with out having to worry about her fussiness. She did pretty well for him - she slept most of the time, had a happy period, and then she got hungry and refused a bottle, so there was about a half hour of crying until I got home. I really hope she will take a bottle soon because I'd like to be able to go on a date with my husband!

Two Month Pedi Appointment

Lillian had her two month doctor visit last Friday. I was soooo nervous beforehand because she had to get five shots. The nurse who administered them rocked - she did them so fast that Lillian barely had time to cry before they were finished. She did scream, of course, but she calmed down quicker than I expected, (nursing really helped with that!).

We saw the other pedi at the office this time, and I love, love, love her. She is younger than the man Lillian has been seeing, and not nearly as old-school. She is much more sympathetic to our sleep issues, (Lillian will only sleep in her swing), our tummy time troubles, (tummy time = face plant into the floor and screaming :/ ), and she made me feel so much more reassured about what we are doing. She agrees that two months is too young to cry it out and said we really don't have to worry about transitioning her to her crib until 4-6 months. And she said holding Lillian over our shoulders so that she has to hold her head up = tummy time, which rocks because Lillian loves doing that and looking around. I think I am going to request this doctor from now on.

Lillian is growing well. She is in the 45 percentile for height and weight and the 60 percentile for head circumference, (her daddy has a big head). The doctor said she is very alert for a two month old, and commented on how her smile "took up her whole face."

I asked about the possibility of a milk allergy, and the doctor said that, if she had one, it was most likely mild because she hasn't had significant blood in her poop. She also said the rashes were normal. So, she wanted me to go one more week on the dairy elimination diet, and then gradually add things back in to see if there is any impact. I do think Lillian's diapers look less mucusy after cutting out all dairy, but I am going to try adding some things back in because this diet is so restrictive. I just started eating a few things with dairy in them, (like fake cheese powder and a Lean Cuisine containing whey), and haven't noticed a difference in Lillian yet.

We also walked out with a prescription for Zantac, because Lillian spits up a ton, gets the hiccups all the time, fusses at the breast, and cries when we lay her flat on her back, (except when she is getting her diaper changed - then it is party time). So, far, I have not noticed that this has helped. She has been extremely fussy the past few days and spits up so much. Today she projectile spit up over my shoulder and all over the floor, and was screaming and arching her back, so I went to Walgreens and bought some Mylanta, as the doctor suggested. She just got her first dose, so we'll see if that helps at all.

In other news, Greg and I realized Lillian is not napping well. We figured she would "just fall asleep if she was tired" and have been putting her in the swing in the living room, but she likes to fight sleep to watch the action (by "action", I mean me cleaning :P). There have been days where she hasn't napped AT ALL, and others where she has taken maybe two 30 minute naps. So, since last Thursday, we have kept the swing in our bedroom, (where she sleeps at night), and left the fan running for nap times, and it seems to help. We also put her down as soon as she starts yawning and getting fussy. She'll protest sometimes, but then fall asleep pretty quickly. She has been napping a lot more, and I am learning her schedule - it seems like she can only be awake 1-1/2 to 2 hours between naps.

So, between the napping, the milk allergy, and the reflux, I was hoping we would figure out the reason for her fussiness. But, so far, that has been a big FAIL. She still likes to cry and fuss all the time and I still feel like I can't leave the house. I've also tried two different slings and she will only tolerate one of them for a few minutes. I love her so much and I hate seeing her upset all the time! I really hope this gets better soon!