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Showing posts with label vaccinations. Show all posts

Brinley Pre-Toddler Summary: 12 Months Old {One Year!}

Here it is folks. One year old. This is a summary for Brinley's 53rd week. She was 52 weeks old. I noticed that for McKenna's summaries, I moved to every two weeks at this age. I think I will do that, also. They seem to not have as many dramatic changes week to week as they get older.

NURSING
Done! Done! Done! I don't really know how to describe how I feel about nursing. I obviously find it important and value it. I have nursed all of my babies for one year. I find it nice and easy--it is always ready.

I also find it slightly confining. I have to be there every time baby wants to eat. And I honestly get a little weirded out when the baby gets old enough to start playing with my nipples. Just not my idea of a good time. So by the time the baby is one, I am very ready to be done.

EATING
Her appetite was still lower this week from her sickness. It was slowing increasing, but not up to normal. She pretty much didn't want any purees except for her morning oatmeal and prunes. I started giving her more of what we were eating at meals.

SLEEPING
Sleep was normal--perhaps even a bit sleepier as she wanted some more sleep as she was recovering from being sick.

BIRTHDAY!
Brinley had her birthday this week! Here is what she got for her birthday from us and grandparents:
  • Step2 Big Splash Waterpark (Love it)
  • Sandra Boynton books (we did Happy Hippo/Angry Duck and The Going to Bed Book)
  • BABYBJORN Soft Bib (I like that the pocket stays out to catch food, but the converse side to this is that the bib is more stiff and harder for her to get her arm across her body. Not a huge deal at this age, but a baby a few months younger could possibly not reach the mouth because of it)
  • Baby Doll
  • Fisher-Price Go Baby Go! Poppity Pop Muscial Dino (She LOVES this. It is very similar to the Playskool Busy Ball Popper, but the dino is easier for a 12 month old to use. Brinley loves the busy ball popper, but she can't play with it independently. She can the dino).
  • Britax Boulevard--I threw that in there since I couldn't think of things she needed! "Needed" I guess this is a real need, but she was getting it anyway :)
I don't do big birthdays at all. I make a cake, we have family over for dinner, presents, and cake. 

PRAYING
She started putting her hands together for prayer this week. It is so cute. She also loves family prayer. We kneel down in a circle each night and pray as a a family. When we say "Family prayer!" she zips on over to the spot, gets on her tummy, and puts her hands together for the prayer. 

CAMPING
We went camping during this week. The first night was the roughest night we have ever had with a baby camping. I had to go in and hold her/rock her several times until about 10 PM before she finally went to sleep (not in my arms, but after I rocked her). She had fallen asleep initially, then we put McKenna to bed and it woke her up when we did. Brinley is a SUPER light sleeper. McKenna is a SUPER deep sleeper, so we have never had a problem with her waking up when we put another child to bed when she is already asleep. 

Brinley did sleep fine after that and slept until 7:30 the next morning. This is earlier than her usual wake up time, but much later than I am used to kids getting up when camping.

The second night, we put McKenna to bed before Brinley since McKenna is the deep sleeper. That worked perfectly. 

DOCTOR & VACCINATIONS
Brinley had her well-check visit this week. Everything looked great. She also got her one-year vaccinations. She was not happy with them, but calmed right down with a sucker. Ha! Sticky mess. She didn't have any sort of reaction to the vaccinations at all.

SCHEDULE
8:45--nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt, finger foods). Independent Playtime happens in this block.
10:30-11:00--nap starts
12:45-1:00--wake up, bottle with solids (veggie, fruit, other foods we are eating)
2:30-3:00--nap starts
5:00--wake up, bottle with solids (veggie, fruit, dinner) 
7:30--bottle, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:30.


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Brinley Summary: Week 19

Reading a story with her Daddy

This is a summary for Brinley's 19th week--she was 18 weeks old.


NURSING
Nursing was all the same. Nothing new to report.

SOLIDS
This week we added pears to Brinley's menu. She wasn't so sure about them at first, but she quickly liked them okay. She doesn't have the love she has for bananas, but she likes them.

NIGHT SLEEP
There were three nights toward the end of this week that Brinley woke up early. The first one, naturally, came the morning after I had stayed up late for the first time since she was born. We had friends over and I was up until about 12:30 AM. It was a Friday night and I figured I could sleep in a bit the next day. Then she was up at about 6:50. Oh babies! She just talked until we got her at about 7:10. It was so funny because it has been months since she woke earlier than 7:10--most mornings are right around 7:30. 

The next morning was even earlier--right around 6:30-6:40 if I remember right. The next night was 6:50.

So of course when you have a baby start waking early, you start to analyze why. I had four theories.

Theory one was that the dreamfeed was disrupting her sleep. She had started to wake for the dreamfeed and talk to me, so I knew it was disrupting her more than was ideal. Because of that, we started leaving her swaddled for the dreamfeed.

Which leads me to theory two. Theory two is that she liked to be unswaddled for the dreamfeed so she could stretch out a bit. Maybe she wanted to be unswaddled again for the dreamfeed. 

Theory three was that the heater was waking her up somehow. It had suddenly gotten much colder right when she started waking early so the heater was coming on earlier in the morning. 

Theory four was that it was just some random thing. Babies are people and can randomly have some insomnia. This was my initial go-to theory until she woke early the second day. I didn't think she would have a random off day two days in a row.

Then you of course have other endless possibilities. Is she getting sick? Does she need to drop the swaddle? Is i ta wonder week issue?

Which theory was right? I believe it was theory three--the heater.

DREAMFEED
So Brinley woke early night one and we did nothing different. We decided if it was a fluke, we didn't want to do anything that might further the waking.

After the second night of Brinley waking early, we decided to go with the dreamfeed. We just dropped it cold turkey and went to bed early :) It was so sad for me. I love the little sleepy baby feedings. But if it was disrupting her sleep I obviously didn't want to keep it around just to suit my own desires. 

As you might recall, the next night she woke early again, but back up to 6:50 so it was better than the night before. At the very least it told me she likely didn't need the dreamfeed anymore. We stuck with it and she continued being fine without the dreamfeed. So it is officially gone.

HEATER WAKING
We moved on to the theory that it was the heater waking her up. I had noticed this months before--she seemed to wake up in the morning shortly after the heater came on in the morning. So we set the temperature to come up at 7:30--her desired waketime.

With the colder nights, however, the heater was kicking on and she was waking shortly after. It must have just been close enough to her wake time that it disrupted her because I know it comes on a few times through the night.

I started making sure the heater did not come on and she did not wake up. I honestly have no idea what about it would wake her. It isn't blowing on her--we bought a deflector and have it blowing away from her so that isn't it. It also isn't noisy. I don't have the mystery solved.

PLAYTIME
Brinley started to love to stand this week. I decided to get out the old Jumperoo. She loved it! She couldn't stay in it for long periods becuase her muscles weren't strong enough to keep her there, but she is slowly getting stronger and able to play in it a bit longer.

I am also amazed at the strides she is making with her hand abilities. She is improving on those fine motor pincer practice. They learn so fast!

SWADDLE
I decided to try a nap with one arm unswaddled again. It took her about 20 minutes to fall asleep, compared to the 5-10 that is her norm at that time of day, but she did it! It was her first nap to fall asleep with partially unswaddled. I did it for the fourth nap of the day because it is short anyway and the least important nap in my mind. I stuck with that each day. Once she gets better at falling asleep for that nap, I will move it to the third nap as well.

CHECK UP AND VACCINATIONS
She had her four month check up this week. Everything was great. She is continuing to move higher on the growth curve. She is still small, but getting higher and higher on the curve at each visit. 

She did not like her vaccinations. At all. It took her a few minutes to get her to stop crying. I did this visit later in the day. I typically like to do it after the first nap of the day so they have all day to react to vaccinations if they are going to. This time slot was all they had and I figured it would work out well so I could take older kids with me and get the flu mist for them. 

Brinley did not like the initial injections, but she had no issues with the aftermath--no swelling, no fever, no disruptions to sleep. I have found if my children had a rough time with the two month shots, they don't for four months. If they didn't for two months, they do for four months.

SCHEDULE
Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30--feed
8:35--nap
11:30--feed
12:45--nap
2:30 or 3:00--feed
3:45--nap (75 minutes later) 
5:00 or 5:30--feed
6:30--nap (80 minutes after waking)
7:30--feed, then bedtime
9:45--dreamfeed--until it was dropped


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Poll Results: Will you be getting a flu shot for your child(ren) this year?

Results:

Yes: 246 votes (50%)
No: 207 votes (42%)
Undecided: 36 votes (7%)


Total of 489 votes


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Reminder: You can leave comments on poll results posts if you would like to add to the poll after it has closed. This would be helpful for those who have more than one child, those whose children have reached certain ages after a poll closed, and those who didn't visit the blog while that poll was open. To find closed polls, click on the poll results link above
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Vaccinations: When you have two children

Today was Kaitlyn's 18 month well-baby check up. I took Brayden along so he could get his flu shot. Now, the advice I have to give is really going to seem like a no-brainer, but I messed up today.

When it came time for the shot, I decided to ask Brayden if he wanted to get his shot first, or if he wanted Kaitlyn to get hers first. He chose Kaitlyn. Once he did, I had the thought that it might be better for him to get his first, but I ignored it.

Kaitlyn got on the table. I stood on one side holding her hands and Brayden stood on the other saying, "It's okay Kaitlyn, don't be scared, I am right behind you." She got her shot and started to cry. Brayden immediately retreated to the corner and said he didn't want a shot. I stood Kaitlyn up and the nurse let her choose a sucker. As soon as she saw the sucker, she was cured. She happily got down eating her sucker.

Brayden, however, was not convinced. He said he wanted a sucker. I replied he could have one as soon as he got his shot. He replied, "I don't want a sucker." I picked him up and put him on the table. I held his hands as one nurse held his legs. He cried and cried. Later as I told my husband about it over the phone, he started to shake. Poor guy! I understand his fear; I am very afraid of shots also.

So my advice when you have two children who need to get a vaccination is this. In most cases, it will be best to have the oldest child go first--that is if one is young enough to not really know what is going on. You know your children. You can guess which order would be best. I knew the reverse order would have been better, but I ignored that knowledge.

If you think there isn't really a "better" order to go in, you can ask the nurse if she has any ideas based on experience. Perhaps you can do the vaccinations in separate rooms or take one child out while the first gets the vaccination.

I think for most children, vaccinations will happen at different times. They have different birthdays so vaccinations are on a different schedule--unless you have twins! But in the case of a flu vaccination, typically a lot of people will get them at the same time.

Last year, Brayden and I went together. I got my shot first and was very brave, which made him completely compliant with his vaccination. Since I am currently seeing an OBGYN for pregnancy, I will get my vaccination there this year. But that is an option for you if several people need to get a vaccination at the same time.

If you have any good tips for this situation, please share!
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Tips and Tricks: Vaccinations

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No mom likes to see her baby poked with a needle. I, personally, have a real phobia of needles, and have had to really work my fear down so that I could hold/comfort my child during vaccinations and not pass my fear on! Here are some tips for making vaccinations easier on your baby:

  • Tylenol 20-30 minutes before the shot. You will have to talk to you doctor about this, but my pediatrition recommends doing this to minimize the pain following the shot. I am not really a huge medicine person, but I try to remember to do this before a shot. You can also continue the medicine following the shot if baby is having adverse reactions (pain, fever, etc.). If you can't give it before, you can give it at the office or when you get home.
  • Bring along whatever comforts your child. Kailtyn didn't take a pacifier, but I brought one along to her 2 month appointment and held it in her mouth. It seemed to help. I will hold my children's hands and sing to talk--mainting eye-contact. They like that. Bring whatever helps. A stuffed animal, a toy, a sucker (for older kids), whatever.
  • I haven't ever tried this, but I have heard breastfeeding a baby while shots are given can help. See this article on babycenter.com: http://www.babycenter.com/400_how-can-i-make-getting-shots-less-traumatic-for-my-baby_505741_1000.bc. Apparently a recent study has found breastfeeding to be a good pain reliever.
  • If more than one shot is being given, ask to have them given at the same time. My doctor's office does this. Two nurses come in, count to three, and give the shot at the same time.
  • Some people spread shots out and do one every two weeks or month.
  • My office does combination shots--several shots rolled into one needle.
  • Try to overcome your own trepidation. Children pick up on your emotions really fast.
  • If you have an older child, be honest about what is going to happen. I always tell Brayden it will hurt for a minute, but it is to help him in the long run. I tell him to be really brave (it is something we say whenever he has to do something he is nervous about--it seems to help him face it).
  • Don't plan a big outing that day or days following. Be prepared to be home in case there is sickness or some discomfort following the vaccinations.
  • Don't pan a party soon after vaccinations. Brayden got sick after his 1 year old shots, but luckily his appointment was a couple of weeks after he turned one and after the party. I didn't remember this when making Kaitlyn's 1 year appointment, but the appointment will be two days following her scheduled birthday party.
  • Massage injection sight.
  • Baths.
You never know how your child will react to the vaccinations. Brayden (now 2.5 years old) got sick after his 2 month and 1 year vaccinations. Kaitlyn (now nearly 10 months old) got sick after her 4 month vaccinations. Be prepared to comfort your child and provide the things necessary to feel better (see Comforting a Sick Toddler/Baby post http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/01/comforting-sick-toddlerbaby.html). Please share any other ideas you have for helping with vaccinations!
Reader Comments:
  • kindra said...
    Funny, I just discovered your blog yesterday, and was checking for a new post this morning when I read today's post on immunization...what a coincidence! We were on our way to my baby's 6 month shots! I hate shots so much (maybe more than my baby does) because she is usually whiney and wakes in the night a couple days in a row. I do appreciate your suggestions and did decide to give my baby tylenol before we left. She seems to be not as "off" this time, as she has been at her other shots. Thanks again!
    February 7, 2008 1:37 AM
    Plowmanators said...
    You are welcome! Glad to help
    February 7, 2008 9:55 AM
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