Last night, Henry woke up twice to nurse. I like to think of myself some sort of Natural at getting up in the night, but it’s actually that I adjust well: if he wakes me up when he hasn’t been waking regularly, I’m a sleepwalker. I woke up in the recliner an hour or so later, with a sleeping baby sprawled across me. I tried to put him in his crib, but no: now he wanted to nurse. So I nursed him, fell back to sleep, woke again with the baby sleeping on me. He again explained that he’d been robbed of his opportunity. Some nights, I write myself an I.O.U.
In other news which MAY OR MAY NOT be about Henry, I called the doctor to ask what constipation remedies were safe for an 8-month-old someone who may or may not be 8 months old. This is my first baby to have this problem, so this is all new territory for me.
I talked with the nurse, and she said they don’t recommend things like milk of magnesia until the child has been seen by the doctor. She said that I should try changing the child’s diet first, starting by taking out applesauce, bananas, rice, and carrots, and adding prune juice, white grape juice, more fruits and vegetables, more fluids, and more grains.
So, fine. But how to get the juice into him? He just spits when I give him a sippee cup. I’ve never even offered him a bottle, because lengthy and frustrating experiments with his siblings showed me it was easier not to bother with it.
On the other hand, Henry is the easy-goingest, laid-backest baby I have ever had. His life philosophy is “Sure! Whatevs!” So I got an Avent bottle (those are the ones the breastfed babies used in the daycare where I worked), and I put some prune juice into it, and Henry fumbled for a minute and then latched on like a champ and drank it right down.
Conclusion: slightly-warmed prune juice is A GREAT IDEA. I’ll say no more.
As long as we’ve all lost our appetites anyway, this seems like good timing for a diet update. I am having a teetery couple of days, almost forgetting I’m ON a diet. Like, this morning I was all, “Hey, this would be a good day to bake cookies!” Then I had a very grim remembering, and it was SO grim, I felt like the only compensation was to go ahead and make the cookies. (I haven’t.) (Yet.) (But I AM eating an enormous bowl of sugar-free fat-free pudding at 10:00 in the morning.)
But I am still on it, and my weight is still going down—more slowly, of course, but ever downward. I notice I’ve been feeling perkier and more energetic and like I’m better able to cope with things. I even washed the kitchen floor, and if that doesn’t smack of losing weight directly from the brain, I don’t know what does.
Huh. WARM prune juice. I never thought to warm it up. Duh.
I was told the same thing about taking out applesauce. I always figured applesauce would help the cause but NO. For some reason that is mind-boggling to me.
Henry is looking seriously adorable and so much like Elizabeth! I think they have the same eyes and smile.
Oatmeal, oatmeal, oatmeal.
My ped. also suggested nectar b/c it’s thicker than juice. Apricot nectar in particular helped.
Good for you on the weight loss!
I washed the kitchen floor yesterday too! For the first time in quite a while. But then I made myself a pan of brownies this morning as a reward. For you to do it AND resist cookie baking… The medal is in the mail!
heeeee. he still looks like an adorable little old man to me.
sorry to hear that EVERYONE is struggling with diets. but yay you! weight loss! without resorting to prunes yourself! :-)
Did you have to wash the kitchen floor BECAUSE of the warm prune juice? :)
Oh, sweet Henry!
Gald the prune juice in a bottle worked for you… my kids were never champs of the bottle either, though Marin did take it better than my twins…
Diets- ug! More energy-AWESOME! Clean floor- Peaceful. Congrats!
Because no one can be eating and reading this after your post…
Thing1 was so bound up that the doctor recommended a suppository.
It worked… and it shot across the room!!!
He hates when I tell that story.
Henry is just too cute. It kills me. Also, if you want to make cookies you could look up a recipe for healthier ones? Like cooking light cookies or something? I bet there’s tons of not-too-unhealthy stuff on the internet.
8 months! No, no, no, not YOUR little Henry. He is NOT 8 months old already. He’s adorable!
So glad the prune juice is doing it’s job. And way to keep up your diet. I like the idea of at least having a choice like fat-free sugar-free pudding around. You can do it, and the continued weight loss is excellant. I’ll keep cheering you on.
We always had really good luck getting things moving with blueberries, but I’m sure this time of year prunes are more economical.
He looks so sweet and easy going. How did you go about ordering that variety of baby? I’m concerned my baby will be more like his/her parents – demanding, needy, constantly in need of hearing own self.
Cass- I think the secret is his fifth-born status. My first born was an irritable little old man!
Jess- Sigh. Healthy baked things are discouraging. I find I think of them as “free” so I eat the whole batch—feeling discontented the whole time, because they’re not as good as what I wanted.
Rayne- Hm. I do have some blueberries in the freezer. Maybe time to make some more baby food!
Cute baby picture!
We’ve not been baking cookies lately around here because we are SWAMPED with Girl Scout cookies. The husband bought 16 boxes from our daughter. I’ve had lemon cremes for breakfast three days running.
Mmm warm prune juice – glad it helped. He is such a cutie. I have a little easy-going man over here too. He’s so much easier than his high-maintenance sister was.
And I’m ever so proud of you for sticking to your diet – me, I had ice-cream for breakfast. Sigh.
I also always adjusted well to the kids being up at night. Heck, CA still gets up once or twice a night and needs me to help her fall asleep. But I hear you on doing it when you’re not used to it.
You should head over my way because I haven’t done much more than run the swiffer over my kitchen floor since I got pregnant.
Adorable! And great for the weight loss!
Yay prune juice! Who knew it would make a difference where the PRUNES actually wouldn’t?
Congrats on your diet. I, too, am on a diet and find myself completely uninterested in food because of it. And oh, do I crave the sweet stuff, but then I pop a sugar-free candy in my mouth and go play with my son. If I can’t enjoy food, I’ll channel that energy into throwing blocks. Woo Hoo!
So when y’all say “washed” the kitchen floor, do you mean “mopped” in some strange Yankee way of putting it? (Like my Yankee husband who refers to “cupbords” instead of “cabinets” and “green pepper” instead of “bell pepper.”) Or do you actually get down and WASH the thing? Because if it’s a Cinderella scrubbing thing, I’d have to be anorexic before I got to that.
Good for you to be losing the weight! Want to share some of that magic with me? Or just offer me the sugar-free pudding, ugh.
Mairzy- It was hands-and-knees washing, but it was an accident: I started scrubbing at just one grubby spot in front of the refrigerator–but the scrubbing was contagious and spread rapidly.
Good job on the weight loss! And the unnamed boy-child. I love the baby food posts and am now determined that we’ll make our own for the twins.
Logan says he’s ready. Emma says more milk for her!
Good for you on the weight loss – I love that picture of Henry!
Have you ever tried freezing balls of cookie dough on a cookie sheet, then storing them in a freezer bag in the freezer? You can take out a couple when you feel like a cookie and can even bake them in the toaster oven (using a piece of parchment paper or a muffin pan liner underneath each cookie helps) and that way you don’t have 2 dozen cookies lying around.
Oh, Henry. The cuteness! It hurts!
That is one sweet baby. So cute!
Congrats to you on continuing your diet. Mine is an up and down sort of thing. Lately it’s sort of day to day. Keep it up!
Gah! He’s ADORABLE!
Good for you for remaining on the diet…and even for scrubbing the floor – you are too good!
OK … I KNOW that you are a very experience mom who knows a ton about babies, etc. But … are you really sure the little guy is constipated? I mean, some breastfed babies just poop once per week, and that’s just their way of doing things.
I had one baby that was like that . When she went, she really, really, went! Nuff Said…
Snowberrylane- I DO do that (and wrote about it over at SundryBuzz awhile back), but had to stop because the lure of “fresh hot cookies whenever I want” was too tempting!
Cammy- Without getting into icky details: I’m sure. (I considered getting into the icky details, but thought that would REALLY be pushing the readership!)
Cute pic! I’m glad someone found a solution to that little problem.
My diet:
Henry’s CHEEKS.
(And bacon.)
My diet:
Henry’s CHEEKS.
(And bacon.)
My diet:
Henry’s CHEEKS.
(And bacon.)
Tag, you’re it!! (for a meme)
My mom INSISTS that the hands-and-knees method is the only acceptable way to wash floors. I try not to do it though. It’s too horrifying to see the neglect up close.
That Henry is monchable for sure. I too think he’s looking more like Elizabeth.
Ka-uuuute.
Ah yes the prune juice. I found it to work quite well with my son. Much quicker than you’d think too.
If he still has these problems when he’s 2 1/2, let me know, because I am chock-full of ideas for getting that age child to poop. I’ll admit though, not all of them are good.
Oh, that smile! Who knew prune juice could make a kid so happy?
I also think he’s looking rather like his sister.
Also, I’m relieved to hear that your wee boy still eats during the night. I knew our pediatrician was full of it when she said T. should be able to get through the night without eating! At four months!
i also found that taking his temp rectally for like 45 seconds tended to help brandn push it right out