Running Mania

QuickChick wrote: Off I go to make a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon, mmmmm!!

I can tell I'm feeling better because that sounds delicious! I've been home sick with stomach flu for three days. Feeling much better today, but working from my living room as I try and get more food and fluids into me. I miss exercise!!!

QuickChick wrote: He looks super healthy with cute peachy cheeks, is smiley, seems satisfied after his feedings (even before the food) and sleeps through the night, so he's certainly not acting deprived.

He does look super healthy and smiley (and he's cute to boot)! I don't know what to say, except send out some encouragement vibes!

Scrummy - I'm glad you are feeling better

QuickChick wrote:I'm in a rut!! I hope it's one that passes quickly, but for the past couple of weeks I've really struggled to be excited about my runs. It's partly the weather for sure. I hate getting all bundled up, I hate the footing, I hate the cold. It's partly stress about Nathaniel's weight too- he spits up like crazy and is a slow gainer. It's probably irrational but lately when I have run farther or faster than usual there's a part of me that's like "hopefully this doesn't make my milk go down". I don't think I'm going far enough OR fast enough for this to be a worry, but it's there. My weight has gone down too, which in most ways is great (I'm back to where I was, more or less), but it also makes me wonder if my milk supply is still sufficient. I've started offering him some food after most feedings in the daytime (he was HILARIOUS this morning with his oatmeal- he was licking it off his bib!), so hopefully that will help. He looks super healthy with cute peachy cheeks, is smiley, seems satisfied after his feedings (even before the food) and sleeps through the night, so he's certainly not acting deprived. Anyway. I need my little boy to get bigger and I need SPRING to come!! Off I go to make a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon, mmmmm!!

This winter is killing me too! I can't stand it any longer. I am running in DC at the end of April and have yet to run outside since before Xmas. (I have been skiing but I don't find that bugs me like running in the cold does.)

Did your pediatrician have any recommendations for the spit ups or can figure a reason out for it? I am glad he is liking his food. It is so nice they switched the guidelines again on the food. It was the 6 month one when owen was that age and I remember how starving he was at 5 months and I was panicked I was going to cause all kinds of issues if we started a couple weeks early. We did end up starting a couple weeks early and I was stressed but my mom attended a conference right after and said they are looking at switching the recs to earlier again because they weren't finding there were issues. You can never win!

I am jealous they have those fruit and veggie squeeze packs for babies now too. How handy to throw in your purse!

He basically just said he's the age for it, and will likely grow out of it. He suggested starting food to anchor things a bit. Yeah the recommendations are all over the place- many sources still say wait till 6 months, including the WHO. He does seem to like it. I'm not giving him rice cereal- I'm making stuff for him because I want to know what's in it. He gets oatmeal and some veggies. He tried green beans today and LOVED them! I only offer it after he's had all the milk he wants, so it's bonus calories rather than a replacement for milk at this point. It's day by day... today has been good, yesterday he went through 5 bibs by 9am!

They changed all the recs even in between when I had John and when I had Mo! Frustrating.

Each baby is different, too. John and Mo were ready for solids by 5 months, Damon could have cared less, and I think he was closer to 7 when we started him. Mo was trying to steal my food at 5 months!

Yeah our ped said starting early is good for reducing allergies, but mainly he suggested it to anchor the milk in his belly. So far... It MAY be helping, but I've also seen a lot of oatmeal, green bean and sweet potato vomit.
On another note I had a good run today!!! Iron Coll gave me the push I needed to go outside today.


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Aw, sorry to hear about N's slow weight gain and that it's worrying you. Have you seen a lactation consultant? We have free drop-ins with Ottawa Public Health. Maybe there's something similar where you are? They might be able to give you some good tips or at least reassure you that nothing is wrong. It doesn't sound like anything is wrong (there's a wide range of normal) and I think you're doing great.

I know how you feel about running. I'm sick of winter!

I haven't, though I got some fenugreek because I wondered if he was getting less milk. He loves to eat, and has never had problems eating. He seems done when he's done... I was worried because if he wasn't gaining weight, then maybe he "thought" he had enough when really he hadn't. If I don't get good news from the doc next time, I probably will go talk to someone. I think he's gained a bit from the food introduction, though, and possibly he's taking more milk at each feeding from the fenugreek. He had stopped rolling over, which he started doing at 15 weeks, and I think his head was growing faster than the rest of him! He started again a couple days ago.

He's coming with us today to see Daddy run a track race! I can't wait till he's big enough to do kids' races (if he wants to). It will be SO cute!!!

Sounds like a great plan, QC.

Kid's races are the best. I'm on the hunt for some local 5 and 10k's this summer that allow strollers on-course. It will be good resistance training when A can sit forward in the BOB and I also can join my running partners again.

There was some discussion on my FB photo about running into pregnancy so thought I'd bring it over here. One thing I was wondering was about baby position. We just found out this morning that this baby is breech-ish as well (more transverse - head and feet are both over on my left side), which would be why I'm not having any pressure down low at all yet (31 weeks), and maybe still feeling comfortable while running.

Nathaniel didn't drop down until 2 days before he was born, so I also didn't have a lot of lower belly pressure while I was running. I'm not sure at what point he was head down to stay. I know I was feeling some major pressure on my ribs from about 24 weeks on, which I assumed were his little monkey feet, lol, but they could easily have been hands. Some people drop weeks before though... Didn't Miss Smiles drop a few or a couple weeks out? I seem to recall a belly pic a couple of weeks before she had R where it really looked like he had dropped. Maybe people who drop earlier are more uncomfortable down low?
You are doing amazingly though Scrummy!!! Your pic on FB looked so healthy and radiant.

QuickChick wrote:Nathaniel didn't drop down until 2 days before he was born, so I also didn't have a lot of lower belly pressure while I was running. I'm not sure at what point he was head down to stay. I know I was feeling some major pressure on my ribs from about 24 weeks on, which I assumed were his little monkey feet, lol, but they could easily have been hands. Some people drop weeks before though... Didn't Miss Smiles drop a few or a couple weeks out? I seem to recall a belly pic a couple of weeks before she had R where it really looked like he had dropped. Maybe people who drop earlier are more uncomfortable down low?
You are doing amazingly though Scrummy!!! Your pic on FB looked so healthy and radiant.

Just wanted to echo the same Scrummy! You are doing amazing and look fabulous! Keep it up!!!

No clue about babies dropping or whatnot. I never had a clue about that with A.

I dropped at about week 36 or 37, and baby*Smiles was born at 38 weeks exactly.

If it feels right scrummy, don't stop!

First stroller run DONE! It was fun and I definitely noticed that it's more effort, especially uphill. N was out COLD, too! He has been fussy lately and not napping as well, so yay, I have another tool in my arsenal when he's skipped a nap and I get desperate (though I like for him to nap in his crib most of the time). I need to get him some teeny baby shades... any recs?

Napping in the crib is over-rated. Sleep is sleep, and my babies often napped in the stroller.

When he naps in the crib, he (usually) gets a solid hour or hour and a half. He's good in the carseat too, but I'm not crazy about him sleeping in there for TOO long. I just want him to really sleep rather than catnap. He's a bear when he doesn't get good long chunks of sleep. Once I am running an hour or more in the stroller, I'll be cool with it being an actual nap.

My DD, who is #3, slept in the car seat at night because it was the only place she would sleep. During the day her crib was in the living room so she would often nap in the chaos of a very noisy house.


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He used to be pretty much able to fall asleep whenever, wherever. Around 4 months he got so I could tell he slept better in a dim, quiet place (like most of us!). I'm dreading the day he becomes like me and can't nap in the car. I envy people, adults AND babies, who can sleep in a loud or busy environment, or not lying down. Did your DD have reflux? Was it something about being sort of upright?





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No reflux, that was my middle guy. She just slept better in the car seat and with 2 other children running around I needed sleep too. So she stayed put.


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Baby shades: I like the Baby Bans. (Might be Baby Banz)

Now that John is older, though, he gets superstore sunglasses, because he just wrecks them.

Charlotte has requested "more sunglasses!" for her birthday. She's currently using my old pair which are actually kids Ray Bans...so my not-quite-three-year-old has $90 sunglasses!

Scrummy: Keep it up if you're feeling good! I can't recall when I dropped but it was definitely after 35 weeks when I had my mat pics taken by Jes. I had DH take a bare belly shot of me in the kitchen which ended up being the night before A was born. I think that she was still fairly high although I could definitely feel more pressure on my hip ligaments and "down there."

I was going to say Baby Banz too for baby shades. They look so cute and stylish.

QC: Since each baby is so different with regard to sleep, there definitely isn't a one size fits all solution. Till now, A has mostly napped in the carrier, swing or carseat during walks. She sleeps really well in her crib at night and transfers well. I wanted to her to start crib napping a few days ago so I have the option to lay down in bed if I need a break. I read Elizabeth Pantley's No-Cry Nap Solution and it has a lot of great tips. I was surprised by this since the "Sleep Solution" book wasn't that great. It breaks it down into types of sleepers (in-the-arms, BF/bottle feeders, motion etc) and gives custom tips for each. The first 3 days have been fairly successful although I have to be on-the-ball and get back to her side upon her first awakening around 40 minutes or she will wake herself up. At 4 months, she's SO busy and engaged in everything happening around her. I've managed to stretch naps in the afternoon to about 1.5 hours. I've also started creating a sleep log in Google Docs to track when she eats/sleeps which I update whenever I remember. By the end of the day (6:30-7:00 pm), she seems ready for bed and has settled back into a decent night-time routine so I think that it's working well so far. This will likely be transient but at least I feel a bit more well rested than 2-3 weeks ago.

Yeah it changes really quickly! Today he has been much better- two almost 2 hour naps so far and he'll have one more catnap probably before bed. I think he's getting ready to transition to two naps, which will be nice- we will have a bit more flexibility about when we do things. Thankfully nights have been good. I have just tried to keep his routine as consistent as possible through these little bumps in the road and he does tend to weather them just fine and fall back into his good sleep habits. He may be going through a bit of a growth spurt and MAYBE coming out the other side... though it's different from the 6 and 12 week (which is GREAT if that's what it is!). Instead of waking up several times at night and nursing every 2 hours in the day, he is just cranky, his sleep has been off, and he is eating a TON of solids after a full nursing session. He's so awesome though, even when he's cranky.

I did get the Baby Banz... he looks ADORABLE in them!! Thanks for the recommendation. Now I need to find some good sunscreen, free of toxic crap. He'll be 6 months on Friday so he's good to worship the sun like mommy (heehee). I can't wait to run with him again this week!

I never even thought of baby sunglasses! Makes sense now that I do....

We are doing well here. Baby*Smiles is a pleasure to have at home. He is usually easier to predict during the day as far as when he will be feeding or sleeping, but nights are hit and miss. Some nights he is up at 2 hour intervals and others he almost sleeps through the night. He is a pretty typical baby though we have our next well baby appointment with the midwives tomorrow, and hopefully they well tell us that he is gaining weight!

QuickChick wrote:

I did get the Baby Banz... he looks ADORABLE in them!! Thanks for the recommendation. Now I need to find some good sunscreen, free of toxic crap. He'll be 6 months on Friday so he's good to worship the sun like mommy (heehee). I can't wait to run with him again this week!

We use Badger and Green Beaver.