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My daughter has decided to throw all rules about when a baby should get teeth and in what order and throw them right out the window.
She takes one look at a teething chart like the one below and says “No thanks. I’ll do it my way!!”
I was an early teether, I got my first tooth at just over 3 months old. My husband was a pretty typical teether getting his first tooth around 7 months old. Well, not my daughter. First 7 months went by, then 9 months and quickly we were approaching her first birthday and still looking at this adorable toothless grin.
Finally, about 3 days before her first birthday I saw her first little tooth poking through her gums. The second one was just a few days behind. I had been warned that late teethers tend to get a whole bunch of teeth all at once and it can be a nightmare. Not Maya. She continued to be a very slow teether and remarkably an easy teether (knock on wood). After those first two bottom teeth popped through that was the end of teething for a while. Until her first top tooth poked through about a month and a half later. Then we got to look at this silly grin.
Gotta love that single top tooth!!
Recently she has added two more top teeth, again at her take it slow pace. We were holding steady at 5 teeth until this past weekend. What did she decide to do next? Certainly not follow the rules that for sure! She decided to skip over the rest of her incisors and her cuspids for now and go straight to her first year molars. All four molars at once! The bottom two are poking through and the top two are just about to. She is taking it like a champ too, hardly seems to bother her.
So we’ll be looking at quite the smile now, 5 front teeth, lots of empty space and some molars!
It has been just over a week since I started weaning Maya from her before nap nursing session. The first few days were rough but I would say she is pretty much weaned now. The last few days she hasn’t asked to nurse before her nap and is fine when I lay her down in her crib. It seems to take her about 10-15 minutes to wind down and fall asleep. Most of that time she is just talking to her stuffed animals, although she does sometimes still cry for a few minutes.
I found the hardest days were day 4 and 5. She was really upset when I went to put her down for a nap and asked to nurse while crying heavily. She refused to be cuddled and didn’t want me to read her a story. I almost gave in. It was so hard to see her get so upset but I knew that it was time to get rid of this nursing session so I stood my ground. So when day 6 rolled around and she didn’t even ask I was amazed and so happy.
Our nap routine now looks like this:
- Find her blankie and give the kitties a kiss and a hug.
- Change her diaper and get her crib ready.
- Give her a big hug and kiss.
- Lay her down in her crib.
She usually rolls over and peaks through her crib to watch me leave. I’ll wave bye-bye to her and say “have a good nap sweetie.” We decided to skip the book for now. She just wasn’t interested in listening to a story and it only seemed to upset her more. She is happy to just lay down in her crib and talk to her stuffed animals until she falls asleep.
The next step in the weaning process will be the first thing in the morning nursing session. I’ll wait a few weeks before tackling it though. I’m pretty sure it’ll be a lot easier since I can distract her with breakfast, a nice big bowl of Raisin Bran, her favorite!
Maddie, I proudly walked for you this weekend and it’s something I’ll never forget.
Heading to March for Babies
On Saturday, my friend Heather and I (along with our girls, Maya and Claire) participated in the St. Louis area March for Babies, we proudly walked in honor of Maddie. We donned our “In Memory of Maddie” t-shirts, dressed the girls in purple and joined the other St. Louis Team Maddie members, Mary Pat and Adene.
The huge crowds
The day was beautiful and the crowds were huge. It was such an honor to participate in this event. To be a part of something so great and so important was awe-inspiring. There were people there, like us, walking in memory of a baby taken far too soon. But there were so many others there who were walking because the work of March of Dimes had helped their premature baby survive, thrive and grow up. Groups of people from opposite ends of the spectrum coming together, walking together, to help make sure that one day all babies survive and no parent has to suffer that unspeakable loss. To those people walking side by side was very profound and brought tears to my eyes a couple of times.
Heather proudly walking for Maddie
As we were walking it was fun to look ahead and behind to see all the people. The crowd seemed to stretch on forever. I thought a lot about Heather and Mike Spohr and all those walking with them in LA. I wondered what their crowds looked like. It was so neat to think that those same huge crowds were gathering in many spots around the country all walking for the same cause.
St. Louis Team Maddie at the finish line
It was a great feeling to cross the finish line. I thought about Maddie as I did and said inside “I did this for you sweet Maddie, WE did this for you.”. I’ll never forget this experience. I’ve decided to make this an annual thing. Every year I’ll walk in the March for Babies. Every year I’ll do it for Maddie and for those other people in my life who have been touched by prematurity.
Day four of the weaning process and I am still sane, well for the most part. I will call day four a success (and day three too). She is peacefully sleeping after only about 15 minutes of whining, talking and calling “mama”. Not bad.
I have decided to scrap the book reading idea for now. Today I asked her if she wanted to read a story before nap and she said “no” and signed to nurse. I said no and asked again if she wanted to hear a story. She again said “no” and then pointed to her crib and said “bed”. So, I put her in her bed after giving her a kiss and a hug.
After I left the room she did cry for a couple of minutes but then began talking to her stuffed animals and giving them kisses (I could hear her saying “maw”). After a few minutes of that she called out “mama” a few times. Which, for Maya, is very unusually since she never (or at least rarely) calls me “mama” or anything for that matter. I didn’t go into her because I knew that wouldn’t help so I waited to see what she would do next. She whined for a few minutes and then silence and sleep.
After four days I think she is doing pretty well. I didn’t expect her to forget about nursing before naptime overnight. She is pretty attached to nursing so I know it is going to take her a little bit of time to get used to the idea. Hopefully within the next few days she’ll begin to get into the new routine. I’m grateful we aren’t having any big battles, just a few tears. I’ll definitely wait a few more weeks before I consider dropping another nursing session (we’re down to two now).
Well, we are on day three of weaning Maya from her before nap nursing session. Day one and two went pretty well, I considered them very successful. I can’t decide whether to call today a success or not. It was a success in that she is now sleeping, however, getting her to that point didn’t go as smoothly.
As with the last two days I did our pre-nap routine:
- Got her ready for her nap as usual; grabbed her blankie, gave the kitties a kiss, changed her diaper, set up her crib and closed the blinds in her room.
- Sat down in the chair in her room with her in my lap and read her a story.
- Gave her a big hug and a kiss and laid her down in her crib.
She was not interested in the story at all and asked to nurse a lot. I put the book down since she didn’t want to listen to the story and she really started asking to nurse and even started crying. I gently explained that “mommy’s milk” was all gone right now and she could do that later, before bed. I then gave her a big hug and kiss and laid her in her crib. She was really upset. I stayed there with her for a couple of seconds and tried to comfort her and gave her another hug. Knowing Maya I knew that staying in the room wasn’t going to help her so I said “I love you” and “Have a nice nap” and left the room. She proceeded to cry for about 5-10 minutes then fell asleep.
So, success or no? I think I’ll have to wait until tomorrow and see how that goes. I didn’t expect this whole thing to run smoothly, she is pretty attached to nursing still. I expect there to be a few bumps in the road but all in all I think it is going well so far.