On Mon, 25 Jun 2001, Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten wrote:
> Julia Thompson schreef:
>
> > On Sat, 23 Jun 2001, Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten wrote:
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > It took me a while but finally I'm back on the list. Already found out
> > > that parenting is a full day (and night) job. Being as sick as I was
> > > before delivery I didn't have much energy left to spend on other
> > > things besides junior's most direct needs once he was born. Now a week
> > > out of hospital I'm slowly getting back to full strength. The word
> > > here being slowly. Getting up at 3 AM in the night doesn't really help
> > > speed up my recovery, but I'm starting to get used to it. :o). But I
> > > must say that Tom really is an angel (psst don't tell him I said
> > > that). He sleeps between meals and is satisfied with a few hours of
> > > undivided attention each day. During the night he demands only one
> > > meal and sometimes he even waits for a more civilised hour like 5 AM
> > > to demand it. Things he really doesn't like: being changed into
> > > another diaper or taking a bath. But hey I can't have it all, now can
> > > I.
> >
> > He's wanting to eat only once during the night?
>
> Yep, but it was somewhat of a struggle 'till we got there.
>
> > You are extremely fortunate.
>
> Nope, in hospital they held to a rather rigid scedule where he only
> got one feed a night. The nurses are somewhat more resistent to
> insistant crying. They took care of him during the night so that I
> could get a decent nights sleep. Now I profit from that although I
> hated him being taken somewhere else during the night at first.
We weren't in the hospital as long, so we didn't get that enforced for as
long as you did.
> > My night last night went something like:
> >
> > Feeding at 8PM
> > Bath at 9PM (and Sam doesn't like that very much either)
>
> Found the reason why. Tom likes the water level to be so that his
> buttocks can still touch the bottom of the tub. So that problem is
> solved. He likes bathing just fine now. I just hope his dad will stop
> wanting to teach him how to splash water with his hands. <sigh>
> Children. :o)
He just doesn't like any of it except for rinsing his head. He's a little
happier in the tub than he was when he was getting sponge baths.
> > Downtime with Daddy for awhile
> > Asleep when Mommy comes in at 11 to go to bed
> > Mommy asleep at 11:30
> > Feeding at 12:45
> > Mommy asleep at 1:40
> > Feeding at 2:40 and will NOT go to sleep afterwards, and Mommy is kept
> > awake
> > Diapering disaster around 3:50
>
> How can diapering be a disaster? I just change Tom's diapers before
> feeding. Usually I put him to bed after feeding. Only after the
> morning afternoon and early evening feedings we have a cuddle hour or
> two or three or ..... But if he demands attention during the night
> besides feeding or a fresh diaper he is out of luck and he knows it.
> Only took me three nights to get that through to him here at home. So
> by now he knows the routine.
There's a point where the dirty diaper is off and the fresh one isn't on
yet, and if the baby's bowels decide to move at that point, the results
may qualify as a disaster. :P
And he will NOT go to sleep with a freshly wet diaper. He often will also
not feed until it's been changed; if he wets his diaper during a feeding,
he'll likely come off the breast and start screaming.
> > Feeding at 4:20
> > Mommy asleep around 5
> > Feeding at 8:30AM
> >
> > Now, if I hadn't decided to be altruistic and let Dan have a little extra
> > uninterrupted sleep, the diapering disaster would not have been *my*
> > problem, but no, I had to go and be nice.
>
> LOL. Yep, I've done that too on occasion. And felt like a zombie in the
> morning.
>
> > No good deed goes unpunished. :) As it was, he got to deal with a fussy
> > baby after the diaper change & dressing into a clean gown while I dealt with
> > the mess in the bathroom.
> >
> > And everyone else here (husband, parents-in-law, brother-in-law) was doing
> > yardwork this morning for awhile, so I got sole care of Sam, who fell
> > asleep after the 8:30 feeding long enough to let me shower, but not long
> > enough to get any breakfast before he started crying for various things,
> > one after another (fresh diaper, cuddling, another feeding).
>
> In hospital they ordered me to finish my breakfast first, regardless
> of what Tom wants. Hard to do at first but I did obey this
> commandment. (The nurse in question was not of a type to argue with)
> They told me that his diaper and other needs can wait a little while
> without harming him in any way. Turns out they were right about that.
> Tom adjusted just fine to that. So now he sleeps while I have my
> breakfast in peace and quiet.
It would have been nice if I'd gotten to eat *any* meal in the hospital
uninterrupted. If by some miracle the kitchen hadn't managed to totally
disregard one item on the list of my food allergies and provide me with
something that would be bad for me to eat, the meal would either arrive in
the middle of a feeding, the middle of some staff member being in the room
to do something to me, or I'd start eating and a couple of minutes later a
nurse would come in and interrupt my meal to do something.
It's gotten to the point now where someone else can hold him for awhile
while I eat, as long as someone else is actually in the house, conscious
and not in the shower. (Failed on the first item on Saturday.)
> > But he's so darn cute and feels so nice to hold, he's worth it. :)
>
> And I really can believe that. I've been extensively warned about how
> babies already know how to get their parents into action. At the start
> I found it really very hard to let him cry (even though I know he is
> perfectly alright) for a little while untill he falls asleep again
> just fine. But it's been worth it, we now have a fairly livable
> scedule where he gets his feeding when he needs it (about every three
> to four hours) and lots of attention (preferably during the day) and I
> get enough sleep (preferably during the night). :o)
>
> Sonja
> I guess Tom's education has already begun. Poor kid. ;o)
>
> Btw. At the moment he is sleeping in a baby sling I have put on. So he
> is close to me and I have my hands free to type or cuddle. Looks like
> he likes it ...... Aaaaaaaah he is soooooooo cute.
Those slings are wonderful! I haven't been using mine so much in the past
few days because the grandparents really want to spend a lot of time
holding him, but when we were between grandmothers, the sling was a
godsend. I'd have him in it, walk around a little bit, he'd calm down and
go to sleep, and I'd just have this nice warm, calm baby next to my body.
There's nothing to beat that feeling.
Julia
