Any other parents out there find it odd that you buy a toy, or a playpen, or really anything else that comes from a store and it comes with an owners manual or other directions on how to use it, but yet, you create a life and nothing. Nada. Zip. Not one thing (other than advice from family and friends) that tells you exactly what you need to do to make this child "work" for you.
Yes, there are guide books that can help you, but as new parents quickly find out, no two babies are exactly the same. What works for one may not work for another. I now know that maternity leave is not just so that parents can feed and bond with little baby, but it's a time of trial and error and we wade through the murky waters of what works for little Jacqueline.
For those of you who forgot from middle school math and science days (or maybe elementary...) trial and error is the procedure in which you try one method to solve a problem, if it doesn't work and you "error" you just "try" something else instead.
This method was created for babies, I'm sure of it.
We try one thing. Breastfeeding. We get a poor latch. Error (and a very sore mommy). So, we try a new way to get baby to latch and finally we start to see some success. This took a few trips to the breastfeeding clinic and some very helpful nurses.
We try to take the old diaper away and then get new diaper ready. Not fast enough. Error, and a mess. Try again, only this time new diaper is ready and waiting to be swept in to replace old diaper with barely a second to spare.
We try to get baby naked and ready for bath. Error, and poo all over mommy's white tank top. (The poo stain did not come out.) Try again the next time...leave diaper on until right before going under the water.
We try to get baby to sleep in bassinet first night home from hospital. Error. Finally at 4 AM mommy decides that since we are already awake we might as well make this time useful and practice our swaddling technique. Success. She sleeps two hours in bassinet. This one still seems to be working out all the kinks. Some nights she likes the swaddle and will sleep up to four or five hours in the bassinet and some nights she won't even lay in there for 10 minutes. Still trying to figure out exactly what she likes here...
We began the new trial and error problem solving last night. Sleeping in the crib at night. So far during the day she seems to be doing fine. Things started off a little rocky. I fed her, swaddled her, and put her in the crib. Error = screaming for a good 15-20 minutes. I gave in and went to check on her. She was burning up...sweaty head and neck and just plain mad. New plan.
No swaddle. Still screaming. She had used up so much energy screaming that she was now hungry again. A lot of screaming plus a little food made for a very sleepy baby. Once she was asleep in my arms I put her in the crib (sort of on her side, she likes to roll on her side). SUCCESS! She slept like that for a good 4 hours! Only waking up to eat and go right back to sleep for another 3 hours!
That all made for the best night sleep for mommy and daddy so far. Not having her in our room makes a huge difference. I'm not focused on every little sigh and coo she makes and she seemed to sleep more soundly too.
I only hope that this pattern can continue tonight...
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