Noah used to be able to nap an hour or two on his own a couple times a day but not since last week. Now the little man demands that somebody hold him for naps ALWAYS. Okay, that's an exaggeration. We can maybe put him down on his own for about 20 minutes before he starts stirring and demanding the human touch.
So of course my free-time has now whittled down to zero. When I do put Noah down for those 20 precious minutes it's a mad triage analysis in my head. Do I pee first? Eat first? Check my email? Pay the bills? Wash dishes? Clean up Judah's toys strewn all over the floor that is bound to kill someone someday? Time is ticking!!!!! Aaaaah!!!!
I'm not going to lie--showering is a low priority. I stink.
But as bad as it's gotten with Noah, he's still a hundred times easier than life with Judah as a newborn. When I go back and read the Judah newborn chronicles on my blog, I shudder in horror. How did we ever survive that?! Sure Noah likes to be held, but a gentle rocking and cuddling is enough for him. Judah demanded to be bounced vigorously in the ergo and constantly. No sitting back in a rocking chair or relaxing on a couch with that one.
And Noah can sit in a bouncy chair forever when he's awake. Judah sat in the same exact bouncy chair for all of 2 minutes his entire infancy. Even when Judah was awake, he demanded constant attention and cuddling.
But night-time Noah is still a pain in the butt--nursing every 2 hours or less! BUT, it's better than old night-time Judah since Noah doesn't have the same bad reflux and I can just nurse him in bed with me all night, usually. The only problem with Noah is that he sometimes doesn't switch to 'night time mode' until 1 am! Judah always switched over around 9 pm. I'm thinking it's because we kept the house dark with Judah so he would get sleep cues at a reasonable hour. But with Noah, we've been careless about having all the lights on in the house even at 10 pm.
Anyway, here's a list of things I've tried to do to make Noah's digestion/life better (how's that for a totally horrible/nonexistant transition):
--give him Mommy's Bliss gripe water whenever he seems gassy. That thing seems to work really well! As soon as I give it to him he always burps and/or farts a lot and seems to ease right down.
--cut out all my favorite foods--dairy, chocolate and caffeine. SUCKS to be me.
--give him probiotics (from a medicine dropper cuz the dude doesn't take a bottle anymore)!!!! He took a bottle early on (week 3) but now doesn't know what the heck to do with it. I don't know whether to try yet again or just give up... I hate pumping anyway...
--read Harvey Karp's new book about baby sleep. I love Harvey Karp. I wish he could be my live-in nanny.
1 comment:
i feel you! i don't know what i'd do without my sling; i started wearing my baby in a sling at 4 weeks at the gentle advice of my doula and omg, it Changed My Life. It totally improved my life by 50% (so amazing to have hands free annnnd have a baby able to sleep because she was snug against me). not that my life then went to 150%, because i was at such a low point those first few week, i was still way sub 100. ;) but yay for slings!
Post a Comment