Babies SUCK

No, realy. They SUCK. All day, all night. Suck, suck, suck. The first week breastfeeding was tough. There is definitly a learning curve on both sides. Mommy learning when and how to offer the goods, and baby how to take hold without ripping off an apendage. Once we made it through the rough spot everything seemed easy. Of course, I still only slept an hour or two at a time, but we had a system, and it worked.

Welcome week 3. Oh, did the baby book mention a teeny tiny growth spurt this week? Yes? Hello 24/7 boob duty. All that time I was using to blog, read and do chores from my phone… Gone. Sorry blogaudience but this week I’ve barely gotten enough shut eye to feed myself let alone surf the blogosphere. The updates are now few and far between.

The books fail to explain exactly what they mean by “growth spurt”. Allow me to explain. We were nursing steady every 2-3 hours for about 30 min including burp time. Then mommy could put her down, grab a potty break, snack and a good 1-2 hour nap. Then one day this week, like a switch had gone off, we are feeding every hour on the hour, getting upset tummies and needing to be extra burped, gas gas gas, mommy runs to the bathroom only to barely get back in time to start all over again.

It was a lot easier when daddy was home to make food, it took me 3 hours in between all the feeding to put together a lunch consisting of more than snack cups of applesuace (my breakfast since I can grab it and nurse).

Since she’s eating so much her little tummy gets upset too. So now on top of the constant boob duty, poor little girl is so uncomfy she’s barely sleeping for long in between either. And the sucking is the only thing that settles her. The boob, her hand or my finger, if there isnt something in her suck range she’s fussy. Im loath to break my steadfast no pacifier stand, but too much more of this we may have to compromise. Luckily, the pediatrition recomended Mylicon drops. What a life saver! These little baby gas drops let me get a full hour nap today, without which I was on the verge of collapse.

Pediatritions are excellent! They are on call for all of your questions no matter how ridicoulouse and if they can’t give an answer over the phone will squeeze you in with a days notice. If only all doctors operated like this, less people would probably wait too long for treatment when things are realy serious.

Tags: newborn, nursing

The “Witching Hour”

The “Witching Hour” or the “13th Hour” is commonly used to describe a time of day outside of time, time which no longer exists or sometimes in occult mythology that ospicious hour when reality shifts ever so slightly.

I dare to redifine this term. For me, the 13th hour is that precious middle of the night time after our first bedtime. A quiet, peacfull span of 30-60 minutes where the world stands still and a new mother can relax and take care of things that help her take care of her newborn.

Bedtime for us is starting to be a routine. Around 8pm I finish feeding baby and daddy takes charge, changing her diaper and either snuggling or playing depending how awake she is so I can have a bathroom break and then lay down for my “nap”. I have him wake me if she starts making the “hungry face” or in 2 hours whichever comes first (so far I’ve only made it 2 hours once). Daddy changes her while I have my 100th bathroom break then I settle in my “nursing station”, Daddy hands her over and then while I feed her, he preps my night by putting my ice packs on my ankles (more on postpartum swelling to come) and stocking my tv stand and the fridge with multiple beverages and tons of one handed snacks to get me through the night. From there it’s off to bed for daddy and the rest of the night is me, my iPhone in one hand, and the baby on my arm.

I get comfotably through about 3-4 hours and then on the tail end of a long both boobs feed I carefully untangle baby from skin2skin contact, change her diaper, swaddle her, put her down in her crib, refill my snacks/drinks, tend the boobs and hit up the bathroom. Once I have 90 min on the alarm clock I hit the pillow for my “bed time”.

Now, here is where the magical 13th hour kicks in. I set the alarm short 30-60 min of when she actualy needs to get up for a feed. What do I do with this magical hour?

First, Bathroom (if you haven’t yet deduced postpartum water shedding is ferociuos) then I have my quiet putter around time until the hungry face showed up.

I pay bills, order stuff I need (tonight we bought our breast pump on amazon), play on the computer, re-apply any ice packs, do light pick-up, hit the bathroom one last time and then it’s over. Time restores itself and I unswadle the munchkin, change her diaper, and settle into the nursing station where we eat, blog, feed, and get lots of skin2skin inbetween. This is where daddy finds us. Snuggled, content and at peace with the world.

My advice, find a schedule/system that works for you. Have a strong support system of familly and friends to help you. Be generous to yourself with anything that provides you comfort, and enjoy these beatifull hours alone in the wee hours with your wee one. They fly by…

Tags: newborn care, nursing, parenting, schedules, sleep