So parenting challenges never end! And the best news is...its only the beginning for me. I have only one child and she is only now an infant. So what do I know? Apparently nothing. All I know is that after one hurdle comes another. So the growth spurt thing has passed but now my baby cries bloody murder every night. This has been happening the day after she turned 3 months old. Surely biology doesn't follow the modern day calender, does it?? Well for my baby it does. The turn of a new month brings new challenges along. This month has been especially difficult, with one thing after another. It started off with a nursing strike, followed up night waking, followed by inconsolable crying every night.
As has been the norm, everytime she so much as moves a finger, I Google her action to see if its normal or not. I know, I know Google doesn't have children. But the people who blog, share their experiences on forums do right? So this time with the inconsolable crying I turned to my trusty friend Google again. After ruling out some of the common culprits like teething and ear infection, I am left with overstimulation, move sleep time earlier and trying a lot of skin to skin contact. So tonight will be experiment day number one:
1. I will move to the quiet bedroom with baby at 7pm.
2. Change her.
3. Nurse her.
4. Sing softly to her
5. Remind myself. This is only a phase, it will pass. Like everything else has it will get better.
Fingers crossed, hope it works!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
3 month growth spurt??
My mom-in-law always says "Dont say anything nice about your baby! Nazar lagegi! (you will unwittingly cast an evil eye)". I used to think this was rubbish...but no no its true. My sweet, well-behaved, baby started sleeping for 4-6 hours straight when she was 2 weeks old. I knew this isn't how most baby's behave. I knew we were lucky to have such a night sleepy baby. But did that stop me from jinxing it? No, I told everyone who cared to ask how well my baby started sleeping through the night.
"Knock on wood!" "Oh wow! really??", were the most frequent responses. Come 12 weeks and sleep just dissappeared from baby's beautiful eyes. She is up almost every hour crying, hungry and wanting to be held. "It is a growth spurt." "Maybe she is teething?" "Did you try formula at night?" are now the most frequent responses. It was too good to last wan't it? Growth spurt seems like the most plausible answer. What are the signs?? Just so I have a ready list to refer to if I am in doubt the next time (if this time ever ends), here goes:
1. Baby will be extra irritable and cranky at night.
2. She will wake up every hour and want to be held constantly
3. She will only fall asleep if she can smell a boob or has you in the most uncomfortable position. The minute either is moved she up and wailing again.
4. You have no idea when she last woke you up, if you burped her or if she even had anything to burp about!
5. Your days will all blend in one another, you have no idea what you did this past week and cannot believe its only been a week?? Feels like much much much longer!
Hope and pray this ends soon- the night waking not the growing. Definitely not the growing! :)
"Knock on wood!" "Oh wow! really??", were the most frequent responses. Come 12 weeks and sleep just dissappeared from baby's beautiful eyes. She is up almost every hour crying, hungry and wanting to be held. "It is a growth spurt." "Maybe she is teething?" "Did you try formula at night?" are now the most frequent responses. It was too good to last wan't it? Growth spurt seems like the most plausible answer. What are the signs?? Just so I have a ready list to refer to if I am in doubt the next time (if this time ever ends), here goes:
1. Baby will be extra irritable and cranky at night.
2. She will wake up every hour and want to be held constantly
3. She will only fall asleep if she can smell a boob or has you in the most uncomfortable position. The minute either is moved she up and wailing again.
4. You have no idea when she last woke you up, if you burped her or if she even had anything to burp about!
5. Your days will all blend in one another, you have no idea what you did this past week and cannot believe its only been a week?? Feels like much much much longer!
Hope and pray this ends soon- the night waking not the growing. Definitely not the growing! :)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A new momma's pumping project
I woke up this morning at 3am to a hungry baby's frantic cries. Feeding is one of the most satisfying experiences for a mother, is what we've all read at one point or the other. No one tells you how boring it is. Especially when you are trying to keep your eyes open and be awake enough to realise when it is time to offer the other side or when it is time to burp. My iphone albeit the slowest iphone in the world is my faithful companion, along with my DH's loud snores. Oh I have to retract my earlier statement even more boring than feeding is burping a sleepy child. I'm sure every mother will agree, you rub baby's back half asleep for a good 5-10 minutes and when u give up and put the baby in the crib she starts crying, so back you go to try and burp her again and she falls asleep on you or you fall asleep whichever happens first.
I digress, anyway, so when I was half awake this morning I glanced at the calender on my phone (nothing new on facebook since the last time I checked at 12.07 am) and looked at the date September 14. It was on this day exactly a year ago when I confided in myself that I really wanted a baby. I was ready and yearning for a child. Very few things in life go according to plan. But my PhD baby is a rare plan that worked.
We had been trying for a few months but September was different. She was conceived in my mind before she was actually conceived. Fast forward a year later here I am nursing a 12 week old. A beautiful year with a lot of love and many many many memories. All of which will soon be a blur. So I decided I should write my thoughts down. I had already lost out on so much. Not anymore. I spend atleast one - 2 hours a day pumping and thanks to the miraculous hands free pumping bra I own I am now going to pen my thoughts down everyday I pump. So this is my pumping project. Much better than random surfing a facebook stalking dont you think?
I digress, anyway, so when I was half awake this morning I glanced at the calender on my phone (nothing new on facebook since the last time I checked at 12.07 am) and looked at the date September 14. It was on this day exactly a year ago when I confided in myself that I really wanted a baby. I was ready and yearning for a child. Very few things in life go according to plan. But my PhD baby is a rare plan that worked.
We had been trying for a few months but September was different. She was conceived in my mind before she was actually conceived. Fast forward a year later here I am nursing a 12 week old. A beautiful year with a lot of love and many many many memories. All of which will soon be a blur. So I decided I should write my thoughts down. I had already lost out on so much. Not anymore. I spend atleast one - 2 hours a day pumping and thanks to the miraculous hands free pumping bra I own I am now going to pen my thoughts down everyday I pump. So this is my pumping project. Much better than random surfing a facebook stalking dont you think?
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