ILX Parenting 5: I'm a big kid now

our kids were p much nighttime hell for the first couple of months, then things sorta normed out in an ok-ish way, but "night things" are one of the hardest things for parents to generalize about I think.

she actually didn't get naps yesterday due to doting grandpa, apparently, so that could explain the rough night

guys, having a kid is awesome and i love it.

evie locked herself in the bathroom yesterday and my wife had to call our landlord to get them to send the maintenance guy to let her out. fortunately the bathroom window was open so he could climb through and unlock the door and meanwhile my wife fed evie teddy grahams through the window. apparently evie was pretty happy about the whole situation.

hahaha

awwww

guys dont resist this

http://www.ourbabynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Baby5.jpg

thats a miracle blanket btw

we got one of those when evie was little and i didn't do much for us but i know a lot of other people on here swear by them

babby burrito

we used one pretty late on beeps because she was a hey im going to sleep for 5 minutes at a time suckerz type kid. she would sleep 8 hours in this thing. We started early with henry and even now, long after he grew out of it, he loves sleep.

We used a miracle blanket and she really liked it, for about two weeks. Then she started to hate having her arms tucked in. IDK though, maybe I should try it again.

the baby burrito is cute as hell though

how fucking cute is that burrito baby btw

woah

when she used to hiccup in it and the burrito would tremble a little, oh man

yeah miracle blanket is truly a miracle. really worked for us in those first few months.

ADORABLE

Hurting, I can't remember, are you co-sleeping? Can your wife manage to feed lying down? But yes, what Tracer said, sleep begets sleep.

Not co-sleeping. We keep the co-sleeper next to the bed but with the mesh 'wall' up because we can't anchor it to our bed and we don't want to risk her falling out. She does eat in bed, but at some point in the night my wife takes over being the one to take her out of the co-sleeper and change her.

are you changing her because she's got a dirty nappy or is it just wet? I quickly realised that only changing dirty ones was key as it really wakes them up and it takes ages to settle them again.

In case you didn't find any safe co-sleeping guidelines - http://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/sleeping-safely-your-baby It's been a godsend for me, I couldn't tell you how many times she wakes up in the night as I hardly ever wake up properly, I just latch her back on and go to sleep. We've got a superking bed now but started off with a co-sleeper, tbh she never lay in the co-sleeper she was always in the bed with me in the crook of my arm. I found that I didn't move around at all, and neither did she.

Another co-sign on the miracle blanket. Well worth sticking with in our experience.

is the miracle blanket the same as any swaddling blanket? My sister swore by swaddling, Aidan hated it and it's not recommended for co-sleeping so I never tried it with Molly.

are you changing her because she's got a dirty nappy or is it just wet? I quickly realised that only changing dirty ones was key as it really wakes them up and it takes ages to settle them again.

In case you didn't find any safe co-sleeping guidelines - http://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/sleeping-safely-your-baby It's been a godsend for me, I couldn't tell you how many times she wakes up in the night as I hardly ever wake up properly, I just latch her back on and go to sleep. We've got a superking bed now but started off with a co-sleeper, tbh she never lay in the co-sleeper she was always in the bed with me in the crook of my arm. I found that I didn't move around at all, and neither did she.

― vickyp, Friday, March 30, 2012 4:23 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

generally we avoid waking her to change her, instead timing it around feedings and when she has already woken herself up

As far as sleeping in the bed, I am a little concerned b/c my wife IS excessively tired.

In re swaddling I did read at least one expert saying don't do arms-in after a few weeks. We didn't really need the guidance though b/c around a few weeks she started fighting the swaddling blanket and also gaining more arm control such that she wasn't waking herself up with her arms.

Re. your wife's tiredness, is she napping whenever the baby naps during the day? It's a hard thing to do when there's stuff that needs doing but it's so important, and her well being is way more important than the house being tidy etc. I did it first time round but with the second it's obviously not so easy and I found it much harder not having that extra sleep.

oh and I recommend dropping diaper changes to only changing when she's dirty, it makes a difference to falling asleep times, even if she's already awake for feeds etc.

Swaddling babies is huge in my family. I just finished making a swaddling blanket out of muslin for our little girl.

Every time a neighbor or friend started up about their babies not sleeping my mom, grandmother and/or aunt would all say swaddle. They would pair that with boiling oats in milk or water then straining the oats out. Babies can't have that drink until they are a few months old though.

We were all swaddled as babies and I guess it was uber comfy and soothing because it went on too long. I could only get to sleep being wrapped up tightly and would ask my mom to "tuck me in" which meant for her to swaddle me. This went on until I started kinder, yeah, too long.

i def needed to be swaddled in order to sleep---my mom told me that if one of my arms got loose i would just go nuts, and as soon as it got tucked in i would pass the fuck out

also fwiw lil 6wk babbies ought to be sleeping like 16-20 hours a day iirc

right, with the little ones there is no night, there is only Zuul

white noise recording + arms-in swaddling ftw

at least for tonight

That's awesome that you and the kid are already recording white noise together.

xD

uh,

XD

Nice! How did the daytime naps go?

So Abby's been taking her naps late in the day now. She used to nap from like 11-1 or so, now she won't go down before 3 pm. Her naps are usually between 2-3 hours and if she sleeps until 5 or 6, things get particularly challenging at bedtime.

My wife works a lot of weekends, so last night I had to put both of the kids to bed. Joey nodded off around 8:30, but Abby was unstoppable. I'd get her down on the pillow and start in with her bottle, but she'd pry herself back up and go run around the room and play with her toys. I played with her intermitantly while I worked at getting her down until about 10, but the next thing I knew, it was 11 o'clock and my wife was yelling upstairs "Honey, I'm home"-type shit.

FUCK! I had fallen asleep before my baby and who the hell knows, she could have found a way to really hurt herself. I looked around in a panic and didn't see her. Finally found her dozing like a lamb in her little play tent and spirited her back into bed before my wife came upstairs.

I feel like the absolute worst fuck-up. When I watch my kids I'm not drinking or anything. I'm just an exhausted-assed dad who can't keep up with a 16-month-old girl.

yeah, the dreaded late nap, i feel you on that one

well that lasted about a night. Last night she pretty much didn't sleep for more than 10 mins from 8pm to almost 1am. White noise, swaddling, rocking, shhing, feeding, didn't matter.

yes yes but what of the daytime napping

Little late here, but I wholeheartedly recommend the Miracle Blanket. We swaddled our son with that plus another blanket until he was about 4 months (at which point he would just start breaking out in the middle of the night and screaming and he'd outgrown the co-sleeper anyway--on to the crib and his own room at that point.)

idk, she struggles mightily in the miracle blanket sometimes. I think it prevents her from pulling her knees up to release gas. the halo sleepsack thingy gives her a little more freedom of movement, but it also seems a bit less cool and breathable.

xp yeah daytime napping too. Everything.

whew, so it seems like maybe we're getting over some hump. Last night she slept for a four plus hour stretch, and tonight she went in her co-sleeper without a big fight. Just now she woke up and cried a little but she was easy to soothe back to sleep.

wtg babby

anyone have thoughts on alcohol (for parents) in the early months? I've had exactly three beers since she was born, which I drank during the day. I have this westmalle in the fridge that I'm kind of dying to crack open right now, but I'm afraid I'll be insufficiently alert to do my nighttime bottle/changing duties.

too late

You're probably fine having a beer or two. I drink moderately now and my parental adrenaline kicks in regardless when I have to get up and change a diaper in the middle of the night.

I do my best not get drunk anymore though. When my girl was littler, we had to take her to the hospital a few times, usually in the middle of the night. One of the first times, I had been drinking a little more than I should have been and it was really difficult for me to stay awake and on top of things in the ER. After that, I didn't drink at all for about a year.

Yeah, having the one strong beer went fine but was about the limit of what I'd want to do a diaper change under the influence of, let alone having to go to the hospital.

I didn't drink much during the babies, but more for the same reasons I didn't drink when I went skiing.

Just like my appetite for alcohol disappeared with higher altitudes and more physical exertion than what I was used to, after sitting up all night with an infant and then going to work the next day, I just wanted sleep and for once, I didn't need the bottle's help.

I will be 39 weeks this Thursday and still no nesting phase. If anything, there seems to be even more of an anti-nesting phase forming. There has been a complete drop in my energy level and I just want to sleep. The "nest", such as it is, will just have to do.

aw! so exciting.

the nest will be great! you will be great!

Thanks, Tracer :)

Now I am thinking that perhaps the lack of a nesting phase is due to having to go on the road soon after she is born.