After a 30 day honeymoon period, Jessie and I finally left the postpartum center on Friday with Caitlyn in tow. Now the real work begins. Now we get to see if we’ve got what it takes to be parents.
As a coming home present, one of the first things Caitlyn did was to have a major case of explosive, liquid poop. I never knew a baby could churn out so much waste. And as an added bonus, while we were changing her diaper, she let another one rip and made a mess. What a way to welcome us into parenthood.
I should have known this was a sign of things to come. According to my baby log where I record when the baby eats, sleeps, and has diaper changes, Caitlyn slept for a total of 9 hours and 3 minutes and drank milk for a total of 2 hours and 6 minutes during the 24-hour span of Saturday.
What about the other 12 hours and 51 minutes, you ask? They were spent trying to calm an extremely fussy baby. We didn’t fare so well Sunday either. And I suppose you might as well throw in Monday and the rest of the week for good measure too.
Since leaving the postpartum center, Caitlyn has been sleeping less and eating less. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the change of environment and she’s not used to it yet. Or maybe we just need to admit that we have no idea what we’re doing and run back to the nurses.
Speaking for myself, I don’t think things are going as badly as they could be. The reason I say this is because Caitlyn is actually pretty easy to calm down. We used to live next to a family that had a baby that would cry non-stop all day and night. I was afraid our baby would turn out like this.
However, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get her to stop crying thanks to the 5 S’s. And if that doesn’t work, a quick feeding and diaper change usually does the trick.
But while it’s easy to get her to stop crying, it’s not easy for us to put her back in her crib without her crying again. Therefore, most of our time is spent rocking the baby, passing her from person to person, and waiting for her to fall into a deep enough sleep in order to put her back in her crib. And even if we’re able to put her down, she’ll immediately sense she’s not being held anymore, and start to cry some more.
After our first restless night, we decided we needed to try some different approaches to help Caitlyn and us get some rest. One of those strategies was having the baby fall asleep while breastfeeding on the bed with Jessie during the daytime. In doing so, Jessie, in theory could make a quiet escape without the baby knowing, though more often than not, she fell asleep right along with Caitlyn.
I’m not a huge fan of this because I know later down the road, this could become a bad habit for the baby. But if what I’ve read about how babies can’t be spoiled during their first three months is true, then we should be OK.
Another thing that’s helped is the baby’s vibrating rocker. If Caitlyn’s in a calm and relaxed enough mood and we’re lucky, we can easily put her into the rocker and she’ll happily fall asleep there. Once again, that’s not the ideal solution, but until our three months is up, I’ll take it.
I’ve also read that carrying the baby around in a baby carrier during the day is an acceptable way to help your baby sleep too. This way, she’s next to my body, yet my hands are free to do other things. I’m eager to try this one because while I am getting a good forearm and bicep workout from holding the baby, I really don’t need 24-inch pythons.
One thing we have been somewhat successful at is giving Caitlyn her bath. I have fully embraced my role as designated washer, and Jessie has fully embraced her role as designated backseat washer. No one likes an annoying backseat washer! You hear me? No one!
In order to help Caitlyn get over her fear of being naked, I’ve started putting her in the tub with her shirt on. After she’s become acclimated to the water, I’ll slowly take it off. This seems to be working, as the last time I tried this, we made it through bath time with fewer cries.
Finally, if you ask me what has played the most important role in getting through these past few days, I’d say, “patience.”
Me: I don’t think Caitlyn’s going to finish these last 20 ml of her milk.
Jessie: Let me do it. You just need patience. Let me show you.
(10 seconds pass by)
Jessie: Ok, she’s not going to finish it.
Me: Well, that was a great show of patience. Never knew you had it in you!
As a coming home present, one of the first things Caitlyn did was to have a major case of explosive, liquid poop. I never knew a baby could churn out so much waste. And as an added bonus, while we were changing her diaper, she let another one rip and made a mess. What a way to welcome us into parenthood.
I should have known this was a sign of things to come. According to my baby log where I record when the baby eats, sleeps, and has diaper changes, Caitlyn slept for a total of 9 hours and 3 minutes and drank milk for a total of 2 hours and 6 minutes during the 24-hour span of Saturday.
What about the other 12 hours and 51 minutes, you ask? They were spent trying to calm an extremely fussy baby. We didn’t fare so well Sunday either. And I suppose you might as well throw in Monday and the rest of the week for good measure too.
Since leaving the postpartum center, Caitlyn has been sleeping less and eating less. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the change of environment and she’s not used to it yet. Or maybe we just need to admit that we have no idea what we’re doing and run back to the nurses.
Speaking for myself, I don’t think things are going as badly as they could be. The reason I say this is because Caitlyn is actually pretty easy to calm down. We used to live next to a family that had a baby that would cry non-stop all day and night. I was afraid our baby would turn out like this.
However, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get her to stop crying thanks to the 5 S’s. And if that doesn’t work, a quick feeding and diaper change usually does the trick.
But while it’s easy to get her to stop crying, it’s not easy for us to put her back in her crib without her crying again. Therefore, most of our time is spent rocking the baby, passing her from person to person, and waiting for her to fall into a deep enough sleep in order to put her back in her crib. And even if we’re able to put her down, she’ll immediately sense she’s not being held anymore, and start to cry some more.
After our first restless night, we decided we needed to try some different approaches to help Caitlyn and us get some rest. One of those strategies was having the baby fall asleep while breastfeeding on the bed with Jessie during the daytime. In doing so, Jessie, in theory could make a quiet escape without the baby knowing, though more often than not, she fell asleep right along with Caitlyn.
I’m not a huge fan of this because I know later down the road, this could become a bad habit for the baby. But if what I’ve read about how babies can’t be spoiled during their first three months is true, then we should be OK.
Another thing that’s helped is the baby’s vibrating rocker. If Caitlyn’s in a calm and relaxed enough mood and we’re lucky, we can easily put her into the rocker and she’ll happily fall asleep there. Once again, that’s not the ideal solution, but until our three months is up, I’ll take it.
I’ve also read that carrying the baby around in a baby carrier during the day is an acceptable way to help your baby sleep too. This way, she’s next to my body, yet my hands are free to do other things. I’m eager to try this one because while I am getting a good forearm and bicep workout from holding the baby, I really don’t need 24-inch pythons.
One thing we have been somewhat successful at is giving Caitlyn her bath. I have fully embraced my role as designated washer, and Jessie has fully embraced her role as designated backseat washer. No one likes an annoying backseat washer! You hear me? No one!
In order to help Caitlyn get over her fear of being naked, I’ve started putting her in the tub with her shirt on. After she’s become acclimated to the water, I’ll slowly take it off. This seems to be working, as the last time I tried this, we made it through bath time with fewer cries.
Finally, if you ask me what has played the most important role in getting through these past few days, I’d say, “patience.”
Me: I don’t think Caitlyn’s going to finish these last 20 ml of her milk.
Jessie: Let me do it. You just need patience. Let me show you.
(10 seconds pass by)
Jessie: Ok, she’s not going to finish it.
Me: Well, that was a great show of patience. Never knew you had it in you!
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| Sleeping in her seldom-used crib. |
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| All nice and clean after bath time. |
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| Posing with a new friend. |
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| Fast asleep in her rocker. |
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| Mirror, mirror on the wall... |
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| No, you can't eat the butterfly! |
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