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So what have you all been doing these last days?

post #1 of 12
10/6/08 at 9:04pm
Thread Starter 
Matthew is a week and 3 days today. I'm struggling with taking it easy and getting the stuff that needs to be done done. Matthew is not sleeping as much as I would think a newborn would and it's being hard to give the other kids the attention they need and getting things done for them when baby wants to nurse all day! How have your days been? How long before I can a routine schedule established for baby?
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post #2 of 12
10/6/08 at 11:36pm
Blake's two weeks old today. Most of my day is spent with a boob in his mouth! I'm letting other stuff slide in order to take care of his and my needs. He's fed, I'm showered but the dirty dishes are hanging around on the counter and some laundry hasn't made its way upstairs yet. Oh well, I have to set my priorities.

Being a first timer, I have no idea about establishing a schedule. I'm curious about that myself....
post #3 of 12
10/7/08 at 2:50am
Mines 3 weeks old tomorrow. No schedule established as of yet. So far HER schedule is to sleep most of the day. We go to bed at 11pm or 12am and then she wakes up between 2 and 3am wanting to feed, and again at 5 or 6am... sometimes 7am if we're lucky, and again at 9 or 10am at which point I give up and get up. Then she nurses off and on through the morning and early afternoon before falling asleep the rest of the day maybe waking up once or twice to nurse before we start the whole cycle over again. I really wish I could get more sleep.... *sigh*
post #4 of 12
10/7/08 at 10:12am
I have this cute little leech that keeps hanging off my boobs all day long...
post #5 of 12
10/7/08 at 11:11am
Marion isn't such a fan of sleep either - she's only getting about 15/16 hours a day (compared to the 20 I was told newborn's sleep.) But I will say, when she's out, she's out.

We tried "scheduling" yesterday. I put her down for her naps in two hour spaces and it worked pretty well. She woke up at 7 and we took Josh to work. Came home, ate and played, and she was back asleep by 9. I started to wake her up at 11, she was up for an hour and we ate and hung out in the sling. Then asleep again from noon to two and then scheduling ended - LOL. She decided she was going to catnap and be awake until 6:30. It was nice while it lasted
post #6 of 12
10/7/08 at 11:56am
Breastfeed babies normally dont do schedules very well...they have growth spurts that require them to nurse more frequently thus schedules are out the window....my little one is almost 3 weeks and still nurse's on demand...no set napping time...he is a short napper thus making getting things done a little bit harder...he loves the sling so i get alot done with him in the sling. My toddler is wanting to nurse more often now too...which is not easy when the baby's just nursed and i'm ready to get up and get things done...the house has been left to the force that runds it....whom ever it i'll be. Laundry is staying done...d/t washing cloth diapes every few days. The TV stays on way to much these days...but it's helping keep everyone entertained right now. I'm a single mama and it's getting harder every day. There are days that i could really use a break...i would love to hand the kids off to someone for a few hours...but for now it's just mama and that's it.
I finally got out yesterday and bought some jeans that fit and 2 sweat suit outfits...i was tired of wearing around the house clothes out to church and where ever else. That made me feel good to fit into clothes...even though they are sizes bigger than what i used to be.
post #7 of 12
10/7/08 at 1:35pm
Not till week 6 do newborns have a circadian rhythm to help them with days + nights. They'll have a long sleep somewhere within 24 hours (like 4 hours or so), but mostly they just wake, eat, have some alert time, eat some more, then conk out within an hour or two and start it all over.

At 12 weeks or so they start to have an organized nap pattern, but till then it's just a little chaotic. I wouldn't bother having a set daytime schedule till about 10 or 12 weeks.

We've been doing pretty well following baby's lead and letting her sleep as much as she can. She's started to go to bed around 8 or 9 then sleep/eat till about 3 AM when she want to have another alert time. I sort of ignore her and hope she'll fall back asleep, but end up rocking her back down by about 4:00 or 4:30. Can't wait till she stops doing that wake up! I'm fine with waking to nurse (I can mostly sleep through that ) but waking up to play is different.
post #8 of 12
10/7/08 at 2:39pm
I've been having fun doing small outings, like to visit a friend, or go to the fabric store. Baby S is perfectly happy to cuddle in the sling for a couple of hours in the morning or afternoon while I do that.

But yesterday, I tried to work for the first time since she was born--it involved writing (two-handed is always easier!). Everytime I thought I had her settled for a nap, she would wake up! Eventually, she settled down to sleep next to me on the bed while I worked, but she slept with one eye partly open, looking in my direction! I did get some work done.

Other than that, we're just eating, pooping, sleeping, and going for walks.
post #9 of 12
10/7/08 at 3:07pm
your right on with this post. I don't even bother paying attention to it until 10-12 weeks


Quote:
Originally Posted by starparticle View Post
Not till week 6 do newborns have a circadian rhythm to help them with days + nights. They'll have a long sleep somewhere within 24 hours (like 4 hours or so), but mostly they just wake, eat, have some alert time, eat some more, then conk out within an hour or two and start it all over.

At 12 weeks or so they start to have an organized nap pattern, but till then it's just a little chaotic. I wouldn't bother having a set daytime schedule till about 10 or 12 weeks.

We've been doing pretty well following baby's lead and letting her sleep as much as she can. She's started to go to bed around 8 or 9 then sleep/eat till about 3 AM when she want to have another alert time. I sort of ignore her and hope she'll fall back asleep, but end up rocking her back down by about 4:00 or 4:30. Can't wait till she stops doing that wake up! I'm fine with waking to nurse (I can mostly sleep through that ) but waking up to play is different.
post #10 of 12
10/7/08 at 3:18pm
Um yeah, our "schedule" got thrown out of the window today!
post #11 of 12
10/7/08 at 4:18pm

my novel...

Baby is almost 2 weeks and changing daily! She was super easy at first... slept a lot, nursed great, didn't have to be rocked constantly like my first. Then after my milk came in with my fast letdown we started to have some problems with nursing but luckily I had a great appt with a fantastic LC (I prepaid my appt during my pregnancy and I'm so glad I did!). So we are continually working on latch. Also, she spits up a lot. Her digestive system is doing it's thing and giving her a hard time. I'm waiting it out a week or two before I jump to any conclusions about my diet.

We started ECing already because it's either watch her squirm and grunt and fight going in her diaper, or just hold her over the sink and she lets loose! She really hates to pee, but I haven't seen any evidence of a UTI. Some babies just dislike the initial "I have to pee" feeling. DD1 had a UTI when she was an infant and she would actually cry when she peed, not only before like DD2 is doing.

This baby is put down way more than my first, but only when she is content to be put down. I pick her up if she cries... she just doesn't cry as much! Plus now I have to balance my time a little towards my toddler, not just a baby. My heart goes in my throat every time my toddler looks at me with her big blue eyes and says, "I want you to put the baby down and hold me." So far I can usually accommodate her, even if I have to say, alright, I'm going to soothe the baby to sleep and then I'll hold you, and then she has to wait 5 min or so.

Yesterday we went on a walk to the coffeeshop down the street and that was really special for DD1. We've lived in this neighborhood since before DD1 was born and the employees got to see DD1 when she was just born, so it was time to go show off DD2! A few neighborhood folks were there and oohed and ahhed over her too. I live in a city but our neighborhood is pretty special, everyone pretty much knows each other, at least by sight. DD1 rode in the stroller and I slung the baby. We stayed there for over an hour, and I chatted with a mama who was hanging out while her autistic son was in therapy down the street.

I'm SO THRILLED about not being pregnant anymore! I don't weigh an extra 40 lbs, I can press my belly against things like the sink and the front of the washing machine, I can get comfortable in bed, my kids can sit in my lap, no more heartburn, I can poop ... I just can't wait until my belly doesn't feel like such a squishy balloon full of jelly anymore! Maybe I should bring out the old belly dancing DVD soon. I just can't lay in bed, as much as I tried the first week... my mind raced too much. I had a natural home birth, though, and the recovery tends to be pretty quick for those anyway. People are so amazed to see me out and about but I'd go crazy otherwise. I always follow up an outing with a nap; I'm not totally insane!

DH has been doing dishes and I do laundry. Since I have specifics for CDs and baby laundry, etc, it's just best that I do it. Plus I'm much more aware of what needs to be done than he is.
post #12 of 12
10/7/08 at 8:59pm
Well, we were in a groove for a week or so, and then the 6-week growth spurt hit. My mom is here right now putting the older boys to bed because dh is playing soccer, and in the evenings I can't get away from Taegan for more than a few minutes it seems. So, no regular routines here, yet.
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