Rocky Road
These nightly feedings are killing me-last night was especially bad- every 2 hours on the dot! 8pm, 10pm, 12am, 2am, 4am, 6am, 8am, and since it takes an entire hour to feed her, change her and settle her back down to sleep, that means only 1 hour catnaps in between feedings for me. Im exhausted. Sean goes back to work tomorrow which means i am on my own for his 24 hour shifts. Im scared. Im not sure i can do it by myself. I wish i had a mom or sisters around to save me!! I think i need to hire a wet nurse.... do they still exsist? Does anyone have any survival tips for me?? How to save my sanity??
7 comments:
You're welcome to come hang out with us. You can sleep and we'll take care of some of the Dixie shifts. We are in church 9-12 if you want to join us for that too. New schedule for 2010 cause we switched with the other ward. YES! It was fun to have you guys up to Tahoe.
{Sorry! This is a really long comment!}
I totally remember doing that, only Graham was nice enough to eat every 3 hours most of the time. I used to pick him up, go in the living room, turn the lights on (so I could see what I was doing), un-swaddle him, feed, burp, feed, burp. Talk to him a little. Change his diaper. Go pee. Wrap him up. Rock him back to sleep. It took an hour every time. Then it took about 45 minutes as I got better at it.
Then someone gave me the advice I'm going to give you. Now I just sit up in bed, keeping him swaddled, feed him, and put him right back down. I don't change his diaper unless he poops. I'm only awake for about 15 minutes each time (but that's in large part because he eats so much faster now).
I'm not sure I could have done that in the beginning since feedings took so much longer and it's hard on your back to sit up in bed that long. But here's my advice. Try it for a night to see if it's doable yet.
If it still takes some maneuvering to get her to latch on correctly, get a night light that gives you just enough light to see but still keep it dark. (We have a blue "life gear" glow-stick light at Target that Christian hung from the wall by my bed. Turns on with a button, but keeps the room dark.) Keep her totally swaddled (I highly recommend the Kidoppotomus swaddler blankets because they don't come undone when you move the baby). Feed her and burp her then lay her back down. Don't play with her or encourage her to wake up (unless of course she falls asleep 2 seconds after she latches on). Don't change her diaper unless you have to (if she poops). Or, if you feel guilty leaving her in a wet diaper, just change it every other time she wakes. Graham goes right back to sleep since he's half asleep the whole time.
This may not work yet with her so young, but give it a try. I promise it gets easier.
Don't try to do anything else except take care of the baby.
Also, don't worry about changing her every single feeding. If there is poop, do it. Otherwise, just put her right back down.
oh. That's what Molly just said. Ditto to everything she said!
I'm sure alot of people have already told you this, but it DOES get so much easier! I was so scared too, when Jordon went back to work. Liam is 8 weeks old and has been going 5 hours between feeding at night for the past four weeks. Also, they learn to nurse so much faster the older they get. It used to take an hour, now it takes 20 min. or less to feed him.
<3
PS: way to go on the quick delivery! I was in labor almost all day :(
Call my mom. She'll be there ASAP.
Happy to help during the days, or bring you a meal? or do some shopping for you? I have all sorts of advice. I loved any I could get!! Give me a call! You're a great momma! You're doing a great job!
so i guess it's been a week and i hope everything is coming along. amen to betina's comment. i don't know what it would be like for 24 hours solo, but if i know ANYONE strong enough to do it, it is you.
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