Slowly, and almost imperceptibly, my life has started to "return to normalcy" (that's a history nerd reference to Warren G. Harding's 1920 presidential campaign slogan after the horrors of World War I).
We have gone from 2-hours feedings to 3-hour feedings to, about 2.5 weeks ago, feeding Lincoln every 4 hours (and not at all during the night). Around the same time, I put Lincoln on a more set eat-sleep-nap routine. Since I feed him at the same time every day, life is much smoother, more predictable and easier to plan.
I realized the almost "normalcy" one evening as I was prepping for the night. For several months, this has meant:
*making sure the pump is ready (since George would take a night feeding with what I had previously pumped, pumping before feeding Linc the next time was a necessity to prevent him from drowning)
*bringing the nursing pillow upstairs to Linc's room
*filling two 8-ounce glasses and a mug with water to have on hand during night feedings
*filling two more glasses with water for my bedside table and downstairs
*and making sure that the chapstick, handkerchief & glasses cleaning cloth that live in Linc's room hadn't wandered off in the course of the day
But several evenings ago, I realized that I only needed the mug filled up for Linc's room, since I stopped night feedings a couple of weeks ago after the pediatrician said that Linc doesn't really need them (75th percentile in weight & height!). After Linc goes to bed between 7:30 and 8, I do a "dream feed" around 10:30, and then he doesn't eat again until 7 AM. That doesn't mean that he SLEEPS this entire time (that's another post altogether), but it's amazing that he doesn't eat for 9 hours! I think he can go longer without eating, but before I drop the dream feed, I want him sleeping through the night consistently. Of course, that may not happen until he's 21, so I may drop it soon anyway. :)
My point is, feeding a sleeping baby once a night for 10 minutes is MUCH different than feeding a partially- or fully-awake baby 4-5 times a night for 15-30 minutes. The prep needed is so much less, it's amazing--and like I said, this didn't really dawn on me until last week sometime, the change was so imperceptible. Now my nighttime prep is making sure the pump is ready (dream feed is only on one side), bringing the nursing pillow upstairs, and filling up one glass with water. That's it!
Now, if Lincoln would only SLEEP the entire night! (post coming soon...)
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4 comments:
What are all the cups of water for?
I remember Adia woke up every night around 4am for a feeding for many months. Finally at some point I realized I was waking up at 4am and she was sleeping! That realization was the last of the 4am wake ups. Now, if only I could get Ella to stop waking up somewhere between 4 and 6 most mornings.
Me...I'm always thirsty. Maybe all the water is why I'm such a little milk cow!
4-6 AM is so early--do you have to get up with her then, or does she play around in bed by herself for a while?
The "new normal" is such a funny phenomenon of parenting! And it doesn't stop - or at least, it hasn't yet for me.
Something else that's interesting is how quickly you get used to NOT getting up in the night, and then when you have to, how it ROCKS your world! And you think (or at least I do), "How on EARTH did I manage this before???" :)
Mary, I was pretty amazed at how quickly I adjusted to waking so often in the night/getting so little, always interrupted sleep. But I can foresee a day when Linc will again wake up in the night after sleeping through for some time (whenever that may be)--and I will feel just as you describe!! It will be wonderful to sleep an entire night through...
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