What I wish I'd known 8 months ago

I'm enjoying this 7-months age.  Landon seems to get more fun as each day goes on.  But I was thinking how I almost wish I could go back to when he was first born and start over--only this time already knowing certain things so that things would run more smoothly. He was so sweet as a newborn, but I sure did not appreciate it at the time because I was so busy trying to figure stuff out!

I wish I could go back in time and tell myself--

-- start pumping the day he's born. He's tongue-tied and will do a number on your milk supply if you don't help stimulate a little.  Otherwise, it'll be at least 2 months before you can build up your milk supply and feed without daily formula supplementation.

-- his tired cry starts like a slow cough, escalates, and suddenly ends with him sleeping. His "last hurrah" before he conks out doesn't last long, so don't get frustrated!  Right when it feels like he's never going to stop, he will.

-- 2-3-4 is the best sleeping routine. He will nap much easier in this routine.  So implement it sooner than 5 months old!

-- return/exchange most of the long-sleeve size 6 month baby clothes you get at his baby showers. He will wear this size in the spring and will need more short sleeves!

-- don't bother getting a baby monitor. You'll never use it.

-- he won't sleep in his bassinet, but don't worry, there's nothing wrong with bed-sharing.  As long as he's sleeping, you'll be sleeping.  And nursing while sleeping is easier done than said.

-- cloth diapers are way less complicated than they sound.  Go for it!

-- it WILL get easier

Especially as a first-time-mom with little-to-no experience with baby-care, I felt like I was fumbling for at least the first 3 months.  I'm so savvy and knowledgeable about my youngster now, I can't help but be a little smug.  But who knows? Maybe if I hadn't struggled, I wouldn't appreciate where we are today, and maybe I wouldn't have learned so much.

Now I know that things can only get better, and next-time will be SO much easier. (er...next time?!)

Then

Now

2-3-4

All of my sleep knowledge comes from http://www.askmoxie.org/. I think her advice is the most realistic and natural. She reccomends a 2-3-4 schedule for naps: 1st nap 2 hours after they wake up in the morning, then 2nd nap 3 hours after they woke up from the first nap and then bedtime 4 hours after they wake up from the 2nd nap. It's not too rigid of a routine because it allows them to sleep however long they need. And I find the 2-3-4 time frame really fits Landon's natural sleep needs. 

But until last week when I left Landon with my mom all day I hadn't realized just how natural it is for him.

I left him with her at 7 and left for work. At 7:30 he started fussing big time--2 hours after he had woken up (5:30). She finally got him to fall asleep by laying with him on the bed at 8, but around 8:15 when she tried to move, he woke up (Luckily, refreshed! But not about to fall back asleep).

He ate, played, la-de-da, then he started getting fussy around 11:15. She left him on the floor to go get a bottle but when she came back he was conked out--3 hours after he had woken up from the first cat nap! He slept about an hour.

I got home at 3 and tried my darndest to get him to nap because we had a pediatrician appointment at 4:30 but he would have none of it. But sure enough on the way to the ped, about 4:20, he fell asleep--4 hours after he had woken up! That little 5 min nap refreshed him again until 7:00.

So our schedule is not a schedule really, it's so loose. But he has fallen into that 2-3-4 like a pro and now it's when he sleeps. Of course when I'm home I try to get him to sleep longer than 15 min. Poor grandma!

(Can I say I'm proud? Because I'm finally starting to know what I'm talking about!)

...I wonder if there's a book about 2-3-4...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Landon is about 6 and a half months old now.  And if I haven't learned anything else in this whirlwind on-the-job-training of being a mom, I've learned to let things be.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Maybe an odd parenting mantra, but one I can proudly stand by.

It's so easy to get caught up in what the experts say.  I'm not about to debunk Ferber, Le Leche League, or even my own well-meaning relatives and friends from expert-status.  These are all experts, of their own kids and their own situations.  And when the going gets tough, there's nothing wrong with going to the experts for advice.  But when things are honestly peachy?  No reason to meddle!

This is why my son is sleeping on my pillow in my bed right now next to me after I nursed him to sleep.  The experts tell me that putting a baby to sleep on something soft can be dangerous...and that he should sleep in his own crib.... and that nursing him to sleep is creating a bad-habit of dependency on being nursed in order to sleep.  BUT IT WORKS.  He's happy.  He's sleeping. Which means I'M happy.  This situation ain't broke, so I'm not about to fix it.