Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Two Weeks!

Nolan is two weeks old today!!! Hard to believe it has been two weeks already. It sure has gone by fast and is kind of a blur (probably lack of sleep making things a bit hazy! :)) There are no major updates since the last post. Nolan continues to enjoy eating and sleeping pretty much only when being held. He also has this lovely ritual of spitting up after most feedings, which in turn makes him want to eat...AGAIN! I have talked to the lactation consultant who suggested a few things which we have tried but don't seem to have solved the problem completely...I guess it's pretty normal? I plan on attending the breastfeeding support group this week and also want to start pumping so we can start storing up for later and so Kevin can help with feedings during the night.
Kevin goes back to work on Friday, which could make things a little interesting around here with another adjustment to make...but I'm sure we will find our way. We continue to appreciate all the love and support that we have received from family and friends...keep it coming!!
Moms out there...any suggestions on how to get the little guy to sleep on his own or will he one day just decide it's ok?

2 comments:

  1. I polled the girls at work and here are a few sugestions. Warm up a blanket in the drier and put it under him, wrap him up really snugly so that he won't wake himself up with his own movements, and pat his back until he settles down. It's ok to let him fuss a little bit, just not screaming.

    You guys know we co-sleep at our house, Greg always says he would like to get Luke in his own bed but even when I work he always puts Luke to bed in our bed rather than in the twin bed. when I am home I often put him to bed and then get up and Greg and I do things for a few hours before going to bed too, so I know it would be possible for Greg to put him to bed in the twin bed and then go to bed himself, so I am guessing that it isn't that important to him.

    When Luke was a brand new baby he didn't want to sleep on his own either, even when sleeping in bed with us he slept much better on my chest than just next to me in bed. I think he liked the sound of my heart beat and the gentle movement of my breathing, similar to the womb I guess. I gradually got him to lie next to me just by keeping on trying it. I didn't push it but it only took a few nights before he was fine sleeping next to me instead of on me. (someone else mentioned getting a swing or something for a crib to make it vibrate gently).

    Personally I really like co-sleeping, I like the closeness and not having to worry about whether or not he is breathing. I loved how it made breastfeeding/sleeping so much easier for me and I think if I am well rested then that makes everything else go a lot more smoothly. I went to a conference with Dr Sears and he talked about a major study that was done by a big crib company that actually ended up showing that babies who co sleep have a significantly decreased risk of SIDS and that if you take a few simple precautions, like not doing drugs or go to bed drunk, making sure your matress fits tightly and you don't have lots of fluffy blankets or pillows, you also make the risk of accidental suffication at least as low as it would be in a crib. I was impressed because he showed how well done the studdy was and how large it had been, no crazy wierd study with debatable results, and he also talked about why co-sleeping reduced the risk of SIDS over crib sleeping. Some of those reasons include that babies who co sleep actually spend more time on their backs, they get chemical signals to inhale by breathing in the CO2 that their parents breath out, they wake more frequently and sleep less deeply (but parents report getting more sleep), etc.

    Dr Sears is obviously a big proponent of breastfeeding and attatchment parenting, which I like and feels natural to me, but obviously there are a lot of kids born everyday in this country and they all seem to grow up relatively ok regardless of which parenting style their parents use, minus those born into really troubled families, so I think whether or not you chose to cosleep the important thing is that you really love Nolan, it's obvious, and do what works for your family. This is working for us, at least for now.

    So, there are a few different ideas for you, from a few different perspectives. Some of my coworkers can't imagine allowing a baby or young child to cosleep, you must be crazy! Others did a lot of cosleeping and think it was the best thing in the world. Some people are afraid that if you start the kids will never leave, but I don't know anyone who coslept with their kids who still do now that they are grown! Most said that they coslept for wither the first few months, or until around age two.

    Hope this is helpful, whatever you decide to do. Sorry it's sooooo long! Thanks for posting more pics, I can't wait to see you guys in October!

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  2. NOt that I am an expert on sleeping at all. But we got avenlea to sleep by swaddling her in what they literally call the burrito wrap. it is the tightest swaddle I have ever seen and she still squirms out of it. She really had to be held though for the first three months. Just enjoy the time of holding..if you can snooze a little in a chair while holding. I wasn't able to with the first but I could with her. She is now sleeping 7 hours and it was just kinda like magic around 3 months. the swaddling really helped too..not sure if that would have helped before if I would have known how to do it.

    I have decided that there are things that don't need to get done and there will come a time, at jackson's age, when you want to hold them and they are saying down, all done mama...So I decided to suck it up and hold her when she needs it. don't get me wrong, when you are feeding and holding it gets to be a long day.

    hang in there...the best advice I ever received was: everything is a stage...they will out grow eventually. some just take longer than others.

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