Happy New Year!
We drove back to Brooklyn on New Year's Day with Jack in his big boy carseat (he got too tall for the infant one we had been using!) and settled back in to life in NYC.
After hanging out with several of my RI friends while I was home over the holidays, most of whom have children of their own, I began thinking more about getting Jack more on a schedule. As I've mentioned before, his day is basically dictated by what time he wakes up (which could be anywhere from 4:30-6am) and then how short his naps are (anywhere from 30-90 minutes) Other than eating every 3 hours, I have no way of knowing, for example, what time he'll nap tomorrow, since it all depends on when he wakes up. So, after talking to some of my mom pals, I've been attempting to give his day some structure. One week in to this plan, it's going...ok.
I started by establishing that I wouldn't feed him before 6am (previously, I would feed him whenever he woke up), so now if he wakes at 5:15, he hangs out in his crib (sometimes talking to himself, sometimes whining) until 6. This seems like maybe it's helping him to wake up a little later (though last Thursday he did wake at 3:45 and cried/whined/babbled until I caved at 5:15 and fed him) but it still isn't helping the nap thing. He can only stay awake about 2-2.5 hours until he just hits the wall from exhaustion, so even if I wait until 6 to feed him, if he's been up since 5 he wants to nap at 7/7:30, which seems crazy early to take his first nap. And then if that nap is only 45 minutes (very possible), again even if I leave him in his crib, it doesn't change the fact that he's awake and will want to nap again 2 hours after he woke up from that nap. So even though I can control when he eats, it just seems like if I don't have any control over how long he sleeps, I'll never be able to set a schedule. Ah well. Maybe I just need to be more patient with it. But any tips from seasoned vets are appreciated.
On the starting solid foods front, it's also pretty bleak. He pretty much rejects any food I try, whether it's warm or cold, with or without oatmeal mixed in. At this point he won't even open his mouth anymore so I'm wondering if I should let it go for a few days and try again at the end of this week. He's not even 6 months old yet, so I'm not too worried. He IS a Farrell after all and we are certainly genetically predisposed to eating. I think maybe he doesn't get the swallowing thing yet (as everything I try to put in his mouth is promptly spit back at me, including just plain old breastmilk on a spoon!)
But in happier news, here are some pics of Jack with my friend Jenn's daughter, Maddie as Jack tries to show her his moves (and is completely and totally rebuffed!)
 |
| Jack and Maddie completely oblivious to each other |
 |
| Boy notices Girl |
 |
| Boy makes his move |
 |
| Boy is shot down |
 |
| Boy tries a little more subtlety - goes for the arm around her shoulder while playing it casual |
 |
| Boy is shot down |
 |
| Settles for touching her arm. This is deemed acceptable. |
OH MY GOD! Love the moves!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the natural light in your apartment!
these pics totally cracked me up!!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I am a scheduler. I have been for all 4 of my kids - at one point getting 3 to nap at the same time. now all 4 go down and get up at the same time...here's the trick...
make his schedule work for you. waking at 430?? 530?? even 6? not in my house. thats technically still the middle of the night in my world so even though my jack has been waking up at 545-6- we shuffle in, grab him and he comes into bed with us and goes right back to bed until 7-730. ahhh much better. eventually he'll move more and drop his third nap, and should get there on his own without bunking with us. for now...it works.
that means his first nap is 9-930 for 2 hours. sounds like your jack is victim to the 45 minute nap intruder (this is a full sleep cycle and babies may wake up and have to go back down) for me, I just re-plug jack or he finds his hand (yeah!) and he goes back down...since he doesnt take a nuk anymore...maybe he will roll over and go back down. dont rush in, just see what he can figure out on his own.
then hes up for 2 hours and back down for 2-3 hours. then up for 2 hours and then a quick cat nap for 20-30 to get him through until bed. this will be the first nap he'll drop.
if you are clear about nap and bed times babies will get it -- you may have a week or 10 days of a cranky baby but they'll get there. try delaying wake up 15 minutes each day, every few days until its an hour. same with naps. Or, do like I do and pull him in bed and throw the covers on him and snuggle...
I'm the opposite of a veteran of solid foods... but a good friend of mine had the same thing with her kids. Not interested in solids until much later. Milk, either formula or breastmilk, is supposed to be the mainstay of their diet for the first 12 months anyway. AND he's not even six months yet. So he's not even late! Calliope won't be starting solids before then! (Although I tried to give her a taste of delicious grass fed whole milk yogurt... she stuck her tongue out and kept it out until I took the nasty stuff away.)
ReplyDeleteSo my thought is... take the pressure off. Rest assured, he won't be taking bottles (not that kind, anyway) to college! Maybe he would like finger foods better, like some little chunks of banana or avocado? I've known several kids that completely refused all purees, and eventually went from milk straight to table food. Remember that solids at this age are supposed to be "fun" (I don't really get what's "fun" about baby food but that's another topic). Don't sweat this.
Try reading "Twelve Hours Sleep by Twelve Weeks" (not sure of the author). I haven't started sleep training the twins yet, but I used it to get Max to sleep through the night...you basically get the him on a schedule where he eats every 4 hours during the day, then sleeps for twelve hours at night, with an hour long nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the early afternoon. I'm about to give it a shot with Gus and Ruby, and the great thing about it is that it isn't too late to start with an older baby...
ReplyDeleteHey lady, so I'm proud of you for trying new stuff out...good mamma! Just keep at it. you'll do GREAT! Love the outfit. I want one for Hank! xoxoxo, K
ReplyDelete