Around here, we feed on demand, and I let him make the schedule at this point. There is a loose routine that he established a few weeks ago that has been pretty consistent. We sleep in and he nurses when wants (which is a cluster feed in the mornings) and let's me know when it's time for a diaper change. Usually sometime between 10 and 12, he gets a bath, nurses, and goes down for his first real nap of the day. I shower, eat and clean until he wakes up about an hour later. We play and nurse and change diapers, and then he falls asleep (usually while nursing) around 3, and I'll put him down while I keep cleaning or blog or whatever. When he wakes up, we play and nurse some more, and change more diapers, and he goes down for another nap between 5 and 6. From then on out until bed time, he is awake and alert, and usually cluster eating so he can get a good night's sleep.
Well, we are going through quite the growth spurt right now, and that, mixed with a gassy baby, has been a challenge! The routine I was used to was nonexistent today. Eli is always gassy and needs to be burped a few minutes into every feeding. Now that he is eating around the clock, he does NOT want to come up for air to be burped, so he fusses until I put him back on the boob. Sometimes, the burp doesn't come fast enough, and fussing turns into crying, so I just skip the burp and let him keep eating. But, if I do that, he gets so uncomfortable with gas that he squirms and kicks while nursing until he burps or spits up. I'm trying to control it the best I can... I feel so bad for the little guy. He has barely slept today, and I didn't realize it, but I spent the day trying to force that "loose routine." You see, he is so young right now that I believe I can't force him to eat or sleep on my schedule, but I totally forgot that today. I tried to force the naps that he usually takes, but he didn't want sleep. He needed to eat, but I was so used to his past consistencies that I was mistaking the reason why he was fussy. I realized once the day was almost already over with, that I made it much harder on the both of us for not just going with his flow. The laundry and dishes could've waited, but I was so use to having a few hours in the day to myself, that I tried to force that 3:00 nap because I thought he was tired, and when he wouldn't fall asleep or lay by himself, I just got frustrated. Lesson learned! If this growth spurt continues tomorrow, we'll set up camp in bed and it will be a much better day!
Does this post even make much since? I feel so exhausted from today that I might not have articulated all of these thoughts very well...
P.S. I'm back in my postpartum jeans... Holla!
No comments:
Post a Comment