Happy Child

From the moment we laid eyes on Mollie for the first time, we KNEW she was a happy baby- she smiled at us! I know, the real smiles don’t come for a while, but either way it was a smile and we didn’t care where it came from or why! I also have always felt she’d have Matt’s easy going personality, thank goodness:)

So here we are 6 weeks later and real smiles have for sure been happening! We can talk to her and she’ll smile, she knows our faces and voices & then will even smile after sleep and naps. The latter is only recently. These past few weeks have been reeaaally tough on me and her. I felt like I was spinning my wheels, not learning her cues very well and so the list goes on. After a few rough days I decided that it was time to revisit the Babywise concept and book. I read it while pregnant, but yet to pick it back up since she was born. I knew whatever we were doing wasn’t working and her fussiness and lack of sleep was so confusing to me- I KNOW she is a happy baby! So, yesterday Matt and I made it our goal to try some new things.

First and foremost, the concept of Babywise is to always ‘get full feedings.’ Then the scheduling part comes in where feedings should be between 2.5-3 hrs- which ultimately falls into place when they have full tummies. You see the circle?! Now, from the get-go this left my mind because Mollie was a ‘lazy nurser’ and would fall asleep breastfeeding and/or would just linger..so really, I created the habit of letting her ‘snack feed.’ In my haze of exhaustion a few days ago, mom and I put our heads together and realized that she has been fussy and only taking cat naps because she is HUNGRY! Duhhh, so simple, right?! She has not been getting a full tummy- the basis of Babywise and the essence of a happy child. But now my concern is a low milk supply and/or her not taking full feedings from me. Maybe that’s partially why she snacked in the first place. Since you can’t measure what the baby takes from you, you have no clue what they are getting. So snack feeds were fine with her and she seemed content for a bit, but then 1.5ish hours later, she’d be ready to eat again! It was exhausting to say the least. Probably on her, as much as I know it was on me.

It’s even double hard when you hear totally conflicting theories and ideas based around babies, eating, etc. One specialist I know says ‘feed on demand’ which for Mollie we were doing and might have been fine and naturally fallen into a routine IF she were getting full feedings. Yep, back to that. On the other hand, our Pediatrician says ‘do not feed your baby before 2 hrs have passed since the feeding time before.’ Ok…but what if your baby is crying a lot and exhibiting signs of hunger?! Mollie was doing that, but again, she just wasn’t getting enough milk at each eating period. That concept had not occurred to me as at the time she always seemed content. I re-read Babywise and we came up with a game plan. I have some milk stored up which is great, but I will pump in place of her nursing and then give to her in a bottle. She will still need to nurse on me at least 2x a day.
This is what Day 1 looked like:
6:45am – waketime, breastfeed
8:15-9:30 – nap on me
9:30 – 3oz breastmilk in bottle
10:30 – nap in crib (first one ever!!)
Noon – 3oz breastmilk in bottle
1pm – nap in crib
2:45 – 3oz breastmilk in bottle
3:30 – nap in swing
5:00 – breastfeed
6:30 – 4oz breastmilk in bottle
9pm – 4 oz breastmilk in bottle
10:30 – 6:15AM ---SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT!!

As you see, whether this routine works everyday or not, we are totally getting the hang of this. Mollie is even sweeter than before!! All she needed was a full tummy…and who of us doesn’t need that?! It’s crazy that sometimes you really have to take a step back from your own situation to be able to figure it out. And pray about it, ask friends, ask family- all of those things have to come into play!
No one said raising a child is easy, but if you can have tips/tools to make it easier and make sure you go easy on yourself than you will enjoy the process and the new time together. That’s exactly where Matt & I are right now! Mollie is such a delight and LOVE that she is happy again. Just a minute ago, I was holding her and she began to dose off, so I put her in her swing to do so and her be around me. She was a bit squirmy and I could see she wasn’t settling in very well, so I picked her up and figured we could try the crib. Yep..no peep and she is sound asleep in about 5 minutes. Guess she loves her alone time and her room. I love her so very much and couldn’t be happier that she is happy (and full!)

Note: Today is going fabulous, as well!