Sleep II

The sleep project has been underway for 3 nights now.  So far so good.  My little one still wakes up 2 (11pm and 2:30am) times a night but, the first wake-up she searches for her binky and then falls back asleep.  Wake up number 2 is a little more painful.  She wakes up, sits up in bed and then starts crying.  I wait and watch her on the monitor to for a few minutes to see if she is going to fall asleep.  After a few minutes, I go in and lay her back down and tell her that she has to go back to sleep.  I go back to bed where I watch and listen to her.  Her crying has made it down to 10 minutes and then she falls asleep.  I guess I will work on pacifier dependence once we master the whole sleep thing!!  One thing at a time.

Sleep

For some crazy reason my daughter has decided that she does not want to sleep through the night.  She will go right back to sleep if I pick her up and hold her.  But, the very minute I lay her down, her eyes pop open, she sits up in bed and starts screaming.  I have tried the "no-cry" method in the past and that has gotten me to where I am at today.  I have basically jumped up to get her when she cries to keep her from waking my husband.  A couple of people have suggested trying to let her cry it out.  I tried this last night and it was painful.  She woke up at 11:30pm.  I rubbed her head, laid her down and told her to go night-night.  Then I walked out the door.  She sat right up and started crying.  I repeated this after 5 minutes.  Again after 10 minutes, then 15, then 20.  She would get tired, lay down, get quiet and then suddenly start crying.  It was as if she realized she was about to fall asleep and hurried up and woke herself up.  One hour and 10 minutes later she gave in and fell asleep.  Why does trying to get your baby to sleep at night using the "cry" method make you feel like such a bad parent???  Let's see what tonight brings.  I hope that she has a peaceful night of sleep.

More information:
http://www.parents.com/kids/sleep/tips/how-do-i-teach-my-child-to-sleep-alone/

Swimming

Yesterday I took my 11-month old daughter to her swimming lessons. Thankfully, I asked my sister-in-law to come with me. I asked her because I wasn't quite sure what to expect and also I wanted her to video the moment. My daughter took the water like and old pro. She kicked and splashed like a champ. She did not want anything to do with the mini kick board and did pretty good with the water noodle. Her favorite part of the lesson was picking from a toy to play with. I was glad to see that this tiny tot class had mostly younger children instead of being closer to the 4 year old age limit. At the end of the lesson we went in to shower and change. It was at that point that I realized if I did not have an extra set of hands, I would not have been able to get my suit off and change my clothes. Hopefully, things will become a little easier when my little one can stand on her own. I guess a little planning goes a long way.

Rewards

Either I wasn’t listening or I wasn’t paying attention when my friends and relatives had their children. I have thought that motherhood was part of some secret society (the kind that kept everything quiet). I don’t remember ever hearing any of them complain about the many sleepless nights, breastfeeding, teething or fevers. Now that I am a new mom, I often find myself wondering how did they do it? More importantly, how did they do it with more than one? I find myself tired and challenged every day. And still I wonder why I wasn’t forewarned how difficult motherhood would be. Part of me thinks that it is revenge. Each mother before me that went through it keeps quiet and silently watches someone new struggle through it. I love being a mother and I absolutely love watching each and every new development happen. There is nothing else on this earth more gratifying than watching your child learn something new. Nothing more precious than the day they recognize you and know who you are. And there is nothing more rewarding to a parent than the hugs and kisses that you get each day. All of these endeavors make each daily struggle worthwhile.

Croup

Somewhere during the week and half of endless nights due to the teething process the croup snuck in.  From what I have read its’ duration is 5-7 days.  I am not quite sure what day we ate on right now.  All that I know is that there are many nights without sleep, loss of appetite and fevers.  I have tried everything to get my little one to drink her milk, but she is not interested.  I just keep trying to feed her every chance I get. I give her some water and Pedialyte just to keep her hydrated.  I have gotten cool moist washcloths to get the fever down.  I am hoping for a good night sleep for my baby.  It is not good for her to have her sleep broken up so much. 

Bay County teen charged in death of newborn boy

I find news of any infant death very disturbing. This local story really bothered me http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2010/02/bay_county_teen_charged_in_dea.html. A local teen gave birth to a baby boy and then threw him into a trash dumpster behind a store...in December. I can understand a teenager not wanting to become a mother but, I can not understand why she didn't give him away. I know that we have a law that within 72 hours after giving birth a person can leave the baby at a safe haven (fire dept. or hospital) with no questions asked. Why wouldn't this girl do that? She obviously did not want to be a mother. To go through carrying a baby for 9 months and then just to throw him away, I just don't understand that. There are so many people that want to have a baby and can't. My heart goes out for that poor baby crying out in the winter for someone to help and no one heard him.

Strollercize

I just watched a clip on Regis and Kelly about Strollercize http://www.strollercize.com/. I am all about trying to get this body of mine back into shape after baby. But, I am not sure about strollercizing. It looks like it could be a great work out but, here in Michigan (at least where I live) there are not a lot of parks to walk in. There are neighborhoods to walk in. I am not sure what kind of reaction I would get from my neighbors or the passerby's as I lunged myself throughout the neighborhood. I am wondering if anyone in a city outside of New York has tried this out. It looks like Central Park is the ideal place for this exercise.

Diaper Rash

Whenever my daughter cuts a new tooth she breaks out in a terrible diaper rash. It seems that the only thing that works is Boudreaux’s butt paste. I originally received this product as a shower gift and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. But, when my daughter broke out in her first rash I took her to the doctor and was quite surprised when the doctor recommended this product as well. I rinsed out the baby wipes with water to keep from irritating my baby’s delicate bottom. Then I would dry her off with a cloth diaper. Once she was dry I would put on the butt past and loosely put on her diaper. Also, I would change her much more often. Within a few days, her diaper rash was cleared up.

Recalls

This morning on the Today show they had a segment about recalls. In the segment, they mentioned http://www.recalls.gov/. This website has a link to recalls for consumer products, food, medicine, cosmetics, meat and poultry, motor vehicles, car seats, environmental products and boating. It also has a link for recent recalls and a link to sign up for email. The email feature allows you to pick which organization you want to receive new information and safety recall information from. I subscribed to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). I usually feel like I am the last to know information about recalls. Now that I have a baby, it is really important to stay on top of recalls.