The first few weeks after Aj was born---he was a pleasure. The kid woke up, got a diaper change, ate, and fell back to sleep (while he was eating). It was great! I was like "WOW, babies are AWESOME! All they do is eat, poop, and sleep! I can SO DO THIS! I can have 9 babies!!"
Then---things started to change. Around week 7 (a few weeks before i returned to work) Aj started to change. He was fussy. He was not happy. He would CRY when he was hungry. He would CRY when he was tired. He would CRY when he was wet. He would CRY when he was not held. He pretty much Cried the ENTIRE time he was awake...and i couldn't wait until he was sleeping again. The kid would only stop crying when he had a boob in his mouth or when he was asleep. I figured him out though. He liked LOUD white noise, so i would put him to sleep in the bathroom with the fan on. That lasted a few days (I was able to actually eat breakfast and maybe if i was lucky make myself a cup of tea). Then, he was over the whole 'bathroom' scene...and he was back to crying...so i got smart, and i got the vacuum out. It's a similar noise to the fan in the bathroom---except LOUDER....and it worked wonders. I swear.
It's funny, i know. NO one believed me when i said "MY KID LITERALLY FALLS ASLEEP TO THE VACUUM"...so i had to record it!
I started to notice that Aj only had about 45 minutes window, from the time he woke up, to the time he got a diaper change and then ate. Then---he would start all over again. I thought i was doing something wrong. Not all babies could possibly CRY as much as Aj. How do Moms do it? WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE CHILDREN!!??!! I was exhausted, and frustrated. I thought there was something wrong with him. So, i went to my dear friend "google"...and guess what...Aj is 100% normal. He was just a normal baby, doing Normal baby things---SCREAMING on the top of his lungs when he was tired---WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME BABIES CRIED FOR APPARENTLY NO REASON!!!??!! I started to read...and it made me feel better. Aj was not a psycho...he was actually, quite Normal!
"Learn the signs that mean he's tired.For the first six to eight weeks, most babies aren't able to stay up much longer than two hours at a time. If you wait longer than that to put your baby down, he may be overtired and have trouble falling asleep."
I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH! YOUR BABY WILL BE OVERTIRED AND WILL HAVE TROUBLE FALLING ASLEEP. LET ME SAY IT AGAIN, YOUR BABY WILL HAVE TROUBLE FALLING ASLEEP AKA---HE WILL SCREAM AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY SIT THERE, AND PUT HIM TO SLEEP.
See, here is the thing, babies don't know what tired is. They don't understand the feeling. I couldn't possibly understand that..."if you're tired, go to sleep"...but their tiny brains don't work like that. He was over stimulated!! After reading and reading, i decided to try making it work. I would have Aj up for about 1 hour, stimulate him, talk to him, play with him...then the SECOND i saw a 'sleep sign' (Aka: rubbing eyes, yawn, watery eyes, etc), i would put up the 'white noise' (in this case i upgraded to the static on the radio)...nurse him, and put him down. And to my surprise, it worked! He would whine for about 2 minutes (different from crying, just kinda whining) and pass out! I couldn't believe it!!
After that, i started to keep a "sleep log". I would write down every feeding, every time he woke and every time he went down for a nap. I wrote EVERYTHING down. When i returned to work, i had my cousin (his Nanny!;] ) continue.
Now that Aj is 4 months old, he's pretty much on a schedule. He's a complete different baby!!!! He wakes up around 5:30 am (which is good, since i work and it's his last feeding straight from the 'tap'). He goes back down by 7ish...for about 40 minutes...Up for 2 hours, down for 1...then he's pretty much up for a little while and goes down for his afternoon nap around 3ish....and then a quick nap (sometimes he skips this) right before dinner (around 5:30)..and then he gets his nightly bath and he's in bed at 7:30 PM. He is STILL waking around 12:45/1 AM for a feeding (i'm thinking it's more comfort than actual hunger) and then sleeping until 5:30AM.
Returning to work is really hard (maybe one of the hardest things i've had to do so far, after becoming a mother), especially if you're bf...but i've managed to make it work. I would much rather be home with my boy...but it's something i have to do. I have to write a post about returning to work full time and having an infant...because it's something that i bet lots of you are dreading (like i was). Any of you returning to work? How many weeks did you have for M/L?
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