Express Yourself

I am not a fan of the crying.  Can't do it; won't do it.  End of story.

However, I am starting to get my head around the idea of a fixed (ish) routine for my little man.  I think that it will help both of us and probably short-circuit the crying.

Today, he has managed to have three naps of half an hour each time and then a twenty minute post-feed doze at 5pm.  I have to confess to rocking him to sleep with a dummy each time, but I did put him down in his cot rather than continuing to hold him.  I must keep reminding myself that being able to put him down at all is an improvement from a month ago.

I am going to start a two week experiment as of today.  We are going to stick to a routine during the daytime for naps and feeds.  We are also going to define our bed time routine and the number of feeds offered in the middle of the night.  I know by now that my baby is an efficient feeder and that there is nothing wrong with my milk supply so I am pretty confident that this shouldn't do him any harm.

For a start, I am going to express some milk so that the last feed before bedtime doesn't turn into comfort sucking for 40-50 minutes.  This will also mean that my husband or I (or a kindly babysitter) can give it to him.  Right now, my husband is giving our son his bath (in his tummy tub - much fun) and I am expressing milk (and typing one handed)! The plan will be to give this feed around 7pm.

Expressing in itself so no mean feat.  It is not always comfortable and it can take a while to yield enough milk for a feed.  I also find that it can result in nipple injuries, namely some nasty blood blisters.  This happens when I haven't centred my nipple properly in the breast pump funnel.  It will heal, but I am slightly concerned that if I am going to express everyday, that I will have permanent blood blisters.  Fingers crossed this doesn't happen.

The next thing I am going to add in to the night time routine is an eleven pm dream feed.  Our baby often wakes when we go to bed anyway, so let's see if we can make it a habit.  The idea behind this is that instead of doing his long stretch of sleep between 8:30pm and 1am, that he might do it between 11pm and 3:30am.  If I offer him a feed around then, it should last him until the morning, when we get up.  That sounds ever so easy doesn't it?

I am not naive, I know it won't happen as easily as that.  It is going to take patience and a lot of commitment before we are anyway near that stage.  My sixteen and a half week old baby has a few awkward habits to be replaced with new ones first.  It is also going to be a challenge for me as a person who usually rucks against schedules and routines.

For the daytime routine we will try something like this:

7am wake up and nappy change followed by feed.
Some activity time for example, tummy time or play mat while I eat breakfast and get dressed.
9am Nap time
9:30-9:45am Feed

Activity time (could include a mums and babies group)
11:00am Nap time (except Thursdays when I will stretch it until after buggy-fit if possible)
11:30/11:45am Feed

Activity time (could include nursery rhymes, stories, baby yoga on Tuesdays and swimming on Fridays)
2pm Nap time
2:30/2:45pm Feed

Activity time
5pm Cat nap
5:30pm Feed

6:00/6:15pm Bed-time routine - Bath, massage, story
7pm Expressed bottle feed.
Asleep by 7:30pm.

This routine should allow us to keep up with daily activities.  It also assumes that my baby's naps will be between 30 and 45 minutes.  I am hoping that eventually he will sleep for longer periods.

But let's be realistic, I am buckling myself in tight for this ride; it is going to be a bumpy one.