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A typical day in the life of Campbell May Moses consists of sleeping, eating, pooping and then REPEATING. We are working on establishing a "schedule" but that hasn't gone as planned just yet! I'm still working on it though. Currently, Campbell has her days and nights mixed up so it's been very exhausting for me. Moms-- any advice?!?! I could really use it! All I can say is thank goodness for Dr. Supermom a.k.a. Laura. I call her at all hours of the night and ask advice. Thanks Laura.
Okay, back to our typical day. We usually start our first feeding of the day around 7am. I wake Campbell up, change her diaper, feed her (she's a great eater like her Daddy), burp her, change her diaper again. By this time it's usually around 7:45am.and we try and go back to sleep until 10am. I have to pump which usually takes about 30 minutes before I can go back to sleep-- she got used to the bottle when I was so sick in the hospital and it's been really hard to get her to change. Not impossible, but she's stubburn (like both her parents) and wants what she wants. Also, by pumping I can have other's help with the feedings. At first I was really upset about not feeding from the breast, but I just have to remember that she is still getting breastmilk. Okay, enough TMI. Sorry!
Back to our day, Campbell and I get up around 10am and change her diaper, feed, change her diaper again usually and then get a "big girl bath" (I try and squeeze in my own shower during this time--thanks Mom). I never truly appreciated a good shower until I had a baby. It's the only "me" time I get during the whole day. Campbell hates bathtime by the way. She can't be my daughter! I then put Campbell in one of her cute outfits for the day and try and keep her awake (it's a chore!). As I said earlier, she sleeps during the day and is WIDE awake at night. Campbell is usually drifting off and catching some zzz's no matter how hard I work to keep her up so when she falls into REM I try and clean bottles, load and unload the dishwasher, do laundry and clean up the house (and also try and eat something myself!).
Then at 1pm I change her diaper, feed her and Campbell hangs out with Gigi and JoJo while I take a quick nap. When 4pm rolls around we eat again. I would guess I change her diaper at least 15 times a day/night or more. She's a pooper... lol. They say this is especially true when you breast feed. I totally agree. We usually do tummy time or some other stimulating activity during this 3 hour break so daddy can play with us when he gets home. At 7pm I change her diaper again, feed her and usually do some "swinging" or "bouncing" time. Again, it's so hard to keep her awake. She usually falls asleep no matter what I how hard I try and keep her awake. I literally can't wake her up to eat sometimes. I try stripping her down, playing with her feet, rubbing her cute belly--nothing works and I end up trying and trying for hours.
Our 10pm feeding never goes well. Never! Once she eats she is WIDE awake and usually screaming at the top of her lungs. I still haven't figured out why she hates 10pm-ish. Any day time feeding she eats great and then wants to fall asleep... 10pm. no way! It takes anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours to calm her down and get her to sleep. By then it's time to eat again and we (I mean "I" or my parents/sister) have been up all night. If I do get her to sleep within a hour or so then I wake her around 2am to eat again and of course change her diaper for the 1000's time and if I'm lucky she falls back to sleep quickly before she starts "rooting" around 4:45am and wants up to eat again. The best part is her eyes are WIDE awake during the night and she thinks this is normal--- HELP! Then 7am rolls around once again and our day starts all over...... jealous, huh? I'm trying to get her on a schedule of eating at 10pm, 2:30am and then 7am (so I can cut out that 4:45am feeding).
I can't get a good night sleep even if I wanted too because if you breast feed you have to pump every 3-4 hours or it hurts horribly bad and you think your breast are going to explode! Okay, sorry... TMI... I know... but anyone thinking of having a baby needs to know this because no one told me that part :) Don't get me wrong, I love every minute of it. It's just exhausting. Again, thank goodness my parents/sister are here to help. I don't do this all by myself. RJ helps on the weekends and my parents/sister rotate "night duty" to help give me a break from at least one of the feedings. Last night I was really lucky and they did both the 2am and 5am feeding for me. I thought it was Christmas!
I love the part of my day when RJ comes home and asks me what I have done all day or why I look so tired or why I'm still in my pajamas?!?! Seriously? I mean-- SERIOUSLY RJ?!?! :) My hat is off to all you moms of twins, triplets, quads and/or moms that already have little ones in the house when they bring a new baby home! You go! :)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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Hi Ashley! I'd buy the "Moms on Call" book I mentioned on my blog, they sell it on Amazon. It gives you a schedule that will help Campbell start sleeping through the night pretty quickly. I'd try bathing her at night too, that will calm her down in the evenings and help the last feeding of the night go well. Swaddling is also very important! If you swaddle her when she gets ready to go down at night and not during the day she'll start to get the idea that it's bedtime. I promise this stage won't last very long! Hope it gets better soon :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley, I am a friend of Leah and Lane and caught on to your blog from seeing a cute maternity picture that Lane took of you. Of course I had to see that beautiful baby once she was born...anyways, I hope you don't mind my advice, but I am a mom of twins and a 12 month old. You are doing a great job! Definately try the bath at night since she hates it. Once she is all worked up from her bath the 10 pm feeding may calm her back to sleep. Also, I wouldn't ever wake a sleeping baby even if she hasn't eaten in a while unless her doc is afraid she is not gaining enough weight. Lastly, she is so young to be put on a schedule. No matter how hard you try I really don't think it is going to work out. So, just relax and enjoy the ride...good and tough parts. Before you know it she will be sleeping through the night and you will be missing her:)
ReplyDeleteOh I so remember the sleep woes! I would email my mom at all hours of the night and tell her how exhausted I was and how this or that was going wrong. She was very understanding but also kept reminding me that it will get better. And really, it will. I don't have any magic bullet other than to just keep trying different things until you find what works. William was instantly calmed by the hair dryer. We didn't figure it out for a long time, but I can tell you that I sometimes slept with one eye open while the hair dryer was going. I was petrified of burning our house down, so we got a CD that played a hair dryer sound. The swaddle was also HUGE for us. The Miracle Blanket was better than any other swaddling blanket. Well worth the $30 for us. It's all about survival at this point. It will get better!
ReplyDeleteThank you ladies!!! Keep the advice coming please! :) I need ALL I can get!
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