as a new mommy & then did:
1. Co-sleeping. Yep, I told myself that this was something that we hands down, absolutely NOT would NEVER do. Oops....we didn't even make it past the first night without putting Carter in the bed with us. Honestly, for us..it just works. I didn't understand what people meant when they said that it "felt right" to have the baby in the bed with them, but now I understand. It helps both Carter & I sleep better while we adjust & if we can both get more & better quality sleep then I am going to be selfish for now. Not to mention, I nurse sitting up in our bed & it's just so much easier when exhausted to lay the baby down next to me to soothe him & get him back to sleep. We even have the PNP in our room, but it basically serves at the changing station only at this point. And no, I don't really want to hear criticism.Yes, we are very careful about keeping him away from our pillows & our bed covers & our bodies. And when he starts sleeping more through the night....he will be in his crib. Yes, he ALWAYS naps in his crib during the day/evening. But, I don't really need to justify myself. =)
2. Pacifier. I swore up & down that I did not want Carter to have a pacifier until he was at least a month old. I had read a ton about pacis causing nipple confusion & causing problems with breastfeeding. I wanted to give myself & Carter the best chance possible to succeed. That one flew out the window before we even left the hospital. When you have a poor little fussy baby who just got circumcised & is cluster feeding like crazy to help with his pain & discomfort not to mention being a mommy who is new to breastfeeding with extremely sore nipples....a paci seems like a god send. It also works great in the car when I have no other way to soothe the poor little guy. Fortunately for us, Carter is a pro at breastfeeding & seems to have NO confusion about whether a paci is a real food source or not. He will ONLY take certain types of pacis though. He is very picky.
So far, that's it. I'm actually kind of surprised there aren't MORE. Other then the fact that I keep reading that my kid should already be on some sort of schedule. Uh...yeah...you tell my kid that. He's 11 days old. Schedule? Funny. Only the last two days I have I even tried to look for a sleeping pattern. He might be getting into a little bit of one, but no I am not going to plan out every second of my kid's day & try to stick to it. That's just ridiculous. I'm glad I realize that now. It's made me feel a lot more confident as a mommy.
Aww good for you hun! Whatever works for your family is the BEST way :) I, too, was against the paci thing, but I've read many articles that show babies don't get nipple confusion from pacis in the beginning....they just get it from bottles, who would have thought?! So we will be doing pacis too if Em likes them :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I am SO excited that BF is going so well for you guys! Gives me hope :)