Week 8

13th - 19th February 2005

Caroline's Entry

Have you ever noticed how much conflicting advice is banded around about babies? And the more you read and the more people you talk to the more confusion there is. Evan is almost 2 months old now and he still can't get himself to sleep. 9 times out of 10 the only way we'll get him asleep is to let him fall asleep after a feed, on our chests, or in our arms to music. If he's fast asleep then we can put him down to bed and sometimes he'll stay asleep for a while - but usually he wakes within a few minutes. What we can't seem to do is to put him down when he's sleepy but still awake. He won't fall asleep. Instead he'll just cry and the crying will soon escalate into a full on scream.

Evan, demonstrating the benefits of Tummy Time

Half of the advice says that he's learned that if he cries that someone will come and pick him up and the only way to encourage him to "unlearn" this fact is to be harsh and let him cry to break that association. The other half of the advice says that you should never leave a baby to cry and the more he is held when he cries the more secure he will become as he grows older. Both of us are of the opinion that it isn't good to let him cry but it can be very tiring for Emma having to hold him all the time. So we're really hoping that he'll grow out of it soon! I have visions of Emma having this 10-year old asleep on her chest! :-)

One of the things that I've been doing with Evan since he was about 4 weeks old is giving him "tummy time" on a daily basis. Babies traditionally spend most of their time lying on their backs but of course they need to be on their front if they are ever to crawl. Tummy time has many benefits for a new baby. This is an excerpt from the book "Baby Massage by Peter Walker":

"Regular waking time spent belly down ensures the structural health and fitness of his body in a way no other natural position can achieve. When your baby lies on his belly, he lifts his head to look around him - strengthening the supporting muscles in his neck. Once he has comfortably reached this stage, he will then lift his head and shoulders, developing strength in his arms and shoulders and flexibility in his spine.

Having achieved this, he will then raise his head and shoulders even further. This stretches open your baby's chest so that he achieves a deeper breathing rhythm and maximises his lung capacity. And as his chest stretches open, so too does his abdominal cavity - aiding digestion."

So far Evan can lift his head and look around and sometimes he'll lift his shoulders up and prop himself up a bit. A couple of days ago he learned a new trick - he managed to roll over onto his back again!

Caroline

Emma's Entry

Jump to Caroline's Entry

"Are you sure you want me to pick you up?"

We have found a formula milk that Evan will drink (we hope it wasn't a one off) and he quite easily drank 8oz. It's nice for Caroline to have some bonding time with Evan and it really is lovely watching him feed with those gorgeous little eyes looking up at you. I don't always have expressed breast milk at hand and sometimes I feel like my boobs have nothing in them so having formula available will be very handy. It's especially useful for when we go to visit friends because it can be terribly lonely having to go to another room to feed Evan and it can take a long time and not having any support for my back is bad so having formula available for those trips will be great. The one downside with mixing breastfeeding with formula feeding is that it confuses my milk production and I usually get really engorged the following day :(.

We took Evan for his first trip into our local town this week and because it was bitterly cold we had to put him in his coat. This coat even though it is a 0-3 month size it actually swamps the poor little guy. It comes down to his ankles and he couldn't really move his arms. He did look cute in a funny kind of way :). We introduced him to our hairdresser who absolutely loves babies and they all said he looks like me. I can't really see it but he does pull the same expressions that I do!

I have booked myself a place on a baby massage class that will be running for 4 weeks in March so look out for updates on how that goes. It is a free class run by my local health visitor and it will be another trip out of the house for us and a chance for me to bond even more with Evan.

"Yes, I'm sure!"

Evan is very clingy and I am still struggling to get him to sleep or even lie down on his own in the day time. I have had to leave him to cry several times this week because I can't do everything with him in my arms and he really gets distressed when I try to use the front carrier. This week I tried to use it and we became stuck! I had him screaming in my ears and I was getting a little stressed too, but after a few minutes I managed to get the harness unclipped. I am running out of ideas to try to get Evan to sleep without me being his permanent mattress so I plan to mention it at his 8 week check with the Doctor next week.

On a final note, here's some Valentine's Day humour. Whilst Caroline was on the telephone ordering our Indian takeaway treat Evan decide to do a massive adult sounding fart. I don't know how his does it, but he always manages to let one go at these inopportune moments! Caroline was unable to contain herself and all three of us (the guy on the telephone included) laughed out loud but he must have thought it was her and not our little angel of 7+ weeks old.

Emma