I can remember when I had my first and someone was criticising me for being so routine led - I wanted to pop out to the shops but was in the middle of my awake time and knew that as soon as I popped said-little one in the car seat, he'd fall asleep (thus cutting short awake time). They thought I was bonkers running my life around when I wanted baby to sleep and be awake and thought I should be much free-er with it all ... Pah! That very person has since had a baby of their own and is the most inflexible scheduled person I know!! My point being - sod everyone else, you're the one who can proudly announce you're having wonderful nights and great sleeps in the daytime a few months later! Although obviously getting wound up when they point out how easy your baby is - FOR THE SECOND TIME - IT'S EFF-ING HARD WORK TO GET HERE!!!
I thought today I would way up the pros and cons to starting your day at 7am. My poor partner was against the idea and thought we should go with the flow in the mornings and hope baby would have a lie in so we could. Being the total control nerd that I am (note how I refrained from using the phrase control freak - just to make myself feel better about my slight OCD control issues!) I felt it was best to go military style on baby's arse and start at 7am regardless of what happened through the night. Obviously this can make for a very long, exhausting day for you. It's hard work - yes, something some people forget when they say 'oh, you have such an easy baby' (when they see them settle themselves and sleep through) is that we have worked bloody hard to get here! The lack of sleep, the early starts, the routine - it's really hard work and emotionally exhausting, but I promise you - it's worth it!!
So, pros to the 7am start every day (thus leading into your 3-hourly routine of feeds at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 6.30pm [start bedtime early]) is just that - you know where you are. You know that even if you had to feed at 5am, get up at 7am to feed and at least your day is normal (well, however one would class normal at this point). The cons - LACK OF SLEEP!! I know, soooooooooo tempting and easy to stay in bed if baby has ... but think about the long game.
Hmmmm - has today turned into a bit of a moan?? Hope not - was getting a few things off my chest that may strike a chord with you and help in some way.
Oh, and one other thought for today that helped me immensly - no one person is right - read books and blogs and speak to people you respect (however much you like someone, try and speak to those who have had babies in the past 12-18 months - they'll have the best memories and will be best placed to recall what they did) and ask loads of questions. Then take a slice of this and a piece of that from them all and create your own routine and thoughts for how you want to deal with baby. Everyone is different and everyone'll deal with things differently. I think my way is the best way because I did all that and this has now worked for me - but that's just me. You may be different. But my strongest feeling about it all is that it's about you. What makes you comfortable will rub off on baby. I.e. I'm the antithesis of baby-led. I believe that you can create the baby's routine for them that works for you.
Will try and be more time specific in next post about where we're now up to with baby ... where are we? 10-12 weeks (ish)?
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