I started this post a few weeks ago and had lots of thoughts, but it seems like it's been so hard to process them and get them down in a post.
I'll be completely honest here...I never really thought about what the dynamics would be like with a toddler and a newborn in our house. Colin is 8 weeks old today, and I can definitely say we are finally in a good routine.
When we brought Colin home, I felt like I was giving all of my attention to him, and Jason felt like he was giving all of his attention to Drake. Let's face it - we were. Colin was nursing all.the.time which meant that Jason was taking care of Drake's needs. Around the 6 week mark, Colin got into a much better schedule, and each of us finally felt like we were giving attention to both kids. Now, at the 8 week mark, it's just busy. It's all good and I wouldn't trade any of it, but it's busy.
Drake really loves Colin. He always wants to know where Colin is, touch/kiss him, give him his paci, or wake him up when he is sleeping. Yea, we are working on that last one. Unfortunately, because he wants to be so close to Colin all the time, he usually does something he knows he's not supposed to (like pull on his legs/arms, cover his face with his lovey, push him, or touch his eyes/mouth, even giving him "knuckles" to the head). So, he is usually in time out at least once a day. We continually remind him that Colin is a baby, and we have to be gentle. It is definitely the worst when I am feeding Colin so if you have any suggestions on how to keep Drake focused on something else while I'm feeding Colin, I will gladly take them. :-)
Colin is now on a great schedule eating every three hours (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm) and napping in between. He's usually awake for about an hour and 15 minutes at each feeding so we have a little play time and some tummy time. During the day, he's been napping in the swing downstairs. Eventually, we'll move his nap(s) to his crib. We give him a bath about 6:30pm and put him down after his bottle at 7pm. I nurse him at all feedings except this one where he gets a 5oz bottle, and I pump a couple hours later. He's been sleeping about 6-7 hours the first stretch and then will go back down until about 7am which is awesome.
I am so blessed to have a husband who is a partner in raising our children. I couldn't imagine doing it by myself.
3 comments:
A lot of my friends made a box of things the older one could play with only when you are feeding the baby. They looked forward to that time as special. I tried it a few times but for me the thing that worked the best was reading to the older one. I would have them sit on the side of the baby's feet. If I needed to switch then I had the toddler switch too. Both worked great but the first requires more prep work...ie getting the box out and setting the toddler up before nursing. Where reading I would just have them bring me the book they wanted to have read. Hope this helps. My first two were 18 months apart!!!
What about having Drake and Mom time when Colin is not present or when Jason takes care of Colin's needs?
Parker would often pull a book or two for us to read while I was nursing Hudson, but this pretty much only works until the wee one is pretty much in the eat vs distraction mode. Coloring, stickers, play dough, color wonder markers and activity books, masking tape on the carpet for cars, sensory table/bin for nursing times only......
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