I'm hesitant to write this post.
Why? Because it's like walking into a maternal mine.field.
But I just have to share what has been such a dramatic.miraculous.sanity-saving change in our nest!
In one night our wee Hudson went from fussing, cranky, fitful sleeping (and feeding almost every HOUR)...
...to sleeping for three - four hour periods and being much calmer and content during the day!
Yes, the last month and a half of having this newborn were about to stretch our sanity to the point of breaking.
We called it colic.
We called it gas.
We called it every other @#(%$! we could think of!
We were wondering when this stage would ever end, and if we would be able to endure much more of it. Wishing we could pack the luggage bags hanging under our eyes and run away.
What happened to the notion of a fantastic four?
It felt more like a frazzled four in our crew.
It felt more like a frazzled four in our crew.
What changed to make this family start smiling again?
Everything... every single approach to parenting I was trying with Hudson.
Why?
We (I should say Azriel) found the book.
The book that guided us in raising her from infancy... gave us confidence as parents to discern her needs. She was even sleeping in her own room through the night by 3 months!
What book?
If you haven't heard of it... it's pretty famous (for good and bad) some say it saved their lives.. other critics say its cruel and dehydrates babies even!
But if you read the book you'd see that only a nut would deprive their baby when its hungry - and it clearly calls for balance between the two approaches of feeding:
hyper-scheduling vs. attachment parenting.
I fear that Crunchy mamas (and if you're one you know the term) are likely aghast right now.
But this is just my personal experience saying... we were co-sleeping, feeding on demand, rarely letting Hudson cry (for various 'justifiable' reasons at the time)... and slowly going more insane.
What I love about this book is that I resonate with so many of it's goals:
Keeping your marriage the priority for your family... not being swallowed up in a child-centred home.
Letting your baby have a healthy cry when you know he's fed/clean/burped.
Having a flexible schedule that assures mama and baby when the next feeding/wake time/sleep are due.
Flexible structure.
That's the oxymoron I want to shape our home in so many ways.
Like placing a lattice in your garden... I want to create a stable structure for our kids to freely grow up around.
To have a rhythm in our home they can 'dance' to.
So much better for my head space - and our family - then the chaos factor.
----------------------------------------------------
Sorry if that post sounds like an infomercial for this book (no, I'm not being bribed to endorse it by anyone). I totally understand if it's not the way you choose to raise your babies, and I'm not judging others for how they approach this issue.
I just had to share this amazing transformation at our nest,
especially if it even helps one other frazzled mama find the needed direction and resources to recover her sanity.
Feeling less dumb, more baby-wise.
Rested mama,
Mel ;o)
P.S... We're also referring to our ToddlerWise book for issues facing Azriel too! Ha.
