Monday, July 2

A Fortnight With Little Frog

Charlie is over two weeks old now, which is hard to believe. Before we know it, he'll be a month old! We've started to try to establish a routine of feeds and sleeps based on Gina Ford's Contented Little Baby philosophy. Some days are better than others. For instance, today he woke at 8am and fed with me for an hour, after which he was supposed to nap for a little while before his next feed. He refused to doze off and then he was hungry again, and before I knew it, it was midday. He's finally asleep again now, but swaddled in a muslin on my lap because he's cried every time I've put him in his moses basket. So it's not going to plan today at all, but then he is still only a wee newborn. (PS: Any tips and advice will be gratefully received!)

He has a nickname now: Little Frog. Whenever he goes on his changing mat for nappy check or top-and-tailing, or when he first goes in the bath, he flings his arms and legs out at 45-degree angles and wobbles them about like a mini amphibian. He's such a cutie. Here he is after his bath last night:



No idea when I might write again. The first full day of trying out the routine went swimmingly and I had a straight two-and-a-half hours to myself while he had his lunchtime nap; this gave me visions of maybe being able to start fiddling with WISTERIA COTTAGE in just a couple of weeks' time. But today that seems a long way away! I did manage to read a little bit while I fed him this morning, though, which was really nice.

Anyway, thank you to everybody who has sent messages and emails to welcome Charlie, and thanks to Judy Jarvie, Sue aka Ms Creativity, Nell Dixon, Michelle Styles, Biddy Coady, Laura Hamby, Lis, Julie Cohen, Anna Louise Lucia, Phillipa Ashley, Liz Fenwick, Sheila Holloway, Cindy K. Green, MG Braden, Chris H, Jan Jones, Sheila Riley, Kate Hardy, Fiona Harper, and Nicola Marsh for leaving such lovely congratulatory comments on the previous post.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Charlie is gorgeous :-) The contented baby book is brill - dicovered it on my last one when I had nothing to learn!!! Stick with it and enjoy :-)

Lis said...

Awww he is SO adorable!! Hope he settles into a routine soon :)

Judy Jarvie said...

What a cutie Jess. Keep the faith re the routine stuff - I've had several 'close to giving up'
moments re breastfeeding (cos baby never stops eating and it's hard going) but it's evening out a touch. Newborns eh - my four year old is feeling seriously neglected. She says 'baby not feeding again Mum!'
Thinking of you. Jx

Nell Dixon said...

He is just gorgeous! I'm going to disagree on Gina ford. As health visitors we loathe her! It would be my number one book for a bonfire, at the end of the day you'll find you set up your own routine based on his personality and every baby is different. The other thing to remember is babies have growth spurts at 10 days three weeks six weeks etc and you may find the feeding goes haywire for a few days then settles again at those times. B/F babies feed a lot evening times ie 5pm ish till around 11. It's natures way of filling them up to go through the night.

Phillipa said...

Jess - Ohh, I don't recall getting itno much of a routine (maybe that's what Nell means by babies doing their own thing) but I do believe in just going with your instincts. This time will fly by - it never goes by the book!

Anonymous said...

That book just made me feel inadequate. I read it, understood it, and then gave it back to the library right away.

The Fecklet had very little routine at all at first; he ate when he was hungry (sometimes every half hour) and slept when he was tired (sometimes never), and I just accepted that my life was going to be chaotic and taken over by this little person and enjoyed it, as you seem to be doing.

I started him on a bedtime routine at six weeks, which he responded to very well: bath at six, feed, bed. But that was it.

Gradually he fell into his own routine of sleep, eating, and play, which has become more regular now that he's on solid foods of three meals a day. Now, at six months, he is quite predictable (most of the time!). But I wouldn't say we were into any sort of routine (besides a bedtime one) until three months or so. And I let him fall into it as it suited both of us. And it changes as our needs change, day to day and week to week.

My brother did the contented baby routine and it worked very well for him, except that they could never leave the house except for prescribed times and the kids could never sleep away from home until they were three years old. Hmm. Perhaps that was his own particular interpretation, though.

The "crying down" routine she talks about did work very well for us, though (after six weeks). But it is hard!

The important thing is not to feel bad if something you try doesn't work. Every baby is different and you are obviously doing a wonderful job. He is gorgeous!

Amanda Ashby said...

Belated congratulations on the gorgeous Charlie - little boys are just the best. Enjoy the whole motherhood thing - it is so much fun though be warned that the rules and routines change by the minute!!!