Misadventures of Mommyhood Milestones

Three very important parenting milestones occurred this week. First, we decided as parents to impose a strict bedtime of 8pm on our son. The only problem with that is that our son was the only one who didn't seem to get the memo on his bedtime. In fact, on Day 1, he seemed to decide that he would do exactly the OPPOSITE of go to sleep. To him, his bedtime was 8pm, 8:15, 9:23, 10:45, and 11:13! On top of that, he wanted to be HELD constantly all through the night. It wasn't until around 3am that he decided to settle down to his usual 2 hour feedings. It was torture. Now after four days, I can say that we have successfully put him down for bedtime at 8pm; now if only we could get him to go back down at 11pm.
Which led to our second and third parenting milestone: cereal and a baby monitor respectively. We decided that a little rice cereal in his milk was in order to help bring him to an earlier bedtime. After putting a half-teaspoon in his 2.5oz bottles, we put him to bed by 9pm the next night. I’m not sure how successful the rice cereal is. There’s the old wives tale that he could get a little rice in his formula to help him sleep more. But there is also the current research that says that his digestive system may not yet be able to fully handle cereal. I tend to believe the latter in this case since the last few nights we have been experimenting with different cereal dosages and our son has stayed up at those different intervals. Maybe we’ll forgo the cereal for a couple more weeks.
Finally, I set up the monitor, doused the lights and the telly and for the first time, he slept out of my sight. Now, to me, monitors are supposed to make you less paranoid, not more. But inevitably, new mommyhood syndrome strikes again as I found myself doubting the capabilities of the monitor, even though I had thoroughly researched the product. I had the volume on the parental unit turned up to the fullest and the sensitivity level up to the highest level as well. I even found myself knarching once more the first night after going to bed with the cosleeper. For a couple of weeks, I had actually been able to rest while he was resting and all of the sudden after buying this contraption I wondered if I should keep the monitor on all night, even though I was right there. So it was back to square 1. I can say that after three days, I’m a little more comfortable with relying on it, even though some of my paranoia comes slightly to the surface as is expected with any mommy. On to the next adventure.

Misadventures in Mommyhood: The Cosleeper

The co-sleeper is one of those inventions that is meant to make life easier for new parents, especially mothers. This nifty little invention supercedes the basinet. The basic design of a cosleeper is that it has three elevated sides with a lower side that nestles right up against the bed allowing the mother easier access to the child for changing, feeding etc. It provides the convenience of having your child by your bed without actually having him or her IN your bed.
Kudos to the inventor of this device. The particular model of cosleeper I have handily is part of a 6-in-1 play yard that includes a changing table and a nightlight (that I just discovered) along with an MP3 input. What they don't tell you about is the inevitable connotation behind the cosleeper and that is while the child doesn't sleep with you, you inevitably end up sleeping with him or her. In the extremely early stages of motherhood when you find yourself knarching (see previous entry), and some part of your anatomy ends up in the cosleeper with your child. Most times, it's just a hand to comfort him or her with your presence, or to comfort yourself with multiple checks to ensure that your newborn is still breathing. But I assure you, the hand is not alone. There has been many a night when I find myself situating my pillow on the edge of the cosleeper, effectively placing my head in and camping out there. Yes, it creates the same neck cramp as the knarch, but it does reduce the incidence of whiplash.

Mommyhood Vocabulary

Knarch-noun: the instinctive leaning or craning of a mother's head and neck toward her child. This condition does occur rarely among fathers but is definitely most common for mothers and most frequently when child is an infant, but can also remain throughout early childhood and adolescence. Side effects may include neck cramps, whip lash, leaky breasts.
Intransitive verb: -ed, -ing: to lean or crane head toward child.
Active usage of this verb will occur in later posts.