These past three days have been so much fun, helping the kids a while each day, so he could deal with a couple of chores on Monday, and riding along when the baby had to go back for a checkup on his bili count on Tuesday. They do great with the baby, but were concerned that if she needed help with the restroom or something, they didn't want to set the baby's carrier down on a dirty restroom floor.
After an extended labor and then the section, our daughter is sort of wrecked. She does a lot better each day, but she is still very uncomfortable and short of rest. Add on the milk coming in during the wee hours yesterday morning and all that jazz, and she has a lot on her plate right now.
I have to say that for a three weeks early little guy, our GS is very pleasant. He is taking to nursing very well, and when he does get upset over something, he settles back down very easily. He doesn't like dirty pants, but as soon as you change the diaper and pick him back up, he is satisfied.
They are working on getting day and night defined (or, I should probably say, "redefined") right now. I cannot recall how long that task took with our kids...they were all sleeping over pretty quickly.
I have told her to turn on the TV or radio n the daytime, wake him up and engage his attention, but during the night, keep it low-key at feedings and diaper changes. I remember being attentive in the nighttime, but more matter-of-fact, so they didn't come to think of night feedings as one more playtime.
I also read somewhere, many years ago, that a baby had sufficient mass to sleep through the night at eleven pounds. That was right about where all of ours got so they could sleep six to eight hours at a stretch. I am betting on the scale....
When did your babies and grandkids start to make it through the night?
(SIL just came through for a set of truck keys as I was typing this, and he reports they got about five hours of sleep, broken up by nursing every two hours or so, last night...so,they are on the way to establishing a rhythm. YAHHH!)
Also, I know that there is a lot of debate in child development circles about nature v nurture. I think that a child is a product of both influences. This baby settles down easily, as soon as his tiny needs are met. All of our kids did, too.
He can get really bent out when he's hungry and his Mama is in the other room, but as soon as she shows up, he is happy as a clam in warm mud. He screamed bloody murder while the tech was tapping his heel for the bloodwork yesterday, but fell asleep in his Daddy's arms as soon as we got his tiny footies back on. I am thus telling them that they have got a good thing going on.
Did you think that your babies/grandbabies seemed to arrive with a personality, or a basic temperament, at least in general terms?
