Daddy night off

22 September 2018 : 5 weeks (1 month)

Husband and I are giving each other one night off per week. On a normal night, daddy has baby from 8pm-2am and mummy 2am-8am. On my night off, I get to sleep in a little more (limited by breast engorgement) and on daddy’s night off I look after baby the whole night.

Today is my turn to dream feed at 1030pm. Omg! Who knew it would be so hard? Clever and hard.

Lochie sucked in his sleep – for AN HOUR! I held him in my arms in a slightly upright position to prevent reflux. I had to sit perfectly still and silent, like a yogi, while juggling the bottle a tiny bit to elicit his sucking reflex. Too much movement and I would wake him, too little and he would fall asleep without having finished his dreamfeed, only to wake up hangrily not long after. When it was done and my back and arms cramped, I had to wait for any gas and burps to pass before putting him back into the bassinet. He did not wake but spewed in his sleep. It was not a storm but a gentle tide. Calm and easy. There were no tears or discomfort, just overflow. Amazing. I wish other feeds were like this. Normally there is too much movement – either I’m jiggling him too much or he is doing baby acrobatics, which results in heartburn. This is why we must wrap him tightly for each feed. Somehow I need to get him actively playing to use up his energy in between feeds and calm him right down for the feeding. This is such precise work. When he cries, he is so active and worked up, it makes matters worse. I am continuing to ponder and plan how to work with this little creature.

Husband went out for his night off. My parents came over to help me. They looked particularly young, with the infant in their arms. They act young. This is a good time of life. I want to press pause.