Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Quick Update while He sleeps!


The older he gets, lesser time I have for doing anything else. He's now 8 months and very mobile. He started crawling 2 weeks ago, creeping 4 weeks earlier. He would not sleep in his crib. So, we are now co-sleeping in our newly bought king-size bed. I still nurse which is a miracle and he is an all-night-er. He has 2 fully sprouted bottom teeth and 3 teeth on their way out (ouch!). I haven't had an 8 hour of sleep straight for almost 3 months now since he started teething. He loves sweet potatoes, apples and pears. Everything I feed him is home-made except for the cereal. I obsess about his food. I spend more money on his food than our food. Everything is organic. It can be expensive because it takes him several tries before he will take on new food. My favorite time with him is bath time as he squeals with glee when water splashes every time he slaps it. He hasn't been sick (knock on wood). His biggest problem is his eczema. He loves to be read to. He smiles and looks at me when I change my voice for the characters in the book.

Okay he's awake now. I have to go!

8 comments:

Ed said...

I know a few people who co-slept with their children at an early age and paid for it dearly when they got older. They went through months of battles, pleading and lots of crying to get their toddlers to adjust to their own room so that they could get alone time. It harder at two years old than eight months old because at two, they know how to throw tantrums for hours on end.

The thought of that made my wife and I start our daughter sleeping in her own room at three months old. She never complained. She still tried to sleep with us as she grew older and occasionally we would cave in on stormy nights but there was always heck to pay for the next two or three nights when we wouldn't allow her.

She's four now and we still cave in on occasion but she mostly prefers to sleep in her own room now because she is used to it. We get more us time and a better sleep because she tosses and turns so much during the night.

So I caution you on my experience and of others I have talked too, it is better to get them used to sleeping on their own sooner rather than later.

On another note, we made our own food for our daughter until she could eat solid foods. We really didn't have any reason other than I tried a spoonful of jarred baby food once. It was disgusting. We had a magic bullet blender and would just put whatever we were having in that and juice it up, adding liquid as needed. My daughter thrived on it and it was much cheaper than buying jarred foods from the store.

kala said...

WOW. Kudos on the breastfeeding. And to think you were worried that you wouldn't be able to do it for a long time! Also, I admire you for making your own baby food. Lila's purely on bottled food - a mix of laziness and irresponsibility on my part I suppose! (but in my defense, the bottled food here in France is really good! I eat her leftovers too because I'm too lazy to cook -- I don't sound like a very good parent or person, no? LOL)

malor said...

@Ed, Training him to sleep by himself is the hardest thing. I just read an article in the magazine how to do it but my husband needs to adjust the mattress height of the crib. I'd been waiting for him to do it for 2 weeks now. Anyway, he cn now stand by pulling up using the crib sides for support and I'm afraid he'll fall. Also, he prefers to sleep on his stomach. I know we gave in so easily. Hopefully, we're not too late. He was sleeping alone in a bassinett then crib for 5 mos. and I don't know what happened.

I read the book Happy Baby written by Dr. Bob Sear and a dietitian and they recommend making your own food or buying a frozen baby food vs jarred food. Frozen baby foods are just ridiculously expensive. So, I decided to just make it. They said that jarred food is bland and the canning process kills the nutrients. I just use my food processor to make it.

@Kala, You are a good mother. Don't you think you're not. Circumstances are different. I don't work that much and I don't have much money right now. So, it is cheaper for me to breastfeed and make my own baby food. If I am working, I will not be able to do it. Also, this might be my only chance to be a mother and I would like to experience it all. Anyway, breastfeeding is really difficult. It is not my favorite thing but I am counting the months and I will done with it. Forever? Maybe!

I do a lot of things short of ideal. I watch a lot of TV with Benji. And not educational shows. Also, I seldom read to him. I get bored with baby books easily. I forget to apply sunblock on him. I let him cry longer than he's suppose to because I am busy with the internet. I dream of working again and I cannot wait to hand him to my husband when he gets home.

Now, I feel guilty.

Ed said...

I think they told us that when our daughter could roll over on her own, not to worry about them sleeping on their stomach. We didn't but still, all that you hear in the news about SIDS is scary. I always thought it was overblown until I had a daughter of my own.

Although I think they aren't recommended, we had crib bumpers on the inside of the crib so if she fell, she wouldn't hit her head on anything hard. But we made sure they were tied very securely and very often so that there wasn't any room for entrapment issues. As soon as she was old enough that she had more control, I got rid of them.

Like I said, we started at age 3 months so there was no training. We still swaddled her and she was asleep after breastfeeding when we put her in her crib. She just grew up only knowing that way. But we've had our set backs and at times, have just had to let her cry it out for awhile as hard as it is to do that. Parenting is certainly not easy which is why I cherish the alone time when my daughter is sleeping in her bedroom. I wish you the best of luck!

malor said...

Thanks Ed. I need all the luck I can get. We haven't use the bumper. We will certainly use it now. We haven't slept well since he is co-sleeping with us.

PhilippinesPhil said...

Ouch is right.

I've raised six nursing kids through the baby years and most slept next to mom until they were from 6 to 8 months. I don't remember it ever being a problem getting them to go to a crib at night, I think because we used to nap them in the crib during the day.

malor said...

@Phil, When I was growing up in the Phil, we did not have a separate bedroom. We co-slept with our parents until we moved to a new house wwhen I was 9 years old and I cannot wait to sleep away from my parents.

@Geri, Thanks for sharing. Just continue to share your experiences with Evan. It helps me alot...

PhilippinesPhil said...

Malor, I've been thinking back. It occurs to me that I WANTED our babies to sleep with us. It seemed natural to me. It felt unnatural to have a small child away in another room. What we did was to have the crib in our room first and eventually migrated it months later to another room.