sleep parenting

During Aaron's first month, I was mostly exhausted because of I was recovering from the whole labor and delivery and its effects on my body. From what our moms tell us, Aaron is a fairly pretty easy baby though. From the beginning, he slept in pretty regular spurts of 3 hours, and even slept 4 hours at night sometimes. I wasn't getting a nice long stretch of sleep, but at least I was getting sleep when I wasn't feeding him or myself.

Now I'm exhausted from taking care of him. He's been fussy and overtired for the past few days. You'd think that would mean that he would pass out and sleep like a log until he woke up hungry or dirty. I wish! Overtired for him has meant that he can't fall asleep easily. No matter how I've held him, he cries and cries until he manages to doze off. But then any little movement or sound will wake him up. We've just been living in a sort of dazed cycle - nap, wake up, change his diaper, feed him, maybe change his diaper again, try to quiet him down (sometimes for hours) and get him to sleep again.

I think being overtired is only partially to blame for his recent spurt of fussiness. He's also starting to become socially aware. He now pushes himself to stay awake to hang out with the moms and pops and whoever else is around. His eyes will be rolling back into his head because he's so tired, but he'll suddenly start and look around to see what's going on. The great thing about this newfound discovery of the world and people around him is that he smiles socially now!



The not so great part is that he cries for attention, wants to be held constantly and doesn't like to sleep by himself anymore. It's tiring, but I just remind myself that he's already grown so much and a day will come when he won't want me around as much anymore, so I might as well savor it while I can. Anyway, I've been trying to hold him until he's asleep and then place him in his crib, but as soon as his little butt hits the mattress, he starts wailing this sad, scared sounding cry. So we've taken to letting him sleep on us sometimes just so we can all get some sleep.

Last night, I awoke to the sound of Aaron's whimpering cries followed by some hollow thumps coming from Isaac's side of the bed. I look over and Isaac is sound asleep and patting his chest, trying to comfort the baby. Except Aaron wasn't sleeping on Isaac's chest. He was in his crib.

one month

Aaron is getting fatter! We went to the doctor and found out that he's gained 2.5 pounds which isn't that much when you think about it at first, but it's almost 40% of his original weight! My weak arms can definitely feel the difference. I can't hold him like a football anymore; he's too tall for me to do that now.

When I first came home from the hospital, my mom and Isaac's mom each stayed over for a few nights to help us adjust and they both cooked a ton of food. I didn't follow some of the more old fashioned Chinese confinement traditions (not washing hair for 30 days, staying in bed for 30 days), but I did try to eat according to Chinese tradition and I tried to stay warm and dry.

This meant no "hot" or "cold foods" and lots and lots of ginger. I've had A LOT of ginger and chicken in the past few weeks - pretty much at every meal. At one point I was drinking milk that had ginger in it and sponge bathing with ginger water. I think I've had my fill of chicken and ginger for quite some time. I do think there's something to the Chinese food tradition because I know Isaac was really sick of ginger, but it was all really tasty to me so maybe my body needed it. But the month is over and I can have a greater variety of food and eat sushi and ice cream again, guilt-free!

I also get to go outside a little more which is really really nice. I've been going a little crazy cooped in the apartment. Throwing out garbage and going downstairs to do laundry became exciting excursions for me. But I have big plans this weekend! I'm attending a bridal shower, going out with Isaac's extended family and I'm planning to go shopping for a baby carrier so I can start taking Aaron out for walks around the neighborhood.