Lessons Learnt

I’ve got so much to say about this whole experience that I find myself typing when ever JJ is asleep. There are a few things that we have learnt since being at home that I don’t want to forget.

Advice…

The best advice that I’ve received so far was from Em…(thank you, you will never know how much it has helped). Em suggested that each morning I get dressed and do my hair and look after myself. By doing this small task, I at least face the day as a human and not some slob. So I no longer waste the day in my PJ’s and I don’t feel the need to do so.

The worst advice we have received was from a Midwife and the Health Care nurse, they both told us not to hold JJ whilst he is sleeping and we don’t often, but there are times when I don’t want to put him down and I just cuddle him until he wakes up. I don’t think at this stage of his life I’m spoiling him by holding and cuddling him.

Down sides

Lack of sleep and working out whether or not he is receiving enough food and trying to get into a routine. Going by the statistics based on JJ’s weight, he should only be eating 56ml’s of formula per feed. We have noticed that this is not enough to sustain him and he is hungry again either straight away or after a short nap. So we increased his feed to 60ml’s we had a satisfied baby for a feed, then we decided to try 70ml’s after sucking the bottle dry and trying to suck more. Tim suggested we offer him 100ml’s and see what he drinks, and he drank 80ml’s.

The Health Care nurse did suggest that we change formula’s as the one we are using does not have a lot of calories and JJ has not really put on weight, since being at home. With the 80ml feeds we now have a baby that sleeps 3 to 3.5 hours in-between and a much happier baby. But this increase in amount of formula weighs on my mind and I can’t help but worry about the reason for why he needs so much more than what is recommended for his weight.


Up sides

His play time, we are hearing more little noises and seeing JJ trying to mimic our facial expressions is just priceless.

Overall..

This whole experience….if anything….has brought Tim and I much closer, we have both surprised each other with how we are coping with everything and there are times where we both feel that we are not coping at all. But then Tim will surprises me by getting up in the middle of the night changes, feeds and resettles JJ without even waking me.

One thing that I still have to learn….and this lesson will be very hard…that is not to be such a baby hog….I have to back off and let Tim have some quality time with his son and not just take over.