1. Once Alec has gone to nursery, I make myself a hot chocolate -- with more spoonfuls of powder than the tin suggests.
2. Alec's key worker has printed out some photos of him that I admired during parents' afternoon. It means a lot to have images of the times when we are not with him.
3. When I come out of the bathroom, all is _still_ quiet. I retrieve Nick from the attic where he is sleeping tonight and we cuddle and doze until Alec wakes up.
It's very cool to have a hot chocolate drink early in the morning..
ReplyDeleteClare, no need to publish this, this is for you.
ReplyDeleteIt's none of my business, but I am wondering if Alec still sleeps in your room, and that's why Nick often sleeps in the attic?
Once Alec is around 1, it should be time to put him into his own room, and establish the boundary that your room is your room. That means that you sit with him and feed him in his own room, and yours stays as yours. It's a bad habit too to take him into your bed.
If you start doing these things slowly you'll find it easier. He will also sleep through the night better, when he knows you're not right there to be able to get up after him all the time.
I wish you luck, having a baby is the hardest, but most rewarding thing you'll ever do
xx
Thanks for your comment, Froggy. We have Alec in our bed towards the end of the night, and that's the way we like it. He seems to need the company just now, and we enjoy having him there.
ReplyDeleteThere is evidence that co-sleeping (not necessarily bed sharing) protects against SIDS, and it seems reasonable to me that a young mammal should not sleep alone, so we have chosen to keep his cot in our room.
He likes to feed in the small hours -- we're both busy people and sometimes he doesn't get milk he feels he needs during the day, so we make up for it around dawn when we are both lying quietly and there are few distractions. I have read that breastfeeding lying down increases levels of a hormone called prolactin, which encourages mother and baby to go back to sleep. Also, having him close by means I respond to him before he wakes up properly, which means he settles much faster than he would if he'd woken up fully.
He naps happily in his cot during the day and for the first half of the night, and sometimes I hear him wake and settle himself down again.
He also plays in the nursery during the day so he knows that's his room, and I know there will come a time when he will want his own space and will move himself in there.
I've organised my work so I have chances to catch up on any sleep I need, and we have good routines for settling him in the evening. Nick has a study in the attic, and he retires there when Alec is particularly squirmy. It's Nick's space for his own precious things and the baby rarely goes up there.
Some nights do seem very long, but these few years will seem so short when I look back on them after Alec has set out to make his own way in the world. I want to notice -- and enjoy where I can -- every single moment with him.