July 13, 2009
Relearning
Harriet is seven weeks tomorrow, and some semblance of regular life has returned to us. We spent our weekend doing things we would have done without her– Saturday bbq at friends’ house, Sunday brunch and ice cream. All modified somewhat, of course, by her presence (i.e. brunch at mid-afternoon), but definitely doable, and it’s wonderful. It’s as though since she’s been born, I’ve had to relearn how to live in the world, because it’s so different now, but we’re really beginning to figure it out. Which is made very easy by Harriet’s firm understanding of nighttime. She gets up once to eat, but otherwise we keep very civilized hours, and are all the better for it. She’s a good baby, albeit a quite serious and/or grumpy one– we’ve seen a few smiles, but they’ve been all too fleeting. And she only ever laughs when she’s asleep, but really, I’ll take any laughs at all.
Oh wow, how long a stretch does she sleep? I am desperately waiting, hoping, praying that Sylvie will soon sleep through the night. Ish. Hearing about very young babies who do makes me so very happy. And hopeful.
Assuming I've got any control at all, I attribute the sleep to her bedtime routine, which we started at about two or three weeks and has worked wonders. I feed her, wait a bit, then she has a bath, we go up to the (darkened) bedroom where her lullaby CD is playing, she gets a massage, changed into sleeper, a story (if she isn't screaming) and then another feed and to bed after that. Our goals are shortening the routine and moving it earlier so eventually she goes to bed before us (can you imagine!!). I didn't want her to have a daily bath initially, but it helped with her gas, and seemed to relax her. So she falls asleep around midnight, gets up around four to eat, and wakes up around 8:00. I now fear that having laid all that out for you, it will never happen ever again. (Babies make one superstitious).