Thursday, May 14, 2009

Mommy-hood initiation

Luci is still a doll - but she has gotten into this habit of what I refer to as her "feeding frenzy." She is great all day, then 6pm hits, she becomes little miss fussy-mussy, and all she wants to do is nurse. This has really been bothering me for the past couple of days because she is so good to me throughout the day - so I couldn't understand why it couldn't continue into the evenings as well.

Then I figured it out - Luci and I have a great routine throughout the day - I feed her, I burp her, she falls asleep on my shoulder or cuddled into my chest while waiting for the lingering burps, I lay her in the pack-n-play, swaddle her, and she will sleep for 3-4 hours - then repeat.

Well, then Daddy comes home and wants his quality Luci time - which he is totally entitled to enjoy. However, he will take her as soon as she is done nursing, he burps her and then wants her to lay on him and fall asleep. This is where the feeding frenzy starts. I think that she is becoming so used to our little routine that she doesn't know what to do when she is not put down after nursing, and therefore becomes fussy.

So, I gently told John tonight to just let her fall asleep in the pack-n-play for awhile after I was done nursing her, and then he could steal her and lay with her until she wants to nurse again. He agreed - and guess what - it worked! She is sleeping right now as I am typing, which she typically does not do at 8pm.

Spoke too soon - she is crying now - so much for my intuition - time for the boobs to work overtime!

Later!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Our lactation consultant called that "cluster feeding" when B would eat a lot in the evening. She said they intuitively smoosh feedings together so they can sleep longer stretches at night.

But don't listen to me. My kid's nearly a year old and still kicking my ass at night!

Can't wait to see more pictures!

nora said...

Yup, motherhood is a lot of "A-HA!" moments, many of which are followed by "Guess not!" :) Hang in there!

Emily said...

Hi Carla!
You know, 6pm is the witching hour for babies. Josie did the same thing, she would be fine all day but then 5, 6 pm owuld hit and she would like hit a wall and cry cry cry. Just happened to correspond perfectly with whe Jason would get home!
I've heard a lot of other moms who have had this time be the hardest- know you aren't alone! Sounds like you are rolling with the punches! Congrats again- she is a cutie!