She just had her first taste of the babysitter today and she behaved well.. cooing and laughing.. that is.. until I picked her up back. Before we reached the door to my flat she started howling and howling and howling.

She seems to be saying HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@___________@

I had to calm her down with a pacifier (thats the reason why they call it a pacifier). She's now asleep.

It has been an exhausting day

Ok its time to take a break from baby and pregnancy post. I admit, I've been bad. Window shopping online. I'm a bag freak, bagaholic, bag mad, bag lady, whatever. I've been wanting so much to purchase a decent bag and went from Burberry to Miu Miu to Prada to Gucci to Chanel to Loewe.

Pretty expensive stuff eh? With the recent financial turmoil and the Great Depression looming (not to mention that I have to spend so much more on a tiny baby.. who knew someone so small costs so much?), I have been forced to "ubah gaya hidup" (change lifestyle) and downgrade. Hurr..

So what I've been looking? US designers. HAH. Marc Jacobs is one. Kate Spade is another. CK, DKNY Coach.. whatever... I'm just looking for a decent bag to get me to work and back. Also to stuff loads of rubbish.

With the baby, I've got like limited time to browse for stuff online. I cant go to each and every designers website to see what they carry and their prices right? So.. I found out this really good website that consolidates almost EVERYTHING together with the prices! Whats more, you can filter what you like to see. Lets say I love hobo bags and I filter the rest out. They do have other stuff than bags. But I've only got time to see bags!

Check it out! You'll be addicted for sure: www.shopstyle.com

Baby seems abit lethargic after her 2 month jab. No fever.

She usually is a hyper, cranky and extremely happy baby. She is also usually a big drinker.

But these few days she seems sleepy and doesnt want to drink. She also wakes up frequently during nights (OMG!!!! NIGHTMARE!). It'll be so hard to train her back to her normal bedtime routine!

Anyway, I miss my hyper, cranky and extremely happy baby. ;( This is why no new facebook photos are up in my baby album. She's just too tired (from fighting the weakened virus to create antibodies) to put up a decent cute smile...

*now everyone..say... oh...so pooooor thiiiiinnnggg*

Once we reached home, she started fussing and howling. OH. MY. GOOODNESS.

The being good part was good while it lasted. She seems to know when there are strangers around, she's supposed to act cute and good... as if to say "I've got manners!"

*hi mommy.. you are pwwwnnnddd!!*

In terms of baby's sleep, getting her to sleep throughout the night is most important. I've been reading ALOT of personal views over the internet and trying them out on her. Its a trial and error process. I've heard of babies that do not even sleep throughout the night even though they are over a year old.

You've may have read my previous success of getting her on a routine bed time. I've noticed that while I may not be good at a fixed bedtime, a routine regardless of the time works as well. This also goes to napping in the afternoons.

Previously (ie before she was a month old) she could nap right after feeding. Now, she doesnt want to nap. Getting her to nap was a nightmare. So I just left it at that and sometimes she could go on the whole day with just 45mins of nap. I thought the less sleep she got during the day, the better she could sleep at night. Thats when I started (or didnt notice until much later) to notice that she didnt sleep well at night either. Hourly wake up was the worst! I read somewhere that to get her to sleep well at night, she should take her naps in the afternoon. She didnt sleep well at night because she was overly tired.

Oookay.. I was highly doubtful of that at first because, hey, if *I* napped in the afternoons, I wouldnt be able to sleep at night. So I tried. After all, I'm still on maternity leave and I'll work out whats best for all of us (ie HY, me and baby). Viola! It worked on the first day.

Maybe she would wake up to have a feed.. or some comfort patting. But other than that, she started sleeping longer. First it was 5 hours. Then 6. Then 6 and a half. Then now reaching 7 and a half. It was a struggle to get her to sleep in the afternoons (not at night.. night time is a breeze. The house is clean after 9pm...).

To *trick* her to sleep in the afternoons, I had to devised a routine for naps as well. Since her feeding times are still erratic, I made it a point for me to put her to sleep after a feed. It can be quite tricky when u try to burp her... and then she goes all awake again. So what I did was I burped her every 2 ounces and before her milk finishes (lets say around 10-15 ml) I burp her again and then let her finish off her milk without burping her (I dont recomend this to colicky babies.. you'd have to burp colicky babies ALOT). THEN I put her on my chest (she likes to hear the rythm of a heartbeat... reminds her of the 9 months in the tummy) and start soothing her to sleep. Works everytime. Sometimes I get 45 mins. Sometimes 2 hours of sleep.

Bad part: She sleeps on you. You are then paralysed and unable to move and do stuff for the period she is asleep. But what would u rather have? A grumpy baby or a happy and well rested baby?

Some people may not like that idea. Some may say that this is called spoiling her. But I say, who cares anyway. She's just 2 months old and the only few things she knows how to do is to drink milk, sleep and play. Oh, and occassionaly smile and laugh at nothing. After all, she has spent 9 months in the tummy and used to being "cuddled" to sleep. I'll train her when she's older.

Anyway, the advice to all sleep deprived parents out there is to sleep when the baby sleeps. So this is my excuse to sleep WHEN the baby sleeps on ME. ;)

We'll see who will be the one crying first...

Whoever said that babies should be kept awake during the day so that they can sleep throughout the night should be shot. I tried that method (thinking.. yea.. normal people dont sleep well at night because they slept too much in the day) and I got one super unhappy grumpy baby who also does NOT want to sleep at night.

The last time she took 3 hourly naps during the day, she could sleep at least 7 hours during the night. I'm now trying to adjust her night sleep from 8pm to 10pm so that she'll at least sleep throughout the night.

So now, I'm forcing her to take naps during the day. Hopefully she'll adjust soon..

1. ..eat and sleep. Occassional smiling and camwhoring. Full stop

2. ..eat like a queen. No fuss. No drama.

3. ..sleep like a pig. at least 3 hours per feed during day time and 6 hours at night.

4. ..listen to what mommy has to say and laugh at cue. No fuss. No drama.

5. ..entertain herself when needed.

This used to happen before she turned 1 and a half month. Everyday is like clockwork. She will eat and sleep and an occassional play in the evening before she hits the bed. Nothing can rouse her from sleep. NOTHING.

NOW she is so sensitive to sounds she awakes at every creak of sound.

Switch on the lights. Cry. Take spoon out of the cup. Cry. Walk past her. Cry. Open the windows. Cry.

I read somewhere that her senses are peaking at this point. So now I introduce white noise to her while she sleeps. It somewhat helps.. she will sleep for half hour or so or when some sound that the white noise cant mask. Otherwise, she will be sleeping on me, in the baby sling. Else, no sleep baby equals one cranky and grumpy baby. You do not want to mess with her then. Screaming and puking will ensue.

One thing that I'm really proud of her is that she is finally getting the bed time routine.

8pm: Feed. Wash face. Massage. Change to pajamas. Switch off lights. Sleep

The first few days, I had to go in and comfort her a few times. Give her a little comfort feed (pacifiers are for daytime use.. not night time). Pat her to sleep. Now she seems to know after I switch off the lights, she immediately soothe herself to sleep for about 4- 6 hours. Thereafter, she wakes 2 hourly for small feeds. No fuss. No drama. (She used to get her day and night mixed.. and wanted to play play PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY at 4 am. You tell me....). Fingers crossed, I hope this will stay and she will sleep longer (I'm hoping 12 hours please?).

Yet sometimes she will throw a surprise on us and wake up every 2 hours at night. I cant say I'm pleased with that attitude. I take a while to doze off and if every 2 hours she is to wake up, I get no rest at all. The next day she will give me her attitude (no sleeping or rarely sleeps during the day) and I'm totally exhausted.

I must say she doesnt take after me. My parents said I was a damn good baby. I just knew how to eat and sleep. Very easy to take care. No fuss. So.. no prizes who she takes after huh.

I'm back in Singapore settling down.



Uh.. about the previous post... I was kind of down.. and HY wasnt helping cos he was blur and equally stressed out due to the changes he had to make in his life. I was so stressed because I was the only one doing EVERYTHING. Changing. Feeding. Consoling. Waking up. Etc. HY was just sitting down there looking pretty. What can I say? That attitude calls for a complete meltdown.



Ok so things have been a little better. HY is starting to pull some weight in this baby business. But I wished he'd be a bit more natural in handling babies. I've been so busy and tired lately to even update this blog. As they all say... sleep when baby sleeps. Its been one hectic week since i've arrived back in Singapore. I've already established a routine back in KL. But here... its a whole new routine taking into account the logistics of the room and kitchen and everything.



Enough about me (I'm still fat btw). Baby updates:



For a 1 month plus old baby, she looks... big. like 3 months kind of big. Sometimes I forget she just came out from my womb.



She used to be able to sleep 5 hours during the night. Not anymore. I'm lucky if I get 2 hours now. *(&&^%$#



In KL, she sleeps on the same bed as me. In Singapore, she has her own bed. She refuses to sleep on her own bed. She either a) wants to sleep ON ME; or b) sleep in my bed NEXT to me. Now, I know I should savour this cute experience. But its TOTALLY not cute when she repeatedly cries when she is put on her own bed. I get no sleep.



Seems that she wants to suck all the time. This led to her over feeding. I offer pacifier. But then I read that pacifiers can cause ear infections. Tried to control her feeding instead. No such luck. Still wants to suck to sleep.



I tried the "cry it out" method. Didnt work. It was too pitiful to bear. I cried instead. I cant imagine accompanying her to her jabs. Pacifier and sleeping on me it is then. I think its my smell that comforts her. I'm going to try to let her sleep on my pillowcase. We'll see how it goes tonight.



She coos and smiles. Something I expected from a 3 month old baby. Cuteness overload when she responds to you. Amnesia sets in.. you forget all about your 18 hours of labour, 1 month of painful recovery and months of sleepless nights. Then when she starts screaming..... you know the vicious cycle..



Part of me wants her to sleep and sleep and sleep so I can get some peace of mind. Then when that ACTUALLY happens, panic sets in and I start to wonder.. OH SHIT IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH HER??? *rush to the nearest paedatrician* We can never win.

*cak!*