Baby #1 (a 21 month old by now) also started 'playing up'. My diary records "He has a high-pitched scream which he uses to compete with his baby sister; he is 'downright disobedient and VERY prone to tantrums.'
Baby # 2 was baptised wearing a beautiful christening robe that one of my kind neighbours lent me. I panicked all morning that everything wouldn't be ready in time (I was having about 15 people back at the house after the christening) Baby was good whilst the baptism took place. It was toddler big brother who caused mayhem in the church.... as we stepped up to the font he tried to push the flower arrangement into the water. When I restrained him he fell on the floor in a tantrum! Fortunately my sister was on hand to rush him out of the door!
At 14 weeks Baby # 2 was getting more predicatable. Her day went something like this:
6.30-7am breast feed I get brother dressed and we have our breakfast. I give baby #1 some Farex cereal and she sits in reclining cradle whilst i wash up. Short nap in pram (about 20 mins)
wakeful till about 11am
11-11.30 Breastfeed Sleeps until 2pm
2-2.30pm Strained food for lunch topped up with breast feed
5-6pm Milupa cereal + breastfeed
Bath and bed by 7pm
2-3 am Wakes for feed then straight back to sleep (I have written 'usually'
15 weeks I am having a fraught time with Baby#2. She cries, well screams really, for what seems like most of the time. She hardly sleeps during the day and is not settled at all. She is not easily entertained either by 1:1 contact or by watching her brother play. I am 'getting very depressed'. The broken nights are piling up and I feel constantly tired &, as a consequence, very irritable. It doesn't help that we are having problems with the house purchase and I get bombarded with phone calls whilst baby #2 screams from her pram. The solicitor remarked today that 'every time I ring I can hear a baby yelling in the background'. Yep, that was about right! (We were trying to move house as, once I gave up work, we found it difficult to pay the mortgage and the crunch came when the mortgage rate went up to 15% (yes, FIFTEEN PER CENT).
16 weeks I phoned the Health Visitor in sheer desperation. The first things she suggested like giving Liga Rusks and baby rice with day-time feeds and moving baby into her own room did not really change anything. She seems to be starving hungry all the time. She now suggests changing to bottle feeding for the mid-day feed. I'll try anything, I'm so desperate!
17 weeks The Bottle feeding was hopeless at first. She spat out the teat, obviously hated the texture. After a few days though she began to get used to it. The weekend seemed much more settled and husband was able to take over to give me a break.
Awake about 6.30 Breastfeed
8am Liga rusk in milk Breastfeed
12-1 Robinson's or Heinz dinner (about 2 tablespoons) followed by 4oz bottle
4-5 Baby rice or Milupa dessert 7 oz bottle
Bed time about 7pm Breastfeed
At least baby #2 is good at settling in the evening (we used to have trouble with big brother). She sleeps from about 7pm till 1-2am sometimes longer
19 weeks Baby #2 is back to being restless. Had a particularly bad day when she only slept half an hour between 6.30am and 7.30pm
She isn't happy whilst she's awake. She struggles and cries. She is still not eating much solid food but is putting on weight steadily nevertheless.
With hindsight I can see that she was probably in pain. Now that I work in a chiropractic clinic where babies with chronic sleeplessness come for treatment, I can see that the reason she was so restless and unsettled was that she needed some adjustments to help her feed more efficiently. When she was born I would describe her as a 'stiff little baby'. A friend who came to see me in hospital remarked on picking her up that she was 'very tense'. Her back seemed arched backwards and she was never a baby that snuggled.
Looking back at Baby #1 at the same period.... we had similar problems.
12 weeks Suddenly became 'very fretful' Wore me out with his crying. Sucking his fists so I decided he was very hungry. After reading all the 'baby books' I decided to start 'mixed feeding'.
(N.B. My bibles for baby care were Dr Spock, Penelope Leach and Miriam Stoppard)
Day 1 gave him a teaspoon or two of Robinson's baby dinner (liver). Seemed to quite like it although he hasn't quite got the hang of eating from a spoon (his tongue gets in the way).
Dropped the 10pm feed as he never wakens for it. he slept through till 6am
Lots of dark hair (baby #1 had lots of hair at birth- the midwives called him 'lavatory brush'- very cruel!)
Now enjoys 'playing'- being bounced up and down on my lap mainly!
13 weeks weighs 10lbs 14 oz so exactly 2 lbs more than his birth weight.
14 weeks Eating more 'solids' Has baby rice before 10am feed; baby dinner before 2pm feed. and Milupa Fruit Mix before 6pm feed. Also has 6oz of milk after breastfeed at 6pm
Has had a 'snuffly' old which has woken him at night.
16 weeks Large weight increase (14 ozs in 2 weeks). Looking at the above feeding schedule I am not surprised! Baby #1 now has a wakeful period at 6pm He got very upset when we tried to out him in his cot so we started letting him stay up until he seems ready for sleep. Could be 8pm or 9pm. With hindsight, I was somewhat brain-washed into thinking that babies had to be 'in bed' by 6pm. This came from my mother whose baby rearing had been influenced by Truby King whose strict methods included feeding every 4 hours and baby in own cot in own room from Day 1. The 6pm bedtime fitted into the 4 hour slots of each day, in theory.
Baby #1 holds his rattle for much longer periods and looks at things in his hands. Tries to strain forwards from a reclining position . When lying on his tummy he can raise his head quite high.
14-16 weeks weaned from breast to bottle for 2pm feed. I planned to change 10am feed too after a couple of weeks.
6am Breastfeed
10am baby rice and breastfeed
2pm Heinz or Robinson's baby dinner + 7oz bottle
4.30pm Milupa fruit dessert and breastfeed
6-7pm after bath 7oz bottle
Later that week (week 16) changed round 4.30 and 6 pm feeds so that breastfeed came last. Baby seems to settle better.
17 weeks Changed again. Wakes during the night. One particular night he was very fretful and both of us took turns to walk up and down. Was 9pm before he settled down, awake at 1am, 4am and 8am. Was as good as gold the next day though. I wondered whether he was starting teething as he keeps fingering his gums. Now weaning him off his 10am feed on to bottle.
18 weeks A different routine again! More settled with a long sleep (2-3 hours) in the morning and sleeps from 8pm to 7am at night.
Breastfeed on waking
8-8.30 2 tbsp rice Drink of fruit juice
12-12.30 half a tin of Heinz dinner 2 teasp of dessert 7oz bottle
4-4.30 Milupa dessert 4 oz bottle
6.30-7 Breastfeed with top-up bottle (2-3 oz)
Can now work his way around on the floor by swinging his legs and wriggling his back
Can roll from back onto front
Once on his tummy, unless his arm is imprisoned, he can raise his head high and scrabble with his feet
19 weeks We were on holiday in Somerset in a rented cottage. The weather was very warm and a number of factors seemed to affect baby's sleep pattern- too hot, wasn't eating much solid food and change of environment. During the day he was no trouble. He slept on the journey there and back, just waking for feeds. We visited several historic houses and he was as good as gold. But the evenings were a trial. He wouldn't settle and was ready to start the day at 4am!
8-8.30
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