Correction; this is me and Benjamin. In fact, there isn't much division between the two of us as individuals. The baby knows the difference between mommy's arms and pretty much every other place on earth. Not even dad's arms are acceptable most days. Ben sleeps next to me all night long, he nurses with me all day and night, he rides in the Moby wrap most moments in between. I've tried laying him down in bouncy seats, pack n' plays, and other places once he's fallen into a deep sleep in order to have a little more freedom of mobility, but he always wakes up after a couple minutes when he realizes he's not being held. He never falls asleep in the stroller or car seat, which makes most outings terribly stressful if we have to drive more than 10 minutes to get there. I haven't yet reached that point of being "touched out," as some mom's call it, and hope I continue to feel fine with it. Yet it's admittedly tiring when all I want to do is give my back a break and go make a late night snack while Mike takes over Ben duty, and seconds after handing him over he awakes and cries and cries. We've tried letting Mike have a chance to calm him, but it never works. Most times he doesn't need to eat, he just wants me. I took a 35 minute trip to Target the other night to try on non-maternity pants, and upon arriving home I could hear Ben screaming from the garage. I took him from Mike and within 30 seconds he was calm and quiet. Fully awake, not hungry, just wanting me. It's nice to be needed, but it sucks for Mike and makes it so I'm never "allowed" to leave the house again (at least not after 7pm, according to my husband...unless I take Benj along. Woohoo, there's a night off.) Jack was never like that so it's a strain for Mike to have any Ben bonding time at all since he just can't keep the kid happy. I'm hoping that this will change as he moves away from the newborn months, since if it doesn't, I'm going to be in SERIOUS need for some time off. For the first time, I'm seriously considering buying a pacifier. Not so much for everyday use, but before our huge road trip to MN in August. There's just no way I can take him out of the car seat enough on that trip to make him happy and still get to our destination, so I'm hoping a pacifier would help him to fall asleep in the absence of mom's arms. I'm just praying he doesn't get too attached so that we don't have to face the art of breaking him of the habit 2 years from now. Any seasoned parents out there have other suggestions for helping him calm down in a car seat?
2 comments:
I say "Praise God for pacifiers!" Believe me Brandy, it is worth it! It is the child's natural urge and reflex to want to suck. My pediatrician was thrilled that Jaxson uses a paci. It also decreases the risk of SIDS. Trust me, I'm sure the free moments that you are going to get with a paci will far outway the problems of breaking him of it. Our good friends broke their paci-dependant daughter in 1 day. Now as far as Jaxson goes. . . we'll see, but no matter how hard it is to break him of it, it will still be worth it.
Wow. That is the plan I had in mind for Fifi when writing my dissertation. I couldn't hold her and type , so Ernie and I had to work through a week of screaming and and I ended up writing the thing by hands at Terrapin coffee. Hope this works- we are pulling for you.
samantha
PS. no shame in using a paci.
Post a Comment