Feeding

Last night I put the baby boy to sleep. And went to bed myself well an hour later. Anyway he wakes me up at 3am which is to be expected. I change him, feed him burp him and put him to sleep. He is strange little one. He grunts and groans and cries in his sleep. I have now gotten use to it that I don't bother getting back up because I know he's asleep. I do know that if it's constant then I do need to check on him. But he does this off and on for at least 5 minutes. Why? I don't know. Did the girl do it? No. I think I'd prefer snoring over the grunting. I fear that he will wake his sister up. In fact he has! He has some strange little habits. It cracks me up.

Tip #3
When feeding your baby/toddler food and they are feeding themselves use a a dish towel or a cloth diaper (not prefolded) as a bib. It's long enough to put their plate on it and it catches all the food that doesn't make it into their mouth. Clean up is so much faster this way. Once the girl is finished I untie it and clean her face and hands and off she goes to make a mess elsewhere.
Also the cloth diapers make a great burp rag!! It's big enough to go over your shoulder and still have a nice barrier between your clothes and baby. Especially if baby has sensitive skin and the detergent or fabic softner on your clothes can irritate their skin.

Sleeping

I have so many friends that are going to be or are new moms and they ask me about any tips I have or advice on products. I wanted to organize it all and send them here. I started this when I was pregnant with my son and I never got around to it. Now he's a little over a month and I'm asked by friends how it is with two and if I have any advice. LOL!! So I thought I'd just jump right in and write about helpful tips as they come to me and the availablity I have.

Tip #1
When I was in labor both times I had hubby with me the whole time I was in the hospital. After the second one here's what I wish I'd had done. I would have had him while I was in labor. But once I had the baby and we were settled for the night I'd send him home to sleep and get well rested and here's why...
You get inturpted by nurses all night long and not to mention that you have a newborn that will also inturpt your sleep! (See following tip about baby) Then you are realeased. If both of you are sleep deprived someone is going to feel resentment for the other if they get some shut eye. If you send hubby home to sleep, then at least you can get some well deserved rest when you get home. If you are nursing, hubby can bring baby in to nurse then put baby to sleep and change diapers. If not he can feed, change and put baby to sleep. Then you can trade off with hubby so he can get some rest too. That way at least one of you is well rested to take care of baby. You will get the rest you need and the time to recover especially if baby is bottle feed. Don't get me wrong I am for nursing and I nursed both my babies at least the first weeks of life. But if that's not your cup of tea there is nothing wrong with bottles and you'll get uninterrupted sleep.

Tip #2
Also what I did with baby number two...I nursed him and sent him to the nursery at night. I kept number one with me the whole time and was upset if they took her from me and didn't bring her back right away. I felt a little guilty for sending number two to the nursery but I got more rest (not much) than I would have otherwise. They brought him back so I could nurse him and then he was on his way again. There isn't anything wrong with that. He was well taken care of and his needs were met except the feeding. And I got a little extra sleep. You won't get that at home unless you follow tip number one! So take advantage while you can!!