Grounded

Little Dan did a flip and a tumble from the bed to his crib -- in which the bed is almost the same height with his crib before we lowered it. After he showed us his skills, we decided to lower the crib with the fear that he might decide to just jump out of his crib and end up on the floor one day.

Crib lowered :)

Baby Dan not happy with what we have done

My New Toy: Action Snap for Android

Just Keep Crawling

Baby Dan mastering the art of getting around.

Nappy Nap Time

Being a stay-at-home-mum gives you the opportunity to really observe on the changes that is happening with the little one. However, it can be stressful decoding what he wants, and even more, with decoding gone wrong and is returned with glass breaking shrieks and screams and tears.

So far, passing six months, it has gotten easier and easier to understand what Baby Dan wants. The struggle has always been to differentiate his sleep, eat or awake needs. Born a very alert and inquisitive baby, it has been difficult to help baby Dan sleep. Now that we have finally gotten him to sleep at night, we are still finding a way or a schedule suited for him to get the amount of nap that he needs. 

Tips that I found useful:

1. Observation helps, I have to use my trusty baby log to help me log his sleep and eat activities to understand when he starts getting tired. 

2. Rule of thumb for a baby younger than 7 months is that they need a nap every 90 minutes or so to recharge. Any longer they are awake, they start getting agitated. 

3. Understand the appoximate total amount of sleep and nap a baby needs, ie for the first three months, they need at least 15 hours, now that baby Dan is older, it is about 14-15 hours a day including naps. 

4. Having a schedule helps too, but just have it as a guide after observing. Also understand that as the baby grows, the schedule might need a little tweaking here and there.

5. The longest nap usually is the first one, and decreases later in the day.

6. Baby naps best in the place he sleeps at night. However, before 4 months or if not possible, help sooth him to nap until he finds a way to self sooth. 

We have gone from swaddling too nursing until he falls asleep, to going off road with the stroller to nursing and then rockin in his carseat, to bouncing him around in his carrier. Since he was a very colicky baby, he always liked being placed in an upright position. And now we are trying the crying out for naps whenever we are home.

Currently, at six months, baby Dan's schedule has consolidated to something like this. With first nap lasting around 2 hours, followed by a 1 hour and then half an hour nap.

6.30am Rise and shine
8.00am Feed
8.45am Nap
11.00am Wake/Feed
1.30pm Nap
2.30pm Wake
4.00pm Feed
4.30pm Nap
5.00pm Wake
5.30pm Bedtime routine
6.30pm Feed/In bed
Sleep by 7.30pm

He still wakes up twice for night feeds - which we need to start eliminating.

And find a method to get him nap/sleep when we are out. As he seems to be too interested in the people, the lights, and everything that is happening. The only way now is when I am carrying him in his carrier.

Of course there are good and bad days. I think a huge amount of patience is needed to take care of a baby. Or am I just too much a perfectionist to make it right?

Sites which I frequent for reads on sleep advice or reference:
The Baby Sleep Site - http://www.babysleepsite.com
Baby Center - http://www.babycenter.com
Baby Whisperer - http://www.babywhispererforums.com
Slumbersounds - http://www.slumbersounds.com

Sleep Position of the Day

Question: Should I re-position him or just let him be?

Green Day

Not bad for a change to dress baby boys in green rather than the cliche baby blue.

Baby Dan in green :)

Sleeping Through the Night

Last night has been the third night that baby Dan has slept through the night. He slept from 8pm to 3am without a stir last night, which was great for us and a great milestone achievement knowing that some parents have problem getting their babies to sleep at night. Fingers crossed this will not be shortlived. It's funny how our bodies work, Dan started to sleep thriugh the night after he hit the 5kg mark as what experts noted. Now we are hoping he will start to learn how to self soothe himself to sleep and nap. As he's still nursing to sleep and has to be rocked or cry to nap.

The Arrival of Baby Dan

It came unexpected on a fine Sunday morning, a week early from the expected due date predicted which was on 1 February 2011.

On 23 January 2011, at around 5.30am, I had a sudden urge to pee as usual, no big deal, it's starting to become a habit since the start of the third trimester, waking up twice every night.

Then the following series of events occurred..
5.45am rushed to the toilet yet again with another gush - strange, not remembering that I drank so much the following night
6.00am another urge to pee, this time, I turned on the lights, the colour looked strange, a little pinkish - okay, this is not quite right, checked online about amniotic sac breaking and started making the call to Emil - you might want to start checking for tickets to come to Ipoh
6.05am had to rush to the toilet again
6.15am woke mum and Aunt Catherine up
6.30am took a quick bath and packed
7.00am rushed to the hospital
7.15am the nurse did their routine checks on dilation, baby's heart beat, shaving and informing the doctor, giving me laxatives, and drips for the contractions to start
8.15am Contractions started coming slowly but surely, while I was watching the clock ticking
9.15am another lady was wheeled in, she was only 6 or 7 months pregnant, the nurses had to give her some medication to stop her contractions from coming. Tried to nap. However, the pain was starting to be unbearable.
10.30am Got a dose of sedative to help ease the pain
11.00am 5cm dialated. Got wheeled into the delivery room hoping that Emil would arrive soon.
11.15am Emil arrived, just as the doctor was preparing for the delivery.
Started pushing spontaneously as the contractions became intensed.
12.15pm crowning after 3 sets of 3 pushes baby Dan was born

Looking back, it seems it was just like yesterday. So surreal, bringing another life into the world, not being able to believe that he is my son, that baby sucking on Emil's nose, is my son.

I slowly dozed off believing that it was only a dream.