This Week Extra Utero: 3

My, it seems like only last week I took umbrage at people taking umbrage at my taking umbrage at unsolicited advice about my umbrage.  But that's all Mother's Milk under the bridge:

Hard for an exhausted parent to believe, but not all or your newborn's cries are alike these days. Your 3-week-old baby now has different sobs to communicate different needs: short and low-pitched when hungry (accompanied by frantic finger sucking and rooting); intermittent fussiness and whimpering when bored; and continuous and whiny when uncomfortable or overtired.  Learn by observation (and through trial and error) to tell them apart and respond accordingly, and you may actually be able to cut down on your baby's daily crying time.  In other words, crack down on crying by cracking the crying code.

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On the developmental front, your baby is both more interested and more interesting.  With improved concentration and focusing skills, your three-week-old is all eyes — and is using those eyes to take in his or her surroundings in a much more sophisticated way.  Complex shapes will be more engaging than simple ones, so ditch the circles and bring on the zigzags. Another skill your baby's probably picked up: being able to track things as they move.  Put this skill to the test by trying this experiment: Wave a scarf, soft toy, or a spinning mobile slowly around baby's head and watch as those eager little eyes follow every movement.

Yup, Sam is beginning to utilize a variety of new and improved vocalizations and non-verbal cues to differentiate between his reports of physical and emotional states.  Plus he poops a lot.  And despite Grandpa's insistence that all his grandson does is sleep, Sam is becoming more alert during daylight hours, which still isn't all that interactive but neat nonetheless to his parents.

Our most recent realization is just how much we adults benefit from the co-sleeping approach. 

We'd already noticed last week that it was so easy to wake to handle Sam's needs because we really did have that "synchronized arousal" thing going on.  We got into a groove and had been finding that we had good energy during the day even with only 2-3 hour chunks of sleep.  Then last night we altered things a bit.

Since I had to teach today, we decided that Ericka would take care of the boy all through the night so I'd ostensibly get some better sleep.  This had the additional advantage of letting us get ahead of the bottled milk supply so I could take on more feedings at other times. 

Thus I moved the bassinet/co-sleeper and all diaper accoutrement from my side of the bed, leaving this odd empty space by me, over to Ericka's.  She also tried being nice by keeping Sam on the other side--not in between us as we'd been doing--so I would be less disturbed by his fussing, changing, etc.

That most assuredly did not have the intended results.  I indeed zonked out solidly for several hours, and I woke up feeling like I'd had no repose at all.  Apparently I've gotten used to having my son near me and can't sleep like I once did--Mommy reports he was also fussier than usual throughout the night.  Maybe I need his help with my cortisol levels to reduce stress and get real, recuperative rest, and he likes having Daddy's warmth and extra CO2?

Regardless, we shan't be be trying that again. It's interesting that even when one parent was taking a shift under our usual arrangement, the other would also rouse and be at least aware of what's going on, whereas I had no clue when Ericka was doing anything for the boy last night.  We'll still certainly have times where Ericka and I spell each other, but Sam will spend his nights in the middle where we all seem happier with the arrangement. 

ntodd

PS--I was remarking today that I now understand parents who feel like they just want some adult conversation.  I've barely blogged anything not Sam related, and I'm jonesing for some adult blogging.  Will try harder to do that and to ramp the HCR, antiwar and other stuff back up.  I miss it almost as much as I missed my son last night.