Holding down the fort

[arobynne]

After 5 lovely days with Cheryl as my lady-in-waiting :), I'm back to caring for the bambino myself during the day. He's half-asleep on my lap at the moment. It's noon, and I've gotten both he and I dressed and I've changed his diaper, put a load of diapers in the wash, brushed my teeth, and eaten a cookie. If only I had eaten some real food, I'

Comments

[arobynne]

I haven't figured out what to do with him when he's awake, so you're not the only one who's wondering. He eats every 1 1/2 -2 1/2 hours when he's awake, which takes 15 minutes, then 5 minutes to burp him (assuming he latches on right away, which he usually does during the day but rarely does at night). We probably change him about as often as he eats, which eats another 10-15 minutes. He's getting better at napping at semi-regular intervals during the day--he probably averages an hour of napping after 2-3 hours awake. Nothing is consistent though--some days he'll just have one 1 hour nap and other days he'll sleep 3 hours in the afternoon, plus two other shorter naps.

Not sure how many hours of awake time that leaves. When he's cheery, I can be at the computer while holding him. When he's pissed at the world, there's a lot of walking and swaying that happens. I put him in the stroller or the sling and walk around, or do laundry when I'm feeling ambitious or desperate to do something. Apparently, he's fussier than the average baby according to experienced parents. Most people can schlep a baby around town and he/she'll just sleep.