Baby Advice - Post 2

• Baby Sleeping

Figure out where the baby will sleep a month or so in advance.  Lots of details you can figure out on the fly, but it's really important to have a place for baby when you get home.  We arrived home at 1 AM after delivery, and didn't have a place for him.  Luckily, a friend had a bassinet they loaned us and delivered at 10 PM before we got home.

Baby doesn't need to sleep in the parent's bedroom.  Babies will frequently get startled and wake up for a few seconds, cry a little, then back to sleep.  Christina said my snoring woke the baby up frequently.  So, for the baby's sake, let him have his own room.  If you don't have a separate room, let him sleep in the living room or a closet.

Speaking of baby sleeping, if you keep the house quiet, the baby will never learn to sleep well.  Your whole life you will be trapped by wrapping your life around the baby.  You and yours already have a life; baby needs to find a place in that life, not the other way around.  Make a few adjustments, but live your life, wash your dishes, listen to your music, etc.  Now that doesn't mean you put the baby in the TV room while you watch Gwar videos.  When the baby is sleeping on the first floor, I don't run the blender.  But I still cook and chop veggies and make dinner.  I still wash dishes and load the dish washer.

• Breastfeeding

A lactation consultant is nice - they can provide lots of experience.  Breastfeeding is not as "natural" as hippies make it out to be, it takes practice, work, and more practice.  It doesn't just happen.  You should do some reading, learn as much as you can so that you have questions to ask.  Also, spend time in the breastfeeding section of your favorite store - you'll see lots of products you never thought of before, and that may lead to some more questions.

Purchase a nice chair for nursing.  Sliders (as opposed to rockers) are real nice, and you do get what you pay for . . .

And we come to the new age argument for breastfeeding in public.  "It's natural . . . why should we be ashamed?"  You know what else is natural?  Pee.  Pee is even more natural - everyone does it every day of their life.  And when I pee in public, people get upset.  Sex is natural.  Clipping toe nails is natural.  Breastfeeding is an intimate moment with mother and baby, let her have that time.  She can sing and play with baby and enjoy an intimate bonding experience.