Our daughter, Lauren has been exactly a week today. It’s indeed been an exciting journey for both JY and me to care for the new baby.
I thought I was well prepared for parenthood, read many books, attended baby-care classes and also has taken developmental psychology before. However, it turned out dealing with a new born on a hands-on basis is quite different than what you can learn in theory.
I’ve learned quite a few things in the past few days. The following is the summary.
Things we are doing right:
- We are feeding the baby the right amount of milk. According to the Baby 411 book, new borns need to take about 18-24 oz of milk daily, and Lauren is right on, although she sometimes eats more than recommended, but we are not stopping her 🙂 Guess mom needs to pump more.
- By now, I’m the resident expert in diaper-changing. Since Lauren eats almost exclusively JY’s expressed milk, her stool is generally odorless. However, she does produce a prestigious amount of it, and this stuff sticks to everything. I generally follow the procedure as outlined in the Be Prepared book, and it works like a charm. Using that and the Diaper Champ, we can keep 20+ diapers in our room without the smell. I’m quite happy that I don’t have to run downstairs to dispose the diaper every time I change the baby.
- I’m also quite adequate at swaddling the baby, I can wrap the baby up just right so that she doesn’t overheat yet can’t pull her hands out from the wrapping blanket. It sounds easy, but believe me, it’s not. Read the Happiest Baby On The Block book for details on how to do swaddling right.
- We’ve created an “parent dashboard” on a whiteboard that lists all the vital information related to the baby, such as last time Lauren was fed, the amount, last time mom pumped and amount of milk in storage. With this dashboard (currently updated manually), we are able to anticipate the baby’s next move (right now it’s just crying and waking up) much better.
- I’ve created a “dirty bottle”/”clean bottle” system similar to the one posted on Baby Bargains site. I had to run up and down stairs multiple times before we implemented this system. Now I keep the dirty bottles at one place and just throw used stuff on top of it, and clean everything once a day. By my calculation, this saves me at least 5 minutes per feeding.
- I’ve also purchased a bottle-warmer. I know it wasn’t recommended by the Baby Bargains book, however, I found it really useful in keeping the bottle warm while I’m burping and changing the baby so when the baby is later ready for the second round of feeding, the bottle is warm.
Things we didn’t do too well.
- The clothing we got for our baby were all way too big. None of the them fit the baby snug enough for her to stay in it. I had to purchase some more infant body-suits to put on Lauren so her hands are actually in the sleeves.
- I have not mastered the art of “burping” – need to read up more and find out a better way to burp the baby so that she can finish and hold down all the milk.
- Lauren is much more active at night than during the day, she wakes up more, eats more, and generally has more energy during the wee hours. I’m not a night person, and I a sound sleeper. For me to deal with Lauren at her peak of energy while I’m at my lowest puts me in a disadvantageous position in dealing with her needs. I’ll need to make subtle changes to the feeding pattern to generally nudge Lauren into my circadian rhythm so we are both happier.
Here are some more photos of Lauren. You can also find all the new photos on the same album 妞妞照片 from the previous post.
I’ll bringing Lauren to see her pediatrician for the first time tomorrow. Hopefully things will turn out well. I’ll keep you all posted.