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Boboss - having one the same age I feel I ought to document my deep feelings of
a) awe; and
b) fear
inspired by your tale. Pleased to hear they learn fear by two, though, because when she hits two we're going to have Somebody Else to be thinking about. (Yay! Eek!)
Sorensen/Sekhmet, big love and huge sympathy. It's SO hard. Do try and sleep when the baby sleeps - I never managed as I was always (ridiculously/inexplicably in retrospect) preoccupied with trying to get some kind of order in the flat. Interestingly, since then and since living the highly unrecommended combination of full-time work, demanding toddler and the awful, awful first trimester, tidiness and cleanliness have slipped way down my list of priorities (perhaps even out of the top ten). I have every confidence that when number 2 arrives in April I will be a certified happy slob. SO has become quite the clean freak - it's brilliant.
I also didn't let SO get up in the night during the week - same rationale. Did make for some lonely times but there was many a day when he got in from work to find me at the entrance to the building (not flat) with mad eyes and hyper-extended arms proferring a screaming baby. Plus he sleeps like log so the few times he had agreed to do it it took me longer to try and wake him than it would have done to do it myself, especially given my straining milk factories.
I think the diminishing return of breastfeeding is typically thought to kick in around 6 months. Well, it's prior to that in that the younger the baby is, the more crucial it is, but at the second order level I'd really keep it going until then unless it's driving you mental. I kept going exclusively two months after I went back to work (she was 6 months) mainly for immunity reasons (none tangible - she still has had a cold for pretty much the last year), and also for guilt reasons. SO forced me to stop because I was running myself into the ground getting up at 5.45 to feed and express then working a full day then coming back and doing the evening and night-time feeds. (Still proud of myself, though.) That was slightly tangential, but really to illustrate that every case is different - as in all things with parenting, it's a case of weighing up your individual circumstances and working out what's best for your family.
Having said that, I'm in Boboss' camp re the leaving-to-cry - it seems to be one of those things that works initially and then unwinds, in my limited experience. We do have to leave P to cry now (18 months) as she is a calculating little madam on occasion, though it still breaks my heart. I'm a complete softie.
I can't tell you how much easier it gets and how much better. I must sheepishly admit I don't really miss the endless hours bouncing on the fucking ball whilst watching the streetlights switch off and the sun come up and trying desperately to muster up some gratitude for my 20 minutes' aggregate sleep.
Did anyone get high risk for Down's Syndrome on their nuchal scan? We were 'strongly advised' to get an amnio/CVS and politely turned down the offer. Not really feeling stressed about it at all, but sometimes idly hoping this isn't just due to a blase ignorance of living with someone with DS? |
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