Camper is nearly 11 months old, and I’ve been reflecting as of late to the little tricks I’ve learned when it comes to feeding/putting him down to sleep/taking him places, etc. I love my child dearly, and would never ever trade him in for the better sleeping model…but let’s just say I am qualified in the “getting the tricky baby to eat” and the “getting the tricky baby to sleep” departments. Here is some of what I’ve learned.
-If you are going to do the cry it out thing, do it BEFORE the baby can pull himself/herself up on things. I am SO GLAD we got Camper to lay down in his crib awake and put himself to sleep before he learned this new little skill. Sure, he’ll crawl around and pull himself up, and even walk around his crib these days. But when he’s tired he will lay down and go to sleep. *crosses fingers* We have never experienced the standing/screaming/won’t go to sleep baby at bedtime. I HAVE heard him screaming to go in there and find him awake, standing up and waiting for a diaper change or a bottle, but that’s a whole different story than the lay him down, he stands up game when it’s time for him to fall asleep.
-If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent a lifetime earning your “picky eater” child with your own non-veggie eating habits. My veggie trick is threefold. 1) Try to eat more veggies myself. 2) Try to get him to eat veggies for lunch, not in the morning when I’m tired, not at dinner when I’m tired and REALLY want him to get a belly full of food. 3) Offer them and feel better about life. I tell myself that although he’s taken to spitting out all his veggies, I offer them to him, and that’s all I can do. I survived until I was 17 without eating anything but corn.
-Bottles before or after naps, in the same quiet place every time. As Camper has grown busier, he’s less into bottles. For a few weeks now he’s only eaten 2 oz. or so every so often, some days not taking any at all until the middle of the night. Giving him a bottle when he can see people or things he wants to play with is an arduous process. Now I give him one when he first wakes up in the morning (anywhere from 4am-6am) and then after naptimes, still in his room before I even change his diaper. This switch in the last coupel of days has meant that he’s eaten at least 3 full (for him) bottles a day. Lo and behold, he’s slept through the night again for the last three days. (After a month of NOT sleeping.)
-DVR. Yes people. My kid and I watch TV. We don’t do it all day, every day, but we watch our fair amount. I recently found out that some of the best kid shows in my area come on at about 11pm…I don’t know why Noggin is 24 hours a day, but it is. I set the DVR to record my favorite shows for Camper, and then I feel less guilty (and annoyed) watching Dora the Explorer or Lazytown AGAIN because I REALLY NEED TO DO LAUNDRY and those annoying characters are the only thing on TV. I feel much more in control of what he sees, and by extension…what I have to listen to. Now I’m just awaiting the day when Noggin schedules some Upsidedown Show so I can record that mo and watch it a hundred times. Sigh.
-Change the sheets. I was at such a loss as to how I could allow Camper to have his favorite blanket safely…since he almost smothered himself with it one time. After this little fix, I figured out that it was big enough to lay over his mattress and tuck in all around. Now he has a fleecy sheet to sleep on, and he’s sleeping a lot better. We want our beds to be cozy for us, so switch things up and find a way to make it cozy for them. (We also have flannel sheets for winter, because the cold shock of the sheet would wake him up every time we tried to lay him down when he was younger.)
-Helping him help himself. I keep a teething toy in Camper’s crib, because I would hate for him to be stuck in there with no way to ease his own pain. This was the only thing I could think of when I decided that Tylenol everyday really isn’t any option, and I started finding bite marks on the sides of his crib. He didn’t CRY, he just gophered his crib! I also kept a sippy cup of water in there for a bit, but after he cried a couple of times because he couldn’t drink out of it in his sleepy state, I decided that out of sight out of mind was probably best. If he’s really thirsty he cries and I bring him some water.
-On the subject of cups. I bought two kinds of cups that we actually use. This kind, and this kind. I’ve probably had a dozen cup in different prices ranges…and these ones WORK. They are also CHEAP and BPA FREE. They aren’t, however, “spill free,” but I like to think he’s learning not to spill. Also, he learned to drink out of them because he doesn’t turn his face inside out trying to sip them. Have you ever tried to drink out of some of the cups with valves in them? I had a hard time, and I’ve been doing this whole drinking things for awhile. I even know how to use a straw.
-One more thing on the subject of “feeding.” Since he’s been in his high chair I’ve kept him in his chair after he’s finished eating and handed him a rag so that he can “wipe his tray.” Now…the tray he ate off of actually comes off, and I wash that in the sink, so what’s he actually washing is the clean wooden tray under the plastic one. I then hand him a dry towel so that he can dry himself (after I wipe him down) and his tray. In the past he’s just chewed on the towels, but lately he’ll swipe them around a bit. I HOPE HOPE HOPE that from the beginning my child will learn that eating creates a mess which must be cleaned up before we move on. We can clean up together. A little helping never hurt. What’s 5 minutes to teach him to clean up after himself? You’re welcome, Camper’s future wife. You’re welcome.
What about you? Any new tricks in the last few months?
And just because this is brightening up laundry day, here’s a little song for you. Courtesy of Noggin and Jack’s Big Music Show.
Tags: baby stuff, how I do what I do
