Having kids is not the difficult part, it's the rest of it: educating them, providing for them, giving them the right nutrients, the right school, the right morals, etc... One of the toughest is to manage their feeding times.
Eva is 9 weeks old by the way.
There are two schools of thoughts here.
One - you feed them little by little and regularly. When they cry, feed them, it's a guessing game on how many ounces they want at the time. You waste a lot of milk powder, a lot of strength in getting up in the middle of nights and you sometimes feel like you are being bullied by your baby.
Second school - feed them at regular intervals, say 4 ounces every 3 hours. Once the time is fixed do not let go. If her feeding time is supposed to be 3 pm, and she starts crying at 230 pm, do not relent. Let her drink warm water until 3 pm arrives. Then feed her the 4 ounces and make sure that she finishes them. If she doesn't, no more is given until 6 pm. This one sounds cruel, and your baby would look like she is being bullied by you. But for mothers who are working and fathers who are working two jobs, this will help save time and not waste milk powder (which is bladi expensive if you ask me).
The babysitter (Auntie) I send Eva to is of the second school. She has managed to set Eva's feeding times within the first week I sent her there. Not only is her feeding time set, so is her bathing time. Yesterday was Saturday and today being Sunday, we have Eva to ourselves for both day and night. At exactly 10 am, she will be crying and screaming... not for milk, but for her bath. Repeat and rinse for the 5 pm round.
Kids are amazing but Auntie is amazing-er. Her eldest is already 13, her youngest around 9. She had babysitted countless of other kids before Eva and it's good to know that she practices the same discipline with her but at the same time adores her. Phew! Now I can get rid of 'mother's worry' - the syndrome.
My sleeping pattern is screwed up now though. No help from Auntie there.
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