Kirsty the Supernanny

Hmmm, Weight Watchers news. I stayed the same weight! Can't complain since I had about a thousand vodkas on Saturday and spent the next two days eating anything that came to hand in order to combat my hangover. Went to visit Little D yesterday...aaaaaaaaaaaw! He was asleep the whole time. Looks like he is doing what Little M did at first, sleeping all day and staying awake all night! It took my a while to get Little M's days and nights the right way around. After a few weeks I used to have to wake him up a bit in the day if he slept more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. It worked though! Can't believe it now he sleeps from 6.30pm until 7am (ish). He just grumbles at 11pm and about 3am for a feed. Can't imagine the day he goes right the way through though. I've got a bottle of champagne saved for that day.

Anyway, I feel for Aunty C. Those first couple of weeks are a killer but they do get better. We unfortunately got in to jiggling and cuddling Little M for hours to get him to sleep. It was exhausting but I just didn't know how to break the habit. So, I got Kirsty (a maternity nurse and nanny) to come over one evening to give us some help. Rather than just saying 'stick him in his cot and let him cry', she saw that I just wouldn't be able to handle that so she told us to make changes in stages. She showed us that he could be soothed to sleep in the chair and after a few weeks of doing that we started putting him down in his cot, letting him cry for a minute and going back in with the dummy. He took to it straight away and I haven't rocked him to sleep since!

If I had another I would do my best to not let the baby get used to being cuddled to sleep. But if any new mums need a bit of help I'd really recommend Kirsty. Health visitors, other mums, books, etc all said how to do it but I wanted someone with experience to come and SHOW me how to do it and to be there when he cried to say he was okay. She also was available for phone calls afterwards and gave me a basic routine and bedtime routine to try, all very helpful.

I remembered this video I'd seen on youtube aaaaages ago. Sort of illustrates what I'm in for with Little M when he masters this moving around business! If you don't smile at this you've got a heart of stone. If not for the baby for the tune.