polaris
Mother of two
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- Jan 23, 2009
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As a newborn, Thomas didn't really open his eyes for the first couple of weeks. Even when he was awake, he kept his eyes almost closed or would just half open one eye. I only have one or two photos of him with his eyes open as a newborn and they were all taken in the evening in relatively dim light.
For the first week or so, he slept almost all the time, but after that his sleep became a big issue. He was very wakeful and very difficult to settle to sleep. He would be awake all evening from about 6 p.m. until well after midnight, crying and fussing and just wanting to comfort feed constantly. He was very difficult to breastfeed (compared to Clara) as I could never tell if he was hungry or just wanting comfort. I worried constantly that I wasn't producing enough milk and that my boobs were empty. He would often feed pretty much constantly for over five hours. All he wanted was to be on the breast but it didn't settle him and he would pull off and cry repeatedly. I used to dread the evenings. He didn't sleep very much during the day either and it was always a battle to get him to sleep. For the first few months he slept well in the pram and I used to walk for miles with him to get him to nap. Looking back on it now, I think he was chronically over-tired for the first four months of his life. He looks absolutely exhausted in every single video I have of that period. He was difficult to read though and didn't really have obvious tired signs and I could never tell why he was crying, it was just guesswork. He also had a lot of difficulties with wind and digestion. Everything bothered him as a newborn. He was sensitive to bright lights, sounds, heat, cold, wind blowing on his face, etc.
He was always very sensitive to light and he would screw up his face and cry if sunlight went on his face. It would wake him if he was asleep, even as a newborn. As he got older, even a chink of light from behind the blackout curtains would wake him. He still is sensitive to light and complains that it hurts his eyes. He doesn't sleep well unless the room is totally dark.
After he was four months, he wouldn't really sleep except in the cot. He would sleep in the car if a long journey coincided with naptime, but he wouldn't generally sleep in the buggy and definitely not in your arms. He wouldn't fall asleep if there was anybody in the room with him. He became a very light sleeper. He was very aware of sounds and noises from outside/downstairs/next door would always wake him. He was a short napper for ages and would wake up after 45 minutes still exhausted. I could never check on him after he went to bed as it would always wake him and it would then take ages for him to go back to sleep. This has changed as he got older and I wouldn't call him a light sleeper now.
He took ages to get into a regular routine but he was very sensitive to over-tiredness. He didn't have visible tired signs so I had to just go by the length of time he had been awake. If I put him down too late he wouldn't go to sleep. He became hysterical when over-tired. We always had to leave play-dates etc. early so we could get home for his nap. He couldn't really handle disruptions to his routine, e.g. later bedtimes, as they really affected his overall sleep and his mood the next day. He's always needed a lot of sleep. He tried to drop his nap recently but wasn't able to cope so he's back napping again now every day.
He is naturally cautious and we never needed to child-proof the house because you only needed to tell him not to touch something once and he never would. He never had bumps or grazes even when learning to walk. If you explain the reason for something then he will just do it - he likes rules and tends to follow them.
He is an introvert. I wouldn't call him shy but he doesn't really know how to relate to other children unless he knows them well and they have a similar temperament to him. As a baby, we always had to work really hard to get him to smile or laugh, and he would never smile or say hello to the neighbours, even though he saw them every day. He won't talk to people if he doesn't want to. But if he likes somebody, he will talk to them non-stop about everything. He loves facts and learning the names of things. He will tell people all about narwhales and insect-eating plants, much to their surprise!
He's sensitive to people's moods and he doesn't like shouting and he picks up on tones of voice. I have never needed to use any punishments as he is generally strongly affected by a verbal reprimand. He usually tries to behave well and he wants to do what is expected of him. Like Omar, he is also a bit of a perfectionist and like to practice in private before trying something in public. He likes to stand back and watch rather than joining in.
He doesn't generally cope well with transitions but he copes much better if I explain to him in minute detail what will be happening and when. He doesn't handle unexpected events well. But if I've told him about something in advance, then even if he doesn't like it he can cope with it better. If he's a bit worried about something he will want to talk about it again and again. For example, he has to go for blood tests in the morning and he asked me about ten times what he was doing tomorrow and where he would have to go and what would happen next etc. I think it is his way of preparing himself.
He's not particularly sensitive about clothing, although he is fussy about socks, particularly the seams inside them and not having them pulled up his legs. Also he will often not want to wear new clothes until they have been in his chest of drawers for a few weeks. In the summer he didn't want to wear short-sleeved tops at first and kept trying to pull them down over his arms. Then when he got used to them he didn't want to wear long-sleeved tops.
He's quite a picky eater although this is improving. He mainly doesn't like particular textures. He doesn't like sauce or "slimy" foods. He won't eat cereal if it has gone at all soggy from the milk. He hates mince in any form. He has never really asked for food and doesn't seem to realize when he's hungry, even though it has an obvious impact on his behaviour when he hasn't eaten.
He's never really had proper tantrums but he does get emotionally over-whelmed, usually when he's tired and/or hungry and overstimulated. On the whole, he's an easy toddler as long as we stick to his routine and let him know exactly what's coming next.
For the first week or so, he slept almost all the time, but after that his sleep became a big issue. He was very wakeful and very difficult to settle to sleep. He would be awake all evening from about 6 p.m. until well after midnight, crying and fussing and just wanting to comfort feed constantly. He was very difficult to breastfeed (compared to Clara) as I could never tell if he was hungry or just wanting comfort. I worried constantly that I wasn't producing enough milk and that my boobs were empty. He would often feed pretty much constantly for over five hours. All he wanted was to be on the breast but it didn't settle him and he would pull off and cry repeatedly. I used to dread the evenings. He didn't sleep very much during the day either and it was always a battle to get him to sleep. For the first few months he slept well in the pram and I used to walk for miles with him to get him to nap. Looking back on it now, I think he was chronically over-tired for the first four months of his life. He looks absolutely exhausted in every single video I have of that period. He was difficult to read though and didn't really have obvious tired signs and I could never tell why he was crying, it was just guesswork. He also had a lot of difficulties with wind and digestion. Everything bothered him as a newborn. He was sensitive to bright lights, sounds, heat, cold, wind blowing on his face, etc.
He was always very sensitive to light and he would screw up his face and cry if sunlight went on his face. It would wake him if he was asleep, even as a newborn. As he got older, even a chink of light from behind the blackout curtains would wake him. He still is sensitive to light and complains that it hurts his eyes. He doesn't sleep well unless the room is totally dark.
After he was four months, he wouldn't really sleep except in the cot. He would sleep in the car if a long journey coincided with naptime, but he wouldn't generally sleep in the buggy and definitely not in your arms. He wouldn't fall asleep if there was anybody in the room with him. He became a very light sleeper. He was very aware of sounds and noises from outside/downstairs/next door would always wake him. He was a short napper for ages and would wake up after 45 minutes still exhausted. I could never check on him after he went to bed as it would always wake him and it would then take ages for him to go back to sleep. This has changed as he got older and I wouldn't call him a light sleeper now.
He took ages to get into a regular routine but he was very sensitive to over-tiredness. He didn't have visible tired signs so I had to just go by the length of time he had been awake. If I put him down too late he wouldn't go to sleep. He became hysterical when over-tired. We always had to leave play-dates etc. early so we could get home for his nap. He couldn't really handle disruptions to his routine, e.g. later bedtimes, as they really affected his overall sleep and his mood the next day. He's always needed a lot of sleep. He tried to drop his nap recently but wasn't able to cope so he's back napping again now every day.
He is naturally cautious and we never needed to child-proof the house because you only needed to tell him not to touch something once and he never would. He never had bumps or grazes even when learning to walk. If you explain the reason for something then he will just do it - he likes rules and tends to follow them.
He is an introvert. I wouldn't call him shy but he doesn't really know how to relate to other children unless he knows them well and they have a similar temperament to him. As a baby, we always had to work really hard to get him to smile or laugh, and he would never smile or say hello to the neighbours, even though he saw them every day. He won't talk to people if he doesn't want to. But if he likes somebody, he will talk to them non-stop about everything. He loves facts and learning the names of things. He will tell people all about narwhales and insect-eating plants, much to their surprise!
He's sensitive to people's moods and he doesn't like shouting and he picks up on tones of voice. I have never needed to use any punishments as he is generally strongly affected by a verbal reprimand. He usually tries to behave well and he wants to do what is expected of him. Like Omar, he is also a bit of a perfectionist and like to practice in private before trying something in public. He likes to stand back and watch rather than joining in.
He doesn't generally cope well with transitions but he copes much better if I explain to him in minute detail what will be happening and when. He doesn't handle unexpected events well. But if I've told him about something in advance, then even if he doesn't like it he can cope with it better. If he's a bit worried about something he will want to talk about it again and again. For example, he has to go for blood tests in the morning and he asked me about ten times what he was doing tomorrow and where he would have to go and what would happen next etc. I think it is his way of preparing himself.
He's not particularly sensitive about clothing, although he is fussy about socks, particularly the seams inside them and not having them pulled up his legs. Also he will often not want to wear new clothes until they have been in his chest of drawers for a few weeks. In the summer he didn't want to wear short-sleeved tops at first and kept trying to pull them down over his arms. Then when he got used to them he didn't want to wear long-sleeved tops.
He's quite a picky eater although this is improving. He mainly doesn't like particular textures. He doesn't like sauce or "slimy" foods. He won't eat cereal if it has gone at all soggy from the milk. He hates mince in any form. He has never really asked for food and doesn't seem to realize when he's hungry, even though it has an obvious impact on his behaviour when he hasn't eaten.
He's never really had proper tantrums but he does get emotionally over-whelmed, usually when he's tired and/or hungry and overstimulated. On the whole, he's an easy toddler as long as we stick to his routine and let him know exactly what's coming next.
hadn't noticed that before. Lol anyway I read your first entry and laughed when you said you didn't have to childproof with Thomas. Im guessing that omarsmum didn't have to either? Did anyone else? I had to childproof everything! Lol I never had to worry that she would climb up things but as far as getting into things... She was into everythinAnd like what I was saying how curious she is and it bypasses her pause and check most of the time. everything went into her mouth. She would empty out the cupboards and try to eat everything including all the cardboard, ha! So boxes of noodles she would eat the cardboard and then all the noodles would fall out of the box. She would touch and dump out and try to eat everything that wasn't put up in the kitchen, bathroom, my books, shoes, tampons, qtips, she was into everything.
)
Megan was crying at 3am and wanted me to lay with her so I did, 1 1/2 hrs later neither of us had slept so I decided to go back to bed as maybe it was too distracting to her. She still hadn't slept by 6am and I brought her in our bed just to lay down vs looking out her window and she fell asleep. Lol makes no sense. She doesn't normally come into our bed as it doesn't work well, she is too distracted to sleep there. So I figured we were up for the day. I woke her at 7:30 so that she will be tired enough to nap.
she didn't want to wear clothes so I decided not to make a big deal about it and let her, I also was cleaning books out of her bookshelf. So I'm guessing it was one of those 2 things. When I woke her from nap she was crying and upset and spent the rest of the afternoon moody. When dh came home from work after she was done with dinner she got really excited and they were on an adventure and a nose hunt searching for her nose throughout the house. Windown time before bed was more chaos then anything as she was just so wired. We eventually gave up on her getting calmer and put her in bed. And then she was talking and all animated in bed til she fell asleep.
MIL is criticizing our parenting methods and scolding us for not leaving Christina alone for hours in an unfamiliar, un-babyproofed room until she complied. I have already been struggling with determining the appropriate discipline while respecting her spirit/self-esteem, so this criticism has thrown me over the edge. I really just want to go home now, but we're stuck for another 2 whole days. 
, I have loads of movies DVDs & programs CDs that are outdated 
even the swaddling that polaris was talking about. So lets all make this thread however it will be helpful to all of us.
