WEEK 3 of Madison's life

It truly is a relief that week 3 has passed... it has been pretty tough with her going through what we think was /is a growth spurt...

Madison started the week off pretty much the same, but as the week progressed she became increasingly grouchy and clingy, refusing to sleep in her cot at any time! Nap times were a horror.. she would feed then fall asleep while feeding but promptly awake to protest loudly if she were to be lowered into the cot!

The evenings deteriorated to a point that she needed to be carried and rocked to sleep, or be allowed to sleep while feeding in my arms! Meal times for Chris and I became a nightmare, since one of us had to be with her while she slept! Bed times became a real chore and thus we elected to co sleep so that all 3 of us could get some shut eye...

The other thing that new parenthood brings along with it is alot of advice from well meaning relatives and friends... parents, parents in law etc... whether to create routines (not advised by them since they didn't follow one), co sleeping (its ok ) etc...

Nights were still sleepless most of the time, 2 am being the witching hour... Madison would promptly wake at 150 to 2am and stay awake, demanding to be fed/ carried/ rocked until nearly 5 or 6 in the morning... by which time Chris and I were bushed... and then she would fall asleep, needing to be woken at 730 for her morning feed!

The other issue is of diapering.. we started off with the intention of environmentally friendly cloth nappies but with the situation so poor we are now mainly using disposables... although I must say that the disposables do create marks where they sit on her thigh....

Madison is a really light sleeper most of the time, waking and startling really easily with noise or movement. She is able to startle so badly she wakes up wailing and is slightly inconsolable... wonder why she is so... I hope we haven't somehow traumatised her already..

Sleep training is another issue we are starting to consider... There is alot of conflicting information about whether to sleep train or not.. one of the foremost writers and proponents of it is Richard Ferber. We have acquired a copy of his book and are planning to implement it when she is 2-3 months?