Blogging with Babe in Arms

Our little Fussy One has decided that she needs holding- not feeding, not changing, not burping, - just holding. So Dad is composing tonight’s post with one hand one the keyboard and one arm occupied holding Liesel. EJ is content to sleep off his milk coma in his basinet. He shouldn’t need a feed for at least an hour. Dad foresees performing a number of tasks while holding and comforting her, so soon he will investigate the effectiveness of the MobyWrap. It seems to offer the promise of hands free baby soothing while allowing him to accomplish other tasks.

The feed, change, sleep cycle of the 7-day-old twins has taxed Mom and Dad’s patience, depriving them of sleep and contributing to stress and emotional upset. Thus, they decided to implement a shift schedule wherein both are guaranteed to get at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Mom, a natural early bird, now falls into bed around 9:30 p.m. while Dad tends to the twins needs on the nightshift. Sometime between 3:30 and 5:30 a.m. depending on various factors, they switch. Dad then heads to bed (with tightly drawn drapes, earplugs, and the comforting trust that his wife will rouse him if she needs help) for his sleep. It, like so many other decisions they’ve had to make, is less than perfect, but it serves its purpose and is sustainable through the current period and until they are sleeping through the night. Its kinda like tag team parenting.

Today the New Family visited with the pediatrician’s nurse. She weighed them both. EJ gained 3 oz. since last Wednesday’s weigh in. Liesel gained an ounce. She also fielded questions and gave advice. She seemed to indicate that the hiccups both twins were experiencing was linked to bottle feeding (so called fast nipples for the volume of milk they allow to pass through the hole also allow excess air into the digestive tract). The parents will try different bottles. Hiccuping is an issue in that it seems to disturb an otherwise sleepy child and prevents them from drifting off to sleep. The nurse also demonstrated a different position for burping. This seemed to have merit over the hold-them-on-your-shoulder-and-pat-them-on-their-back maneuver handed down from the grandparent’s generation. This move involves laying them on their side, face down, while supporting their head and gently rubbing their back. EJ hadn’t had a bottle for at least an hour but proudly evacuated his tummy gas with enough gusto to make Dad smile.

Breastfeeding and pumping has been a struggle for Mom for diverse reasons. A good deal of physical and emotional effort goes into it, but the satisfaction has not matched the effort. Arguments for and against continuing to breastfeed and pump were made and a few were more reflective of exhaustion than reason. Ultimately, the argument to persist won the day. Mom will try to increase her milk production volume for at least another week in hopes of minimizing or eliminating formula. Dad will assist by making pumping as easy and stress free as possible.

Both parents enjoyed the adventure of taking the kids out on their first trip. After the appointment, Dad suggested that since they and the twins were “stable,” i.e. no one was having a meltdown, perhaps a diversion to the grocery store was in order instead of just heading home. Mom nixed that due to the intense heat of the day, but did pine for the day when we could venture out and show off our new rock stars. It’ll happen in good time.

Dad, meanwhile, dispelled a popular myth about heating bottles in the microwave. Currently the practice is discouraged because, in the information provided by one bottle maker, “microwaves heat unevenly and you could harm your baby,” from too hot formula, thus one should not nuke it. The necessity of using up previously unused refrigerated formula, as opposed to mixing a fresh bottle, and the pressure to deliver it before EJ’s demands for a feeding became pressing enough for the neighbors to hear caused Dad to question this. He placed a 2 oz. (~ 60 mL) bottle of formula in an 1800 watt microwave for about 10 seconds and then stuck an instant read thermometer into the bottle (click through the link, a thermistor thermometer differs significantly than your typical kitchen thermometer like the kind from Willy of Sonoma). Sure enough, certain spots were over 101 degrees while others were below 70 degrees. A quick stir from a spoon handle eliminated the disparity and the formula became an even 86 degrees. EJ was quickly satisfied, Dad achieved economy, and he exploded that assertion. Someone alert Jaime and Adam.

Speaking of which (or is it writing of which?), Mom and Dad decided to pre-fill bottles for ease of mixing when one or more is needed quickly. They fill one with twice as much dry formula as is necessary to feed one child. Then they fill a matching bottle with the necessary amount of water and store both in a cabinet until needed. At feeding time, particularly at nighttime feedings when their minds are fogged by sleep and their bodies just want to go back to bed, it is easy to just grab the two bottles, mix and divide the formula into equal portions. Then either parent (Dad now that the new schedule is in place) is ready to feed and head off the screams of hunger without having to measure or think. This has been a great convenience though it does require a considerable number of bottles. After feeding, they quickly rinse them and in the morning run them through a sani rinse in the dishwasher.

Well, now that Liesel has settled down into sleep, EJ is rousing and will soon need feeding. And thus it goes.