Happy Two Weeks Old!

The twins are two weeks old today. Where has the time gone? The last two weeks are a blur. Waking hours were filled with feeding, changing, cuddling, and crying. Even Dad’s dreams were filled with the same.

Some of the those dreams were actual baby cries while Mom was on duty by herself. Dad had to comfort himself that Mom would retrieve him to assist her if necessary. With that he turned over, covered his eyes from the infiltrating sunlight (read why here), and got a few more minutes of sleep.

EJ is getting bigger. Dad can tell when he lifts him up that it takes a bit more oomph to clear the crib’s side. The boy’s limbs are also longer. He is a great eater. He loves to lay passively on his back, propped up by Dad’s leg and just suck down his milk.

Liesel isn’t growing as fast. She is still small with little evidence of growth. Unlike her brother, she likes to be in control of her feeding. She’ll bunch up her fists and “direct” the bottle, sometimes allowing it to pass her lips, at other times preventing its insertion. And when they have had enough, EJ will just fall asleep with the nipple in his mouth. She’ll loudly object until it is removed.

Parenting has been an almost all consuming job. Very little else has been accomplished. With two babies and three-hour feeding cycles, it seems that no sooner are they done with one feeding than they have to begin the next. A large part of this is time is spent after feeding them. Following feeding they burp and soothe them before putting them down. This has taken as long as 90 minutes post feeding. This is tiresome.

As result of the prolonged burp and soothe time, Dad tested a different approach today with great success. Flying in the face of currently recommended practices, he place them both tummy down in their crib after burping. They were both sleeping peacefully within a minute.

One minute is < 90 minutes. And qualitatively, it is much more peaceful.

Yep, Dad was willing to incur the wrath of the purveyors of SIDS doom to test his theory and, the kids did not die. In fact, the position seemed to alleviate many of the symptoms preventing sound sleep in both kids, like hiccups, gasps, gurgles, and inexplicable arm spasms.

To be sure, Dad sat next to them for twenty minutes monitoring their every breath, hiccup, and burble ready to intervene and employ his newly acquired infant CPR skills in the event that their breathing stopped. But it never did. Dad thinks that the many books, healthcare professionals, and websites offering “back is best” sleeping advice failed to fully inform him, instead preferring to over simplify a complicated matter. Dad can foresee how tummy sleeping might increase the risk of SIDS, especially if baby went unmonitored for extended periods, but also believes the professional/expert position is overstated.

Dad has observed many professionals across multiple disciplines undermine their credibility by overstating their case and by failing to communicate an appropriate degree of risk in measured terms, c.f. AGW.

So now they flout learned opinion by microwaving bottles and putting infants to sleep on their bellies. They’re horrible by putting their precious ones at risk, aren’t they. What’s next? Foregoing immunizations? Riding on Mom’s lap in the car? Tricycling without helmets? Naw, not likely. They’re more cautious than that. They’re willing to adapt as circumstances dictate, but would never intentionally incur greater risk without commensurate benefit. These two issues were clear.

Is this child endangerment? Or...

...is it an excellent technique to soothe baby post feeding?

The airway is unrestricted. Breaths are regular. They are closely monitored.

And the benefits of a quick turn around from feeding to sleeping are clear.

 Have a different or concurring opinion? Post below.