Night Feedings

Nothing can prepare a new mom for night feedings. Nothing. You can tell a expectant first timer over and over to enjoy their sleep while they have it, but they will not understand what you mean until they experience the lack of it themselves. I remember beginning to lose sleep toward the end of my pregnancy and thinking, "I am already losing sleep, it can't get any worse." Boy, was I wrong.

As a breastfeeding mom, it was was hard getting through those first few weeks. You're learning, he's learning... these things take time! Carson had to eat every 2-3 hours and nursing him would take up to 45 minutes at a time. By the time he was done eating and changing a poopy diaper, I managed to get an hour of sleep before I had to wake up again. I dreaded nighttime feedings.

Then all the sudden it got a lot easier! Carson became a pro and now I'm up and back in bed in 30 minutes or less. He also only wakes up once, which is pretty good considering he goes to bed at 7:30-8 and doesn't wake up until 3:00-3:30 (back to bed and up for the day at 6:00-6:30). He is approaching 4 months old and all I can think about is how awesome it would be if cereal got him to sleep a full 10 hours. Then, it hit me. I am going to miss these night feedings.

You must think I'm nuts (unless you are a mom just like me). But this is such a special time for me and him. No words, just cuddles. He eats, and falls asleep on my shoulder as I attempt to burp him. It is such a precious time with my little one. I will miss it.

A night feeding I will not forget:
When I took Carson in for his 2 week check-up, I had one question I didn't want to forget to ask. Why hasn't his belly button fallen off? That little black stub looked like it was never coming off and I was ready to give my baby a real bath. The nurse explained it could take a little longer and that it was very normal. Shocker, I worried over nothing. That night as I changed Carson's diaper during his night feeding, I looked down and noticed the little black stub was gone! Woo!! "Wait... where is it?" I thought. Oh well, I was way too tired to worry about it so I will look for it in the morning. I took my sweet sleepy baby back to the rocking chair and began to put him back to bed. That's when I felt it. Something was sticking to my arm! I looked down and saw a prune like object stuck to my arm. This was more disgusting then any diaper blow out I have seen! I rushed to the garbage can, baby in hand, and had to stick it to the side of the bag before I could get the thing off me. Thank you, Carson. I really appreciate you letting me know you would be okay.