Baby Boot Camp

Somewhere along the way, I was enrolled in Baby Boot Camp. I just didn't know it. All of my children have turned out to be such complete opposites of each other in so many ways. Faith has been my opposite in terms of schedule and how she prefers things, and this last week has been one heck of a boot camp for both me and Ken.

For example, Grace and Jack loved to fall asleep nursing. They were nursed before naps. NOT FAITH. No nursey time before naps. Big No No. Our little Faith turns into a sputtering ball of anger that goes rigid as soon as my milk lets down. It took me all week to figure this one out, but I think we've got it. It almost like she is just to tired to deal with an aggressive let down, as she's happy to suck before the let down of milk. So the rule of thumb we are trying now is, only nurse Faith when she wakes up, and give a pacifier (which took all week to find her preference of NUK) for bedtime.

I've never had to deal with colic before, but Faith is certainly a possible candidate for a mild case. She is like clockwork in the evening from 6:00 until she goes down at 8:00 PM. This has been very difficult with a family to cook for and prepare for bed, etc. I had to skip my Bible Study yesterday as it falls exactly in that time frame. I'm still looking for the magic answer, but I came close yesterday evening. The formula was NO nursing, dark quiet room, nice bedtime music, snuggling into Mommy's fuzzy robe, and a pacifier. Then when she was mostly in la-la-land...we nursed.

All of our babies have been so delightful. It just amazes me how they each have different particular needs, with their own little tweaks. They each have their own language. Faith's has just been the hardest one for me to decipher, since it required retraining myself. Not nursing before bedtime seemed so unnatural, but for Faith, it is very natural.