If you were like me as a first time mom, bringing your little one home from the security and comfort of the hospital and their staff can be quite overwhelming. I spent the first couple of weeks in pajama's, hair uncombed and I hate to admit that even on some days, I did not even get a chance to brush my teeth! After a week of days like these, I knew that I had to get things under control and turned to many of my new mommy friends out there for advice. One of my friends recommended the book
"The Baby Whisperer" by Tracey Hogg. I put my library card quickly to use and it was in my hands in no time!
Hogg outlines a routine within her book that she recommends all new mom's start as soon as their little one arrives home. The EASY routine. We started little "O" on this routine when he was 12 days old. Please read below for a brief summary:
It is as follows:
E - Eat
A - Awake
S - Sleep
Y - You
She outlines that the EASY routine can be done on a 2.5 hour or 3 hour cycle, depending on your preference and your babies needs. The sequence of events must be done in that order. First, you feed your baby - breast or bottle. This feeding should take around 30-45 minutes.
After you are done feeding, you have some awake time with your little one. This time could be spent on a play mat, in a swing, or simply just talking to your baby.
(Caution: Do not make the mistake that we made with little "O" in the beginning - we were spending way too much awake time and he simply became overstimulated. Start out slow - five minutes is still five minutes of awake time. Our little guy simply loved to look around the house and we soon learned that we did not have to provide any intervention). The goal is to work your way up to 20-25 minutes of this time.
After you have your play time with your little one, it is time for them to go down for a nap. (The biggest mistake that new parents make, and admittedly so did I, was to feed your baby to sleep and then have awake time. You want to caution on using the breast or bottle as a sleep aide, as when it comes time for them to wean themselves from either, your days will become quite long and frustrating!)
Within a 3 hour cycle, she recommends 1.5-2 hours of sleep time. (Be aware that you should never let your baby sleep more than 3 hours at a time during the day so that they are able to distinguish day from night - and it is perfectly ok to wake a sleeping baby!)
Once your baby is down for a peaceful nap, that leaves "you" time - whether you spend it napping (which I highly recommend in the first 4 weeks!), cleaning the house or painting your toe nails, it is completely up to you!
Once your baby wakes, start the process all over again!
A routine gives both baby and parents predictability in their day - something that we could all use when learning the art of "parenthood"
Little "O" is now 8 weeks and he has adjusted well to EASY- in fact, he slept a whole 8 hours last night!
I hope this gives all you new parents out there a brief overview - and I hope your days become a little more predictable!
