Thursday, July 17, 2008

Is there such thing as NEW MOM SYNDROME?

I am sure there are other new moms out there asking the same thing. Sometimes I feel I have got this mom thing down and then there are days that I question the skills that I have learned from watching my sisters. One day it works and the next it doesn't. Is it because babies are just so unpredictable?

I find myself questioning the whole food thing, how much should he be eating, when, what etc. Then I tell myself not to put to much pressure on the issue and just go with the flow. Sometimes it works and other times it does not. My sisters and I am beginning to think that Will was not getting enough food i.e. the growth spurt/not sleeping through the night. So this is when I got serious about trying the baby food and really adding it to Will's diet. At first he was not interested in it but now he cannot get enough of it! I am now feeding him the stage 2 dha/organic Gerber baby food. He scarfs it down too! So yesterday I kept a mental note of what he ate and how much, down to the smallest detail(yes I know a bit crazy) and this is what he ate. 5-8oz bottles every 4 hours. After his second bottle of the day he at prunes and apples, the whole container. Then when we were eating dinner I gave him sweet potatoes/squash, again he ate the whole thing and was grunting for more. So then I gave him bananas/granola, he ate it all! Then around 7:45 he had his last bottle. Get this, he slept through the night, well tell 4:30 this morning, but quite an improvement.

It is true though that when you do have your first baby that the mom instinct does kick in. Before I had Will I was really nervous, could I really take care of something so fragile? What if I do something wrong? But I am slowly learning that they will not break, everything is trial and error.

Do I think that I have a little case of New Mom Syndrome, yes. But I think that I am on the way to curing it.

5 comments:

A Crafty Mom said...

Sounds like you are doing GREAT to me for sure!! If he is gaining weight, he is eating just fine :-) I used to be the same way and worry a lot . . . thankfully I have slowly learned a bit after three kiddies. I'm so glad he is eating up his food, we just started Leah this week on a bit of cereal and so far she is not too interested. I'll keep trying, I'm sure one of these days she'll gobble it all up.

4funboys said...

You're so sweet...

I wish all mom's cared like you do! How blessed your son is! (I teach at-risk 5-7 year old kids-- trust me... there's plenty of parents who don't give a flip...sad! So, when I hear mom's like you... trying so hard... it fills my heart with hope)

Unknown said...

So I had written you a LONG post this morning and now I see it never showed...lol!
I think you are a great mommy and I know Will does, too! I am so happy he is sleeping better for you, sweetie! That is wonderful!

McMommy said...

Jenny...in reading that post, you TOTALLY have graduated from "new mom syndrome" to "expert mom" now!! It sounds like you are doing fantastic...let Will tell you how much he needs to eat. Those baby books are good for occasional references, but ultimately YOU are the one who truly does know best!

Rach (Mommy Learns to Blog) said...

You are doing an awesome job - we all worry as first time moms (shhh, don't tell, but MH is almost 3 1/2 and I'm still questioning things daily). Sounds like what you're doing worked, so you should keep it up! And also, there will be days where he lets you know he's not interested in the food, and that's okay too.

Now do me a favor, girlfriend - get yourself an email address that you are comfortable listing on your blogger profile, then check off that little box that allows us to email you. This way, if you send me a comment I can reply directly! Your name always shows up as something like Jenny noreplyblogger, which means I can't just email you right back. Or, send me your email address privately so I've got it. I've been meaning to bug you about this forever!!!